treasury
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Even more proof that Conservatives are not good economic managers
Written By: - Date published: 11:44 am, September 29th, 2022 - 61 comments
There has been this carefully crafted illusion that conservative politicians are somehow better with the finances than progressive politicians. Recent events in the United Kingdom suggest that this illusion is terribly misplaced.
The Goldilocks budget
Written By: - Date published: 9:25 am, May 20th, 2022 - 24 comments
How was the 2022 budget? Was it the worst since Ruth Richardson’s mother of all budgets or the best since the first Labour Government gave everyone a Christmas bonus in 1935?
Act’s scorched earth proposal
Written By: - Date published: 12:29 pm, May 11th, 2022 - 41 comments
Act has publicly released its proposal to decimate the state should it have a say in the next Government. Its Real Change Alternative Budget may be wet dream inducing for Ayn Rand acolytes but for the rest of us the proposals should instill a deep sense of dread.
The country’s books are in remarkably good shape
Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, December 16th, 2021 - 79 comments
As the country rebounds out of partial lockdown the Treasury’s recently released half yearly Economic and Fiscal update suggests that the Country’s accounts are in remarkably good shape.
The end of Ruthenasia
Written By: - Date published: 8:03 am, May 21st, 2021 - 61 comments
National presented a particularly glum picture in Parliament yesterday. And it was not only the realisation that Judith Collins is out of her depth. It was because this budget spells the end of Ruthenasia.
Government Control at Air New Zealand
Written By: - Date published: 7:12 am, April 14th, 2021 - 67 comments
The New Zealand government has just increased its loan to Air New Zealand to a $1.5 billion total, and there’s a catch.
The Very, Very Lucky Country
Written By: - Date published: 8:18 am, February 17th, 2021 - 5 comments
While Australia is rightly branded The Lucky Country, it looks like we can reasonably be called the Very, Very Lucky Country.
Must New Zealand Pay Back All This Public Debt?
Written By: - Date published: 9:34 am, December 20th, 2020 - 22 comments
Without much fanfare, Minister Robertson has used 2020’s crisis to bury the historic scourge of monetarism and within it the excuses of the governments that used it as a pretext to sell off our key government income generators.
Things that will live
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, June 19th, 2020 - 14 comments
Despite downbeat economic predictions and an imminent global recession, the New Zealand recovery offers opportunities for entrepreneurial success that exceed anything we’ve seen for decades.
dear sysop: on covid-19 debt
Written By: - Date published: 3:33 pm, April 25th, 2020 - 60 comments
We put in guest posts occasionally. These days I’m the person who runs the email account and sees the general ones. Mostly I don’t give any feedback as much as anything else because a lack of time. But I should. This is the first to get that editorial attention. The topic itself is worth discussing. What is the process of raising debt for the cobid-19 economic response.
National created more working groups than Labour
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, January 18th, 2020 - 31 comments
The Herald has reported that National in its first two years of Government created *more* working groups than Labour.
Labour’s infrastructure spend announcement
Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, December 1st, 2019 - 35 comments
Is the Government commitment to the budget responsibility rules weakening? Because at the Labour Party Conference Grant Robertson has indicated that the Government will shortly announce a big capital spend on infrastructure.
Common-wealth Government
Written By: - Date published: 8:14 am, November 18th, 2019 - 16 comments
Advantage is testing an idea out. What will a common accountability framework for the government look like?
Should the Government spend massively more?
Written By: - Date published: 3:18 pm, August 8th, 2019 - 58 comments
With yesterday’s announcement by the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates by 1%, some are suggesting that the government should embark on a massive public works spree to stimulate the economy while increasing national debt at low interest rates. But Kiwisaver reform may be more effective.
Farewell Mr Makhlouf
Written By: - Date published: 12:39 pm, June 13th, 2019 - 46 comments
Gabriel Makhlouf will be remembered because of events surrounding the unauthorised access of Treasury information by National. History should result in him being remembered for more positive things, like the creation of a new framework that has restructured how the government spends public money from the ground up.
The Attack of the Snowflakes
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, June 4th, 2019 - 119 comments
National is playing the innocent victim of Budgetgate whilst being the aggressive attacker all along.
The Reserve Bank Reform Bill
Written By: - Date published: 7:23 am, December 7th, 2018 - 11 comments
The Government is planning changes to the Reserve Bank Act to require it to seek full employment. Maybe it is time for a dramatic change to its powers so that it has the regulatory powers to properly deal with the Australian banks.
Public Service Reform
Written By: - Date published: 4:30 pm, September 6th, 2018 - 27 comments
For a country the size of Melbourne, we have a ridiculously complex state, and this layer of accountablility is largely a complete waste of our taxpayer money and degrades our agency as citizens. Can we do better?
Australia and New Zealand budget days
Written By: - Date published: 7:47 am, May 7th, 2018 - 23 comments
Isn’t it time we at least synchronized the New Zealand budget with the Australian budget?
Does this Government have the money to deliver?
Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, April 30th, 2018 - 76 comments
I’m sure all revealed at Budget 2018, but the financial management of this government is not surefooted.
Why be a public servant?
Written By: - Date published: 1:16 pm, July 20th, 2017 - 28 comments
Today thousands of IRD workers face the prospect of losing their jobs while two MOT workers who lost their jobs for whistle blowing are vindicated. Who would be a public servant?
Debt to Income Loan Limits
Written By: - Date published: 7:56 am, June 15th, 2017 - 116 comments
The possible introduction of debt to income lending ratios will potentially have an enormous effect on New Zealand’s housing market.
Key’s Blind Trust vs Our Blind Faith
Written By: - Date published: 4:19 pm, April 29th, 2016 - 29 comments
So Key’s lawyer reckons the PM directly requested that trust industry leaders lobby the Revenue Minister. On the other hand, PM DunnoKeyo reckons he did no such thing. That leaves some really big questions …
Who is ultimately responsible for NZ’s massive dairy farm debt?
Written By: - Date published: 1:11 pm, March 12th, 2016 - 82 comments
People talk of excessive borrowing in the dairy sector. Of course, the real problem is that of excessive lending.
The great big list of John Key’s big fat lies (UPDATED)
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, January 27th, 2016 - 79 comments
How many more lies will John Key tell today in his so-called State of the Nation address? Virtual chocolate fish to whomever guesses the closest number.
Nats failing Christchurch and lashing out at Treasury
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, December 1st, 2015 - 128 comments
A Treasury report calls the Christchurch rebuild plan “unachievable”. Gerry Brownlee immediately springs in to action – attacking Treasury. Christchurch deserves better than this…
In face of share market meltdown, Govt’s options limited
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, August 26th, 2015 - 55 comments
John Key says New Zealand has options in the face of a share market meltdown and is not like Greece (well that’s a relief). Simon Louisson asks how real are John Key’s options? Thanks to this Government’s profligate past spending, including irresponsible tax cuts, our options have narrowed drastically.
National literally want to hide the costs of inaction on climate change
Written By: - Date published: 6:45 am, May 20th, 2015 - 134 comments
We the people only learned of Treasury projections on the costs of inaction on climate change (up to $52 billion) because someone screwed up a redacted document. We were never meant to know. And National’s Minister for Climate Change Issues statement on the matter is that Treasury should have done a better job of hiding this vital information from the public.
Polity: Income mobility
Written By: - Date published: 12:43 pm, November 21st, 2014 - 17 comments
David Farrar seldom seems to actually read the reports fully before he starts inventing meaningless canards. A theoretical equality of opportunity is irrelevant when your parent’s lack of disposable income is the major determinant of your own education and opportunities. We waste the opportunities from peoples abilities because of income inequalities.
Hiding the government’s failure on poverty
Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, October 17th, 2014 - 81 comments
Thanks to Radio New Zealand, we now know that National got no real plan to address poverty, but also that they really, really don’t want to be honest about it.
Polity: Mr Angry tries to reheat 2011 campaign
Written By: - Date published: 12:31 pm, August 11th, 2014 - 13 comments
Steven Joyce is asking about how Labour can afford their policies. Half of the money is what National is planning to spend unwisely. The rest is from documented increases in revenue in a fiscal plan. Unlike National’s mythic surplus, these are solid values. They will produce a solid surplus to pay down National’s debt.
- A Strange Hill To Die On.
