‘Cos I say so

Written By: - Date published: 10:22 am, November 26th, 2008 - 22 comments
Categories: health, humour, national/act government - Tags:

Following Tony “cos I say so” Ryall’s media success with his plan to cut down waiting lists using the King Canute model of governance, the word around the traps is that several of National’s front bench are planning similar moves.

Over the next few days expect the following:

Simon Power will announce plans to tell all criminals to stop committing crime. The Herald will celebrate the new government’s fresh and ambitious approach.

Nick Smith will announce plans to tell carbon to get back into the ground “or else!”. Spokespersons for CO2, CH4 and a variety of other greenhouse gases will not be available for comment. Smith will claim victory.

John Key will announce plans to tell New Zealanders crossing the Tasman to turn back at the gate. He will do this in a photo op with a big red stop sign (or perhaps one of those giant novelty foam hands).

Other frontbench MPs will announce plans to tell sickness beneficiaries to get better, the economy to pull itself up by its bootstraps, workers to work harder (there may be some kind of horsewhip involved in this) and the wage gap to start closing (note this may involve an Australian ‘wage drop’).

If only Labour had realised how easy this governing business is we could all have enjoyed nine years of kicking back and watching the gains roll in. So many wasted years.

22 comments on “‘Cos I say so ”

  1. The irony is, National’s education policy – standards in literacy and numeracy (or as Key bizarrely calls is ‘a crusade on literacy and numeracy’) – really is a ‘cos I said so’ policy – no more money, no more resources, just a higher hurdle for kids to jump over.

  2. Chris G 2

    I enjoyed that. Good post.

    “Spokespersons for CO2, CH4 and a variety of other greenhouse gases will not be available for comment.”

    Gold!

  3. Ianmac 3

    Minister of Welfare says “All those on the DPB get to work and all your problems will be solved!” And lo it was so. Before long the were 34,563 new Ministers of Social Welfare. Simple.
    Herald welcomes the drop in DPB beneficiaries!

  4. Strathen 4

    Excellent post!!! I feel that it’s absurd that politicians do not reveal every minute detail in media releases to the public of proposed plans. I expect articles to be at least 24 pages long. In fact I propose we ban overviews in media reports and releases. We should also backdate this mandate 30 years.

    How hard can it be? MP’s obviously write the news articles, and therefore should be held accountable for the lack of information in them. This will also help the media industry to get rid of most reporters on their books. The money saved should then be passed on to the consumers during this credit crisis. I think everyone should receive $50 per week from the media sector through this cost saving venture.

    IB, you’re on to something here my good friend. We should run with it…

    IrishBill: You’re an idiot.

  5. Observer 5

    Steve
    No problem with the Education Budget. Just stop the meetings to arrange meetings to decide who should attend a meeting to agree the seating for the meeting to decide what the meeting should be about, and enough money will be saved to add 50% to the number of teachers, doctors and nurses in the public service – probably enough left over to give them all a 30% pay increase as well! (The papers on this “Value for money in Education – 2005” and “Eliminating waste in the Health Bureaucracy; 2004” were both protected from dissemination on the basis they were commercially confidential – go figure)

    IrishBill
    I thought that was exactly what the Labour Led Government did, except instead of telling the bureaucrats what to do, they told the tax payers! “use this light-bulb” comes to mind 🙂

  6. Quoth the Raven 6

    Observer – The nanny state told me to stop using my CFC refrigerartor in the eighties. I told them to stuff it I pay my taxes I don’t need to obey laws. I’m the one laughing now we’ve found out the ozone layer was a fiction created by the communist science lobby group. Ha ha ha.

  7. Kerry 7

    hehe. Scary thing is I could see people like Matthew Hoooooooten reading that and thinking it was a mighty fine idea….bet hes putting together a paper on it right now for John boy…..dont use big words Matthew….he wont understand!

  8. Jum 8

    Back in February 2008 a prophetic message was given to Mayor John Banks by a very clued up person – I hope they don’t mind me repeating their words.

