We should be wary of Seymour’s bill. I know of two people, who are impeccably credible who believe that their loved ones were euthanized unofficially at the local hospice. Were this bill to pass, we will hear even more and more whispers.
Bill English has no right to complain either. He helped implement health reforms that essentially restricted access to health care for the poor and vulnerable who so suddenly cares about.
We should be wary of Seymour’s bill. I know of two people, who are impeccably credible who believe that their loved ones were euthanized unofficially at the local hospice
And the problem with that is? you’re in hospice because you’re going to die.
If I was dying and in pain and someone could end it all painlessly and in a way that didn’t cause stress to my family, then I’d gladly take that opportunity if it was offered.
Far better for your family then stumbling across you having bled out from slitting your wrists or any of the other multitude of ways you can end your life.
Agree with BM here, and of course they do it in Hospices, are people that sheltered from reality? It’s always as a last resort, it really is. All Seymours bill is going to do if passed is add more bureaucracy, ironic really coming from ACT.
All Seymours bill is going to do if passed is add more bureaucracy, ironic really coming from ACT.
Not if you have a look at their actions rather than their listen to their words. Their bills always increase the bureaucracy – just usually upon poor people.
Nope. I’m kind-of ambivalent about euthenasia. On the one hand it seems reasonable that people should be able to ‘die with dignity’, and on the other hand, ACT and the National Party author rhetoric that supports eugenics, and pass laws that kill poor people.
So perhaps some sort of quid pro quo should be arranged.
I have read about the not eating/drinking. It is surprising how long it takes to die. Our bodies are programmed to keep us going, our faithful servants, and won’t give up when we want them to.
If we could get a thoughtful, thorough legal pathway that enables us to go when we want to, how good that would be. Something arranged, but in the background for when we chose, the will made, the accounts and policies to hand, and with family informed and involved and those who wanted, to be there at or around the time. Being there with someone dying is always hard, but if someone wants to go before everything shuts down, or the pain became too intense, you all could talk and reminisce and hold hands, and cry and share feelings and understand that it was just a bit shorter time than otherwise and easier for you all.
Seeing that living to 50 was a big thing at one time, how can it be regarded as natural to keep being revitalised with hospital visits, transfusions etc etc
so people can live to 90 and beyond. And it is unpleasant and gruesome to read of the visions that come into people’s heads because others want choice of time to die, ie talking about Nazis etc.
Just ensure that there is plenty of opportunity for people in the Choice of Death groups to be involved in drawing up draft legislation to go before the Select Committee and then sort out the objections of those who want to speak, as to where they are coming from. Some people will argue about everything because they refuse to consider it. They should state that at the beginning of any objections and disagreement.
There are some so assiduous at deciding other people’s lives for them that they will hold protests outside the hall where a speaker about euthanasia is invited to a meeting. Learning and thinking is not allowed in their minds. The prejudice of such people is absolute and they want to force their own ideas and objections on to others. They should have the right to their own extended old age, but not insist that others cannot do what they want and be given the right and opportunity to do.
Thanks Draco. It’s good that there are some people thinking about this matter and seeing that, with careful legal processes spelling out the basics and properly supervised, it could turn out to be a boon for old people.
Someone still feeling good could organise a great party and invite old friends, people from school, all the family, the present friends and acquaintances and have a bang-up party uniting everyone in a social event very pleasurable to remember. (Should have some music too.)
Enjoy your money instead of hobbling around getting less mobile and savvy and saving it to spend on aged care and sit in a chair waiting to die.
People really shouldn’t use the term euthanasia when they mean murder. “Unofficially euthanized” to me implies an unspoken about arrangement between the patient and whatever staff they can get to help them. That’s not murder and it doesn’t help to conflate the two.
Birchfield if he interfered with that beautifully crafted plaque would be guilty of vandalism and should be jailed or be heavily fined for encouraging others to commit an act of destruction and vandalism. It’s time that such antisocial elements are given the sanctions that they deserve.
This does get worse & worse. — A Golden Bay couple suing police for being wrongly targeted in a 1080 blackmail investigation have been shocked to discover their home was bugged.
To be fair, if the tape had been labelled as a giveaway and the “poem” had been about rainbows and unicorn farts, it probably wouldn’t have drawn the same response.
ISTR the charges were dismissed (might be wrong), but even so the response was proper. Especially as the problem with those situtations is that even if you’re sure the person who called it in had had too much coffee that day, if you take it casually and it turns out to be real, your arse is on the block.
