Daily Review 13/09/2018
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5:30 pm, September 13th, 2018 - 57 comments
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- The future of the Combined Space Operations initiative
As space becomes more contested, Australia should play a key role with its partners in the Combined Space Operations (CSpO) initiative to safeguard the space domain. Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States signed the ...38 minutes ago - Dave’s Cats
Ooh you're a cool catComing on strong with all the chit chatOoh you're alrightHanging out and stealing all the limelightOoh messing with the beat of my heart yeah!Songwriters: Freddie Mercury / John Deacon.It would be a tad ironic; I can see it now. “Yeah, I didn’t unsubscribe when he said ...42 minutes ago - Friday 21 March
The PSA are calling the Prime Minister a hypocrite for committing to increase defence spending while hundreds of more civilian New Zealand Defence Force jobs are set to be cut as part of a major restructure. The number of companies being investigated for people trafficking in New Zealand has skyrocketed ...2 hours ago - Weekly Roundup 21-March-2025
Another Friday, hope everyone’s enjoyed their week as we head toward the autumn equinox. Here’s another roundup of stories that caught our eye on the subject of cities and what makes them even better. This week in Greater Auckland On Monday, Connor took a look at how Auckland ...2 hours ago - A special Hoon with Michael Wolff, author of four books on Donald Trump
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking with special guest author Michael Wolff, who has just published his fourth book about Donald Trump: ‘All or Nothing’.Here’s Peter’s writeup of the interview. Hoon: Trumpism ...2 hours ago - Hoon: Trumpism dies with Trump says Wolff
3 hours ago
- The ADF reserve system is obsolete. We need a dramatically expanded force
Australia needs to radically reorganise its reserves system to create a latent military force that is much larger, better trained and equipped and deployable within days—not decades. Our current reserve system is not fit for ...4 hours ago
- Pick ‘n’ Mix at 6am on Friday, March 21
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I have argued before that one ought to be careful in retrospectively allocating texts into genres. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) only looks like science-fiction because a science-fiction genre subsequently developed. Without H.G. Wells, would Frankenstein be considered science-fiction? No, it probably wouldn’t. Viewed in the context of its time, Frankenstein ...14 hours ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #12 2025
Open access notables The severe 2020 coral bleaching event in the tropical Atlantic linked to marine heatwaves, Rodrigues et al., Communications Earth & Environment: Marine heatwaves can amplify the vulnerabilities of regional marine ecosystems and jeopardise local economies and food resources. Here, we show that marine heatwaves in the tropical ...16 hours ago - Elbridge Colby’s vision: blocking China
Elbridge Colby’s senate confirmation hearing in early March holds more important implications for US partners than most observers in Canberra, Wellington or Suva realise. As President Donald Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defence for ...18 hours ago
- China’s military spending rises should prompt regional budget responses
China’s defence budget is rising heftily yet again. The 2025 rise will be 7.2 percent, the same as in 2024, the government said on 5 March. But the allocation, officially US$245 billion, is just the ...20 hours ago
- Pressure grows for commonsense correction on safe local speeds
Concern is growing about wide-ranging local repercussions of the new Setting of Speed Limits rule, rewritten in 2024 by former transport minister Simeon Brown. In particular, there’s growing fears about what this means for children in particular. A key paradox of the new rule is that NZTA-controlled roads have the ...20 hours ago
- Luxon’s Guests.
Speilmeister: Christopher Luxon’s prime-ministerial pitches notwithstanding, are institutions with billions of dollars at their disposal really going to invest them in a country so obviously in a deep funk?HAVING WOOED THE WORLD’s investors, what, if anything, has New Zealand won? Did Christopher Luxon’s guests board their private jets fizzing with enthusiasm for ...20 hours ago - S&P downgrades 18 councils, blaming Govt
Christchurch City Council is one of 18 councils and three council-controlled organisations (CCOs) downgraded by ratings agency S&P. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories shortest: Standard & Poor’s has cut the credit ratings of 18 councils, blaming the new Government’s abrupt reversal of 3 Waters, cuts to capital ...23 hours ago - Recession ends – Economic challenges remain
Figures released by Statistics New Zealand today showed that the economy grew by 0.7% ending the very deep recession seen over the past year, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “Even though GDP grew in the three months to December, our economy is still 1.1% smaller than it ...1 day ago
- Maybe there’s a connection?
