Why is Cadbury thrown so much shade compared to our national carrier that’s turning record profits yet tanking in its customer device and staff relationships?
Well that was an easy win for Smith and National that they never should have got.
Presumably someone in the PM’s office got Raymond Huo on the blower yesterday and said “Mate what the fuck are you doing?”.
A counter argument could be that it was a way of averting nat criticism of her submitting. Now they can’t say boo about her being there. Normally they would be screaming their lungs out trying to shoot her down, not defending her.
In that light I see it as a rather cunning play that might make the muppets breath through their noses and not just bark at every passing car.
It seems to me though Cinny that the Labour MPs on that committee handed Nick Smith the opportunity to discredit them in the first place. It’s true none of us was there, but it does look like those MPs summarily dismissed Brady’s request to make a submission on specious grounds. Bearing in mind we’re talking about one of NZ’s foremost experts on the subject that was truly insulting.
As a strong supporter of the Labour Party, I hope they will take more care with such decisions in future.
However at least our new government appears to be quick to sort things out when an error of ways (as such) occurs. Rather than the we know best attitude of the nats,
Meanwhile Dr custard is looking for his next photo op.
I think in light of all the oh- so – coincidental incidents and phantom like ,difficult – to – prove goings on over the last few years [ particularly under National ] that there should have been no question at all regarding Prof Brady’s submissions in the first place.
I’m not that much of a Labourphile that even they get off the hook as they too, have their fair share of resident long term neo liberals. And who , like National , don’t want to rock the boat when it comes to the cash cow that is china.
The question of chinese spying and subversion should be taken just as seriously as Helen Clarke once did with Israeli spy’s. Lets also remember the Rainbow Warrior and the French special forces in this country to ram home the point even further. Political and economic sabotage is just as serious as blowing up a vessel in our main ports.
——————————————
” It cannot be denied that Ms Brady has a lot to share on the subject. Her 2017 paper Magic Weapons described the United Front, a Chinese Government group aimed at promoting the policies and ideals of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to control outside forces.
Her house was burgled in February last year and her old laptop was taken that she’d used for research while travelling in China ”.
——————————————
And despite all the mud slinging and the ‘who said what’ , – when it comes to this country’s sovereignty and the people who live here as CITIZENS under a DEMOCRACY we deserve better from our elected officials. We’re not interested in their song and dance. Or any other skulduggery no matter which party it comes from.
Good to see the turnaround and thank you for the heads up , Cinny.
“Political and economic sabotage”
Lets not over-egg the pudding……that’s what Professor Brady is proposing… have you even skim read her ‘magic weapons’ paper? Cheap shot insinuations , no hard evidence of wrongdoing at all on the part of the Chinese, and of course absolutely nothing illegal
And what the fuck is ‘influence’. Simply hearing a chinese point of view for a change? Are we unduly influenced because we have most of our news piped directly from the US?
I’ve told you before dude, as a patriotic New Zealander you should round up some of your mates, protest down Queen street hoisting anti-China banners and get in the news…..the Chinese will quitely go away and New Zealand’s unemployment rate will shoot up to beyond 20%, as it would have done if that FTA had not been signed
Yes Prof Brady is very immersed in her field but you would think that she might have uncovered some hard evidence by now. If she has none then what value her opinion? Maybe her submission will deliver something concrete, or not.
And I’ve told you before , ‘ dude’ … you should shut your trap, grow a brain and read the condescending , inflated bellicosity and sense of superiority handed down to those who don’t ‘agree’ with the opinions of the celestial homeland..
———————————————-
– It was written by Yu Lei, chief research fellow at the Research Center for Pacific Island Countries at Liaocheng University in China.
In his article, Mr Lei said , … ” New Zealand’s relations with China have been sliding ever since the Government took power in October 2017, by joining other Western powers to “undermine Beijing’s growing influence”. He noted the Five Eyes meeting of New Zealand, Canada, Australia, the UK and US that took place in July last year in Nova Scotia, Canada, where Mr Lei alleged a “campaign” was cooked up by the group to “kill Huawei”.
”New Zealand also made an issue of the cooperation between China and the Pacific Island countries, betraying anxiety over Beijing’s growing influence in the South Pacific,”
———————————————–
He also says that NZ should ”stop acting like an anti-China pawn of the US”.
So now , ‘ dude’ ‘… lets recap there , shall we?
Beijing’s little Varsity mouthpiece [ no doubt an active paid up communist party member himself ] hits all the high notes on what REALLY motivates them.
——————————————————–
1/ Undermining Beijing’s ‘growing influence’.
2/ The Five Eyes meeting where an alleged ‘campaign ‘ was concocted to ‘kill Huaei”.
3/ ‘Betraying Beijing’s ‘growing influence’ in the South Pacific.
——————————————————
NOW,… what does all this REALLY SOUND LIKE?
Maintaining a healthy relationship in a spirit of cooperation with a trading partner , – OR – using passive aggressive veiled threats of economic retraction and political coercion while the REAL motive is to further their military and thus economic and political spheres in a bid to undermine their rivals the Americans?
Come on buddy, we are not that naive.
So here’s a real cool suggestion for you , champ.
Piss off , – ( and that bits real important ) – , go back to where you came from, then take your own advice , and proceed to wave a placard around protesting the human rights abuses perpetrated against the Falun Gong and people in Tibet down the main street of Beijing.
The “undermine Beijing’s growing influence” was put in quotation marks in your originally quoted passage. The writer was quoting what many people in NZ feel, and the reason why many in NZ support Five Eyes and the Anglo alliance. He was not taking offense because some New Zealander’s want to ‘undermine Beijing’s growing influence’, rather the writer was referring to the mindset of many kiwis.
”New Zealand also made an issue of the cooperation between China and the Pacific Island countries, betraying anxiety over Beijing’s growing influence in the South Pacific,”
Betraying is used not in the sense of China feels ‘betrayed’ by New Zealand, but simply used in the same way as ‘revealing’ —-you not know proper english eh dude?
The Five Eyes meeting where an alleged ‘campaign ‘ was concocted to ‘kill Huaei”.
If you don’t believe the campaign against Huawei is pure spiteful petty jealousy on the part of the Americans, then you are pretty naive.
And if you think the Chinese don’t have a right to be concerned about a coterie of nations spying on them, and ‘pivots to Asia’ etc, then you are probably a racist.
“using passive aggressive veiled threats of economic retraction and political coercion”
But you have previously said that the economic relationship is pretty much useless to NZ anyway….so you have no need to worry.
You’re a real true blue ( make that Red Fed ) chinaphile! – you’ve got it bad. From twisting articles to taking things completely out of context that your mates on the other side of the cloak and dagger are saying.
SO WHAT … if that’s what many people in New Zealand think FFS?
Are we not allowed to have our own opinions ?
Or is that only the exclusive rights of the CCP bureaucracy???
Here’s one for the communist sycophant Prof in Beijing University to consider;
Why , just why oh why ,.. if you are indeed correct about your superior understanding of the English language , do you think New Zealanders may have anxiety over a major military powers expansion into the South Pacific and at the same time start to see the true colors emerging of just who their Free Trading partner really is once the veil is lifted?
And then ,…hot on the heels of pulling the racist card yourself and writing : ‘pure spiteful petty jealousy ‘ on the part of Americans … do you even proof read what you say?
And do you really think we are that gormless to think for a moment china DOESN’T spy on us in turn , – and other members of the 5 Eye partners along with the Russians, and satellite country’s ???
WOW !!!
Give us a break.
Hope your getting your backpack ready for that protest march down Beijing, mate – oh and while your there?… please make some inquiry’s into chinas human rights records. I’m sure you’ll receive a warm and glowing welcome over a cup of tea.
