Daily Review 12/12/2016

Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, December 12th, 2016 - 69 comments
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Daily review is also your post.

This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

69 comments on “Daily Review 12/12/2016 ”

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  1. Anne 1
    12 December 2016 at 6:37 pm

    Mrs Bennett (don’t know whether she calls herself this or whether its RNZ’s title) said this today:

    Mrs Bennett said it was an honour and privilege to be selected as deputy leader.

    She said the past couple of days had been a chance to reflect on where she had been as a teenage parent and where she was now.

    “There was a moment when I was a 17-year-old Māori solo mum in Taupō … and I didn’t have a job and it looked pretty bleak, actually.”

    It was a credit to New Zealand that she had been given a second chance, and the same chance was there for other teenage parents, she said.

    Lost for words!

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/320184/new-pm-says-catholicism-won't-define-him-as-pm

    • Carolyn_nth 1.1
      12 December 2016 at 6:50 pm

      Just trying to revive and appropriate the JK backstory – so transparently spinning.

    • BM 1.2
      12 December 2016 at 6:55 pm

      What an inspiration, National really is the party of the kiwi battler.

      Congrats Paula, you deserved it.

      • Pat 1.2.1
        12 December 2016 at 7:26 pm

        lol…youre a funny guy

      • Red 1.2.2
        12 December 2016 at 7:32 pm

        Yes indeed Nats bring people who have experienced life, got of their chuffs and made thing happens, Pleasant change from career politician, ex party policy analyst, student union representative or union rep with the odd sprinkling of teachers academics and cardigan wearing Lefty lawyers

        • Paul 1.2.2.1
          12 December 2016 at 7:40 pm

          Yes, Bill English has had a lot of life experience outside of parliament.

        • michelle 1.2.2.2
          13 December 2016 at 9:48 am

          26 years for billy yet they got rid of how many experienced public servants and hnz tenants saying hnz houses are not for life but how long has smith, brownlee, mc cully and english been in parliament seems they have different rules for different folks ( note they don’t deserve capitals)

      • Cinny 1.2.3
        12 December 2016 at 9:17 pm

        How many voted for her to be deputy PM? probably as many as those whom voted for English to be PM, 40 or so people. Gotta love some parts of the democratic system.

        On the upside.. Key is no longer PM WOOOO HOOOOOO oh yeah.. that’s happened, yes it did, it did, sounds like BM is happy about something. i know I am.. Key is gone gone gone from the office of PM, YESAH !

      • Incognito 1.2.4
        12 December 2016 at 9:52 pm

        What an insipidity, National really is the party of the kiwi batterer.

        Congrats Paula, you belong in it.

        FIFY

        • michelle 1.2.4.1
          13 December 2016 at 9:54 am

          gnats have kicked the kiwi battler in the guts. pula got the bene and then made it hard for others to get, jhonkey got a state house and now is and has sold most of our state houses to his rich mates, joyce got a free tertiary education in zoonosis and is now telling us what degrees we have to do while hocking of our tertiary education to foreign corporations commiting fraud.

      • Chris 1.2.5
        12 December 2016 at 11:25 pm

        Bennett got her break via the training incentive allowance. That was the most successful instrument for getting people off the DPB there’s ever been. It’s a programme a minister of social welfare has complete control over. Bennett obliterated it when she was minister of social welfare. Go have a look at at. You really believe she’s right when she says the same chance she had is still there for other teenage parents?

        English and Bennett are the perfect team to highlight what nasty bastards the nats really are. Not a skerrick of teflon around anymore to help any of them.

        • miravox 1.2.5.1
          12 December 2016 at 11:53 pm

          +1 Chris

          She’s pulled up the ladder and denied others in her position the same opportunities she had. Especially those without the family backing she had.

        • michelle 1.2.5.2
          13 December 2016 at 10:02 am

          The national front ( key) got sick of getting all the blame and quit now they have to try and hide how nasty and vile they are and have been. The surplus shows how mean they have been all the cuts to social services and govt agencies have hurt many NZers. We pay taxes but the safety net isn’t there anymore and as Bill mentioned he has been an integral part of the gnats policy. It is his own policy that has kicked too many NZers in the guts now he is trying to paint himself as a saint and our new saviour

      • framu 1.2.6
        13 December 2016 at 12:11 pm

        “National really is the party of the kiwi battler.”

        you know PB went on the DPB because “work was too hard”?

    • ianmac 1.3
      12 December 2016 at 7:12 pm

      I read that and was amazed at the gall. Surely she must reflect on the opportunities she was given, which have been now denied to others in similar boat. Surely!
      A leaf out of the Key book to just blandly ignore other people’s problems. And smile. And change the topic.