    “John, you have to be joking. You say, “Don’t force your views down the throats of other people. “, then we get an article all about your opinions. Your kids don’t get a chance because they have to live your way. You work harder than everybody. You proved two points in the last two elections, the first said they didn’t want you and the second said they don’t want Hubbard. Listen to yourself:
    “We have to be careful with our children that they don’t get everything too easy. My kids work for everything, earning pocket money. Quite a lot about the last mayoral election was about proving a point. No one works harder than me. No one. Most people don’t understand what struggle is. I have a single-minded attitude to having a vision, setting goals and winning. I have never been on a golf course – life’s too short. I go for a walk. ”
    Maybe you should try something like a game of golf and appreciate why some people find it a pleasure. Maybe it would help you if you took time to smell the roses.

    It will be a sad day if too many people with fixed opinions like yours find their way to power! ”

    I think they just have.

  9. Tim 9

    Sue Bradford was ahead of her time. Stop abusing your kids because she says so.
    Glad to see it worked for Nia Glassie and Jyniah Te Awa.

  10. Ianmac 10

    Tim: 113 MP’s voted for the Child Protection Act S59 repeal. Bradford had the weight of an Act of Parliament with her. Tony Ryall just says “Cut back the hours you lot, or I will be after you with my big Nanny stick!”

  11. Jum 11

    Tim

    Sue Bradford helped put in place a discipline for the future treatment of, and equal humanity, for children. Like all Labour and supporting parties’ legislation it’s all long term (smoking legislation being an excellent example of us now breathing fresher air and reducing deaths through lung cancer).

    I’ll use the ‘I told you so’ message on you and mention the history of destroying people’s dignity through job losses and low value attached to the importance of support systems of 10/20/30/40 years ago that drove the Nia Glassie and Jyniah Te Awa tragedies.

    Now Act/National are likely to renew the damage by reversing all the good things Labour have put in place to rebuild damaged psyches. Key has the perfect opportunity to put his “I would love to see wages drop” plan into action in this current environment. I shall watch the New Right’s policy enactments with interest, both the overt and the covert ones.

  12. higherstandard 12

    Jum you are an idiot

  13. Quoth the Raven 13

    HS – Take it back to kiwiblog. Where’s d4J? his trolling was far better then yours. His was eloquent and intelligent in comparison to your pathetic, senseless ramblings. You are without a doubt the dullest, most tiresome and idiotic troll to ever inhabit the blogoshpere. If neanderthals had blogs, your trolling would be witless and brainless even by their standards. If there were thousands upon thousands of other intelligent lifeforms in the universe and they all had blogs your trolling would still be the ultimate in idiocy. You should change your name to substandard or better yet stop trolling.

    [lprent: Actually HS was one of the most eloquent of the centre-right earlier this year. However trying to even read the comments here is often a wearing experience. But that is why he gets a lot of leeway from the moderators (and generally isn’t regarded as a troll by me), he has a lot of earned mana for participation.]

  14. Chris G 14

    na d4j in my brief encounter on here with him he was a right douche.

    HS is way better. However I do disagree with u simply calling jum an idiot. jum made some good points

  15. higherstandard 15

    QTR

    I suggest you start a club and invite Jum to join.

    You can then both have a bit of a cry and try to appoint blame to anywhere except where it lies.

    Jum is an idiot for trying to pass off the murders of children by sub human scum on anything but the filth that subjected those children to the abuse and murders in the first place.

  16. Quoth the Raven 16

    Chris G – D4J was like a surrealist poet. HS is just a dull simpleton. When Lyn gets his troll program up and running it will be exactly like HS not D4J. A computer program will not be capable of poetics, but it will easily be able to simulate HS because it will have no intelligence.

  17. Observer 17

    Jum

    re your
    >
    The history of destroying people’s dignity through job losses and low value attached to the importance of support systems of 10/20/30/40 years ago that drove the Nia Glassie and Jyniah Te Awa tragedies.
    >

    Doesn’t seem right somehow. The parents involved would have been between nine and twelve years old ten years ago, so their entire political experience as thinking people was under a Labour Led Government, that never required them to learn. The consequences are there in today’s news for you to read! Based on its instructions from various ministers over the last nine years, the MinEdu wants to eliminate topics in the new curriculum that are too hard for some pupils to pass. It seems we now live in a world where everyone has to rank as ‘achieved’ or everyone else has failed! Shame no one told the two failed applicants for a job with me that failure was possible, or the Black Caps that achievement was a requirement – eh!

