It's only fair that those who actively undermined the "team of 5 million" and the public health response, should now go to the back of the queue. They put lives at risk, while the majority made huge sacrifices.
So no vaccine for Simon Thornley, Mike Hosking, Jami-Lee Ross, etc, etc. They can get themselves some Swedish herd immunity instead.
Hmm, 750,000 initial vaccines for NZ in the first quarter next year. How does this work? Partial vaccination of a population with almost no exposure to the virus. Are they intending to open the borders on the basis of that? If not, what's the point of going early, rather than waiting for more robust results?
I wouldn't be surprised if it were prioritised for healthcare, airport, and isolation centre workers (and maybe people travelling overseas) at that level of initial supply.
But this is still an early step, however promising.
If it even works, it could only be effective for three months, which would mean it would be a prophylactic in areas near a cluster rather than a panacea for everyone. Or it might not work at all (although pfizer isn't exactly a healthcare startup promising the world and delivering nothing).
It does, however, suggest that the plan B jerks who worried that we might be as isolated as North Korea for the foreseeable future look a bit pessimistic. Research progress is well on its way, we most likely won't be closed to tourists for the next 50 years.
It does, however, suggest that the plan B jerks who worried that we might be as isolated as North Korea for the foreseeable future look a bit pessimistic.
Not sure why they think we will have access in the first quarter next year…the report I heard said they expect to produce 100 million vaccines over the next year and I doubt we will be at the front of the queue.
750,000 initial vaccines for NZ in the first quarter next year
Halve it. All of the vaccines look like they will need two doses close together to be effective.
The priority has to be on the people maintaining the medical services and the quarantine – because that is how we increase the border boundary and prepare for outbreaks.
Weka 2 doses per person required plus the vaccine needs to be stored at -80C also they say it will take 2 yrs of monitoring to make sure of the vaccines efficacy after roll out.
Basically, if a vaccine has only been trialled for say a month the we can't know the two year efficacy. It would be unethical to have a safe and effective vaccine and not use it just because we don't know how long it will work for.
Really, the 1.5mil doses will only happen if the vaccine doesn't get rejected for some reason. The reason NZ and others got in early was to both secure a portion of the initial supply before the rush boosts prices, and also it provided either revenue or secure revenue projections for developers to invest money on. A bit like crowdfunding, but where the sponsors are governments.
I see ANZ have just announced an end date to cheques. My question is for personal accounts:
If you don't want to use an online account what other decent options are there to transfer larger one off amounts to others whether it is to buy cars new or second hand, pay funeral expenses or tradesmans bills etc.
Bearing in mind the following:
trust in not being hacked is low for online
the daily transfer amount for most personal accounts online is only around $600 to $700
using debit cards means that any charge queried is not reversed until after any investigation is complete leaving the account holder out of funds in the interim
credit cards attract extra charges on the account
direct debits are hard to get off your account and not suitable for one offs
using phone or ATMs to pay hits the daily limit quickly and does not provide any answer back to ensure you have paid the correct person. This has caused a lot of problems overseas with the banks doing pretty much nothing to resolve the issues. Emails are also being hacked to change account numbers.
Even trade me on the website really didn't seem to have an answer for this paying of larger amounts for second hand goods.
Perhaps banking licences should come with a service requirement – or maybe us customers could own our account numbers and then use transactional services of our choice rather than rely on the banks. Something like the eftpos net that runs separately between us all shutting the banks out.
Daily transfer limits, or individual transaction limits are generally much higher than $700. We have accounts with four different banks and our transfer limits are in the tens of thousands for all of them – we have not requested high limits by the way, but are comfortable with the security in place for our online accounts. If we did reach the limit for a transaction, we would just make more than one payment.
Well lucky that you have lots to shift and don't care if you are hacked. Banks are not immune from hacking. Most people don't have lots and Trade me telling people to pay bit by bit over several days says this is quite a decent issue .
