‘Controversial application to pull millions of litres a day from Blue Spring withdrawn’
The company behind a controversial application to take 6.9 million litres of water a day from Putaruru’s Blue Spring to send offshore has withdrawn its application.
The company, owned by a majority of overseas investors, had ambitions to be the largest bottling plant in the Southern Hemisphere and applied for a 15-year consent with the hope of opening the bottling plant by 2019.’
Does anyone know the name of this company?
Oravida?
Coca Cola?
Nongfu Spring?
Turns out that Blue Water Springs is owned by a trust which is in turn owned by WALKER DAVEY SEARELLS LIMITED.
Share holder listings of said company are a bunch of people from canterbury by the looks of it, and if you go even deeper those people appear to have their fingers in many pies.
Looks like they’ve abandoned their latest get rich quick scheme, good job, sick of dodgy dealings like the water exporting, the current laws surrounding it are criminal.
That is actually quite a thoughtful piece from Simon Wilson on The Spinoff. The Herald have repackaged it with a headline more in keeping with the editorial line they taken since the election. if you read through the article it actually takes a pretty different tack than the headline would suggest.
Got to say the longer the talks go on the more confident I am that National will be returned to power, it almost seems like it was a done deal from the get go
I think that the best the left can hope for is Lab/NZFirst and the Greens doing C & S but thats a very long shot
By crikey, chris73 is right; it almost does seem like it was a done deal from the get go!!!! I too am more confident!!!! ‘Cause the talks!!! They’re going on longer!!!! Yeah, the best the left can hope for, even hope for when hoping real hard is you know, A VERY LONG SHOT!!!
Crikey!!! Got to say!!! Cheers Chris73. Keep your chin up!
Well one of us is going to be right and one of us is going to be wrong but I promise that I’ll be humble in victory…well until someone from the left posts something mean
Considering the back and forth negotiations between NZF and Nats and Labour: I’m thinking that Labour is pushing on NZF so that an NZF-Nat government will have to include a lot of the policies that are shared between NZF & Labour.
Then, once in government, if the Nats try to pull back, there will always be the possibility of NZF voting with Labour and the GP against the Nats.
So, a Nat-NZF government could be good for the left in the medium to long term.
…it almost seems like it was a done deal from the get go
Well, duh. The people who voted NZ First imagining they were voting for a change of government have to be the most self-delusional voters in the country.
“Got to say the longer the talks go on the more confident I am that National will be returned to power, it almost seems like it was a done deal from the get go”
That is what I have been saying for ages – well before the election.
Yeh! Rain on the roof tonight.
Been awhile…. was thinking it might be heading for a la nina summer…. so Great to get some juice in the tank before hand!
Probably because there are much much more cars on the road than in 2014. I read somewhere that there were in excess of 150,000 more registered cars this year than last and I know new and used sales have been through the roof in the last 3-5 years. So its not really surprising.
Speaking of police and road tolls… this year has seen a huge jump in deaths during police pursuits.
2008 was the highest with 6 deaths, this year we are at 16 deaths so far.
My contribution is this: lowering the alcohol limit was another cynical cheap manoeuvre by the Govt to make it look like they were doing something. The stats they used were all bullshit, because if you checked out the places they took the stats from, the accidents never lowered in number after the change of alcohol limit. In all those countries they also increased the number of checkpoints. It was that increase in checkpoints that brought about the lower accident rates, not the change in alcohol limit.
Good old NZ has not only lowered the alcohol limits: by underfunding the Police, NZ has also lowered the number of alcohol checkpoints for drivers.
How bloody stupid can any one country get?
We know that there have been fewer checkpoints – those stats have been released.
When will they release the stats about alcohol in relation to fatalities? I bet alcohol has not diminished as a factor. It has probably increased. That would be such a surprise, but it will probably be brushed under the carpet rather than publicised.
I don’t pretend to know the outcome of these so-called negotiations but with comments from Peters such as “For months and months, in fact for years, they all campaigned together, hugging each other, embracing each other, and loving each other. We didn’t.”, one gets the feeling such public displays of contempt for the Greens and Labour do not bode well for anything but NZ First and National.
In fact Labour may well be better throwing the prick to the National Party wolves by denouncing any further talks deflating his bargaining power to nil and leaving Winston to be their poodle.
“Had Enough” looks like it meant same old same old!
That’s probably why he hates the Greens they make a mockery out of what MMP’s supposed to be all about.
Within reason every party should be flexible enough to be able to work with any other party in the political spectrum, if you cant do that you have no place in an MMP environment.
No they dont – ffs you are a spinner. Why do you hate the greens? Is it their love of the environment and papatūānuku, is it their opposition to inequality and promotion of fairness – only the mad bad and sad hate the greens – what are you?
