Consider that the germans have used eagles as coat of arms for about 800 years as did the english.
That may factor in when comparing the US american eagle to the german or english one. Fwiw, one could argue that the American Eagle is a rip of of the English Eagle.
Fact is the nazis did only stylize the eagle and put their symbol of death underneath, they neither designed anything new, and the Trumpistas did nothing much either. But then i have been arguing for a while that the Trumpistas are nothing more then a really useless bunch of Ersatz Nazis.
The reports of a refusal to cooperate with MBIE may or may not be accurate, but going down the route of suppression orders just adds fuel to the fire.
And is Grant Dalton ever able to communicate in a way anyone else can understand? His excessive use of jargon and mangled grammar in itself raises a few red flags with me.
"And is Grant Dalton ever able to communicate in a way anyone else can understand? His excessive use of jargon and mangled grammar in itself raises a few red flags with me."
When I heard him on the radio, he seemed keen for us to have the impression that it was independent contarctors that are at fault.
Interesting. Tova's report just now on 3News juxtaposed two video recordings: one of the PM saying David Clark resigned yesterday and the other of David Clark saying he resigned this morning. I wonder who was telling the truth? They're both Labour MPs…
Tova is a shit stirrer. Who cares? Clark offered yesterday, Ardern accept this morning. Or Clark offered yesterday, but made it official this morning. And so on. The world is getting hotter and the NZ MSM are still playing gotcha games.
Clark's actual words were that he formally resigned this morning. Tova deliberately misquoted him by leaving that word out, so as to make up her little drama.
Any normal person would accept that yesterday was verbal, and the formal letter was given in this morning. But not nasty little Tova…?
1) This is the view of the National candidate for Invercargill:
Southern Institute of Technology chief executive Penny Simmonds said Queenstown was the logical place for a quarantine site for international students. … Queenstown has got the hotels free, it's got the space free, it's got an international airport – it's a logical site to be bringing international students into for quarantine."
2) And this is the view of the local National MP, Hamish Walker:
Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker said it was “disgraceful” thousands of people could eventually be quarantined in southern centres without community consultation.
“These people are possibly heading for Dunedin, Invercargill and Queenstown from India, Pakistan and Korea. “I’ve already had many calls, texts and emails from residents who do not want people in quarantine in Queenstown.”.
Certainly the rest of New Zealand should be sharing the quarantine burden. Auckland and now other centres have done the service which benefits the regions so the regions should do their bit too.
I must say it would be torture, particularly as a young person, being quarantined in Queenstown. To be confined to barracks with those spectacular views.
There was a sanction against smoking dope- ignored by most. There was a law about the age you could legally drink in a pub. There was a law against putting substances up your arm with a needle, against driving while drunk, against speeding, against sex with minors.
Nah, deport the whole cohort if they break the rules. It often is peer pressure that gets them into trouble so let’s reverse this and use peer pressure to keep them on the straight and narrow. It’s only for a fortnight FFS.
Hamish Walker's statement and tweet have now been deleted. He's very lucky it's a busy news day.
And just to emphasise the point: the message is that a National MP does not want people who are NZ citizens/residents (the only arrivals that are coming in now), if they are of the wrong ethnicity.
But National DO want people who are NOT citizens/residents, because they bring the cash.
It does make me wonder how political parties work. Can MPs just issues statements like that without talking to anyone? Or did he talk to someone and it's only in hindsight that they realise he will get slammed for it?
Walker told the Herald he had information Kiwis coming from India, Pakistan and Korea had higher infection results.
He declined to say where he got this information given the Herald has been given data showing the most imported cases had come from the UK, US, Australia and Europe.
So the twerp had to be told by a source what the rest of us with a brain inside our heads knew because its been splattered all over the news for the past fortnight.
I refer to the fact that people returning from the US, UK, India, Pakistan and Korea are at a higher risk of testing positive because of the high rates of Covid in those countries.
a bit like what is done in the US. One underling goes out and is out and out racist, sexist, ageist, ableist, etc etc etc. It rails up all the wrong people, then when public outcry gets to big it is deleted. But the message was delivered and those for whom it was intended are now informed of the imminent arrival of Kiwis who are not enough Kiwi in the eyes of many.
