3 news 5 items in, each item showing a govt minister stuffing up and looking bad. The end of the gnats is underway, we need the opposition, the left to keep the pressure on. We DON’T deserve this incompetent government, we really don’t.
They seem to be worried that a near-future government will start getting serious about the housing crisis.
With the slowly increasing prospect of a change of government next year, I expect you are on the button there McFlock. Very interesting response from two of our largest banks – owned by the Aussies but domiciled in NZ.
Btw, I had impression from that newsclip that poor old Nicky Smith was in a serious fit of pique. 😉
I’d be a bit cynical and go with self preservation. They want someone they can pursue / bankrupt to get their money back when it all turns to shit.
This came out earlier (I think) in the Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/personal-finance/news/article.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=11653661
It’s got to go bad, and maybe quite soon, so the banks will be making sure they’re protected. To bad for the borrower who did something that in hindsight was a bit silly, they’ve just got 10 years servitude to the bank.
New Zealand can be a country that restores the Kiwi dream of homeownership.
Why do we have this dream?
Is it one that applies to all people?
What if we were to change it to a dream of somewhere where you know you’ll be able to go to at the end of the day for the rest of your life?
What if we not only did that but made it so that owners couldn’t parasite off of the lives of the renters?
“In this case, the rope had already broken once, but the reasons for that had not been considered. The rope had been repaired, not replaced, and it broke again. The dangers of the snapback zone had been identified but crew were still required to work in that area.
“This is a tragic case which will live with the family of Leighton Muir forever.”
In 2015 Talley’s was found guilty of the same charge after crewman Cain Adams died after falling 6.9m through an open hatch on the Capt. M.J. Souza, when the vessel was in port in Nelson.
The company was fined $48,000 and ordered to pay $35,000 in reparations.
Why do I get the feeling that copping the fine and paying reparations is far cheaper than doing what’s right?
100% correct. Talley’s simply don’t give a shit about their wage slaves. You’ve got to admire their attempt to blame the ship’s senior crew, who have rather conveniently disappeared. It would make some sense if there wasn’t already a culture of bullying at Talley’s that means even their management staff operate in an atmosphere of constant fear.
The questions the captain and bosun would answer would go beyond their own immediate culpability, and might include pressures from head office to maximise catches, budgetary pressures on replacements/repairs (at the very least, knots are quicker than splices), and work hours.
the cynic in me wonders how much of their decision to leave their jobs and skip town was fear of personal liability as opposed to an incentive package from higher up. But I’m sure that would be tremendously out of character for such a respectable company…
heh.
Sell? Give to the state for operation or resale. Iwi have first dibs on resale, operational profits while owned by government go to government, if resold within five years of nationalisation then half of proceeds go to former owners.
if resold within five years of nationalisation then half of proceeds go to former owners.
Nope, the former owners get nothing from the nationalisation of the business but they do get to keep the debt that they incurred to set up the business.
And instead of selling it on the state turns it into a self-owned cooperative. A business that the state has no say in the running of and is run by the workers.
I think you just spiked a post, McFlock! I just got home and was mulling over a post suggesting immediate nationalisation for the safety of the workers; not just physical, but psychological safety. Then I spotted your comment, which is a far better expression of the idea than I had in mind.
I’ve always wanted to ask what first attracted the National Party to the millionaire Peter Talley. Perhaps we’ll never know.
What attracted the Nats to Talley? It may have been they recognised that like them Talley had a kind and gentle heart and was dedicated to improving the lives of ordinary people. Or it was his vast fortune and his willingness to slip lots of it to them to get elected/stay elected and get their own fat little faces snout down in the trough? We will never know. Yeah, right.
It’s not something I’ve really thought through beyond the initial idea and the standard followups (what about the Treaty? what about if bolstering the ghost-surplus was part of the excuse to nationalise? etc)
I’d forgotten the concept of corporate manslaughter, for example.
But the problem with solutions that focus solely on fines and prison is that sooner or later a perfectly good, if poorly run, company would go to the wall and workers would lose their jobs for want of a slight change in management.
The workers coops idea is interesting, but ends up giving workers a theoretical vested interest in poor safety cultures.
And again, if iwi get first dibs on ownership, what if the local iwi was the shit employer in the first place.
They’re obviously panicking with off the hoof policy like $5k to get out of Dodge and renting whole motels and it stinks of poor law thinking. $60-70K plus of debt for families with no money must be irking even the most neo-liberal within the National party, but only because it might cost them votes. The risk is that their responses will intensify the shifting of responsibility for core services to the community. Those ideas are already well and truly here and it’s a short step to locking them in. IH-fucking-C is full of National party arsewipes who are more than ready to help decimate social housing. Welfare will be next.
What a wonderful job JC and Checkpoint are doing bringing these personal stories to us. And JK and PB in particular want everyone to think most of these people are down and out P-users. They are not! I guarantee the so-called p-users would represent less than 10% of the homeless.
This is unbelievable stuff. An $8k debt going up $2k a fortnight for a family with no money. Others with $60-70k plus. Key and Bennett et al must be shitting their pants. It’s still likely that Key could eat a baby and go up in the polls, but this issue just might have the legs to halt that trend. The AAAP group in Auckland and John Campbell are doing a great job.