      • Red 1.3.1
        12 December 2016 at 7:37 pm

        Yes a bit like Michael Joseph savage, Ww1 Opposing conscription, ww2 all for It, politics often means having to make tough decisions based on the context of the time, not simply basing your decision on past personal experience

        • Red Hand 1.3.1.1
          12 December 2016 at 8:15 pm

          Paula made the tough decision to accept the deputy PM position because past personal experience showed that chance had worked in her favour. Why not try again ? If it works out she can always thank New Zealand.

        • Chris 1.3.1.2
          12 December 2016 at 9:17 pm

          Those wars were very different, though. Not a good analogy for that reason.

          • Red 1.3.1.2.1
            12 December 2016 at 10:35 pm

            Ok Fraser then, convicted for sedition in wwi1 in regard to protesting conscription and then bringing in conscription in ww2 when he was pm Agree time , context has an impact, why is Bennett not given such latitude as so called labour greats

        • Paul 1.3.1.3
          12 December 2016 at 9:38 pm

          Paula Bennett is in a different universe to Savage.

    • swordfish 1.4
      12 December 2016 at 8:19 pm

      “There was a moment when I was a 17-year-old Māori solo mum in Taupō …”

      Awe, that’s brilliant ! One of the funniest things I’ve read in a while. 😀

      Especially the outrageously clumsy shoe-horning of “Māori” ethnicity into the contrived backstory.

      Reminds me of (the very white) Canadian comedian, Colin Mochrie, on Improv comedy show Whose Line is it Anyway … who started a mock CD infomercial skit (he and Ryan Stiles purportedly trying to sell a 10-CD set to viewers) with: “You know, When I was a small black child growing up in the ghetto … “.

      • marty mars 1.4.1
        12 December 2016 at 8:41 pm

        Bennett is Māori via whakapapa whether we like it or not and it is tika to mention those bits you want to when describing yourself. It can be argued that she hasn’t helped or supported Māori and plenty of evidence for that.

        • swordfish 1.4.1.1
          12 December 2016 at 9:34 pm

          Yep, wasn’t meaning to suggest she isn’t Māori – just focussing on the highly contrived, insincere way she’s gone about setting-out her backstory. Like a pre-packaged little soundbyte that’s been focus-grouped to death.

      • Chris 1.4.2
        12 December 2016 at 9:25 pm

        If English can recapture his dull lack of everything he mastered in 2002, then together with Bennett’s blatant insincerity, hatred of the poor and “it’s all about me” attitude then the opposition’s going to get a clear run next year. On the downside, it’ll be a bittersweet victory because it won’t be due to anything the opposition’s done, and will be in spite of it.

      • Wayne 1.4.3
        12 December 2016 at 10:08 pm

        Swordfish,

        How is it conceivably a contrived backstory?

        It is actually her real life experience, and for many years she had a pretty tough life. She has always been very clear about her whakapapa, but it does not solely define her.

        A few years later after she became a young mother she went to Massey University. She then worked in Murray McCully”s office and was active in National Party politics.

        Paula is exceptionally energetic and a go-getter. That was obvious from the moment she started up in Murray’s office, which was when I first met her.

        It was no surprise when she sought a parliamentary seat, and you have seen her in action since.

        What you see, is what you get. And it has got her the Deputy PM.

        There is nothing made up about Paula, and it is ridiculous for you to suggest that there is.

        • fender 1.4.3.1
          12 December 2016 at 10:27 pm

          Good thing it was only for a “moment” and not a time. Whereas PB and her colleagues have removed the services she accessed, no wonder it’s difficult to find anyone with much respect for her ladder pulling ways.

        • swordfish 1.4.3.2
          12 December 2016 at 10:45 pm

          Just for you, Dr M, I’ll repeat my clarification to marty mars.

          ” … just focussing on the highly contrived, insincere way she’s gone about setting-out her backstory. Like a pre-packaged little soundbyte that’s been focus-grouped to death.”

          Young ? – Check

          Māori ? – Check

          Solo Mum ? – Check

          Mention all 3 together as often as poss over the next year ? – Check

          Conspicuously fail to mention how I quickly pulled the ladder up behind me ? – Check

          .
          Point is: There’s nothing casual or accidental about all this. It’s cynical, it’s pre-planned, it’s brazenly obvious and it’s clumsy.

        • Chris 1.4.3.3
          12 December 2016 at 11:34 pm

          “Paula is exceptionally energetic and a go-getter.”

          Yeah, but what does she go to get? And when she gets it what does she do with it? And whose interests are served by what she gets?

          Saying Bennett’s “a go-getter” highlights everything that’s wrong with your values.