Last Stand? Has Labour’s caucus chosen the Government’s deeply unpopular Three Waters policy as the hill upon which it will stand and die? And, if that is the case, then – why?CURIA RESEARCH recently conducted a poll in the Napier electorate. Bad news for Stuart Nash, the Labour incumbent, whose ...4 hours ago - 2022 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 20, 2022 thru Sat, Nov 26, 2022. Story of the Week The Art at COP27 Offered Opportunities to Move Beyond ‘Empty Words’ In Egypt, visitors encountered creative works about climate anxiety, sustainability ...8 hours ago - Revisiting the Big Three of Weird Tales: H.P. Lovecraft, C.A. Smith, and R.E. Howard
My October 2022 reading was marked by a reacquaintance with old-school Pulp Fantasy and Horror, specifically a binge through the collected works of H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard. Two of those three are still well-known names among fantasy readers, but in the first half of ...21 hours ago - Open Government: Another farce
Yesterday the government released its draft Fourth Open Government Partnership National Action Plan 2023-24 for consultation. Like previous versions, the plan was meant to be "co-created" with civil society. And like previous versions, that obligation seems to have been observed mainly in the breach, with the government conducting a series ...2 days ago - The Crypto Casino
Financial activity is too often gambling. Cryptocurrencies are the latest example.Gambling is a zero sum game: the proceeds of the winners are offset by the losses of the losers. That statement is not quite true because typically there is someone between taking a margin on each transaction. Patrons leave a ...2 days ago - Bryce Edwards: Why Labour capitulated on hate speech laws
The Labour Government is currently fighting on multiple fronts that threaten its popularity in the run-up to next year’s election. Therefore, when a call had to be made about whether to push through divisive and poorly-designed hate speech laws, there really was no decision for Justice Minister Kiri Allan to ...2 days ago - Josh Van Veen: Wayne Brown’s first monthWayne Brown has been Mayor for a month, and already he has done more to change Auckland than Phil Goff did in six years. The changes began even before Brown was sworn in. Only hours after the election results were announced on 8 October, the Chair of Auckland Transport Adrienne ...2 days ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47 2022Open access notables: Web bulb temperatures verging on unsurvivable are creeping into our world and heading toward familiar. That's the lesson we can infer from Dong-Quan & Sun's Effects of anthropogenic forcing and atmospheric circulation on the record-breaking welt bulb heat event over southern China in September 2021. Analyzing an event including 32.8°C the authors find: ...3 days ago
- An engineered recession is class warfareThe Reserve Bank has just come out and admitted that they are engineering a recession to protect the rich: The Reserve Bank is deliberately engineering a recession to reign back inflation after being slow to raise interest rates, Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr admitted to a select committee on ...3 days ago
- That’s no how you do democracyLast night, the English Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish government cannot hold an independence referendum. Having said that Scotland is not a colony, they then turned around and effectively said that they are, by forbidding them from holding a democratic vote on their own constitutional arrangements unless another country ...3 days ago
- Gordon Campbell on the centre-right’s internal ructions
For donkey’s years, political commentary has been all about the binaries: left/right, Labour/National, government/opposition, she said/he said. Yet currently, a lot of the fascinating conflict is occurring amidst the centre-right. That’s because National, ACT and New Zealand First all happen to be fishing in the same pond for cranky and ...3 days ago - Bryce Edwards: Politicians and the Reserve Bank are being blamed for an escalating economic crisisWill the looming economic recession kill off Labour’s re-election chances? Is the Reserve Bank making things worse? And could a National Government do any better? These are some of the big political questions floating around after the full extent of the economy’s plight was made clear by the Reserve Bank ...3 days ago
- Josephine Varghese: From Obama to Sunak–do representational milestones mean anything more than sym...New Zealand media have recently discussed two major representational milestones in politics. Firstly, New Zealand Parliament achieving 50% women’s representation with the induction of Labour list MP Soraya Peke-Mason. Secondly, Rishi Sunak becoming the UK’s first non-White Prime Minister. Major media outlets have been celebrating these events as watershed moments ...3 days ago
- Gustavo Petro and the Civic – Military Campaigns
Gearóid Ó Loingsigh looks at the new government in Colombia and how it talks of peace while increasing militarisation The Petro–Márquez government is one which proposes to bring us to what they term Total Peace. The term and the proposal as such have been subjected to justifiable criticism, not least ...3 days ago - Labour attacks LGOIMA – in secretToday the government used urgency to introduce a new Local Government Official Information and Meetings Amendment Bill. The bulk of the bill deals with land information memorandums (LIMs), requiring local authorities to notify of natural hazards and granting them immunity for doing so in good faith (hopefully forestalling lawsuits by ...4 days ago
- Climate Change: Fixing the Crown Minerals Act?Back in August, the High Court ruled that the Zero Carbon Act isn't worth shit and that the government can continue to approve new fossil fuel exploration without having to consider climate change. The core of the problem is the Crown Minerals Act, and in particular its purpose: "to promote ...4 days ago
- The True Cost
It is hard to take seriously the voices of those currently asserting that Brexit has come with a considerable economic cost. Where were those voices at the very beginning of what became the Brexit saga, when we were assured that membership of what was then the Common Market would produce ...4 days ago - Political Roundup: 23 November 2022Items of interest and importance today VOTING AGE Henry Cooke (Guardian): New Zealand’s supreme court has forced voting age on to agenda, exposing absurd arguments for status quo Henry Cooke: The only reasonable argument for retaining the voting age Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Local election voting age looks set to change ...4 days ago
- Phil Ferguson: a firsthand account of the Irish strugglePhil Ferguson is a founding editor of Redline and was a regular contributor. He has been out of action for the past year after suffering a stroke. He is learning to walk again and hoping to get back to writing. Tim Leadbeater sat down with Phil to talk about topics ...5 days ago
- The Most Pertinent Question.Why Now? As Rebecca Wright pointed out to Justice Minister, Kiritapu Allan, on Newshub Nation, a great deal of political travail could have been avoided by the Labour Government if they’d simply accepted the Royal Commission’s recommendation to extend the already existing legal protections against the incitement of racial hatred ...5 days ago
- FinallyAt the 2020 election, Labour promised to regulate property managers. Now, they're finally doing it: The Government’s announcement that rental property managers will be regulated has left the industry asking for more detail, and tenants calling for landlords to be regulated too. Regulating property managers was one of the ...5 days ago
- Young people must be allowed to vote
Let me just start out by saying that young people must be allowed to vote. Not because they are more enlightened than previous generations, but because the earlier people become voters, the more likely they will continue to participate in democracy.We have a serious problem in New Zealand with low ...5 days ago - How to counter holocaust denial – a particular type of hate speech
Plebity – a left free speech website looks at how to ‘counter hate speech with more speech’. This excellent article addresses one of the points discussed in the interview with Daniel Ben-Ami about how tolerance doesn’t mean silently allowing bad ideas or adopting a relativist outlook. WHAT DOES IT MEAN, ...5 days ago - Bryce Edwards: The High barriers to lowering the voting ageSixteen-year-olds aren’t about to get the right to vote anytime soon. Despite yesterday’s Supreme Court declaration that a voting age of 18 violates the Bill of Rights, there are still many barriers to get over before the voting age could be lowered. In fact, as a best-case scenario, youth voting ...5 days ago
- The Iran protests and the battle for Women’s RightsIn this Free Speech Union podcast Daphna Whitmore speaks with Dr Forough Amin about what’s happening in Iran after two months of growing protests across the country. Forough is a women’s rights activist and the founder of the Iranian Women in NZ Charitable Trust. Forough discusses the dire state of ...6 days ago
- The Sagas and Fairy Tales of the South Pacific: Maori Legends, as collected by Sir George Grey (1855...
As a Pakeha New Zealander who spent the majority of his school-level education in the lower North Island in the 1990s, I received a smattering of Maori cultural infusion. I learned how to count to ten in Maori, learned the names of colours, some rudiments of pronunciation from singing ...6 days ago - A victory for democracy!Today, the Supreme Court ruled on the case of Make it 16 Inc v AG, declaring that the law forbidding 16 and 17 year olds from voting was inconsistent with the right to be free from discrimination, and that it had not been justified under the BORA. Its a ...6 days ago
- Gordon Campbell on Qatar, Joyce Carol Oates and Mimi ParkerThe FIFA World Cup has kicked off amid laments about Qatar’s terrible human rights record, and FIFA’s greed in awarding them the Cup hosting rights in the first place. The criticism raining down on Qatar over its murderous treatment of migrant workers errs and its persecution of its LGBT community ...6 days ago
- Geoffrey Miller: Does New Zealand need to up its game with World Cup host Qatar?As the FIFA World Cup gets underway in Qatar, it is worth looking at the state of New Zealand’s wider relationship with the host nation. While New Zealand often likes to think of itself as a small country, it comfortably outranks Qatar in both size and population. In terms of ...6 days ago
- Elizabeth Rata: The Curriculum, intelligence, and democracyThe intelligence of the New Zealand population increased during the 20th century. Nutrition played its part but so too did education. Young people were taught the abstract knowledge of academic subjects and in the process developed secondary intelligence. Since the 1990s, the emptying out of prescribed academic knowledge from the ...6 days ago
- Where are Ukrainian refugees going? – an update
A temporary tent camp set up for Ukrainian refugees in Donetsk, in Russia’s Rostov region near the Russian-Ukrainian border, June 22, ... 7 days ago - If It Ain’t Broke, Why Fix It?Still Going Strong: Why has the Minister of Justice cobbled together a group of “progressive” academics, most of whom subscribe to the core beliefs of Māori nationalism, “decolonisation”, and te Tiriti revisionism, to “review” our political system? In the absence of any convincing evidence that our electoral machinery is “broke”, ...1 week ago
- 2022 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #47A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 13, 2022 thru Sat, Nov 19, 2022. Story of the Week Is COP27 the End of Hopes for Limiting Global Warming to 1.5 Degrees Celsius? The climate talks are going into overtime ...1 week ago
- Labour grovels to the bigotsIn the wake of the March 15 terror attack, the inquiry recommended tougher hate-speech laws. And after dragging their feet on it for a full year, the government has basicly said "fuck that": The Government has drastically watered down its hate speech reforms, Justice Minister Kiri Allan said on Saturday. ...1 week ago
- Are We in a Stagflation?