I feel bad for them. They must feel as though they’re digging a hole as fast as they can, and some bastard from WINZ is just kicking the dirt back into it every week. It’s madness. It makes no logical sense.
ISDS- Australia’s Labor Party have made the following commitment.
Labor is promising to review three of the major free trade agreements signed by the Abbott and Turnbull governments in the hope of removing a controversial clause that allows foreign corporations to sue the Australian government.
It will also make Australia’s involvement in a proposed huge free trade zone in the Asia Pacific – dubbed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – subject to stricter entry conditions than those the Coalition demanded.
The opposition’s trade spokeswoman, Penny Wong, said Labor would try to remove so-called investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) clauses from every trade agreement, and every bilateral investment treaty, that Australia has signed.
Oh, God. The government bring in an anti-vaxxer in place of Grosser. She seems all over the place, to be honest.
I think there’s a real opportunity for us to save the country millions of dollars in pharmaceuticals by treating the whole person and the environment they live in, which is all about healthy eating and healthy living.
-Pugh
Her first thought is about money (of course). If only her political party of choice considered ‘treating people and the environment they live in’ with any respect…
Prescription drugs are almost all inevitably toxic to the liver and to the kidneys, as well as to other tissues of the body.
They should be avoided wherever possible, in favour of supporting and assisting the natural healing faculties of the human body.
There will be some instances of course where there is a need to use pharmaceutical drugs, but especially in the case of polypharmacy the boundary between what is helpful and what is harmful, can quickly be crossed.
Pugh is of course spot on that health doesn’t come from a pill bottle, it comes from a person’s environment, food and life style.
It appears to me that Pugh knows the difference between true healthcare and expensive modern sickness care.
How then does she, or you, reconcile this nurturing approach to the person and their environment with regard to healthcare to the ambulance at the bottom of a cliff approach to the actual environment and to the disenfranchised of society in general?
Everything on the planet is “inevitably toxic” if you do enough. Drinking far too much water can kill you, so at a certain level even homeopathic “remedies” are toxic.
An odd caption for the photo of Key and Pugh.
“National MP Maureen Pugh, who lives in the West Coast-Tasman electorate, with Prime Minister John Key. ” Tut tut.
Mate, she doesn’t even like antibiotics so I assume the rubella vaccine is off limits. A privileged upbringing and Kale smoothies are all her kids needed, apparently.
I know heaps of people who have raised their kids without using antibiotics. Doesn’t make them an anti-vaxxer. Sorry, but your ignorance and prejudices are showing. Not everyone that uses alternative medicines is anti-vaccine (even where they choose to not vaccinate themselves). It’s pretty interesting watching parts of the political commentariat be so arrogant on this issue when they really have no clues about the very large numbers of people who want the govt to better on health promotion beyond the ambulance model, because they know it’s worked in their own lives. I’m guessing you don’t know such people, based on your comment. Which means you are arguing from a place of not really knowing.
There are some instances when antibiotics need to be used. But there is not much to like about the current use of antibiotics in society, and more importantly, in the last 10 years conventional medicine has finally started cottoning on to the damage that antibiotics cause to the human biome.
I commented to that post through Andrews, lets hope it passes a kind censor.
It’s was a good piece in reply by them. It will negate much of Andrews damage and that of the homeless plight on all National Key supporters. It’s just what they want to hear. Labours telling lies we are doing a lot, here’s the statistical proof. they won’t poke any further.
Well done PB and Nick, though your hemoraging swing voters still I suspect!
Interesting to that John key said in Fiji that a healthy democracy is about being challenged by both opposition and the media thats what makes democracy stronger. What a load of BS.
Thanks to Nicky Hager the use of dirty politics by the government has been exposed and its effect diluted. Ministers must now do damage control by media rather than paid operatives.
That is simply a PR piece from those two minister’s grab bag of ill-conceived and piecemeal policy.
Andrew’ words must be hurting them. So good news that they feel the need to shout out and explain and justify. Their problem is that by splurging out with far too many responses, the water is just plain muddied.
Well done Andrew!
‘Clinton, the “women’s candidate”, leaves a trail of bloody coups: in Honduras, in Libya (plus the murder of the Libyan president) and Ukraine. The latter is now a CIA theme park swarming with Nazis and the frontline of a beckoning war with Russia. It was through Ukraine – literally, borderland – that Hitler’s Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, which lost 27 million people. This epic catastrophe remains a presence in Russia. Clinton’s presidential campaign has received money from all but one of the world’s ten biggest arms companies. No other candidate comes close.’
Germany wanted to invade Poland without the USSR pushing back, and the USSR wanted to buy time to prepare itself for inevitable war against the Nazis. So the unfortunate deal was done.
None of that changes Pilgers main points. Which is probably why he didn’t talk about it.
Stitching up a deal to split Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland between themselves wasn’t buying time to prepare itself for inevitable war, it was bog standard imperialism.
Hah. And about halfway round the globe, there’s that other big country getting uppity and needs to be kept in place or taught some lessons. Perhaps the name of that body of water should be changed from South China Sea to something more appropriate like North Philippines Sea.