But the point remains – why should people be forced into online banking so they can pay their bills. It's an investment of a $500 computer plus some $960 a year in internet feeds. That is a lot for a lot of people. I say again – do we need to ditch the banks for transactions or does a banking licence come with service conditions.
The banks should retain bank cheques so that you can transfer the larger amounts in a formal and safe manner. And we used to have Post Office Savings Bank vouchers or something, that could be purchased and sent, and I think they could be cashed at a Post Office.
Locally banks withdrew from having an office in a local suburb with older people. Withdrawing services and forcing people to go on-line with all the cost and problems that ensue. Now they have linked together to have a shared one. That seems a practical method to provide services efficiently in the burbs and regions.
And there's pretty much no limit to how much you can transfer via other means that are safer.
And we used to have Post Office Savings Bank vouchers or something, that could be purchased and sent, and I think they could be cashed at a Post Office.
So?
They no longer exist because they no longer serve a purpose.
Withdrawing services and forcing people to go on-line with all the cost and problems that ensue.
Yeah, decreasing costs is what businesses do to increase shareholder bludging.
Now they have linked together to have a shared one. That seems a practical method to provide services efficiently in the burbs and regions.
Cooperation has always been more efficient than competition but competition returns higher profits to the bludgers.
Cheques and other forms of banking were not error or fraud proof. But they were individual errors or frauds not the industrial scale frauds that you get from hacking. But they were a means of delivering money into the hands of the correct party.
As to how to transfer larger amounts in a safe way- I'm all ears for a non online way- because even my bank seems to be dead out of ideas.
And I’m glad to hear that there re some shared service centres out there. It was getting pretty grim in some parts of the country.
Yes I was pleased. It may have been something that Nick Smith organised somehow. He did do things for the electorate that kept him popular with the majority for quite some time.
About transferring money. I suppose you read about that case where a chap got had during a real estate purchase. IIRR he got an on-line message to send money for a house, purchase to his solicitor, (had paid the deposit so this was the bulk of the price), he did, and found out that it was a hacker conperson. I think he got his money back but it was thousands and nail-biting time.
IIRR he got an on-line message to send money for a house, purchase to his solicitor, (had paid the deposit so this was the bulk of the price), he did, and found out that it was a hacker conperson.
Sounds like he fucked up badly. He should have checked the email authenticity and where he was sending the money to.
Such cons only work because people don't check.
Still, would be interesting to know how he got his money back. Was it through:
The bank had insurance for these things that paid out
The conman was caught and the money was retrieved
The bank just created the money and stuck it in his account (please note: This may also be how the insurance paid out if it was insurance)
Check fraud is on the rise. A new survey by the American Bankers Association (ABA) reports that attempted check fraud ballooned to $15.8 Billion in 2018 as reported by banks.
But this number does not include fake check scams that impact consumers who deposit those checks into their bank accounts.
Since banks hold customers responsible for counterfeit checks that bounce, consumers are often the ones left holding the bag when they have been conned by fraudsters.
I'm pretty sure that cheque fraud was far worse when cheques were a major part of financial transactions.
But they were a means of delivering money into the hands of the correct party.
And so is doing it online.
As to how to transfer larger amounts in a safe way- I'm all ears for a non online way- because even my bank seems to be dead out of ideas.
Things done offline are actually more prone to fraud due to human error which is probably why we're seeing increased cheque fraud.
You're right about the costs of having an internet connection and even a computer but the problem isn't solved by staying in the past. The world has already moved on and its now essentially impossible to operate effectively in society without a computer or internet access.
Therefore the solution is free-internet access by right and even free, late model, phones.
American cheque fraud issues are not ours and are irrelevant. AFAIK every little bank there issues cheques and they are cleared with paper trails.
We have long had overnight clearing of transactions through the various banks and back to the Reserve Bank . Some of it is now actually real time on line. Overseas cheques only are different.
And no there was not widespread fraud here when cheques where more widely used.
Delivering correctly online is not foolproof or more secure. Issues abound overseas and even here, where emails have been changed (America's Cup) or numbers are punched incorrectly because the name doesn't verify as well. They have been pretty reluctant to fix this sort of stuff overseas too.
