Ms Ardern is brilliant. She wipes the floor with him every time.
Heard her being interviewed on the jihadi guy. The interviewer appeared to be trying to get her to say she felt compassion for him and she just didn’t go there. Very skillful.
It is not often that Simon Bridges gets the better of Jacinda Ardern in Question Time. It is even more rare for Bridges to be applauded by his own side. But both happened today – until Speaker Trevor Mallard intervened.
It’s a hospital pass that Ardern keeps passing to herself, and she will keep getting smashed. She has no commercial experience and pretending that her time at an NGO is sort of kind of like running a small business is cringeworthy.
She should just say that if they think a society or a country is like a business – no wonder they left the place in such an effing mess.
No comparison, no discernible equivalence, entirely different sorts of human beings required for the two jobs.
There are too many poorly-run businesses in NZ. People believing it’s somehow a qualification to govern a nation is a reflection of the same unambitious ignorance.
She should just say that if they think a society or a country is like a business – no wonder they left the place in such an effing mess.
No comparison, no discernible equivalence, entirely different sorts of human beings required for the two jobs.
People in NZ who own small businesses (think “John Smith Plumber Ltd”) are worried about how the Tax Working Group’s recommendations might affect them.
Whenever the PM says something like “Trust me I understand your concerns I know all about the pressures of owning a small business because I was once President of the International Union of Socialist Youth” that sounds so tonedeaf it’s practically a let them eat cake moment.
These moments are entirely avoidable. She just needs to stop claiming that she’s ever had any involvement or experience in running a small business, or that her sheltered taxpayer-funded political work history has given her any sort of understanding of what it’s like to work in a small self-owned business. But for some reason she keeps making these hospital passes, and she keeps getting smashed.
My God they’re in a rage over the latest polls! This is when the true character of the “nasty party” is laid bare for all to see.
This line of questioning has started with the Prime Minister, but it will likely spread to include other ministers. The constant needling and efforts to discredit them over something in their past will be an attempt to provoke one or more of them into losing their cool.
However, I get the impression Trevor Mallard saw it coming and he’s ready for them.
You bet Anne, and the “nasty” party hasn’t even got a head of steam on yet. If Labour internal polling is correct wait till the next round of colmar/Reid polls are released, then we will see the true ugly face of blue panic.
Really efficient and inexpensive transport but all the former coastal shipping companies have all been sold off I believe, and new ships don’t come cheap.
The skills don’t either. Pretty new ships with raw crews tend to lose a bit of paint. That said, coastal trade boats are well within local capacity to build. If govt were serious about reducing carbon, getting freight on water would be a priority.
Castlecliff port in the 18th & early 19th centuries was the transit point for goods into and produce out of the central North Island region. Improvements in road transport however made the last half century one of decline for the port.
It would take some freight away from Wellington port and the cross channel ferries. And if Wellington was damaged by an earthquake, there would be an alternative link with the South Island.
Trucks could divert to Whanganui, perhaps passing through New Plymouth and taking the fairly flat coastal route to the Whanganui port and from there would be an apparently direct sea route from there to Motueka.
Also wikipedia says there is a secondary rail line –
Marton – Wanganui – Hawera – New Plymouth for freight only.
There is no rail from Motueka, the freight for further south would have to go by truck either by the inland route to Maruia, Springs Junction, Culverden and then Christchurch.
Or going to Marlborough it would be the route across the twisty Whangamoas, quite a good road but quite a climb, then flat to Blenheim. There is a railway platform there and a loading site there. Presumably it would go on the Main North Line betweeen Picton and Christchurch.
Information from Kiwirail Freight –
Using the rail network
From fixed schedule shuttle trains designed specifically for container movements, to domestic freight trains, or ‘hook and tow’ options for those customers with their own equipment.KiwiRail Freight is a cost-efficient linehaul transport provider for bulk-commodity or containerised freight.
In November 2018 Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that KiwiRail is to get $40 million from the Provincial Growth Fund, to provide a year-round service by the Coastal Pacific and to upgrade the Kaikoura, Blenheim and Picton stations.[11]
KiwiRail committed to inland freight hub
15 November 2018 9:09AM
The Government’s $40m investment in a new freight hub near Palmerston North will ready the Manawatu-Whanganui region for the coming freight growth, KiwiRail’s Acting Chief Executive Todd Moyle says.
Northland rail investigations on track
31 January 2019 2:02PM
Video of speeches made by Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, Minister of Regional Development Shane Jones, KiwiRail Acting Chief Executive Todd Moyle and KiwiRail Chairman Greg Miller is available here: https://youtu.be/2R1v2fDR6kE
(https://www.kiwirail.co.nz/media/news-and-press-releases
It beggars belief that some of these people don’t know teenagers, excl the part where they got their hands – or some of them did – on alcohol you would hope that someone would have blown the whistle very loud at the time. I actually have three daughters and none got “out and about” until they knew exactly how to extracate themselves from problems. As far as I am concerned it was a missed opportunity to all concerned to show just what can happen if people don;t step up and call bad behaviour out.
I was just wondering whether Gosman & James are part of Goebbels Family and can whakapapa themselves back to Josef Goebbels and the German Regime in WW11.
That isn’t really fair. If you’re spending your life waiting for the climactic moment an alleged sex offender appears in court you’re entitled to stay at home frothing at the mouth and not getting out more.
Sad little thing our James sitting behind the computer all day tapping away on the keyboard, you really should get out and smell the roses, rosemary is very good for Mental Health & Memory.
Its Jimmys under daks, the elastic is too tight causing RWS. Either that or the batteries are flat and require re juicing. BM has the opposite syndrome only confined to his right hand, or he may be left handed.
Okay so you and James have info – well shit it must be true because you wingnuts would never bullshit now would you. Luckily the left aren’t as thick as you two or your gnat puppet masters. Lol try again losers.
Personally I’m more worried about John Key using the SIS to discredit Phil Goff, and his use of stroke victim Cameron Slater to do hit jobs on his opponents.
Most of NZ knows who it is and the case will have an outcome no doubt but very many NZ parents have had an occasion to dwell on things that happen so unless you believe that that any failings or sins “of the children” should always be visited on the parents it is by comparison in that regard a non-event.
Sad little thing our James sitting behind the computer all day tapping away on the keyboard, you really should get out and smell the roses, rosemary is very good for Mental Health & Memory.
It’s no more wrong than when everyone knew who Dowie was or the TV personality and in all those cases the person as a sole individual was judged on their actions just as they should be in this case unless people try to politicse it which is exactly what is being hinted at and threatened here regarding people not even present.
We will have to wait and see if the rumours are correct or not. If they are it will make sense then – don’t want to say more as being careful not to get into the details of the rumour.
Yeah. Sometimes you’re mildly humourous, occasionally even constructive.
But when you’re in your little perverted rumour-spreading mode, you really are a vile piece of shit. You take every opportunity to let people’s imaginations run wild, and remind everybody of other lies (which you hasten to say are untrue, despite taking the effort to remind people and pique their curiousity about the rumours).
Rather than not-spreading spreading ugly slanders and rumours, why don’t you cheerlead the fine efforts of the the top-performing National party caucus membership and leadership? I guess not only do you guys have nothing now, you don’t even have anything in the pipeline.
