Daily Review 09/12/2015
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6:00 pm, December 9th, 2015 - 32 comments
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AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...2 weeks ago
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Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...1 week ago
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It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...1 week ago
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The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...1 week ago
- Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is running away from problems of his own creation, with his decision not to go to Waitangi. ...1 week ago
- Govt’s ‘free speech’ legislation stokes fear, not freedom
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...1 week ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...1 week ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...2 weeks ago
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The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...2 weeks ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...2 weeks ago
- Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...2 weeks ago
- Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...2 weeks ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...3 weeks ago
- Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Labour fully supports greyhound racing ban
The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...3 weeks ago
- Greyhound racing industry ban marks new era for animal welfare
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...3 weeks ago
- Rangatahi voices must be centred in Government’s Relationship and Sexuality Education refresh
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...3 weeks ago
- Govt introduces archaic anti-worker legislation
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...3 weeks ago
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Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...3 weeks ago
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From 1 January 2025, first-time tertiary learners will have access to a new Fees Free entitlement of up to $12,000 for their final year of provider-based study or final two years of work-based learning, Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Targeting funding to the final year of study ...1 day ago - Act on family violence and sexual violence over the summer season
“As we head into one of the busiest times of the year for Police, and family violence and sexual violence response services, it’s a good time to remind everyone what to do if they experience violence or are worried about others,” Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence ...2 days ago
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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...1 week ago
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People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...1 week ago
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Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...1 week ago
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Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...2 weeks ago
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Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...2 weeks ago
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The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...2 weeks ago
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New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...2 weeks ago
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"Everyone associates the Cook Islands with New Zealand", so a Cooks vessel possibly aiding Russia's shadow fleet isn't ideal, international law professor Al Gillespie says. ...7 hours ago - Meet the unsung icon behind the primary school hit ‘Fish and Chips’
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Sunday 29 December appeared first on Newsroom. ...9 hours ago - Daily crossword, Sunday 29 December
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Comment: Those who have been reading or listening to my commentaries in recent months will note that I have a pretty bleak view of the immediate future. The New Zealand economy is struggling to grow, the economy of our major export market is not doing much better, we have wars ...14 hours ago
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says New Zealand is not responsible for a Cook Islands-registered vessel carrying Russian oil seized in Finland. ...22 hours ago
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The "prevention support" would be targeted at primary school-age children, but the police minister will not say if the idea is being progressed. ...24 hours ago - Hui, protests, kōtahitanga, and a new Kuini – A historic year for Māoridom
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- Newsroom daily quiz, Saturday 28 December
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Saturday 28 December appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Daily crossword, Saturday 28 December
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Opinion: A few months ago, The Times of London reported that an Oxford professor of English, Shakespearean scholar Sir Jonathan Bate, warned that his present-day students had trouble reading long books. A Kiwi perspective was added a few weeks later, when a sociologist at the University of Canterbury, Mike Grimshaw, told ...2 days ago
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Twas very heaven in 2024 to write as a satirist. Credit where credit is due: Christopher Luxon just got funnier and funnier, more determinedly ridiculous, a David Brent for our times, the embarrassing boss who is at once inept and bombastic. Stuff writer Verity Johnson came up with a widely ...2 days ago
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The protest action isn't only to mark the historical acts of violence the NZ govt has enacted against Sāmoans but also to highlight the responsibility this current govt and navy have for the environmental and societal impacts of the Manawanui shipwreck. ...2 days ago
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I thought Amy Adams told us the Australians had agreed not to enforce the wording of their written deportation agreement with detainees? Yet here’s one being charged for their flights: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/291720/australia-hands-deported-nzer-bill-for-$7500
Keystone cops…
He could just the $7,000 bill to Amy or John. They would be as good as their words.
What I’ve found from reading today’s comments is that right wing people simply do not have thoughts of their own. They actively suppress their own thoughts in order to promote a narrow and reactionary agenda set by very ordinary leaders – Slater, Key, etc.
Natural authority worshippers, they rely on the clicks and sound bites of other right wing people slightly higher up in the chain for their information.
+1
‘
A lot of it is the deliberate carpeting of social media with said right wing sound bites rather than any genuine attempt to engage or, god forbid, construct a valid counter argument. Other than attack-the-messenger, unthinking repitition is all they’re left with once the evidence is examined and logic applied.
Excellent example BLiP – listen to the female fossil about half way through.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/government-defiant-over-poor-climate-change-offender-rating
Words fail me………
Btw, Dr Renwick is probably our top NIWA scientist and is internationally very highly regarded as indeed have most of our meteorological scientists for decades. But nah… female fossil knows better than them.
‘
Classic Basher Bennett in action, “do I look bovvered . . . what would a bunch of environmentalists using something as dodgy as science know?” [sigh]
When you don’t have an actual argument as to why your lack of action on climate change isn’t fucking appalling… smirk and dismiss, smirk and dismiss. It’s all you’ve got left really, and Bennett’s a master at it. She’s been employing the same strategy with social welfare and housing for a while now.
Jeez, she’s embarrassing.
Can we get Groser back!
Words fail me.
