corruption
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Bon moat
Written By: - Date published: 5:19 am, August 4th, 2009 - 40 comments
We’ve been puzzling over how Bludger Bill can be spending all the $920 a week he is rorting for living in his family home in Wellington on an allowance meant for out of town ministers. I mean, $920 is a crap load of money. If a solo mum can eke by on $200 a week […]
Do as I say, not as I do
Written By: - Date published: 11:59 am, August 3rd, 2009 - 38 comments
What gets me is the entitlement mentality from these senior members of Key’s government. Exactly the same mentality they claim afflicts ‘bludgers’ who get benefits and public servants. Their only response is ‘I’m entitled. I’m not breaking the rules’ English won’t even dip into his $276,700 salary to pay for his own family home. If […]
Something dodgy in Dipton
Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, August 3rd, 2009 - 102 comments
Bill English is unrepentant over his $47,000 a year rort of the ministers’ Wellington accommodation allowance. He is claiming the allowance, which is intended to compensate non-Wellington-based ministers for the cost of accommodation in the city due to their ministerial duties, for living in his family home in Karori. This exploitation of the system for […]
What goes around…
Written By: - Date published: 5:10 am, August 3rd, 2009 - 53 comments
Paula Bennett appears to have broken the law in releasing private information on members of the public who were critical of National’s “ambitious” cutting of the Training Incentive Allowance. Bennett says she did this to “round out the story”. John Key is “comfortable” with this abuse of power, so presumably now the law doesn’t matter, […]
Double standards
Written By: - Date published: 1:52 pm, August 2nd, 2009 - 45 comments
Paula Bennett has claimed nearly $22,000 in six months for her Wellington accommodation. That’s more, just for a second home Bennett uses maybe half the time, than Natahsa Fuller whose personal details she illegally released in a effort to embarrass her into silence gets in total to raise her three daughters – two of whom have chronic medical conditions. […]
Snouts in the trough
Written By: - Date published: 1:50 pm, August 1st, 2009 - 161 comments
NZPA reports: Taxpayers are contributing nearly $1000 a week to allow deputy prime minister Bill English to live in his own million-dollar Wellington home. According to the title, the Karori home was bought by Mr English and his wife, Mary, for $800,000 in 2003. However, in March this year the title was transferred to Mrs […]
Wee gripes: doublethink
Written By: - Date published: 11:32 pm, July 30th, 2009 - 31 comments
If you read Kiwiblog or listen to talkback radio (basically the same thing – smart guy baiting reactionaries for his political ends) then you’ll have noticed the latest line on Bennett. It boils down to ‘remember how Labour did similar things to Bennett? Like Dalziel and that Sri Lankan girl. They were bad and evil […]
Horrific and ugly
Written By: - Date published: 5:50 am, July 30th, 2009 - 19 comments
That’s what Bennett is calling the Right’s attacks on the women she released confidential information about. As if she didn’t know that would happen. As if she didn’t know that releasing this information on what seems like large amounts of money when you don’t have the facts would send every knuckle-dragging redneck, reactionary in the […]
Apologists
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, July 29th, 2009 - 58 comments
Picture this: Anchor “and now we go live to whatsherface outside the High Court in Christchurch to tell us the latest in the Weatherston trial” Whatsherface “the prosecution is saying that Weatherston committed a grave breach of the Crimes Act but, look, I know of this other guy who killed someone and he was never […]
Beware of unbridled government
Written By: - Date published: 6:53 am, July 29th, 2009 - 33 comments
‘Beware’ that was Mary Wilson’s conclusion to her interview with Paula Bennett yesterday. The audio is here: Beware of Bully Bennett – Beware that if you voice any opposition to a government policy and the minister decides it has been going on too long or it’s too damaging, they will release confidental information on you. – […]
Privileges complaints laid
Written By: - Date published: 10:56 am, July 8th, 2009 - 12 comments
A number of poor performing ministers like Paula Bennett, Kate Wilkinson, Anne Tolley, Pita Sharples, Tariana Turia, Rodney Hide, Pansy Wong, and Key himself, have tried to extradite themselves from sticky situations in the House by lying. It was only a matter of time until one of them lied so blatantly that a privileges complaint was […]
