Daily Review 18/07/2018
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5:30 pm, July 18th, 2018 - 21 comments
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Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...3 days ago
- Release: National buries 1019 planned homes
It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...3 days ago
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- Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations
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The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...4 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...4 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...5 days ago
- ECE no place to cut corners
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...5 days ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...5 days ago
- Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...5 days ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...6 days ago
- Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...6 days ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...6 days ago
- Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...6 days ago
- Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...7 days ago
- Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...7 days ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...1 week ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...1 week ago
- Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...1 week ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
- Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour fully supports greyhound racing ban
The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...2 weeks ago
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Melania is humming that Stephen Stills song….. “So we change partners, Time to change partners, You must change partners………………………………………. “Please”
May of course being a fan of Bouncy Castle rides has a grin on her face and wants to leg-it……….
Do we know where the Tax Payers Union and the Freeze Peach coalition get their funding.
In 2015, David Fisher reported that Jordan Williams would not say where the TPU got it’s money.
And where did the Freeze Peach coalition get $90,000 so quickly?
And they are using that money to bring a suit against Auckland Council for not allowing them to use a venue. They say private organisations won’t provide them with a venue in Auckland either…. and they have all that money?
This is surely a contradiction of TPU’s small government, anti public services ethos?
Anyway, George Monbiot has an article published today about the corruption of democracy and the whole western system by dark money.
So, probably the whole beat up by the Freeze Peach Union is probably not about free speech at all, but about big money yet again leading the public debate and, ultimately undermining democracy.
How about the FSU and TPU being more transparent and telling us all where their funding comes from?
why are you so afraid of a contrary viewpoint?…particularly one thats only likely to attract a few 10s of listeners.
They are being quoted for Stuff articles. Hardly 10 or so readers.
i said 10s….and in any case, is your opinion of your fellow citizens so low that you believe a significant proportion of them would seek to develop a society that would threaten themselves and their loved ones?….think about it…if they had spoken their audience would likely have included a proportion of ex pat South Africans (given the speakers) and thats entirely understandable…they have family/friends there and the SA gov is likely to announce land reclamation without compensation in the next few weeks….how would you react?.
Why do you assume I am afraid of them being heard? They are quite welcome to have a meeting in Auckland as far as I am concerned. I will not be attending or protesting against it.
But, did you not read what I said? I do not think they are terribly interested in free speech but are using the issue. And the media is largely taking them at face value… not to mention Trotter et al.
I am asking about their funding. They have obtained $90,000 very quickly. Meanwhile E-tangata is struggling to get funding to enable Māori and Pacific people to get their views heard more in the mainstream.
Where is the Freeze Peachers’ transparency? Why are the backers afraid to be known? And basically, my comment was particularly triggered by reading Monbiot’s article about dark money. There seems to be a widespread pattern internationally to subvert democratic debate. That is my concern.
I am also now concerned that they seem to be targeting Goff and the Council at the expense of ordinary people. That looks like the Freeze Peachers have a different agenda from what they are claiming.
They are now claiming they can’t get any other venue in Auckland, and have filed a suit against the Council – that will cost many ordinary Aucklanders, many of whom never get a platform to express their views. The Freeze Peachers look like they are trying to pressure the council into giving them a venue, without going to court, and that looks to me like they are now aiming for a big PR victory through these tactics.
Why are you accepting these charlatans at face value?
the latest i have read is the case is going ahead’
I dont take them at face value..in fact i believe they are funded but that dosnt change anything for me…i think that its critical that we allow people to express their views (and have their views expressed) . if we seek to impose an’ acceptable’ narrative we never progress….would you like to be stuck with the mores of the 1950s for example?….we have numerous examples in the past where social attitudes were attempted to be maintained bt suppression…its wrong and ultimately its counterproductive.
If life has taught me anything its that we need to believe in the basic decency of the bulk of people (yes i know there are exceptions)…but for the bulk of human decency to prevail they need the freedom and power to suceed
My initial comment was not about the Canadians having a say in Auckland or being prevented from doing that.
It was about funding, manipulation of the media and public debate and the whole pattern of this being funded by dark money.
You’ve gone off on your own tangent.
My comment was particular motivated by Monbiot’s article on dark money. That and the continuing manipulations of Jordan Williams et al is a far bigger and on-going issue than a couple of Canadian speakers.
my apologies…i saw the Freeze Peach and assumed…..one should never…nor drink and post….i shall now read Monbiot as penance (not really)
sadly Mr Monbiots article is not news
Republicans changed the law recently so the NRA no longer has to disclose who donates to it …
fortunately we dont live in america…but we could make it like there if we try hard enough.
Coincidentally, an arrest too.
Friends of the Business Round Table would be a logical guess; funding flat-earthers, so the real issues don’t make the front page.
A Canadian analyst tells ABC he believes the Russians are holding compromising material on Trump:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/the-world/2018-07-17/what-does-russia-have-on-us-president-donald-trump/10006380
“It was just amazing. She came straight over to me, wagging her whole body and just jumped all over me. I was beside myself.”
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/dog-nabbed-outside-burger-bar-reunited-owners
“”His actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologise,” Mr Musk said.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44870303
That isn’t an apology mate.
Not good.
“At least 11 wildfires are raging inside the Arctic Circle as the hot, dry summer turns an abnormally wide area of Europe into a tinderbox.
The worst affected country, Sweden, has called for emergency assistance from its partners in the European Union to help fight the blazes, which have broken out across a wide range of its territory and prompted the evacuations of four communities.
Tens of thousands of people have been warned to remain inside and close windows and vents to avoid smoke inhalation. Rail services have been disrupted.
The Copernicus Earth observation satellite, which gives daily updates of fires in Europe, shows more than 60 fires burning in Sweden, with sites also ablaze in the Arctic latitudes of Norway, Finland and Russia.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/18/sweden-calls-for-help-as-arctic-circle-hit-by-wildfires
Jeez, that’s not good and I wish them luck to put out those fires, I’m heading back out to my bush block in two weeks time for our peak fire season as she is already dry as a badgers bum atm as it was bad a enough on cracker night 2wks ago for the townie firies.
Good luck out there mate
No calves at calf club this year! Expect sustainable farming to make gains out of that chaos.