No BM is being quite honest. I interpret his comment above as a good example of the difference between interest and values driven politics.
Right wingers (ACToids and Libertarians aside) tend to be quite pragmatic about their politics; prioritising things according to what will maximise their personal interests. And in most instances they’ll be interested in protecting systems and privileges they know already work for them.
The Greens by contrast tend to frame their politics much more in terms of broad ideas and collective values. Greenies have a vision of a different, hopefully better world. For them it’s an article of faith that their values driven policies are a good thing, even if they cannot point to any proven existing examples of them working in action.
Therefore it’s quite reasonable for BM to look from where he stands, and think he’s seeing a ‘religion’.
For them it’s an article of faith that their values driven policies are a good thing, even if they cannot point to any proven existing examples of them working in action.
And yet your dislike of them is not so strong that you wouldn’t welcome them in government if that was to help National get themselves out of a hole of their own making? Do you think they’ll just be doormats in a National Green government? Easy pushovers that will just be there to provide National with voting fodder in the House and let them carry on their merry way in government?
BM is confusing the Greens with the Con jobs. Speaking of ones faith, BM take a line from Joyce and his thumbs up. That was a significant indication Joyce has got this.
Yeah every party should be flexible enough to be able to work with any other party even if that meant working with the Khmer Rouge… sometimes BM ,… you really just don’t GET IT , …. do you.
On a lighter note ,… one of my fav bird-songs out in the wops.
Yes! – as a kid I used to fish in the rivers and these little fellas would be a cheerful sound during those long hot summers with the bees and cicadas high up in the Tea trees,..
Ever seen a poor little warbler frantically darting back and forward feeding a huge shining cuckoo chick relentlessly demanding more?
I often wonder, when will the warbler get wise?
Such a beautiful song.I had a cat I called the grey warbler after I heard my mother exclaiming to a friend on the phone about the grey warblers singing
“That’s probably why he hates the Greens they make a mockery out of what MMP’s supposed to be all about.
Within reason every party should be flexible enough to be able to work with any other party in the political spectrum, if you cant do that you have no place in an MMP environment.”
What are you on about? The Greens have always said they’d work with any party on policy. And have done exactly that.
Well, one way of looking at the relative levels of dislike is that Winston is negotiating with National, but not with the Greens. And he is not exactly being complimentary about the Greens at the moment.
You may recall that Winston said there would be consequences for the Greens calling him a racist. That is not to say he won’t go left. He may well do so. But I would say it will be essentially with Labour, with the Greens on a confidence and supply deal.
I guess the Greens would have to get something for confidence and supply, but it will be small beer. The dripping of such morsels can be be done because the Greens are essentially locked into a left government. They have to support whatever Labour and New Zealand First agree on, because the alternative is a National New Zealand First government.
However, none of this might happen. Winston might decide that his best deal is with National in any event.
The left should not think in that case 2020 is automatically in the bag. If a National New Zealand First government is seen to do well, then they could get another term.
I personally think Winston will stay in Parliament till 2023, so he will want another win. In 2023 Winston will be 78, pretty much as Sir Walter Nash was when he retired.
Winston has said he doesnt hold grudges so holding one against the greens is nonsense. He’d have plently against the gnats if he was going that way. No, just more spin in afraid.
” The dripping of such morsels can be be done because the Greens are essentially locked into a left government ”
…………………………………..
Yes , – but come on Wayne – the same principle could just as easily be applied to ACT being locked into a right govt , – could you really picture ACT going into coalition with Labour ?!!?
Of course not ! – or even NZ First for that matter.
And speaking of ACT ,… that coat tailing one man band party at what is it 0.7 % of the vote? ,…. I notice Peters doesn’t particularly like the little degraded neo liberal party one bit …
And if Peters goes with National,… with his latest of change on how this country has been run for the last 30 years both economically and socially,…
Somehow I don’t think even National gets out alive this time round.
The neo liberal hegemony is shattered as of Thursday , 12 / 10 /2017.
No, in fact the “neo-liberalism hegemony” is here to stay for a good deal longer. New Zealand, irrespective of who is the govt, is not going to going to withdraw from all its international commitments in trade, investment, etc. The changes will be on the margins.
In fact neither governing option is going to increase taxes or nationalise anything. They are locked into a govt that is around 30% of GDP, with local govt adding another 5%. So “neo-liberalism” as you put it, is here to say under any likely govt come Friday.
If you want the end of neo-liberalism, you need the Greens to get at least 20%, probably more.
From the margins. Doesn’t matter if you slice that pie down the middle , its always the margins. Now when Jeremy Corbyn presented his manifesto , and articulated in the slogan ‘ for the many , not the few’…
Just what do you think that was alluding to ?