But no matter how desperate you are, you ain’t like the shadders or BM handles. You can do so much better than trying to get people to google slanders.
@ indiana … regardless of how she drew attention to her plight, why wasn’t John Key made accountable for constantly touching the young woman over a fairly long period of time, which disturbed her?
Wouldn’t be easy to get authorities to believe a humble waitress laying an assault complaint against John Key would it? She deserved much better treatment than that she received.
You’re waiting for a train wreck and hoping for casualties and people to be destroyed. Do you say daily prayers that the country craps out so you can gloat? You seem the type.
“I’m looking forward to people being held to account.”
Still brings us back to one lecherous former PM being held to account doesn’t it?
On your obviously strong belief in being accountable for one’s actions (and I’m with you all the way on that one), you still haven’t answered my previous question re John Key and his dirty touchy touchy feely feely behaviour towards a young woman, as well as several young girls!
I’d appreciate a response from you on that topic as well as the one you are throwing around on TS today.
How am I even meant to take praise from someone like you, BM. You just had a go at me for being an algorithm. It’s very abnormal to be snooping around sexual assault cases and making claims of insider information. The victim and there families would rightly say to you who the fuck are you? Just stop embarrassing yourself.
Interesting isn’t it. When it was a sex assault after a Sat. night Young Labour event the media went into overdrive for weeks on end. You would have thought the entire Labour Party Council was to blame.
A young Nat does the same thing – or even worse by the sounds of it – and apart from a brief report not a whisper from the MSM.
When it happens to the National Party sanity prevails and no-one accuses National of being at fault. But Labour….
The woman was taken to a room where he allegedly grabbed her face, tried to kiss her and keep her from her friends, at one stage pulling her away from them by her wrists. When she got out of the room and left the flat she was pursued across a road and to a fast food outlet’s toilet area as the man allegedly continued to try to grope her.
My understanding from the Labour story at the time… it was a quick grope at the actual event but he did not pursue his victims. Admittedly he did it to more than one young woman but the Young Nat incident sounds a lot more serious and frightening for his victim.
But of course you hard-right misogynistic males know better than another woman don’t you.
Honestly have no direct knowledge or expertise regarding these events, so my opinion would be next to worthless. [Check out the “Fair witness” concept.]
But, for what it’s worth, I think they are events for our (hopefully adequately resourced) courts to evaluate, and adjudicate on.
And you probably wouldn’t believe the VERY credible rumours about why John Key resigned.
Lets just say it involved a female called XXX XXXXX. And old workmates were able to confirm certain aspects of the story. Or am I skating on thin ice there?
Well over due for engine size to be reflected in vehicle registration costs. 3+lt tank suv models should exponentially incur taxes way more than a piddly 1lt run-about. Note, the kids still get to school on time, you’ve just used way less fuel and created less emissions to get them there. Sure, it may not look as good outside the cafe in front of your chosen social group and yes, you’ll sit lower on the road when driving so that feeling of superiority will dissolve faster than the planet’s chances of survival, but until we get really clinical with our thinking on climate change, at least you’ll still be able to pay much more for the privilege of your ‘choice’ while your vehicles are still permitted on the roads.
Don’t know why it hasn’t been done here before.
The Nats changed it to be the other way around, indirectly. The ACC part of rego varied according to frequency of injury to occupants, never mind what happened to people in the other car or to pedestrians. So my 1994 Landrover Defender was rated as safer (cheaper ACC band) than my 2001 Daihatsu Sirion with ABS, airbags, pretensioning seatbelts, properly engineered crumple zones and a properly engineered collapse zone on the bonnet …
I have a Toyota Passo, which is bascially a rebadged Sirion and its a good car. Can turn on a dime, good on petrol, speedy, and if you fold the rear seats down, you can load it up with all sorts of stuff.
“What’s really special about the Pininfarina Battista, recently unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, is this: it’s all-electric.
So, here are some stats. Maker Automobili Pininfarina claims its Battista does 0-62mph in less than two seconds, 186mph in less than 12 seconds, has a top speed of more than 250mph, and does 280 miles on one charge.
Its brake horse power (bhp) is equivalent to 1,900, about twice that of a Formula 1 car (a decent-sized Ford Fiesta, Britain’s best-selling car, has a bhp of between about 84 and 138).”
It goes a little further – the Gnats themselves have infiltrated irrigation bodies to lift the value of their own farms, pushing them through by overriding environmental advice and pulling crap like stacking ECan (and I hear the Southland version) with nodding dogs.
The average farmer is not nearly the problem that these ambitious clowns are.
The muppet spits out press releases almost daily that are more appropriate for someone who’s running for some insignificant Fed Farmers committee. And all aimed at the lowest core nat supporter. I’m wondering wtf is going on, has their poling started showing Mark Patterson (NZF local) making some ground in the rural heartland.
As for Queenstown the guy hasn’t a clue about the place, he came out with one today blaming tourism for the congestion we have. It’s bad, but only during the week, tourism is a 7 day industry, it doesn’t have weekends. There’s no congestion in the weekend. The problem is all the development and new people from the Nat’s SHAs and unfettered development without proper planning.
This is what I advocate in this new era of fake news attacks and bizarre controversy manufacture from the Nats. Even today Bridges ran with a Hosking interview, in parliament for God’s sake, in an attempt to discredit the PM on the after-school jobs she had as a teenager.
I advocate jumping on this stuff early and hard but I must say some commenters here don’t see this as a good response, instead preferring to rely on those dated rules of conduct: good faith argument, and robust discussion.
(THREAD) This thread is a guided tour of the 81 PERSONS from whom the House Judiciary Committee is now seeking documents in contemplation of possible impeachment proceedings down the line. These names tell us much about where Congress is headed. I hope you'll read on and retweet. pic.twitter.com/wsErydjzKQ
Palmerston North train unlocks possibility for ‘super’ freight service to Christchurch
15 August 2012 1:01PM
Dedicated overnight rail freight services are being introduced between Auckland and Palmerston North in September.
These new services are expected to play a critical part in the plan to increase KiwiRail’s share of the domestic freight business over the length of the country.
Their introduction will enable the development of a “super” service from Auckland to Christchurch and free up capacity on other premier freight services heading down the North Island Main Trunk to Wellington, Christchurch and beyond, says KiwiRail Freight General Manager Iain Hill.
“By introducing this new service offering we are able to better streamline all our premier services, making them more destination-specific. In particular it gives us the opportunity to run a pure Auckland to Christchurch service, specifically tailored to the ‘just in time’ market.”
The introduction of the new services has been made possible by improvements to the business over the past 12 months.
‘The new locomotives and wagons, and the lengthened Aratere have unlocked previous bottle necks on the network and we now have the capacity and the capability to do this, “he says.
“In the short term it means we are well set up for the peak season this year. And in the medium term it means we will be in a strong position once the rebuild of Christchurch gathers momentum and economic recovery begins.”
At present volumes destined for Palmerston North, the key distribution hub for the lower North Island, are carried on a number of services which continue to Wellington and Christchurch.
The introduction of the new Palmerston North service, will enable one of the other services to be set up as a 32-wagon Auckland to Christchurch service, leaving Auckland at 10.00 pm, arriving in Wellington in time for a critical Aratere sailing, and then arriving in Christchurch early on day two.