What is going on with the price of butter?, RNZ, 19 march 2025: If you have bought butter recently you might have noticed something - it is a lot more expensive. Stats NZ said last week that the price of butter was up 60 percent in February compared to ...1 day ago - I, too, got a few things wrong
I agree with Will Leben, who wrote in The Strategist about his mistakes, that an important element of being a commentator is being accountable and taking responsibility for things you got wrong. In that spirit, ...1 day ago
- Commandments & Cures
You’d beDrunk by noon, no one would knowJust like the pandemicWithout the sourdoughIf I were there, I’d find a wayTo get treated for hysteriaEvery dayLyrics Riki Lindhome.A varied selection today in Nick’s Kōrero:Thou shalt have no other gods - with Christopher Luxon.Doctors should be seen and not heard - with ...1 day ago - Australia needs greater defence self-reliance, and extra funding
Two recent foreign challenges suggest that Australia needs urgently to increase its level of defence self-reliance and to ensure that the increased funding that this would require is available. First, the circumnavigation of our continent ...1 day ago
- Pick ‘n’ Mix at 6am on Thursday, March 20
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, The Atlantic-$, The ...1 day ago - Gordon Campbell on Winston Peters’ bad trip, and the return of the PPPs zombie
According to RNZ’s embedded reporter, the importance of Winston Peters’ talks in Washington this week “cannot be overstated.” Right. “Exceptionally important.” said the maestro himself. This epic importance doesn’t seem to have culminated in anything more than us expressing our “concern” to the Americans about a series of issues that ...2 days ago - Climate Fresk – a neat way to make the complexity of climate change less puzzling
Up until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of "Climate Fresk" and at a guess, this will also be the case for many of you. I stumbled upon it in the self-service training catalog for employees at the company I work at in Germany where it was announced ...2 days ago
- Japan and Australia can fill each other’s defence gaps
Japan and Australia talk of ‘collective deterrence,’ but they don’t seem to have specific objectives. The relationship needs a clearer direction. The two countries should identify how they complement each other. Each country has two ...2 days ago
- Submission on the Draft Biometric Processing Privacy Code
The NZCTU strongly supports the OPC’s decision to issue a code of practice for biometric processing. Our view is that the draft code currently being consulted on is stronger and will be more effective than the exposure code released in early 2024. We are pleased that some of the revisions ...2 days ago
- Eggs in more baskets: diversify Australian agricultural exports away from US
Australia’s export-oriented industries, particularly agriculture, need to diversify their markets, with a focus on Southeast Asia. This could strengthen economic security and resilience while deepening regional relationships. The Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on ...2 days ago
- The Fisheries Reform Scam – Sam Woolford
Minister Shane Jones is introducing fastrack ‘reforms’ to the our fishing industry that will ensure the big players squeeze out the small fishers and entrench an already bankrupt quota system. Our fisheries are under severe stress: the recent decision by the High Court ruling that the ...2 days ago - Climate Change: Failed again
In what has become regular news, the quarterly ETS auction has failed, with nobody even bothering to bid. The immediate reason is that the carbon price has fallen to around $60, below the auction minimum of $68. And the cause of that is a government which has basically given up ...2 days ago
- Trump’s tariffs challenge India’s economic balance
US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats have dominated headlines in India in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Trump announced that his reciprocal tariffs—matching other countries’ tariffs on American goods—will go into effect on 2 April, ...2 days ago
- NZ’s First #MeToo Case Wants To Practise Law Again
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Now I've heard there was a secret chordThat David played, and it pleased the LordBut you don't really care for music, do you?It goes like this, the fourth, the fifthThe minor falls, the major liftsThe baffled king composing HallelujahSongwriter: Leonard CohenI always thought the lyrics of that great song by ...2 days ago - People matter—especially when frigate crews are too small
People are getting carried away with the virtues of small warship crews. We need to remember the great vice of having few people to run a ship: they’ll quickly tire. Yes, the navy is struggling ...2 days ago
- Auckland’s Western Line: Walking and cycling catchments
This is a guest post by Peter Bisley. It previously appeared on his substack, and is republished here by kind permisison. How can active transport connections maximise City Rail Link benefits City Rail Link successfully ran a test train last month on the 3.45km line under central Auckland, ahead ...2 days ago
- Bernard’s Pick ‘n’ Mix at 6am on Wednesday, March 19
Mōrena. Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, The Atlantic-$, ...2 days ago - Unity is the answer to Europe’s defence woes
US President Donald Trump’s hostile regime has finally forced Europe to wake up. With US officials calling into question the transatlantic alliance, Germany’s incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, recently persuaded lawmakers to revise the country’s debt ...3 days ago
- Australian politics needs clearer national security boundaries
We need to establish clearer political boundaries around national security to avoid politicising ongoing security issues and to better manage secondary effects. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) revealed on 10 March that the Dural caravan ...3 days ago
- Government must act decisively and ban engineered stone
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have reiterated their call for Government to protect workers by banning engineered stone in a submission on MBIE’s silica dust consultation. “If Brooke van Velden is genuine when she calls for an evidence-based approach to this issue, then she must support a full ban on ...3 days ago
- Tuesday 18 March
The Labour Inspectorate could soon be knocking on the door of hundreds of businesses nation-wide, as it launches a major crackdown on those not abiding by the law. NorthTec staff are on edge as Northland’s leading polytechnic proposes to stop 11 programmes across primary industries, forestry, and construction. Union coverage ...3 days ago
- First-person view drones: transitioning from sport to battle
It’s one thing for military personnel to hone skills with first-person view (FPV) drones in racing competitions. It’s quite another for them to transition to the complexities of the battlefield. Drone racing has become a ...3 days ago
- ‘There are no exemptions. Just eat it.’