More privatization , more low wages , more foreign ownership , more under-funding of infrastructure , more flat tax rates and lower wage earners paying disproportionately more ?
Come on Wayne,… stop hedging ,… you jolly well know whats coming as do the rest of us who can see the writing on the wall.
Oh ,… and btw , … I support the Greens because I was brought up in the rural , Labour because in general I’ve always been a worker and NZ First because I believe in balanced nationalism.
Add all that together ?
And you’ve got quite an eclectic stance for various reasons. One of them being egalitarianism .
Finally Wayne says something I can agree with.
None of the parties in parliament are really looking to end neo-liberalism – at best the Greens want to soften its nastiest bits.
None of the parties are really proposing a responsible government like northern European-style social democracy with top tax rates around 50%, removal of GST, comprehensive taxes on capital, and a comprehensive fully state-funded social welfare, health and education system.
True and its the long haul for us after 3 decades of crap. As well , those Scandinavian country’s never really rushed headlong into neo liberalism , then again ,… they wouldn’t have trucked the same sort of lying deceit in bringing it in , either.
They have to support whatever Labour and New Zealand First agree on, because the alternative is a National New Zealand First government.
No we don’t even if we do end up with National/NZ1st government.
Winston might decide that his best deal is with National in any event.
The left should not think in that case 2020 is automatically in the bag.
If NZ1st goes with National the election will most probably be in 2018 and we’ll most likely end up with a Labour majority government. That’s how bad National and NZ1st get along.
Best shot for the Greens is to stay out and regroup on C&S. If the Greens don’t get C&S they will struggle in 2020 because they will have no media oxygen for the term.
Best shot for NZF on straight political grounds is to get as many Cabinet seats they can and gut National by going into coalition with them and making National look more and more like a nationalist version of Labour.
The NZF task is to recover, supplant Labour, and kill the Greens inside one term. They can only do that if they go with National and score massive policy goals.
Nah, the Greens are best off in a formal coalition, with 1-2 ministers and a further 1-2 associate ministers getting screen time and getting things done. The Greens are better off doing that than confidence and supply, as in coalition they will get more of their policy enacted, and show that they really have been the most competent party all along.
Is there really any party, apart from NZF, that Peters hasn’t had a few sharp words for? Neither ACT nor the MP received ringing endorsements that I recall. Maybe Dunne escaped his ire – and maybe not.
Don’t know if Peters said anything but he didn’t like Dunne at all apparently – part of the reason Dunne said he retired is that based on the polls, whatever happened, Peters would freeze him out of government.
Yeah, like we can see the great attempts that Act made to be friendly to the Alliance.
You are just being political fool. There are plainly some divides that are far too wide to cross.
In the case of National, there is the basic argument that they have NEVER managed to initiate moves to improve or even attempted to improve the general environment in NZ in any meaningful way. Instead this last National government has presided over attempts to mine National parks, swap pristine forest for cutover crap, made a mockery of most of the environmental standards by redefining them to worse levels being acceptable, given as much help as possible to the most polluting industries in NZ, deliberately sabotaged the already inadequate ETS, and attempted several times to remove the restraints of the RMA on polluters. I’m not even going to go near their track record on climate change apart from saying that National lies about what they intended to do becasue their actions don’t go anywhere near even their pitiful backtracking on their undertakings in the previous National government.
And those are just the ones I remember in the time it took me to tap that out…
What track record is there for a green party to trust? Perhaps if National get back into power again, they could try to think about what they need to do to make other parties to trust them at all. Because they look to me to be just about the most untrustworthy pack of arseholes in politics when it comes to the environment.
That is interesting for astrological purposes, but if the embryo isn’t biologically attached to the wall of the womb… …futures-market tax-revenue should not be registerable. Bible-classes back in schools but with the Canons the Catholics ditched – the Wisdom of King Solomon should be supported from the womb-cell-wall and beyond.
Green Charter suits cross-bench support. While many or most Green policy workers would support the general gist of TOP policy on tax etc, the consensus requirement dilutes the policy down to main-stream-digestible. The policy roll of Green Caucus is to play the inter-party cooperation-card, overruling the internal-policy-consensus-barrier. Good luck, Caucus.
It’s a significant leap in the dark to presume Green policy workers support TOP tax policy. That tax policy is designed to be flat, Green policy is more likely to be progressive.
Could be tough ride if Winston were to decide to go with National.I get the feeling National might “quietly” still try to continue to fight hammer and tong to not need to re-enter Pike River mine.There’s so many questions that i feel remain unanswered in regard to why it’s hasn’t happened already?.In this sense, its also good that Winston isn’t the type of person to quickly rush-in in choosing who to decide to form the next government with.Pike River family feelings demand that Winston wouldn’t dare to be irresponsibly careless
Tough decision.Seem to me on the one side,in regard to National Winston must know he’s dealing with politicians some of which are perhaps bloody hard to trust.With Labour and the Greens it seems,to me, that there’s people who don’t bother to even hide disdain of Winston.