Why should the taxpayer make it free? Support the banks??? It still leaves other issues around ability confidence etc.
Just a couple of quick links – a search produces a mass of reputable stories.
American cheque fraud issues are not ours and are irrelevant.
No, its not irrelevant. The point is that cheque fraud is a major problem.
And no there was not widespread fraud here when cheques where more widely used.
Is suspect that you have no more knowledge of that than I do and yet I recall that warnings about cheque fraud abounded just as warnings about cyber-crime abound now.
Delivering correctly online is not foolproof or more secure.
I didn't say it was fool proof. Online scams work because people are fools.
Issues abound overseas and even here, where emails have been changed (America's Cup) or numbers are punched incorrectly because the name doesn't verify as well.
Human error – no matter the system, its always going to be there. Fortunately, good software can guard against it if using electronic systems.
Why should the taxpayer make it free?
I'll assume you're talking about the internet of which I stated the answer:
The world has already moved on and its now essentially impossible to operate effectively in society without a computer or internet access.
Its not about supporting the banks but ensuring that everyone has the tools to operate in society. Such has been done before – its why we have compulsory education.
If people are stupid enough to transfer money via online system to people without checking it then they're probably stupid enough to write out cheques to do the same thing.
FWIW I have a considerable background in NZ in this area. The USA does operate differently we've had a minimum of overnight clear here for around 40 years so the US experience is not transferable to us. I'm sure I would have noticed if there had been wholesale fraud as would others.
The banks don't have good software to guard against human error hence the amount of fraud recorded overseas and banks like everyone else get hacked. They also make human errors – playing with the FX system and transfering $100million to an NZ corporate by mistake.A quick look at the Australian banking Inquiry is a horrible lesson in just how badly banks run their internal systems and how badly they treat their customers.
To call people fools because they get caught up in scams? – some are pretty basic but others aren't or to blame them for dysfunctional systems and suggest they are just morons in any system is not good or necessarily correct. Nor is any system better just because it is newer. One size doesn't necessarily fit all.
The othger thing about scams is that some of them are laughably obvious on purpose – it stops the equivalent of tyre-kickers, in this sense people who will take it at face value initially but then wise up quickly.
No, the obvious ones are targeting people who are easily taken advantage of – people without computer smarts or with poor education, maybe language issues, maybe a touch of dementia. The ones least able to defend themselves.
– and Cormack says the party is paying too much attention to focus groups and polls, and too little attention to formulating, and acting, according to its own ideology.
Oh noes! Stupid, stupid, stupid. They have a couple of years to be truly progressive with the will of the people behind them, and one year to consolidate and let the scaredy-cats see the sky isn't going to fall in.
If they waste this opportunity I will be resigning from the party.
"Cormack says" says it all. It's an opinion from a commentator who I have not heard of. The arguments in the piece are not well developed, and I'd need more persuading of the man's case than what I read here; note also that the piece is actually constructed as a commentary on what Cormack said in his interview. What Cormack said has been put through the filter of the reporter's own views and bias, whatever that may be. The piece is not written by Cormack. It is second hand.
The other query I have is to the credibility of a person who has acted as a staffer for National, Labour and the Greens. In that continuum, where does he sit?
I'm assuming he was either a Public Service staffer or a press secretary – probably the latter. Press secretaries seem to swop around between parties and don't necessarily align with their own bias. That's my observation anyway.
…explores Ardern's history earning her political stripes under Blair and Clarke. As an adherent of the Third Way…
During their apprenticeship in the Labour Party, the prevailing belief was that social issues could be addressed by market-based solutions – even when the problems they were trying to address is the result of the failure of the market. If Margaret Thatcher was alive today, she would be comfortable with Ardern’s leadership and happy to see her legacy continuing to shape a new generation of political leaders.
Yeah IMHO they had better hurry up and find a fifth way because the fourth way will look a lot like Trumpism. For a lot of people we are back to the 1930's for their general quality of life and that didn't end well..