‘pure spiteful petty jealousy ‘ on the part of Americans … do you even proof read what you say?
Well noone has been able to come up with one iota of evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Huawei. Even the Brits are now having second thoughts, as are the Germans, and the Italians, in spite of immense US pressure.
“do you think New Zealanders may have anxiety over a major military powers expansion into the South Pacific”
Has China forced any country to have a relationship with it that that country does not want? Have the Chinese tested atomic weapons over the homes of Pacific islanders? Have they ever ‘blackbirded’ Pacific islanders into slavery, or let of bombs in Auckland harbour? New Zealand rule was pretty horrific for Samoa – misrule killed about a quarter of the population?
In any case what’s it New Zealand’s beeswax if say a Fijian wants to do business with a Chinese?
I wonder if others can see the delicious irony of what National is doing here?
The party that is so obviously bought and paid for by foreign [Chinese] money is upset the government won’t allow a prominent academic to give details of foreign [Chinese] influence in NZ politics.
A strategic decision was made 20 + years ago to align our selves with Asia, what you’re seeing now is the result of that directional change.
We’re locked in with China and any change will have major economic impacts for NZ, no NZ politician will jeopardise that relationship we’re now too exposed and too reliant, any move away from China will mean economic hardship and loss of power for any political party that instigates a shift.
Yes BM , but if you haven’t heard, politicians are fond of the word ‘ graduation’.
And where were our markets before Aunty Helen and her cozy FTD with china?
Were we exactly ( to use you far right wingers favorite whipping boy ) another Venezuela?
Obviously not !!! . And Britain joined the EEC LOOOONG before either Roger Douglas and the smash ‘n grabbers came along. Not only that , we also had the Arab Oil Shocks. Again ,… looooooooooong before Uncle Roger rogered us.
Matter of fact , – that was in the time of Norman Kirk. And I don’t remember large numbers of homeless, children whose family’s are at subsistence levels, run down schools and hospitals… in fact , we were the envy of the world with a cradle to grave welfare net in aland of hig wages and plenty of millionaires…
Soooooooooooooooo,… whats the problem here?… did finding other lucrative markets start and finish with the neo liberal hijack ? Or was Aunty Helen one of the Valkyries come down from on high and R.Douglas a form of thunder bolt wielding Zeus?
Or is being pushed around, being whores to the latest faux offer of prosperity , selling off our land to any old Johnny come latelys , not having a sovereign backbone in our bodies and acting like the street corner snitch the ‘New Face ‘ of New Zealand?
That it huh?
A gormless, unthinking ,cowering bunch of braindead , screen watching zombies that when to told to bend over simply say ‘ how far’?
Answer the question – did we have the burgeoning and overt social conditions and poor wages during either Norman Kirk’s time or Rob Muldoon’s?
NO . we didn’t.
And was NZ’s debt private sector or Govt?
Private sector.
You and your mates need an education and here’s just the site to give it to you. There you will find just ‘WHO’ was responsible for our ‘ monetary reserves to dry up ‘.
——————————————————
A key point of the free-market cabal’s programme was to devalue the New Zealand dollar, an extremely sensitive issue. Several weeks before the July, 1984 election, Douglas, Labour’s shadow finance minister, “accidentally” released a statement which signaled his intent to devalue.
Since it was a near certainty that labour, aided by the New Zealand Party’s drawing votes from the Nationals, would win, speculators began to dump the New Zealand dollar, planning, post-devaluation, to cash in each dollar of foreign currency for more New Zealand dollars than previously.
With Labour’s victory, the simmering foreign exchange crisis exploded. The Reserve Bank’s foreign Exchange holdings quickly ran dry, and Labour demanded, even before the end of the several-week transition period, that Muldoon devalue. After a brief struggle, Muldoon capitulated, and devalued by 20%.
Speculators made tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars overnight.
Whatever, the point still is all our exports went to the UK, the UK sad yeah, nah we don’t want your exports anymore.
We’re like fucking hell unless we can find countries to sell our stuff to we’re fucked.
Asia was an emerging market who wanted to trade, we focused on Asia, I doubt back then anyone would have guessed that China would become the number one superpower.
We had made a global statement about nuclear arms hence why the Americans shunned us. We withdrew effectively form ANZUS.
Again … we self sabotaged.
Even the Australians called us bludgers for doing that.
Meanwhile all but NZ politicians could see china was going to be an emerging superpower. Which is why the Australians made trade deals with the chinese. And made enormous wealth through iron ore sales to china.
Yet ,- did the Australians act like idiots and throw the baby out with the bathwater and cancel all trade ties with the Americans?
No.
They had two pots on the boil – with china and the USA.
Yet all we ever get from all you right wing nutters are excuses why we cant do the same.
Think Russia.
Then think china and Russia.
And if its a bright and sunny day think the USA as well.
… in fact , we were the envy of the world with a cradle to grave welfare net in aland of hig wages and plenty of millionaires…
Yeah, because we were part of the British empire —the white part that is, that benefitted from the plunder of the non-white part.
“And Britain joined the EEC LOOOONG before either Roger Douglas and the smash ‘n grabbers came along. Not only that , we also had the Arab Oil Shocks.”
That’s when the party sort of ended. The impact would not have been felt right away —-but we had to borrow like crazy to maintain a lifestyle we had become accustomed to.
It has been and continues to bring massive benefits to millions of New Zealanders. In reality there’s no pulling away from our trade dependence with China. So it’s also the greatest strategic risk this country faces.
What’s the answer?, I don’t want NZ to become a vassal state of China but we are so reliant on them now, it’s almost impossible to pull away without crushing economic hardship.
Cancelling an FTA will be the last FTA we ever sign. It will say to the world that New Zealand is untrustworthy and can not keep up its end of the bargain. We’d have to sell our soles if we wanted back into a rules based order.
Who said anything about cancelling, and………….. btw …… wasn’t there a fair few country’s who had prob’s with the biggest FTD of all time in the southern climes – the TTPA?
I think people have got to get past this ‘ all or nothing ‘ mentality and start seeing that trade deals, are not forever. Hostility’s and wars will soon put paid to that Polyanna outlook. And the best way is to have multiple deals on the boil at the same time.
Not some idiotic lazy one way easily railroaded FTD with anchor ropes attached. And would lil ole NZ be the first nation to adjust its terms in trade? Really?
It’s getting to the point now where a good chunk of people are figuring out that the China FTA doesn’t matter for the fate of New Zealand economically. The government has a policy to diversify trade so less likely to induce recession and probably a down turn at worse. No ressision, no doom.
Then National who wanted to carry the baton further with the TTPA – and , like their corporate overseas mates ,denied sufficient time and access to conduct a truly democratic vote. But 25 million spent on a flag referendum that no one wanted was all just fine and dandy.
Then National who wanted to carry the baton further with the TTPA
Actually I thought you would have supported the TTPA ….which was in part to diversify our markets away from China, and not to have our eggs all in one basket.
Indeed the Chinese hated the TPPA in its original form as well. So you see, you do have something in common after all with the Chinese
The CPTPP (as it’s now called) doesn’t include China or have anything to do with the FTA that Clark initially negotiated with China. If anything it may provide us with an opportunity to rebalance some of our trade away from China and reduce reliance on that trading relationship.
When guys like you and Mark don’t even know their own country’s political history and can only think in terms of the present , – it tells me you are either too young to know or too disinterested to find out or too lacking in the consequences of cause and effect .
Its almost as if all you can see is china, china, china and there is no way out.
Yet , humorously , – paying lip service with feigned states of chagrin yet in reality… want things as they are because you have vested interests in keeping it that way.
