Bill your pants may be on fire

Written By: - Date published: 1:48 pm, January 30th, 2018 - 118 comments
Categories: benefits, bill english, child welfare, class war, Economy, jacinda ardern, labour, national, same old national, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags:

All good catholics are aware of the contents of the Ten Commandments, particularly the ninth which prohibits the telling of porkies, even for political gain.  But Bill English might have missed the lesson.

From Radio New Zealand:

National Party leader Bill English told Morning Report the government had offered his party a briefing by officials today – the day the bill is being introduced – so the party has no ability to influence it.

“That’s not a good way to conduct bipartisan approach,” he said.

“As I understand it – and we haven’t seen the legislation – they’re talking about legislating some high-level income targets for which no-one’s particularly accountable.”

Mr English said National would “have a look” at the legislation and wanted to ensure it was “more than symbolism”.

Not a good look if this is true and a briefing is only being offer on the day the bill is going to be introduced.  But wait.  There is more …

From Newshub:

A red-faced Bill English has had to admit the Government wrote to him before Christmas about its plans to reduce child poverty.

Jacinda Ardern wrote to English 48 days ago outlining the key aspects of her child poverty bill and offering a briefing from officials – but English says that doesn’t amount to a bipartisan approach or adequate consultation.

Yesterday the National leader said he’d only just been offered a briefing.

“Well I don’t recall everything that was discussed yesterday, but the letter did come before Christmas. That is not genuine commitment to a bipartisan approach to child poverty.”

His comments come a day after he attacked Labour for taking a symbolic approach to bipartisanship and taking National’s support for the TPP for granted, but conceding the Government had been “a bit more constructive” on child poverty.

But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says her Government did all it could to keep English in the loop.

“I wrote to Mr English on the 13th December. I offered a briefing to him and at that point also included a one-page summary of the bill [and] he asked for a briefing in the new year.”

Reporter Henry Cooke has released copies of the letters on Scribd.

I am sure that Bill was forgetful rather than being disingenuous.  But this sort of thing saps confidence and will no doubt cause a breakout of BBQ invitations within National’s caucus.

118 comments on “Bill your pants may be on fire ”

  1. Ad 1

    Moran!
    Squandered only attack line he had.

    Good hit with 2 hours before Bill is introduced.

  2. ianmac 2

    Just looked at QT today. Paula Bennett looks very different. I believe she as had weight reducing surgery. Must be a huge change for the good for her.
    Paula is next with Question 3 “Hon PAULA BENNETT to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her statements?”
    Oops. Not so much as I thought. Sorry

    • Michelle 2.1

      pulla feels sorry for people that can’t have weight loss surgery but she had no heart or care for many NZers who she hurt with her parties nasty austerity policies. She also had no problem breaching the privacy act and no problem selling our assets and spending millions on motels for homeless people. The level of hate for her and many Maori can’t stand the sight of her.

    • red-blooded 2.2

      Bennett announced a while ago that she’d had weight surgery during the break. Nice to be able to afford to go private, eh?

    • UncookedSelachimorpha 2.3

      Good on her having this surgery if she needed it.

      But notice the contrast – Bennett’s weight was a problem (likely involving addictive behaviour) requiring treatment, while she frames the problems of some beneficiaries / poor people (drug use, smoking, depression) as moral failings, that only require punishment.

      Maybe if she couldn’t lose weight, she should have been treated like a beneficiary with an addiction problem and had her salary stopped for 13 weeks? How would that have worked out for her?

      • Hornet 2.3.1

        “Bennett’s weight was a problem (likely involving addictive behaviour) requiring treatment…”

        Do you have evidence Bennett’s weight problems were “likely involving addictive behaviour”? Or that Bennett framed drug use, smoking or depression as ‘moral failings’?

        • Frank Macskasy 2.3.1.1

          Do you have evidence Bennett’s weight problems were “likely involving addictive behaviour”? Or that Bennett framed drug use, smoking or depression as ‘moral failings’?

          Did Bennett possess evidence of “likely involving addictive behaviour” from welfare beneficiaries?

          • Hornet 2.3.1.1.1

            I don’t know. Did you ask her? My concern is not for Bennett, but for assumptions that head close to fat shaming.

            BTW…loved your post at TDB about handouts to the racing industry. Well written, and a timely reminder about the extent of corporate welfare in NZ.

  3. Robert Guyton 3

    May be? They’ve been aflame for years! Must have asbestos bum cheeks!

  4. rhinocrates 4

    Never trust someone whose hair doesn’t move.

  5. Ross 5

    According to English, Ardern’s letter of December 13 was sent “pretty much on Xmas Eve”. I will have to let my manager know I am not working beond December 13 this year as it’s practically Xmas.

    https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/101000666/bill-english-blasts-pathetic-attempt-at-bipartisanship-on-child-poverty-briefing-offered-middecember

  6. McFlock 6

    National. don’t. care. About. Poverty.

    • AB 6.1

      Other people’s poverty is a necessary precondition for their own luxury. So no surprises there.

    • UncookedSelachimorpha 6.2

      Absolutely they don’t. The sheer audacity of the man pretending to give a f*ck for his political ends is sickening.

    • ropata 6.3

      The Nats have an incredibly cynical view of poverty and use it for their own ends.