Recently, I have often been asked whether we (New Zealand or the World) are experiencing a stagflation. There is no meaningful ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. You have to define the term before deciding what is going on.Rutherford once said there were only two kinds of science: stamp collecting and physics. ...1 week ago - More police racismThe police annual report was released this month, with the usual statutory information on surveillance warrants and DNA samples. And it turns out there's some shocking evidence of racism among the latter: The proportion of youth DNA samples collected by police that belong to rangatahi Māori continues to rise, ...1 week ago
- The Political MinefieldPoor Christopher Luxon. His lack of political experience (and judgment) is constantly being highlighted – not least by his recent foray into the treatment of child criminality. So keen was he to draw attention to his assertion that “Labour is soft on crime” that he was prepared to run the ...1 week ago
- Media Link: “AVFA” on US midterms and Trump’s return.
After a small hiatus due to Covid hitting my household, Selwyn Manning and I resumed our weekly ” A View from Afar” podcast series with an analysis of the 2022 US midterm results and a look at what Trump’s decision to run for president again means for the GOP. You ...1 week ago - Bryce Edwards: National wants to brand the Govt as soft on crimeAs Government politicians put the boot into National’s bootcamp announcement yesterday, Christopher Luxon would have been celebrating. His populist announcement wasn’t only designed to scratch an electoral itch, but to cynically trap his opponents into looking soft on crime. And it probably worked. Soon after announcing his policy for bootcamps ...1 week ago
- Free Speech to fight anti-SemitismFree Speech Union member Daphna Whitmore talks with Daniel Ben-Ami, an author, and journalist based in London. His website “The Radicalism of Fools” https://www.radicalismoffools.com/ aims to develop a better understanding of anti-Semitism and its root causes. Daniel talks about different forms of anti-Semitism from the right and the left. He explains ...1 week ago
- Hello, do you know the difference? The Raytheon, Goldman Sachs Left is not the LeftThe left free speech site Plebity has published this handy chart. When you say left, you probably aren’t actually talking about the left. Find another name. Or at least understand the difference between the woke left and the traditional left which although largely silenced does still exist. Here is a ...1 week ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #46 2022Notables: Presence or absence of stabilizing Earth system feedbacks on different time scales Arnscheidt and Rothman confirm the stabilizing effect of carbonate geochemistry on Earth's climate, at least on "short" timescales. More provocatively: "We have shown that the observations are inconsistent with a dominant stabilizing feedback on the longest time scales ...1 week ago
- Gordon Campbell on the case for universal free dental careLike Banquo’s ghost, the issue of universal free dental care keeps hovering into sight at Labour’s top table. ‘Tis a goodly, progressive idea, but it is also one that’s been done in repeatedly down the years by the shafts of political expedience, some of which were fired again this week ...1 week ago
- Political Roundup: 17 November 2022Items of interest and importance today FOREIGN AFFAIRS Claire Trevett (Herald): Russia, China, a Trump comeback – PM Jacinda Ardern will face a big plate of troubles at Apec (paywalled) Thomas Manch (Stuff): Risky business: NZ seeks greater trade with Vietnam as China dependency causes concern Thomas Manch (Stuff): Prime Minister ...1 week ago
- New reports spell out climate urgency, shortfalls, needed actionsThis is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Michael Svoboda In the weeks leading up to the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, often called COP27, several organizations released major reports detailing the many difficult tasks on the climate negotiators’ agenda. Some of ...1 week ago
- Climate change: The cost of inactionA couple of days ago I highlighted National's opposition to all actual policies to reduce emissions. Now, the government has put some numbers on the cost of that, and it is staggering: nearly 24 million tons by the end of the decade: Labour says National’s promises to repeal its ...2 weeks ago
- The Facts Don’t Always Tell The Truth.2 weeks ago
- Bryce Edwards: Labour’s decaying policy on free universal dental careGrant Robertson has once again ruled out implementing a popular Labour Party policy: free universal dental care. He did so yesterday on RNZ’s Morning Report, citing the cost factor. The Acting Prime Minister suggested that spending on dental care wasn’t a priority for the Government and that the health budget ...2 weeks ago
- Grant says “no” againYesterday the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists released a report on dental care in Aotearoa, highlighting its unaffordability and recommending free, universal dental care. This is something the left has been campaigning for for a long time - Jim Anderton pushed for it before the 2011 election, and Helen Clark ...2 weeks ago
- On NZ foreign policy “independence.”For many years New Zealand elites have claimed to have an “independent” foreign policy, so much so that it has become a truism of NZ politics that transcends the partisan divide in parliament and is a shibboleth of the NZ foreign policy establishment that is parroted by media and pundits ...2 weeks ago
- Bryce Edwards: Momentum growing to reform lobbying lawsThis week global anti-corruption agency Transparency International released a report on lobbying, which described New Zealand’s lack of regulation as “glaring”. Transparency International New Zealand has developed an international comparison of New Zealand’s lobbying regulations so that MPs here can decide whether to reform this sector. Currently, a group of ...2 weeks ago
- The “Us versus Them” Worldview.Behind Closed Doors: What were the organisers of He Whenua Taurikura, the second hui called into existence by the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch mosque shootings, afraid of? Were they worried that journalists not 100 percent sympathetic to the ideals animating the hui might report ...2 weeks ago
- Don’t get fooled: Electric vehicles really are better for the climateThis is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons You may have heard the myth that electric vehicles are just as bad for the climate — or worse — than gas-powered cars and trucks. One common myth claims that the climate-warming pollution caused by manufacturing electric vehicle batteries ...2 weeks ago
- Privatisation screws the futureThere's a major report out today from 350 Aotearoa, First Union and the CTU about how National's privatisation of the electricity sector has led to entirely predictable outcomes of price gouging and underinvestment: Meridian, Mercury, Genesis and Contact Energy paid out $8.7b in dividends to shareholders between 2014 ...2 weeks ago
- Gordon Campbell on abortion politics, Murdoch and the DeSantis surgeSo the Democrats did a whole lot better than OK in the midterm elections despite the cost of living crisis and despite the President’s low approval ratings. How come? In a word, “abortion” was the key mobilising issue. It inspired many women (and some men) to register to vote. In ...2 weeks ago
- New BookI have a new book being published this month. It is entitled “What Does It Mean to Be Human?” and is an attempt to arrive at a moral code of our own making – one that will serve all our interests and those of other creatures and of the planet ...2 weeks ago
- Three Little Words!The crucial moment in the Black Ferns’ Rugby World Cup triumph came in the closing minute. The Red Roses had used a penalty to kick to the corner, and from the throw-in that followed they had clearly planned to use a rolling maul to get the ball across the line ...2 weeks ago
- Geoffrey Miller: Jacinda Ardern’s Asia trip rekindles New Zealand’s independent foreign policyNew Zealand’s independent foreign policy is back. That’s a key underlying message from Jacinda Ardern’s trip this week to Southeast Asia. The New Zealand Prime Minister attended the East Asia Summit in Cambodia over the weekend. She will head to Thailand for the APEC leaders’ meeting later in the week. ...2 weeks ago
- 2022 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #45A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 6, 2022 thru Sat, Nov 12, 2022. Story of the Week What the tiny remaining 1.5C carbon budget means for climate policy The latest estimates from the Global Carbon Project (GCP) show that total worldwide CO2 ...2 weeks ago
- David Farrier’s unsettling new documentary ‘Mister Organ’ – a film to watch through your fin...