Either that or having a very myopic view of the world.
And this is especially so as once the flaws in your arguments void your opinions , you both resort to school boy put downs .
‘May provide’… as in ‘ none could foresee china becoming a ‘superpower’ as BM writes…operative word being ‘ may’.
Sounds great on paper, … but there’s a little issue of corporate involvement still… which ‘may’ or ‘may not’ compromise a democratically elected govt – esp of a smaller nation.
Heres the rub : You renegotiate any FTD and in this case, with china, but you do it while at the same time procuring trade deals in other parts of the globe. That’s called gaining leverage on the deal. china wants to extend its political/military influence in a region. Fine.
But just to make sure the goal posts are not shifted after a decade to your trade partners advantage and your detriment , you ensure you have other alternatives. All trade deals are renegotiated at some stage, unless your a small country like NZ , it seems. What does that tell you?
It tells you that times change, leaders change , political alliances change. Just like Britain joining the EEC ‘ changed’. And its a slow minded and naive person who thinks it wont.
Your guys trade bibles seem way nerdy and out of touch with the basics. First of all it is wrong for an island nation not to have a merchant fleet of its own with its own shipbuilding. Conquering the Pacific Ocean is what makes New Zealanders stand out.
I notice that the beneficiaries have been very blatant in playing the system.
They should train in accountancy, will some extra learning they could have good careers and never need to break the law again, having a good income assured.
I notice that the judge’s surname is Ruth. But he wasn’t ruthless in dealing with the pair, not putting the woman in prison so that she can mother her children.
Nick Smith is concerned about foreign interference but then I saw him on TV saying he wasn’t interested in hearing the opinion of Jami-lee Ross.
He reckons he wants to hear from Anne-Marie Brady supposedly because she’s got the true oil.
Hello Nick – anyone home? You can be a dick but you can’t have it both ways. Do you want to hear from people who have information of various aspects or not?
Yes Peter. Saw that and thought how ironic. Jamie-Lee is an expert on money/China influence and his inside knowledge must be credible.
Brady is really credibility unproven.
I don’t expect medical, climate and environmental, military, astronomical, mathematical and geological scientists signed it. You could add historians and physicists to that list. I doubt any of them signed it either. Not their line of business eh?
I doubt I would agree with Professor Brady on a lot of things but she is an expert in her field of endeavour, and has received accolades from her fellow academics both here and overseas for her research work on Chinese government activity. Note… we are talking about Chinese government entities not the Chinese people. She has many Chinese friends in China and is married to a gentleman of Chinese extraction. She speaks Chinese and can read and write in Chinese.
As for the harassment and intimidation:
It follows a well trodden pathway used by operatives working for governments and other global agencies wanting to silence individuals whom they regard as a threat either to themselves or their agency. In their countries of origin they often just throw them into prison but they can’t do that in other jurisdictions so they harass and intimidate them instead.
I would believe her any day over the likes of someone with such limited knowledge and understanding such as yourself.
Ok, all the people who didn’t sign it didn’t give a shit. You are projecting, Mark, i.e. making assumptions about people’s reasons and reasoning to fit your own belief system.
What exactly would give her the required level of ‘credibility”?
She is well educated, speaks fluent Mandarin (which in my book is a triple plus when commenting on things Chinese, know the language, know the culture etc), she was, and for all I know still is, married to a Chinese guy and according to this op ed she wrote for that rag the New York Times, she has the ability to communicate most efficaciously with Chinese bureaucrats. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/opinion/12iht-edbrady03.html
Oh ffs, so Raymond Huo say speaks fluent english, as do many Chinese, so that must make everything they say about New Zealand automatically true and their opinions are friggin gold?
What about Pansy Wong….she is also an expert because she speaks fluent english and chinese and so all her points of view are holy friggin writ?
The fact that she shills for the US neo-conservative Wilson institute, named for a notorious racist who was against racial equality for blacks and asians shows what a rotten egg she is.
Just pointing out an anomaly within your own thought processes.
A lot of Anglos (who are typically monolingual) assume that any other Anglo who speaks a foreign language with some facility (or even just a few words) makes him or her an expert on that foreign culture.
But that is such a laughable assumption. After all we have right here in NZ hundreds of thousands of people who are bilingual in English AND in Maori, or Chinese or Hindi or Samoan or Tongan or Tamil or Afrikaans etc, and many even married to Kiwis.
Some Chinese chick married to a kiwi who speaks English at IELTS level 5.5 and works at the ASB…..suppose she goes back to say her native Beijing, and suddenly is the NZ expert, on indeed the expert on all things Western eh? Well of course bloody not…..the chinese are not so stupid.
Let’s be clear. Brady is an agent of foreign influence herself, and works for the US neoconservative think tank the Wilson Centre, named after that most racist of 20th Century presidents Woodrow Wilson.
A lot of Anglos (who are typically monolingual) assume that any other Anglo who speaks a foreign language with some facility (or even just a few words) makes him or her an expert on that foreign culture.
It may not make them an expert, but you could reasonably argue it is a necessary pre-condition.
I worked for years in HK as an engineer. I once had this boss who had studied at Canterbury U in NZ, came back to HK, and thought he was a know it all on all things NZ and Western, but his views were completely off base, and he talked english with a choppy cantonese accent – basically he was full of shit. Like you have the pretentious ‘old china hands’ who think they know everything about china because they have drank in a few hk or shanghai bars and rooted the local women, it goes the other way round as well….like some Chinese ‘canadians’ simply because they migrated to Canada, then come back to Hong Kong and pretend they just couldn’t stand the HK lifestyle anymore, underlining just how so ‘canadian’ they now were…people just want to make you fucking laugh sometimes.
In any case I think that one’s views should be judged on their merits only, after all I can have views on Stalin and Hitler, and they should not be dismissed because I speak neither Russian or German. Just because Brady is credentialed in terms of the language and marriage partner does not make her views correct (nor incorrect). After all I speak Cantonese fluently and mandarin haltingly andalso have a chinese ex wife and a chinese partner now —by the standards of some here, that would make me doubly qualified and everything I say about China or china related matters must automatically be accepted as gospel?
Edit… that was very interesting, jlr knows the score.
His recent question in parliament about past ministers traveling overseas and possible donation procurement … joining the dots re said subject. Really interesting.
Twitter Jami-Lee Ross
Sorry, but not surprised, to hear Nick Smith isn’t interested in my view on foreign donations. Reality is any foreigner can use a NZ company to donate to a political party. That’s how National’s received a lot of funding. Ignoring me doesn’t make that go away.
As the reality of the situation comes out, critics look quite foolish as they try to shift the emphasis of their criticism.
I’m picking Cullen is going to bill about $4000 for February and March. That’s pretty cheap for the amount of hate he’s received from the Nats and their nut job followers.
Secondary school teacher Melanie Webber, who was at the meeting, said Prebble seemed to infer people “should be more concerned about maintaining the success of the 80 per cent than concerned about the 20 per cent who are failing”.
She said she felt the comments were “racist”.
Webber raised the issue with Prebble at the end of the night and he took “extreme umbrage”, she said.
“He thrust his chest up against mine, started jabbing my face […] just absolutely lost [the] plot.”
She said she was asked to leave by ACT Party leader David Seymour, who organised the event.
Now, I’m constantly told by RWNJs that the left are guilty of wanting to shut down anyone who doesn’t agree with them but it seems they don’t practice what they preach.
Shame on David Seymour for promoting such naked racism. The swift demise of ACT and all its supporters can’t come quick enough.