      To disempower and disconnect masses of potential voters.
      To provide a pool of cheap labour.
      To undermine unions.
      To have an underclass of (mostly brown) people to blame for crime and social ills.
      To perpetuate a new narrative of unfairness and wipe out any remnant of egalitarian thinking from the public mind.

  7. Michelle 7

    How are we expected to believe anything that comes out of bills mouth he either has amnesia or he cant recall or he just lies outright and expects people to believe him.
    And I agree with McFlock the gnats don’t care about poverty heck they helped create it Every time they get in the rich get richer while the poor gets cheap dirty motels and shafted

    • rhinocrates 7.1

      I’m sure Wayne will be along any moment now to tell us that he has a very nice house and his children are well-cared for and therefore there’s no problem.

  8. Janet 8

    She’ll always be [deleted] to me

    [no fat phobia please – weka]

  9. Anon 9

    “not genuine commitment to a bipartisan approach” – and what would he call caring /so much/ that he forgot all about previous correspondence? That’s not even genuine commitment to your inbox.

  10. One Anonymous Bloke 10

    Lying Bill English. What a perfect embodiment of National Party values he is.

  11. NZJester 11

    How many years did they have to do something about it? Now they are criticising this current government for their initial attempts to try and do something with something so important they didn’t even bother with.

  12. Tanz 12

    And by throwing tons of money, willy nilly, poverdy just vanishes does it? Yeah, nah.
    It’s this govt who tells porkies and lies and does backflips, especially when it comes to all their outlandish promises. In the House today, National owned them, again. Winston looked decidedly grumpy, perhaps having second thoughts, now that he is caught up in an obvious shambles. Worst govt in our history…as stated elsewhere.

    • McFlock 12.1

      what you didn’t state was whether you think blinglish lied in this case?

      • Hornet 12.1.1

        Nah, he ‘forgot’.

        Like Materia Turei ‘forgot’ to own up to benefit fraud for over 25 years.

        Like Grant Robertson ‘forgot’ he had public service costings for coalition policies (28th October, TV3, The Nation).

        Like Jacinda Ardern ‘forgot’ that the problems with Auckland’s fuel pipeline go back into the tenure of a Labour government (https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/96945811/labour-says-national-has-let-down-auckland-over-fuel-vulnerability).

        Apologies for the cynicism. Having a bad day.

        • McFlock 12.1.1.1

          Does the use of single quotes mean that your answer is actually along the lines of “yes he told an outright lie, but Labour did it too”?

          It’s not cynicism you express, it’s blinkered stupidity.

          • Hornet 12.1.1.1.1

            “Does the use of single quotes mean that your answer is actually along the lines of “yes he told an outright lie, but Labour did it too”?”
            No. Metiria Turei (sorry for the spelling error in my last post) is not a Labour Party politician. It’s not that ‘Labour did it too’, it’s that ALL politicians do it too. It’s not always lies of commission (such as NZF claiming cabbages will cost $18 under Labour’s water tax plan). Sometimes it’s just a subtle twisting of the truth (such as Labour claiming NZ had the worst homelessness in the OECD). Sometimes it is lies of omission (let’s see…perhaps Golriz Ghahraman allowing claims that she was “putting on trial world leaders for abusing their power…”).

            I don’t trust any of them.

            • McFlock 12.1.1.1.1.1

              Trust is one thing.

              False equivalence is another thing entirely.

              • Hornet

                I don’t think you understand the term. What are the two opposing arguments?

                • McFlock

                  Blinglish lied about his job, probably because he couldn’t explain why he hadn’t done it.
                  Robertson lied about his partner’s presence, probably because his partner didn’t want to be on telly that night.

                  The first occurs, you have an attack of whataboutitis on the second, as if the two are at all equivalent.

                  • Hornet

                    As I thought, you don’t understand what a false equivalence is.

                    Both lied. There is no false equivalence.

                    • McFlock

                      But the two lies are fundamentally different. As you probably know (although you really might be that thick)

                    • Hornet

                      “But the two lies are fundamentally different. ”

                      No, they aren’t. They are both lies.

                    • McFlock

                      “But the two lies are fundamentally different. ”

                      No, they aren’t. They are both lies.

                      That was pretty much the Kevin Spacey defense.

                    • Hornet

                      “That was pretty much the Kevin Spacey defense.”

                      Whereas you’re relying on the Bill Clinton defence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBe_guezGGc.

                    • McFlock

                      Even if that were true (it’s not), Spacey lost his job (and who knows what else if charges are pressed).

                      Clinton didn’t.

                      You might want to try another lie.

                    • Hornet

                      “Clinton didn’t.”

                      So whether or not someone lost their job is now your moral determinant?

                    • McFlock

                      No, it’s an demonstration of differences between lies and what they are about.

                      Lies are lies, but all lies are different. Hence distracting from blinglish’s lies by bringing up trivial lies from (or even lying about) other MPs is itself a bit of a lie, you lying liar, you…

                    • Hornet

                      “No, it’s an demonstration of differences between lies and what they are about.”
                      Whether or not the liar lost their job? I that seriously a point on your moral compass?

                      “Hence distracting from blinglish’s lies by bringing up trivial lies from (or even lying about) other MPs is itself a bit of a lie, you lying liar, you…”
                      I’m not ‘distracting’ from anything. My point is that politicians lie. Politicians of all stripes lie. Your refusal to accept those on your preferred side of the political spectrum also lie is a testament to your naivety.