In this age of entitled white men behaving badly, it’s common to hear the term “malignant narcissist” Anyone who’s had the misfortune to be sucked into the orbit or one of these miscreants, (let alone been obliged to, say, sue one for copyright infringement) eventually learns that the ONLY ‘exit ...2 weeks ago - The End of Neoliberalism?
Gary Gerstle’s The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era is a frustrating book. It is an impressive sweeping history of American politics and economic policy from the New Deal in the 1930s to today, predicting that we are coming to ...2 weeks ago - Phil Ferguson on radical youth politics and the Irish republican strugglePhil Ferguson is a founding editor of Redline and was a regular contributor. He has been out of action for the past year after suffering a stroke. He is learning to walk again and hoping to get back to writing. Tim Leadbeater sat down with Phil to talk about about ...2 weeks ago
- Climate Change: Submit!Farming industry groups today released a joint statement against their own proposal - as adopted by the government - to price agricultural greenhouse gas emissions at the farm level. Its a perfect example of the bad faith with which they have engaged in the entire process, and of the industry's ...2 weeks ago
- Is is the beginning of the end of the toxic Trump TV show?
In 2016 the US electorate was feeling frustrated, let down, embattled, even desperate. It was – truth be told – willing to indulge its tendency for some racism and misogyny. So it screwed up its face, held its breath and reached out for Donald Trump. The years since have been ...2 weeks ago - Political Roundup: 11 November 2022Items of interest and importance today PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT Shane Jones (Herald): Stop the forays into identity politics, de-colonisation and global posturing, St Jacinda. We must focus on economic essentials (paywalled) Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Luxon is not yet the direct threat Labour is painting him as Jo Moir (Newsroom): Luxon set ...2 weeks ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #45 2022Catastrophic reverb Kemp et al. caused prolonged ripples with their paper Climate Endgame: Exploring catastrophic climate change scenarios. One can't help but think most of the heat is emotional, not intellectual; excited critics of the paper offer little more than "this sounds scary, don't harsh our vibe." Vague and even outlandish concerrns over terminology aside, true ...2 weeks ago
- Solar panels on car parks are a no-brainerThe Guardian reports that France is going to require all large car-parks to be covered by solar panels: All large car parks in France will be covered by solar panels under new legislation approved as part of president Emmanuel Macron’s renewable energy drive. Legislation approved by the French Senate ...2 weeks ago
- Climate Change: National wants to burn the planetLast month, the National Party announced they would repeal any price on agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, effectively declaring that they would do nothing about them. Today, they've followed that up by announcing that they will repeal the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration: The National Party has reaffirmed ...2 weeks ago
- DrawnA ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill (Melissa Lee) Its a worthy but minor bill, and the best you can say about it is that at least none of National's tough-on-crime ...2 weeks ago
- Gordon Campbell on the midterms, Adrian Orr and taxing the BanksIt used to be a joke, but it seems that a lot of Republicans really might have moved to Florida to escape from the gulag of Dr Fauci. While in these midterms the “red wave” didn’t happen anywhere outside of Florida, the GOP control of the Senate will now come ...2 weeks ago
- Political Roundup: 10 November 2022Items of interest and importance today BANKING Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Why Jacinda Ardern hit out at banks (paywalled) Bernard Hickey (Interest): Open banking still two years away 1New: Open banking to make it easier to switch banks, compare rates Bridie Witton (Stuff): Government moves to introduce open banking Martien Lubberink (Newsroom): ...2 weeks ago
- Addicted to secrecyBack in July, Public Service Minister Chris Hipkins said he was concerned about the growing number of secrecy clauses excluding information from the coverage of the Official Information Act, and promised "safeguards" to limit their use in future. meanwhile, the government he is part of has just introduced another one, ...3 weeks ago
- Bryce Edwards: Will the Govt act on mega bank profits and reform the banking sector?The corporate retail banks are making mega profits on the back of Government policies and indirect subsidies of recent years. As a result, there are calls from across almost the whole political spectrum for greater regulation of the banking sector, including windfall taxes. But will outrage turn into action? Prime ...3 weeks ago
- Member’s DayToday is a Member's Day. First up is the second readings of Ginny Andersen's Crimes (Child Exploitation Offences) Amendment Bill and Deborah Russell's Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Bill. Following that, the House should complete the first reading of Duncan Webb's Companies (Directors Duties) ...3 weeks ago
- Climate change reparations – who pays?This is a re-post from the NZ Newsroom by Kevin Trenberth Climate change reparations are expected to be one of the main issues at COP27, the next round of international climate talks from November 6-18 in Egypt. Climate change reparations are a new way of looking at how to pay developing countries ...3 weeks ago
- Political parties call for action on Iran
Parties from across Parliament have come together to call on the Government to take decisive action to hold those responsible for violence and human rights violations in Iran to account. ...3 days ago - Social workers need to see pay equity immediatelyThe Green Party is welcoming today’s announcement that pay equity will be extended to more social workers, and urges the Government to work with unions to get this sorted as quickly as possible. ...3 days ago
- Case for excess profit tax on banks clearer than everThe Government should adopt an excess profits tax and use any revenue raised to help people make ends meet, following the rise in the Official Cash Rate today. ...4 days ago
- Easing the pressure on New Zealanders
Since taking office in 2017, our Government has worked hard to lift wages and make life more affordable for New Zealanders, as we move forward with our plan to create economic security for all. ...4 days ago - Crown mineral change does not go far enoughLong overdue changes to the Crown Minerals Act are a welcome step in the right direction but the Government needs to go further to end the nonsensical search for fossil fuels. ...4 days ago
- Healthy Homes for all means a WOF and Landlord RegisterThe Government’s decision to exclude landlords from property management regulations means more than half of Kiwi rentals will be left out in the cold. And, where they’re kicking the can down the road on Healthy Homes Standards, the Government falls short on the basics that a Rental Warrant of Fitness ...5 days ago
- Time to extend the voting ageThe Green Party is calling on the Government to take immediate action to lower the voting age to 16. ...6 days ago
- Supporting Kiwi kids this Children's DayOur Government has put the wellbeing of children at the heart of everything we do. As we celebrate World Children’s Day, we’re taking a look at some of the ways Labour is working to make New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child. ...1 week ago
- Hate speech change welcome, but still leaves communities at riskThe Green Party welcomes hate speech reform to protect religious groups, but is concerned that the exclusion of gender, rainbow, and disability communities sends a signal that these groups are less deserving of protection. ...1 week ago
- Young people deserve betterThe National Party’s plan to put children into military boot camps is so flawed it is dangerous. ...1 week ago
- Thousands more homes under LabourWe’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...1 week ago
- Green Party solution better for Māori voters, not deal with NationalAn agreement between Labour and National misses an historic opportunity to make our democracy more accessible for Māori voters. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt must extend Samoa visa changes to all Pacific countriesThanks to Green Party pressure, visitors from Samoa can soon travel to Aotearoa without a visa – a right that should be extended to every Pacific country. ...2 weeks ago
- A cheaper, faster, better resource management systemOur Government is delivering a new resource management system that will better protect the environment while cutting red tape, lowering costs and speeding up the time it takes to approve new homes and infrastructure projects. ...2 weeks ago
- Nature missing in RMA reformThe Government has missed a crucial opportunity to redesign the resource management system with climate and nature at its heart. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt continuing to prioritise high income earners in immigration systemThe resumption today of the parent visa category needs to be followed by an end to the Government’s unfair salary based family reunification policy. ...2 weeks ago
- Supporting more Kiwis into jobsWe’re helping more Kiwis into work, to help support whānau, grow our skilled workforce and secure our economy for future generations. During our time in Government, we’ve delivered record low unemployment rates, as well as a steady fall in the number of New Zealanders receiving a main benefit, and we’re ...2 weeks ago
- Fix electricity market to help both climate and cost of livingThe four big electricity companies should be required to reinvest massive profits into cutting both household bills and climate pollution, the Green Party says. ...2 weeks ago
- Next Waitematā Harbour crossing must be climate-friendlyThe Minister for Transport can show climate leadership and consider only the lowest carbon ways of crossing Waitematā harbour. ...2 weeks ago
- Changes needed to three waters plansGreater local oversight and control, seven instead of four entities, stormwater staying with councils, and stronger safeguards against privatisation are among the changes the Green Party wants to three waters legislation. ...2 weeks ago