  18. Ianmac 18

    higherstandard: I was struck by something that I think Gordon Campbell said the other day. (Paraphrased.): We feel for those kids who are treated so badly. Yet at some point the survivors cross-over and may become the perpetrators as adults. Our sympathy for them turns into regarding them as “filth.”

  19. Tim 19

    Jum, you can believe what you want, as can I.

    In the Nia Glassie case at least these people are proof of the failures of welfare dependency fostered by Labour. They have no compulsion to get jobs so they spend all day getting drunk and stoned and looking for something to do. Unfortunately in this case the something was abusing a little girl and ultimately killing her.

    So it is I who get to say “I told you so”. Not that I told you, but I told lots of other people even before this case came to fruition, much like I told people the same about the Kahui twins. Yes, I know, my foresight is awesome. But it’s not hard to see what is going to happen when you have generations of these people who live on welfare and have low motivation and low self-esteem.

    Regarding wages, say an employer had worked out he could afford $60/hour in wages to employ staff in his business, would it be better for the workers if he employed 6 people at $10/hour, 5 at $12/hour. 4 at $15/hour, 3 at $20/hour, 2 at $30/hour or 1 at $60/hour? Would it depend at all on the productivity of the employees?

  20. QoT 20

    Darn straight, Tim. We should ignore the actual realities of poverty in this country, or the fact that Nia Glassie’s mother was in work, and just let the filthy underclass starve until they get motivated properly.

    “Welfare dependency” doesn’t happen because you have welfare. It happens because a class of people are told they are useless and predestined to be criminals anyway. Especially in times of “delusionally” low unemployment, where are these hundreds of jobs for poor unqualified (and especially brown) people that the right wing seem to think are just sitting in the Situations Vacant column waiting to be filled?

  21. Rex Widerstrom 21

    Spokespersons for CO2, CH4 and a variety of other greenhouse gases will not be available for comment.

    By the looks of the volumes of heat and hot air this debate is generating, it seems the spokespersons were all busy at The Standard 😀

    I’m sometimes accused of being a bleeding heart when it comes to the underclass, and I admit I tend to favour measures such as a liveable minimum wage, truly “sensible” sentencing with emphasis on rehabilitation and restorative justice etc etc.

    But I’ve also been poor. So poor that, as I’ve admitted elsewhere, I had to resort to petty theft of milk and bread (home delivered in those days, so I wasn’t holding up gas stations). So poor that I’ve stood there in the morning going through all my jacket pockets hoping to find enough extra change to send one of the kids down to the dairy for a toast loaf so they had breakfast before school.

    I don’t gamble, I don’t smoke, I don’t take drugs and I don’t drink when I can’t afford to… it was simply that raising four kids on a benefit was – at that time, I have no idea about now – one hell of a stuggle.

    The stress of living that way saw me see-sawing between despair, hopelessness and anger.

    My partner (the kid’s mum) grew up in a dysfunctional Maori family where drunkeness, violence and sexual abuse all occurred. According to the likes of Gordon Campbell, then, she was a sitter to grow up and start being an abuser.

    Yet the worst I’ve ever done to my children was an open-palm smack on the bottom when they did something really bad – usually to a sibling. That occurred maybe half a dozen times, across all of them.

    To the best of my knowledge my (now ex) partner never laid a hand on them. She told me, in fact, that what she’d seen as a child meant she never would. That’s a choice anyone else is equally able to make.

    So exuse me if I call bullshit on the right wing idea that welfare dependency is an indicator or even cause of an abusive person’s behaviour, and draw the same conclusion about the commonly held leftist belief that it’s all because these hapless souls had their egos dented by some heartless supposition that they’re criminals, or destined to be poor.

    They are criminals, of the lowest kind, and they’d be so whether or not they received 10 times the amount they get on a benefit. They deserve our contempt, and a punishment befitting the crime.

    Meanwhile the rest of those on a benefit are decent people doing the best they can for their children, with perhaps some mistakes along the way, simply because they’re human. They deserve our respect, and the greatest possible level of assistance to better their lives.