Palmerston North is an increasingly important distribution hub for the lower North Island. The south-bound service service, which will consist of around 30 wagons departs Auckland at 18.10PM and is scheduled to arrive at 06.15AM in Palmerston North.
And they have done worthwhile things on pay, bridge innovation, and electric locos.
Landmark pay deal struck at KiwiRail
27 August 2018 1:01PM
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union and KiwiRail have today signed a landmark pay deal which will see a flat rate of higher pay applied across all 2319 of its members, rather than the usual percentage increase for workers.
Read more
Innovative KiwiRail bridge recognised
15 October 2018 11:11AM
A North Island bridge that was the first in the world to feature innovative seismic strengthening technology has been named one of the country’s outstanding concrete structures.
Read more
Electric locomotives to continue with Government investment
30 October 2018 1:01PM
The Government’s commitment to fund the refurbishment of KiwiRail’s ageing electric locomotives on the North Island Main Trunk line will provide additional capacity as rail continues its freight growth, KiwiRail Acting Chief Executive Todd Moyle says.
Was going to mention a couple of things from the New Zealand Railway Observer for this quarter. That last Government wouldn’t do and what this current Government is doing IRT investment to KiwiRail IRT freight, passenger services and infrastructure. The last which has not seen much money allocated to infrastructure since 90’s which has been on a ad-hoc basis since then.
Marshall Mathers is determined to protect his music and is going after the hapless Nats again.
Dildo Joyce has slithered off so I guess it’s the guy who forces women to sign NDAs so they don’t talk, Peter Goodfellow, who will be in the firing line.
Eminem, worth $100m in 2018 according to Forbes, had said he would donate any damages he received to relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey, which ravaged southern Texas in late August 2017.
It’s shocking that the National Party of New Zealand would steal money from victims of Hurricane Harvey.
King’s College, London study looks at the disinformation and propaganda techniques employed by Kremlin mouthpieces Sputnik and RT.
Media outlets RT and Sputnik perform a “damage control” function for the Russian state during incidents such as the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal and deploy a range of tactics to project Russian strength and construct news agendas.
This is the first comprehensive study of how RT and Sputnik sow confusion and division in the UK and beyond. It is based on an analysis of nearly 12,000 articles published in English by the two outlets and over 150,000 online articles by UK news outlets. The articles were collected between May and June 2017, and in March 2018, in the immediate aftermath of the Skripal poisoning.
[…]
The range of competing narratives around the Skripal incident included:
32 narratives relating to the response of the UK and its allies to the Salisbury poisoning, including that the response is driven by inherent “Russophobia”, that the investigation was a “witch hunt” and that the UK’s response to the poisoning was illegal.
20 narratives about Novichok – the substance identified as having been used in the poisoning – including that it could be from the UK, the US, Ukraine, Iran, or a number of other European or post-Soviet states.
16 narratives about the Skripals themselves, ranging from the allegation that links to organized crime explain the poisoning, to claims that Yulia Skripal brought the nerve agent into the UK and that the Skripals were never, in fact, poisoned.
Seven narratives that constitute conspiracy theories, including that the poisoning was set up by the UK or by the intelligence agencies of a third country in order to harm Russia, and claims that the incident was a hoax, with the poisoning never having taken place.
Why do I get the feeling there’s going to be some sudden and quick relocations of rich pricks in the months ahead. 😅
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Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
A Waitomo-based Jobs for Nature project will keep up to ten people employed in the village as the tourism sector recovers post Covid-19 Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “This $500,000 project will save ten local jobs by deploying workers from Discover Waitomo into nature-based jobs. They will be undertaking local ...
Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw spoke yesterday with President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. “I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Kerry this morning about the urgency with which our governments must confront the climate emergency. I am grateful to him and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai Poland “New Zealand’s relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...
Work begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...
A skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whānau, and ...
The green light for New Zealand’s first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. “We’re making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but we’re also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,” Jacinda Ardern said. ...
The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. “All three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACC” said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...
The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea’s biggest hospital is straining to provide medical services to the growing population of the capital Port Moresby – with an estimated growth rate of 3 percent annually, a medical executive says. Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals who attend Thursday’s memorial service in Tweed Heads for Doug Anthony, who died last month aged 90, may muse on the contrast between the state of their party when he led it and now. ...
Returning to quarantine-free travel in 2021 doesn't just need a vaccine, but a way to check whether arriving passengers are actually immune to the virus. A smart Kiwi science start-up is working with a global biometrics giant to make that happen. A deal signed between Kiwi research and development company Orbis Diagnostics, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney This summer’s wetter conditions have created great conditions for flowering plants. Flowers provide sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen, attracting many insects, including bees. Commercial honey bees are also thriving: ...
Lotto scratchie tickets featuring the pop band Six60 are being withdrawn after a public backlash. In a statement, Lotto NZ said there had been a mutual decision made with the band to remove the tickets from sale following the negative feedback, and it offered an apology. The band faced criticism, both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Shell-crushing predation was already in full swing half a billion years ago, as our new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals. A hyena devouring ...
Vodafone has suspended advertising on the radio station amid calls for talkback host John Banks to be taken off air after yet another racist outburst. Alex Braae reports. In an alarming segment of talkback radio, former Auckland mayor John Banks endorsed the views of a caller who described Māori as a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Welch, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland When a COVID-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoa’s second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. ESR scientists worked late into Sunday night to obtain a whole genome sequence ...
He has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...
We’ll never be royals with nearly a quarter of declined baby names featuring “Royal” in some form or another. Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs has released the list of names declined in 2020 by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and ...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice. Wrong. He has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University There’s a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhereonline. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...
Just as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...
“The Government’s failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “A ...
The Ministry of Health is today drawing backlash from the local New Zealand vaping industry following its release of proposed regulations for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. Vaping Trade Association New Zealand (VTANZ) President, ...
Sophie Gilmour and Simon Day are joined by special guest Hugo Baird, co-owner of Grey Lynn’s Honey Bones and Lilian, to talk about opening new pub Hotel Ponsonby.Auckland is a city of many bars but few really good pubs – the kind of places you’d be just as comfortable going ...
The appointment of an advisory board for Oranga Tamariki is welcome and should be a step toward a total transformation of the care and protection system to a by Māori, for Māori approach, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said today. Minister ...
Taking control of your financial wellbeing can have cascading positive impacts for your life and it can also be fun. With the help of the team at Kiwi Wealth, we’ve compiled some simple tricks for balancing your books in 2021. There’s something about the beginning of a new year, especially after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology As we know, getting into New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult. There are practicalities, such as high airfare and managed isolation costs. And there are legal requirements, including pre-flight testing, mandatory ...
New Zealand faces the risk of a generation being locked out of the housing market unless land is freed up and more houses built, National Party leader Judith Collins says. ...
On Sunday, Stuff published a months-long investigation by Alison Mau detailing allegations of harassment and exploitation within the local music industry.The piece, ‘Music industry professionals demand change after speaking out about its dark side’, includes allegations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power by male artists, international acts and executives; ...