But it should have put Robertson in context not only with English, but also with Cullen, and the true state architect of our state's financial framework, Bill Birch under Shipley.
Birch steadied the excesses of the Douglas-Caygill-Richardson era, and from Birch Cullen gave that some very strong institutional foundations which last to this day.
“The country is largely unified around the idea that politics has grown too divisive, the politics is too adversarial, and that politicians need to be more civil, So Biden’s message about healing is well-placed, everyone in the States wants a healed polity.
“However, when you ask Americans what steps can be taken to make politics more civil and cooperative the strong inclination is to blame the infidelity and hostility strictly on one’s partisan opponents.”
For a large number of Americans, reconciliation is really getting the other side to resign, he told Jesse Mulligan.
“They want reconciliation but in reality they just want the political opposition to go away.”
The notion of principled compromise has dissolved, he says.
“The idea that compromise always involves an abandoning of principle seems to have taken hold, the idea of compromise is always see as capitulation to the other side.
“This strikes me as a fundamentally anti-democratic idea.”
The United States was formed with too much political process and too little institutional stability.
I can imagine for example a United States where each state unifies its Police force (eradicating county by county differences), and then proposes to appoint judges solely through the office of the Attorney General, would start to take some of the futile political heat out of the country.
Yes. An observed feature of the triplet political model is a cycle in which mode has a period of ascendancy, and the order in which this seems to happen is conservative, liberal, socialist and then repeat.
Right now we are at the point where liberalism has dominated for some decades while the socialist instinct is now ascending. Conservatism in the meantime is at it's weakest nadir, which means the political dialog is placing far too little weight on stability as a virtue.
The predictable result is a great deal of entropy.
At a less cerebral level, a FPP electoral system locks you into a two party system, that tribalises everyone. A great deal of futile heat results from this too.
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David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated. While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
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Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference. “In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed ...
The Tribunal had called on Minister for Children Karen Chhour to provide evidence at an urgent inquiry into the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Midjourney image by T.J. Thomson As more than half of Australian office workers report using generative artificial intelligence (AI) for work, we’re starting to see this technology affect every ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Nicole Sharwood, Injury epidemiologist | Expert Witness, UNSW Sydney Sergey Novikov/Shutterstock Injuries are the leading cause of disability and death among Australian children and adolescents. At least a quarter of all emergency department presentations during childhood are injury-related. Injuries can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Di Winkler, Adjunct Associate Professor, Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University Shutterstock/Ground PictureMany Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late ...
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Family First says that the latest abortion statistics make grim and upsetting reading, with a 25% increase in abortions since the decriminalisation of abortion in March 2020. According to an Official Information Act request received by Right to Life ...
Ipsos New Zealand's inaugural participation in a global study on populism reveals a pervasive sense of societal and economic decline among New Zealanders. MORE DETAILS AND FULL REPORT HERE Ipsos New Zealand's inaugural participation in a global study ...
Wonderful news about the Pfizer vaccine so far.
It's only fair that those who actively undermined the "team of 5 million" and the public health response, should now go to the back of the queue. They put lives at risk, while the majority made huge sacrifices.
So no vaccine for Simon Thornley, Mike Hosking, Jami-Lee Ross, etc, etc. They can get themselves some Swedish herd immunity instead.
Hmm, 750,000 initial vaccines for NZ in the first quarter next year. How does this work? Partial vaccination of a population with almost no exposure to the virus. Are they intending to open the borders on the basis of that? If not, what's the point of going early, rather than waiting for more robust results?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300154345/covid19-pfizer-vaccine-could-roll-out-in-new-zealand-at-the-start-of-2021-if-success-continues
Big ifs. I am 74, and would possibly qualify if this comes true.
But I fear that some people are counting their chickens before the Covid hen has even laid all the eggs.
I wouldn't be surprised if it were prioritised for healthcare, airport, and isolation centre workers (and maybe people travelling overseas) at that level of initial supply.
But this is still an early step, however promising.