        • Rosemary McDonald 1.4.3.4
          13 December 2016 at 10:09 am

          Its a real pity that Paula appears to have some kind of memory dysfunction.

          Will this worsen as she breathes the even thinner air closer to the top?

    • marty mars 1.5
      12 December 2016 at 8:44 pm

      Bennett, as I have mentioned before is THE most dangerous politican because she, like trump, believes the lies she says even when she knows they aren’t true.

    • Psycho Milt 1.6
      12 December 2016 at 8:54 pm

      It was a credit to New Zealand that she had been given a second chance, and the same chance was there for other teenage parents, she said.

      “The same chance?” That chance being the training allowance she took advantage of, but which was removed by her party once it was in government? Or did she win Lotto?

    • Venezia 1.7
      13 December 2016 at 12:28 am

      She didn’t happen to mention that as a single parent, she was able to achieve a Bachelors degree with the assistance of a Training Incentive allowance, and that soon after she was made Minister of Social Development she axed that very Training Incentive Allowance??

      And when two single parents criticised the cuts, here is what Mrs Bennett did:
      http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2681539/Paula-Bennett-accused-of-Muldoon-style-bullying

  2. Anne 2
    12 December 2016 at 7:10 pm

    National really is the party of the kiwi battler.

    Really? I think you need to be tested for Alzeimers.

    This “kiwi battler” called Paula Bennett took all the opportunities on offer by the State to gain the qualifications which got her to where she is today. The first thing she did on becoming Social Welfare minister in 2009 was to cut the free tertiary evening classes for young people – including teenage parents – thus denying them the chance to follow in her footsteps.

    That’s the real Paula Bennett. Spiteful and vengeful.

    • Paul 2.1
      12 December 2016 at 7:21 pm

      The party of the elite.

    • Psycho Milt 2.2
      12 December 2016 at 8:55 pm

      Really? I think you need to be tested for Alzeimers.

      Maybe he meant National really is the party of the kiwi battler against alzheimers?

    • Ethica 2.3
      12 December 2016 at 9:35 pm

      As Minister of Social Development Paula Bennett also disestablished the Training Incentive Allowance which had helped her go to university. She undertook a review of welfare benefits copying the worst of the UK system, and it became a lot more punitive. People had to ask for things rather than being told what was available. The DPB she had benefitted from disappeared. Most beneficiaries including those with mental illness and those being treated for serious conditions like cancer, and many single parents became ‘Jobseekers’ (the old Unemployment Benefit) and now have to go to useless CV writing workshops and prove they are looking for work, even when unwell. The state housing and the cheap housing loan she had are also disappearing.

      She’s No Compassion Paula.

      • michelle 2.3.1
        13 December 2016 at 10:07 am

        Many of her own Maori people cant stand her she has kicked too many in the guts to get where she has got

  3. Alan 3
    12 December 2016 at 7:23 pm

    A party for the 1% generally doesn’t poll in the high forties Paul.

    • Paul 3.1
      12 December 2016 at 7:38 pm

      They do if they have a corporate media lying on behalf of the elite.
      And pollsters like Farrar working for them.
      And you know that, Alan.

      • Red 3.1.1
        12 December 2016 at 7:51 pm

        Hilarious dribble, sounds like you are already looking for excuses

        • Paul 3.1.1.1
          12 December 2016 at 8:37 pm

          If you aren’t aware of the media’s power, then you are very ignorant.
          But you’re not ignorant; so the only conclusion one can come to is that you aren’t being truthful and instead and shilling for the elite, as per usual.

          • Red 3.1.1.1.1
            12 December 2016 at 9:29 pm

            Na able to synthesise various media, including your sources RT and john pilger et al , your views are simply one end of binpolar extremes, no more valid than the opposite you rage against. Truth I suggest is some where in the middle , something for you to well contemplate

            • Paul 3.1.1.1.1.1
              12 December 2016 at 9:34 pm

              Your views are symptomatic of the nasty element of New Zealand that destroyed the prospects and living standards of its labour force to enrich the top 1% of the income distribution.
              And I hold you in contempt for that selfishness.

            • Paul 3.1.1.1.1.2
              12 December 2016 at 9:41 pm

              I have no plans to listen to your poisonous and disingenuous advice.

              • Red …
                12 December 2016 at 10:40 pm

                You display an interesting way of not listening, I suspect by your response some of this getting through in regard to a more balanced Paul , I won’t give up on you Paul 😀

    • Sabine 3.2
      12 December 2016 at 7:47 pm

      ahh, so that is why John Key suddenly remembered his wife and her need for more ‘time with hubby” ?
      Cause they are polling in the high forties? Right, right?