“The Government is all at sea on timelines for Australia and New Zealand’s respective vaccine roll-outs, with the worst news coming from the mouth of Pfizer Australia CEO Anne Harris,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Yesterday, under increasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised the US would demonstrate “global leadership on refugees”. Once elected, he pledged to vastly increase refugee resettlement in the US. If history is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Lanicek, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History and Jewish History, UNSW On January 27 communities worldwide commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz — the largest complex of concentration camps and extermination centres during the Holocaust. This is the first year the International ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lorinda Cramer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Australian Catholic University The summer break is over, marking a return to the office. For some, this ends almost a year of working from home in lockdown. Some analysts are predicting it might also mark an enduring ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 27, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato New Zealand has a strong history of protecting and promoting human rights at home and internationally, and prides itself on being an outspoken critic and global leader in this area. So, when the most ...
Good morning and welcome to the Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins outlines the plan forward for National, no spread of Covid spotted yet in Northland, and students return for climate protest.In front of a Rotary Club at the Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, National leader Judith Collins yesterday set out her ...
*This articlefirst appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The tourism industry isn't holding its breath for a trans-Tasman travel bubble being in place after Australia temporarily closed its borders to New Zealand. New Zealanders could be waiting even longer for a full trans-Tasman bubble, with the ...
We continue our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with an essay by Anahera Gildea on cultural appropriation Every night at 7pm sharp, my Irish Catholic father and his eight siblings would have to kneel on the carpet of the living room, facing the freshly polished nudity of ...
Children's Minister Kelvin Davis will have independent eyes and ears across Oranga Tamariki over the next five months as the Government tries to change the work and practices of the ministry. The Government has created a Māori-led watchdog to oversee how the children's ministry, Oranga Tamariki, deals with parents and ...
A Covid reset will force costly and inflexible cities to take a hard look at their planning systems, or people will vote with their feet. Broken urban planning systems make for misery even in the best of times. If land use and housing regulations prevent metropolitan areas from growing up or out as ...
When an Auckland school classroom went up in flames in December last year, exploding asbestos over neighbouring houses, five separate government agencies were involved. Yet stressed residents dealing with the aftermath on their homes say the response felt chaotic and uncoordinated; even local MPs who got involved couldn't get the information they wanted. Hundreds of thousands of ...
The pandemic has accelerated the trend of doing our banking online instead of in person. This rapid digital embrace has, in turn, sped up the closure of many smaller bank branches. But, as Mark Jennings writes, there are new branches springing up with a different look and purpose. Auckland’s Wynyard ...
Corrina Gage has represented New Zealand in a trio of water sports. But it's her love for waka ama - and the opportunities it gives paddlers from 5 to 85 - that keeps her racing and coaching around the world. Lake Karāpiro is quiet and still now. But last week, it was all noise ...
Telling a Rotary Club audience that housing is a serious problem and they should care deeply about it landed flat but took some daring from the National leader, writes Justin Giovannetti.Judith Collins’ level of control over the National Party is still a question best answered by a shrug.Elevated to her ...
A gang turf war gripped the South Auckland suburb in late 2020, forcing schools to lock down and armed police to patrol the streets. Community leaders are now warning the cycle of violent retribution could continue in 2021, unless radical interventions are made.The violent altercations that loomed large in Ōtara ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Véronique Duché, A.R. Chisholm Professor of French, University of Melbourne In this series, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on the page and on screen. When I first heard that Rowan Atkinson was to put on Maigret’s velvet-collared overcoat, I wondered ...
Auckland writer Olivia Hayfield* explains how she resurrected 16th-century playwright Christopher Marlowe to star in her new novel, Sister to Sister. Olivia Hayfield is a pen name. Real name: Sue Copsey. When I’m planning my modern retellings of historical tales, I read widely on the characters and see who leaps out at ...
The Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine could be approved as early as next week, Marc Daalder reports Medsafe will be asked to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 on February 2, the Government has announced. The Medicines Assessment Advisory Committee (MAAC) is an independent panel that provides advice on some medicine approvals in ...
COMMENT:By Bryan Kramer, PNG’s Minister of Police who has defended Commissioner Manning’s appointment today in The National My last article, announcing that I intend to make a submission to the National Executive Council (NEC) to amend the Public Service regulation to no longer require the Commissioner of Police to ...
The Point of Order Trough Monitor was triggered today by the announcement of a $9 million handout for Southlanders – sorry, some Southlanders. The news came from the office of Grant Robertson who, as Minister of Finance, prefers to invest public money rather than give it away – especially when ...
Few people outside of her campaign team gave Chlöe Swarbrick any chance of winning in Auckland Central this year – but the Green Party MP was too busy to listen. Here’s how they turned the electorate green.First published November 12, 2020.Three Ticks Chlöe is part of Frame, a series of short ...
Interactions between parents and healthcare providers could have a big impact on the wellbeing of our children, according to new research. The way parents and healthcare providers interact has lasting implications for children’s health, new research has found – and that includes immunisation uptake.Released today, the report is based on research ...
The Opposition starts the political year calling for emergency, temporary legislation to free up house building National leader Judith Collins has set five priorities for her party over the next three years - but excluded climate change, education and Crown-Māori relations. Giving her first 'state of the nation' speech as party ...
One of the biggest challenges facing the Ardern government is in public health. New Zealand may have escaped the pressures heaped on other health systems by the Covid-19 pandemic but its health service has had its problems, not least those exposed in the first report from Heather Simpson and her ...
New Zealand’s Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has revealed that 14 close contacts of the Northland community case have returned negative test results. Yesterday he announced two close contacts – her husband and hair dresser – were negative. In his tweet, Hipkins described the news as “encouraging”. However, New ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the arbitrary and opaque experiments that Google is conducting with its search engine in Australia, with the consequence that many national news websites are no longer appearing in the search results seen by some users. The Australian, ABC, Australian Financial ...
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta says councils can take stronger action against companies dumping contaminated waste water, even though they have identified loopholes in the law on fines. ...
Drag Race Down Under, part of the popular RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise, is filming in New Zealand. In their own words, local drag talent share what drag means to them and how it might be impacted by the show.RuPaul’s Drag Race is, quite simply, a television phenomenon. Love it or ...
For a long time, weighted blankets were considered a specialist device. Now they’re popular with even the most normal sleepers.Growing up, Temple Grandin spent time on her aunt’s cattle ranch in America, watching cow after stressed cow enter a squeeze chute and come out calm as the dead sea. She ...
Increased provisional tax thresholds, immediate low-value asset write offs and allowing the deferral of tax payments and use of money interest (UOMI) write offs were the most popular tax measures introduced by the Government to help businesses survive ...
The latest fleeing driver statistics show the numbers of incidents sky-rocketing out of control through 2020 with Police deciding the only tactic is to give up on chasing altogether, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The inconvenient truth is ...
With new revelations of the appalling racism behind Israel’s refusal to provide Covid-19 vaccines to 4.5 million Palestinians under its occupation and control, PSNA has renewed our call for the government to speak out alongside the United Nations ...
The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again, on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “COVID-19 may have stopped us in our tracks in the past. However, I tend ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Parwinder Kaur, Associate Professor | Director, DNA Zoo Australia, University of Western Australia Koalas are unique in the animal kingdom, living on a eucalyptus diet that would kill other creatures and drinking so little their name comes from the Dharug word gula, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By S. Anna Florin, Research fellow, University of Wollongong Archaeological research provides a long-term perspective on how humans survived various environmental conditions over tens of thousands of years. In a paper published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, we’ve tracked rainfall in northern ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Binoy Kampmark, Senior Lecturer in Global Studies, Social Science & Planning, RMIT University Since 2005, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has been one of the most stable and enduring of political forces, both in Europe and on the global stage. During her 16 ...