  22. lenore 22

    Then Jon Key will go on to “rid the world of all known diseases” or else! Actually Monty Python have the answers. Check out:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNfGyIW7aHM

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • Chris Bishop: Smokin’
    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    11 hours ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
    12 hours ago
  • Affirmative Action.
    Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    17 hours ago
  • 100 days of something
    It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    18 hours ago
  • Look who’s stepped up to champion Winston
    There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today  – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • What's The Story?
    Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • The longest of weeks
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Suggested sessions of EGU24 to submit abstracts to
    Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
    2 days ago
  • Under New Management
    1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • While we wait patiently, our new Minister of Education is up and going with a 100-day action plan
    Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenance Beehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • DAVID FARRAR: Hysterical bullshit
    Radio NZ reports: Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has accused the new government of “deliberate .. systemic genocide” over its policies to roll back the smokefree policy and the Māori Health Authority. The left love hysterical language. If you oppose racial quotas in laws, you are a racist. And now if you sack ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • ELE LUDEMANN: It wasn’t just $55 million
    Ele Ludemann writes –  Winston Peters reckons media outlets were bribed by the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund. He is not the first to make such an accusation. Last year, the Platform outlined conditions media signed up to in return for funds from the PJIF: . . . ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 1-December-2023
    Wow, it’s December already, and it’s a Friday. So here are few things that caught our attention recently. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt covered the new government’s coalition agreements and what they mean for transport. On Tuesday Matt looked at AT’s plans for fare increases ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    3 days ago
  • Shane MacGowan Is Gone.
    Late 1996, The Dogs Bollix, Tamaki Makaurau.I’m at the front of the bar yelling my order to the bartender, jostling with other thirsty punters on a Friday night, keen to piss their wages up against a wall letting loose. The black stuff, long luscious pints of creamy goodness. Back down ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 1
    Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop and other National, ACT and NZ First MPs applaud the signing of the coalition agreements, which included the reversal of anti-smoking measures while accelerating tax cuts for landlords. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • 2023 More Reading: November (+ Writing Update)
    Completed reads for November: A Modern Utopia, by H.G. Wells The Vampire (poem), by Heinrich August Ossenfelder The Corpus Hermeticum The Corpus Hermeticum is Mead’s translation. Now, this is indeed a very quiet month for reading. But there is a reason for that… You see, ...
    3 days ago
  • Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. They also describe the processes of the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    3 days ago
  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Finally
    Henry Kissinger is finally dead. Good fucking riddance. While Americans loved him, he was a war criminal, responsible for most of the atrocities of the final quarter of the twentieth century. Cambodia. Bangladesh. Chile. East Timor. All Kissinger. Because of these crimes, Americans revere him as a "statesman" (which says ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • Government in a hurry – Luxon lists 49 priorities in 100-day plan while Peters pledges to strength...
    Buzz from the Beehive Yes, ministers in the new government are delivering speeches and releasing press statements. But the message on the government’s official website was the same as it has been for the past several days, when Point of Order went looking for news from the Beehive that had ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • DAVID FARRAR: Luxon is absolutely right
    David Farrar writes  –  1 News reports: Christopher Luxon says he was told by some Kiwis on the campaign trail they “didn’t know” the difference between Waka Kotahi, Te Pūkenga and Te Whatu Ora. Speaking to Breakfast, the incoming prime minister said having English first on government agencies will “make sure” ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Top 10 at 10 am for Thursday, Nov 30
    There are fears that mooted changes to building consent liability could end up driving the building industry into an uninsured hole. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Thursday, November 30, including:The new Government’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on how climate change threatens cricket‘s future
    Well that didn’t last long, did it? Mere days after taking on what he called the “awesome responsibility” of being Prime Minister, M Christopher Luxon has started blaming everyone else, and complaining that he has inherited “economic vandalism on an unprecedented scale” – which is how most of us are ...
    4 days ago
  • We need to talk about Tory.
    The first I knew of the news about Tory Whanau was when a tweet came up in my feed.The sort of tweet that makes you question humanity, or at least why you bother with Twitter. Which is increasingly a cesspit of vile inhabitants who lurk spreading negativity, hate, and every ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Dangling Transport Solutions