                    • McFlock

                      now you’re lying about what I said.

                    • Hornet

                      “now you’re lying about what I said.”

                      No, I’m not. But that seems to be your standard defence to being caught in an indefensible position.

                    • McFlock

                      No, when your lies get exposed you simply start lying about what the other person said.

                    • Hornet

                      “No, when your lies get exposed you simply start lying about what the other person said.”

                      Yet you still can’t give an example.

                    • McFlock

                      “Your refusal to accept those on your preferred side of the political spectrum also lie”

                      I accepted Grant Robertson lied about whether someone he knew was at the pub. I just don’t give a shit.

                      Apology, please.

                    • Hornet

                      “I accepted Grant Robertson lied about whether someone he knew was at the pub. I just don’t give a shit.”

                      Exactly. Your minimisation of one lie over another (‘someone he knew’), as also evidenced in your pathetic attempt to cover for Golriz (although your defence of Metiria has been conspicuous for its absence – I’ll grant you that), just demonstrates your moral compass is broken.

                      And I’m still waiting for your example of where I lied.

                    • McFlock

                      That’s 4 comments in a row where you’ve lied.

                    • Hornet

                      ‘That’s 4 comments in a row where you’ve lied.”

                      And every time you say that, without substantiation, you lie. But then you support liars and those who seek to limit freedom of speech.

                    • McFlock

                      It’s perfectly possible to say a true statement without bothering to substantiate it.

                      So that’s 5 lying comments you’ve made in a row, with two substantiations.

                    • Hornet

                      “It’s perfectly possible to say a true statement without bothering to substantiate it. ”

                      But when you are challenged to substantiate it, and can’t, then that just suggests you are a liar.

                      So far your record is:
                      Defending liars.
                      Supporting the suppression of free speech.

                    • McFlock

                      You actually made a point, and if I cared what suggestions you took from my comments it might even have been valid.

                      But then you had to again misrepresent what I say. tsk

                      6:2.

                      Half a dozen lies in a row. You should be in the national party caucus.

                    • Hornet

                      “But then you had to again misrepresent what I say.”

                      Yet another unsubstantiated claim.

                    • McFlock

                      Well, everyone can read your comments above in the subthread, but within my comment itself, yes, there was no substantiation.

                      You actually managed to state a fact and not lie.

                      So that’s half a dozen lies you told in a row. Good for you. kthxbai

                    • Hornet

                      “You actually managed to state a fact and not lie.”

                      So, just to clarify…you accused me of lying, but couldn’t substantiate it. Yes everyone can see you for what you are.

                    • McFlock

                      I did too – here and here.

                    • Hornet

                      “I did too – here and here.”

                      Neither are lies. Why don’t you actually set out the comment, not just link to your own delusions.

                      Meanwhile, you are still defending liars.

                    • McFlock

                      I can’t tell if you’re genuinely that fucking stupid. You’re like a traffic accident involving a truckload of pikachu toys and a schoolbus – it’s obviously tragic, but nobody knows what’s going to happen next…

                    • Hornet

                      “…but nobody knows what’s going to happen next…”

                      Oh I know what happens next. You run away and pretend no-ones noticed you made an accusation you couldn’t follow through with.

                    • McFlock

                      translation: I get bored trying to dumb it down enough for you not not just understand that I acknowledged in this argument that Robertson told a fib, so therefore your claim that I refuse “to accept those on your preferred side of the political spectrum also lie” was itself a lie about what I do or do not accept.

                      So I wander off and you take that as a victory, when in actual fact your stupidity has gone from being entertaining to merely painful. You’re so Dunning-Kruger, I bet you think that syndrome can’t be about you.

                    • Hornet

                      “so therefore your claim that I refuse “to accept those on your preferred side of the political spectrum also lie” was itself a lie about what I do or do not accept.”

                      No it wasn’t. I referenced not only Robertson, but also Ardern and Turei, and you haven’t once admitted they lied. Yours is the worst kind of denial, because it is shrouded in obfuscation and personal abuse towards anyone who points it out.

                    • McFlock

                      you didn’t “reference” a thing. You made some claims, one of which I accepted, the others were bunk.

                      But I did accept that someone on my side of the political spectrum lied. Apology, please.

                    • Hornet

                      “you didn’t “reference” a thing.”
                      Yes, I did. https://thestandard.org.nz/bill-your-pants-may-be-on-fire/#comment-1441485. But I should have realised you hadn’t read it properly when you tried to claim a false equivalence.

                      “But I did accept that someone on my side of the political spectrum lied.”
                      ‘Someone’. I didn’t singularise it. My comment said “Your refusal to accept those on your preferred side of the political spectrum also lie” (you quoted me at https://thestandard.org.nz/bill-your-pants-may-be-on-fire/#comment-1441933). ‘Those’.

                      It seems you struggle for comprehension and honesty.

                    • McFlock

                      But I do accept that those on my side also lie, GR being a case in point.

                      I just don’t accept that every claim you made about lying is true. E.g. the link you provided about fuel lines made no mention of ardern forgetting a thing. but then I don’t expect you to know the difference between a report that outlines a vulnerability, and a later paper that outlines the same vulnerability and provides a solution which is then rejected.