You’re pretty happy with Russia annexing it’s neighbour’s territory, which is certainly worse behaviour than NATO’s sensible intervention to swiftly end the Balkan war. As I said, two wrongs don’t make a right. However, there’s little point you moaning about war warmongering if you are in fact in OK with it when its your favoured nation doing the bullying. Hypocritical, in fact.
‘Homeless family: The realities of living in a van
A family who lived for four months in their van kept going to work and school throughout their ordeal – and their daughter almost won a scholarship to St Cuthbert’s College.
The two parents and six children aged 7 to 17 got up early every day to shower and eat breakfast at the mother’s workplace.
Their 11-year-old daughter has posted on Facebook under the pseudonym “TA” about how she made lunches for all the children – “but sometimes there’s barely anything”.
“It’s hard to do my homework with my family around,” she wrote.
But despite being homeless, she just missed out on winning one of four scholarships offered by elite St Cuthbert’s College to Year 7 Maori and Pacific students each year.
Favona Primary School deputy principal Heather Harvey, who encouraged her to apply and drove her to the test, said the college offered “fabulous resources” that the girl would never have access to at Mangere’s Decile 1 high schools.
“She’s a very lovely, capable girl,” she said. “She was the head of our kapahaka team.”
Mrs Harvey also wrote a letter supporting the family’s application for social housing, but had no response.
“Things have been very hard for them. I just can’t understand how they lived,” she said.’
I kinda see Te Panel as a repository for just- about- has- beens. It allows them some profile, I guess…but they’re all a bit desperate. (With maybe the exception of Dita Di Boni) I should listen more often, but I’m a recovering masochist….;-)
The nice Michelle Boag insisted that her son had no Student Loans. He worked you see. Virtuous lad.
Two of my sons worked too and gained a degree or two each. Unfortunately they did not live in Christchurch so borrowed a Living Allowance and worked and studied and ended up with a big debt each. She scorns the parents who despair of their children’s debts.
Planetary travel is obviously her forte.
Michelle Boag insisted that her son had no Student Loans. He worked you see
I heard that too and thought: oh yeah, and who used her many influential contacts to get him the work in the first place?
It would be nice if every son/daughter was lucky enough to have a parent who could conjure up a good, well paying job for their children with a snap of their fingers.
Bullshitting is obviously her forte….and I wrote as much to Gentle Jim…
I know it is a smallish misrepresentation of the truth….a trifle in the greater scheme of things…but it pisses me off. Its typical of her and her right wing friends to lie and deny….but these are parasites who got their education for fucking free….and they then denigrate today’s betrayed youth.
More from the they’re so arrogant it’s unfuckingbeleivable file.
The farm was originally owned by Landcorp — a state owned enterprise.
In 2013 it decided to sell. Bay of Plenty iwi Ngāti Whakahemo wanted to buy it and it was part of their original Treaty claim.
Landcorp sought advice from the Office of Treaty Settlements, who said Ngāti Whakahemo’s claims had been settled.
The Supreme Court says that advice was wrong.
Ngāti Whakahemo wrote to numerous Ministers seeking help.
The Supreme Court ruled the decision by Ministers not to intervene was “a wrongful exercise of a public power”, and the decision by Landcorp to sell the farm was also “a wrongful exercise of a public power”.
…
Not only are there no legal consequences, but Mr Finlayson is refusing to apologise.
“Of course I won’t apologise because that’s a finding of law. It’s not as though I’ve done something grievous that requires me to get down on my knees and apologise.”
He says Ngāti Whakahemo didn’t miss out on the opportunity to buy the land because the farm was too expensive.
“They couldn’t have afforded to purchase it on their own, I know that.”
“We’re one of the longest farming families in this district, everyone knows that,” says Mita Ririnui from Ngāti Whakahemo. “We had the means to purchase.”
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Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
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A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist A former Tuvalu prime minister says while the New Zealand government’s oil and gas plans show it is concerned about its economy, he is more concerned about the livelihoods and survival of the Tuvalu people. Enele Sopoaga — who still serves as an MP ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Many people who follow federal budgets know about the magnificent “budget tree” in a parliamentary courtyard, which turns a glorious red in time for the May event. This week Treasurer Jim Chalmers posed by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Bennett, Professor of Music, Australian National University Richard P J Lambert/flickr, CC BY The future belongs to the analogue loyalists. Fuck digital. As a tsunami of CDs, DAT tapes and samplers swept the recording industry in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT University This week American rapper Macklemore released a new track, Hind’s Hall, which has gained a lot of attention because of its explicitly political nature. The track is unapologetically pro-Palestine. It declares the artist’s ...