It wasn’t the only give-away tape. Others had been put up and taken by people with no problem.
The response was bullshit. It’s an expression of a nasty and aggressive fearfulness.
The lesson (it would seem) is never to take the piss out of that nasty, aggressive fearfulness because…well, it gets all nasty, aggressive and fearful.
And yes, the case was stopped. But not before it had driven some poor bastard up the wall.
Oh, others had been left without problems, so that’s fine then. Bollocks.
And if it was supposed to be a piss take, then he got the exact response he was after because he knew what the reaction would be.
I’d just been under the impression that he was a pretentious jerk who didn’t consider the reactions of people who were unfamiliar with his status as an “underground” artist, and take an out-of-place package with violent text attached to it simply at face value. Your position seems to be that it was a satirical commentary on bomb scares made by something that looked like a bomb, and everybody who thought it looked like a bomb was being foolish because it wasn’t a bomb even though it was supposed to look like one?
Nah. Guess not. Just as nasty, fearful and (defensively) aggressive as that which deserves “ripped” – a cotton candy wrapped liberal though and through.
I don’t care if he complied with norms. I just don’t think he should get sympathy for being arrested when he should have known he might cause the bomb alert that occurred. Jump into the tiger cage if you want to make a statement, but people shouldn’t blame the tiger if you get eaten.
Trades hall bombing springs to mind. Low incidence / high consequence events are by definition both. And if someone goes “is that a bomb, it looks supicious”, are you volunteering to wander over and take it apart each and every time?
Yes you do. You reckon it’s fine for there to be consequences meted out in instances where norms aren’t followed and – as seems pretty obvious from your comments – you condone the fearful culture of disproportionate response that has built itself up around those norms.
The Trades Hall bombing wasn’t quite random, was it? (And i asked about instances of random targeting – non-targeted in other words)
Hang on, it’s appropriate to treat it as suspicious and take appropriate action (so call the bomb squad).
It might even be appropriate to initially arrest the man as part of the investigation (although without knowing more detail, that still looks like overkill as opposed to interviewing him).
But trying to charge him with threatening to damage property? That’s either stupid or trying to teach him a lesson. Neither of those are appropriate uses of the law. That action also appears to be suppression of artistic expression and political dissent.
“…what the photo that’s been circulated doesn’t show you is not only that the album’s supposedly threatening cover poem is in fact signed by L$D Fundraiser – a Google term which brings enough hits to work out its a musical project, to say the least – but the poem was actually hand typed onto sheets pulled out from the artist’s expired passport, which traditionally has the number stamped on every page.”
Re the bit you quoted, I suppose it depends how much of that was remotely visible to the policy. The ODT photo isn’t very clear but it looks like the poem only, not the attribution or other detail.
How do you know the trades hall bombing wasn’t random?
More to the point, wasn’t the building the lsd thing was attached to close to or actually the gay bar formerly owned by that publican who skipped town and had some shady connections? Not so random now, is it, if you want to project intent onto the site of the incident.
And how the fuck is anyone supposed to know the pages had passport numbers without getting up really close and personal to a package that someone else had worries about? They’re suypposed to take it apart before they cordon off a safe perimeter in the middle of town? Oh, let’s let people walk past the suspicious package until we’ve googled every line of poetry. And hand-typed actually is a red flag.
Fuck norms, that jerk should have known someone might shit a brick over it. You reckon it was satire, so that means he did know. I think he was probably just a jerk with no thought about how members of the public might interpret his action.
As for the article, the idea that the police “should have pretty readily identified” an underground artist possibly assumes much about your average police officer’s connection with obscure music genres and modern art.
It was a way of getting music out to a broader audience. Was kind of working too by all accounts. (Tapes taken, no bomb squads called.)
Aren’t passport pages obvious enough from a distance? I believe NZ passports, in common with others, have pretty damned obvious watermarks, no? And who-ever belled the cops had, it seems, got suspiciously close enough to read the signed off lyrics…on watermarked and numbered pages.
What gay bar? What publican?
What suspicion? You trying to say that other people who had taken previous tapes were careless idiots, who were just plain lucky that some mad bomb crazed person hadn’t assigned far more strategic significance to the Octagon given its geometric similarity to the Pentagon? 🙂
Fear, it seems does strange things to thought processes, common sense and judgments, aye?
People who took the tapes, yay for them. They picked a strange packet off a random place and it turned out to be a tape from an underground recording artist who is world famous but not in Dunedin, rather than containing drugs, used rubbers, or a bomb.