If Winston wont hurry,the media is right there,busily trying their best to make it seem real bad that he wont rush the job.If Winston did rush-in, and as such ended up making a real boo boo in doing so,soon enough the media would also still be double quick to report how bloody stupid that was
Reading what WILD KATIPO said above. I also feel Winston at least helps to provide our NZ Government some sort of balance.Sad that sometimes we New Zealander wont give any credit, where perhaps at least “some” credit is due
I feel some Labour/ Green supporters don’t “help” to make it such an easy choice,for Winston either, in regard to making a decision of running-in with the left side.Some folk sometimes seem (to me) mad as hell that Winston isn’t quick to throw his whole hand over toward their corners Christmas wish-list
‘It’s World Homeless Day and as the housing crisis grips the country, emergency housing providers are popping up around the country to meet soaring demand.
One Auckland church, Faith Family Connect, is even converting offices into bedrooms and says a growing number of homeless have high mental health needs.
They’ve been full up since early last year, so they’re doubling capacity to 30.
They’ve even rented a house across the street, but are still forced to turn desperate people away.
Senior Pastor Carla Perese says there are “families that are living in the parks just down the road”.
The church has always offered refuge to the homeless, but Pastor Perese says demand has never been so great.
“Our hearts are broken over this situation and that’s why we continue to do this,” she told Newshub.
Pastor Perese has even opened up her own home and has people staying in the spare room.
The church says the removal of state homes at nearby Glenn Innes and soaring rental costs are big contributors.’
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Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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‘Controversial application to pull millions of litres a day from Blue Spring withdrawn’
The company behind a controversial application to take 6.9 million litres of water a day from Putaruru’s Blue Spring to send offshore has withdrawn its application.
The company, owned by a majority of overseas investors, had ambitions to be the largest bottling plant in the Southern Hemisphere and applied for a 15-year consent with the hope of opening the bottling plant by 2019.’
Does anyone know the name of this company?
Oravida?
Coca Cola?
Nongfu Spring?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11931545
Mwhahahahahaaa……
The warning shots across the bows has started to be heeded.
BEFORE the new govt has been formed.
You don’t come here to this country and start thinking you can just help yourself, mate….
Turns out that Blue Water Springs is owned by a trust which is in turn owned by WALKER DAVEY SEARELLS LIMITED.
Share holder listings of said company are a bunch of people from canterbury by the looks of it, and if you go even deeper those people appear to have their fingers in many pies.
Looks like they’ve abandoned their latest get rich quick scheme, good job, sick of dodgy dealings like the water exporting, the current laws surrounding it are criminal.
https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/954339/shareholdings
Far out access to information in the digital age is so freaking awesome 😀
You beauty!
More aimless speculation from right wing writers on the Herald.
What would a Greens-National deal mean for New Zealand?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11931383
That is actually quite a thoughtful piece from Simon Wilson on The Spinoff. The Herald have repackaged it with a headline more in keeping with the editorial line they taken since the election. if you read through the article it actually takes a pretty different tack than the headline would suggest.
Ok..will do
🙂
Got to say the longer the talks go on the more confident I am that National will be returned to power, it almost seems like it was a done deal from the get go
I think that the best the left can hope for is Lab/NZFirst and the Greens doing C & S but thats a very long shot
I am confident that a Labour Greens NZ First Coalition will happen…. Relentlessly Positive 🙂
By crikey, chris73 is right; it almost does seem like it was a done deal from the get go!!!! I too am more confident!!!! ‘Cause the talks!!! They’re going on longer!!!! Yeah, the best the left can hope for, even hope for when hoping real hard is you know, A VERY LONG SHOT!!!
Crikey!!! Got to say!!! Cheers Chris73. Keep your chin up!
Well one of us is going to be right and one of us is going to be wrong but I promise that I’ll be humble in victory…well until someone from the left posts something mean
You’ll be needing this, chris:
http://www.crowbusters.com/recipes.html
This sounds a bit more palatable: http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/humble-pie-191988
“one of us is going to be right and one of us is going to be wrong”
Funnily enough you’re right, and therefore always wrong, both at the same time. lol
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/312/563/05d.jpg
Considering the back and forth negotiations between NZF and Nats and Labour: I’m thinking that Labour is pushing on NZF so that an NZF-Nat government will have to include a lot of the policies that are shared between NZF & Labour.
Then, once in government, if the Nats try to pull back, there will always be the possibility of NZF voting with Labour and the GP against the Nats.
So, a Nat-NZF government could be good for the left in the medium to long term.