Explainer - The government from 2025 is mandating how state schools teach children to read. But what is structured literacy and how does it compare to other teaching methods? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danica Jenkins, Lecturer in European Studies, University of Sydney On a freezing spring night in March, Georgia’s national soccer team beat Greece in a nail-biter penalty shootout to qualify for the Euro 2024 championships. The atmosphere on the streets of the capital ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam G. Arian, Lecturer (Accounting & Finance), Australian Catholic University Loic Manegarium/Pexels Imagine every ton of carbon dioxide a company emits is slowly inflating its costs — not just in terms of potential fines or fees but in the capital it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Somwrita Sarkar, Senior Lecturer in Design and Computation, University of Sydney The “latte line” is the infamous, invisible boundary that divides Sydney between the more affluent north-east and the south-west. Historically, people north of the line enjoy better access to jobs and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dowdy, Principal Research Scientist in Extreme Weather, The University of Melbourne Nomad_Soul/Shutterstock In media articles about unprecedented flooding, you’ll often come across the statement that for every 1°C of warming, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture. This ...
RNZ Pacific Former Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has been sentenced to one year in prison, Fiji media are reporting. Bainimarama, alongside suspended Fiji Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho appeared in the High Court in Suva today for their sentencing hearing for a case involving their roles in blocking a police ...
Acting Chief Human Rights Commissioner Saunoamaali’i Dr Karanina Sumeo says, “Addressing violence and abuse remains New Zealand’s most significant human rights issue affecting women. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Symons, Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University Michael Schiffer / Unsplash Life has transformed our world over billions of years, turning a dead rock into the lush, fertile planet we know today. But human activity is currently transforming Earth ...
One woman’s quest to watch Challengers without ruining her body clock. Every Saturday morning, I wake up with a screaming demon inside my head urging me to “Do. Something. This. Weekend.” I run through the possibilities in my head in a defensive mental crouch, reminiscent of that one time I ...
The PSA is alarmed that ACC is proposing to shed 309 jobs including 29 dedicated injury prevention jobs at a time when the number and cost of injuries is rising. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Baker, Associate Professor in Human Geography, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images As local and regional councils struggle with inadequate infrastructure and unsustainable costs, New Zealand will be hearing a lot more about the potential solution offered by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Sacks, Professor of Public Health Policy, Deakin University Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock In recent years, there’s been increasinghype about the potential health risks associated with so-called “ultra-processed” foods. But new evidence published this week found not all “ultra-processed” foods are linked ...
Fears that New Zealand is relying too heavily on low-cost forests to absorb its carbon dioxide emissions have been reignited by a report from the OECD. ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed the total dollar savings target from public sector cuts has been met, but the reductions have not been felt evenly across public agencies. Government departments were told to make savings set at 6.5 percent or 7.5 percent where headcount had grown by more than ...
She doesn’t have a single kind word for me and it’s getting under my skin.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,I have two amazing friends that I absolutely adore. Grace (all names have been changed) and I lived together across 2023 and Olivia moved in with us this ...
Can Western science and Māori science work together to support our well-being? The Te Ohu Mō Papatūānuku (TOMP) Trials Project was a landmark case for healing the land and people with the guidance of Māori science and leadership. This is what happened when Papatūānuku (Earth) was contaminated by toxic discharge, ...
The District Plan is a blueprint for a bigger, better Wellington, through tens of thousands of new apartments and townhouses and a new approach to urban growth. Joel MacManus lays out the vision. The process of putting together Wellington’s new District Plan has been long and excruciating. As a city, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Williams Veazey, ARC DECRA Research Fellow, University of Sydney DavideAngelini/Shutterstock In the 2007 film The Bucket List Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play two main characters who respond to their terminal cancer diagnoses by rejecting experimental treatment. Instead, they go ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohan Singh, Professor of Agri-Food Biotechnology, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences at the University of Melbourne., The University of Melbourne Tanja Esser/Shutterstock Australia’s vital agriculture sector will be hit hard by steadily rising global temperatures. Our climate is already ...
The Acumen Edelman Trust barometer reported that New Zealand’s political trust score now sits below the global average, a topic explored in a recent discussion paper by Maxim Institute. ...
Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director Russel Norman says, "The Fast-Track Bill is the most damaging piece of environmental legislation any Government has introduced in living memory. People are angry, and it’s time to march." ...
The school lunches programme has been retained – and will be extended to some preschoolers. So how is it going to cost $107 million less? To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. The minister with many hats David Seymour wears a number of hats, but this week ...
“Show us the bird,” I found myself muttering at times while reading Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker, a deeply thoughtful, often hilarious, at times rambling – but somehow delightfully so – search for the story of a big bird. But not just any bird: the bird. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, UK edition DPVUE .images/Shutterstock Your home was probably designed for a climate that no longer exists. As long as humanity continues to burn fossil fuel, padding the heat-trapping blanket of gases in Earth’s atmosphere, the ...
A senior lawyer has filed a complaint about tikanga becoming a required law school module. Law lecturer Carwyn Jones explains what he’s getting wrong. “…the first law of Aotearoa, a law that served the needs of tangata whenua for a thousand years before the arrival of tauiwi.”– Ani Mikaere ...
In 2019, an Auckland woman woke up from surgery to find that she had undergone a treatment she didn’t consent to. She tells Alex Casey about her experience. From her very first period at the age of 14, Laura experienced “debilitating” levels of pain that forced her to withdraw from ...
One of th e country’s top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of around 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so log-jammed that it’s taking over two years to get cases ...
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Comment: Concerns about the state of the economy are creeping up to the top of firms’ list of challenges. That’s evident in both surveys and the tone of our recent client discussions. Skimming the past few weeks of eco-news, it’s not hard to see why. – Retail card spending fell ...