                      Working through the process to do something isn’t the same as refusing to do something.

                      But my rejection of most of your claims of lying has nothing to do with sides, it’s because your claims are themselves lies. Because you’re a lying liar from liarland.

                    • Hornet

                      “But I do accept that those on my side also lie…”
                      That’s the first time.

                      “, GR being a case in point. ”
                      I know. You don’t think saying something you know to be incorrect is a lie. Moral. Vacuum.

                    • McFlock

                      🙄

                      It’s really sweet when tory parrots learn a new term and still don’t know what basic words like “first” or “know” mean.

                      Nothing in your comment reflects the last few days, where my first comments after your distraction (from bill lying about his incompetence in the job) acknowledged Robertson lied, and yet you still said I refused to admit people on my side of the political fence lie.

                      Bill lied about why he didn’t do his job as leader of the oppisition.
                      Grant lied about whether his partner was at the pub.

                      These things are not the same. If you think they are, you are a shallow husk of a human being. If you know they are not the same yet you are willing to pretend you’re an idiot in order to defend bill’s incompetent duplicity, you really are a pitiable fool.

                    • Hornet

                      “Nothing in your comment reflects the last few days, where my first comments after your distraction (from bill lying about his incompetence in the job) acknowledged Robertson lied…”

                      But not the others I noted. ‘Those’ v ‘someone’. Note it.

                      “…and yet you still said I refused to admit people on my side of the political fence lie.”

                      You did. Until your last previous post.

                      Now your just explaining. And explaining is losing. And tiresome.

                    • McFlock

                      lol

                      complains about lack of substantiation, receives substantiation, says “explaining is losing”.

                    • Hornet

                      “complains about lack of substantiation, receives substantiation, says “explaining is losing”.”

                      You haven’t provided any substantiation. That’s why you tried to explain your way out of it.

        • Naki man 12.1.1.2

          Here Grant Robertson forgot about Alf being at the pub with him.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_qkG9gqhA8

          • McFlock 12.1.1.2.1

            Thing is:
            1: keeping your personal life personal is not the same as coming up with excuses why you didn’t do your job; and

            2: he got shit for that at the time, and you’re using it as a distraction to protect blinglish from getting shit from a lie that pertains directly to his job.

            Fucking tories…

            • Hornet 12.1.1.2.1.1

              He wasn’t ‘keeping his personal life personal’. He said Alf wasn’t there. But Alf was there, wasn’t he? What’s that called?

              • One Anonymous Bloke

                It’s called “Maninthemiddle looking like a total loser because of his shit ethics and arguments”.

                • Hornet

                  Who the hell is ‘maninthemiddle’?

                  And what does he/she have to do with Grant lying?

                  • One Anonymous Bloke

                    Oh sorry, my ‘mistake’.

                    It’s called “Hornet looking like a total loser because of their shit ethics and arguments”.

                  • One Anonymous Bloke

                    past contributors

                    You all look the same to me.

                    And no, you haven’t made your case, no matter how very very hard you believe it. Someone else might be able to make it, but your arguments are too shit.

                    • Hornet

                      What case? What is this ‘case’ I am trying to make? Was Alf there or not? Did Golriz allow claims that she was “putting on trial world leaders for abusing their power…” or not? Did Metiria hide benefit fraud for 25 years or not?

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      Yes. I’m convinced: you don’t just look the same.

                    • Hornet

                      So you agree they all lied?

                    • McFlock

                      All the past contributors OAB mentioned lied in your style before picking up a ban, yes.

                      Unlike all the “lies” you attribute to labgrn, which either weren’t lies at all or had nothing to do with their job as politicians. Unlike Bill, who lied about why he didn’t do his job.

                    • Hornet

                      “All the past contributors OAB mentioned lied in your style before picking up a ban, yes. ”

                      Can you point to a single lie I have told? You may be right about the other contributors, I really don’t know or care. But I do challenge your statement about this poster, and ask you to support your claim..

                    • McFlock

                      Most of the comments in this thread where you talked about other people lying.

                      GG didn’t “lie by omission”, for example.

                    • Hornet

                      “GG didn’t “lie by omission”, for example.”

                      Allowing a comment on her Parties website that claimed she was “putting on trial world leaders for abusing their power…” when she was actually defending them is lying by omission.

                    • McFlock

                      No it’s not.
                      Firstly, being part of the defense was part of the tribunal process.

                      Secondly, even if the phrasing were misleading then it’s only a lie if she noted poor wording and still let it through. Given that she is rightfully proud of her record as part of those tribunals, that’s not realistic.

                      This was thoroughly debated at the time, so your repetition of the “she lied” falsehood must be intentional.

                      You’re lying again.

                    • Hornet

                      “Firstly, being part of the defense was part of the tribunal process.”
                      I’m not talking about her part in the tribunal process. I’m talking about the claim she was “putting on trial world leaders for abusing their power…”

                      “Secondly, even if the phrasing were misleading then it’s only a lie if she noted poor wording and still let it through.”
                      The comment appeared on her Green Party profile.

                      I would also point out (http://www.nziia.org.nz/Portals/285/documents/lists/259/Speech%20-%20NZIIA%20(James%20Shaw)%20-%2030%20May%2017%20(Final).pdf) that in a speech James Shaw said this:

                      “Having fled Iran in 1990 as a child, Golriz is now a human rights lawyer who worked as a prosecutor at the United Nations tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. ”

                      There seems to have been an awful lot of ‘forgetting’.

