Daily Review 05/09/2018
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5:30 pm, September 5th, 2018 - 72 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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All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...1 week ago
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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. ...6 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. ...6 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. ...7 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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Should bosses be held accountable legally for remotely disabling a car and putting an employee in danger? Is there some legislation that would already cover this? If not this kind of thing should surely be illegal due to the very real risk to a driver if they are stopped remotely in a dangerous place on the road or in a dangerous area.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/no-control-blenheim-womans-vehicle-stopped-remotely-by-boss/ar-BBMTdj2?li=BBqdg4K
Boss should be rethinking this one
Lawyers wil have a field day …
😀
The risk is not just employees.
Another car could have swerved to avoid the stopped vehicle and plowed into pedestrians or some such.
Should be charged with dangerous driving and stripped of their remote, and have their ACC levy upped to cover the next idiotic thing they come up with.
The woman was also concerned that this highly controlling boss would fire her if identification occurred. It seems it is not the first time this has happened.
In another post I mused that psychopathy is strong in businesspeople. And that is a worry with them having control of this tech. Mac1 has put the comment that confirms my concerns, which should be everyone’s.
Another failure of the government to properly regulate products on the market.
It shouldn’t even be possible as it’s too friggen dangerous.
That’s not a reason – it’s an excuse. All products, mandatory or not, need to be regulated before they go on the market.
THere’s so much of the car functions that are connected to the key and the ignition that when the ignition is turned off simply stop working. Power steering and power brakes spring to mind and when they stop working the person who’s driving the car may find that they can’t actually drive it.
Here is some good graft available in this frantic money-mad market without limits.
A tow truck driver races to the scene of the immobilised car, names a high fee to drag the car out of the way which police might say has to be accepted or the driver will be charged for obstructing the highway, so the driver agrees, but the employer says he/she won’t pay as they never agreed to pay this large sum.
It is a scenario that well could arise giving the shitty attitude of money first and people don’t that is prevalent under neo lib. And what’s more it could be a gold rush situation and lots of stinging wasps, otherwise known as rogue tow truck drivers, might gather and fight over this creating major mayhem.
The technology is a good idea ie. preventing a car being stolen or not being able to be started, but the way it was used here by the boss is way out of line.
Any workplace that is characterised by such high levels of distrust that this technology is used, shouldn’t exist.
It’s not very different from dropping a concrete block off an overbridge is it.
Isnt it ‘careless use of a vehicle’ if she had remote control ?
So, so many possibilities.
Employer is breaking workplace safety laws.
Careless use. Failing to stay in lane. Dangerous driving. Obstruction of the road.
General nuisance/negligence laws.
And that’s when nobody is hurt and nothing is damaged.
Yep. The boss should be going to jail for this.
can you add harassment of the driver?
oh jeez, personal greivance grounds maybe…
“Thinktank calls for major overhaul of Britain’s economy” – a step in the right direction, but not radical. “It argues that the shareholder-driven model of capitalism is outmoded”. Better late than never, I suppose.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/05/thinktank-calls-for-major-overhaul-of-britains-economy
Shareholders are the worlds biggest bludgers.
Ah shit – this really does suck.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12119799
Yes. That sucks.
Love and respect to Penny and her whanau.
Pull through Penny!
x
Sad news.
Penny and the issues are a lot removed from me and mine.
I applaud and celebrate the likes of Penny, those who have the courage of their convictions.
Too many of us piss and moan to each other in pathetic futile gestures, only succeeding in annoying those closest to us.
Penny Bright and her ilk, stick it to the man.
Kia kaha Penny, I look forward to the next time you irritate the powers that be.
This, that woman has an elephant-sized pair, shame what she was fighting against got lost within the factionalism of politics.
Go well.
Well put.
Even as somebody who strongly disagrees with her positions on most things – admire her for “walking the walk” when most of us wouldn’t have the courage to.
The world will be poorer without her in it.
That was also well put James
That’s nice. You’ll follow that with a hearty ‘I admire Ed for walking the walk when most of us wouldn’t have the courage to’.
I wonder if your mates at Kiwisewer will have a kind word for Penny Bright.
I wonder if the rat-in-chief, David Farrar, will do a post on her plight.
Ed walks the walk?
Well said James.
Yes sending healing thoughts and energy to you Penny.
You have to respect the battlers in this world. Great work Penny.
Clare Curran might be a nice person and a capable one but one thing she doesn’t seem to be very good at, well out of her depth at actually, is being a politician.
Unfortunately she’s in the bear pit and looking like a stuffed panda.
This is beltway stuff really. Who the hell gives a shit if she used gmail for work. Several hundred million people do this every single minute of every single day.