Opinion: Could former co-leader James Shaw still make a difference to working with National? The post How the Greens could be contenders appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: What if we got rid of our existing drug laws and replaced them with a new law that legalised and carefully regulated all psychoactive substances, from cannabis to MDMA, methamphetamine and LSD to magic mushrooms? And which also included legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine. “Wow,” you might ...
In the gloom following director-general Al Morrison’s job cuts in 2013, the Department of Conservation restructured its operations arm. Eleven conservancy districts were whittled into six new “conservation delivery” regions, under which the Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands area, comprising 40 scattered islands more than 800km east of Christchurch, was tethered to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel “through to 2050 and beyond”. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuel’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush ...
A long-term project that will set out an alternative vision for Aotearoa that looks beyond the narrow confines of the policy straight jacket adopted by successive governments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT, Queensland University of Technology TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock A much-awaited report into Coles and Woolworths has found what many customers have long believed – Australia’s big supermarkets engage in price gouging. What started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney The Albanese government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its migration amendment bill. The report, handed down yesterday by a senate committee that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Lobbying is at the heart of government. Who has access to and influence over key government officials shapes the decisions governments make – and how they make them. The ability to influence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myfany Turpin, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, Linguistics and Ethnobiology, University of Sydney The act representing Australia at this year’s Eurovision contest has sadly not qualified for the grand final. Yet for Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the duo that makes up Electric Fields, ...
In announcing changes to the school lunches programme, David Seymour said kids would no longer be served ‘woke’ foods. To clear up any confusion, The Spinoff has compiled a guide to the wokeness levels of some common food items. Apple = NOT WOKE Avocado = WOKE Avocado, smashed = EVEN ...
The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
3 news 5 items in, each item showing a govt minister stuffing up and looking bad. The end of the gnats is underway, we need the opposition, the left to keep the pressure on. We DON’T deserve this incompetent government, we really don’t.
Little bit of exageration but my point still stands – forgot about missing people – hope they are found safe
mm @ 1
And Paddy Gower earns his keep:
http://www.newshub.co.nz/business/westpac-bans-loans-to-foreign-buyers-2016060914#axzz4AyDemz9Z
It’s bullshit. It’s free marketing. As if Westpac/ANZ have many foreign buyers.
They come here with money from China.
That was stupid coming from gower.
not just free marketing – the first thing industries do to avoid regulation is to pretend to self-regulate.
They seem to be worried that a near-future government will start getting serious about the housing crisis.
They seem to be worried that a near-future government will start getting serious about the housing crisis.
With the slowly increasing prospect of a change of government next year, I expect you are on the button there McFlock. Very interesting response from two of our largest banks – owned by the Aussies but domiciled in NZ.
Btw, I had impression from that newsclip that poor old Nicky Smith was in a serious fit of pique. 😉
I’d be a bit cynical and go with self preservation. They want someone they can pursue / bankrupt to get their money back when it all turns to shit.
This came out earlier (I think) in the Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/personal-finance/news/article.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=11653661
It’s got to go bad, and maybe quite soon, so the banks will be making sure they’re protected. To bad for the borrower who did something that in hindsight was a bit silly, they’ve just got 10 years servitude to the bank.
Good piece by Andrew Little in the Herald on housing.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11653530
Why do we have this dream?
Is it one that applies to all people?
What if we were to change it to a dream of somewhere where you know you’ll be able to go to at the end of the day for the rest of your life?
What if we not only did that but made it so that owners couldn’t parasite off of the lives of the renters?
Nice juxtaposition of comments 1 and 2
Talley’s ordered to pay $94,000 after death of crewman
Why do I get the feeling that copping the fine and paying reparations is far cheaper than doing what’s right?
100% correct. Talley’s simply don’t give a shit about their wage slaves. You’ve got to admire their attempt to blame the ship’s senior crew, who have rather conveniently disappeared. It would make some sense if there wasn’t already a culture of bullying at Talley’s that means even their management staff operate in an atmosphere of constant fear.
The questions the captain and bosun would answer would go beyond their own immediate culpability, and might include pressures from head office to maximise catches, budgetary pressures on replacements/repairs (at the very least, knots are quicker than splices), and work hours.
the cynic in me wonders how much of their decision to leave their jobs and skip town was fear of personal liability as opposed to an incentive package from higher up. But I’m sure that would be tremendously out of character for such a respectable company…
Less than $100,000 for taking a life, and I assume practices can carry on as normal..
A three strikes law? Kill 3 employees (more likely ‘contractors’) and you have to sell your company?
heh.
Sell? Give to the state for operation or resale. Iwi have first dibs on resale, operational profits while owned by government go to government, if resold within five years of nationalisation then half of proceeds go to former owners.
That’ll put it up ’em…
Sounds fair. I can see you’ve thought about this longer than I have.
Nope, the former owners get nothing from the nationalisation of the business but they do get to keep the debt that they incurred to set up the business.
And instead of selling it on the state turns it into a self-owned cooperative. A business that the state has no say in the running of and is run by the workers.