Compost is a fuckwit. Some of his squarks are that far out there you'd think he was some fringe lefty community board candidate. This isn't that far outside his normal behaviour, except this one hit the front page nationally.
And still on ODT, and getting return serve from Megan Woods.
A safe seat and Barclay and Walker are the ones the electorate committee select, the other candidates must have been either ordinary or still in shock at the lack of judgment.
One of the other candidates, twice, Simon Flood, was a potential PM, but may have been from the wrong faction / background. Walker was challenged this year too, but it wasn't revealed by who, just Queenstown interests being behind it.
“The minister should come clean and tell the people of Southland and Otago how many of the 18 current Covid cases originate from Asia, which is a region of great risk.
(and where the f**k does he think international students come from?)
“My focus is on keeping New Zealanders safe,” Walker said. “The minister is not going to justify her failure to keep New Zealanders safe by attacking me for identifying where those risks are coming from.
(New Zealanders … but not the New Zealanders coming home)
Someone not capable of working out that those with symptoms stay at the quarantine hotel in Auckland, the ones going south into managed isolation are probably from Oz.
A speculative explanation for this could be an act of political self immolation to vacate the very safe seat for a current, more senior list MP who might be out of a job on Sept 20. But could be a bit close to the election for that now.
Grant Robertson has said that its likely to be 2021 before international students come in.
They have the hostel capacity to manage isolation and then house less than 1/3rd (usually the accomodation of the first year ones), for mine the doctorate and masters students have priority – so the capacity in hostels should be used to quarantine them first. Then come the year three students who want to finish their degree (we owe it to them to get them to the finish).
The ultimate question about numbers beyond this is over the accommodation availability and employment right we currently allow – given pandemic economics.
Just taking in this number (about 1/3rd) and to restrict them largely to the hostels eases accomodation pressure and limits impact on employment.
Ultimately whether we need to restrict numbers depends on capacity to house returning Kiwis which is still an unknown.
They add more value to the institution and potentially the economy (even without factoring in retaining them afterward) without any numerical pressure on our infrastructure (housing/employment).
The universities may cite the cash, but that comes with a wider cost – higher rents and more locals unemployed during a pandemic economy.
Two men, who both spent two weeks in hotel quarantine in Melbourne, have tested positive for coronavirus after returning home to New South Wales and the Northern Territory.
Not if infected during the two week stay … how they could manage that with room isolation … well it would indicate they need a change of management regime.
We've been lucky, given our regime is not as restrictive.
I seem to remember stories of some people testing positive after a month or so.. This is a really stand-out, weird virus, and I would agree that we may well have been lucky.
A Melbourne security guard has revealed even more unsettling allegations about the misconduct that occurred at Victorian hotels being used to quarantine returned travellers.
In a series of bold allegations, the security guard told Nine he believes the workers were actually “spreading the virus” instead of controlling it.
These allegations follow claims from other whistleblowers that guards were given only “five minutes” training and some had sex with infected guests while they were in quarantine.
A University of Melbourne epidemiologist and public health medicine specialist, Professor Tony Blakely, spent 20 years at the University of Otago before taking up the Melbourne role in 2017.
He said based on what’s going on in Melbourne, New Zealand’s quarantine issues have been a “storm in a tea cup”.
Todd Muller's token reshuffle still leaves the National Party front bench looking very pale and bland.
With regard to Hamish Walker, Todd should exercise his self-proclaimed leadership ability and publicity denounce Hamish's racist nimby ramblings, but I dout he will. After all, Muller is very proud of his MAGA cap which has become a symbol of racist ideology. Hamish Walker might even get a promotion for his latest racist ramblings.
It's very obvious now that Todd is an uncharismatic gaffe prone mudder who can't control his MPs. Todd will be a great asset to the Labour Party election campaign.