Seymour says there will be no other exemptions granted to schools wanting to opt out of the Compass contract. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories shortest: David Seymour has denied a request from a Christchurch school and any other schools to be exempted from the Compass school lunch programme, saying the contract ...3 days ago - Nuclear Ukraine: Budapest Memorandum – what it says and is it relevant?
Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, and British Prime Minister John Major signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in ... 3 days ago- A Palate Cleanser
Edit: The original story said “Palette Cleanser” in both the story, and the headline. I am never, ever going to live this down. Chain me up, throw me into the pit.Hi,With the world burning — literally and figuratively — I felt like Webworm needed a little palate cleanser at the ...3 days ago- Do Americans really want urban sprawl?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler (Image credit: Antonio Huerta) Growing up in suburban Ohio, I was used to seeing farmland and woods disappear to make room for new subdivisions, strip malls, and big box stores. I didn’t usually welcome the changes, but I assumed others ...3 days ago- Myanmar’s desperate condition: fragmentation, drugs, money-laundering and more
Myanmar was a key global site for criminal activity well before the 2021 military coup. Today, illicit industry, especially heroin and methamphetamine production, still defines much of the economy. Nowhere, not even the leafiest districts ...3 days ago- The Hardest Word
What've I gotta do to make you love me?What've I gotta do to make you care?What do I do when lightning strikes me?And I wake up and find that you're not thereWhat've I gotta do to make you want me?Mmm hmm, what've I gotta do to be heard?What do I ...3 days ago- Bernard’s Pick ‘n’ Mix at 6am on Tuesday, March 18
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...3 days ago- Gordon Campbell On Luxon’s Survival Chances, And The India FTA
Whenever Christopher Luxon drops a classically fatuous clanger or whenever the government has a bad poll – i.e. every week – the talk resumes that he is about to be rolled. This is unlikely for several reasons. For starters, there is no successor. Nicola Willis? Chris Bishop? Simeon Brown? Mark ...4 days ago- It’s been done before: pay for more defence spending with debt
Australia, Britain and European countries should loosen budget rules to allow borrowing to fund higher defence spending, a new study by the Kiel Institute suggests. Currently, budget debt rules are forcing governments to finance increases ...4 days ago- Feedback on work with engineered stone and materials containing crystalline silica
The NZCTU remains strongly committed to banning engineered stone in New Zealand and implementing better occupational health protections for all workers working with silica-containing materials. In this submission to MBIE, the NZCTU outlines that we have an opportunity to learn from Australia’s experience by implementing a full ban of engineered ...4 days ago- Big deal
The Prime Minister has announced a big win in trade negotiations with India.It’s huge, he told reporters. We didn't get everything we came for but we were able to agree on free trade in clothing, fabrics, car components, software, IT consulting, spices, tea, rice, and leather goods.He said that for ...4 days ago- A Return to a US Gilded Age?
I have been trying to figure out the logic of Trump’s tariff policies and apparent desire for a global trade war. Although he does not appear to comprehend that tariffs are a tax on consumers in the country doing the tariffing, I can (sort of) understand that he may think ...4 days ago- France is prominent in efforts to shape Syria’s future, again
As Syria and international partners negotiate the country’s future, France has sought to be a convening power. While France has a history of influence in the Middle East, it will have to balance competing Syrian ...4 days ago- “Capital poor”
One of the eternal truths about Aotearoa's economy is that we are "capital poor": there's not enough money sloshing around here to fund the expansion of local businesses, or to build the things we want to. Which gets used as an excuse for all sorts of things, like setting up ...4 days ago- Pictures Tell The Story
National held its ground until late 2023 Verion, Talbot Mills & Curia Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)If we remove outlier results from Curia (National Party November 2023) National started trending down in October 2024.Verion Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)Verian alone shows a clearer deterioration in early ...4 days ago- High-impact climate risks, low-probability? Think again
In a recent presentation, I recommended, quite unoriginally, that governments should have a greater focus on higher-impact, lower-probability climate risks. My reasoning was that current climate model projections have blind spots, meaning we are betting ...4 days ago- Daddy
Daddy, are you out there?Daddy, won't you come and play?Daddy, do you not care?Is there nothing that you want to say?Songwriters: Mark Batson / Beyonce Giselle Knowles.This morning, a look at the much-maligned NZ Herald. Despised by many on the left as little more than a mouthpiece for the National ...4 days ago- Monday 17 March
Employers, unions and health and safety advocates are calling for engineered stone to be banned, a day before consultation on regulations closes. On Friday the PSA lodged a pay equity claim for library assistants with the Employment Relations Authority, after the stalling of a claim lodged with six councils in ...4 days ago- Luxon announces start of India trade deal talks
Long stories shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy: Christopher Luxon surprises by announcing trade deal talks with India will start next month, and include beef and dairy. Napier is set to join Whakatane, Dunedin and Westport in staging a protest march against health spending restraints hitting their hospital services. Winston Peters ...4 days ago- In a divided world, momentum behind negotiations grows
At a time of rising geopolitical tensions and deepening global fragmentation, the Ukraine war has proved particularly divisive. From the start, the battle lines were clearly drawn: Russia on one side, Ukraine and the West ...4 days ago- Mercury Lane, and Auckland Transport’s habitual failure