    Cable Cars, Gondolas, Ropeways and Aerial Trams are all names for essentially the same technology and the world’s biggest maker of them are here to sell them as an public transport solution. Stuff reports: Austrian cable car company Doppelmayr has launched its case for adding aerial cable cars to New ...
    4 days ago
  • November AMA
    Hi,It’s been awhile since I’ve done an Ask-Me-Anything on here, so today’s the day. Ask anything you like in the comments section, and I’ll be checking in today and tomorrow to answer.Leave a commentNext week I’ll be giving away a bunch of these Mister Organ blu-rays for readers in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago
  • National’s early moves adding to cost of living pressure
    The cost of living grind continues, and the economic and inflation honeymoon is over before it began. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: PM Christopher Luxon unveiled his 100 day plan yesterday with an avowed focus of reducing cost-of-living pressures, but his Government’s initial moves and promises are actually elevating ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Backwards to the future
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed that it will be back to the future on planning legislation. This will be just one of a number of moves which will see the new government go backwards as it repeals and cost-cuts its way into power. They will completely repeal one ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • New initiatives in science and technology could point the way ahead for Luxon government
    As the new government settles into the Beehive, expectations are high that it can sort out some  of  the  economic issues  confronting  New Zealand. It may take time for some new  ministers to get to grips with the range of their portfolio work and responsibilities before they can launch the  changes that  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    4 days ago
  • Treaty pledge to secure funding is contentious – but is Peters being pursued by a lynch mob after ...
    TV3 political editor Jenna Lynch was among the corps of political reporters who bridled, when Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters told them what he thinks of them (which is not much). She was unabashed about letting her audience know she had bridled. More usefully, she drew attention to something which ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • How long does this last?
    I have a clear memory of every election since 1969 in this plucky little nation of ours. I swear I cannot recall a single one where the question being asked repeatedly in the first week of the new government was: how long do you reckon they’ll last? And that includes all ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • National’s giveaway politics
    We already know that national plans to boost smoking rates to collect more tobacco tax so they can give huge tax-cuts to mega-landlords. But this morning that policy got even more obscene - because it turns out that the tax cut is retrospective: Residential landlords will be able to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • CHRIS TROTTER: Who’s driving the right-wing bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In 2023, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • GRAHAM ADAMS:  Media knives flashing for Luxon’s government
    The fear and loathing among legacy journalists is astonishing Graham Adams writes – No one is going to die wondering how some of the nation’s most influential journalists personally view the new National-led government. It has become abundantly clear within a few days of the coalition agreements ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    4 days ago
  • Top 10 news links for Wednesday, Nov 29
    TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere for Wednesday November 29, including:The early return of interest deductibility for landlords could see rebates paid on previous taxes and the cost increase to $3 billion from National’s initial estimate of $2.1 billion, CTU Economist Craig Renney estimated here last ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Smokefree Fallout and a High Profile Resignation.
    The day after being sworn in the new cabinet met yesterday, to enjoy their honeymoon phase. You remember, that period after a new government takes power where the country, and the media, are optimistic about them, because they haven’t had a chance to stuff anything about yet.Sadly the nuptials complete ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • As Cabinet revs up, building plans go on hold
    Wellington Council hoardings proclaim its preparations for population growth, but around the country councils are putting things on hold in the absence of clear funding pathways for infrastructure, and despite exploding migrant numbers. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Cabinet meets in earnest today to consider the new Government’s 100-day ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • National takes over infrastructure
    Though New Zealand First may have had ambitions to run the infrastructure portfolios, National would seem to have ended up firmly in control of them.  POLITIK has obtained a private memo to members of Infrastructure NZ yesterday, which shows that the peak organisation for infrastructure sees  National MPs Chris ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • At a glance – Evidence for global warming
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    5 days ago
  • Who’s Driving The Right-Wing Bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In ...
    5 days ago
  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • National’s murderous smoking policy