                    • McFlock

                      No forgetting by her. Where people’s descriptions of her background were identified as misleading and it was brought to her attention, she corrected them. But even the reporters who ended up having ‘misleading’ bios of GG published were clear that in their interviews with her she was clear – and proud of – what her roles were in the different tribunals.

                      And you’re confusing a UN tribunal defense team with hollywood’s (or the 1%’s) idea of defense lawyers. The defense people are part of putting people on trial and holding them to account by helping ensure the process is neutral and fair.

                      But you don’t have a truth to use as a bat, so you’ll just keep repeating your slur on her professional reputation.

                    • Hornet

                      ‘Where people’s descriptions of her background were identified as misleading and it was brought to her attention, she corrected them.”
                      Why did she have to wait until she had it ‘brought to her attention’? And by ‘brought to her attention’, do you mean exposed by the media?

                      “But even the reporters who ended up having ‘misleading’ bios of GG published were clear that in their interviews with her she was clear – and proud of – what her roles were in the different tribunals”
                      And the Green Party bio? James Shaw’s speech?

                      “And you’re confusing a UN tribunal defense team with hollywood’s (or the 1%’s) idea of defense lawyers. The defense people are part of putting people on trial and holding them to account by helping ensure the process is neutral and fair.”
                      Being a defence lawyer is not about “putting on trial world leaders for abusing their power…” . If it was, the comment would not have been removed.

              • McFlock

                Alf is his partner, nothing to do with Grant’s job. To this day Grant still gets shit for it from people like you.

                Bill lied about why he wasn’t doing his job.

                You are using the first to try to excuse the second.

                Because you are a lowlife.

                • Hornet

                  “Alf is his partner, nothing to do with Grant’s job.”
                  So why did he lie about Alf being there?

                  “Bill lied about why he wasn’t doing his job. You are using the first to try to excuse the second.”
                  No, I’m not. Although this continued communication is revealing your hypocrisy.

                  • McFlock

                    So why did he lie about Alf being there?

                    Maybe they were worried about some stalker little shit like you doxing him. Maybe Alf had a hangover or was a bit drunk. Who cares? It’s none of our businesss because it had nothing to do with Robertson’s job.

                    Bill English was lying about why he didn’t do his job. You brought up robertsons lie about his personal life for a reason: what was it?

                    • Hornet

                      “Maybe they were worried about some stalker little shit like you doxing him.”

                      By telling the truth that Alf was in the pub?

                      “Who cares? It’s none of our businesss because it had nothing to do with Robertson’s job.”

                      So what you’re saying is that it was ok for Robertson to lie, because you don’t think it had anything to do with his job. So any politician can lie, as long as it is totally unrelated to their job. Mmmm. Well that’s convenient for Metiria, not so much for Golriz.

                    • McFlock

                      Who knows what you lot get up to when you get one of these funny ideas in your head.

                      And GG didn’t lie about her work record. Not even by ommission.

                      Lying might not be entirely “ok”, but trivial lies about your personal life aren’t at all relevant to lies about why you didn’t do your job. By your understanding, it might even be a lie to raise a trivial lie when someone is being criticised for not doing their job…

                    • Hornet

                      “And GG didn’t lie about her work record. Not even by ommission.”
                      Yes, she did. When she allowed her profile to read that she was “putting on trial world leaders for abusing their power…” she conveniently forgot to mention she was defending those bastards!

                      “Lying might not be entirely “ok”, but trivial lies about your personal life aren’t at all relevant to lies about why you didn’t do your job.”
                      Why is such a lie trivial? By whose measure is it trivial?

                    • McFlock

                      Whether Alf goes to the pub on a particular night is as important as why National weren’t at the table to develop legislative requirements for the New Zealand government budget?

                      Jesus. I hope he doesn’t have a tendency towards egotism.

                    • Hornet

                      “Whether Alf goes to the pub on a particular night is as important as why National weren’t at the table to develop legislative requirements for the New Zealand government budget”

                      It is important in so far as Robertson lied about it.

                      It is a curious lie too. So unnecessary.

                    • McFlock

                      whatever, dude. I’ve spent enough time on your own lies.

                      You’re a disingenuous little shit who’s either stupid to the point of repugnance or repugnant to the point of stupidity. I don’t really care which.

                    • Hornet

                      “whatever, dude. I’ve spent enough time on your own lies. ”

                      Which I’ve asked you to name and you can’t.

                      So you support suppression of free speech, and defend liars.

          • Ed 12.1.1.2.2

            Du Plessis-Allan.
            Your source….

    • Craig H 12.2

      Basically, yes, lots of money works as a way to reduce poverty, especially material hardship.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 12.3

      Hi Tanz.

      Bill is thrashing around in the water. Read Soper in The Herald. That’s blood you can taste. Have a lovely day 😈

  13. Venezia 13

    Watching re run of QT. Jacinda is outstanding in speaking to the proposed bill on reducing child poverty. Bill English is pathetic. Paula Bennet is running same old lines.

    • McFlock 13.1

      that bit about people not caring if they don’t have his arbitrary targets was cringeworthy.