- Bold action needed on food prices and supermarket profitsSupermarkets are profiteering from families struggling to put food on the table. ...2 weeks ago
- Don’t let open banking close the door on action to address excess profitOpen banking is fine but the simplest and most effective way to address record bank profits is to tax them fairly to provide relief to families struggling to get by. ...2 weeks ago
- Rainbow Report shows more needs to be done for takatāpui and Rainbow peopleThe Green Party welcomes the Rainbow report released by Stats NZ today and calls for better support for takatāpui and Rainbow people, particularly our trans and non-binary whānau. ...3 weeks ago
- Greens call on Education Minister to bring tertiary sector to the tableThe Green Party is once again calling on the Minister of Education to bring union, government officials and sector leaders together to urgently improve the pay and condition of tertiary education staff. ...3 weeks ago
- World’s first algae-based local anaesthetic another step closer to reality
A partnership between the Government and the Cawthron Institute has delivered a breakthrough in the production of a potent microalgal ingredient for the world’s first algae-based pain medication, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced. “Scientists at Cawthron Institute in Nelson have developed a reliable and commercially scalable method for producing neosaxitoxin, ...1 day ago - Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri and the Crown sign Agreement in Principle| Ka waitohu a Ngāti Mutunga o...Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri and the Crown have signed an Agreement in Principle marking a significant milestone towards the settlement of their historical Treaty of Waitangi claims. Ngāti Mutunga are based on Wharekauri/Chatham Islands and are the second of two iwi/imi to reach agreement with the Crown. “Today’s signing follows ...2 days ago
- Further ACC reforms introduced to ParliamentNew reporting requirements on access to ACC Earlier access to minimum rate of compensation Refinement to ACC purpose to focus on supporting all eligible injured people to access ACC The Accident Compensation (Access Reporting and Other Matters) Amendment Bill which aims to improve access to ACC for all injured people, ...2 days ago
- Government supports Chatham Islands' resilienceThe Government is supporting the Chatham Islands’ resilience to extreme weather events and natural hazards through a grant to secure safe drinking water, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty said. “Many households in the Chatham Islands lack easy access to drinking water and have been forced to get water to ...2 days ago
- New Chief Coroner appointedCoroner Anna Tutton has been appointed as the new Chief Coroner, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Anna Tutton was appointed as a Coroner in January 2015, based in Christchurch, and as Deputy Chief Coroner in 2020. After the previous Chief Coroner, Judge Deborah Marshall, retired Ms Tutton took on the ...2 days ago
- DIRA Amendment Bill passes third readingThe Government has passed an Amendment Bill today to support Fonterra’s move to a new capital structure and the continued success of New Zealand’s dairy industry. The Dairy Industry Restructuring (Fonterra Capital Restructuring) Amendment Bill will allow the Fonterra co-operative to make changes to its capital structure, as well as ...3 days ago
- Minister Whaitiri to attend Food Ministers’ Meeting with Australian counterpartsMinister for Food Safety Meka Whaitiri will attend the Fourth Australia and New Zealand Food Ministers’ Meeting in Melbourne on Friday. It will be the first time the meeting has been held in person since the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted international travel. “The Food Ministers’ Meeting sets the policy direction for ...3 days ago
- New Kiwibank parent appoints directorsDavid McLean and Sir Brian Roche have been appointed as the first two directors of the newly incorporated Kiwi Group Capital Limited (KCG), the parent company of Kiwibank. In August, the Government acquired 100 percent of Kiwi Group Holdings, which also operates New Zealand Home Loans, from NZ Post, ACC ...3 days ago
- Defence Ministers meet in CambodiaMinister of Defence Peeni Henare attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) in Siem Reap, Cambodia. “The first face to face meeting of the ADMM-Plus members is an opportunity for me to highlight New Zealand’s position on key regional security matters,” Peeni Henare said. “In ...3 days ago
- Pay equity extended to thousands more social workersThe Government will extend pay equity to all community and iwi organisations who employ social workers and receive funding from the Crown, Minister for Women Jan Tinetti announced today. We expect this will improve the lives of approximately 4,600 social workers. “This extension means thousands more social workers will be ...3 days ago
- Taskforce set up to protect construction industry from product shortages & delaysNew ‘Critical Materials Taskforce’ will trouble shoot building materials shortages Focus on maximising productivity & cushioning businesses from supply chain risks Successful ‘Plasterboard Taskforce’ reshaped to include broader sector knowledge and expertise Will provide guidance, data and information to support builders, designers and business owners A new Critical Materials Taskforce ...3 days ago
- Bigger ED, more theatres and more beds in new Whangārei HospitalA new emergency department with three times more space will be part of the first stage of a two-stage project to build a new hospital for Whangārei and Northland. The Government has today confirmed funding for stage one of the new hospital – an acute services building and a child-health ...3 days ago
- Finnish PM to visit New ZealandFinland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin, accompanied by Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari and a business delegation will visit New Zealand next week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. The two leaders will meet in Auckland. “New Zealand and Finland are natural partners. We share similar approaches ...4 days ago
- New recreational rules to support hāpuku and bass fisheriesThe daily limits on recreationally caught hāpuku (also known as groper) and bass will be lowered to a total of two per person in some areas, with a new accumulation limit of three per person on multi-day trips. Oceans and Fisheries Minister, David Parker said the rule changes would take ...4 days ago
- Jobs for Nature enabling Mātāuranga MāoriMātāuranga Māori is at the heart of the latest tranche of Jobs for Nature projects set to promote biodiversity and reduce impacts of climate change on Māori land, Minister of Conservation Poto Williams says. Project work will include the creation of an ecological corridor in Tairāwhiti, protecting 60 hectares of ...4 days ago
- Supporting resilient shipping infrastructure in VanuatuThe Government has announced further support to Vanuatu to assist in constructing climate-resilient wharves as part of the Vanuatu Inter-Island Shipping Support Project (VISSP). “Aotearoa New Zealand is committed to supporting the economic recovery of our Pacific region in a way that continues to provide growth and supports climate resilience,” ...4 days ago
- Government welcomes High Court ruling on climate caseThe High Court has today confirmed the legality of the advice provided by the Climate Change Commission (the Commision) to inform New Zealand’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) and the first three emissions budgets. Minister of Climate Change James Shaw says New Zealanders can have confidence in the Commission and of ...4 days ago
- Government introduces changes to mining Act with stronger environmental focus· Crown Minerals Act will no longer actively “promote” prospecting, exploration, and mining of Crown-owned minerals · Will create more certainty around engagement between industry, iwi and hapū. The Government is proposing changes to modernise the Crown Minerals Act 1991 (CMA) to support more environmentally conscious management of resources, says ...4 days ago
- Speech to Building Nations 2050 conferenceTēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Good morning and thank you, Jack, for the introduction. I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge Infrastructure New Zealand Chair, Margaret Devlin and all the sponsors and organisers of this event for bringing us together in ‘Building Nations 2050’. I would also like to ...4 days ago
- Better natural hazard information for home buyersAssociate Minister of Local Government Kieran McAnulty has today introduced legislation to empower councils to share better information about natural hazards with the public. The Local Government Official Information Amendment (LGOIMA) Bill will make it easier for Councils to share clear and concise information in Land Information Memorandum (LIM) reports. ...4 days ago
- New Zealand welcomes visiting WTO Director GeneralThe World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala visits New Zealand this week. Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor said the WTO was essential to New Zealand as a small export-dependent trading nation. “New Zealand’s economic security depends on our ability to trade. Our goods exports ...4 days ago
- Faster, cheaper, better resource management law given first readingNew laws that will deliver a faster, cheaper, and better resource management system had their first reading in the House today. The Spatial Planning (SP) and the Natural and Built Environment (NBE) Bills, which were introduced last week, will replace the 30-year-old Resource Management Act (RMA). Environment Minister David Parker ...5 days ago
- Minister Sio to meet new Vanuatu PMAssociate Foreign Affairs Minister Aupito William Sio travels to Vanuatu today, to meet with the new Government led by Prime Minister Alatoi Ishmael Kalsakau and to represent Aotearoa New Zealand at the Pacific Community (SPC) Ministerial Conference being hosted in Port Vila. Minister Sio will have a number of bilateral meetings with ...5 days ago
- Driving ahead with the Clean Car StandardFollowing discussions with vehicle importers, the Government has confirmed the Clean Car Standard will be phased in from 1 December 2022, significantly reducing the CO2 emissions of light vehicles in New Zealand, announced Transport Minister Michael Wood. “Emissions from our light vehicle fleet are the single largest source of ...5 days ago