If you like a good laugh, watch question one from Parliament today.
Jeepers bridges is so poor. He needs to leave the arena. He is finished.
His best friends wouldn’t tell him.
He turfed the only one who might have for leaking.
I thought Simon tried really hard and Gerry was very smart, until he got chucked out.
Ms Ardern is brilliant. She wipes the floor with him every time.
Heard her being interviewed on the jihadi guy. The interviewer appeared to be trying to get her to say she felt compassion for him and she just didn’t go there. Very skillful.
And yes Bridges is hapless
Of course Aunty Audrey reckons her special lad was triumphant: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12209774
God what a load of dribble Audrey writes.
It’s completely pointless questioning because the govt haven’t even said yet what bits they will support of the tax working groups recommendations
But his colleagues applauded, see. He must be popular after all.
Poor Audrey, Just another tired, braindead National poodle.
That is a really weird take …
Yes, seems to be something else going on there.
It’s a hospital pass that Ardern keeps passing to herself, and she will keep getting smashed. She has no commercial experience and pretending that her time at an NGO is sort of kind of like running a small business is cringeworthy.
She should just say that if they think a society or a country is like a business – no wonder they left the place in such an effing mess.
No comparison, no discernible equivalence, entirely different sorts of human beings required for the two jobs.
There are too many poorly-run businesses in NZ. People believing it’s somehow a qualification to govern a nation is a reflection of the same unambitious ignorance.
She should just say that if they think a society or a country is like a business – no wonder they left the place in such an effing mess.
No comparison, no discernible equivalence, entirely different sorts of human beings required for the two jobs.
People in NZ who own small businesses (think “John Smith Plumber Ltd”) are worried about how the Tax Working Group’s recommendations might affect them.
Whenever the PM says something like “Trust me I understand your concerns I know all about the pressures of owning a small business because I was once President of the International Union of Socialist Youth” that sounds so tonedeaf it’s practically a let them eat cake moment.
These moments are entirely avoidable. She just needs to stop claiming that she’s ever had any involvement or experience in running a small business, or that her sheltered taxpayer-funded political work history has given her any sort of understanding of what it’s like to work in a small self-owned business. But for some reason she keeps making these hospital passes, and she keeps getting smashed.
My God they’re in a rage over the latest polls! This is when the true character of the “nasty party” is laid bare for all to see.
This line of questioning has started with the Prime Minister, but it will likely spread to include other ministers. The constant needling and efforts to discredit them over something in their past will be an attempt to provoke one or more of them into losing their cool.
However, I get the impression Trevor Mallard saw it coming and he’s ready for them.
You bet Anne, and the “nasty” party hasn’t even got a head of steam on yet. If Labour internal polling is correct wait till the next round of colmar/Reid polls are released, then we will see the true ugly face of blue panic.
Tilting at windmills comes to mind …
Here is the perfect future proofing investment for Shane Jones to look at investing in, provincially speaking.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111039779/marine-expert-backs-plan-to-run-new-northsouth-shipping-service
Long past time we had a bit more shipping. Wasn’t so very long ago we were a major shipping nation.
Really efficient and inexpensive transport but all the former coastal shipping companies have all been sold off I believe, and new ships don’t come cheap.
The skills don’t either. Pretty new ships with raw crews tend to lose a bit of paint. That said, coastal trade boats are well within local capacity to build. If govt were serious about reducing carbon, getting freight on water would be a priority.
Whanganui port- Castlecliff
https://www.castlecliff.nz/port
Castlecliff port in the 18th & early 19th centuries was the transit point for goods into and produce out of the central North Island region. Improvements in road transport however made the last half century one of decline for the port.
It would take some freight away from Wellington port and the cross channel ferries. And if Wellington was damaged by an earthquake, there would be an alternative link with the South Island.
Trucks could divert to Whanganui, perhaps passing through New Plymouth and taking the fairly flat coastal route to the Whanganui port and from there would be an apparently direct sea route from there to Motueka.
Also wikipedia says there is a secondary rail line –
Marton – Wanganui – Hawera – New Plymouth for freight only.
There is no rail from Motueka, the freight for further south would have to go by truck either by the inland route to Maruia, Springs Junction, Culverden and then Christchurch.
Or going to Marlborough it would be the route across the twisty Whangamoas, quite a good road but quite a climb, then flat to Blenheim. There is a railway platform there and a loading site there. Presumably it would go on the Main North Line betweeen Picton and Christchurch.
Information from Kiwirail Freight –
Using the rail network
From fixed schedule shuttle trains designed specifically for container movements, to domestic freight trains, or ‘hook and tow’ options for those customers with their own equipment.KiwiRail Freight is a cost-efficient linehaul transport provider for bulk-commodity or containerised freight.
In November 2018 Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that KiwiRail is to get $40 million from the Provincial Growth Fund, to provide a year-round service by the Coastal Pacific and to upgrade the Kaikoura, Blenheim and Picton stations.[11]
KiwiRail committed to inland freight hub
15 November 2018 9:09AM
The Government’s $40m investment in a new freight hub near Palmerston North will ready the Manawatu-Whanganui region for the coming freight growth, KiwiRail’s Acting Chief Executive Todd Moyle says.
Northland rail investigations on track
31 January 2019 2:02PM
Video of speeches made by Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, Minister of Regional Development Shane Jones, KiwiRail Acting Chief Executive Todd Moyle and KiwiRail Chairman Greg Miller is available here: https://youtu.be/2R1v2fDR6kE
(https://www.kiwirail.co.nz/media/news-and-press-releases
(https://www.google.co.nz/maps/@-41.072561,173.5736909,10z
gsays, thanks for that.
Less than 2 weeks until the trial of the person accused of multiple sexual assaults at the labour youth camp.
Given who it is to rumoured to be there should be a lot of interest from the media – will be very interesting if found guilty.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/107027711/two-charges-dropped-against-man-accused-of-sexual-assaults-at-labour-party-summer-camp
Oh you little tease. To yellow to share the rumour are you?
Not a hope I’d post it or even give hints on here or elsewhere.
So that’s why the right are still frothing about it. Another prominent New Zillunder, you reckon.
You don’t froth over multiple sexual assaults on teenagers?
Nope.
😂
It beggars belief that some of these people don’t know teenagers, excl the part where they got their hands – or some of them did – on alcohol you would hope that someone would have blown the whistle very loud at the time. I actually have three daughters and none got “out and about” until they knew exactly how to extracate themselves from problems. As far as I am concerned it was a missed opportunity to all concerned to show just what can happen if people don;t step up and call bad behaviour out.
I was just wondering whether Gosman & James are part of Goebbels Family and can whakapapa themselves back to Josef Goebbels and the German Regime in WW11.
Can anyone on TS enlighten me ?
Doubt it, Goebbels had creative grey matter in the game, they are just wee National poodles.
Yeah that would ruin the charade.
James you’ve got to get out more
That isn’t really fair. If you’re spending your life waiting for the climactic moment an alleged sex offender appears in court you’re entitled to stay at home frothing at the mouth and not getting out more.