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
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Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
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Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
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Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
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Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
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Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
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The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
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Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
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The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
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Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
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Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
In 1995, Sally Clark went out on her own in a bold and unorthodox attempt to join an illustrious group of equestrian riders conquering the world. In the days of glovebox road maps, brick cell phones, and the hit song How Bizarre, Clark refused to follow Sir Mark Todd, Blyth ...
Just another coincidence, I'm sure.
https://twitter.com/aravosis/status/1278490967838986240
Blatant as.
/shrug
I've always considered the US Great Seal very similar to the Third Reich's.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Great_Seal_of_the_United_States_%28obverse%29.svg/1200px-Great_Seal_of_the_United_States_%28obverse%29.svg.png
It is simply history that has made it that way.
yeah, the US seal predates the Nazis by about 150 years.
I did hear that the presidential seal on the oval office rug has the eagle face the olive branch if US is at peace, or the arrows if at war.
The "America First" thing, on the other hand…
Consider that the germans have used eagles as coat of arms for about 800 years as did the english.
That may factor in when comparing the US american eagle to the german or english one. Fwiw, one could argue that the American Eagle is a rip of of the English Eagle.
Fact is the nazis did only stylize the eagle and put their symbol of death underneath, they neither designed anything new, and the Trumpistas did nothing much either. But then i have been arguing for a while that the Trumpistas are nothing more then a really useless bunch of Ersatz Nazis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_(heraldry)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Germany
the question just is, is Ivanka still ripping of designs of others and passing them of as her own?
And, of course, the reason why the Nazi's chose the swastika is because it's an ancient symbol of good luck.
As I said, its all history and, quite often, common history that's resulted in people using the same symbols in the same ways.
The similarities dont end there.
Team NZ always pressuring for decades for massive public handouts, yet now have grown so arrogant they think they are above public scrutiny.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12345068
The reports of a refusal to cooperate with MBIE may or may not be accurate, but going down the route of suppression orders just adds fuel to the fire.
And is Grant Dalton ever able to communicate in a way anyone else can understand? His excessive use of jargon and mangled grammar in itself raises a few red flags with me.
"And is Grant Dalton ever able to communicate in a way anyone else can understand? His excessive use of jargon and mangled grammar in itself raises a few red flags with me."
When I heard him on the radio, he seemed keen for us to have the impression that it was independent contarctors that are at fault.
Time will tell if that is the case.
Interesting. Tova's report just now on 3News juxtaposed two video recordings: one of the PM saying David Clark resigned yesterday and the other of David Clark saying he resigned this morning. I wonder who was telling the truth? They're both Labour MPs…
They could both be right if he tended his resignation yesterday but it was effective from this morning.
I really don’t see it as an issue.
Tova is a shit stirrer. Who cares? Clark offered yesterday, Ardern accept this morning. Or Clark offered yesterday, but made it official this morning. And so on. The world is getting hotter and the NZ MSM are still playing gotcha games.
Maybe Tova is still a bit pissed at Grant Robertson's mickey taking in parliament yesterday.
1) Could it be that Clark advised the PM yesterday by telephone that he was resigning.
2) Could it be that Clark formerly presented his resignation letter this morning?
3) Could it be yet another example of dear Tova’s efforts to create a controversy out of nothing?
Clark's actual words were that he formally resigned this morning. Tova deliberately misquoted him by leaving that word out, so as to make up her little drama.
Any normal person would accept that yesterday was verbal, and the formal letter was given in this morning. But not nasty little Tova…?
She's a common garden tabloid operator (wouldn't honour her with the title of journalist) and she has a very high opinion of herself.
Total non issue. Surprised she felt it was worth her time. I'm sure Tova is regarding this one as a total fail.
This one?
Everything Tova is involved with is a total fail, In the interview today Ardern straightened her out, again, for going for the gotcha moment
Another unsolvable binary dilemma!
lol
Not sure about the timing, but both Tova O'Brien and HdPA seem to think the PM has been publicly backing Clark while privately pushing him out.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12345119
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/pm-jacinda-ardern-was-pushing-david-clark-out-as-health-minister-while-publicly-saying-he-d-stay-until-election.html
Some brutal commentary in there.
