im/migration

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Market forces

Written By: - Date published: 11:17 am, September 3rd, 2015 - 70 comments

Rosemary Macleod on the flag and market forces. Danyl Mclauchlan on the refugee disaster, market forces, and Key. Is this our New Zealand?

70 refugees dead in small truck on Austrian roadside

Written By: - Date published: 9:04 pm, August 28th, 2015 - 107 comments

When European and NATO countries participate in destabilising and destroying nearby countries, the human tragedy doesn’t stay neatly confined to the other side of the border.

Lift the refugee quota

Written By: - Date published: 7:16 am, June 23rd, 2015 - 69 comments

Refugees are people, but they get treated as a political football, as recent events in Australia and NZ have demonstrated once again. It is long past time that NZ raised its refugee quota.

Snakeheads

Written By: - Date published: 12:17 pm, June 15th, 2015 - 30 comments

It is looking likely that the Australian Government has broken its own laws and international treaties by paying off people smugglers. Did John Key know? Did he approve of what may be criminal activity?

On Freedom of Speech and Tolerance and Powers of Surveillance

Written By: - Date published: 11:46 am, January 8th, 2015 - 102 comments

The slaying of staff at Charlie Hebdo and the killing of two police officers will no doubt cause further debate on the extent of freedom of speech, on our relations with Muslims and on the state’s powers of surveillance and if they should be increased.

rising poverty amongst asians

Written By: - Date published: 11:04 pm, December 9th, 2014 - 85 comments

a new report shows that poverty related illnesses are growing at a rapid rate for asian children, and so are other poverty indicators.  some of this is related to a more settled population, but we also need to talk about racism.

Bilateral mobility a bad idea

Written By: - Date published: 8:21 am, November 4th, 2014 - 166 comments

Who wouldn’t want the option of easy access to Britain, and hence Europe? But, hang on…

The FBI also wanted DotCom to stay in New Zealand

Written By: - Date published: 6:25 pm, July 15th, 2014 - 38 comments

The FBI had been working with the New Zealand authorities for a year before he was arrested. They wanted to arrest him on his birthday “because it would be a big party and all the assets would be there.”A Department of Justice official revealed this to ex-Senator Dodd, chief lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association of America.  The FBI is a Justice Department agency. The “party assets” were why he had to be kept here.

Jared Savage still trying for more inches

Written By: - Date published: 1:23 pm, July 4th, 2014 - 12 comments

I realise that journalists have to show some column inches sometimes to justify their existence on the payroll. However the “Investigations editor” Jared Savage at the the NZ Herald appears to be overdoing that. The latest is Jared’s attempt to puff up three routine immigration letters in 2005. He really must be desperate for those extra inches. There doesn’t appear to be anything about it that holds much public interest apart from a simple desire to smear. Hardly journalism.

 

NRT: Fixing Christchurch

Written By: - Date published: 10:53 am, June 28th, 2014 - 5 comments

Labour has announced another part of its package to fix Christchurch: an immediate crash home-building plan. The market has failed, so the government has to step in. Its that simple. As for why the market has failed, there’s the ongoing insurance problems of course, but perhaps this also has something to do with it. Living costs in ChCh are exceeding wages and the construction industry is pocketing the difference. Labour is also changing the rules about exploiting overseas labour.

The politics of private dinners

Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, May 9th, 2014 - 225 comments

Whether it’s Judith Collins, Michael Woodhouse or the Cabinet Club/s, National Party fundraisers, target the wealthy base they represent.  In the process, boundaries are blurred between mainstream politics, exclusive private spaces & personal relationships.

Another Peters brain fart

Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, May 25th, 2013 - 254 comments

Winston Peters is up to his old tricks again, with a racist attack on Chinese immigration. Heaven help us all if Peters holds the balance of power in 2014.

Irony? Nah.

Written By: - Date published: 1:33 pm, May 17th, 2013 - 56 comments

Nigel Farage went to Scotland to promote UKIP. What the hell was he thinking?

Farmers unhappy about lower power prices?

Written By: - Date published: 8:32 pm, April 28th, 2013 - 40 comments

Former banker Bruce Wills and current head of Federated Farmers has joined the chorus attacking NZPower. Given the tired old  arguments he raises, it would be interesting to know if his farmer members would rather have lower power prices, or banker Bruce as their spokesman.

The view from Australia

Written By: - Date published: 9:16 am, April 17th, 2013 - 67 comments

Sometimes a certain distance gives the clearest view. A piece on PM John Key from Australian newspaper The Telegraph.

John Key discovers the usefulness of Yellow Peril

Written By: - Date published: 7:26 am, February 12th, 2013 - 146 comments

Bad jobs numbers and a succession of collapses of major businesses weighing your government down? You need: distraction! How about an old classic from the New Zealand politician’s playbook – the Yellow Peril! Passed on by Seddon and Peters, Yellow Peril’s now being wielded by John Key as he talks of vague, unsubstantiated threats that boatloads of Indonesians are heading for our shores.