If prebble is saying you don’t distroy 80Pc to save 20pc that seem rather logical Similary what did miss Webber expect calling some one a racist, playing the man and not the ball I am very glad one ms Webber is not teaching my kids, sound as she is nuts and should not be teaching at all
You are been extremely intellectually dishonest muttonbrain Prebble comments where clearly reflecting you don’t distroy the 80pc to fix the 20, wether you agree with that or not is not the point Prebble is clearly not a racist with a PI wife. Webber and yourself basically have shite for brains 😁
Not muddled. Just pointing out how you are all ok with racism against South Africans and asians – then complain when you think others are being racist.
No you are saying that Marty, not prebble because you are in permanent victim mode What he was clearly saying is fix the 20pc without stuffing up the 80pc , charter schools etc If you can’t see that well you are good example of the 20pc that probably needed more help
And the only answer is centralisation because that what your suggesting and if you suggest otherwise you have bad intent and you are a racist Well I guess it 101 left play book to any one who disagrees with them Great argument solkta, can I suggest you don’t join a debating club
Well fucktard, the current system has been failing for thirty years. Allowing schools to do it on there own has not worked. Tomorrows Schools allows the majority to capture the direction of the school and deny minorities their rights.
Has worked for 80pc, so your wrong there from the start Likewise simply because it has not worked for 100pc means more centralisation is the answer nor that to argue otherwise you are a racist That’s my point dick head not the policy itself
Leaving schools to do it by themselves has failed so obviously the only alternative is to give them more direction. You really are bewildered aren’t you.
No he was not he was debating merits of centralisation vs decentralisation and you don’t distroy what’s working for 80 pc to fix 20pc, He was arguing there a way to do both ie Maintain 80 pc and fix the 20pc ( more targeted than blunt policy proposed ) , boy there are some thicko”s out today , is it a full moon or something😞
I was not there but it’s pretty obvious The key argument he put forward was centralisation was not a good policy to adddress the 20pc, wether he had alternative fk knows, Charter schools maybe Anyway what is clearly obvious he was not been racist or arguing we need to sacrifice the 20pc been the longbow you and a few other knuckleheads have drawn as a conclusion and stuff have used as click bait to suck you guys in
You can fuck of with your charter schools. Young citizens have a right to attend their local school and to have that school meet its obligations to meet their needs.
But as you say you are not sure if he was suggesting that, or suggesting anything.
And no:
The key argument he put forward was centralisation was not a good policy to adddress (sic) the 20pc,
He did not say this at all. What he said was that centralisation would somehow “destroy” the success of the 80%. That seems to suggest that he actually thinks that centralisation would help the 20%.
Regarding your last paragraph More fuzzy logic from the Sok, what you suggest does not suggest at all I agree with your first point but your second obviously highlights some of your synapses are miss firing
Oh fk off muttonbrain you know very well he is arguing against the policy review of centralisation (impacting all )over decentralisation is the answer to the 20 pc in regard to lifting under achievers not that we should ignore under achievers themselves , your are one dishonest prick Stop lying to yourself would put you on the road to redemption
Another devastating blow by the Solkta, it’s like debating a goldfish ( possibly insult to all the goldfish out their) or going 10 rounds with Mr Bean 😊
Your arguement gets weaker and weaker as you dig ,your first premise you neither prove privatisation is good or bad just a deluded half assed weak minded opinion, your conclusion also bares no real relevance to your first premise and again just another half assed opinion based on confirmation bias to justify a some what dim witted ideological position
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Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
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Why is Cadbury thrown so much shade compared to our national carrier that’s turning record profits yet tanking in its customer device and staff relationships?
Corporate espionage by fifth columnists from Ocho 😉 .
Cadbury continue to under deliver on everything but diminishing expectations. Their business plan is to downsize.
The Whittaker brothers continue to do end runs around them.
New Zealanders should start buying Whittakers NZ Made Chocolate
Their chocolate is compressed arse nuggets.
Seem to have lost the edit function.
On the topic of orangutans, I can recommend Orangutan school on Choice TV, very amusing and heartwarming.
I’m impressed you’re sufficiently familiar with the taste of arse nuggets that you can narrow it down to compressed ones.
I like mine compressed and polished ….
Sometimes I like humans.
https://twitter.com/_SJPeace_/status/1103712713937690624
The beautiful game, told by beautiful people. Truly inspiring. Thanks Joe90.
Thanks government for sorting this out….
“The Government is now considering allowing China expert Anne-Marie Brady to make a submission on foreign interference after previously blocking her.”
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/03/labour-u-turn-on-blocking-china-critic-anne-marie-brady-s-foreign-interference-submission.html
“Mr Huo said: “What I can add is that it appeared to be a set-up by National MP Dr Smith.”
lmao, we all know Dr custard will do anything for media coverage, so that would not surprise me one little bit.
Well that was an easy win for Smith and National that they never should have got.
Presumably someone in the PM’s office got Raymond Huo on the blower yesterday and said “Mate what the fuck are you doing?”.
Maybe waited until later today, cos no hurry, right.
A counter argument could be that it was a way of averting nat criticism of her submitting. Now they can’t say boo about her being there. Normally they would be screaming their lungs out trying to shoot her down, not defending her.
In that light I see it as a rather cunning play that might make the muppets breath through their noses and not just bark at every passing car.
It seems to me though Cinny that the Labour MPs on that committee handed Nick Smith the opportunity to discredit them in the first place. It’s true none of us was there, but it does look like those MPs summarily dismissed Brady’s request to make a submission on specious grounds. Bearing in mind we’re talking about one of NZ’s foremost experts on the subject that was truly insulting.
As a strong supporter of the Labour Party, I hope they will take more care with such decisions in future.
Oh , and I forgot to add it happened on the eve of International Women’s Day.
Oh dear oh dear…….
International Women’s Day 🙂 Timing 🙂
Agree with you Anne, someone made the wrong call.
However at least our new government appears to be quick to sort things out when an error of ways (as such) occurs. Rather than the we know best attitude of the nats,
Meanwhile Dr custard is looking for his next photo op.
I suspect Prime Minister Ardern stepped in smartly and sorted them out. 😉
I think in light of all the oh- so – coincidental incidents and phantom like ,difficult – to – prove goings on over the last few years [ particularly under National ] that there should have been no question at all regarding Prof Brady’s submissions in the first place.
I’m not that much of a Labourphile that even they get off the hook as they too, have their fair share of resident long term neo liberals. And who , like National , don’t want to rock the boat when it comes to the cash cow that is china.
The question of chinese spying and subversion should be taken just as seriously as Helen Clarke once did with Israeli spy’s. Lets also remember the Rainbow Warrior and the French special forces in this country to ram home the point even further. Political and economic sabotage is just as serious as blowing up a vessel in our main ports.
——————————————
” It cannot be denied that Ms Brady has a lot to share on the subject. Her 2017 paper Magic Weapons described the United Front, a Chinese Government group aimed at promoting the policies and ideals of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to control outside forces.
Her house was burgled in February last year and her old laptop was taken that she’d used for research while travelling in China ”.
——————————————
And despite all the mud slinging and the ‘who said what’ , – when it comes to this country’s sovereignty and the people who live here as CITIZENS under a DEMOCRACY we deserve better from our elected officials. We’re not interested in their song and dance. Or any other skulduggery no matter which party it comes from.
Good to see the turnaround and thank you for the heads up , Cinny.
“Political and economic sabotage”
Lets not over-egg the pudding……that’s what Professor Brady is proposing… have you even skim read her ‘magic weapons’ paper? Cheap shot insinuations , no hard evidence of wrongdoing at all on the part of the Chinese, and of course absolutely nothing illegal
And what the fuck is ‘influence’. Simply hearing a chinese point of view for a change? Are we unduly influenced because we have most of our news piped directly from the US?