Divisions in the National Party, episode 374:
1) This is the view of the National candidate for Invercargill:
Southern Institute of Technology chief executive Penny Simmonds said Queenstown was the logical place for a quarantine site for international students. … Queenstown has got the hotels free, it's got the space free, it's got an international airport – it's a logical site to be bringing international students into for quarantine."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/121830812/queenstown-pitched-as-a-quarantine-town-for-international-students
2) And this is the view of the local National MP, Hamish Walker:
Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker said it was “disgraceful” thousands of people could eventually be quarantined in southern centres without community consultation.
“These people are possibly heading for Dunedin, Invercargill and Queenstown from India, Pakistan and Korea. “I’ve already had many calls, texts and emails from residents who do not want people in quarantine in Queenstown.”.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/122019916/coronavirus-unease-at-expanded-covid19-isolation-plans-for-south-island
So to sum up … Jacinda, bring them in! Jacinda, but not here!
Foreigners in, foreigners out, shake it all about …
Certainly the rest of New Zealand should be sharing the quarantine burden. Auckland and now other centres have done the service which benefits the regions so the regions should do their bit too.
I must say it would be torture, particularly as a young person, being quarantined in Queenstown. To be confined to barracks with those spectacular views.
Since when have young people allowed themselves to be confined to barracks, with views, brews and 'who's he/she" to entice?
threat of deportation and never being allowed back should mean something. Plus adequate security.
There was a sanction against smoking dope- ignored by most. There was a law about the age you could legally drink in a pub. There was a law against putting substances up your arm with a needle, against driving while drunk, against speeding, against sex with minors.
They meant something, too………
Nah, deport the whole cohort if they break the rules. It often is peer pressure that gets them into trouble so let’s reverse this and use peer pressure to keep them on the straight and narrow. It’s only for a fortnight FFS.
Fair point and that is a big danger. The inventiveness and exuberance of youth.
Quarantining 2K, 5K, 11K students anywhere sounds like a massive exercise.
Hamish Walker's statement and tweet have now been deleted. He's very lucky it's a busy news day.
And just to emphasise the point: the message is that a National MP does not want people who are NZ citizens/residents (the only arrivals that are coming in now), if they are of the wrong ethnicity.
But National DO want people who are NOT citizens/residents, because they bring the cash.
For those that didn't see it,
https://twitter.com/wekatweets/status/1278573455680475138
It does make me wonder how political parties work. Can MPs just issues statements like that without talking to anyone? Or did he talk to someone and it's only in hindsight that they realise he will get slammed for it?
Yeah, it's the "thinking time" that makes it so bad.
I'm more forgiving of a comment in conversation, using the wrong word, realizing it, apologising in real time. People can slip up. Or be misquoted.
But this is a prepared statement. It's deliberate. No excuse, it says exactly what he wanted – and meant.
Sounds familiar?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12345104
We can probably be thankful for that. After all, we really don't want another political brown-eye.
So the twerp had to be told by a source what the rest of us with a brain inside our heads knew because its been splattered all over the news for the past fortnight.
I refer to the fact that people returning from the US, UK, India, Pakistan and Korea are at a higher risk of testing positive because of the high rates of Covid in those countries.
a bit like what is done in the US. One underling goes out and is out and out racist, sexist, ageist, ableist, etc etc etc. It rails up all the wrong people, then when public outcry gets to big it is deleted. But the message was delivered and those for whom it was intended are now informed of the imminent arrival of Kiwis who are not enough Kiwi in the eyes of many.
rinse repeat.
but yeah, racist gonna racist.
Compost is a fuckwit. Some of his squarks are that far out there you'd think he was some fringe lefty community board candidate. This isn't that far outside his normal behaviour, except this one hit the front page nationally.
And still on ODT, and getting return serve from Megan Woods.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/southern-national-mp-slated-over-racist-statement
Couldn't happen to a more deserving person.