That doesn’t mean that the people who thought “that shouldn’t be there. Gosh, that note is threatening, better call the cops” overreacted. The cops aren’t qualified to second-guess that decision, that’s bomb disposal’s job. All the cops do is cordon a safe distance and wait for the experts, whatever their personal suspicions.
I’ll tell you the story of that publican when we next run into each other in the supermarket. It’s pretty funny, for a given trail of debt…
I think it was probably more the threat to put 1080 into baby formula, but “1080 activism” isn’t terrorism and that’s the problem. The couple are anti-1080 activists and appear to have been investigated because they’d written letters to Fonterra before. Not illegal letters, just letters. FFS. One would hope the police had more to go on than that. but then there’s the Tūhoe raids.
I suspect the police would have been following the traditional model of more widespread movements, where the small “direct action” cell is given logistical and intelligence support from a larger group, which in turn exists within a larger group of generally sympathetic people.
So those two probabaly weren’t suspected of doing anything directly, but as active members of that population they would have networks of less prominent active people who could in turn be surveilled, and there would be good odds that they are within one or two degrees of separation from the direct action cell..
There are shit loads of people in NZ who are one or two degrees of separation from other people who commit crimes. There’s a problem if we are now saying that is sufficient reason to covertly surveil someone.
But that’s not the level of connection we’re talking about. They were active in that area, people who did the direct action probably had support of some sort, and the people most active would be the people most likely to provide that support.
I think they will win in court. The police went overboard in their response based on flakey thinking imo. This couple are really least likely in just about every way you could imagine.
Did the police search for products that could be used for euthanasia while they were at it? That was something else they were looking into a while ago. They could kill two birds with one stone so to speak.
On this instance- I think the police were correct to bug them. If they were the baddies and police didn’t do everything possible and babys were poisoned- you would be complaining about that.
They were obviously a reasonable suspect.
Also – they have no idea about if it was granted under the terrorism act – they are guessing.
A couple of weeks ago there were rumours that Hosking was in talks with management. Wondered if that suggested a “cooling”?
Anyway they will no doubt exchange them for more frothy populist fare.
Glad to see Hosking go. Will he still have those awful daily homilies on Herald which were often disguised with false headers?
TVNZ is a neoliberal propaganda outlet.
It’s managers, editors and senior business and political staff all work towards the goal of disseminating such propaganda.
Yes and they have been sold the airwaves, part of the commons, without the consent of the people.
We should reappropriate the airwaves from corporations and the finance industry.
The newly elected government has promised to advance the principles of public broadcasting in a multi-platform environment, by supporting Radio New Zealand. But what about the rest of our media environment? Will Cabinet address the obvious shortcomings in media competition law? This would require some understanding of how transnational concentrations of media ownership damage democratic principles and our national identity.
+1 the problem with “private” media is that is is run for profit so its reason for existing is selling stuff to people. And the biggest thing they are selling is Capitalism itself. So any left wing viewpoints will end up very marginalised. Private media is allowed to transmit only those messages approved by its corporate masters.
Not long ago the Australian government swept away the last of their limiting laws on media ownership so now one person/family/corporation can own or influence it all.
Someone I was reading recently said that Murdoch himself had been largely the death of real journalism.
Wouldn’t surprise me, the left doesn’t really do free speech.
Yeah we do. I just don’t think that people on TV should lie and misinform as many of the commenters do.
Public TV should never be the propaganda wing for whoever is in government.
true. It should give facts and informed opinion. Something that hasn’t happened in NZ for some time and so it’s become a fact free area that propagates RWNJ ideology.
Out on the street? Toni is going to spend more time with her family. Hosking’s family will probably be very tired of him soon and beg someone to give him somewhere to talk his head off.
If Hosking could see the writing on the wall he must be drinking too much. It would be a bad sign that he could see I should think.
On the other hand. A countervailing move – would he act as media guru for Jacinda, if she would have him? Sort of like getting a skilled burglar to advise insurance companies on suitable locks and anti-burglary devices. Most of the RW are mercenaries only interested in money. He might be worth getting. But no, he would probably end up like Phil Quin, knowing just enough to be a fly in the ointment for ever, and cunning as a rat causing trouble and aggravation and misinformation.