    One of the big underlying problems in our political system is the prevalence of short-term thinking, most usually seen in the periodic massive infrastructure failures at a local government level caused by them skimping on maintenance to Keep Rates Low. But the new government has given us a new example, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • NZ has a chance to rise again as our new government gets spending under control
    New Zealand has  a chance  to  rise  again. Under the  previous  government, the  number of New Zealanders below the poverty line was increasing  year by year. The Luxon-led government  must reverse that trend – and set about stabilising  the  pillars  of the economy. After the  mismanagement  of the outgoing government created   huge ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    5 days ago
  • KARL DU FRESNE: Media and the new government
    Two articles by Karl du Fresne bring media coverage of the new government into considerations.  He writes –    Tuesday, November 28, 2023 The left-wing media needed a line of attack, and they found one The left-wing media pack wasted no time identifying the new government’s weakest point. Seething over ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • PHILIP CRUMP:  Team of rivals – a CEO approach to government leadership
    The work begins Philip Crump wrote this article ahead of the new government being sworn in yesterday – Later today the new National-led coalition government will be sworn in, and the hard work begins. At the core of government will be three men – each a leader ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Black Friday
    As everyone who watches television or is on the mailing list for any of our major stores will confirm, “Black Friday” has become the longest running commercial extravaganza and celebration in our history. Although its origins are obscure (presumably dreamt up by American salesmen a few years ago), it has ...
    Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
    6 days ago
  • In Defense of the Media.
    Yesterday the Ministers in the next government were sworn in by our Governor General. A day of tradition and ceremony, of decorum and respect. Usually.But yesterday Winston Peters, the incoming Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister, of our nation used it, as he did with the signing of the coalition ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Tuesday, Nov 28
    Nicola Willis’ first move was ‘spilling the tea’ on what she called the ‘sobering’ state of the nation’s books, but she had better be able to back that up in the HYEFU. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • PT use up but fare increases coming
    Yesterday Auckland Transport were celebrating, as the most recent Sunday was the busiest Sunday they’ve ever had. That’s a great outcome and I’m sure the ...
    6 days ago
  • The very opposite of social investment
    Nicola Willis (in blue) at the signing of the coalition agreement, before being sworn in as both Finance Minister and Social Investment Minister. National’s plan to unwind anti-smoking measures will benefit her in the first role, but how does it stack up from a social investment viewpoint? Photo: Lynn Grieveson ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Giving Tuesday
    For the first time "in history" we decided to jump on the "Giving Tuesday" bandwagon in order to make you aware of the options you have to contribute to our work! Projects supported by Skeptical Science Inc. Skeptical Science Skeptical Science is an all-volunteer organization but ...
    6 days ago
  • Let's open the books with Nicotine Willis
    Let’s say it’s 1984,and there's a dreary little nation at the bottom of the Pacific whose name rhymes with New Zealand,and they've just had an election.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, will you look at the state of these books we’ve opened,cries the incoming government, will you look at all this mountain ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Climate Change: Stopping oil
    National is promising to bring back offshore oil and gas drilling. Naturally, the Greens have organised a petition campaign to try and stop them. You should sign it - every little bit helps, and as the struggle over mining conservation land showed, even National can be deterred if enough people ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Don’t accept Human Rights Commission reading of data on Treaty partnership – read the survey fin...
    Wellington is braced for a “massive impact’ from the new government’s cutting public service jobs, The Post somewhat grimly reported today. Expectations of an economic and social jolt are based on the National-Act coalition agreement to cut public service numbers in each government agency in a cost-trimming exercise  “informed by” head ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • The stupidest of stupid reasons
    One of the threats in the National - ACT - NZ First coalition agreements was to extend the term of Parliament to four years, reducing our opportunities to throw a bad government out. The justification? Apparently, the government thinks "elections are expensive". This is the stupidest of stupid reasons for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • A website bereft of buzz
    Buzz from the Beehive The new government was being  sworn in, at time of writing , and when Point of Order checked the Beehive website for the latest ministerial statements and re-visit some of the old ones we drew a blank. We found ….  Nowt. Nothing. Zilch. Not a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • MICHAEL BASSETT: A new Ministry – at last
    Michael Bassett writes – Like most people, I was getting heartily sick of all the time being wasted over the coalition negotiations. During the first three weeks Winston grinned like a Cheshire cat, certain he’d be needed; Chris Luxon wasted time in lifting the phone to Winston ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago
  • Luxon's Breakfast.