Interesting tactical approach …. could work nicely.
…it almost seems like it was a done deal from the get go
Well, duh. The people who voted NZ First imagining they were voting for a change of government have to be the most self-delusional voters in the country.
National/NZFirst would be a change of government
“Got to say the longer the talks go on the more confident I am that National will be returned to power, it almost seems like it was a done deal from the get go”
That is what I have been saying for ages – well before the election.
Fascinating!!!
Yeh! Rain on the roof tonight.
Been awhile…. was thinking it might be heading for a la nina summer…. so Great to get some juice in the tank before hand!
Chris how about we make a bet. Loser makes a donation of $100 to the Salvation Army for Auckland’s homeless and presents proof.
I bet Labour will form the next Government.
And the longer it has gone on the more convinced I am that this will happen.;
Tell you what, if you’re right I’ll do that and if I’m right you donate $100 to these guys: http://www.dogwatch.nz/
What about a human charity. I’m ok about dogs but there are so many people with significant needs right now.
Arn’t you certain Labour will form the next government? If you are then the Salvation Army will get $100 so no problem
Unless you have doubts…
Careful your $100 could be the kiss of death. That is if Labour actually want it??
In my experience, done deals from the get-go are over almost immediately because there’s nothing to discuss.
In 2014 the road toll was dropping.
It has since strted to climb again.
Why?
These were articles in 2014.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11283173
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11283273
http://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Research/Documents/The-road-toll-2014Q2-v2-final.pdf
Probably because there are much much more cars on the road than in 2014. I read somewhere that there were in excess of 150,000 more registered cars this year than last and I know new and used sales have been through the roof in the last 3-5 years. So its not really surprising.
Checkpoint covering it now
Less police resources being allocated.
More blood on this government’s hands.
Yeah – no [personal responsibility for the people speeding or drink driving etc
Yes ,… and speaking of ‘ personal responsibility ‘ ,.. where is this govts sense of that regards Police numbers , huh ?
Speaking of police and road tolls… this year has seen a huge jump in deaths during police pursuits.
2008 was the highest with 6 deaths, this year we are at 16 deaths so far.
http://www.transport.govt.nz/research/roadtoll/annualroadtollhistoricalinformation/
A bit of perspective.
The per-capita figure shows it’s not falling. The raw-numbers increase is another reflection of National’s insane immigration policy.
What part of those statistics are you looking at?
My contribution is this: lowering the alcohol limit was another cynical cheap manoeuvre by the Govt to make it look like they were doing something. The stats they used were all bullshit, because if you checked out the places they took the stats from, the accidents never lowered in number after the change of alcohol limit. In all those countries they also increased the number of checkpoints. It was that increase in checkpoints that brought about the lower accident rates, not the change in alcohol limit.
Good old NZ has not only lowered the alcohol limits: by underfunding the Police, NZ has also lowered the number of alcohol checkpoints for drivers.
How bloody stupid can any one country get?
We know that there have been fewer checkpoints – those stats have been released.
When will they release the stats about alcohol in relation to fatalities? I bet alcohol has not diminished as a factor. It has probably increased. That would be such a surprise, but it will probably be brushed under the carpet rather than publicised.
The deaths-per-100,000 population and per-10,000 vehicles columns. Looking at those, the low 2013-2014 figures are a blip.
I don’t pretend to know the outcome of these so-called negotiations but with comments from Peters such as “For months and months, in fact for years, they all campaigned together, hugging each other, embracing each other, and loving each other. We didn’t.”, one gets the feeling such public displays of contempt for the Greens and Labour do not bode well for anything but NZ First and National.
In fact Labour may well be better throwing the prick to the National Party wolves by denouncing any further talks deflating his bargaining power to nil and leaving Winston to be their poodle.
“Had Enough” looks like it meant same old same old!
That’s probably why he hates the Greens they make a mockery out of what MMP’s supposed to be all about.
Within reason every party should be flexible enough to be able to work with any other party in the political spectrum, if you cant do that you have no place in an MMP environment.
You are not making sense.
No they dont – ffs you are a spinner. Why do you hate the greens? Is it their love of the environment and papatūānuku, is it their opposition to inequality and promotion of fairness – only the mad bad and sad hate the greens – what are you?
Edit added your wee reason did you – how cute.
It is that they challenge his privilege and wealth.
They make him look and feel useless – hes just a knocker, not a positive person or someone who adds value. Sad.
I dislike the Greens because they’re a religious movement, and not a political party.
🙄
BM disapproves of a political party not doing what he wants so he closes his eyes and lo, it’s not a political party any more.
No BM is being quite honest. I interpret his comment above as a good example of the difference between interest and values driven politics.