- Speech to Constitutional Kōrero conferenceOur Evolving Sense of Nationhood – Me Anga Whakamua Indigenous Futures and New Zealand’s Constitution Tuia ki runga, Tuia ki raro, Tuia te here tangata, Mai i te wheiao ki te ao mārama Ka rongo te pō ka rongo te āo! Tīhei Mauri Ora! Kei ngā miro o te ao ...5 days ago
- Rental sector changes to regulate residential property managers, clear up meth confusion and ease pr...A suite of measures to improve the lives of renters and landlords has been announced by Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods as the Government makes more progress on reform of the rental sector. “Nearly 600,000 households rent in New Zealand and these measures will result in regulated oversight of residential ...5 days ago
- Further sanctions on the political and economic elites of Russia and BelarusForeign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta today announced further sanctions on members of the inner circles of governments in Russia and Belarus, as part of the ongoing response to the war in Ukraine. “Aotearoa New Zealand first moved against the powerful and wealthy in Russia with sanctions on political and economic ...6 days ago
- Another step towards improved supermarket competitionThe Bill to trigger an unprecedented shake-up of the grocery sector and deliver New Zealanders a fairer deal at the checkout and help tackle cost of living pressures is ready for its first reading at Parliament. “The duopoly has now been given plenty of warning. If they fail to adequately ...6 days ago
- Black Ferns to be celebrated at ParliamentA public event and celebration will be held on Parliament’s lawn on December 13 to celebrate our Rugby World Cup winning Black Ferns. “The Black Ferns’ triumph at Eden Park is one of New Zealand’s greatest sporting moments,” Grant Robertson said. “They are extraordinary athletes, exceptional people and proud New ...6 days ago
- Autism Guideline released by MinistryThe release of the latest edition of the Aotearoa New Zealand Autism Guideline – He Waka Huia Takiwātanga Rau has been welcomed by Minister for Disability Issues Poto Williams today. The Guideline provides an opportunity to better understand and communicate best practices for supporting autistic people and their families and ...6 days ago
- Speech to Aotearoa Refugee HuiNga mihi nui ki a koutou, Welcome to the Parliament, your Parliament. It is great to see the community here in such numbers, and I am happy to be here with my parliamentary colleagues to listen and take part in the discussions today. I particularly want to acknowledge Ibrahim Omer ...6 days ago
- Global climate talks underline need for domestic actionMinister of Climate Change James Shaw marked the end of COP27 negotiations in Egypt by saying it was now crunch time for counties to step up and take urgent action at home. “Even though we have these international negotiations every year, our focus must always be on what we do ...7 days ago
- Defence Minister visits Ukraine and PolandDefence Minister Peeni Henare has visited Ukraine and Poland, holding talks with his Ministerial counterparts. During the talks Minister Henare reaffirmed New Zealand’s unwavering support for the Ukrainian defence against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion. The visit was a further demonstration of New Zealand’s ongoing support to the people ...7 days ago
- Stuart Nash to attend OECD meetingsSmall Business Minister Stuart Nash will travel to Paris today to attend small business meetings with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Stuart Nash will chair the OECD’s Digital for SMEs (D4SME) Steering Group meeting and the 4th Roundtable of the OECD D4SME Global Initiative. “The OECD’s Digital ...1 week ago
- Human Rights Act enhanced to protect religious communitiesThe Government will amend the law to make sure religious communities feel safe and welcome in New Zealand. After extensive consultation, with more than 19,000 submissions on six proposals, the Government will make one change to address incitement towards religious communities while asking for further work to be done alongside ...1 week ago
- Defence Minister meets with UK counterpart and visits NZDF personnelMinister of Defence Peeni Henare held talks in the UK today with his counterpart, Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace. The Ministers reiterated the importance of our defence relationship, and reflected on the strong historical and cultural ties between the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Together, they ...1 week ago
- Government takes action to reduce gambling harm from pokiesThe Government is announcing today changes to strengthen the requirements in venues which have pokie (gambling) machines to reduce the harm they cause people. “The changes focus on reducing harm caused by pokies, which can affect both those people gambling and their whānau. In short, they would make the ‘host ...1 week ago
- The Pacific business village comes to AucklandThe Pacific Business Village (the Village) is now going to set up in the Auckland region, said Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio. The Ministry secured $15.5 million in Budget 2022 to meet community demand volumes for services to support Pacific businesses and Pacific social enterprises across Aotearoa. “The ...1 week ago
- Government’s health investments making a difference for New ZealandersFewer New Zealanders say cost is a barrier to visiting a GP or getting a prescription. The number of children going hungry has halved over the past decade. Statistics show why the Government has made major investment in mental health. Official statistics released today show the Government’s targeted health investments ...1 week ago
- Speech to the Asia New Zealand FoundationKia koutou, warm pacific greetings.I am delighted we have the opportunity to meet kanohi ki te kanohi and talanoa in-person, I would like to extend my thanks to Adele and her team for organising this event, for us, today; fa’afetai tele lava. I am also delighted to see some rangatahi ...1 week ago
- Luxon defends U turn over 39% tax rate
National leader Christopher Luxon says abandoning plans to scrap the 39% tax rate in National’s first term was the sensible response to this week’s “incredibly alarming” economic forecast. Talking to Q&A’s Jack Tame, Luxon said that while National believes it can follow through on its other tax policy commitments, on ...2 hours ago - Recipe: One pot ‘Mexican’A delicious Mexican-inspired dish with hardly any washing up. This is one of those wonderful meals that is cooked in one pot, saving on dishes without compromising on taste. It packs a serious flavour punch and contains a lots of colourful veggies, making it one delicious, nutritious dinner. The guacamole ...3 hours ago
- ACT launches truancy policy for schools
ACT has launched a truancy policy aimed at resolving what it calls a school attendance "crisis". ...4 hours ago - RMA replacement consultation timed badly – Napier mayorThe mayor of Napier believes the government is failing in its efforts to consult on important new bills to replace the Resource Management Act. ...5 hours ago
- Lumpectomy: Coming to terms with my murderous breastsTina Makereti has won the Landfall Essay Competition for 2022 with a powerful exploration of her personal experience of breast cancer, sickness, wellbeing, work and stress. Here we share an excerpt from it. “This essay is a way for me to make meaning from my experience of cancer, to laugh ...6 hours ago
- What happens when MPs ‘entrench’ legislation, and why does it matter?A newly added provision to the three waters bill is a potentially momentous change to how law is made, explains Andrew Geddis. On Wednesday night last week, something very unusual happened while parliament was busy making law. MPs from the Green and Labour parties banded together to make it much ...6 hours ago
- Does my cat really love me?Emily Writes’ cat is loved by the whole household. That’s normal. What’s harder to understand is that he really seems to love them back. This story was first published on the author’s newsletter, Emily Writes Weekly. I’ve had cats my entire life. In my childhood there was Monty who ran ...8 hours ago
- Essay on Sunday: Surrendering to the seaWhen something is terrifying and out of your control, sometimes it’s best to immerse yourself — even if you can’t tell what’s under the surface. Illustrations: Naomii Seah When I was a teen, I almost drowned. It happened in the calm seas of Auckland’s North Shore: the favourite haunt of ...8 hours ago
- Labor easily wins Victorian election, but Greens could win eight lower house seats
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joel Carrett/AAP With 53% counted in the lower house for the Victorian election, the ABC is calling 51 of the ...16 hours ago - Coalitions, kingmakers and RWC: Calculations already influencing next year’s electionOpinion - Sometimes it feels as if election year has begun already, with an old kingmaker back on the scene, writes Grant Duncan. ...19 hours ago
- National blast as ‘undemocratic’ entrenched provision in three waters billA provision in the three waters legislation requiring a 60% vote to repeal its protections against privatisation has been called “unconstitutional and undemocratic” by the National Party. The provision, adopted by the house during the committee stage debate, means the support of 60% of MPs (or a majority vote at ...1 day ago
- In celebration of trailblazing Aotearoa filmmaker Dame Gaylene PrestonNZ On Screen’s new Gaylene Preston Collection is a comprehensive look back at a long and varied cinematic career. Amelia Berry picks some highlights, all available to watch online for free. This story was first published on Flicks. For almost 50 years, Dame Gaylene Preston has focused her career as ...1 day ago
- Accident Compensation Bill passes first readingA government bill aimed at making it easier for certain groups to get Accident Compensation passed its first reading on Friday. ...1 day ago
- ‘Tis the season: the best Christmas movies to watch on TVForget the 12 days of Christmas, we’ve found the 12 best movies to get you in the festive mood. It’s the last week of November, which means Christmas movies are hitting our streaming services like a surprise Christmas Eve snowstorm in the American mid-west. They’re filling up our algorithms ...1 day ago
- Monkeys’ brains are wired to read body language – just like oursSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Taubert, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Shutterstock In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic drove a surge in remote work and learning, videoconferencing apps such as Zoom saw their user numbers boom. Plenty of other options were available, but ...1 day ago