When the City Rail Link opens (circa 2026), all signs point to it immediately being a huge success. It will be transformational for Auckland, with ripple effects across the city. Thousands of people an hour will pour in and out of the new and upgraded stations. So, as well as ...4 days ago- Bernard’s Pick ‘n’ Mix at 6am on March 17
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, Newsroom-$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, ...4 days ago- 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 9, 2025 thru Sat, March 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. We are still interested ...5 days ago- Maxing out – next steps for progressives
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...5 days ago- Bernard’s Soliloquy for the week to March 16
The Government dominated the political agenda this week with its two-day conference pitching all manner of public infrastructure projects for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest in our political economy this week: The Government ploughed ahead with offers of PPPs to pension fund managers ...5 days ago- Eating Like Kings
You know that it's a snake eat snake worldWe slither and serpentine throughWe all took a bite, and six thousand years laterThese apples getting harder to chewSongwriters: Shawn Mavrides.“Please be Jack Tame”, I thought when I saw it was Seymour appearing on Q&A. I’d had a guts full of the ...5 days ago- David now turns to Rodney with a stricken face
So here we are at the wedding of Alexandra Vincent Martelli and David Seymour.Look at all the happy prosperous guests! How proud Nick Mowbray looks of the gift he has made of a mountain of crap plastic toys stuffed into a Cybertruck.How they drink, how they laugh, how they mug ...5 days ago- Fact brief – Is waste heat from industrial activity the reason the planet is warming?
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is waste heat from industrial activity the reason the planet is warming? Waste heat’s contribution to global warming is a small fraction of ...5 days ago- On why complaining about incompetent David Seymour’s School Lunches is the only rational respo...
Some continue to defend David Seymour on school lunches, sidestepping his errors to say:“Well the parents should pack their lunch” and/or “Kids should be grateful for free food.”One of these people is the sitting Prime Minister.So I put together a quick list of why complaint is not only appropriate - ...6 days ago- Whistling Past The Graveyard.
“Bugger the pollsters!”WHEN EVERYBODY LIVED in villages, and every village had a graveyard, the expression “whistling past the graveyard” made more sense. Even so, it’s hard to describe the Coalition Government’s response to the latest Taxpayers’ Union/Curia Research poll any better. Regardless of whether they wanted to go there, or ...6 days ago- Jane Kelsey – Transforming neoliberalism
Prof Jane Kelsey examines what the ACT party and the NZ Initiative are up to as they seek to impose on the country their hardline, right wing, neoliberal ideology. A progressive government elected in 2026 would have a huge job putting Humpty Dumpty together again and rebuilding a state that ...6 days ago- Ain’t No Use
See I try to make a differenceBut the heads of the high keep turning awayThere ain't no useWhen the world that you love has goneOoh, gotta make a changeSongwriters: Arapekanga Adams-Tamatea / Brad Kora / Hiriini Kora / Joel Shadbolt.Aotearoa for Sale.This week saw the much-heralded and somewhat alarming sight ...6 days ago- Bernard’s Pick ‘n’ Mix on Saturday, March 15
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...6 days ago- Is the New Zealand Healthcare System Doing Badly?
By international standards the New Zealand healthcare system appears satisfactory – certainly no worse generally than average. Yet it is undergoing another redisorganisation.While doing some unrelated work, I came across some international data on the healthcare sector which seemed to contradict my – and the conventional wisdom’s – view of ...7 days ago- Europe can still prevent a Russian victory
When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he knew that he was upending Europe’s security order. But this was more of a tactical gambit than a calculated strategy ...7 days ago - A Palate Cleanser
- Release: National at sea over Defence jobs
National is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at New Zealand’s Defence Force, while at the same time it talks up plans to increase focus and spending in Defence. ...19 hours ago - Release: National standards returning by stealth
It’s been revealed that the Government is secretly trying to bring back a ‘one-size fits all’ standardised test – a decision that has shocked school principals. ...21 hours ago
- Release: Kiwis still struggling as economy stumbles along
Kiwis aren’t feeling any better off despite figures showing a very slight growth in GDP in the December quarter. ...23 hours ago
- Greens call for compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe
The Green Party is calling for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, a 77-year-old kaumātua on hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, after visiting him at the prison. ...2 days ago - Another failed ETS auction, another indictment on the Govt’s climate credibility
The ETS auction’s failure today is yet another clear sign that the Government is failing us all on climate action. ...2 days ago
- Release: Luxon quick to give away principled position on nukes
Christopher Luxon seems to have thrown New Zealand’s principled anti-nuclear advocacy under a bus. ...2 days ago
- NZ must act on Israel’s slaughter of children
The Green Party is calling on Government MPs to support Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence and illegal actions in Palestine, following another day of appalling violence against civilians in Gaza. ...2 days ago
- Release: Still no certainty for disability communities
One year on from the Government’s abrupt and callous changes to disability funding, the community still has no idea what the future holds. ...3 days ago
- Green Party backs volunteer firefighters in their call for ACC recognition
The Green Party stands in support of volunteer firefighters petitioning the Government to step up and change legislation to provide volunteers the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts. ...3 days ago
- Stand Up for Palestine: A Call to Action Against Israels Treacherous Attack