      They spent half their fucking term in office denying it exists, now they try to get the moral high ground.

      • Incognito 13.1.1

        They only care about the targets; nice clean ledger numbers, not people.

        • McFlock 13.1.1.1

          nice, clean, riggable ledger numbers.

          That’s the real reason the nats are pissed at losing their “targets” – targets are achievable if the counting is rigged.

  14. patricia bremner 14

    Tanz, that is unmitigated rubbish. Bill English flat out lied, then fudged.

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  • Rising costs hit farmers hard, but  there’s more  positive news  for  them this  week 
    New Zealand’s dairy industry, the mainstay of the country’s export trade, has  been under  pressure  from rising  costs. Down on the  farm, this  has  been  hitting  hard. But there  was more positive news this week,  first   from the latest Fonterra GDT auction where  prices  rose,  and  then from  a  report ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    20 mins ago
  • ROB MacCULLOCH:  Newshub and NZ Herald report misleading garbage about ACT’s van Veldon not follo...
    Rob MacCulloch writes –  In their rush to discredit the new government (which our MainStream Media regard as illegitimate and having no right to enact the democratic will of voters) the NZ Herald and Newshub are arguing ACT’s Deputy Leader Brooke van Veldon is not following Treasury advice ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 hours ago
  • Top 10 for Wednesday, December 6
    Even many young people who smoke support smokefree policies, fitting in with previous research showing the large majority of people who smoke regret starting and most want to quit. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Wednesday, December ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 hours ago
  • Eleven years of work.
    Well it didn’t take six months, but the leaks have begun. Yes the good ship Coalition has inadvertently released a confidential cabinet paper into the public domain, discussing their axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).Oops.Just when you were admiring how smoothly things were going for the new government, they’ve had ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 hours ago
  • Why we're missing out on sharply lower inflation
    A wave of new and higher fees, rates and charges will ripple out over the economy in the next 18 months as mayors, councillors, heads of department and price-setters for utilities such as gas, electricity, water and parking ramp up charges. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Just when most ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    8 hours ago
  • How Did We Get Here?
    Hi,Kiwis — keep the evening of December 22nd free. I have a meetup planned, and will send out an invite over the next day or so. This sounds sort of crazy to write, but today will be Tony Stamp’s final Totally Normal column of 2023. Somehow we’ve made it to ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    8 hours ago
  • At a glance – Has the greenhouse effect been falsified?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    17 hours ago
  • New Zealaders  have  high expectations of  new  government:  now let’s see if it can deliver?
    The electorate has high expectations of the  new  government.  The question is: can  it  deliver?    Some  might  say  the  signs are not  promising. Protestors   are  already marching in the streets. The  new  Prime Minister has had  little experience of managing  very diverse politicians  in coalition. The economy he  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    20 hours ago
  • You won't believe some of the numbers you have to pull when you're a Finance Minister
    Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    21 hours ago
  • Pushback
    When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    22 hours ago
  • Defence ministerial meeting meant Collins missed the Maori Party’s mischief-making capers in Parli...
    Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    22 hours ago
  • Threats of war have been followed by an invitation to join the revolution – now let’s see how th...
     A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to ….  Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand!  Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations.  • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Top 10 for Tuesday, December 4
    The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Nicola Willis' 'show me the money' moment
    Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • CRL costs money but also provides huge benefits
    The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
    1 day ago
  • And I don't want the world to see us.
    Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Cooking the books
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • Most people don’t realize how much progress we’ve made on climate change
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
    2 days ago
  • Of Parliamentary Oaths and Clive Boonham
    As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
    2 days ago
  • Bearing True Allegiance?
    Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
    2 days ago
  • You cannot be serious
    Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • A promise kept: govt pulls the plug on Lake Onslow scheme – but this saving of $16bn is denounced...
    Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme –  that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • CHRIS TROTTER: The Maori Party and Oath of Allegiance
    If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?   Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON:  Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies. Brian Easton writes The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Climate Change: Fossils
    When the new government promised to allow new offshore oil and gas exploration, they were warned that there would be international criticism and reputational damage. Naturally, they arrogantly denied any possibility that that would happen. And then they finally turned up at COP, to criticism from Palau, and a "fossil ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago
  • GEOFFREY MILLER:  NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the government’s smokefree laws debacle
    The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
    2 days ago
  • Top 10 links at 10 am for Monday, December 4
    As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Be Honest.
    Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • Auckland rail tunnel the world’s most expensive
    Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • First big test coming
    The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • The Song of Saqua: Volume III
    Time to revisit something I haven’t covered in a while: the D&D campaign, with Saqua the aquatic half-vampire. Last seen in July: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/the-song-of-saqua-volume-ii/ The delay is understandable, once one realises that the interim saw our DM come down with a life-threatening medical situation. They have since survived to make ...
    2 days ago
  • Chris Bishop: Smokin’
    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    3 days ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
    3 days ago
  • Affirmative Action.
    Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • 100 days of something
    It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Look who’s stepped up to champion Winston
    There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today  – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • What's The Story?
    Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The longest of weeks
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • Suggested sessions of EGU24 to submit abstracts to
    Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
    5 days ago
  • Under New Management
    1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • While we wait patiently, our new Minister of Education is up and going with a 100-day action plan
    Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenance Beehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • DAVID FARRAR: Hysterical bullshit
    Radio NZ reports: Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has accused the new government of “deliberate .. systemic genocide” over its policies to roll back the smokefree policy and the Māori Health Authority. The left love hysterical language. If you oppose racial quotas in laws, you are a racist. And now if you sack ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #48 2023
    Open access notables From this week's government/NGO section, longitudinal data is gold and Leisorowitz, Maibachi et al. continue to mine ore from the US public with Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Fall 2023: Drawing on a representative sample of the U.S. adult population, the authors describe how registered ...
    5 days ago
  • ELE LUDEMANN: It wasn’t just $55 million
    Ele Ludemann writes –  Winston Peters reckons media outlets were bribed by the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund. He is not the first to make such an accusation. Last year, the Platform outlined conditions media signed up to in return for funds from the PJIF: . . . ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 1-December-2023