I’ve told you before dude, as a patriotic New Zealander you should round up some of your mates, protest down Queen street hoisting anti-China banners and get in the news…..the Chinese will quitely go away and New Zealand’s unemployment rate will shoot up to beyond 20%, as it would have done if that FTA had not been signed
Yes Prof Brady is very immersed in her field but you would think that she might have uncovered some hard evidence by now. If she has none then what value her opinion? Maybe her submission will deliver something concrete, or not.
You don’t get to make public hard evidence when your data’s stolen and your denied the ability to make submissions though do we…
Very well said WK.
And I’ve told you before , ‘ dude’ … you should shut your trap, grow a brain and read the condescending , inflated bellicosity and sense of superiority handed down to those who don’t ‘agree’ with the opinions of the celestial homeland..
———————————————-
– It was written by Yu Lei, chief research fellow at the Research Center for Pacific Island Countries at Liaocheng University in China.
In his article, Mr Lei said , … ” New Zealand’s relations with China have been sliding ever since the Government took power in October 2017, by joining other Western powers to “undermine Beijing’s growing influence”. He noted the Five Eyes meeting of New Zealand, Canada, Australia, the UK and US that took place in July last year in Nova Scotia, Canada, where Mr Lei alleged a “campaign” was cooked up by the group to “kill Huawei”.
”New Zealand also made an issue of the cooperation between China and the Pacific Island countries, betraying anxiety over Beijing’s growing influence in the South Pacific,”
———————————————–
He also says that NZ should ”stop acting like an anti-China pawn of the US”.
So now , ‘ dude’ ‘… lets recap there , shall we?
Beijing’s little Varsity mouthpiece [ no doubt an active paid up communist party member himself ] hits all the high notes on what REALLY motivates them.
——————————————————–
1/ Undermining Beijing’s ‘growing influence’.
2/ The Five Eyes meeting where an alleged ‘campaign ‘ was concocted to ‘kill Huaei”.
3/ ‘Betraying Beijing’s ‘growing influence’ in the South Pacific.
——————————————————
NOW,… what does all this REALLY SOUND LIKE?
Maintaining a healthy relationship in a spirit of cooperation with a trading partner , – OR – using passive aggressive veiled threats of economic retraction and political coercion while the REAL motive is to further their military and thus economic and political spheres in a bid to undermine their rivals the Americans?
Come on buddy, we are not that naive.
So here’s a real cool suggestion for you , champ.
Piss off , – ( and that bits real important ) – , go back to where you came from, then take your own advice , and proceed to wave a placard around protesting the human rights abuses perpetrated against the Falun Gong and people in Tibet down the main street of Beijing.
Let me know how you get on.
WTF?
The “undermine Beijing’s growing influence” was put in quotation marks in your originally quoted passage. The writer was quoting what many people in NZ feel, and the reason why many in NZ support Five Eyes and the Anglo alliance. He was not taking offense because some New Zealander’s want to ‘undermine Beijing’s growing influence’, rather the writer was referring to the mindset of many kiwis.
”New Zealand also made an issue of the cooperation between China and the Pacific Island countries, betraying anxiety over Beijing’s growing influence in the South Pacific,”
Betraying is used not in the sense of China feels ‘betrayed’ by New Zealand, but simply used in the same way as ‘revealing’ —-you not know proper english eh dude?
The Five Eyes meeting where an alleged ‘campaign ‘ was concocted to ‘kill Huaei”.
If you don’t believe the campaign against Huawei is pure spiteful petty jealousy on the part of the Americans, then you are pretty naive.
And if you think the Chinese don’t have a right to be concerned about a coterie of nations spying on them, and ‘pivots to Asia’ etc, then you are probably a racist.
“using passive aggressive veiled threats of economic retraction and political coercion”
But you have previously said that the economic relationship is pretty much useless to NZ anyway….so you have no need to worry.
L0L !
You’re a real true blue ( make that Red Fed ) chinaphile! – you’ve got it bad. From twisting articles to taking things completely out of context that your mates on the other side of the cloak and dagger are saying.
SO WHAT … if that’s what many people in New Zealand think FFS?
Are we not allowed to have our own opinions ?
Or is that only the exclusive rights of the CCP bureaucracy???
Here’s one for the communist sycophant Prof in Beijing University to consider;
Why , just why oh why ,.. if you are indeed correct about your superior understanding of the English language , do you think New Zealanders may have anxiety over a major military powers expansion into the South Pacific and at the same time start to see the true colors emerging of just who their Free Trading partner really is once the veil is lifted?
And then ,…hot on the heels of pulling the racist card yourself and writing : ‘pure spiteful petty jealousy ‘ on the part of Americans … do you even proof read what you say?
And do you really think we are that gormless to think for a moment china DOESN’T spy on us in turn , – and other members of the 5 Eye partners along with the Russians, and satellite country’s ???
WOW !!!
Give us a break.
Hope your getting your backpack ready for that protest march down Beijing, mate – oh and while your there?… please make some inquiry’s into chinas human rights records. I’m sure you’ll receive a warm and glowing welcome over a cup of tea.
‘pure spiteful petty jealousy ‘ on the part of Americans … do you even proof read what you say?
Well noone has been able to come up with one iota of evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Huawei. Even the Brits are now having second thoughts, as are the Germans, and the Italians, in spite of immense US pressure.
“do you think New Zealanders may have anxiety over a major military powers expansion into the South Pacific”
Has China forced any country to have a relationship with it that that country does not want? Have the Chinese tested atomic weapons over the homes of Pacific islanders? Have they ever ‘blackbirded’ Pacific islanders into slavery, or let of bombs in Auckland harbour? New Zealand rule was pretty horrific for Samoa – misrule killed about a quarter of the population?
In any case what’s it New Zealand’s beeswax if say a Fijian wants to do business with a Chinese?
I wonder if others can see the delicious irony of what National is doing here?
The party that is so obviously bought and paid for by foreign [Chinese] money is upset the government won’t allow a prominent academic to give details of foreign [Chinese] influence in NZ politics.
You really can’t make this stuff up!
All NZ politicians are working for/with China.
A strategic decision was made 20 + years ago to align our selves with Asia, what you’re seeing now is the result of that directional change.
We’re locked in with China and any change will have major economic impacts for NZ, no NZ politician will jeopardise that relationship we’re now too exposed and too reliant, any move away from China will mean economic hardship and loss of power for any political party that instigates a shift.
Yes BM , but if you haven’t heard, politicians are fond of the word ‘ graduation’.
And where were our markets before Aunty Helen and her cozy FTD with china?
Were we exactly ( to use you far right wingers favorite whipping boy ) another Venezuela?
Obviously not !!! . And Britain joined the EEC LOOOONG before either Roger Douglas and the smash ‘n grabbers came along. Not only that , we also had the Arab Oil Shocks. Again ,… looooooooooong before Uncle Roger rogered us.
Matter of fact , – that was in the time of Norman Kirk. And I don’t remember large numbers of homeless, children whose family’s are at subsistence levels, run down schools and hospitals… in fact , we were the envy of the world with a cradle to grave welfare net in aland of hig wages and plenty of millionaires…
Soooooooooooooooo,… whats the problem here?… did finding other lucrative markets start and finish with the neo liberal hijack ? Or was Aunty Helen one of the Valkyries come down from on high and R.Douglas a form of thunder bolt wielding Zeus?
Or is being pushed around, being whores to the latest faux offer of prosperity , selling off our land to any old Johnny come latelys , not having a sovereign backbone in our bodies and acting like the street corner snitch the ‘New Face ‘ of New Zealand?
That it huh?
A gormless, unthinking ,cowering bunch of braindead , screen watching zombies that when to told to bend over simply say ‘ how far’?