At 2.30am local time, Israel launched a treacherous attack on Gaza killing more than 300 defenceless civilians while they slept. Many of them were children. This followed a more than 2 week-long blockade by Israel on the entry of all goods and aid into Gaza. Israel deliberately targeted densely populated ...3 days ago
- MP Views: Living Strong, The Economy, Servicing Our Nation, The Golden Egg, and 4 Year Terms
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...4 days ago - Shane Jones has no shame
Shane Jones’ display on Q&A showed how out of touch he and this Government are with our communities and how in sync they are with companies with little concern for people and planet. ...5 days ago
- Release: National botches health funding numbers
Health Minister Simeon Brown’s claim that the Government has put $16.68 billion into the health system over three years is wrong. ...6 days ago
- Government tramples on the rights of disabled migrant children
The Green Party is condemning the Government’s move to tighten access to visas for disabled children. ...7 days ago
- Release: Auckland needs second harbour crossing
Labour supports Minister Chris Bishop’s call for input on the second Waitematā Harbour crossing. ...7 days ago
- Speech: Barbara Edmonds’ speech to NZ Investment Summit 2025
I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak to you today about how we make overseas investment work for all New Zealanders. ...7 days ago
- Release: Labour does not support PPPs for prisons
Labour does not support the private ownership of core infrastructure like schools, hospitals and prisons, which will only see worse outcomes for Kiwis. ...1 week ago
- Dunedin Futures report should be a wake-up call
The newly released report on the South Dunedin Future Programme must be a wake-up call for our Government. ...1 week ago
- Release: Members’ Bill makes wage theft a crime
Workers will now be able to go to the Police and report their employer if they are not being paid wages they’re owed. ...1 week ago
- Missed opportunity to stop the stealing of Māori land
The Green Party is disappointed the Government voted down Hūhana Lyndon’s member’s Bill, which would have prevented further alienation of Māori land through the Public Works Act. ...1 week ago
- Release: Labour supports sanctions against Israel’s illegal occupation
The Labour Party will support Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill which would allow sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt procurement plan cuts wages and trashes the environment
The Government’s new procurement rules are a blatant attack on workers and the environment, showing once again that National’s priorities are completely out of touch with everyday Kiwis. ...1 week ago
- Procurement proposals pose risk to people and planet
The Green Party is concerned by the impact the Government’s proposed changes to procurement processes could have on people and planet. ...1 week ago
- Just six Government MPs needed to pass Unlawful Occupation of Palestine Sanctions Bill
With Labour and Te Pāti Māori’s official support, Opposition parties are officially aligned to progress Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in Palestine. ...1 week ago
- Release: Labour’s approach to Māori economy benefits all
Under Labour, the Māori economy went from strength to strength according to the latest report released by MBIE. ...1 week ago
- 20 Years of Success Down the Drain: Govt Gut Whānau Ora
Te Pāti Māori extends our deepest aroha to the 500 plus Whānau Ora workers who have been advised today that the govt will be dismantling their contracts. For twenty years , Whānau Ora has been helping families, delivering life-changing support through a kaupapa Māori approach. It has built trust where ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party launches petition to allow Pacific whānau visa-free access
The Green Party is launching a petition calling on the Government to extend visa-free travel to visitors from Pacific Island nations. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour welcomes reinstatement of Heath NZ board
Labour welcomes Simeon Brown’s move to reinstate a board at Health New Zealand, bringing the destructive and secretive tenure of commissioner Lester Levy to an end. ...2 weeks ago
- NZ’s Public Health system dealt yet another blow
This morning’s announcement by the Health Minister regarding a major overhaul of the public health sector levels yet another blow to the country’s essential services. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Chris Hipkins’ State of the Nation address
Ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa It is a great pleasure to be here with you this morning. ...2 weeks ago
- NZ First Introduces Bill to Remove Woke ‘DEI’ Regulations from Public Service
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will ensure employment decisions in the public service are based on merit and not on forced woke ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ targets. “This Bill would put an end to the woke left-wing social engineering and diversity targets in the public sector. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour outlines priorities of next Govt
The next Labour Government will prioritise jobs, health and homes so Kiwis and Kiwi businesses have the opportunity to thrive. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Refreshed team to drive Labour’s 2026 priorities
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has unveiled a new economic team as part of a caucus reshuffle. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour calls for end to police referrals to Destiny programmes
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No feed items found.
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The headline says Twyford should be ’embarrassed’ about his Kiwibuild ‘blunder’. Yet it should be the Newshub subs who are embarrassed.
If this is the level at which they try to trip up Government Ministers for clicks then they are entrenching their position as a tabloid media outlet.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/09/phil-twyford-admits-embarrassing-kiwibuild-blunder.html
“It was the developer who made that statement,” was his excuse. “Did I personally fact-check it? No.” So this “embarrassing mistake in a KiwiBuild press release” was actually made by who?? The person who wrote the press release.