    Wow, it’s December already, and it’s a Friday. So here are few things that caught our attention recently. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt covered the new government’s coalition agreements and what they mean for transport. On Tuesday Matt looked at AT’s plans for fare increases ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • Shane MacGowan Is Gone.
    Late 1996, The Dogs Bollix, Tamaki Makaurau.I’m at the front of the bar yelling my order to the bartender, jostling with other thirsty punters on a Friday night, keen to piss their wages up against a wall letting loose. The black stuff, long luscious pints of creamy goodness. Back down ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 1
    Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop and other National, ACT and NZ First MPs applaud the signing of the coalition agreements, which included the reversal of anti-smoking measures while accelerating tax cuts for landlords. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • 2023 More Reading: November (+ Writing Update)
    Completed reads for November: A Modern Utopia, by H.G. Wells The Vampire (poem), by Heinrich August Ossenfelder The Corpus Hermeticum The Corpus Hermeticum is Mead’s translation. Now, this is indeed a very quiet month for reading. But there is a reason for that… You see, ...
    6 days ago
  • Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. They also describe the processes of the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    6 days ago
  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Finally
    Henry Kissinger is finally dead. Good fucking riddance. While Americans loved him, he was a war criminal, responsible for most of the atrocities of the final quarter of the twentieth century. Cambodia. Bangladesh. Chile. East Timor. All Kissinger. Because of these crimes, Americans revere him as a "statesman" (which says ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Government in a hurry – Luxon lists 49 priorities in 100-day plan while Peters pledges to strength...
    Buzz from the Beehive Yes, ministers in the new government are delivering speeches and releasing press statements. But the message on the government’s official website was the same as it has been for the past several days, when Point of Order went looking for news from the Beehive that had ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • DAVID FARRAR: Luxon is absolutely right
    David Farrar writes  –  1 News reports: Christopher Luxon says he was told by some Kiwis on the campaign trail they “didn’t know” the difference between Waka Kotahi, Te Pūkenga and Te Whatu Ora. Speaking to Breakfast, the incoming prime minister said having English first on government agencies will “make sure” ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Top 10 at 10 am for Thursday, Nov 30
    There are fears that mooted changes to building consent liability could end up driving the building industry into an uninsured hole. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Thursday, November 30, including:The new Government’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on how climate change threatens cricket‘s future
    Well that didn’t last long, did it? Mere days after taking on what he called the “awesome responsibility” of being Prime Minister, M Christopher Luxon has started blaming everyone else, and complaining that he has inherited “economic vandalism on an unprecedented scale” – which is how most of us are ...
    6 days ago
  • We need to talk about Tory.
    The first I knew of the news about Tory Whanau was when a tweet came up in my feed.The sort of tweet that makes you question humanity, or at least why you bother with Twitter. Which is increasingly a cesspit of vile inhabitants who lurk spreading negativity, hate, and every ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Dangling Transport Solutions
    Cable Cars, Gondolas, Ropeways and Aerial Trams are all names for essentially the same technology and the world’s biggest maker of them are here to sell them as an public transport solution. Stuff reports: Austrian cable car company Doppelmayr has launched its case for adding aerial cable cars to New ...
    6 days ago
  • November AMA
    Hi,It’s been awhile since I’ve done an Ask-Me-Anything on here, so today’s the day. Ask anything you like in the comments section, and I’ll be checking in today and tomorrow to answer.Leave a commentNext week I’ll be giving away a bunch of these Mister Organ blu-rays for readers in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • National’s early moves adding to cost of living pressure
    The cost of living grind continues, and the economic and inflation honeymoon is over before it began. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: PM Christopher Luxon unveiled his 100 day plan yesterday with an avowed focus of reducing cost-of-living pressures, but his Government’s initial moves and promises are actually elevating ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Backwards to the future
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed that it will be back to the future on planning legislation. This will be just one of a number of moves which will see the new government go backwards as it repeals and cost-cuts its way into power. They will completely repeal one ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago
  • New initiatives in science and technology could point the way ahead for Luxon government
    As the new government settles into the Beehive, expectations are high that it can sort out some  of  the  economic issues  confronting  New Zealand. It may take time for some new  ministers to get to grips with the range of their portfolio work and responsibilities before they can launch the  changes that  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    7 days ago
  • Treaty pledge to secure funding is contentious – but is Peters being pursued by a lynch mob after ...
    TV3 political editor Jenna Lynch was among the corps of political reporters who bridled, when Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters told them what he thinks of them (which is not much). She was unabashed about letting her audience know she had bridled. More usefully, she drew attention to something which ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 days ago
  • How long does this last?
    I have a clear memory of every election since 1969 in this plucky little nation of ours. I swear I cannot recall a single one where the question being asked repeatedly in the first week of the new government was: how long do you reckon they’ll last? And that includes all ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago
  • National’s giveaway politics
    We already know that national plans to boost smoking rates to collect more tobacco tax so they can give huge tax-cuts to mega-landlords. But this morning that policy got even more obscene - because it turns out that the tax cut is retrospective: Residential landlords will be able to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    7 days ago
  • CHRIS TROTTER: Who’s driving the right-wing bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In 2023, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago
  • GRAHAM ADAMS:  Media knives flashing for Luxon’s government
    The fear and loathing among legacy journalists is astonishing Graham Adams writes – No one is going to die wondering how some of the nation’s most influential journalists personally view the new National-led government. It has become abundantly clear within a few days of the coalition agreements ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    7 days ago
  • Top 10 news links for Wednesday, Nov 29
    TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere for Wednesday November 29, including:The early return of interest deductibility for landlords could see rebates paid on previous taxes and the cost increase to $3 billion from National’s initial estimate of $2.1 billion, CTU Economist Craig Renney estimated here last ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Smokefree Fallout and a High Profile Resignation.
    The day after being sworn in the new cabinet met yesterday, to enjoy their honeymoon phase. You remember, that period after a new government takes power where the country, and the media, are optimistic about them, because they haven’t had a chance to stuff anything about yet.Sadly the nuptials complete ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • As Cabinet revs up, building plans go on hold
    Wellington Council hoardings proclaim its preparations for population growth, but around the country councils are putting things on hold in the absence of clear funding pathways for infrastructure, and despite exploding migrant numbers. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Cabinet meets in earnest today to consider the new Government’s 100-day ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • National takes over infrastructure
    Though New Zealand First may have had ambitions to run the infrastructure portfolios, National would seem to have ended up firmly in control of them.  POLITIK has obtained a private memo to members of Infrastructure NZ yesterday, which shows that the peak organisation for infrastructure sees  National MPs Chris ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 week ago
  • At a glance – Evidence for global warming
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    1 week ago
  • Who’s Driving The Right-Wing Bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In ...
    1 week ago