The time of Norman Kirk was around the same time the UK told us they didn’t want our produce any more.
Took about 10 years to go through our monetary reserves and run up enough debt too almost go bankrupt.
To survive we had to trade with someone, Asia was the market we decided our future lay with.
What you see now, is the result of that decision.
”About ” the time…
Answer the question – did we have the burgeoning and overt social conditions and poor wages during either Norman Kirk’s time or Rob Muldoon’s?
NO . we didn’t.
And was NZ’s debt private sector or Govt?
Private sector.
You and your mates need an education and here’s just the site to give it to you. There you will find just ‘WHO’ was responsible for our ‘ monetary reserves to dry up ‘.
——————————————————
A key point of the free-market cabal’s programme was to devalue the New Zealand dollar, an extremely sensitive issue. Several weeks before the July, 1984 election, Douglas, Labour’s shadow finance minister, “accidentally” released a statement which signaled his intent to devalue.
Since it was a near certainty that labour, aided by the New Zealand Party’s drawing votes from the Nationals, would win, speculators began to dump the New Zealand dollar, planning, post-devaluation, to cash in each dollar of foreign currency for more New Zealand dollars than previously.
With Labour’s victory, the simmering foreign exchange crisis exploded. The Reserve Bank’s foreign Exchange holdings quickly ran dry, and Labour demanded, even before the end of the several-week transition period, that Muldoon devalue. After a brief struggle, Muldoon capitulated, and devalued by 20%.
Speculators made tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars overnight.
———————————————————
New Right Fight – Who are the New Right?
http://www.newrightfight.co.nz/pageA.html
Whatever, the point still is all our exports went to the UK, the UK sad yeah, nah we don’t want your exports anymore.
We’re like fucking hell unless we can find countries to sell our stuff to we’re fucked.
Asia was an emerging market who wanted to trade, we focused on Asia, I doubt back then anyone would have guessed that China would become the number one superpower.
We had made a global statement about nuclear arms hence why the Americans shunned us. We withdrew effectively form ANZUS.
Again … we self sabotaged.
Even the Australians called us bludgers for doing that.
Meanwhile all but NZ politicians could see china was going to be an emerging superpower. Which is why the Australians made trade deals with the chinese. And made enormous wealth through iron ore sales to china.
Yet ,- did the Australians act like idiots and throw the baby out with the bathwater and cancel all trade ties with the Americans?
No.
They had two pots on the boil – with china and the USA.
Yet all we ever get from all you right wing nutters are excuses why we cant do the same.
Think Russia.
Then think china and Russia.
And if its a bright and sunny day think the USA as well.
… in fact , we were the envy of the world with a cradle to grave welfare net in aland of hig wages and plenty of millionaires…
Yeah, because we were part of the British empire —the white part that is, that benefitted from the plunder of the non-white part.
“And Britain joined the EEC LOOOONG before either Roger Douglas and the smash ‘n grabbers came along. Not only that , we also had the Arab Oil Shocks.”
That’s when the party sort of ended. The impact would not have been felt right away —-but we had to borrow like crazy to maintain a lifestyle we had become accustomed to.
BM you are dead right.
– $12 billion of our exports goes to China
– $8.8 billion goes to Australia
– $5.3 to the United States
– $3.2 billion to Japan
and
$1.5 billion to Korea
It has been and continues to bring massive benefits to millions of New Zealanders. In reality there’s no pulling away from our trade dependence with China. So it’s also the greatest strategic risk this country faces.
https://www.nzte.govt.nz/investment-and-funding/investment-statistics
25% of our exports go to China (biggest trading partner)
0.29% of China’s go to NZ (44th largest trading parner)
That’s the reality
What’s the answer?, I don’t want NZ to become a vassal state of China but we are so reliant on them now, it’s almost impossible to pull away without crushing economic hardship.
Well the TPPA would have helped.
It used to be called ’empire’, but nowadays it’s more politely called ‘client state’.
Cancelling an FTA will be the last FTA we ever sign. It will say to the world that New Zealand is untrustworthy and can not keep up its end of the bargain. We’d have to sell our soles if we wanted back into a rules based order.
Who said anything about cancelling, and………….. btw …… wasn’t there a fair few country’s who had prob’s with the biggest FTD of all time in the southern climes – the TTPA?
I think people have got to get past this ‘ all or nothing ‘ mentality and start seeing that trade deals, are not forever. Hostility’s and wars will soon put paid to that Polyanna outlook. And the best way is to have multiple deals on the boil at the same time.
Not some idiotic lazy one way easily railroaded FTD with anchor ropes attached. And would lil ole NZ be the first nation to adjust its terms in trade? Really?
I actually never saw the TPPA as a problem. I saw it as away of coercing employers into pay higher wages.
Fat chance of that with no tariffs and competing with third world sweat shop labour mate.
It’s getting to the point now where a good chunk of people are figuring out that the China FTA doesn’t matter for the fate of New Zealand economically. The government has a policy to diversify trade so less likely to induce recession and probably a down turn at worse. No ressision, no doom.
Billy Bolger was dead keen to get into bed with China boots and all.
Well it was Labour that went in boots and all when it came to the FTA, so sorry, no ‘delicious irony’
Then National who wanted to carry the baton further with the TTPA – and , like their corporate overseas mates ,denied sufficient time and access to conduct a truly democratic vote. But 25 million spent on a flag referendum that no one wanted was all just fine and dandy.
Admittedly , too bad Labour went through with it.
Eh.
Then National who wanted to carry the baton further with the TTPA
Actually I thought you would have supported the TTPA ….which was in part to diversify our markets away from China, and not to have our eggs all in one basket.
Indeed the Chinese hated the TPPA in its original form as well. So you see, you do have something in common after all with the Chinese
No. More in common with downsizing dependence on china and developing markets with Russia.
Your the china boy , you tell me… last time we all looked… didn’t china and Russia kinda not get along?
Now then, what better way to play one of the other and ensure not one of them get too uppity and sanctimonious?
Situated smack bang in the middle of Uncle Sam, the Ruskies and the Sino lot.
So there you go, more in common with being a New Zealander than a whore for china, after all.
The CPTPP (as it’s now called) doesn’t include China or have anything to do with the FTA that Clark initially negotiated with China. If anything it may provide us with an opportunity to rebalance some of our trade away from China and reduce reliance on that trading relationship.
Is Wild Katipo thick?
Wild Katipo doesn’t make much sense at the best of times but tonight’s shaping up to be a bravura performance. 😁
When guys like you and Mark don’t even know their own country’s political history and can only think in terms of the present , – it tells me you are either too young to know or too disinterested to find out or too lacking in the consequences of cause and effect .
Its almost as if all you can see is china, china, china and there is no way out.
Yet , humorously , – paying lip service with feigned states of chagrin yet in reality… want things as they are because you have vested interests in keeping it that way.
Either that or having a very myopic view of the world.
And this is especially so as once the flaws in your arguments void your opinions , you both resort to school boy put downs .
Lovin’ it.
🙂
‘May provide’… as in ‘ none could foresee china becoming a ‘superpower’ as BM writes…operative word being ‘ may’.
Sounds great on paper, … but there’s a little issue of corporate involvement still… which ‘may’ or ‘may not’ compromise a democratically elected govt – esp of a smaller nation.
Heres the rub : You renegotiate any FTD and in this case, with china, but you do it while at the same time procuring trade deals in other parts of the globe. That’s called gaining leverage on the deal. china wants to extend its political/military influence in a region. Fine.
But just to make sure the goal posts are not shifted after a decade to your trade partners advantage and your detriment , you ensure you have other alternatives. All trade deals are renegotiated at some stage, unless your a small country like NZ , it seems. What does that tell you?