Sad little thing our James sitting behind the computer all day tapping away on the keyboard, you really should get out and smell the roses, rosemary is very good for Mental Health & Memory.
Its Jimmys under daks, the elastic is too tight causing RWS. Either that or the batteries are flat and require re juicing. BM has the opposite syndrome only confined to his right hand, or he may be left handed.
Tick tick tick tick tick………. ninety nine……tock!
I agree If what I’ve read is true, explosive and should be highly damaging to those involved.
Tick Tock, Tick Tock.
Okay so you and James have info – well shit it must be true because you wingnuts would never bullshit now would you. Luckily the left aren’t as thick as you two or your gnat puppet masters. Lol try again losers.
Did I say it was true?
We’ll find out sooner or later when the court case begins, no doubt someone will turn up and verify.
If true though and it’s not covered by the media.I’II have grave concerns about the long term future of NZ.
Banana republic here we are.
So you’ve heard a heinous rumour and if the MSM don’t cover it then that will be proof for you that we are a banana republic?
Lol that’s silly.
You need to dial back your bias filter, you’re not reading posts correctly.
Here me thinking the Panama papers proved that Key turned us into a Banana republic. It’s so funny that you think it any better.
Personally I’m more worried about John Key using the SIS to discredit Phil Goff, and his use of stroke victim Cameron Slater to do hit jobs on his opponents.
Now that was dangerous.
Second rate diversion attempt.
Most of NZ knows who it is and the case will have an outcome no doubt but very many NZ parents have had an occasion to dwell on things that happen so unless you believe that that any failings or sins “of the children” should always be visited on the parents it is by comparison in that regard a non-event.
I’m guessing people don’t “know”.
Remember the gayford rumours – there is still a chance the rumour on this is wrong also.
We just have to wait and see.
And yes people should be held to account for their actions or lack thereof.
Sad little thing our James sitting behind the computer all day tapping away on the keyboard, you really should get out and smell the roses, rosemary is very good for Mental Health & Memory.
Jimmy you really should have a wash put your nappies on and jump into bed, and have a good nights sleep.
You could not help bringing up the Gayford rumors again could you ?
You are obviously a little slow – I was using that as an example of how rumours can be wrong.
I’ll type slower for you so you try to keep up.
It’s no more wrong than when everyone knew who Dowie was or the TV personality and in all those cases the person as a sole individual was judged on their actions just as they should be in this case unless people try to politicse it which is exactly what is being hinted at and threatened here regarding people not even present.
We will have to wait and see if the rumours are correct or not. If they are it will make sense then – don’t want to say more as being careful not to get into the details of the rumour.
Remember the gayford rumours…
Yep, remember them. Same bottom-feeders peddling the rumours in both cases – are you happy to be in that company?
I haven’t peddled any. I just mention there are some and zero names or even how it could be related.
Yeah. Sometimes you’re mildly humourous, occasionally even constructive.
But when you’re in your little perverted rumour-spreading mode, you really are a vile piece of shit. You take every opportunity to let people’s imaginations run wild, and remind everybody of other lies (which you hasten to say are untrue, despite taking the effort to remind people and pique their curiousity about the rumours).
Rather than not-spreading spreading ugly slanders and rumours, why don’t you cheerlead the fine efforts of the the top-performing National party caucus membership and leadership? I guess not only do you guys have nothing now, you don’t even have anything in the pipeline.
But no matter how desperate you are, you ain’t like the shadders or BM handles. You can do so much better than trying to get people to google slanders.
I cannot take ownership for others imaginations or their google searches.
Bullshit. You know exactly what you’re doing.
Who started the rumours on JLR and that grubby little girl in the town next to Bluff Jimmy ?
James @ (3.3.1.1.3.1) Your final statement …
“And yes people should be held to account for their actions or lack thereof.”
Absolutely agree.
However …
Why is it then John Key was not held to account for assaulting a waitress for six months, despite her telling him to stop on several occasions?
Predatory behaviour from someone in a powerful position, abusing his status toward a young woman he obviously considered inferior to himself!
…maybe because the victim went to a blog site instead of the police…
Perfect answer
@ indiana … regardless of how she drew attention to her plight, why wasn’t John Key made accountable for constantly touching the young woman over a fairly long period of time, which disturbed her?
Wouldn’t be easy to get authorities to believe a humble waitress laying an assault complaint against John Key would it? She deserved much better treatment than that she received.
Accountability long overdue here!
I said rumour. I have no info.
Still better thick than providing underaged kids alcohol and letting them get sexually abused.
So Jimmy you are trying to ignite the sexual misbehaviour at the Labour Party Summer Camp correct ?
No not correct. I’m just looking forward to the truth coming out and the bad guy being charged and named.
Any other fallout is just candy.
You’re waiting for a train wreck and hoping for casualties and people to be destroyed. Do you say daily prayers that the country craps out so you can gloat? You seem the type.
I’m looking forward to people being held to account.
If it goes as per the rumour – the people who get destroyed will deserve it.
People? There’s just the one guy on trial isn’t there?
Who else is going to be destroyed?
That will depend on if the rumour is true or not.
James … you state ….
“I’m looking forward to people being held to account.”
Still brings us back to one lecherous former PM being held to account doesn’t it?
On your obviously strong belief in being accountable for one’s actions (and I’m with you all the way on that one), you still haven’t answered my previous question re John Key and his dirty touchy touchy feely feely behaviour towards a young woman, as well as several young girls!
I’d appreciate a response from you on that topic as well as the one you are throwing around on TS today.
Candy? That’s creepy.
The Young Nats?
Yeah, it was a Nat plant 🙄
Dude, you have no shame at all.
I mean trust you to make this about boosting your reputation. There’s something awful about people who chase virtual ambulances.
Bot Sam needs a bit of work on his logic algorithm.
Far too much junk output guys.
Says the guy who can’t help swearing after he’s had a few.
Had a few?, I’ll call you a cunt face any time of the day.
Lol. Junk output.
You are too easily triggered, mate. Get help.
(Deleted and edited by moi): Don’t need to double up on the rhetoric. Couldn’t have said it better than Muttonbird myself.
Lol, Really pushed the boat out with Sam there fella, my God what a creative genius.
How am I even meant to take praise from someone like you, BM. You just had a go at me for being an algorithm. It’s very abnormal to be snooping around sexual assault cases and making claims of insider information. The victim and there families would rightly say to you who the fuck are you? Just stop embarrassing yourself.
gReaT Com3BacK sAM!
Do you concede?
That you’re an idiot?
Absolutely
Prove it
A Russian Agent planted the rumour.
Thanks for the reminder Muttonbird.
What happened about the Young Nats sex assult?
Has anyone heard any rumours?
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/108890577/police-investigate-incident-after-young-nats-event
It’s ok when National does it.
Big-noting is a right winger’s form of virtue signalling and it’s generally approved of.
You might think so – most others wouldn’t.
Was that person charged ?
Interesting isn’t it. When it was a sex assault after a Sat. night Young Labour event the media went into overdrive for weeks on end. You would have thought the entire Labour Party Council was to blame.
A young Nat does the same thing – or even worse by the sounds of it – and apart from a brief report not a whisper from the MSM.