    The Prime Minister elect had his silver fern badge on. He wore it to remind viewers he was supporting New Zealand, that was his team. Despite the fact it made him look like a concierge, or a welcomer in a Koru lounge. Anna Burns-Francis, the Breakfast presenter, asked if he ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago
  • LINDSAY MITCHELL:  Oranga Tamariki faces major upheaval under coalition agreement
     Lindsay Mitchell writes – A hugely significant gain for ACT is somewhat camouflaged by legislative jargon. Under the heading ‘Oranga Tamariki’ ACT’s coalition agreement contains the following item:   Remove Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 According to Oranga Tamariki:     “Section ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON:  Peters as Minister
    A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record. Brian Easton writes – 1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago
  • Cathrine Dyer's guide to watching COP 28 from the bottom of a warming planet
    Is COP28 largely smoke and mirrors and a plan so cunning, you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel? Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: COP28 kicks off on November 30 and up for negotiation are issues like the role of fossil fuels in the energy transition, contributions to ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago
  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Monday, Nov 27
    PM Elect Christopher Luxon was challenged this morning on whether he would sack Adrian Orr and Andrew Coster.TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am on Monday November 27, including:Signs councils are putting planning and capital spending on hold, given a lack of clear guidance ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the new government’s policies of yesteryear
    This column expands on a Werewolf column published by Scoop on Friday Routinely, Winston Peters is described as the kingmaker who gets to decide when the centre right or the centre-left has a turn at running this country. He also plays a less heralded but equally important role as the ...
    7 days ago
  • The New Government’s Agreements
    Last Friday, almost six weeks after election day, National finally came to an agreement with ACT and NZ First to form a government. They also released the agreements between each party and looking through them, here are the things I thought were the most interesting (and often concerning) from the. ...
    7 days ago
  • How many smokers will die to fund the tax cuts?
    Maori and Pasifika smoking rates are already over twice the ‘all adult’ rate. Now the revenue that generates will be used to fund National’s tax cuts. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The devil is always in the detail and it emerged over the weekend from the guts of the policy agreements National ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago
  • How the culture will change in the Beehive
    Perhaps the biggest change that will come to the Beehive as the new government settles in will be a fundamental culture change. The era of endless consultation will be over. This looks like a government that knows what it wants to do, and that means it knows what outcomes ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    7 days ago
  • No More Winnie Blues.
    So what do you think of the coalition’s decision to cancel Smokefree measures intended to stop young people, including an over representation of Māori, from taking up smoking? Enabling them to use the tax revenue to give other people a tax cut?David Cormack summed it up well:It seems not only ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #47
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 19, 2023 thru Sat, Nov 25, 2023.  Story of the Week World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chief  Exclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must ‘stop ...
    1 week ago
  • Some of it is mad, some of it is bad and some of it is clearly the work of people who are dangerous ...
    On announcement morning my mate texted:Typical of this cut-price, fake-deal government to announce itself on Black Friday.What a deal. We lose Kim Hill, we gain an empty, jargonising prime minister, a belligerent conspiracist, and a heartless Ayn Rand fanboy. One door closes, another gets slammed repeatedly in your face.It seems pretty ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • “Revolution” is the threat as the Māori Party smarts at coalition government’s Treaty directi...
    Buzz from the Beehive Having found no fresh announcements on the government’s official website, Point of Order turned today to Scoop’s Latest Parliament Headlines  for its buzz. This provided us with evidence that the Māori Party has been soured by the the coalition agreement announced yesterday by the new PM. “Soured” ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago
  • The Good, the Bad, and the even Worse.
    Yesterday the trio that will lead our country unveiled their vision for New Zealand.Seymour looking surprisingly statesmanlike, refusing to rise to barbs about his previous comments on Winston Peters. Almost as if they had just been slapstick for the crowd.Winston was mostly focussed on settling scores with the media, making ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • When it Comes to Palestine – Free Speech is Under Threat
    Hi,Thanks for getting amongst Mister Organ on digital — thanks to you, we hit the #1 doc spot on iTunes this week. This response goes a long way to helping us break even.I feel good about that. Other things — not so much.New Zealand finally has a new government, and ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    1 week ago
  • Thank you Captain Luxon. Was that a landing, or were we shot down?
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Also in More Than A FeildingFriday The unboxing And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2023-12-03T11:18:49+00:00