I think you just spiked a post, McFlock! I just got home and was mulling over a post suggesting immediate nationalisation for the safety of the workers; not just physical, but psychological safety. Then I spotted your comment, which is a far better expression of the idea than I had in mind.
I’ve always wanted to ask what first attracted the National Party to the millionaire Peter Talley. Perhaps we’ll never know.
What attracted the Nats to Talley? It may have been they recognised that like them Talley had a kind and gentle heart and was dedicated to improving the lives of ordinary people. Or it was his vast fortune and his willingness to slip lots of it to them to get elected/stay elected and get their own fat little faces snout down in the trough? We will never know. Yeah, right.
It’s not something I’ve really thought through beyond the initial idea and the standard followups (what about the Treaty? what about if bolstering the ghost-surplus was part of the excuse to nationalise? etc)
I’d forgotten the concept of corporate manslaughter, for example.
But the problem with solutions that focus solely on fines and prison is that sooner or later a perfectly good, if poorly run, company would go to the wall and workers would lose their jobs for want of a slight change in management.
The workers coops idea is interesting, but ends up giving workers a theoretical vested interest in poor safety cultures.
And again, if iwi get first dibs on ownership, what if the local iwi was the shit employer in the first place.
Lots of fodder for a post, is my general drift 🙂
Boards of Directors need prison time. That usually sorts things.
Nick Smith: Poor education behind falling rates of Maori and Pasifika home ownership – yes indeed Nick you ignorant slob – back to school with you!
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Homelessness.
Our ‘brighter future’
Some families already thousands in debt to WINZ for emergency motel housing remain in the same accommodation block, with their loans mounting.
she has got a kid in a wheelchair in that dump.
200 bucks a night.
One can’t actually make that shit up. This is loan sharking. Winz has been turned into a payday lender.
The AAAP said on RNZ the other day they’re taking this issue through the courts.
WINZ, under this government, has obviously turned into a massive subsidy for National’s mates.
The amount that WINZ are paying they should just buy the flats and be done with it. Be a lot cheaper.
Of course, that would mean that rich, greedy bastards aren’t getting massive income for doing nothing.
They’re obviously panicking with off the hoof policy like $5k to get out of Dodge and renting whole motels and it stinks of poor law thinking. $60-70K plus of debt for families with no money must be irking even the most neo-liberal within the National party, but only because it might cost them votes. The risk is that their responses will intensify the shifting of responsibility for core services to the community. Those ideas are already well and truly here and it’s a short step to locking them in. IH-fucking-C is full of National party arsewipes who are more than ready to help decimate social housing. Welfare will be next.
What a wonderful job JC and Checkpoint are doing bringing these personal stories to us. And JK and PB in particular want everyone to think most of these people are down and out P-users. They are not! I guarantee the so-called p-users would represent less than 10% of the homeless.
This is unbelievable stuff. An $8k debt going up $2k a fortnight for a family with no money. Others with $60-70k plus. Key and Bennett et al must be shitting their pants. It’s still likely that Key could eat a baby and go up in the polls, but this issue just might have the legs to halt that trend. The AAAP group in Auckland and John Campbell are doing a great job.
I feel bad for them. They must feel as though they’re digging a hole as fast as they can, and some bastard from WINZ is just kicking the dirt back into it every week. It’s madness. It makes no logical sense.
ISDS- Australia’s Labor Party have made the following commitment.
http://www.bilaterals.org/?labor-pledges-to-review-trade
Good!! and our lot should follow suit.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/personal-finance/news/article.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=11653661
Front page herald at the top. Doesn’t get much poignant than that!
“Once fully operational, the team should inspect 80 houses a week.
Repairing faulty work would cost about $1000 per repair, he said. Contractors or Fletcher would bear the cost.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/the-rebuild/73205717/More-than-6500-homes-need-fix-after-faulty-EQC-repairs
“The Earthquake Commission’s (EQC) home repair programme project manager can not be held responsible for shoddy quake repairs, its contract suggests.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/71124031/no-responsibility-on-fletcher-eqr-for-shoddy-quake-repairs-contract-suggests
“Second-time repairs to Canterbury homes damaged by the earthquakes could cost up to $70 million.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/80873207/remedial-home-repairs-could-cost-eqc-up-to-70m.html
I imagine that 70 mil (plus) could have been better used elsewhere.
Oh, God. The government bring in an anti-vaxxer in place of Grosser. She seems all over the place, to be honest.
-Pugh
Her first thought is about money (of course). If only her political party of choice considered ‘treating people and the environment they live in’ with any respect…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/80884541/national-mp-maureen-pugh-doesnt-believe-in-pharmaceutical-drugs
Prescription drugs are almost all inevitably toxic to the liver and to the kidneys, as well as to other tissues of the body.
They should be avoided wherever possible, in favour of supporting and assisting the natural healing faculties of the human body.
There will be some instances of course where there is a need to use pharmaceutical drugs, but especially in the case of polypharmacy the boundary between what is helpful and what is harmful, can quickly be crossed.
Pugh is of course spot on that health doesn’t come from a pill bottle, it comes from a person’s environment, food and life style.