- Focus on Politics: Recession prediction leaves Labour with a labour problemRNZ Political Editor Jane Patterson revisits the interest rate shock that spells trouble for an under-pressure Labour Party. ...1 day ago
- Final Victorian Newspoll gives Labor a large leadSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joel Carrett/AAP The Victorian state election is today. There are 88 single-member lower house seats with members elected by preferential ...1 day ago
- One man makes the Farmers Santa Parade floats, and he’s been doing it for 50 yearsHundreds of performers, dozens of volunteers, and (hopefully) a whole lot of sunshine make up the Farmers Santa Parade, but they’d be nothing without Pete Taylor. In 1934, when the first Farmers Santa Parade – or “Santa’s Grand Parade”, as it was known then – made its way along Queen ...1 day ago
- At least wear a mask on the busJust because you don’t have to, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, argues Charlotte Muru-Lanning. Let me begin by stating the obvious: there is no “good” place to get Covid-19. I caught it for the first and so far only time at a ridiculously bountiful lunch at a ridiculously busy Yum Cha ...1 day ago
- Chatham Islands iwi sign treaty settlement agreementChatham Islands iwi Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri today signed an agreement in principle for a treaty settlement with the Crown. ...2 days ago
- ‘This case has made legal history’: young Australians just won a human rights case against an en...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justine Bell-James, Associate Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland In a historic ruling today, a Queensland court has said the massive Clive Palmer-owned Galilee Basin coal project should not go ahead because of its contribution to climate change, ...2 days ago
- Parliament 'pulls up stumps' after marathon inningsUrgency has been lifted in Parliament ahead of the weekend. ...2 days ago
- View from The Hill: The Bell report on Morrison’s multi-ministries provides a bad character refere...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Mick Tsikas/AAP Former High Court judge Virgina Bell does not describe Scott Morrison as a megalomaniac. But the picture she paints neatly fits the dictionary definition of “someone who has an unnaturally strong ...2 days ago
- What to watch this weekend: Knives Out 2, Rogue Heroes and Stath Lets FlatsOne week. That’s how long fans of Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig’s surprise 2019 theatrical hit Knives Out have to see the sequel on the big screen. Purchased by Netflix, Glass Onion is getting just seven days in theatres to prove its worth and build up hype before receiving a full ...2 days ago
- Labour's nightmare reality – an election year recessionBy Peter Wilson* Analysis - The Supreme Court's ruling on the voting age brings joy to campaigners but there's no way Parliament is going to lower it to 16, the ...2 days ago
- The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending 25 NovemberThe only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 A History of New Zealand in 100 Objects by Jock Phillips (Penguin, $55) The best ...2 days ago
- WTF is a recession?A global recession is predicted for 2023, but what does that mean and how will it affect Aotearoa? Over the last few decades New Zealand has experienced several recessions. There was a relatively brief one in 2020 as the economy reacted to the shock of the pandemic, but the last ...2 days ago
- Ardern rejects criticism of Chathams trip, says she will visit Sandringham ‘soon’Jacinda Ardern says she will visit the grieving Auckland community of Sandringham, and has rejected criticism levelled by Act that she should already be there. The prime minister has spent the day in the Chatham Islands – her first visit and the first trip by a sitting PM since John ...2 days ago
- The Friday Poem: ‘Listen: is it love?’ by Erin DonohueA new poem by Wellington poet and novelist Erin Donohue. Listen: is it love? When I am feeling the worst of it when I am small and rootless and unarmed my therapist tells me that right now in this moment, I am my oldest wisest self Your oldest, wisest self ...2 days ago
- The sound artist democratising music with a PlayStation 5 controllerJesse Austin-Stewart is using the unlikeliest of instruments to make music more accessible to the hard of hearing and Deaf community. You can make music with just about anything. If it makes a sound, you can make music with it. Turns out, if it vibrates (which is also sound, obviously), ...2 days ago
- PM called out for not visiting SandringhamIt’s the end of another busy week. I’m Stewart Sowman-Lund and welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for November 25. Reach me on [email protected]. Thanks to our members for making this possible. DONATE Top stories PM should be in Sandringham, not the Chathams – Act The Panthers, 1News ...2 days ago
- New chapter for Fonterra as Parliament passes DIRA amending bill, but a fresh climate challenge loom...
NZ dairy giant Fonterra expects to have its new capital structure in place by March after Parliament gave a final reading this week to the Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment Bill. It had the support of Labour, National, and Act, with the Greens and Te Pati Maori voting against it, ...2 days ago - The Friday Quiz!Everything from the ongoing destruction of Twitter to the state of the New Zealand economy: test yourself on this week’s news in our Friday Quiz! ...2 days ago
- The Panthers, 1News dominate at TV AwardsTVNZ’s The Panthers took out top honours at the TV Awards last night, winning eight awards including best drama. It also scooped awards in categories including costume design, soundtrack and editing. Another TVNZ programme, The Pact, scored for its script and swept the performance categories, while Raised by Refugees and ...2 days ago
- Have Your Say On The Business Payment Practices Bill
This bill would introduce a system that aims to bring transparency to business-to-business payment terms and practices in New Zealand. The bill would require organisations with more than $33 million in revenue, for two or more consecutive accounting years, ...2 days ago - Affected Communities Echo Human Rights Commission’s Deep Disappointment With The Government’s Ha...Representatives of communities left out of the Government’s plans to tackle incitement have told Te Kāhui Tika Tangata, the Human Rights Commission, they have been left vulnerable by their exclusion. Feedback over the last few days has been characterised ...2 days ago
- Have Your Say On The Companies (Directors Duties) Amendment BillThis bill proposes to make clear that directors of companies may consider a wide number of factors while making decisions, other than profit alone. These factors are open-ended, but may include the principles of te Tiriti, environmental impacts, ...2 days ago
- Wharekauri/Chatham Islands Iwi Forge New Relationship With CrownNgāti Mutunga o Wharekauri (NMoW) have today signed an Agreement In Principle (AIP) with the Crown towards a Treaty of Waitangi settlement, marking a fresh start in relations between the two signatories. After a lengthy and difficult process which ...2 days ago
- Ingredient of the week: CabbageIt’s unromantically named and it’s everywhere, but treat it right and cabbage has a subtle deliciousness and it also packs a surprising nutritional punch. A Brassica, the cabbage is a relative of the cauli, broc, kale and its bitter mini-me – Brussels sprouts. However, what sets it apart from its ...2 days ago
- Keith Rankin Essay – Extending Democracy and the Age of Voter EntitlementEssay by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Earlier this week, in the wake of a decision by the Supreme Court of Aotearoa New Zealand, the Government announced it would draft a Bill ...2 days ago
- Should pharmacists be able to prescribe common medicines like antibiotics for UTIs? We asked 5 exper...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fron Jackson-Webb, Deputy Editor and Senior Health Editor Shutterstock Victoria is the latest state to move towards pharmacist prescribing, with Premier Daniel Andrews promising a trial allowing pharmacists to prescribe antibiotics for urinary tract infections (UTIs) and medicines for other ...2 days ago
- How to save Auckland’s stadium shemozzleWhat we have is unacceptable; what we could have is surprisingly achievable, argues Brian Finn in the final part of his stadium trilogy. This story first appeared on The Bounce, a Substack newsletter by Dylan Cleaver. Back in 2020 I was sitting on the couch watching an early-season NFL game – ...2 days ago
- Profound grief for a pet is normal – how to help yourself or a friend weather the loss of a belove...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Starling, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Sydney Kevin Noble/Unsplash, CC BY It’s been three weeks since my partner and I lost our beloved 14.5-year-old dog, Kivi Tarro. It’s impossible to describe what Kivi meant to us, or put words to ...2 days ago
- Coalitions, kingmakers and a Rugby World Cup: the calculations already influencing next year’s NZ ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grant Duncan, Associate Professor, School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University NZ First leader and potential kingmaker Winston Peters campaigning in 2020. Getty Images Sometimes it feels as if election year has begun already. Winston Peters has declared New Zealand First ...2 days ago
- PM should be in Sandringham, not the Chathams – ActJacinda Ardern has headed out to the Chatham Islands today – the first visit by a prime minister in 10 years. It’ll be Ardern’s first time in the Chathams and comes as the Islands face continued disruption in the aftermath of Covid-19. But with a major act of violence having ...2 days ago
- Government announces water safety scheme for Chatham IslandsThe government will spend $500,000 on water tanks and filtration systems for 20 percent of Chatham Islands homes, ensuring a reliable source of safe drinking water. ...2 days ago
- We’re told to ‘eat a rainbow’ of fruit and vegetables. Here’s what each colour does in our b...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Evangeline Mantzioris, Program Director of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Accredited Practising Dietitian, University of South Australia Shutterstock Nutritionists will tell you to eat a rainbow of fruit and vegetables. This isn’t just because it looks nice on the plate. Each ...2 days ago