It’s not your government, it’s his
Written By: - Date published: 8:56 am, July 8th, 2009 - 12 comments
From Key’s post-Cabinet press conference: Journo: You don’t believe that the public have a right to know why a minister in cabinet would suddenly be booted out of cabinet and resign? Key: No. So, there you have it. This isn’t your government anymore. It’s his. You had the right to know under every previous government. […]
Worth asking
Written By: - Date published: 3:55 pm, July 5th, 2009 - 23 comments
What a world where a supposed journalist writes this: The trouble is Key’s desire to be reasonable. Despite his intention to say no more about his reasons for losing confidence in Worth, he keeps responding to the media interrogation and seems unable to draw a line under the question. The best approach would be, simply […]
Elucidate
Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, July 3rd, 2009 - 28 comments
The woman has dropped her criminal complaint over Worth. Says she is satisfied now the scumbag has lost his career. Police are expected to drop the investigation. Now, can we (pretty please) know why a minister in our government lost his job? Can Key, just for a day, pretend to give a damn about transparency […]
The truth will out
Written By: - Date published: 10:11 am, June 24th, 2009 - 28 comments
Key’s excuse for not telling Parliament why he lost confidence in Richard Worth is that it isn’t in the public interest to say. So let’s think about this ‘public interest’ excuse. ‘Public interest’ is very rarely used; Trevor Mallard said he can think of two other times it has been invoked during his time in […]
The scandal that wasn’t there and the one that was
Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, June 19th, 2009 - 15 comments
The Herald really really wants to uncover an expenses scandal like in the UK. Think of the fun they could have. But they’re not finding anything for two reasons: 1) our expenses system is much tighter than the UK’s 2) MPs in the UK are paid £67,000, not much by London standards, while the $131,000 […]
Thursday theorisin’
Written By: - Date published: 12:01 am, June 18th, 2009 - 15 comments
Great quote from Gordon Campbell: “Faced with the dying embers of the Richard Worth scandal at his press conference John Key reached for gasoline” By being secretive, Key has given members of the media a huge incentive to be the first to find out the secret and publish it. Journalists and media outlets get their kudos […]
Trust me, I’m the Prime Minister
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, June 17th, 2009 - 30 comments
Some thoughts on Key’s continuing refusal to tell us why he fired Worth. First, it’s tautological to say that a Prime Minister fired a minister because he lost confidence in him. The statement provides no new information. Second, it is completely irrelevant that Worth is no longer an MP. The questions are about Key’s decisions […]
Questionable
Written By: - Date published: 2:28 pm, June 13th, 2009 - 20 comments
I was shocked, shocked, when I pulled up Kiwiblog just now and there wasn’t a long post of quotes by political commentators on how St John had slain the evil Worth interspersed with ‘indeed’. Instead, there was a long post of quotes from the Herald on juries interspersed with ‘indeed’. I quickly discovered why. Worth’s resignation has not […]
Let’s avoid an expenses side-show
Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, June 11th, 2009 - 30 comments
Most people with an interest in politics will have heard about the expenses scandal in the UK. Their system allowed rorts of all shapes and sizes to take place – MPs’ expenses were not questioned because they were Honourable Members. Intense scrutiny has proved quite a few of them otherwise. Could this be happening here? […]
A few facts unpin a lot of spin
Written By: - Date published: 1:06 am, June 10th, 2009 - 108 comments
The Tories are throwing all the muck they can at Goff. Trying to get him to back off on the Worth thing. Their latest is that Labour is spinning out this presentation of texts to Key to drag the issue out. Thought I would take a leaf out of Eddie’s book and do a timeline. Clear it […]
Should Key have appointed Worth at all?
Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, June 7th, 2009 - 104 comments
On Q+A this morning, Phil Goff was asked by Paul Holmes for more detail on why John Key wasn’t surprised when he took the sexual harassment complaint against Richard Worth to him. According to Goff, Key said that he had been aware of rumours of similar activity by Worth and that was one reason why […]
Wait, didn’t he say ‘women’?