If it even works, it could only be effective for three months, which would mean it would be a prophylactic in areas near a cluster rather than a panacea for everyone. Or it might not work at all (although pfizer isn't exactly a healthcare startup promising the world and delivering nothing).
It does, however, suggest that the plan B jerks who worried that we might be as isolated as North Korea for the foreseeable future look a bit pessimistic. Research progress is well on its way, we most likely won't be closed to tourists for the next 50 years.
Not that they're an horrendous loss, anyway.
It does, however, suggest that the plan B jerks who worried that we might be as isolated as North Korea for the foreseeable future look a bit pessimistic.
Then again what happens when it mutates.
lol you're running out of tendrils of pessimism to latch onto.
Not sure why they think we will have access in the first quarter next year…the report I heard said they expect to produce 100 million vaccines over the next year and I doubt we will be at the front of the queue.
Halve it. All of the vaccines look like they will need two doses close together to be effective.
The priority has to be on the people maintaining the medical services and the quarantine – because that is how we increase the border boundary and prepare for outbreaks.
Then the people with problematic immune systems.
they have 1.5m doses.
Weka 2 doses per person required plus the vaccine needs to be stored at -80C also they say it will take 2 yrs of monitoring to make sure of the vaccines efficacy after roll out.
So guinea pigging the first doses?
"If all goes well, the first doses of the vaccine could be delivered in NZ by the first quarter of 2021."
Link above.
Not really "guinea pigging".
Basically, if a vaccine has only been trialled for say a month the we can't know the two year efficacy. It would be unethical to have a safe and effective vaccine and not use it just because we don't know how long it will work for.
Really, the 1.5mil doses will only happen if the vaccine doesn't get rejected for some reason. The reason NZ and others got in early was to both secure a portion of the initial supply before the rush boosts prices, and also it provided either revenue or secure revenue projections for developers to invest money on. A bit like crowdfunding, but where the sponsors are governments.
I see ANZ have just announced an end date to cheques. My question is for personal accounts:
If you don't want to use an online account what other decent options are there to transfer larger one off amounts to others whether it is to buy cars new or second hand, pay funeral expenses or tradesmans bills etc.
Bearing in mind the following:
Even trade me on the website really didn't seem to have an answer for this paying of larger amounts for second hand goods.
Perhaps banking licences should come with a service requirement – or maybe us customers could own our account numbers and then use transactional services of our choice rather than rely on the banks. Something like the eftpos net that runs separately between us all shutting the banks out.
Daily transfer limits, or individual transaction limits are generally much higher than $700. We have accounts with four different banks and our transfer limits are in the tens of thousands for all of them – we have not requested high limits by the way, but are comfortable with the security in place for our online accounts. If we did reach the limit for a transaction, we would just make more than one payment.
Well lucky that you have lots to shift and don't care if you are hacked. Banks are not immune from hacking. Most people don't have lots and Trade me telling people to pay bit by bit over several days says this is quite a decent issue .
But the point remains – why should people be forced into online banking so they can pay their bills. It's an investment of a $500 computer plus some $960 a year in internet feeds. That is a lot for a lot of people. I say again – do we need to ditch the banks for transactions or does a banking licence come with service conditions.
Yes we do but some people get upset with the idea. This is probably due to decades of being told that government is bad.
The banks should retain bank cheques so that you can transfer the larger amounts in a formal and safe manner. And we used to have Post Office Savings Bank vouchers or something, that could be purchased and sent, and I think they could be cashed at a Post Office.
Locally banks withdrew from having an office in a local suburb with older people. Withdrawing services and forcing people to go on-line with all the cost and problems that ensue. Now they have linked together to have a shared one. That seems a practical method to provide services efficiently in the burbs and regions.
Whatever makes you think that cheques are safe?
And there's pretty much no limit to how much you can transfer via other means that are safer.
So?
They no longer exist because they no longer serve a purpose.
Yeah, decreasing costs is what businesses do to increase shareholder bludging.
Cooperation has always been more efficient than competition but competition returns higher profits to the bludgers.
Thanks for all your trouble to put me on the right track Draco.