Larry Elliott (Guardian) makes a straightforward case for a decisive step to the left…. Id like to wholeheartedly agree and his case is compelling ….then I recall that the Nats after 9 disastrous years of austerity and incompetence still managed almost 45% support at the election and I wonder if the populace hasnt been programmed for self harm…
Sort of bulimic you think. Swallow everything, have too many drinks on the strength of the political news, spew, and start the cycle again? It seems to me that the process must be similar to the above, as otherwise how could the Gnats carry on and ride above the pile of horse manure they constantly meet.
With Hosking leaving Seven Sharp….perhap’s John Key’s Brighter Future is now just around the corner…..but thanks of course to Jacinda, Winston and Shaw.
Fonterra should make farms using irrigated water provide swimming pools for the
public drawn from their upstream flow so that wherever you go in Canterbury and Southland there is a place to cool down and swim provided by a grateful farmer ensuring that there is recompense to the public for any loss of amenities suffered because of the farmer sequestration of this precious resource.
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from 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 public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
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 thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
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. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
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 ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdfCcEnJDlY&feature=youtu.be
Yeah – loved it!
We should be wary of Seymour’s bill. I know of two people, who are impeccably credible who believe that their loved ones were euthanized unofficially at the local hospice. Were this bill to pass, we will hear even more and more whispers.
Bill English has no right to complain either. He helped implement health reforms that essentially restricted access to health care for the poor and vulnerable who so suddenly cares about.
We should be wary of Seymour’s bill. I know of two people, who are impeccably credible who believe that their loved ones were euthanized unofficially at the local hospice
And the problem with that is? you’re in hospice because you’re going to die.
If I was dying and in pain and someone could end it all painlessly and in a way that didn’t cause stress to my family, then I’d gladly take that opportunity if it was offered.
Far better for your family then stumbling across you having bled out from slitting your wrists or any of the other multitude of ways you can end your life.
[deleted]?Do humanity a favour.
[Nope. No place for that shit. Don’t do it again.] – Bill
Agree with BM here, and of course they do it in Hospices, are people that sheltered from reality? It’s always as a last resort, it really is. All Seymours bill is going to do if passed is add more bureaucracy, ironic really coming from ACT.
Not if you have a look at their actions rather than their listen to their words. Their bills always increase the bureaucracy – just usually upon poor people.
We should be wary of Seymour’s bill
Of course we should: everything else ACT has done is toxic.
This is the party that says their betters “shouldn’t be allowed to breed”: their end-game is a death camp.
Are you one of the Sky Pixie fan club?
Nope. I’m kind-of ambivalent about euthenasia. On the one hand it seems reasonable that people should be able to ‘die with dignity’, and on the other hand, ACT and the National Party author rhetoric that supports eugenics, and pass laws that kill poor people.
So perhaps some sort of quid pro quo should be arranged.
BM- you are missing the point. “Unofficially euthanized” implies no consent – this is eugenics or you can call it murder. Since when is that OK?
“Unofficially euthanized”
To me that means
“Doc I’m in excruciating pain 24 hours a day, I just want it to end is there anything you can do?”
Who would have a problem with that?
Just ask them not to replace the drip bag and/or stop drinking.
I have read about the not eating/drinking. It is surprising how long it takes to die. Our bodies are programmed to keep us going, our faithful servants, and won’t give up when we want them to.
If we could get a thoughtful, thorough legal pathway that enables us to go when we want to, how good that would be. Something arranged, but in the background for when we chose, the will made, the accounts and policies to hand, and with family informed and involved and those who wanted, to be there at or around the time. Being there with someone dying is always hard, but if someone wants to go before everything shuts down, or the pain became too intense, you all could talk and reminisce and hold hands, and cry and share feelings and understand that it was just a bit shorter time than otherwise and easier for you all.
Seeing that living to 50 was a big thing at one time, how can it be regarded as natural to keep being revitalised with hospital visits, transfusions etc etc
so people can live to 90 and beyond. And it is unpleasant and gruesome to read of the visions that come into people’s heads because others want choice of time to die, ie talking about Nazis etc.
Just ensure that there is plenty of opportunity for people in the Choice of Death groups to be involved in drawing up draft legislation to go before the Select Committee and then sort out the objections of those who want to speak, as to where they are coming from. Some people will argue about everything because they refuse to consider it. They should state that at the beginning of any objections and disagreement.
There are some so assiduous at deciding other people’s lives for them that they will hold protests outside the hall where a speaker about euthanasia is invited to a meeting. Learning and thinking is not allowed in their minds. The prejudice of such people is absolute and they want to force their own ideas and objections on to others. They should have the right to their own extended old age, but not insist that others cannot do what they want and be given the right and opportunity to do.