Better to find out who within the public service is leaking to that racist, Melissa Lee.
That’s the real news.
Ha! Having a gmail account to conduct Ministerial work when you are the Minister of Open Government is considered “beltway”.
Have you lost your mind?
Well it is beltway. No-one except enemies of the government give two shits about this.
Nope. We all deserve a government that embraces sound governance. Dodging basic official information requirements is not OK from any Minister, let alone the holder of that particular portfolio. Half-arsed is not good enough.
Didn’t BXXXXXXXe get nailed for something similar?
And Curran still didn’t learn.
edit: my mistake, McCully was the one. And Labour had fun with it.
Yet Brownlee is still at the very top off the Nats. What does that tell you about that lot?
Sorry. How is her gmail account not under the OIA? I’m sure it is accessible to her ministry.
Do you think she deliberately uses it to be covert or something?
I doubt that. And for reference, her meeting with Hirshfeld was in a packed Wellington bureaucrat cafe at mid morning, and the meting with Handley was in her fucking office, ffs.
Curran is not hiding any more than any other minister, she’s just doing it her way. I don’t believe she is corrupt in any way shape or form at all.
Nobody is talking about corruption. All her correspondence as Minister or MP must be properly tracked and recorded. Basic part of the job.
+111
I give two shits. No MP should be doing govt business on a gmail account. She is either 1) doing something dodgy / wrong and hiding it or 2) is very stupid and is too dumb to be an MP
Which is it?
Making Melissa Lee look like a competent opponent even briefly surely deserves a resignation.
There’s that. She’s an appalling human being as evidenced by her ‘brown people racing up the motorway to rob you’ comment so the outfit which is leaking Curran’s info to her should be ashamed.
She made Curran look and sound like a chump. If she is a bigot she will have lots of company in parliament. Curran looked very shaky indeed.
I do. Politicians work emails need to be done through the governments servers and be publicly available.
I’m sure she’d be happy to have her gmails accessed by the public, or are you charging her with using gmail deliberately to circumvent the OIA process?
Thats a very big accusation from you if so.
You’re seriously swimming upstream on this one, Muttonbird.
Her actions are sneaky. Ardern needs to bin her. Sooner rather than later. This story has more legs in it yet.
I don’t believe she is being sneaky – just stupid.
There’s nothing sneaky about it. She’s just trying to get stuff done quickly and efficiently. You RWNJs are all about that anyway, are you not?
And yet failing to do it properly.
It’s actually the Public Records Act she could be breaching: the emails must be kept properly so they are available when needed under the OIA or other laws. I doubt that the Minister’s staff being able to login to her personal Gmail account is enough to satisfy that requirement.
I’m not accusing her of anything. I didn’t even mention her.
I’m making a statement that the business of politicians is public business and that the public thus needs to know.
Clare Curran is the weakest link “Goodbye”
I’m not claiming anything sinister, that it’s trivial, beltway or the end of the world. I think that when you want to present as professional, onto it and competent laying yourself open as Curan has done is ‘criminal’.
Serious followers might think it means nothing but the great unwashed who hear the story and see the video will gain an impression of incompetence and lack of confidence. Those on here with a grasp of how things should work with the proper protocols won’t have their views on the government affected probably but it’s the attitudes being formed in the masses which is important.
Curran’s contribution is one of putting termites in the foundations. That Melissa Lee might be a bitch is irrelevant.
Melissa Lee is simply going for the “low hanging fruit”.
what the hellis going on at Radio New Zealand. allmorning I was assailed on channel 50 with crap from gruyon espiner caliming that Jacinda Ardern deosn’t know what she is doing. I find this childish politicking on the state broadcasters dime a horrible abuse of the good name of RNZ and cannot even begin to think how the editors and managers and producers of the country’s primary news sources can allow this to happen
This is exactly why Jacinda needs to act quickly and decisively on Clare Curran. One rotten apple in the bunch…..it spreads. Now people are looking at Jacinda who being PM is letting Curran do this and thinking “is she really in control?”
I’m picking after Brexit, Brtain will no longer be able to appeal to the European court to arrest two random Russian men for a crime they’d like to think was committed.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/106860746/britain-charges-two-russians-over-novichok-poisoning
The evidence will be presented won’t it? They are saying they have sufficient – I’d imagine many will be going through it with a fine tooth comb when presented. Of course all the vladfans will already be formulating their conspiracies.
Charged in absentia. What a joke. This is a poster campaign because they have nothing at all with which to bring a conclusion.
It’s just spin from a very very desperate Britain.
You may be right. I’m hopeful evidence will be put down for scrutiny but I probably am naive about that.
War: what is it good for?
Absolutely something.