Well it looks like that the Nat MP took a leaf out of a Labour MP's playbook IMHO.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/70155168/labours-half-baked-property-data-turns-chinese-buyers-into-scapegoats
Nice graph information – immigration clearly does drive up house prices
Nice diversion.
A safe seat and Barclay and Walker are the ones the electorate committee select, the other candidates must have been either ordinary or still in shock at the lack of judgment.
One of the other candidates, twice, Simon Flood, was a potential PM, but may have been from the wrong faction / background. Walker was challenged this year too, but it wasn't revealed by who, just Queenstown interests being behind it.
Walker makes it worse …
“The minister should come clean and tell the people of Southland and Otago how many of the 18 current Covid cases originate from Asia, which is a region of great risk.
(and where the f**k does he think international students come from?)
“My focus is on keeping New Zealanders safe,” Walker said. “The minister is not going to justify her failure to keep New Zealanders safe by attacking me for identifying where those risks are coming from.
(New Zealanders … but not the New Zealanders coming home)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300047988/national-mp-hamish-walker-defends-remarks-dubbed-racist-by-labour
Someone not capable of working out that those with symptoms stay at the quarantine hotel in Auckland, the ones going south into managed isolation are probably from Oz.
… erm …. if he wants to know where the current cases come from he should try googling "covid 19 nz" and then tap on the ministry of health website …
Where's Todd? (Barclay) – probably trying to bail back to NZ as well…
A speculative explanation for this could be an act of political self immolation to vacate the very safe seat for a current, more senior list MP who might be out of a job on Sept 20. But could be a bit close to the election for that now.
The National Party is a shambolic shambles and a National disgrace.
What a shambles is National. Agreed Fireblade.
Grant Robertson has said that its likely to be 2021 before international students come in.
They have the hostel capacity to manage isolation and then house less than 1/3rd (usually the accomodation of the first year ones), for mine the doctorate and masters students have priority – so the capacity in hostels should be used to quarantine them first. Then come the year three students who want to finish their degree (we owe it to them to get them to the finish).
The ultimate question about numbers beyond this is over the accommodation availability and employment right we currently allow – given pandemic economics.
Just taking in this number (about 1/3rd) and to restrict them largely to the hostels eases accomodation pressure and limits impact on employment.
Ultimately whether we need to restrict numbers depends on capacity to house returning Kiwis which is still an unknown.
FYI, international PhD students are not good cash cows as they pay the same fees as domestic students.
They add more value to the institution and potentially the economy (even without factoring in retaining them afterward) without any numerical pressure on our infrastructure (housing/employment).
The universities may cite the cash, but that comes with a wider cost – higher rents and more locals unemployed during a pandemic economy.
Two weeks may not be long enough.
Not if infected during the two week stay … how they could manage that with room isolation … well it would indicate they need a change of management regime.
We've been lucky, given our regime is not as restrictive.
I seem to remember stories of some people testing positive after a month or so.. This is a really stand-out, weird virus, and I would agree that we may well have been lucky.
Two weeks may well not be enough for certainty.
I agree, it does call into question the quality of the isolation regime. Daniel Andrews state govt in Victoria seems to have made a particular hash of it.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/lessons-from-victoria-dont-lose-elimination-status
Todd Muller's token reshuffle still leaves the National Party front bench looking very pale and bland.
With regard to Hamish Walker, Todd should exercise his self-proclaimed leadership ability and publicity denounce Hamish's racist nimby ramblings, but I dout he will. After all, Muller is very proud of his MAGA cap which has become a symbol of racist ideology. Hamish Walker might even get a promotion for his latest racist ramblings.
It's very obvious now that Todd is an uncharismatic gaffe prone mudder who can't control his MPs. Todd will be a great asset to the Labour Party election campaign.
Elsa sat on Trevor Mallard's lap during the televised Speakers Briefing today. What a beautiful animal.
https://www.twitter.com/SpeakerTrevor/status/1278483460412149765