It tells you that times change, leaders change , political alliances change. Just like Britain joining the EEC ‘ changed’. And its a slow minded and naive person who thinks it wont.
50 billion dollars worth of two way trade with CPTPP countries for the December 2018 year. One-third of our total two way trade versus trade with China which accounts for one-fifth.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/two-way-trade-with-cptpp-countries-nears-50-billion
Your guys trade bibles seem way nerdy and out of touch with the basics. First of all it is wrong for an island nation not to have a merchant fleet of its own with its own shipbuilding. Conquering the Pacific Ocean is what makes New Zealanders stand out.
Oh Jesus Fuck…
What’s wrong with ScottGN?
Reality.
Oh. Well I hope he isn’t like this all the time.
Yep.
Apparently the application was late??? 5 weeks supposed to be in October?? Does anyone know??
An accountant evades $1m tax and gets home detention today:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/384286/home-detention-for-accountant-who-evaded-1m-in-tax
While a benefit fraudster takes $245k and gets 2 years 5 months jail
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/91956845/husband-and-wife-sentenced-for-one-of-nzs-highest-ranking-benefit-frauds
Double standards anyone?
One white priviledged the other a brown honky or PI ?
Different strokes for different folks ?
I notice that the beneficiaries have been very blatant in playing the system.
They should train in accountancy, will some extra learning they could have good careers and never need to break the law again, having a good income assured.
I notice that the judge’s surname is Ruth. But he wasn’t ruthless in dealing with the pair, not putting the woman in prison so that she can mother her children.
Nick Smith is concerned about foreign interference but then I saw him on TV saying he wasn’t interested in hearing the opinion of Jami-lee Ross.
He reckons he wants to hear from Anne-Marie Brady supposedly because she’s got the true oil.
Hello Nick – anyone home? You can be a dick but you can’t have it both ways. Do you want to hear from people who have information of various aspects or not?
Agree. I think that select committee should be actively seeking Jami-Lee Ross’ testimony.
Yes Peter. Saw that and thought how ironic. Jamie-Lee is an expert on money/China influence and his inside knowledge must be credible.
Brady is really credibility unproven.
Brady’s fellow international academics don’t seem to think so ianmac. A large number signed a petition supporting her a few months ago.
JLR has all the juice on National’s donations from certain Chinese businessmen but he’s not an expert on China.
A vastly vastly greater number did not sign that petition.
I don’t expect medical, climate and environmental, military, astronomical, mathematical and geological scientists signed it. You could add historians and physicists to that list. I doubt any of them signed it either. Not their line of business eh?
The vast majority of people in her field didn’t sign it.
She’s a phony
How mitch do you know about this phoniness merc?
The signatories supported the petition; the ones who didn’t sign, didn’t sign.
most people simply did not give a shit.
That ‘intimidation; was most likely a false flag, or she did it herself
I doubt I would agree with Professor Brady on a lot of things but she is an expert in her field of endeavour, and has received accolades from her fellow academics both here and overseas for her research work on Chinese government activity. Note… we are talking about Chinese government entities not the Chinese people. She has many Chinese friends in China and is married to a gentleman of Chinese extraction. She speaks Chinese and can read and write in Chinese.
As for the harassment and intimidation:
It follows a well trodden pathway used by operatives working for governments and other global agencies wanting to silence individuals whom they regard as a threat either to themselves or their agency. In their countries of origin they often just throw them into prison but they can’t do that in other jurisdictions so they harass and intimidate them instead.
I would believe her any day over the likes of someone with such limited knowledge and understanding such as yourself.
Ok, all the people who didn’t sign it didn’t give a shit. You are projecting, Mark, i.e. making assumptions about people’s reasons and reasoning to fit your own belief system.
“Brady is really credibility unproven.”
What a peculiar thing to say ianmac. (It could very well be that my sarcometer is faulty)
http://www.fpinterrupted.com/fellows/anne-marie-brady/
What exactly would give her the required level of ‘credibility”?
She is well educated, speaks fluent Mandarin (which in my book is a triple plus when commenting on things Chinese, know the language, know the culture etc), she was, and for all I know still is, married to a Chinese guy and according to this op ed she wrote for that rag the New York Times, she has the ability to communicate most efficaciously with Chinese bureaucrats.
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/opinion/12iht-edbrady03.html
Oh ffs, so Raymond Huo say speaks fluent english, as do many Chinese, so that must make everything they say about New Zealand automatically true and their opinions are friggin gold?
What about Pansy Wong….she is also an expert because she speaks fluent english and chinese and so all her points of view are holy friggin writ?
The fact that she shills for the US neo-conservative Wilson institute, named for a notorious racist who was against racial equality for blacks and asians shows what a rotten egg she is.
Very interesting response there Mark. Is this the ‘best line of defense is attack’ tactic? Kinda acting like a cornered cat you are.
Maybe we should be taking Brady more seriously.
Emotive language Mark and hyperbole there. Your points would be if you stuck to them without embellishing.
Just pointing out an anomaly within your own thought processes.
A lot of Anglos (who are typically monolingual) assume that any other Anglo who speaks a foreign language with some facility (or even just a few words) makes him or her an expert on that foreign culture.
But that is such a laughable assumption. After all we have right here in NZ hundreds of thousands of people who are bilingual in English AND in Maori, or Chinese or Hindi or Samoan or Tongan or Tamil or Afrikaans etc, and many even married to Kiwis.
Some Chinese chick married to a kiwi who speaks English at IELTS level 5.5 and works at the ASB…..suppose she goes back to say her native Beijing, and suddenly is the NZ expert, on indeed the expert on all things Western eh? Well of course bloody not…..the chinese are not so stupid.
Let’s be clear. Brady is an agent of foreign influence herself, and works for the US neoconservative think tank the Wilson Centre, named after that most racist of 20th Century presidents Woodrow Wilson.
A lot of Anglos (who are typically monolingual) assume that any other Anglo who speaks a foreign language with some facility (or even just a few words) makes him or her an expert on that foreign culture.
It may not make them an expert, but you could reasonably argue it is a necessary pre-condition.
I worked for years in HK as an engineer. I once had this boss who had studied at Canterbury U in NZ, came back to HK, and thought he was a know it all on all things NZ and Western, but his views were completely off base, and he talked english with a choppy cantonese accent – basically he was full of shit. Like you have the pretentious ‘old china hands’ who think they know everything about china because they have drank in a few hk or shanghai bars and rooted the local women, it goes the other way round as well….like some Chinese ‘canadians’ simply because they migrated to Canada, then come back to Hong Kong and pretend they just couldn’t stand the HK lifestyle anymore, underlining just how so ‘canadian’ they now were…people just want to make you fucking laugh sometimes.
In any case I think that one’s views should be judged on their merits only, after all I can have views on Stalin and Hitler, and they should not be dismissed because I speak neither Russian or German. Just because Brady is credentialed in terms of the language and marriage partner does not make her views correct (nor incorrect). After all I speak Cantonese fluently and mandarin haltingly andalso have a chinese ex wife and a chinese partner now —by the standards of some here, that would make me doubly qualified and everything I say about China or china related matters must automatically be accepted as gospel?
Here is the One News story, if anyone is interested.
Jami-Lee Ross wants new rules around financial donations to political parties from foreigners.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/jami-lee-ross-wants-new-rules-around-financial-donations-political-parties-foreigners
Thanks Fireblade for the link, much appreciated.
Edit… that was very interesting, jlr knows the score.
His recent question in parliament about past ministers traveling overseas and possible donation procurement … joining the dots re said subject. Really interesting.