Written By: - Date published: 10:51 am, June 6th, 2009 - 50 comments
There’s still a lot of confusion on the Right, in particular, about the sequence of events in the Worth saga, so I’ve tried to reconstruct it below (btw, thanks to John Armstrong for using his time machine and advising us “The [Dover] Samuels case had negligible impact on the new [Labour-led] government’s subsequent fortunes. The same […]
Looking forward to the weekend
Written By: - Date published: 8:24 pm, June 5th, 2009 - 31 comments
Will be fun to read the Armstrongs, Rolstons, Laws, Holmes, Hooton and the other assorted rightwingers that besmirch our weekend papers. See them desperately to turn Key’s handling of Worth’s philandering into an attack on Goff. There will be claims that Goff made the harassment issue public. When it was Key on Wednesday afternoon. They […]
Time for a change
Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, June 5th, 2009 - 112 comments
Sorry for the long post. This is my transcript of John Key’s interview with Mary Wilson on Checkpoint last night. It’s just incredible. Key obviously shielded Worth with a *nudge* *wink* ‘investigation’ into the sexual harassment complaint and his now trying to cover his own arse. I’ve added my own comments in italics and taken […]
Question time
Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, June 4th, 2009 - 44 comments
John Key’s making a real hash of this latest Worth scandal. There was the secretive way he went about things yesterday, which is just not acceptable from a Prime Minister in New Zealand. He wasted several opportunities to correct his mistake and give full details during the day. Yet the story is still coming out. […]
Lee down, under; about to be reborn
Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, May 14th, 2009 - 34 comments
Melissa Lee’s recent interviews on Q+A, TV1, TV3 and RNZ proved once and for all that being able to read an autocue doesn’t mean you’re any good at handling the media. When Lee put her hand up to rob the hapless Ravi Musuku of any chance of ever being rewarded for standing in Mt Albert, I […]
The Nats’ campaign vid that you and I paid for
Written By: - Date published: 2:14 pm, May 13th, 2009 - 54 comments
I figure the very least the Nats could do after spending our money on their asian-voter campaign video is to share it with us. Strangely, I couldn’t find it on the National Party website as referenced by last night’s Campbell Live piece. Fortunately the YouTube user “NationalAsianTeam” still has their copy up – it’s embedded […]
Worth the while?
Written By: - Date published: 12:26 pm, May 12th, 2009 - 17 comments
We got a guest post a fortnight ago that we keep meaning to put up with the title “Worth fails to cock-up for a week, apologises to PM”. Lucky we didn’t speak too soon. The background is this. Chris Hipkins, like any good MP does, has been asking written questions to the minister for his […]
Hide on his way to Privileges Committee?
Written By: - Date published: 5:32 am, May 8th, 2009 - 44 comments
Has Rodney Hide breached privilege by seriously misleading the House? This is one for you legal types out there but from a layperson’s perspective it looks like it. Here’s what happened (the full transcripts are below): On Wednesday, Phil Twyford (or Twif-ford as Hide insists on calling him) asked Hide whether “he has costed the super-city proposal outlined […]
Worth mired in corruption again
Written By: - Date published: 7:34 pm, April 16th, 2009 - 36 comments
(click the picture for the video) Why would Worth visit the Sandhu family to whom he was a stranger and who had nothing to do with his portfolio? What did he say to them? Why would he introduce himself as the Minister of Internal Affairs to the family? And why would he lie about that to the media? […]
- Daily crossword, Wednesday 13 November
The post Daily crossword, Wednesday 13 November appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago - The politics of saying sorry
Comment: Christopher Luxon had the least baggage of almost anyone in senior positions in Parliament, going into his national apology for the abuse of children in state care.He just hadn’t been there. He only came into Parliament in 2020, became National’s leader in 2021 and Prime Minister in late 2023.The ...1 week ago
- A lot of talk but little help for Fijians facing rising sea levels
At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa this year, climate change was high on the agenda, the big talking point for politicians and NGOs.After spending a week there, hearing how Pacific Island nations were worst affected, The Detail’s Sharon Brettkelly went to Fiji to see what was being ...1 week ago
- Xero hits record high on hopes of boost from pro-business Trump
Xero has its sights set on the large, but more competitive, US market The post Xero hits record high on hopes of boost from pro-business Trump appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago
- Face-off against surveillance
Opinion: We are constantly being watched and recorded. Thanks to the proliferation of AI facial recognition technologies we are being watched even more: on the street, in the bank, in shopping malls, on public transport, at the supermarket check-out, even our phones are likely watching us. Are AI facial recognition ...1 week ago
- Where are we all going? Our population trends in 10 charts
Opinion: The shape of NZ’s changing regional population profile is always a popular point of discussion. Since we wrote on it last year, population growth has peaked and turned rapidly lower. Here, we take another tour of the regions to see how this slowing has been experienced, and what the impacts ...1 week ago
- Is there a worse way of discussing one of NZ’s founding documents?