Right wingers (ACToids and Libertarians aside) tend to be quite pragmatic about their politics; prioritising things according to what will maximise their personal interests. And in most instances they’ll be interested in protecting systems and privileges they know already work for them.
The Greens by contrast tend to frame their politics much more in terms of broad ideas and collective values. Greenies have a vision of a different, hopefully better world. For them it’s an article of faith that their values driven policies are a good thing, even if they cannot point to any proven existing examples of them working in action.
Therefore it’s quite reasonable for BM to look from where he stands, and think he’s seeing a ‘religion’.
I don’t have a problem with him expressing his personal views on religion. The statement that the Greens aren’t a political party is daft.
Redlogix’s statement that Green policies are an article of faith without evidence of success, is also batty.
True, I just couldn’t be bothered going there again 😉
Except that we can.
They arent and your fear is unfounded. I don’t believe thats the real reason anyway – come on be brave tell the truth bm.
And yet your dislike of them is not so strong that you wouldn’t welcome them in government if that was to help National get themselves out of a hole of their own making? Do you think they’ll just be doormats in a National Green government? Easy pushovers that will just be there to provide National with voting fodder in the House and let them carry on their merry way in government?
BM 5.1.2.2
10 October 2017 at 6:29 pm
I dislike the Greens because they’re a religious movement, and not a political party.
Really ? Oh , you mean all the Wicca and the pagan stuff ?
A bit like the National party and ACT whose God is Mammon ?
BM is confusing the Greens with the Con jobs. Speaking of ones faith, BM take a line from Joyce and his thumbs up. That was a significant indication Joyce has got this.
It’s National that are the religious movement. They believe that greed, usury, lies and corruption are actually good.
om mani padmi hom ..
Yeah every party should be flexible enough to be able to work with any other party even if that meant working with the Khmer Rouge… sometimes BM ,… you really just don’t GET IT , …. do you.
On a lighter note ,… one of my fav bird-songs out in the wops.
New Zealand Birds: Grey Warbler singing in a tree – YouTube
Video for grey warbler song you tube▶ 0:19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXASY20KvhI
These delicate little birds warble and nest in my garden. I watched one today for as long as it let me – they move about constantly. Magic.
Yes! – as a kid I used to fish in the rivers and these little fellas would be a cheerful sound during those long hot summers with the bees and cicadas high up in the Tea trees,..
They were really as you say , magic ! 🙂
They’ve started singing in my garden in central Wellington the last couple of years. That’s a cheer to the soul.
Ever seen a poor little warbler frantically darting back and forward feeding a huge shining cuckoo chick relentlessly demanding more?
I often wonder, when will the warbler get wise?
Such a beautiful song.I had a cat I called the grey warbler after I heard my mother exclaiming to a friend on the phone about the grey warblers singing
The grey Warbler got my vote today. I love them.Had a fledgling Shining cookoo for a couple of days down in the wetland. Absolute magic.
🙂
“That’s probably why he hates the Greens they make a mockery out of what MMP’s supposed to be all about.
Within reason every party should be flexible enough to be able to work with any other party in the political spectrum, if you cant do that you have no place in an MMP environment.”
What are you on about? The Greens have always said they’d work with any party on policy. And have done exactly that.
Why do you think Winston Peters dislikes the Greens?
You are talking nonsense……
Why do you think Winston loathes National?
Because he doesn’t like their policies, or positioning. He’s a conservative. Left wing is always going to be a problem for him.
although, I’d add, he’s a centrist too, so anything from the edge is going to challenge his basic position and beliefs.
So hows this coalition supposed to work?
Lots of people know how to work with people who are different than them.
According to Maharey the other day, last time Peters was in coalition with Labour he was good at his job.
Its pretty obvious ,.. there was a question put to Peters and he more or less ‘lumped the Greens in with Labour’ because of the MOU.
Its a right wingy thingy to try and create a wedge here and twist reality.
“How does the coalition work”
With Clendon and Kennedy as translators between the two parties.
Well, one way of looking at the relative levels of dislike is that Winston is negotiating with National, but not with the Greens. And he is not exactly being complimentary about the Greens at the moment.
You may recall that Winston said there would be consequences for the Greens calling him a racist. That is not to say he won’t go left. He may well do so. But I would say it will be essentially with Labour, with the Greens on a confidence and supply deal.
I guess the Greens would have to get something for confidence and supply, but it will be small beer. The dripping of such morsels can be be done because the Greens are essentially locked into a left government. They have to support whatever Labour and New Zealand First agree on, because the alternative is a National New Zealand First government.
However, none of this might happen. Winston might decide that his best deal is with National in any event.
The left should not think in that case 2020 is automatically in the bag. If a National New Zealand First government is seen to do well, then they could get another term.