+111
Thanks Draco. It’s good that there are some people thinking about this matter and seeing that, with careful legal processes spelling out the basics and properly supervised, it could turn out to be a boon for old people.
Someone still feeling good could organise a great party and invite old friends, people from school, all the family, the present friends and acquaintances and have a bang-up party uniting everyone in a social event very pleasurable to remember. (Should have some music too.)
Enjoy your money instead of hobbling around getting less mobile and savvy and saving it to spend on aged care and sit in a chair waiting to die.
“Unofficially euthanized” implies no consent”
People really shouldn’t use the term euthanasia when they mean murder. “Unofficially euthanized” to me implies an unspoken about arrangement between the patient and whatever staff they can get to help them. That’s not murder and it doesn’t help to conflate the two.
Wording on a plaque unveiled in Greymouth has raised the ire of a West Coast regional councillor….
“(To mark the completion of council leading a re focus of the District to a sustaianable economy after a reliance on extractive industries)”
He suggested taking a delegation to Council calling for its removal or he might even “rip it off myself”.
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/west-coast/councillor-irked-wording-plaque
Perhaps a conflict of interest…. just maybe…
Birchfield if he interfered with that beautifully crafted plaque would be guilty of vandalism and should be jailed or be heavily fined for encouraging others to commit an act of destruction and vandalism. It’s time that such antisocial elements are given the sanctions that they deserve.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/85967384/Two-historic-West-Coast-coal-mines-to-reopen
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0601073/
Peter Aranyi @onThePaepae
This does get worse & worse. — A Golden Bay couple suing police for being wrongly targeted in a 1080 blackmail investigation have been shocked to discover their home was bugged.
https://twitter.com/onThePaepae/status/941173725990346752
The couple believe the police used terrorism laws to bug their home and take samples for DNA testing.
Given the death-threats etc that have been levelled at eg: DOC employees, “1080 activism” probably does fall under the “definition” of terrorism.
Yet another reason why the Terrorism Suppression Act isn’t fit for purpose.
Well, since taping a free give-away demo tape to buildings around town that people can take away is…
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/charge-laid-over-bomb-package
He’s been charged under Section 307 of the Crimes Act: “Threatening to destroy property”.
The TS Act is a different animal entirely. Check out Section 4, for example: the loophole clause for state actors.
The point I was making was about the (a-hem) “sensitivity” of the state and its security apparatus.
Indeed. No-one that paranoid needs more excuses.
To be fair, if the tape had been labelled as a giveaway and the “poem” had been about rainbows and unicorn farts, it probably wouldn’t have drawn the same response.
ISTR the charges were dismissed (might be wrong), but even so the response was proper. Especially as the problem with those situtations is that even if you’re sure the person who called it in had had too much coffee that day, if you take it casually and it turns out to be real, your arse is on the block.
It wasn’t the only give-away tape. Others had been put up and taken by people with no problem.
The response was bullshit. It’s an expression of a nasty and aggressive fearfulness.
The lesson (it would seem) is never to take the piss out of that nasty, aggressive fearfulness because…well, it gets all nasty, aggressive and fearful.
And yes, the case was stopped. But not before it had driven some poor bastard up the wall.
Oh, others had been left without problems, so that’s fine then. Bollocks.
And if it was supposed to be a piss take, then he got the exact response he was after because he knew what the reaction would be.
I’d just been under the impression that he was a pretentious jerk who didn’t consider the reactions of people who were unfamiliar with his status as an “underground” artist, and take an out-of-place package with violent text attached to it simply at face value. Your position seems to be that it was a satirical commentary on bomb scares made by something that looked like a bomb, and everybody who thought it looked like a bomb was being foolish because it wasn’t a bomb even though it was supposed to look like one?
Never a punk then McFlock (back in the day)?
Never ripped the piss out of social “norms” then?
Nah. Guess not. Just as nasty, fearful and (defensively) aggressive as that which deserves “ripped” – a cotton candy wrapped liberal though and through.
If he was taking the piss about a society of fear, he knew what reaction his packages might provoke.
And it’s not like people have never set bombs in NZ before, for whatever reason.
Do fuck off on your “he should have known and complied with norms” bullshit.
And the last time a bomb was targeted in such a way as to take out random members of the public was… when?