Key failure

Written By: - Date published: 9:54 am, February 5th, 2013 - 42 comments

I wonder how the polls would look if the sampling included Kiwis who have fled the country?

One of the biggest failures of the Key government is the continuing massive exodus to Australia. This was an issue that Key made a core focus of the 2008 election. Remember the Westpac Stadium clip?…

‘Nuff said

Written By: - Date published: 7:23 am, January 25th, 2013 - 23 comments

wave goodbye billboard words are cheap

If you can’t beat ’em, scaremonger about ’em

Written By: - Date published: 10:26 am, January 15th, 2013 - 99 comments

The Herald’s running a pretty intense series about how awful it is to emigrate to Australia. A cynic might think the editor’s daughter is talking about crossing the ditch, such is the passion in the anti-Aussie message. But all the stories follow the same pattern: ‘Aussie is bad because of X, yet Kiwis are flocking there in record numbers’. There’s one number that matters: here it’s 7.3%, in Aussie 5.3%.

Crays and Aussie Carrots

Written By: - Date published: 12:58 pm, November 22nd, 2012 - 51 comments

Damn, a kiwi recently moved to aussie explains what the attraction is and isn’t.  Basically there is work there, the pay is better, and you can afford to eat out. But kiwi’s can take comfort that the food is crap – unless you go to a restaurant of course. Perhaps their politicians are better than their farmers.

Another dirty deal with SkyCity

Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, November 16th, 2012 - 12 comments

It now appears that the Government’s controversial plan to allow wealthy frequent flyers on state-owned China Southern Airlines to skip visa requirements was done to help SkyCity get more high-rolling Chinese gamblers visiting. It’s the warped priorities that gets me: the Nats are bending over backwards for SkyCity while insisting that they won’t ‘pick winners’ to save manufacturing jobs.

Too much stupid; too little time

Written By: - Date published: 8:37 am, November 15th, 2012 - 38 comments

I don’t really have time to write something, but there’s just too much stupid this morning to let it pass. Nathan Guy heads today’s list, but Craig Foss, Tariana Turia, Bill English and Hekia Parata also need mention.

Garner on the exodus to Oz

Written By: - Date published: 4:18 pm, September 21st, 2012 - 51 comments

John Key is one kind of Wizard all right – a Wizard of Oz. He can make people disappear there. Duncan Garner rips in to him.

Bill sez ‘time youse f*ck off’

Written By: - Date published: 9:34 am, July 22nd, 2012 - 124 comments

An all-time record 53,900 people left New Zealand for Australia last year. Remember when John Key was going to stop the exodus by closing the wage gap? Yeah, that was a pretty funny joke. Now, here’s the punchline: Bill English now says that it’s a great thing that everyone is leaving for Australia. And the kicker, he wants to attract talent by driving down wages.

Key’s press release on exodus to Australia

Written By: - Date published: 10:25 am, July 8th, 2012 - 29 comments

With news that there are now more Kiwis living in Australia than either Christchurch or Wellington, here’s “John Key’s” latest press release on the topic.

Jones affair – politics not always simple

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, May 23rd, 2012 - 227 comments

The media (and the braying right-wing blogs of course) have been bleeding plenty of ink over Shane Jones’ actions in the citizenship case. Jones hasn’t really put his side of the story – until last night.

Spin v reality

Written By: - Date published: 6:45 pm, May 21st, 2012 - 13 comments

National have become a very adept PR machine. While not adept at running the country, they’ve become great at running statistics. John Key was pushing things a little too far with his lines that unemployment rising to 6.7% showed an improved economy and that Europe electing anti-austerity leaders showed their austerity policies were right, but […]

Why are you leaving for Aussie?

Written By: - Date published: 11:43 am, May 14th, 2012 - 75 comments

1 in 80 New Zealanders left for Australia last 12 months. Emigration so far this year is 15% higher than the same months in 2011. 6,000 people attended the 3rd Aussie jobs expo in Auckland in 18 months this weekend. The question is becoming not ‘would you go to Aussie’ but ‘what was the final straw for you to decide to leave Aussie’. Here’s a few reasons.

ImperatorFish: Government Moves To End Boat People Crisis

Written By: - Date published: 2:28 pm, May 1st, 2012 - 24 comments

Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here.

John Key comes up with a crisis.

Failed to achieve

Written By: - Date published: 6:33 am, April 26th, 2012 - 17 comments

Tax increases on working people: GST hike, replaced Labour’s cuts with cuts for the rich, put tax on your employer Kiwisaver contributions, cut WfF tax credits. Record emigration to Australia: 53,237 last year, 1000+ per week.

Nats’ Kim Dotcom law

Written By: - Date published: 8:22 am, March 5th, 2012 - 45 comments

Labour has obtained a cabinet paper showing the Nats’ plan to introduce a ‘two-tier’ immigration system – those with money go to the front of the queue. It’s more evidence of how everything is for sale under National – our employment laws, our power plants, our farms, our gambling laws, and, now, our immigration law. I wonder if they’ll call it the Kim Dotcom Bill.

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