What I’ve found from reading today’s comments is that right wing people simply do not have thoughts of their own. They actively suppress their own thoughts in order to promote a narrow and reactionary agenda set by very ordinary leaders
Strangely enough Titi, I was just about to say that what I’d found from reading today’s comments is that Left wing people simply do not have thoughts of their own. They actively suppress their own thoughts in order to promote a narrow and reactionary agenda set by very ordinary leaders!
Just goes to show eh, everything you need to know about everyone can be found right here at TS!!
Thanx sheep, that would be a perfect example of RWNJs not thinking their own thoughts.
Point proven. Today, both yourself and Northshoredoc have been lazy enough to quote verbatim a post in order to attempt to make a point in reverse.
It’s lazy as hell, bud.
All this does is to re-enforce that right wing commenters cannot think for themselves and must rely on rehashing other people’s arguments.
I’m a great fan of drawing large generalisations off very small samples. (sarc)
I get asked all the time about the current state of ‘The Left’, and I always respond by giving a link to ‘The Daily Blog’ or some of the more unhinged rantings of OAB on TS. (sarc)
That is all anyone needs to see to ‘learn what Left Wing people are like’.
Yes? (sarc)
Titi, what happens on this blog teaches you about as much about ‘Right Wing People’ as a windy day on the Manu at Taukihepa teaches you about cafe culture in Parnell…(not sarc)
I wonder if here would be a good place to advertise Lost & Found. Has anyone here left at airport Kuala Lumpur 3 X only Boeng 747s? If you have forgotten about them you had better reclaim them or they will get cut up for scrap.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/74896845/Malaysia-seeks-owner-of-three-Boeing-747s-abandoned-at-the-airport
That’s worse than the Ferraris and Maseratis abandoned at Abu Dhabi airport.
how does one manage to abandon 3 jumbos and there is no paper trail to ownership?
Holograms. You read it here first.
http://www.rdwf.org.uk/newlordsoftime/confid/images/arnold-rimmer.jpg
So I’m sitting on a plane back from Brissy to Melbourne today, and while chatting to the guy next to me, it turns out he’s senior with a major global insurance company. (If you write a list of three, you’ll have it.)
Two quotes:
“Climate change is real alright … we’re the ones who’ve been paying for it the last decade or so”
“The COP conference in Paris is the turning point … they have to make deep cuts now, because we’ve told them that the global re-insurance market will collapse if they keep ignoring it”
Well maybe the insurance companies should speak a little louder. key and the new failed minister for climate change might listen to money men because they sure as hell aren’t hearing the scientists.
Munich Re, for instance, have been very proactive with regards forecasting the effects of CC. Insurance companies are very concerned because they foresee that eventually they will be out of business – no one but the fabulously wealthy will be able to afford insurance anymore. We see this to some extent even now in NZ following the Chch earthquake – the cost of house insurance is way more than it was just a few years back.
Absolutely how many times will insurance companies pay for flood damage in places like Whanganui and Dunedin before they say sorry you’re on your own.
Bennett is embarrassing – unfortunately she has that leather like hide that means she doesn’t give a shit and will carry on with the agenda no matter what. Where is her opposition?
I popped around to my local Dick Smiths after hearing about it having a fire sale to find empty banks of shelves in categories such as cameras and gaming accessories.
Cursory internet search, at the moment, gives me ..
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2015/12/09/19/24/dick-smith-electronics-under-fire-over-fire-sale
Dick Smith staff accused of hoarding items in fire sale
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11557613
http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/dick-smith-not-surprised-dick-smith-shares-have-bombed-20151207-glhgdm.html
“Aug 28, 2015 … Dick Smith New Zealand reported a 71 percent drop in annual net profit” http://www.theregister.co.nz
Deflating housing bubbles on both sides of the Tasman may have further economic consequences.
Is this a turning of the tide ? Is John Key just a fair weather sailor ?
There is more ..
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-30/share-market-slumps-on-bad-day-for-bhp-dick-smith/6988166
There is yet more ..
https://www.fool.com.au/2015/12/04/dick-smith-holdings-ltd-shares-removed-from-asx-200-what-that-means-for-shareholders/
http://www.smh.hcom.au/business/retail/dick-smiths-crisis-a-lesson-in-why-cash-is-king-20151202-gldfyo.htm
http://www.afr.com/brand/chanticleer/killing-season-for-australian-ceos-is-just-now-warming-up-20151201-glca22
Our lovely friends at Strategic Studies… uh hum… and the NZ Police whipping up fright about ISIS in the Asia-Pacific.
https://twitter.com/drannapowles
https://twitter.com/kailekke
You’d think basic human rights at sea would be a concern, given that the agencies have been monitoring the Pacific for 3 decades. But no.
Official fear-mongering .. the ‘Red Scare’ during McCarthyism, ‘reds under beds’. The old moves are being pulled out again, but failing. If it sounds desperate – it is.
The prospect of false flag terror being further exposed threatens certainties, careers, and an establishment used to cold war nostrums, uncomfortable with increased complexity in a multi-polar world.
It needs generational change, in favour of younger, well-travelled, experienced, and connected people with more flexible world views.