Cheques and other forms of banking were not error or fraud proof. But they were individual errors or frauds not the industrial scale frauds that you get from hacking. But they were a means of delivering money into the hands of the correct party.
As to how to transfer larger amounts in a safe way- I'm all ears for a non online way- because even my bank seems to be dead out of ideas.
And I’m glad to hear that there re some shared service centres out there. It was getting pretty grim in some parts of the country.
Yes I was pleased. It may have been something that Nick Smith organised somehow. He did do things for the electorate that kept him popular with the majority for quite some time.
About transferring money. I suppose you read about that case where a chap got had during a real estate purchase. IIRR he got an on-line message to send money for a house, purchase to his solicitor, (had paid the deposit so this was the bulk of the price), he did, and found out that it was a hacker conperson. I think he got his money back but it was thousands and nail-biting time.
Sounds like he fucked up badly. He should have checked the email authenticity and where he was sending the money to.
Such cons only work because people don't check.
Still, would be interesting to know how he got his money back. Was it through:
Yeah, I think you may be being a little too optimistic there:
I'm pretty sure that cheque fraud was far worse when cheques were a major part of financial transactions.
And so is doing it online.
Things done offline are actually more prone to fraud due to human error which is probably why we're seeing increased cheque fraud.
You're right about the costs of having an internet connection and even a computer but the problem isn't solved by staying in the past. The world has already moved on and its now essentially impossible to operate effectively in society without a computer or internet access.
Therefore the solution is free-internet access by right and even free, late model, phones.
American cheque fraud issues are not ours and are irrelevant. AFAIK every little bank there issues cheques and they are cleared with paper trails.
We have long had overnight clearing of transactions through the various banks and back to the Reserve Bank . Some of it is now actually real time on line. Overseas cheques only are different.
And no there was not widespread fraud here when cheques where more widely used.
Delivering correctly online is not foolproof or more secure. Issues abound overseas and even here, where emails have been changed (America's Cup) or numbers are punched incorrectly because the name doesn't verify as well. They have been pretty reluctant to fix this sort of stuff overseas too.
Why should the taxpayer make it free? Support the banks??? It still leaves other issues around ability confidence etc.
Just a couple of quick links – a search produces a mass of reputable stories.
https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/03/bank-transfer-fraud-losses-soar-to-almost-500m-in-2019/
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/dec/07/i-lost-my-193000-inheritance-with-one-wrong-digit-on-my-sort-code
No, its not irrelevant. The point is that cheque fraud is a major problem.
Is suspect that you have no more knowledge of that than I do and yet I recall that warnings about cheque fraud abounded just as warnings about cyber-crime abound now.
I didn't say it was fool proof. Online scams work because people are fools.
Human error – no matter the system, its always going to be there. Fortunately, good software can guard against it if using electronic systems.
I'll assume you're talking about the internet of which I stated the answer:
Its not about supporting the banks but ensuring that everyone has the tools to operate in society. Such has been done before – its why we have compulsory education.
If people are stupid enough to transfer money via online system to people without checking it then they're probably stupid enough to write out cheques to do the same thing.
FWIW I have a considerable background in NZ in this area. The USA does operate differently we've had a minimum of overnight clear here for around 40 years so the US experience is not transferable to us. I'm sure I would have noticed if there had been wholesale fraud as would others.
The banks don't have good software to guard against human error hence the amount of fraud recorded overseas and banks like everyone else get hacked. They also make human errors – playing with the FX system and transfering $100million to an NZ corporate by mistake.A quick look at the Australian banking Inquiry is a horrible lesson in just how badly banks run their internal systems and how badly they treat their customers.
To call people fools because they get caught up in scams? – some are pretty basic but others aren't or to blame them for dysfunctional systems and suggest they are just morons in any system is not good or necessarily correct. Nor is any system better just because it is newer. One size doesn't necessarily fit all.
The othger thing about scams is that some of them are laughably obvious on purpose – it stops the equivalent of tyre-kickers, in this sense people who will take it at face value initially but then wise up quickly.