  4. Ad 4
    12 December 2016 at 8:16 pm

    This doesn’t look like party renewal.

    National has simply delivered the middle finger to those who expected the same pace of renewal that PM John Key was committed to.

    English and Bennett are retreads.

  5. Whispering Kate 5
    12 December 2016 at 9:16 pm

    I just love the leader of this post – “You are on a 90 day trial” – there is one law for the incumbents in parliament and one for the rest of us. Heaven help us if the 90 day trial was including the members of Government we would have a hollowed out debating chamber. As for Paula Benefit – she is a waking nightmare, such a shallow person – doesn’t come across as too bright and it beggars belief she has held her portfolios without criticism from her fellow back benchers. Also plugging the Maori side of her ancestry is coming a bit too late – it didn’t bother her previously throughout her career. Such an opportunist.

  6. Pat 6
    12 December 2016 at 9:45 pm

    “If we want to stay below two degrees temperature increase, we should not follow this track and need to make a rapid turn-around,” said Dr Marielle Saunois from the University of Versailles Saint Quentin, France. She is the lead author on the ERL paper.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38285300

    permafrost feed back?

  7. Rosemary McDonald 7
    12 December 2016 at 10:02 pm

    Bill ‘the lizard’ English now has licence to continue his ‘social investment’ plan to rid the country of what he calls….

    “”this big hard lump of long-term waste of human potential….large long-term liability.””

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10644993

    He was a little worried that government entities like the Ministry of Social Development and Housing New Zealand were not doing enough to reduce numbers accessing expensive services…

    “”it’s a bit hard to tell if they are trying hard enough. We don’t know a lot about what happens in some of these fairly big outfits so we are always arguing internally between myself and Treasury about whether we need to step in or not.”

    English says the process of examining the big cost-drivers is called the responsibility model because it throws the responsibility back.

    “The traditional view of the public service is when things get tight, Treasury and the Minister of Finance are responsible. We are saying ‘no it’s you, you’re the chief executive, you’re responsible’.””

    Well, Bill as you ascend to the throne…kinda like a congratulatory gift, the inquest is being heard at the moment into the death of Wendy Shoebridge.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/87347930/Aggressive-prosecution-focus-at-MSD-preceded-womans-death-inquest-told

    “Shoebridge, a 41-year-old mother, was found dead in Lower Hutt on April 3, 2011.

    The day before, she opened a letter saying she was to be referred for prosecution over an alleged $22,000 benefit fraud.”

    An investigator from WINZ was under unbearable pressure to send this letter…he didn’t want to, or at least he wanted to deliver it in person as he was concerned about her…she was slowly recovering from severe depression.

    But no…his boss, obviously acting under instructions from Much Higher UP…ordered the letter sent.

    ” After her death, that amount fell to about $5500.”

    And in an update tonight…http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/87469253/shakeup-at-msd-after-woman-died-and-manager-was-accused-of-abusing-staff

    …we read that this manager

    “was accused of firing a staple gun at staff she didn’t like, and calling one a “f…tard” in front of colleagues, an inquest has heard.

    The inquest in Wellington into the death of Wendy Shoebridge heard allegations of a dysfunctional Ministry of Social Development office in which the prosecution of suspected benefit fraud was a major priority.

    The manager has not had the chance to respond to the latest claims, and the inquest on Monday also heard suggestions the manager was herself under pressure. The hearing was told last week that a quota system for prosecuting beneficiaries was in operation in 2011, when Shoebridge died.”

    Well, Bill…this is why you have that smirky, twisted little smile on your face. You might want to have a wee think before you see your promotion as an affirmation that there is widespread approval for your social investment model.

    You see…this Coroner has the MSD in her sights, just as the Judge did in the Ashburton Shooting case…http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/87258487/msd-convicted-after-judge-says-staff-felt-unsafe-in-ashburton-office

    …and although the court can’t actually fine a Ministry…there was harsh condemnation….

    How many deaths, Bill???

  9. ropata 9
    12 December 2016 at 10:54 pm

    National’s leaky homes crisis continues to ruin lives, only 10% of buildings were remediated, and there are thousands more across Auckland that are rotting where they stand. Many owners are in denial and won’t find out until they go to sell, and lose their life savings. Seems like 50% of apartment buildings are affected, and I’d keep away from houses build between 1991 and 2005.

    The true cost to NZ could be $23 billion, with 89000 buildings affected.

    The Government’s financial address package closed in July this year. Add in that once a code compliance certificate is issued, there is only a 10-year window of opportunity to file a complaint about a leaky home with the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service, and time is almost up for the majority of home owners. The whole process has been a “monumental failure”, says Rainey.

    In unrelated news, the Govt plans $100 million expansion of parliamentary complex