  • PISA results show urgent need to teach the basics
    With 2022 PISA results showing a decline in achievement, Education Minister Erica Stanford is confident that the Coalition Government’s 100-day plan for education will improve outcomes for Kiwi kids.  The 2022 PISA results show a significant decline in the performance of 15-year-old students in maths compared to 2018 and confirms ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    15 hours ago
  • Collins leaves for Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins today departed for New Caledonia to attend the 8th annual South Pacific Defence Ministers’ meeting (SPDMM). “This meeting is an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security matters and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Pacific,” Judith Collins says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Working for Families gets cost of living boost
    Putting more money in the pockets of hard-working families is a priority of this Coalition Government, starting with an increase to Working for Families, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “We are starting our 100-day plan with a laser focus on bringing down the cost of living, because that is what ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme scrapped
    The Government has axed the $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme championed by the previous government, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says. “This hugely wasteful project was pouring money down the drain at a time when we need to be reining in spending and focussing on rebuilding the economy and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • NZ welcomes further pause in fighting in Gaza
    New Zealand welcomes the further one-day extension of the pause in fighting, which will allow the delivery of more urgently-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of more hostages, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. “The human cost of the conflict is horrific, and New Zealand wants to see the violence ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Condolences on passing of Henry Kissinger
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters today expressed on behalf of the New Zealand Government his condolences to the family of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has passed away at the age of 100 at his home in Connecticut. “While opinions on his legacy are varied, Secretary Kissinger was ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Backing our kids to learn the basics
    Every child deserves a world-leading education, and the Coalition Government is making that a priority as part of its 100-day plan. Education Minister Erica Stanford says that will start with banning cellphone use at school and ensuring all primary students spend one hour on reading, writing, and maths each day. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • US Business Summit Speech – Regional stability through trade
    I would like to begin by echoing the Prime Minister’s thanks to the organisers of this Summit, Fran O’Sullivan and the Auckland Business Chamber.  I want to also acknowledge the many leading exporters, sector representatives, diplomats, and other leaders we have joining us in the room. In particular, I would like ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Keynote Address to the United States Business Summit, Auckland
    Good morning. Thank you, Rosemary, for your warm introduction, and to Fran and Simon for this opportunity to make some brief comments about New Zealand’s relationship with the United States.  This is also a chance to acknowledge my colleague, Minister for Trade Todd McClay, Ambassador Tom Udall, Secretary of Foreign ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • India New Zealand Business Council Speech, India as a Strategic Priority
    Good morning, tēnā koutou and namaskar. Many thanks, Michael, for your warm welcome. I would like to acknowledge the work of the India New Zealand Business Council in facilitating today’s event and for the Council’s broader work in supporting a coordinated approach for lifting New Zealand-India relations. I want to also ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Coalition Government unveils 100-day plan
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out the Coalition Government’s plan for its first 100 days from today. “The last few years have been incredibly tough for so many New Zealanders. People have put their trust in National, ACT and NZ First to steer them towards a better, more prosperous ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago
  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 weeks ago

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