Are you really suggesting that Newshub got their reportage wrong? “”The @340 Onehunga development is a six-minute walk from Onehunga train station and on a main bus route with connections to the CBD and Auckland Airport,” Mr Twyford said in the release.” Looks to me like the mistake was made by the KiwiBuild author, not Newshub.
Hi Dennis. I’m not saying Newshub got their reportage wrong. I’m saying it isn’t worthy of reportage. 17,000 errors* of this sort happen every single day in this country.
It’s a daft piece but not all bad – it could be considered extra publicity for Labour’s Kiwibuild program which is now in the news cycle permanently and has multiple references across many news sites.
The brand ‘Kiwibuild’ if I can call it that will be entrenched in NZ society for years to come and it will benefit many thousands of Kiwis.
Not looking good for National in 2020.
*Yes, I made that number up.
Oh, okay. Yeah will be trivia to most kiwis – only locals may be irritated. Media beat-up, fair enough..
Agree its a minor detail…15 mins verse 6 mins.
The headline should be its not Kiwibuild rather Kiwibuy.
Twyford’s spin of Kiwibuild will be in addition to what the private sector can deliver is in tatters.
Currently, Twyford is taking current private sector pipeline stock and turning it into a lottery for “an affordable home buyer”.
Brand Kiwibuild is making positive daily headlines. It’s going to be Kiwisaver, which everyone loves, all over again.
That the first few were already in development? No-one cares.
Until Twyford conjures up more tradesmen, Kiwibuild is pointless, it’s just redistributing existing resources.
Redistributing existing resources to Kiwibuild is great. Those resources go to building affordable homes directly for first home buyers instead of the open market where greedy baby-boomer investors and offshore buyers lurk.
Labour also are working on better apprentice schemes instead of calling young people unless druggies like the last PM was fond of doing.
Problem is for Twyford is that these tradesmen don’t work for him, he’s nothing more than a client.
If the businesses they work for can’t make a decent profit from Kiwibuild homes they’ll pin the pin or ask for more money which will basically sink Kiwibuild.
It’s not like there’s a shortage of work.
Those tradies and the people they work for will weigh up whether it’s best to take on big block of work for a lower price or go back to the one off jobs. That’s what I do all the time.
Such a big client has a lot more buying power and that’s what this industry needs – a massive shake up.
Who is upset by that? A few developers, land bankers and the materials retailers. No one give a toss.
Big clients can be more hassle then what they’re worth.
You can lose a lot of autonomy when you work for big clients, they sort of think you’re just employees that they can boss around and get you to do whatever they want.
Personally, I hated big clients.
Builders don’t need autonomy. There’s nothing creative about what they do. Just follow the plan and try not to screw up.
Not true.
If you follow the plan you are certain to screw up.
Never seen a house that could be built exactly to plan.
Architects plans being the worst.
Builders used to do house plans, until the law created a job guarantee for university graduates.
Go along with that.
I remember a builder I used to do work for, the architect gave him a plan to quote/work off.
Three stories with a roof garden with a support pillar that went through all three floors as well as hold up a pergola on the roof garden
it was up to him to make it work and if it leaked it was on him.
I think you miss the point Muttonbird…the Kiwibuild put forward by Tywford was to build another 10,000 houses a year than already being done.
National will be reminding everyone of this fact.
Personally, I want to see building massively ramped up and the cost of land/building to go down. I don’t like smoke and mirrors though…
National might like to remind everyone of that but they in turn should be reminded that they intended to build none.
Na your wrong .
It’s a very modern and I must say elegant solution by Tywford and co . By buying some of the houses of the plans they give the builders confidence to get on with it . And those builders will know that if they play their cards right there is 10 years of work ahead .
Which is fucking gold for any one in business.
Can also be a noose.
Just look at Fletcher’s.
“And those builders will know that if they play their cards right there is 10 years of work ahead .”
The work is already there to do. That is not the issue, Tywford is just rebranding part of the current housing pipeline into “Kiwibuild”.
Still better than National selling off State housing for parking lots. So people could live in cars.
However way short of the extra 15000 State houses we need each year to accommodate all of Nationals imported cheap labour.
A tap that Labour seems unable or unwilling to turn off.
I hate to agree with you – but yes, that was a stupid article. Waste of bandwidth.
John Banks pictured at the bedside of Penny Bright <3
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/09/11/john-banks-and-penny-bright-this-moment-is-legacy/
But who is the one needing support? I can’t tell.
“NZ First leader Winston Peters is blaming a memory lapse for saying all his MPs had signed a contract holding them liable for an up to $300,000 penalty if they resigned from the party. He has now confirmed that none of the NZ First MPs signed it.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12124674
This is interesting – since Winston said all had sign it.
Thats not a memory lapse – Will be interesting to see if there is more to this.
Alzheimer’s?
Ageist.
I don’t recall you being as critical of keys’ many phopahs and memory lapses.
Typical Winston bullshit! To make it worse his MP’s were not exactly forthcoming with the truth…
Winston being backed into a corner (standing orders) meant he had no choice this time but, to tell the truth.