I don’t care if he complied with norms. I just don’t think he should get sympathy for being arrested when he should have known he might cause the bomb alert that occurred. Jump into the tiger cage if you want to make a statement, but people shouldn’t blame the tiger if you get eaten.
Trades hall bombing springs to mind. Low incidence / high consequence events are by definition both. And if someone goes “is that a bomb, it looks supicious”, are you volunteering to wander over and take it apart each and every time?
I don’t care if he complied with norms.
Yes you do. You reckon it’s fine for there to be consequences meted out in instances where norms aren’t followed and – as seems pretty obvious from your comments – you condone the fearful culture of disproportionate response that has built itself up around those norms.
The Trades Hall bombing wasn’t quite random, was it? (And i asked about instances of random targeting – non-targeted in other words)
Hang on, it’s appropriate to treat it as suspicious and take appropriate action (so call the bomb squad).
It might even be appropriate to initially arrest the man as part of the investigation (although without knowing more detail, that still looks like overkill as opposed to interviewing him).
But trying to charge him with threatening to damage property? That’s either stupid or trying to teach him a lesson. Neither of those are appropriate uses of the law. That action also appears to be suppression of artistic expression and political dissent.
“…what the photo that’s been circulated doesn’t show you is not only that the album’s supposedly threatening cover poem is in fact signed by L$D Fundraiser – a Google term which brings enough hits to work out its a musical project, to say the least – but the poem was actually hand typed onto sheets pulled out from the artist’s expired passport, which traditionally has the number stamped on every page.”
http://dunedinsound.com/blog/extended-thoughts-on-lsd-fundraiser/
Interesting article, thanks.
Re the bit you quoted, I suppose it depends how much of that was remotely visible to the policy. The ODT photo isn’t very clear but it looks like the poem only, not the attribution or other detail.
How do you know the trades hall bombing wasn’t random?
More to the point, wasn’t the building the lsd thing was attached to close to or actually the gay bar formerly owned by that publican who skipped town and had some shady connections? Not so random now, is it, if you want to project intent onto the site of the incident.
And how the fuck is anyone supposed to know the pages had passport numbers without getting up really close and personal to a package that someone else had worries about? They’re suypposed to take it apart before they cordon off a safe perimeter in the middle of town? Oh, let’s let people walk past the suspicious package until we’ve googled every line of poetry. And hand-typed actually is a red flag.
Fuck norms, that jerk should have known someone might shit a brick over it. You reckon it was satire, so that means he did know. I think he was probably just a jerk with no thought about how members of the public might interpret his action.
As for the article, the idea that the police “should have pretty readily identified” an underground artist possibly assumes much about your average police officer’s connection with obscure music genres and modern art.
Who said anything about satire?
It was a way of getting music out to a broader audience. Was kind of working too by all accounts. (Tapes taken, no bomb squads called.)
Aren’t passport pages obvious enough from a distance? I believe NZ passports, in common with others, have pretty damned obvious watermarks, no? And who-ever belled the cops had, it seems, got suspiciously close enough to read the signed off lyrics…on watermarked and numbered pages.
What gay bar? What publican?
What suspicion? You trying to say that other people who had taken previous tapes were careless idiots, who were just plain lucky that some mad bomb crazed person hadn’t assigned far more strategic significance to the Octagon given its geometric similarity to the Pentagon? 🙂
Fear, it seems does strange things to thought processes, common sense and judgments, aye?
People who took the tapes, yay for them. They picked a strange packet off a random place and it turned out to be a tape from an underground recording artist who is world famous but not in Dunedin, rather than containing drugs, used rubbers, or a bomb.
That doesn’t mean that the people who thought “that shouldn’t be there. Gosh, that note is threatening, better call the cops” overreacted. The cops aren’t qualified to second-guess that decision, that’s bomb disposal’s job. All the cops do is cordon a safe distance and wait for the experts, whatever their personal suspicions.
I’ll tell you the story of that publican when we next run into each other in the supermarket. It’s pretty funny, for a given trail of debt…
I think it was probably more the threat to put 1080 into baby formula, but “1080 activism” isn’t terrorism and that’s the problem. The couple are anti-1080 activists and appear to have been investigated because they’d written letters to Fonterra before. Not illegal letters, just letters. FFS. One would hope the police had more to go on than that. but then there’s the Tūhoe raids.
I suspect the police would have been following the traditional model of more widespread movements, where the small “direct action” cell is given logistical and intelligence support from a larger group, which in turn exists within a larger group of generally sympathetic people.
