Daily review 02/09/2019
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5:46 pm, September 2nd, 2019 - 31 comments
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AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...6 days ago - Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut
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Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...3 days ago
- Release: National buries 1019 planned homes
It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...3 days ago
- Release: Rule-Czar bill a right-wing power grab
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...3 days ago
- Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is running away from problems of his own creation, with his decision not to go to Waitangi. ...4 days ago
- Govt’s ‘free speech’ legislation stokes fear, not freedom
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...4 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...4 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...5 days ago
- ECE no place to cut corners
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...5 days ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...5 days ago
- Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...5 days ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...6 days ago
- Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...6 days ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...6 days ago
- Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...6 days ago
- Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...7 days ago
- Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...7 days ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...1 week ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...1 week ago
- Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...1 week ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
- Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour fully supports greyhound racing ban
The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...2 weeks ago
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Good one Jacinda:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12264120
I wonder if The New Zealand Labour Party will follow the example of their comrades in Tasmania?
They have apparently come to their senses about trying to go into Government with a Green Party. In future they say they won't. This is a Roy Morgan summary of a story in the Australian newspaper this morning. The Australian story is behind a paywall, I believe so I can't provide a link to the original story I'm afraid. According to Morgan it is here.
"The Australian – Page 4 : 2 September 2019
Original article by Matthew Denholm"
"Roy Morgan Summary
Tasmanian Labor leader Rebecca White says the party will not share power with the Greens in the future. White has told Labor's state conference that past alliances with the Greens were a "mistake", while she claims that the Greens talk down to anyone who disagrees with their views. White says the results of the most recent federal and Tasmanian elections show that Labor needs to reconnect with its traditional voters. With the next Tasmanian election due by March 2022, White says Labor will concentrate on policies to boost jobs and to restore health and other services"
Oh that Labour here would follow their example.
Looks like another wait in the cold for Labor then.
They should learn from us.
By having 'past alliances' with the Greens to regret? Bring it on.
You know not what you say.
Labour here will be in that situation when they are booted out of the Beehive in September next year. That will be the cause of their regret about having shared some of the spoils of office with the Greens. Another one term Labour Government.
On the other hand they will be able to word their reasoning for not sharing power with the Greens in the future a bit differently. They will simply be able to say that there are no Green MPs any more.
The media campaign for more spending on cancer treatment and related Pharmac funding is indicative of the middle class centric of the MSM bubble. A bit like Naitonal's extra funding for older age middle class needs hip and knee ops.
Not so much on diabetes and kidney dyalisis – as they are more underclass health needs.
Now Duncan Garner wants a doubling of Pharmac spending to match Oz – when will he argue for doctors and nurses to have the wage rates and working (staffing levels) conditions of those in Oz? Or sufficient social housing … Or the Oz pay and working conditions for our teachers … .
It's interesting where the middle class places its priority for NZ matching first world standards and those privileged with jobs they can do over age 65 also getting super – so the government remains short of money. And yeah the middle class after getting the spending it wants also wants a tax cut.
Behind a gate and giving the finger to those outside.
Oops, the mask slipped…
https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1168253908617183232
People saying that and putting Christian into the sentence should be taken to Court for slander of the religion, its intentions and its beliefs.
Who's got a tl;dr for what's happening with Brexit today. Is the UK about to have an election?
snafu
https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1168425905406074880
#Brexitshambles
Don't the polls have a left block ahead of the right? So either the Tories' internal polling shows them they've a good chance of winning, or Johnson would rather risk losing the election than letting Brexit fail?
Johnson will have his tail up.
The latest YouGov polling results will have been warmly received in Downing Street. Not because the Conservatives are polling particularly well – in fact, if they were to finish an election on their current 34% it would be one of their worst results since the second world war – but because they are 12 points clear of Labour.
The main reason for the Conservative lead is that the leave vote is fairly united, while the remain vote is deeply divided. The majority (53%) of leave voters say they will vote for the Conservatives, while the remain vote is split between the Liberal Democrats (32%), Labour (32%) and the Greens (12%). And the first-past-the-post electoral system punishes division. While the Conservatives face losing a handful of seats to the Lib Dems in the south and the SNP in Scotland, they would currently be more than offset by big gains in Labour/Conservative marginal seats (such as Canterbury, Bedford and Battersea).
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/29/polls-labour-election-victory-yougov-tories-tactical-voting
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/all
so the Conservatives would still win?
Yup, I reckon. It'll be Tory unity over all else.
If the LD and Labour cannot organise co-operation before the election it will be too late
Just goes to show what an awful job Corbyn has done for labour when the tories have been shambolic, divided, changed leader from a fool to tool, and he still can't get them polling higher than the conservatives.
7.5 out 10 voters don't want a bar of him, and for a supposed government in waiting, meant to be taking the people with him to victory, that's inexcusable.
Foot v Thatcher all over again.
Maybe the UK has passed peak FPP
I doubt the UK will ever go proportional – It's far too European and foreign.
I meant socially, irrespective of what voting system they have. Labour's numbers look bad from a FPP view, but ok from a PR view.
Sure, but totally irrelevant given the context of the electoral system.
Factor in the Brexit part vote, which I suspect is mainly made up of disaffected conservatives and a few northern racist or dopey former left voters seduced by the running of anti immigration lines, and the numbers, both fpp and pr look eye wateringly bad for labour.
A good April and May for labour but it's all gone rather wonkey since BJ.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election
And don't the Tories know it. The arrogance and hubris is breathtaking.
https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1168436686281482240
https://twitter.com/jude5456/status/1168459667779018753
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump expressed surprise as Hurricane Dorian slammed the Bahamas on Sunday and headed for the U.S. East Coast, hours after being updated to a Category Five storm.
“I’m not sure that I’ve ever even heard of a Category Five,” Trump said during a televised briefing at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington.
“I’ve seen some Category Fours, you don’t even see them that much,” he said. “But a Category Five is something that, I don’t know that I’ve ever even heard the term, other than I know it’s there. That’s the ultimate and that’s what we have, unfortunately.”
Three Category 5 hurricanes have hit the mainland U.S. or U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, since Trump was inaugurated: Irma and Maria in 2017, and Michael in 2018. Between them, the storms caused about $165 billion in damage.
Trump made a similar comment in 2017, saying of Hurricane Irma at the White House Historical Association dinner that “I never even knew a Category 5 existed.
https://nz.yahoo.com/news/trump-helicopters-golf-course-staying-163116086.html
Free speech? I think this will cost as there seems plenty of money for people to argue their right to say what they bloody well want to.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/397973/auckland-council-taken-to-court-over-far-right-speaking-event-ban
Good. They should have been allowed to speak. Look at whats happening in HK at the moment, free speech needs to be protected.
Yep. I agree. They should be free to make it obvious how daft they are. It will help keep the rabid right vote in New Zealand below 5%.
Yes. Let the people speak so we can see what they're like.
Yip let them speak and let the police take a little note of who listens to them .
They had plenty of media coverage, they spoke a lot then. They could of stood on a street corner, or in a park for example and spoke some more, no one stopped them from finding their own venue. But it was all about the money.
So you'll have no issues when left wing speakers are banned then, good to know
https://twitter.com/DonttreadonH/status/1167889130576998401
https://twitter.com/llllll_jackie/status/1167789099714899970
https://twitter.com/celiahiutung/status/1167814381352022021
#hkpolicebrutality