When it happens to the National Party sanity prevails and no-one accuses National of being at fault. But Labour….
So Anne – what makes this assault even worse?
From the link:
My understanding from the Labour story at the time… it was a quick grope at the actual event but he did not pursue his victims. Admittedly he did it to more than one young woman but the Young Nat incident sounds a lot more serious and frightening for his victim.
But of course you hard-right misogynistic males know better than another woman don’t you.
I love that you minimise it to a quick gripe as opposed to a serious sexual assault against several people – at least one male as well.
Then you play the misogyny card – pathetic.
But must be a lot more serious because Anne’s a woman and says so – blissfully overlooking a police investigation that says otherwise.
Funny old world where trying to kiss someone is a lot more serious than putting your hand done people’s pants when they don’t want it.
What about JLR the National Party sex maniac who was seducing all the women in Parliament ?
Anne, James might just be indulging in pathetic political point-scoring, but I too detect the whiff of misogyny in some of ‘his’ comments.
James‘ muck-raking highlights his lack of self-awareness – really sad.
Do you agree with Anne’s evaluation that one sexual assault was “a lot more serious” than the 4 resulting in criminal charges ?
Honestly have no direct knowledge or expertise regarding these events, so my opinion would be next to worthless. [Check out the “Fair witness” concept.]
But, for what it’s worth, I think they are events for our (hopefully adequately resourced) courts to evaluate, and adjudicate on.
Yes Anne please be quiet while james mansplains why you are wrong. He knows some rumours off his suspect webmates so sit back…
i didn’t say she was wrong. I said she was minimising the sexual assaults of others and being pathetic in playing the misogyny card.
Well I’ll just call you scum for manipulating the situations
A young Nat does the same thing
Either you’re going senile Anne or for some reason feel the need to lie?
While we are waiting on Anne’s rating system for sexual assaults – let’s compare and contrast the follow up by national and labour on the matters.
From memory they lied about knowing who the Young Nat abuser was.
I guess you can’t blame the Nats in that instance because lying is their default reaction to any situation and they seem incapable of changing.
And how well did labour do?
They didn’t lie. That’s one of the thing which sets the two parties apart.
Jimmy, change your underwear, we all know young nats only grope themselves and screens.
Yet we have proof young labour get groped by others – even if they really don’t want it.
What about John Key and one of the very attractive woman in the National Party ?
I heard it from a number of sources.
And you probably wouldn’t believe the VERY credible rumours about why John Key resigned.
Lets just say it involved a female called XXX XXXXX. And old workmates were able to confirm certain aspects of the story. Or am I skating on thin ice there?
Until they are proven all rumours are as credible as others.
I have not heard a thing. Honestly you guys should get out more.
Well over due for engine size to be reflected in vehicle registration costs. 3+lt tank suv models should exponentially incur taxes way more than a piddly 1lt run-about. Note, the kids still get to school on time, you’ve just used way less fuel and created less emissions to get them there. Sure, it may not look as good outside the cafe in front of your chosen social group and yes, you’ll sit lower on the road when driving so that feeling of superiority will dissolve faster than the planet’s chances of survival, but until we get really clinical with our thinking on climate change, at least you’ll still be able to pay much more for the privilege of your ‘choice’ while your vehicles are still permitted on the roads.
Don’t know why it hasn’t been done here before.
We already pay more for them in gst on the purchase.
Nope, clearly there some smaller engine cars which cost more than some bigger engine vanities, so that argument is poo.
I support huge tax hikes for bigger engined vehicles.
Name a single “piddy 1lt run-about” that cost more than a “3+Ltd tank”?
Aston Martin Cygnet?
Ooooh good answer.
Thanks to John Key and the 2.5% increase in Grab Snatch & Take
That’s merely the cost of purchasing a big vehicle. It doesn’t address the ongoing costs of big vehicles on the road.
Also that GST is offset against GST received when purchasing a business vehicle.
Mate, even this government wouldn’t be dumb enough to do that.
Are you sayin this guvmint is dumb.
Ninety nine change hands.
The Nats changed it to be the other way around, indirectly. The ACC part of rego varied according to frequency of injury to occupants, never mind what happened to people in the other car or to pedestrians. So my 1994 Landrover Defender was rated as safer (cheaper ACC band) than my 2001 Daihatsu Sirion with ABS, airbags, pretensioning seatbelts, properly engineered crumple zones and a properly engineered collapse zone on the bonnet …
You drive a Daihatsu Sirion ?????
Oh dear.
A Daihatsu Sirion is the ultimate Granny car.
Yup.
It’s just as well I have no shame whatsoever about what kind of car I’m seen in.
But you might be surprised at how much fun a 1.3 manual like mine actually is.
A Daihatsu Sirion reminds me of thisTop gear show
There’s hooks in strange places inside. The only use I can think of for them is hanging colostomy bags.
I have a Toyota Passo, which is bascially a rebadged Sirion and its a good car. Can turn on a dime, good on petrol, speedy, and if you fold the rear seats down, you can load it up with all sorts of stuff.
Yeah. No matter what you say – it’s not even remotely “speedy”
James as Mad Max?
Or maybe Peter ‘Maverick’ Mitchell (sooooo manly):
“I feel the need, the need for speed.”
What a Goose – “It’s a limit, not a target.”
Lol. Very good.
I have had no issues with my cars acceleration and velocity capabilities. It might not be a V8 turbocharged Holden like you have, but it does the job,
Pffft. I’ve never driven a Holden.
I said “some smaller engine cars”, of which there are numerous examples.
Or even no petrol engine vehicles…
rav4 gxl – $41,990 – 2.5lt petrol
Tesla M3 standard range – $136,000 – No petrol
https://www.tesla.com/en_NZ/models/design
How about this EV? Fastest car on the road.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47418405
“What’s really special about the Pininfarina Battista, recently unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, is this: it’s all-electric.
So, here are some stats. Maker Automobili Pininfarina claims its Battista does 0-62mph in less than two seconds, 186mph in less than 12 seconds, has a top speed of more than 250mph, and does 280 miles on one charge.
Its brake horse power (bhp) is equivalent to 1,900, about twice that of a Formula 1 car (a decent-sized Ford Fiesta, Britain’s best-selling car, has a bhp of between about 84 and 138).”
It would certainly blow my Leaf away.
Ouch. Fish and Game returns serve to Hamish Walker for one of the rants he regularly has in the local media trying to maintain the base party vote.
https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/water-quality-debate-must-be-fact-based
I think this is the piece that got F & G going
https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/farmers-tired-bearing-blame
F and G don’t have a lot of love for farmers and I really don’t blame them.
So many arseholes doing bad shit and getting away with it because the regional councils are stacked with farmers who set the rules and penalties.
It’s something I wished National had worked on but unfortunately, politics, core voter stock, can’t upset them too much.
It’s really up to labour and the Greens, to get it sorted.
It goes a little further – the Gnats themselves have infiltrated irrigation bodies to lift the value of their own farms, pushing them through by overriding environmental advice and pulling crap like stacking ECan (and I hear the Southland version) with nodding dogs.
The average farmer is not nearly the problem that these ambitious clowns are.
Jeez, that MP got owned.
He sounded like the local Fed Farmers rep.