- A Single Pilot In The Cockpit Is A Risk Not Worth TakingThe New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association (NZALPA) is pouring cold water on international suggestions that passenger aircraft could soon be flying in our skies with just one pilot in the cockpit. NZALPA represents more than 2,000 pilots, aviation ...2 days ago
- Improvements To Gross Domestic Product September 2022 QuarterThis page provides technical users with information about upcoming changes to data and methods applied to the forthcoming release of Gross domestic product: September 2022 quarter (scheduled for 15 December 2022). It provides an early indication of ...2 days ago
- Family Court “unsafest Place In New Zealand” For Women And ChildrenFriday the 25th of November is the United Nations Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls . Every year, thousands of New Zealand women leaving violent and abusive relationships turn to Family Court to seek protection for themselves ...2 days ago
- Political editors panel: Inflation, truancy, and Mr PetersMorning Report - RNZ Political Editor Jane Patterson and Newsroom Political Editor Jo Moir talk over a busy week at Parliament and the Reserve Bank. ...2 days ago
- THOMAS CRANMER: Labour reintroduces blasphemy laws
The government repealed blasphemous libel laws three years ago but now looks set to re-introduce something remarkably similar. It is an amendment that not even the Royal Commission has recommended. THOMAS CRANMER writes- As the government was labelled “reckless and irresponsible” on Wednesday for attempting to rush through 24 bills, some ...2 days ago - When the Facts Change: How to share your capital gainsWhile billionaires build their bunkers in Queenstown, Julie Scott, CEO of the Community Housing Trust, is building affordable homes with profits made by new suburb developers. In the latest episode of When the Facts Change, she tells Bernard Hickey all about how inclusionary rezoning can be used to make the rapidly ...2 days ago
- A Kirihimite gift guide for people who love eating and drinkingWe’ve come a long way since the days when a ‘festive food gift’ meant an orange stuffed down the end of a Christmas stocking. Now the gastronomic gift options are endless, and Charlotte Muru-Lanning is here to suggest some of the best. Christmas gifting often gets a bad rap, ...2 days ago
- The Bulletin: Three Waters through by ChristmasAs Newsroom’s Jo Moir writes, any speculation that the government might back away from Three Waters has been quashed by the leader of the house, Chris Hipkins. Hipkins has confirmed he is confident all stages of the bill will pass before Christmas. The third and final reading of the Water Services ...2 days ago
- Simon Bridges reportedly being considered for major role with new broadcasting entityFormer National Party leader Simon Bridges is reportedly being considered for a major new role as chair of the new merged broadcasting entity. Since leaving politics earlier this year, Bridges has quickly rebranded himself as a podcast host for Stuff, alongside his role as head of the Auckland Business Chamber. ...2 days ago
- The increasingly perilous business of owning a dairyDairies are part of the fabric of New Zealand, but as a community reels following a tragic and fatal stabbing and challenges mount, some owners are looking to get out of the business altogether, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each ...2 days ago
- Banker’s job as chairman suggests the co-governance model has been eschewed for Kiwi Group – but...
Buzz from the Beehive When David McLean retired as Westpac New Zealand Chief Executive in June last year, he said it was the right time, both for the business and for himself personally to step down. The industry was going through a period of change and that was an appropriate ...2 days ago - Monday's Strike Cancelled As NZPFU And FENZ To Meet On MondayYesterday, members were advised that today’s (Friday) strike was cancelled as FENZ had provided a revised position on outstanding matters that demonstrated movement but not all matters for inclusion in the collective agreement were resolved. We also ...2 days ago
- Boys Become The Men We Teach Them To BeThis White Ribbon Day (November 25th), let’s prevent men’s violence towards women by focusing on teaching and role modeling ‘Healthy Masculinity’ and ‘Respectful Relationships’ for our young men. “Boys will be boys is usually used as an excuse ...2 days ago
- How to share your capital gainsWhile billionaires build their bunkers in Queenstown, Julie Scott, CEO of the Community Housing Trust is building affordable homes with profits made by new suburb developers. She tells Bernard all about how inclusionary rezoning can be used to make the rapidly expanding region affordable for locals again. Follow When the ...2 days ago
- Mukbang, #EatWithMe and eating disorders on TikTok: why online food consumption videos could fuel fo...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sijun Shen, Lecturer, Media and Communications Studies, Monash University, Monash University Shutterstock You might have come across #EatWithMe videos on TikTok, which typically feature young women eating food while encouraging viewers to eat along with them. Many such content creators ...2 days ago
- Refugees who set up businesses enrich NZ financially, culturally and socially – they deserve more ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nadeera Ranabahu, Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, University of Canterbury Getty Images With Immigration New Zealand currently examining both the Migrant Settlement Integration Strategy and Refugee Resettlement Strategy, it’s the right time to consider the role small business support ...2 days ago
- From sharp butt pains to period poos: 5 lesser-known menstrual cycle symptomsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca O’Hara, Grant Funded Researcher: Endometriosis, Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide Shutterstock Period pain is a common symptom of the menstrual cycle, affecting about 70% of young women – but it’s far from the only symptom. Here are five ...2 days ago
- Stripping carbon from the atmosphere might be needed to avoid dangerous warming – but it remains a...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Symons, Senior Lecturer, Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University Anna Sabramowicz/Unsplash, CC BY Australia’s latest State of the Climate Report offers grim reading. As if recent floods weren’t bad enough, the report warns of worsening fire seasons, more ...2 days ago
- It’s natural to want to feed wildlife after disasters. But it may not helpSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Finnerty, Postdoctoral Research Associate – Wildlife Ecology, University of Sydney Jo-Anne McArthur/Unsplash, CC BY-SA Over the past three years, Australians have been bombarded by natural disasters as record-breaking fires and monster floods hit communities hard. Disasters don’t just ...2 days ago
- How a Canadian program that helps educators ‘thrive’ not just ‘survive’ could help address A...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marg Rogers, Senior Lecturer, Early Childhood Education, University of New England Makus Spiske/Unsplash, CC BY-NC On Wednesday, federal parliament passed Labor’s bill to reduce childcare fees for many Australian families. More affordable childcare for families is great, but it ...2 days ago
- Groceries delivered in 60 minutes: it’s on the cards but just not yetSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flavio Macau, Associate Dean – School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University From the food replicator in Star Trek to Dumbledore summoning food in Hogwarts’ banquet hall, we love the idea of instant food on demand. This week, Australian supermarket giant ...2 days ago
- Amazon’s resuscitation of Neighbours: can Aussie TV become good friends with streaming?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tessa Dwyer, Lecturer in Film and Screen Studies, Monash University Fremantle Many were shocked by the announcement last Friday that Australian soap opera Neighbours would return to screens in 2023, courtesy of a new deal between production house Fremantle Australia ...2 days ago
- All 28 of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels ranked from worst to bestA comprehensive ranking from someone who read them all in two months. In March 2020, when New Zealand went into that first lockdown, hard and early, like Jack Reacher would enter an eight-against-one alley fight, I decided to read all of Lee Child’s (now 27) Reacher novels, plus the short ...2 days ago
- ‘I’m very effectively annoying’: Chlöe Swarbrick on five years as an MPYes, politics remains broken. But there is a privilege in being a parliamentarian, and a way to make it work, says the Green MP. The Spinoff’s coverage of politics hinges on the support of members – if you can, please make a contribution here. Since her election to parliament in ...2 days ago
- Opposition calls on PM to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terror entityNational, the Greens, ACT and Te Pāti Māori are urging Jacinda Ardern to make the designation in response to the violent crackdown on protesters. ...2 days ago
- Parties call on PM to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terror entityNational, the Greens, ACT and Te Pāti Māori are urging Jacinda Ardern to make the designation in response to the violent crackdown on protesters. ...2 days ago
- Grattan on Friday: David Pocock has only just arrived in the Senate and now he’s negotiating with ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra He wouldn’t relish the comparison, but at the start of the Albanese government Senate crossbencher David Pocock finds himself with the sort of pivotal power independent Brian Harradine enjoyed during the early Howard years. ...3 days ago
- My RATs are negative but I still think I might have COVID. Should I get a PCR test?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sathana Dushyanthen, Academic Specialist & Lecturer in Cancer Sciences & Digital Health, The University of Melbourne Guido Hoffman/Unsplash You’ve been exposed to COVID and are starting to get symptoms. But after a couple of days of testing with rapid antigen ...3 days ago
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