So those two probabaly weren’t suspected of doing anything directly, but as active members of that population they would have networks of less prominent active people who could in turn be surveilled, and there would be good odds that they are within one or two degrees of separation from the direct action cell..
There are shit loads of people in NZ who are one or two degrees of separation from other people who commit crimes. There’s a problem if we are now saying that is sufficient reason to covertly surveil someone.
But that’s not the level of connection we’re talking about. They were active in that area, people who did the direct action probably had support of some sort, and the people most active would be the people most likely to provide that support.
I think they will win in court. The police went overboard in their response based on flakey thinking imo. This couple are really least likely in just about every way you could imagine.
Did the police search for products that could be used for euthanasia while they were at it? That was something else they were looking into a while ago. They could kill two birds with one stone so to speak.
On this instance- I think the police were correct to bug them. If they were the baddies and police didn’t do everything possible and babys were poisoned- you would be complaining about that.
They were obviously a reasonable suspect.
Also – they have no idea about if it was granted under the terrorism act – they are guessing.
Ignorant comment – how would you know if the police were right in bugging them – let due process work.
Bye bye Mike…. from 7 Sharp…. And there is now dancing in the streets!
Hosking said it was “always good to leave on your own terms and at your own time, often a rare trick in media”.
Don’t believe him.
Think he could see the writing on the wall.
A couple of weeks ago there were rumours that Hosking was in talks with management. Wondered if that suggested a “cooling”?
Anyway they will no doubt exchange them for more frothy populist fare.
Glad to see Hosking go. Will he still have those awful daily homilies on Herald which were often disguised with false headers?
Hopefully he emigrates.
Wouldn’t surprise me, the left doesn’t really do free speech.
If we have politicians deciding who’s on TV then TVNZ days are numbered.
Public TV should never be the propaganda wing for whoever is in government.
Good job.
TVNZ have been a nest of right wing vipers for too long.
I don’t watch TV so I couldn’t care less if Mike Hosking leaves Seven sharp.
Out of interest though apart from Hosking who are the other right-wing vipers?
The media is full of them
You said TVNZ is full of right-wing vipers, who are they?
TVNZ is a neoliberal propaganda outlet.
It’s managers, editors and senior business and political staff all work towards the goal of disseminating such propaganda.
Names? or is this all just deluded paranoid left wing wankery
“If we have politicians deciding who’s on TV then TVNZ days are numbered.”
Strange you jump to that conclusion, don’t remember you doing the same when Campbell got shafted.
Private TV station they can do whatever they please.
TVNZ?
TV3
Yes and they have been sold the airwaves, part of the commons, without the consent of the people.
We should reappropriate the airwaves from corporations and the finance industry.
Yeah private propaganda is fine eh, even if they borrow taxpayers money when no banks are willing to lend to them.
NZ made good coin from that deal, the interest rate was far above what the banks were charging.
Of course, private propaganda is fine, christ that lefty fuckwit Campbell had his own show for ten years.
What probably sunk him is that he forgot he was the employee and thought he could do whatever he wanted.
Those sort of people are toxic to a business and have to be removed, which he was.
Risky loan to the money losing shambles that is TV3. But National has a special relationship with TV3 and many of its employees.
I find it odd that you only condemn State propaganda and not all forms of it.
I find it odd that you only condemn State propaganda and not all forms of it.
Do you consider Campbell live left-wing propaganda?
John Campbell is not socialist. He is like a Democrat.
Do you consider Garner, Young, Richardson, Gower, Tame, Trevett, Smith, Dann, Mora, Watkins……right wing propagandists?
There are so many more neoliberal voices than socialist voices in the media.
“Do you consider Campbell live left-wing propaganda?”
No, he’s a proper journalist, something you seem to have little to no respect for.
He likes right wing propaganda- thestuff we hear all the time
It’s worth reading Wayne Hope’s briefing paper on the history of NZ media ownership – about how public service media has been marginalised, and finance corporations now rule the roost.
We need to take back the airwaves for democratic control.
+1 the problem with “private” media is that is is run for profit so its reason for existing is selling stuff to people. And the biggest thing they are selling is Capitalism itself. So any left wing viewpoints will end up very marginalised. Private media is allowed to transmit only those messages approved by its corporate masters.
Not long ago the Australian government swept away the last of their limiting laws on media ownership so now one person/family/corporation can own or influence it all.
Someone I was reading recently said that Murdoch himself had been largely the death of real journalism.