No, the obvious ones are targeting people who are easily taken advantage of – people without computer smarts or with poor education, maybe language issues, maybe a touch of dementia. The ones least able to defend themselves.
I wonder if the PM will take the time to listen?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018771981/why-is-labour-putting-the-brakes-on-its-own-political-capital
Excerpt:
Oh noes! Stupid, stupid, stupid. They have a couple of years to be truly progressive with the will of the people behind them, and one year to consolidate and let the scaredy-cats see the sky isn't going to fall in.
If they waste this opportunity I will be resigning from the party.
if they waste this opportunity i suspect you may have quite a bit of company
"Cormack says" says it all. It's an opinion from a commentator who I have not heard of. The arguments in the piece are not well developed, and I'd need more persuading of the man's case than what I read here; note also that the piece is actually constructed as a commentary on what Cormack said in his interview. What Cormack said has been put through the filter of the reporter's own views and bias, whatever that may be. The piece is not written by Cormack. It is second hand.
The other query I have is to the credibility of a person who has acted as a staffer for National, Labour and the Greens. In that continuum, where does he sit?
the piece is not written (though there is a summary)…it is an audio file
Thanks for the explanation, Pat.
I'm assuming he was either a Public Service staffer or a press secretary – probably the latter. Press secretaries seem to swop around between parties and don't necessarily align with their own bias. That's my observation anyway.
This was worth a read… (from the sidebar) https://democracyproject.nz/2020/11/10/josiah-banbury-labour-won-the-election-battle-but-national-won-the-ideological-war/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=josiah-banbury-labour-won-the-election-battle-but-national-won-the-ideological-war
…explores Ardern's history earning her political stripes under Blair and Clarke. As an adherent of the Third Way…
During their apprenticeship in the Labour Party, the prevailing belief was that social issues could be addressed by market-based solutions – even when the problems they were trying to address is the result of the failure of the market. If Margaret Thatcher was alive today, she would be comfortable with Ardern’s leadership and happy to see her legacy continuing to shape a new generation of political leaders.
Ouch. The truth hurts.
There will be weeping and wailing and gnashing…
they are all 'third way'….and have been since the formation (and subsequent demise) of New Labour.
Yeah IMHO they had better hurry up and find a fifth way because the fourth way will look a lot like Trumpism. For a lot of people we are back to the 1930's for their general quality of life and that didn't end well..
wouldnt hold your breath waiting….history indicates we dont learn from it
It is worth the read so far as it goes.
But it should have put Robertson in context not only with English, but also with Cullen, and the true state architect of our state's financial framework, Bill Birch under Shipley.
Birch steadied the excesses of the Douglas-Caygill-Richardson era, and from Birch Cullen gave that some very strong institutional foundations which last to this day.
Foundations based on propping up a failed economic model with offshore land sales.
Beneath the green and shady hill
lies Mrs Birch, mother of Bill
Her soul of course has fled this vale
of tears, and so this plot's For Sale.
Good couplet. We are nothing if not based on property rights.
The tools to maintain regional hegemony are payoff for selling out the Palestinians.
https://twitter.com/John_Hudson/status/1325951585042771968
Bibi must be spitting tacks!
What happens when everything becomes political:
The United States was formed with too much political process and too little institutional stability.
I can imagine for example a United States where each state unifies its Police force (eradicating county by county differences), and then proposes to appoint judges solely through the office of the Attorney General, would start to take some of the futile political heat out of the country.
Yes. An observed feature of the triplet political model is a cycle in which mode has a period of ascendancy, and the order in which this seems to happen is conservative, liberal, socialist and then repeat.
Right now we are at the point where liberalism has dominated for some decades while the socialist instinct is now ascending. Conservatism in the meantime is at it's weakest nadir, which means the political dialog is placing far too little weight on stability as a virtue.
The predictable result is a great deal of entropy.
At a less cerebral level, a FPP electoral system locks you into a two party system, that tribalises everyone. A great deal of futile heat results from this too.