The wily lawyer eh? He did say it was long time ago when that pledge got circulated as an interim measure until the waka bill went thro. But I agree a wily lawyer would have ensured that all signed it. All or nothing, what’s the difference? None, as it turns out – he said they don’t need to sign it now.
And you know what? That’s a dead give-away that he knows the bill will get enacted. I reckon a verbal agreement in principle has been secured already. I’m not confident that suitable amendments have been made yet – but perhaps his confidence means that agreement has indeed been reached on those also.
Agree…the waka jumping bill will go through (the Greens will vote for it).
The Ardern “captains call” on oil and gas was the tradeoff.
Of course agreement has been reached to enact the waka jumping bill, Dennis.
As I reported here weeks ago, the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Bill aka the waka jumping bill has been through Select Committee, and was back in the House in the week of 7 – 9 August. It then went through its 2nd Reading and was halfway through its Committee of the House debates when the House arose on 9 August.
Since then it has been sitting in what I call the “so close but yet so far” part of the daily Order Paper awaiting the continuation of the Committee stages and then the final 3rd Reading. Quite a bit of juggling has gone on daily keeping it in that position with quite a few other Bills moved up above it to keep it in the ‘close but not close enough’ zone to get back into the House.
As I know you really don’t know parliamentary procedure, standing orders etc, the Leader of the House holds the power to decide where Government Bills are place on the OP and who is the Leader of the House – Chris Hipkins*.
With the reporting back to the House of the Employment Relations Amendment Bill last Friday by the Education and Workforce Select Committee, this is now also on the Order Paper – currently right below the waka jumping Bill.
So one bill that NZF really wants through right next to one that Labour wants through …. Quelle coincidence! LOL.
Forget all the stirring by National in the last day or so. Both Bills will get through. And National knows it.
* Hipkins and his wife’s second child is due in the next week or so but complications mean that it is apparently has to be full cesarean birth and the Deputy Leader, Iain Lees-Galloway, will be taking over in the next week or so for four weeks while Hipkins is on parental leave – hence National targeting him in the last few days.
There has been a mad scramble this week to get through a number of Bills for which Hipkins is the lead Minister before he goes on leave – eg https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/daily-progress-in-the-house/daily-progress-for-thursday-13-september/
Thanks for that. Perception of order vs chaos rebalancing now I guess, but they really ought to be managing the look better because it will affect their poll rating. May be worth watching the parliament channel today?
Re the juggling around of Bills on the daily Order Paper, this is quite normal and has been going on ‘forever’ under the Westminister and similar forms of Parliamentary process which have evolved over centuries and which are used in many countries albeit with some local variations.
It only seems chaotic to those not familiar with these processes and the reasons for them. Sorry if I seem a “know all” but my decades in the public service and the type of work I did required me to have good knowledge of the processes, and I also did quite a few short and long term secondments to Parliament in that time. I also did some tutoring in these processes etc.
My view is that some of the Labour Cabinet members need a little more discipline and restraint – either of the self discipline nature or from others (not just the PM, but also the Whips – that is actually the latter’s job rather than the PM’s). Ruth Dyson is currently the Senior Labour Whip with two newies, Kiritapu Allan and Kieran McAulty as Junior Whips. In time I think the latter, Allan in particular, will be excellent but there currently seems to be a bit of slackness.
The Leader of the House (Hipkins) should also have a role in this but IMHO Hipkins has too much on his Ministerial portfolio plate with Education, State Services, and Ministerial Services as well as Leader of the House. Hipkins is of course one of Ardern’s closest colleagues due to their early start together as youngies in Helen Clark’s office along with Robertson.
However, I really think Ardern needs to do a rethink of her current Cabinet and their portfolios in the very near future – and this would be quite normal at this stage in the three year cycle. IMHO there are a number of others with too much on their plate, and also some others there in the Labour Caucus with several years’ experience under their belts who could take on more responsibility – plus a really good bunch of newies from the last election who could now start getting portfolio experience in Associate Minister/Undersecretary support roles.
Back to the present, today is Friday so Parliament is not sitting as they only sit Tues, Weds and Thurs unless under urgency, so nothing new happening on the Parliamentary channel today. Were you thinking of watching the TV channel? On the other hand, there is masses of watching available at any time on the On Demand section of the Parliament website.
You really should spend some time on the Parliamentary Website, Dennis. It is a wonderful source on information about how Parliament works etc and has lots of tutorials etc available on various aspects.
The Main page is https://www.parliament.nz/en and this now has a series of current subjects that pop up and lead to more info on those subjects.
The Visit and Learn section has lots of info under the headings Our System of Government, How Parliament Works, How Laws are Made for starters. All are easy reading and informative and lead to other sections of the website with more info. Lots more detailed stuff on the day to day operations in the Parliamentary Business section.
Thanks for those insights. I actually didn’t know they have a three-day work week. I’m too busy usually to educate myself about parliament, and the marginal interest I have currently is solely due to the Greens arriving in govt, to be honest.