A cold war that is. with all this sabre rattling from Bolton and the stupid White house I wonder if a cold war where the US and her interests is shut out of Syria permanently would be a great thing for peace in the region.
The Sauds are always going to bend over to be anally raped by US interests but if that’s as far as US hegemony abroad goes then all for the better, I say.
Lets have a proper line which shall not be crossed in the region, drop the fucking sanctions, and I bet people on the ground will benefit no end.
Cold War: what is it good for?
Absolutely something.
Not sure if you have seen this on the telly? This is so cool and sweet from the SPF hosts.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-05/naurus-president-sings-for-jacinda-ardern-at-pacific-summit/10205548
Yep. Exactly why we should continue to have strong representation in the Pacific. Not only do these people rely on us a relatively wealthy country and a country which got rich from imported cheap labour from them, but we are duty bound to be a leader in the region, and it’s also wise to be across developments in the region by players outside the region and you have to be friends to be able to do that.
I would like to see the NZ Government throw a bit towards the NZDF and NZ Aid at having a more permanent presence in the SP atm.
MFAT using the AB’s as a form of soft power in the region to help counter the increasing pressure of China’s influences in the region. Using the AB’s is not a silly idea, it might been that NZG might have to unwrite the games and I know a few here and elsewhere will have issues of this.
But they need to stop thinking short term and start looking the bigger picture within the SP Region as it’s no longer a sleeper hollow as it used to be or in the case of a famous NZ PM said a “We live in a Benign Region and we don’t need to spend much on Defence”. There is a new ball game in town called Climate Change and a emerging power jocking for influence and challenging the current rules base order.
Chase in point, the head of the Chinese delegation got the boot from the SFP as he didn’t follow the SPF protocol in which only SP Nation leaders or their Ministers can speak and as a result of this DH from China he got the boot for insulting the Host Nation and the rest of the SP leaders and ministers which is a bloody big no no.
Talking about losing face at that event for our Chinese friend where protocol is and means a lot within SP Region. Clearly this muppet either forgot what he was told prior to attending or just didn’t give a flying **** about SPF Nations as I’m from big China and I can throw weight around as I feel free etc etc.
Jeez, watching Al jazeera of an evening…
Two Russians have been named with a European arrest warrant on them in regards to the double spy novachok poisoning. The poison was found in hotel rooms they had occupied…
Then… the Israeli high court approves demolition of Bedouin village in West Bank.
What next?
Hopefully the takeover over by a legitimate Palestinian state of all Israeli settlements built within pre ’67 lines.
Here’s hoping.
Rumour of the day: McCain’s death wasn’t brain-tumour, it was execution for treason. Just one of many such removals world wide, especially in financial sector. The clean-out is happening, mob losing control. A new financial system has been approved. Plenty of detail to come in the next few months. Blessing to those working hard at the front line – peaceful transition in motion.
Links
“Years of doomsday talk at Silicon Valley dinner parties has turned to action.
In recent months, two 150-ton survival bunkers journeyed by land and sea from a Texas warehouse to the shores of New Zealand, where they’re buried 11 feet underground.
Seven Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have purchased bunkers from Rising S Co. and planted them in New Zealand in the past two years, said Gary Lynch, the manufacturer’s general manager. At the first sign of an apocalypse — nuclear war, a killer germ, a French Revolution-style uprising targeting the 1 percent — the Californians plan to hop on a private jet and hunker down, he said.
……The nation allows emigres to essentially buy residency through investor visas, and rich Americans have poured a fortune into the country, often by acquiring palatial estates.
Billionaire hedge-fund honcho Julian Robertson owns a lodge overlooking Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, the South Island’s luxury resort destination. Fidelity National Financial Inc. Chairman Bill Foley has a homestead in the Wairarapa region, north of Wellington, and Titanic director James Cameron bought a mansion nearby at Lake Pounui.
The Investor Plus Visa, which requires a minimum investment of NZD$10 million ($6.7 million) over three years, attracted 17 U.S. applicants in fiscal 2017, after President Donald Trump’s election. Previously, it averaged six applicants a year.
……A spokeswoman for the New Zealand Customs Service declined to confirm that the bunkers had arrived in the country, citing privacy reasons.
It takes about two weeks to excavate the land and bury the average bunker, Lynch said. It’s all done secretly so local residents aren’t aware. Once installed, passersby would have no way of knowing it’s there.
“There’s no clue left behind, not even a door,” Lynch said.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2018-rich-new-zealand-doomsday-preppers/
WFT, Customs and Police would have a few issues over the illegal importation of firearms and a wee matter over firearms licensing. As there is an awful lot of paperwork required to bring in firearms especially to bring them in and the issue of licensing requirements at short notice.