Opinion: The select committee needs to call for submissions from people who have constitutional, legal and Indigenous rights expertise The post Is there a worse way of discussing one of NZ’s founding documents? appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago
- The Treaty Principles Bill
Human Rights Commission’s Tino Rangatiratanga leaderJulia Whaipooti explains what has been happening. ...1 week ago - Survivors Must Receive Redress To Have The Opportunity To Heal: Save The Children
Today’s vision shared of New Zealand is of an Aotearoa where every child has their rights understood, respected and upheld ensuring they live good lives now and have a bright future to look forward to. ...1 week ago
- Govt Axes Specialist Māori Body Advising Pharmac Without Consulting Māori
"This is another sad indictment of the priority the National-led Government places on improving the health of Māori," said Fleur Fitzsimons, Assistant Secretary for Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi Public Service Association. ...1 week ago
- An Apology For The Apology? Blind Survivor Deplores Use Of Ableist Slur By Prime Minister At Histori...
“The phrase "turn a blind eye" is an inherently ableist expression that wrongly equates blindness with ignorance, neglect, or deliberate stupidity. This phrase reinforces the dangerous & outdated stereotype that blind people are less perceptive, capable, ...1 week ago
- Care Experienced Young People Say Apology Means Nothing Without Action
The apologies seemed sincere, but amongst those listening there was disappointment that there is still no redress system; and a sense that unless the apology is followed by action the words will seem hollow. ...1 week ago
- A day when sorry seemed to be the easiest word
A historic day and national apology left survivors wanting more The post A day when sorry seemed to be the easiest word appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago
- Ara Taiohi Calls For Abuse Apology To Be Backed Up By Rangatahi-centred Policies
We must build back better, build a system with rangatahi at its very centre. The legacy of this government will be measured by their ability to respond appropriately, to create a physically safe and emotionally nurturing environment for children and ...1 week ago
- Three rooms, one apology: Survivors gather across the motu for abuse in care reckoning
Joel MacManus reports from parliament as the prime minister delivers the national apology for abuse in state care, while Lyric Waiwiri-Smith in Auckland and Alex Casey in Christchurch join survivors watching the livestream. ‘It’s not enough’ – Wellington As Andrew Bridgman, the acting chief executive of Oranga Tamariki, began the ...1 week ago - ‘The room was aching’: Survivors in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch gather for apology
Joel MacManus reports from parliament as the prime minister delivers the national apology for abuse in state care, while Lyric Waiwiri-Smith in Auckland and Alex Casey in Christchurch join survivors watching the livestream. As Andrew Bridgman, the acting chief executive of Oranga Tamariki, began the speeches at the national apology ...1 week ago
- Hollow Apology Fails To Resonate With Survivors
Today, the Government had an historic and monumental opportunity to start righting decades of wrongs against survivors. Unfortunately, the Government has yet again let down survivors who placed their trust in it. ...1 week ago
- TOAH-NNEST Rejects Choice Of Parliament For State Apology – True Reckoning Is Concrete Reform &...
The national network says the government should have chosen direct engagement at the flaxroots outlining concrete, meaningful actions for survivor restoration and systemic prevention to ensure this never happens again. ...1 week ago
- Home Education: The Baker whānau
Home Education follows the everyday lives of six families in Aotearoa educating their children at home. Today, education among whales and horses with the Baker whānau. The new docuseries Home Education is filmed across Aotearoa, in and around the homes of six families who have taken schooling outside ...1 week ago
- Great news: New Zealand’s favourite TV show about trucks driving very slowly is back
Tara Ward watches the return of Moving Houses. Seasons change, flowers bloom and bath water grows cold, but one thing never alters: the pulling power of a house on the back of a truck. Moving Houses returned to TVNZ for its third season on Sunday night, and with it a ...1 week ago
- The Baker whānau | Home Education | The Spinoff
“Family is always first” | Watch the full series: http://thespinoff.co.nz/videos/home-education 🐋 When a whale washed up on Tokomaru Bay, Israel and Petrina Baker decided it was important to take time out of school so that their tamariki could learn how to harvest the taonga. Truancy officers were not too pleased, ...1 week ago
- Review: Inside Mystery Festival, Auckland’s most secretive concert
Does a slightly dodgy gimmick make for a majorly shit music festival? As Lyric Waiwiri-Smith finds out, not necessarily. To have entered Auckland’s Mystery Festival on Saturday, you needed stamina, a fondness for drum and bass, break-neck-speed head bopping, a pair of jorts or those ruched Glassons short shorts and, ...1 week ago
- Takatāpui, Rainbow & MVPFAFF+ Survivors Lead Aotearoa’s Journey Toward Truth & Reconcilia...