It appears to me that Pugh knows the difference between true healthcare and expensive modern sickness care.
Interesting.
How then does she, or you, reconcile this nurturing approach to the person and their environment with regard to healthcare to the ambulance at the bottom of a cliff approach to the actual environment and to the disenfranchised of society in general?
Feed’m Aropax and Zopiclone and it’ll be OK
They’re antithetical to each other. If you want healthy people you need a healthy environment and that includes social engagement.
lol
Everything on the planet is “inevitably toxic” if you do enough. Drinking far too much water can kill you, so at a certain level even homeopathic “remedies” are toxic.
An odd caption for the photo of Key and Pugh.
“National MP Maureen Pugh, who lives in the West Coast-Tasman electorate, with Prime Minister John Key. ” Tut tut.
What makes you think she is an anti-vaxxer?
Mate, she doesn’t even like antibiotics so I assume the rubella vaccine is off limits. A privileged upbringing and Kale smoothies are all her kids needed, apparently.
I know heaps of people who have raised their kids without using antibiotics. Doesn’t make them an anti-vaxxer. Sorry, but your ignorance and prejudices are showing. Not everyone that uses alternative medicines is anti-vaccine (even where they choose to not vaccinate themselves). It’s pretty interesting watching parts of the political commentariat be so arrogant on this issue when they really have no clues about the very large numbers of people who want the govt to better on health promotion beyond the ambulance model, because they know it’s worked in their own lives. I’m guessing you don’t know such people, based on your comment. Which means you are arguing from a place of not really knowing.
There are some instances when antibiotics need to be used. But there is not much to like about the current use of antibiotics in society, and more importantly, in the last 10 years conventional medicine has finally started cottoning on to the damage that antibiotics cause to the human biome.
FLASH!!!!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11653723
Nick and Paulas reply to Andrew just popped up on the Herald!
I read it, too little too late. The faithful will be pleased though.
No opportunity to comment below it.
I commented to that post through Andrews, lets hope it passes a kind censor.
It’s was a good piece in reply by them. It will negate much of Andrews damage and that of the homeless plight on all National Key supporters. It’s just what they want to hear. Labours telling lies we are doing a lot, here’s the statistical proof. they won’t poke any further.
Well done PB and Nick, though your hemoraging swing voters still I suspect!
Interesting we are given the right to comment on Little’s comment, yet have no right to reply to Bennett and Smith.
What a crock.
Interesting to that John key said in Fiji that a healthy democracy is about being challenged by both opposition and the media thats what makes democracy stronger. What a load of BS.
They are scrambling.
A reactionary government in action.
Thanks to Nicky Hager the use of dirty politics by the government has been exposed and its effect diluted. Ministers must now do damage control by media rather than paid operatives.
That is simply a PR piece from those two minister’s grab bag of ill-conceived and piecemeal policy.
So not that busy, then….
Time to write a puff piece for the Herald.
Not enough time to visit Te Puea Marae.
No, she would have demanded her staff work late without pay to pull together all sorts of disparate bits from previous media releases.
but but
they are building 40 houses a day.
nick smith and paula bennet say so.
40 a day!
someone should ask nick smith to hire a bus and show us the houses.
Big butt but
When they say they, who is THEY exactly? mm huh mmm
Is that 40 houses a day nationally, by rich pricks? See with national you need a front end loader to clear the shit away so you can see the truth.
Andrew’ words must be hurting them. So good news that they feel the need to shout out and explain and justify. Their problem is that by splurging out with far too many responses, the water is just plain muddied.
Well done Andrew!
Explaining is losing. Bennett has been explaining a lot lately. Smith just doesn’t care.
NATO runs a 31,000 soldier exercise on Russia’s doorstep. (14,000 of them US soldiers).
How aggressive and provocative of Russia to keep placing her country right next to all these NATO and US forces.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/news/a21229/us-nato-exercise/
Saw that the other day. As far as I can make out the West seem to be pushing for a war.
John PIlger seems to think so.
‘Clinton, the “women’s candidate”, leaves a trail of bloody coups: in Honduras, in Libya (plus the murder of the Libyan president) and Ukraine. The latter is now a CIA theme park swarming with Nazis and the frontline of a beckoning war with Russia. It was through Ukraine – literally, borderland – that Hitler’s Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, which lost 27 million people. This epic catastrophe remains a presence in Russia. Clinton’s presidential campaign has received money from all but one of the world’s ten biggest arms companies. No other candidate comes close.’
http://johnpilger.com/articles/silencing-america-as-it-prepares-for-war
we have started WW3 a long time ago. We are now just simply admitting it.
Pilger conveniently ignores the shitty little deal to divvy up Europe that allowed the Nazi invaders to hand over my Polish uncle and his sole surviving family member to the Soviets who promptly loaded them onto a train and transported them eastward to a Siberian camp.
He was four years old.
Germany wanted to invade Poland without the USSR pushing back, and the USSR wanted to buy time to prepare itself for inevitable war against the Nazis. So the unfortunate deal was done.
None of that changes Pilgers main points. Which is probably why he didn’t talk about it.
Stitching up a deal to split Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland between themselves wasn’t buying time to prepare itself for inevitable war, it was bog standard imperialism.