I personally think Winston will stay in Parliament till 2023, so he will want another win. In 2023 Winston will be 78, pretty much as Sir Walter Nash was when he retired.
Winston has said he doesnt hold grudges so holding one against the greens is nonsense. He’d have plently against the gnats if he was going that way. No, just more spin in afraid.
” The dripping of such morsels can be be done because the Greens are essentially locked into a left government ”
…………………………………..
Yes , – but come on Wayne – the same principle could just as easily be applied to ACT being locked into a right govt , – could you really picture ACT going into coalition with Labour ?!!?
Of course not ! – or even NZ First for that matter.
And speaking of ACT ,… that coat tailing one man band party at what is it 0.7 % of the vote? ,…. I notice Peters doesn’t particularly like the little degraded neo liberal party one bit …
And if Peters goes with National,… with his latest of change on how this country has been run for the last 30 years both economically and socially,…
Somehow I don’t think even National gets out alive this time round.
The neo liberal hegemony is shattered as of Thursday , 12 / 10 /2017.
Wild Katipo,
No, in fact the “neo-liberalism hegemony” is here to stay for a good deal longer. New Zealand, irrespective of who is the govt, is not going to going to withdraw from all its international commitments in trade, investment, etc. The changes will be on the margins.
In fact neither governing option is going to increase taxes or nationalise anything. They are locked into a govt that is around 30% of GDP, with local govt adding another 5%. So “neo-liberalism” as you put it, is here to say under any likely govt come Friday.
If you want the end of neo-liberalism, you need the Greens to get at least 20%, probably more.
How do you eat a pie , Wayne?
From the margins. Doesn’t matter if you slice that pie down the middle , its always the margins. Now when Jeremy Corbyn presented his manifesto , and articulated in the slogan ‘ for the many , not the few’…
Just what do you think that was alluding to ?
More privatization , more low wages , more foreign ownership , more under-funding of infrastructure , more flat tax rates and lower wage earners paying disproportionately more ?
Come on Wayne,… stop hedging ,… you jolly well know whats coming as do the rest of us who can see the writing on the wall.
Oh ,… and btw , … I support the Greens because I was brought up in the rural , Labour because in general I’ve always been a worker and NZ First because I believe in balanced nationalism.
Add all that together ?
And you’ve got quite an eclectic stance for various reasons. One of them being egalitarianism .
Don’t even try to pigeon hole me.
Finally Wayne says something I can agree with.
None of the parties in parliament are really looking to end neo-liberalism – at best the Greens want to soften its nastiest bits.
None of the parties are really proposing a responsible government like northern European-style social democracy with top tax rates around 50%, removal of GST, comprehensive taxes on capital, and a comprehensive fully state-funded social welfare, health and education system.
True and its the long haul for us after 3 decades of crap. As well , those Scandinavian country’s never really rushed headlong into neo liberalism , then again ,… they wouldn’t have trucked the same sort of lying deceit in bringing it in , either.
New Right Fight – Who are the New Right?
http://www.newrightfight.co.nz/pageA.html
No we don’t even if we do end up with National/NZ1st government.
If NZ1st goes with National the election will most probably be in 2018 and we’ll most likely end up with a Labour majority government. That’s how bad National and NZ1st get along.
Best shot for Labour is coalition with NZFirst.
Best shot for the Greens is to stay out and regroup on C&S. If the Greens don’t get C&S they will struggle in 2020 because they will have no media oxygen for the term.
Best shot for NZF on straight political grounds is to get as many Cabinet seats they can and gut National by going into coalition with them and making National look more and more like a nationalist version of Labour.
The NZF task is to recover, supplant Labour, and kill the Greens inside one term. They can only do that if they go with National and score massive policy goals.
Nah, the Greens are best off in a formal coalition, with 1-2 ministers and a further 1-2 associate ministers getting screen time and getting things done. The Greens are better off doing that than confidence and supply, as in coalition they will get more of their policy enacted, and show that they really have been the most competent party all along.
Is there really any party, apart from NZF, that Peters hasn’t had a few sharp words for? Neither ACT nor the MP received ringing endorsements that I recall. Maybe Dunne escaped his ire – and maybe not.
Don’t know if Peters said anything but he didn’t like Dunne at all apparently – part of the reason Dunne said he retired is that based on the polls, whatever happened, Peters would freeze him out of government.
Yeah, like we can see the great attempts that Act made to be friendly to the Alliance.
You are just being political fool. There are plainly some divides that are far too wide to cross.