He’s also been tweeting tonight.
Twitter Jami-Lee Ross
Sorry, but not surprised, to hear Nick Smith isn’t interested in my view on foreign donations. Reality is any foreigner can use a NZ company to donate to a political party. That’s how National’s received a lot of funding. Ignoring me doesn’t make that go away.
Lollolooooooooo thanks for that 🙂 Need to lol again now, loooooolllllll 🙂
The RWNJ conspiracy mill is giving OAC the HRC treatment.
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1103835746845241344
Another fizzer for the nat’s…..
‘Sir Michael Cullen is assuring taxpayers he expects to invoice for no more than two days this month for his fee of $1000 for a six-hour day.”
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/tax-working-group-chair-michael-cullen-only-billing-four-days-in-february-march.html
Cullen has always been so far ahead of the Gnats he has to slow down not to lap them.
LMAO !!!! 🙂
simons been owned on the twitter again over it, super amusing. And 7 Days is on the telly soon, for even more epic kiwi comedy … life is good 🙂
https://twitter.com/simonjbridges/status/1103728520000229376
I am astounded he replied. Like lets pick a fight with a local board chair who lives in West Auckland when I am the leader of the Opposition.
And he liked and retweeted his own tweet.
Simon needs better helpers, or maybe he does not …
Hamish is the help he deserves.
Simone is hitting the self destruct button ?
Thanks Micky for that, was wondering who Greg Presland is.
The Taxpayers Union will be over the moon.
As the reality of the situation comes out, critics look quite foolish as they try to shift the emphasis of their criticism.
I’m picking Cullen is going to bill about $4000 for February and March. That’s pretty cheap for the amount of hate he’s received from the Nats and their nut job followers.
I’m wondering if Mr Armstrong somehow got into a tangle on the pavement between him and his zimmer and a Lime?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/john-armstrongs-opinion-silence-beehive-astonishing-over-lime-scooters-rocky-start-new-zealand-streets?variant=tb_v_2
Appalling comments from Prebble. Quite staggering that this thinking still exists in this country.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/education/111145462/racist-comments-at-tomorrows-schools-meeting-in-auckland
Now, I’m constantly told by RWNJs that the left are guilty of wanting to shut down anyone who doesn’t agree with them but it seems they don’t practice what they preach.
Shame on David Seymour for promoting such naked racism. The swift demise of ACT and all its supporters can’t come quick enough.
If prebble is saying you don’t distroy 80Pc to save 20pc that seem rather logical Similary what did miss Webber expect calling some one a racist, playing the man and not the ball I am very glad one ms Webber is not teaching my kids, sound as she is nuts and should not be teaching at all
Webber called Prebble’s statements what they were – racist.
And just how is the Tomorrow’s Schools Review going to “distroy 80Pc”?
Looks like a decent education missed your family too! 😂
You are been extremely intellectually dishonest muttonbrain Prebble comments where clearly reflecting you don’t distroy the 80pc to fix the 20, wether you agree with that or not is not the point Prebble is clearly not a racist with a PI wife. Webber and yourself basically have shite for brains 😁
Rubbish. Prebble, and now yourself are promoting the idea of Apartheid.
That system of government was crushed 2 decades ago.
Funny how you use the term apartheid when you are so happy to use the racist term saffa as an insult.
You are a very muddled individual, aren’t you.
Not muddled. Just pointing out how you are all ok with racism against South Africans and asians – then complain when you think others are being racist.
Go to bed, harvey.
You don’t write off 20% to protect 80%, either.
Prebble never understood the concept of “levelling up” as opposed to “levelling down”.
Surely in his ham fisted way he has pointed out how badly nz is failing a large segment of it’s people.
Yes he was saying nz have let the 80% down by allowing the dirty 20% to be included and drag all the stats downwards.
No you are saying that Marty, not prebble because you are in permanent victim mode What he was clearly saying is fix the 20pc without stuffing up the 80pc , charter schools etc If you can’t see that well you are good example of the 20pc that probably needed more help
Young citizens have a right to attend their local school and to have that school meet it’s obligations to meet their needs.
And the only answer is centralisation because that what your suggesting and if you suggest otherwise you have bad intent and you are a racist Well I guess it 101 left play book to any one who disagrees with them Great argument solkta, can I suggest you don’t join a debating club
Well fucktard, the current system has been failing for thirty years. Allowing schools to do it on there own has not worked. Tomorrows Schools allows the majority to capture the direction of the school and deny minorities their rights.
Has worked for 80pc, so your wrong there from the start Likewise simply because it has not worked for 100pc means more centralisation is the answer nor that to argue otherwise you are a racist That’s my point dick head not the policy itself
Leaving schools to do it by themselves has failed so obviously the only alternative is to give them more direction. You really are bewildered aren’t you.
He was basically saying fuck you to those the system is failing.
No he was not he was debating merits of centralisation vs decentralisation and you don’t distroy what’s working for 80 pc to fix 20pc, He was arguing there a way to do both ie Maintain 80 pc and fix the 20pc ( more targeted than blunt policy proposed ) , boy there are some thicko”s out today , is it a full moon or something😞
Oh, so you were at the meeting were you? Where in the article does he say how to actually help the 20%?
I was not there but it’s pretty obvious The key argument he put forward was centralisation was not a good policy to adddress the 20pc, wether he had alternative fk knows, Charter schools maybe Anyway what is clearly obvious he was not been racist or arguing we need to sacrifice the 20pc been the longbow you and a few other knuckleheads have drawn as a conclusion and stuff have used as click bait to suck you guys in
You can fuck of with your charter schools. Young citizens have a right to attend their local school and to have that school meet its obligations to meet their needs.
But as you say you are not sure if he was suggesting that, or suggesting anything.
And no:
The key argument he put forward was centralisation was not a good policy to adddress (sic) the 20pc,
He did not say this at all. What he said was that centralisation would somehow “destroy” the success of the 80%. That seems to suggest that he actually thinks that centralisation would help the 20%.
Regarding your last paragraph More fuzzy logic from the Sok, what you suggest does not suggest at all I agree with your first point but your second obviously highlights some of your synapses are miss firing
The very review he is arguing against is one set up to lift the achievement of kids in low income communities.
But Prebble, Seymour, and Bewildered would rather eject them from NZ education achievement stats altogether.
It is quite a disgraceful position to take.
Oh fk off muttonbrain you know very well he is arguing against the policy review of centralisation (impacting all )over decentralisation is the answer to the 20 pc in regard to lifting under achievers not that we should ignore under achievers themselves , your are one dishonest prick Stop lying to yourself would put you on the road to redemption
No you fuck off. Prebble asked for Maori and PI achievement to be scrubbed to that we might look better.
Disgraceful. But what is more disgraceful that you try to defend it.
Muttonbrain by name and muttonbrain by nature sigh !
Says the guy with the most appropriate handle on the site.
Oh so original and cutting, I am wounded grieviously👍
Well, what kind of fucktard would describe themselves as “bewildered”.
Another devastating blow by the Solkta, it’s like debating a goldfish ( possibly insult to all the goldfish out their) or going 10 rounds with Mr Bean 😊
Prebble has always been an advocate of privatising the education system. He has little care for those that such a move would fail.
Your arguement gets weaker and weaker as you dig ,your first premise you neither prove privatisation is good or bad just a deluded half assed weak minded opinion, your conclusion also bares no real relevance to your first premise and again just another half assed opinion based on confirmation bias to justify a some what dim witted ideological position
Agree but Ham fisted only if you are overly sensitive snow flake prone to or seeking offense around every corner
How China’s trillion-dollar trade initiative helped forge a humanitarian …
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12211113
Thunder Underground – YouTube