The muppet spits out press releases almost daily that are more appropriate for someone who’s running for some insignificant Fed Farmers committee. And all aimed at the lowest core nat supporter. I’m wondering wtf is going on, has their poling started showing Mark Patterson (NZF local) making some ground in the rural heartland.
As for Queenstown the guy hasn’t a clue about the place, he came out with one today blaming tourism for the congestion we have. It’s bad, but only during the week, tourism is a 7 day industry, it doesn’t have weekends. There’s no congestion in the weekend. The problem is all the development and new people from the Nat’s SHAs and unfettered development without proper planning.
Today’s effort, https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion-queenstown-buckling-under-strain
Poor planning has delivered the housing and infrastructure problems we have now and it doesn’t look like anyone has learned thing.
Those calling for removing urban boundaries and cutting red tape around consent just don’t have a clue about how much damage unplanned building does.
I mean, how do you get those people to and from work?
Car.
Boom – Boom
Go the Jingoistic drums.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47450224
They talk at cross purposes but there is no other topic that isnt impacted and therefore secondary to this
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018685155/an-uninhabitable-earth-scaremongering-or-reality
Child poverty, CGT,whatever you care to discuss…it all means nought if this isnt addressed
Fortunately many people can walk and chew gum at the same time.
oddly enough I too can walk and chew gum….it dosnt impact anything of import
I think I now know why Bill departed
What are you doing Pat – show us a path to follow while we do our walking.
What’s your line. Environment? What’s your present focus?
that line is becoming somewhat tired GWS
Rationing with a sinking lid, wartime footing …and forget about cross party support…take leadership, its why they were elected.
So Larry ‘lackwit’ Williams spent time today having a go at AOC for getting a ride from a family member.
I thought they had put that tired old windbag out to pasture?
I reckon AOC would eviscerate the old windbag.
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2019/03/04/exclusive-interview-in-rep–alexandria-ocasio-cortez-s-bronx-home
That’s all good.
This is what I advocate in this new era of fake news attacks and bizarre controversy manufacture from the Nats. Even today Bridges ran with a Hosking interview, in parliament for God’s sake, in an attempt to discredit the PM on the after-school jobs she had as a teenager.
I advocate jumping on this stuff early and hard but I must say some commenters here don’t see this as a good response, instead preferring to rely on those dated rules of conduct: good faith argument, and robust discussion.
I’m sorry but that shit don’t work no more.
works better than your approach of random bollocks and ill informed rants.
I think you’ve shot your load tonight, champ.
Tomorrow’s another day – you might like to dust off that citizenship application.
Putting faces to the names.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1102619649802420225.html
Looking at transport and at NZRail news releases it is plain that they have been working hard to make rail a good freight option. This from 2012 when they were setting up a dedicated Auckland to Christchurch through freight service.https://www.kiwirail.co.nz/news/176/129/Palmerston-North-train-unlocks-possibility-for-super-freight-service-to-Christchurch.html
Palmerston North train unlocks possibility for ‘super’ freight service to Christchurch
15 August 2012 1:01PM
Dedicated overnight rail freight services are being introduced between Auckland and Palmerston North in September.
These new services are expected to play a critical part in the plan to increase KiwiRail’s share of the domestic freight business over the length of the country.
Their introduction will enable the development of a “super” service from Auckland to Christchurch and free up capacity on other premier freight services heading down the North Island Main Trunk to Wellington, Christchurch and beyond, says KiwiRail Freight General Manager Iain Hill.
“By introducing this new service offering we are able to better streamline all our premier services, making them more destination-specific. In particular it gives us the opportunity to run a pure Auckland to Christchurch service, specifically tailored to the ‘just in time’ market.”
The introduction of the new services has been made possible by improvements to the business over the past 12 months.
‘The new locomotives and wagons, and the lengthened Aratere have unlocked previous bottle necks on the network and we now have the capacity and the capability to do this, “he says.
“In the short term it means we are well set up for the peak season this year. And in the medium term it means we will be in a strong position once the rebuild of Christchurch gathers momentum and economic recovery begins.”
At present volumes destined for Palmerston North, the key distribution hub for the lower North Island, are carried on a number of services which continue to Wellington and Christchurch.
The introduction of the new Palmerston North service, will enable one of the other services to be set up as a 32-wagon Auckland to Christchurch service, leaving Auckland at 10.00 pm, arriving in Wellington in time for a critical Aratere sailing, and then arriving in Christchurch early on day two.
Palmerston North is an increasingly important distribution hub for the lower North Island. The south-bound service service, which will consist of around 30 wagons departs Auckland at 18.10PM and is scheduled to arrive at 06.15AM in Palmerston North.
And they have done worthwhile things on pay, bridge innovation, and electric locos.
Landmark pay deal struck at KiwiRail
27 August 2018 1:01PM
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union and KiwiRail have today signed a landmark pay deal which will see a flat rate of higher pay applied across all 2319 of its members, rather than the usual percentage increase for workers.
Read more
Innovative KiwiRail bridge recognised
15 October 2018 11:11AM
A North Island bridge that was the first in the world to feature innovative seismic strengthening technology has been named one of the country’s outstanding concrete structures.
Read more
Electric locomotives to continue with Government investment
30 October 2018 1:01PM
The Government’s commitment to fund the refurbishment of KiwiRail’s ageing electric locomotives on the North Island Main Trunk line will provide additional capacity as rail continues its freight growth, KiwiRail Acting Chief Executive Todd Moyle says.
“it is plain that they have been working hard to make rail a good freight option”
The last govt told them to focus only on freight, yes.
Was going to mention a couple of things from the New Zealand Railway Observer for this quarter. That last Government wouldn’t do and what this current Government is doing IRT investment to KiwiRail IRT freight, passenger services and infrastructure. The last which has not seen much money allocated to infrastructure since 90’s which has been on a ad-hoc basis since then.
Marshall Mathers is determined to protect his music and is going after the hapless Nats again.
Dildo Joyce has slithered off so I guess it’s the guy who forces women to sign NDAs so they don’t talk, Peter Goodfellow, who will be in the firing line.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/111053864/eminem-heads-to-the-supreme-court-to-appeal-second-damages-decision
And:
It’s shocking that the National Party of New Zealand would steal money from victims of Hurricane Harvey.
“shocking” – is it? Is it really? Btw, great comment.
King’s College, London study looks at the disinformation and propaganda techniques employed by Kremlin mouthpieces Sputnik and RT.
Media outlets RT and Sputnik perform a “damage control” function for the Russian state during incidents such as the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal and deploy a range of tactics to project Russian strength and construct news agendas.
This is the first comprehensive study of how RT and Sputnik sow confusion and division in the UK and beyond. It is based on an analysis of nearly 12,000 articles published in English by the two outlets and over 150,000 online articles by UK news outlets. The articles were collected between May and June 2017, and in March 2018, in the immediate aftermath of the Skripal poisoning.
[…]
The range of competing narratives around the Skripal incident included:
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/research-analysis/weaponising-news
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/weaponising-news.pdf
The Russians learned from viewing USAs National Enquirer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Enquirer
Reading all the comments so far, Monty Python would be proud.
Nashy’s on the case.
Why do I get the feeling there’s going to be some sudden and quick relocations of rich pricks in the months ahead. 😅
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/384028/anti-tax-evasion-data-sharing-network-expands-to-90-countries