In the case of National, there is the basic argument that they have NEVER managed to initiate moves to improve or even attempted to improve the general environment in NZ in any meaningful way. Instead this last National government has presided over attempts to mine National parks, swap pristine forest for cutover crap, made a mockery of most of the environmental standards by redefining them to worse levels being acceptable, given as much help as possible to the most polluting industries in NZ, deliberately sabotaged the already inadequate ETS, and attempted several times to remove the restraints of the RMA on polluters. I’m not even going to go near their track record on climate change apart from saying that National lies about what they intended to do becasue their actions don’t go anywhere near even their pitiful backtracking on their undertakings in the previous National government.
And those are just the ones I remember in the time it took me to tap that out…
What track record is there for a green party to trust? Perhaps if National get back into power again, they could try to think about what they need to do to make other parties to trust them at all. Because they look to me to be just about the most untrustworthy pack of arseholes in politics when it comes to the environment.
Winston dosen’t hate the Greens, one only needs to watch Parliament to know that.
Sure their views differ on ‘extraction’ but he dosen’t hate them, media have sowed that seed.
Was he not talking about both major parties? Nats, ACT, UF and the Maori Party on one side and Labs and Greens on the other?
And there goes reproductive autonomy.
/
https://drjengunter.wordpress.com/2017/10/09/health-and-human-services-wants-to-defined-life-as-beginning-at-conception/
That is interesting for astrological purposes, but if the embryo isn’t biologically attached to the wall of the womb… …futures-market tax-revenue should not be registerable. Bible-classes back in schools but with the Canons the Catholics ditched – the Wisdom of King Solomon should be supported from the womb-cell-wall and beyond.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11931383
good read on the greens and the nats and other things
He got TOP’s tax wrong though.
Green Charter suits cross-bench support. While many or most Green policy workers would support the general gist of TOP policy on tax etc, the consensus requirement dilutes the policy down to main-stream-digestible. The policy roll of Green Caucus is to play the inter-party cooperation-card, overruling the internal-policy-consensus-barrier. Good luck, Caucus.
It’s a significant leap in the dark to presume Green policy workers support TOP tax policy. That tax policy is designed to be flat, Green policy is more likely to be progressive.
Budget Debate Flashback from 24 May this year…. Winstons speech… food for thought and entertaining as
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18-jmEqeTCY
Woohooo ! – Go Winnie !!! Sock it to them !!!
Well, I feel better after that. Winston really showed his grasp of the fundamentals of good governance. I will sleep more hopefully tonight..
Could be tough ride if Winston were to decide to go with National.I get the feeling National might “quietly” still try to continue to fight hammer and tong to not need to re-enter Pike River mine.There’s so many questions that i feel remain unanswered in regard to why it’s hasn’t happened already?.In this sense, its also good that Winston isn’t the type of person to quickly rush-in in choosing who to decide to form the next government with.Pike River family feelings demand that Winston wouldn’t dare to be irresponsibly careless
Tough decision.Seem to me on the one side,in regard to National Winston must know he’s dealing with politicians some of which are perhaps bloody hard to trust.With Labour and the Greens it seems,to me, that there’s people who don’t bother to even hide disdain of Winston.
If Winston wont hurry,the media is right there,busily trying their best to make it seem real bad that he wont rush the job.If Winston did rush-in, and as such ended up making a real boo boo in doing so,soon enough the media would also still be double quick to report how bloody stupid that was
Reading what WILD KATIPO said above. I also feel Winston at least helps to provide our NZ Government some sort of balance.Sad that sometimes we New Zealander wont give any credit, where perhaps at least “some” credit is due
I feel some Labour/ Green supporters don’t “help” to make it such an easy choice,for Winston either, in regard to making a decision of running-in with the left side.Some folk sometimes seem (to me) mad as hell that Winston isn’t quick to throw his whole hand over toward their corners Christmas wish-list
‘It’s World Homeless Day and as the housing crisis grips the country, emergency housing providers are popping up around the country to meet soaring demand.
One Auckland church, Faith Family Connect, is even converting offices into bedrooms and says a growing number of homeless have high mental health needs.
They’ve been full up since early last year, so they’re doubling capacity to 30.
They’ve even rented a house across the street, but are still forced to turn desperate people away.
Senior Pastor Carla Perese says there are “families that are living in the parks just down the road”.
The church has always offered refuge to the homeless, but Pastor Perese says demand has never been so great.
“Our hearts are broken over this situation and that’s why we continue to do this,” she told Newshub.
Pastor Perese has even opened up her own home and has people staying in the spare room.
The church says the removal of state homes at nearby Glenn Innes and soaring rental costs are big contributors.’
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/10/church-full-to-bursting-with-homeless-as-demand-soars.html
New figures show 98 free-market affordable homes have been built under the government’s Auckland Housing Accord.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/341219/auckland-housing-accord-dismal-failure-on-affordability
What a farce!
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2017/10/a-dismal-failure.html
Yes , saw that today … that’s just disgusting.
Absolutely disgusting.