That is also true. However both the USSR and Germany knew that it was never going to be a deal which would last long.
And if they really had been buying time they wouldn’t have been screwed so badly by barbarossa.
That, and their [the Soviets] blissful unawareness as they considered extending the deal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%E2%80%93Soviet_Axis_talks#German_proposed_draft_agreement
Well it was Stalin in charge, so that’s what you get.
So much for buying time.
Hah. And about halfway round the globe, there’s that other big country getting uppity and needs to be kept in place or taught some lessons. Perhaps the name of that body of water should be changed from South China Sea to something more appropriate like North Philippines Sea.
Sea of the American Colony of North Phillipines
At least the NATO effort is just an exercise. Russia does the invasion thing for real.
Libya was NATO for real. Syria was NATO for real. Iraq was NATO for real. Yugoslavia was NATO for real.
Note that none of these countries are anywhere near the USA.
NATO is America’s European tool for spreading the Empire of Chaos.
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
That’s four wrongs from NATO/US.
Makes no difference at all. And I don’t think anyone reckons Yugoslavia was a wrong, CV. The intervention was late, but not wrong.
good to know you are ok with NATO attacks against civilian targets without a UN mandate. Same story in Libya. Thanks in large part to Killary.
You’re pretty happy with Russia annexing it’s neighbour’s territory, which is certainly worse behaviour than NATO’s sensible intervention to swiftly end the Balkan war. As I said, two wrongs don’t make a right. However, there’s little point you moaning about war warmongering if you are in fact in OK with it when its your favoured nation doing the bullying. Hypocritical, in fact.
TA’s story hits the MSM.
‘Homeless family: The realities of living in a van
A family who lived for four months in their van kept going to work and school throughout their ordeal – and their daughter almost won a scholarship to St Cuthbert’s College.
The two parents and six children aged 7 to 17 got up early every day to shower and eat breakfast at the mother’s workplace.
Their 11-year-old daughter has posted on Facebook under the pseudonym “TA” about how she made lunches for all the children – “but sometimes there’s barely anything”.
“It’s hard to do my homework with my family around,” she wrote.
But despite being homeless, she just missed out on winning one of four scholarships offered by elite St Cuthbert’s College to Year 7 Maori and Pacific students each year.
Favona Primary School deputy principal Heather Harvey, who encouraged her to apply and drove her to the test, said the college offered “fabulous resources” that the girl would never have access to at Mangere’s Decile 1 high schools.
“She’s a very lovely, capable girl,” she said. “She was the head of our kapahaka team.”
Mrs Harvey also wrote a letter supporting the family’s application for social housing, but had no response.
“Things have been very hard for them. I just can’t understand how they lived,” she said.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11653678
Michelle Boag appears to have told big porkies during her stint as a member of Gentle Jim’s Panel on Natrad this afternoon.
I listened for a nanosecond before walking off in disgust…but felt it only fair that I actually hear her out on the subject of Student Loans.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201803888
…at around about 2 minutes she states that when she went to varsity there was some funding but she had to pay quite a bit….
She graduated in 1977….
Perhaps faulty memory is a National trait?
Why does Brian Edwards tolerate her nonsense?
Too much time spent in Herne Bay?
I kinda see Te Panel as a repository for just- about- has- beens. It allows them some profile, I guess…but they’re all a bit desperate. (With maybe the exception of Dita Di Boni) I should listen more often, but I’m a recovering masochist….;-)
The nice Michelle Boag insisted that her son had no Student Loans. He worked you see. Virtuous lad.
Two of my sons worked too and gained a degree or two each. Unfortunately they did not live in Christchurch so borrowed a Living Allowance and worked and studied and ended up with a big debt each. She scorns the parents who despair of their children’s debts.
Planetary travel is obviously her forte.
Michelle Boag insisted that her son had no Student Loans. He worked you see
I heard that too and thought: oh yeah, and who used her many influential contacts to get him the work in the first place?
It would be nice if every son/daughter was lucky enough to have a parent who could conjure up a good, well paying job for their children with a snap of their fingers.
“Planetary travel is obviously her forte”
Bullshitting is obviously her forte….and I wrote as much to Gentle Jim…
I know it is a smallish misrepresentation of the truth….a trifle in the greater scheme of things…but it pisses me off. Its typical of her and her right wing friends to lie and deny….but these are parasites who got their education for fucking free….and they then denigrate today’s betrayed youth.
she graduated???!!!
More from the they’re so arrogant it’s unfuckingbeleivable file.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/minister-refuses-to-apologise-after-botched-land-deal-2016060918#axzz4B4EM3hJP (autoplay and text).
Yep that minister is the most puffed up, arrogant, look down his nose, distasteful minister of the lot.
Absolutely, drips with superiority, so up himself.
So I wonder who did buy it?
Two interesting moves today by banks. Both in response to the government’s hands off approach to social policy.
One by Westpac and ANZ very, very unusual as far as I am aware.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/305996/westpac-and-anz-stop-lending-to-foreign-buyers
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/306011/rbnz-considers-property-investor-crackdown
The brighter future, where John Key drinks Kava with despots while private banks do the government’s work for them.