The research from Takatāpui, Rainbow, and MVPFAFF+ survivors also highlights the urgent need to end State control over children’s care decisions, advocating instead for empowering whānau with the necessary support and resources to provide appropriate ...1 week ago
- The cost of being: A disabled beneficiary who often has to spend bus money on food
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a ‘skint’ 32-year-old on the supported living payment explains how she gets by. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here. Gender: Trans woman. Age: 32. Ethnicity: Pākehā. Role: Long-term ...1 week ago
- Minister Using Extraordinary Power Shows Need For Fair Pay Offer At NZDF As Strike Continues
PSA members who are civilian workers escalated industrial action last week after NZDF refused to budge from a zero-pay rise offered during negotiations for a new collective agreement. ...1 week ago
- “The Beginning Of A New Chapter” – Care Experienced Rangatahi Hope Landmark Apology Will Signa...
VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai has been advocating for care experienced rangatahi since 2017, and CEO Tracie Shipton hopes the apology will mark the start of a new and better chapter for care in Aotearoa. ...1 week ago
- A national apology and what’s left unsaid
Government agency and political leaders will apologise today for decades of historic abuse in state care, writes Duncan Greive in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...1 week ago
- COP29: US climate envoy denounces Trump denialism
Analysis from Azerbaijan: A last small gasp of US climate leadership is drowned out by other countries rushing to fill the void The post COP29: US climate envoy denounces Trump denialism appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago
- COP29: The last gasp of American climate leadership
Analysis from Azerbaijan: US climate envoy denounces President-elect Donald Trump’s climate denialism The post COP29: The last gasp of American climate leadership appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago
- What is Cop29? A beginner’s guide to the big climate summit in Baku
Is the global conference more than just a gabfest, and what is it doing in Azerbaijan? What is Cop and why is it 29? Cop is the “conference of the parties” – that is, the 197 parties that have ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change born out ...1 week ago
- The new stalking law, explained
Legislation that will make stalking illegal will be introduced to parliament before the end of the year. Here’s everything you need to know. Hang on – is stalking currently legal? It’s complicated. A lot of the behaviours that constitute stalking, like sending abusive messages and threatening violence, are already offences ...1 week ago
- Climate summit fails to launch as countries battle over agenda
The summit in Baku, Azerbaijan has got off to a less-than-auspicious start – COP29 delegates have failed even to agree an agenda for the meeting after more than seven hours of deliberations.Behind closed doors, countries are debating how to carry forward COP28’s pledge to transition away from fossil fuels, the ...1 week ago
- Inglis’ unorthodox path to the top
Watching her White Ferns colleagues in the biggest match of their lives should have been straightforward for Otago Sparks wicketkeeper/batter Polly Inglis, but as events unfolded, she was in danger of being left in the dark as the T20 World Cup final reached its closing stages.“Lauren [Down, White Ferns batter] ...1 week ago
- Why Germany’s traffic light coalition got stuck on red
Opinion: What began with a staged image of unity, ended with a piece of political theatre The post Why Germany’s traffic light coalition got stuck on red appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago
- The case for feeding our 5 million first, before first tonne is exported
How can we claim to be a healthy, nutritious, sustainable food producer for the world when we fall short at home? The post The case for feeding our 5 million first, before first tonne is exported appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 12 November
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, Tuesday 12 November appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago
- Deepfake porn showing up in New Zealand classrooms
Artificial Intelligence has gone bad in our classrooms.A new trend is emerging called pornographic deepfakes, created by students, of students. It’s increasing. And it’s devastating.“They look real… whilst the individual knows they are not… they are pretty accurate, and this brings a sense of shame and embarrassment to the victim, ...1 week ago
- Daily crossword, Tuesday 12 November
The post Daily crossword, Tuesday 12 November appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago
- A stony silence in Te Awamutu
In 1982 my wife, Amala, and I returned to Auckland after studying mask and movement at the Scuola Nuova Scena in Bologna. Soon after arriving we formed the performing duo, The Humanimals. With assistance from the QEII Arts Council, as it was then called, we toured New Zealand and Australia ...1 week ago
- Parody and satire bill would allow us to safely poke fun at the world
Analysis: The Green Party’s Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill would be a welcome change to New Zealand’s copyright law. The bill was pulled out of the ballot late last week. It aims to allow comedians to use copyright protected material to poke fun at the world. Lampooning our politicians, designing memes that ...1 week ago
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