So my motive for commenting here is just to help the GP via a little reframing when it seems apt to do so. I’d rather participate in a political forum that was more proactive but social media design hasn’t got there yet.
I agree a cabinet reshuffle would help. I hope you’re right re Labour improvement but gave up expecting that long ago. 🙄
T in C.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dm8CMShUwAA1pvl.jpg
Hehehe yeah I love that one – was going to post it myself. So very apt! I love the look of Melania following behind. The look of an parent following along behind their errant child.
Pussy Riot protestor gets poisoned.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45505064
If he survives, he may have to get used to this sort of thing happening again – Vladimir_Vladimirovich_Kara-Murza got poisioned twice (so far) – he is of the Peoples Freedom Party (formerly led by Boris Nemtsov until he was shot).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Vladimirovich_Kara-Murza
Getting in before Ed does.
Nope – nothing to see here. Not the Russians at all. (Insert false equivalence and a random youtube clip of your choice).
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Boris was worth more to the US, dead. Who killed him is just, detail.
LOL. Perhaps Ed could be friends with my ‘new found friend’ in these three links who will come up with a very long winded explanation why it is definitely not the “Russions who done it” – in good but stilted English.
Russian Troll Factory troll maybe? Or a “tankie” as joe90 suggested in the thread?
https://thestandard.org.nz/kremlin-killers/#comment-1522609
https://thestandard.org.nz/kremlin-killers/#comment-1523171 (repeat of above a day or so later)
https://thestandard.org.nz/kremlin-killers/#comment-1523200
I see you armchair cold warriors are busy fomenting war.
Why don’t you all sign up and head to Latvia?
Perhaps you should familiarise yourself with Russia’s thuggish oppression of Latvia.
Ed – again you wish death on people or maybe just shrapnel wounds and other such maiming. So the vegan ,’don’t hurt the animal’s’ is happy for people to be hurt. Sick.
No, stalker, you are wrong.
I advocate for a much more peaceful foreign policy than the one recommended by many on this site.
However, it seems unfair for others to die because armchair warriors seek conflict in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, Yemen, Venezuela and Russia.
These neocons should fight their own battles.
Namaste.
‘Why don’t you all sign up’ shows the person you are – scum
Well you want war.
Practice what you preach.
You have no valid argument.
Just ad hominems.
Are you a socialist?
Yes I am a socialist.
You ask people to go to war = warmonger
Oh no, you can’t be a socialist if you disagree with Ed. You must be a neo-liberal.
Ed can’t reconcile his own obvious contradictions – he is continually walking in a circle…
Te reo week.
I’m a whitey in my 70s so I’m well past speaking Maori.
However my best mate and I have reached a truce.
He’s a bit brown, as is my wife, children, grands and greats.
So, we’ve have decided that he will pronounce te reo correctly and I will pronounce English correctly.
Trouble is he’s much more articulate in both languages, so I’m on a hiding to nothing.
I need help people, or I’m buying beers forever
Te Reo Week – I’m in my mid-70s and about to join a local Te Reo class in my local small town – a town which has a rich Maori heritage which basically has been sidelined by the British settlement which seemed to overarch the Taha Maori history.
I did a night school class ostensibly to learn Te Reo, however what I came away with was a deeper understanding of tangata whenua tikanga.
E.g. women not speaking in the early exchanges on a marae, had nothing to do with chauvinism but was to protect the wahine from the curses that were bandied about.
Also the rich lyrical style of Te Reo.
Quick tip: for pronunciation of the vowels remember this sentence,
Are there three or two?
A. E. I. O. U.
My thoughts this week are with Sniggering Guyno, who has missed his chance to shine. I can only assume he actually choked on his own smugness.
There are some vids on Polyglot Maori.
https://polyglotinprogresssite.wordpress.com/maori-te-reo-maori/
And Omniglot Useful Maori Phrases is good.
https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/maori.php
I like the little sstory about the one –
My hovercraft is filled with eels? Something to do with Monty Python.
This just shows that learning languages can take you in different directions than expected. If you just learned the vowels and tried to pronounce placenames better that is a big step – some of them really get butchered.
Difficult days ahead for some folk.
The Philippines is bracing for Typhoon Mangkhut, the most powerful storm this year, with millions living in its path and fears its rains could combine with monsoonal storms that could spark landslides and flash flooding.
Philippines officials have ordered evacuations and closed schools and offices as Typhoon Mangkhut approached, carrying sustained winds of 265km/h (165mph) and gusts of up to 325km/h (201mph). It is forecast to make landfall on Saturday.
The Philippine Red Cross said its emergency workers were on standby. Richard Gordon, its chairman, said: “We’re worried for the 10 million people in the Philippines living in the path of this destructive storm, including those who have been displaced several times due to the monsoon rains last July and August.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/13/typhoon-mangkhut-storm-and-monsoon-philippines
http://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/real-time/westpac/movies/gmsirn/gmsirn_loop.html
http://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/real-time/storm.php?&basin=westpac&sname=26W&invest=NO&zoom=4&img=1&vars=11111000000000000000&loop=0
Maori language week, rock on brothers. \m/ \m/