AKA, The “Murdochisation of the news/media”.
I agree. Comical Ali was more impartial than Hoskings.
Hosking was the propaganda wing for John Key
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z0hJbmeogm4
Wouldn’t surprise me, the left doesn’t really do free speech.
If we have politicians deciding who’s on TV then TVNZ days are numbered.
Public TV should never be the propaganda wing for whoever is in government.
Is that self-satire? if so, it’s quite good.
wonder if Jacinda said ” i want the rightwing bastard gone”
Yeah we do. I just don’t think that people on TV should lie and misinform as many of the commenters do.
true. It should give facts and informed opinion. Something that hasn’t happened in NZ for some time and so it’s become a fact free area that propagates RWNJ ideology.
Like the last 9 years!
National stopping to supplement his wage 🙂
Mike Hosking is super stoked about NZ’s new PM Jacinda Ardern
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV-zfur0Fx8
That should ALWAYS happen.. and just did 🙂 Bye bye hosking no more prime time TVNZ for you.
Trump and Murdoch need someone to be on Fox News.
Thats it, I’m outa here …
https://goo.gl/images/fxApgg
Probably a quiet word in the Koru lounge to have a quiet word to Hosking
Out on the street? Toni is going to spend more time with her family. Hosking’s family will probably be very tired of him soon and beg someone to give him somewhere to talk his head off.
If Hosking could see the writing on the wall he must be drinking too much. It would be a bad sign that he could see I should think.
On the other hand. A countervailing move – would he act as media guru for Jacinda, if she would have him? Sort of like getting a skilled burglar to advise insurance companies on suitable locks and anti-burglary devices. Most of the RW are mercenaries only interested in money. He might be worth getting. But no, he would probably end up like Phil Quin, knowing just enough to be a fly in the ointment for ever, and cunning as a rat causing trouble and aggravation and misinformation.
“He might be worth getting.”
To see even the tiniest bit of something positive in that guy surely means you’re way off course. FFS.
Yep, Hosking is a toxic little twerp who hates Labour so screw him.
He’s also quite thick, has almost no education, and makes no effort to inform himself before one of his drunken rants.
The Gates of Hell must be ajar – RNZ report:
“TVNZ said it would release the new hosts of Seven Sharp in January.”
New hosts Mihirangi Forbes and Martin Bradbury
John Campbell with a ‘free speech’ licence. The RWNJs would go mental!
John Minto and Lucy Lawless.
Sue Bradford and Metiria Turei.
Dotcom, Hager and Jeremy Wells doing his Like Mike impressions.
Mark Richardson and HDPA
Or Soper and du Plessis- keep it in the family.
Let’s all have a jar while the going is good.
John Key a nd his son
With their financial woes a TV3 they might just have to settle for BM and Tanz.
Alwn and James
Reckon you’re all wrong. It’s going to be Colin Craig and Josie Pagani.
Wrong again. It’s Ray Moore, recently out of a job in Alabama and maybe Donnie also looking for a job soon. he’s good with fake news media
Anne and Wayne.
David Slack and Karyn Haye – or even better Karyn Haye and Andrew Fagan – what a riot that would be.
yes please!!!
Now that would be worth watching.
Larry Elliott (Guardian) makes a straightforward case for a decisive step to the left…. Id like to wholeheartedly agree and his case is compelling ….then I recall that the Nats after 9 disastrous years of austerity and incompetence still managed almost 45% support at the election and I wonder if the populace hasnt been programmed for self harm…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/14/governments-control-capitalism-class-war-right-undermine-workers
Sort of bulimic you think. Swallow everything, have too many drinks on the strength of the political news, spew, and start the cycle again? It seems to me that the process must be similar to the above, as otherwise how could the Gnats carry on and ride above the pile of horse manure they constantly meet.
With Hosking leaving Seven Sharp….perhap’s John Key’s Brighter Future is now just around the corner…..but thanks of course to Jacinda, Winston and Shaw.
I realise this is not Bills awa … think he said he’d gladly swim in the nearby Oreti…. perhaps he could come down to wade…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/99821147/three-people-hospitalised-after-swimming-in-mataura-river
Fonterra should make farms using irrigated water provide swimming pools for the
public drawn from their upstream flow so that wherever you go in Canterbury and Southland there is a place to cool down and swim provided by a grateful farmer ensuring that there is recompense to the public for any loss of amenities suffered because of the farmer sequestration of this precious resource.