Funny, they weren't fussed about the break-ins at the Labour Party and Alliance Party headquarters in the mid 1990s, nor the hacking of Labour's computers around 8-10 years ago.
But I'm sure the police will pull out all stops this time. When it happens to National hell that's bad, but if its Labour well, ho hum so what…
Can you provide references for you claims of break-ins and computer hacking?
The only thing I am aware of was that the Labour Party had left their membership details unprotected, which seems a bit different to the actual theft of computers. That was Cameron Slater and Graeme Edgeler at least though that no crime was committed.
"The question then is: does Cameron Slater have authority to access the server that hosts the Labour Party website? Well, it’s a publicly available website, that they put up there so that people can go to their website and download stuff from that server into their cache to read on their browsers. If Cameron doesn’t have authority (because, for example, it’s not express authority), I don’t see how any of us can lawfully look at it."
Both burglaries occurred in the lead up period to the 1996 election. Yes, I know who was behind them, but can't confirm the identities of the actual thieves who carried out the burglaries.
The Labour Party hack is well documented. Yes, there was controversy over whether it constituted a hack or not but that was just a distraction. Information was stolen from the Labour Party and the police did f**k all. In fact further down the track they actually had the gall to target Nicky Hager as a 'suspected accessory to a crime' while ignoring the criminal activities with which National’s Cameron Slater was associated.
Police bias when it comes to politically motivated criminal activity over the years has been a disgrace.
And don't forget the illegal raid on Kim Dotcom? What's happened to him?
No I am not. I have never heard of these break-ins of the Labour and Alliance Offices and I am curious what they were about. It may of course, if they were in the early part of the decade, simply be because I wasn't living here at the time.
Asking for a reference for something stated by a contributor does not seem, to me, to be in anyway a statement that you are lying. I just want to see what the story is about. I always supply, when asked, links to statements I have made. This was I thought precisely why the second paragraph of the rules for the site seems to require that justification for comments should be available.
Now are there any available links to these stories, please. I would love to see what it was that the Police refused to investigate.
Well. I apologise for jumping to conclusions. The two break-ins in 1996 were the Auckland Central Alliance Party regional headquarters and the Auckland Central Labour Party electorate office. They were linked of course and the aim of the exercise was to gather information about their campaigns. It isn't likely links are available online because of the passage of time.
And I know who ordered the break-ins.
I didn't say they "refused" to investigate but they didn't try very hard – if they tried at all. They're very good at ‘not trying’ when they don’t want to.
Thank you. As I suggested, I wasn't living in New Zealand in 1996 so it is not surprising I hadn't heard of them. I was, from early 1995 until early 1997 touring the West Island. All of it, and boy that is a lot of territory.
I shall have to track the story down offline. As you say, once you get into last century there is very little available to Googles gaze.
Stop your stalking of me and your childish venom. If I say I know who ordered the break-ins then I know who ordered the break-ins.
And yes, I had a good idea who actually did the job but couldn't be 100% sure so no, I did not go to the police. I don’t have a high opinion of the police when it comes to political criminal activity – and for very good reason that neither you nor anyone else here is privy to.
Oh, and btw you'll be delighted to hear it wasn't anyone in the National Party.
What has that got to do with the price of fish? A break-in is a break-in no matter when it happens.
Not only is it useful to compare the difference in responses, but those break-ins were politically motivated and that was a dangerous precedent and should have been taken more seriously by the police at that time.
... the raid was not illegal.
Well something was considered unlawful. I thought it was the raid itself.
You are right, an aspect of the raid was illegal, I think it was the preceding surveillance.
As for the relevance of 25 years, it is because these events are hardly quite the huge things the partisans make them out to be. So something of relatively modest consequence 25 years ago is close to being ancient history. For instance while I might have a very clear memory of what it was like on selection night in North Shore in 1995, for everyone else it is old history.
Be that as it may Wayne but while it is "ancient history" in the eyes of most people, the difference in police responses is still pertinent.
When individuals stole material/equipment for political purposes from Labour and the Alliance Party by way of unlawful entry to their premises it was no mere "modest consequence". It was dirty politics carried out with hostile intent, and caused the victims just as much consternation and anxiety as it would today.
But it was not regarded as important 23 years ago and I venture to suggest that was in part because it was… only Labour and the Alliance Party personnel who were affected.
Anyway, it is a flawed conversation now, because it looks like National’s break-in was part of opportunist burglaries in the area targeting mainly laptops.
"The only thing I am aware of was that the Labour Party had left their membership details unprotected, which seems a bit different to the actual theft of computers."
Not this again. Lay people routinely use the word hack to refer to things that tech people don't. It is normal in English for this to happen (tech vs lay language usage).
As for comparisons, most people who give their personal details to a political party don't expect those details to be accessed by political opponents for political gain. In other words, it was wrong. Let's not forget that Slater went on to orchestrate an attempt at hacking TS, amongst his many other dubious activities.
I’m unconvinced that my argument flies as well. I was thinking out loud. The arguments against it (for example, the one from lawyer Felix Geiringer in response to my comment) have quite a bit going for them. I don’t think it is clear cut.
When you put an internal link in a comment via a straight cut and paste, the system changes that to the name of the post (without all the URL detail). Your link still works.
Ok. Thanks. It just looks funny and I thought I must have screwed it up somehow. I assume this is only if the URL is the same as the place where you are posting it, which is of course what I was doing here?
I must revert to my old habit of clicking on any link I put up as soon as I post it. I always used to do it but I have gotten lazy. As you say it actually works just fine.
TS has some newish linking changes (happened while I was away). The other main one is that if you cut and paste a link to a TS comment, the link will revert back to the post (rather than the comment). The way around that is to use the html tags to insert a link.
The only thing I am aware of was that the Labour Party had left their membership details unprotected, which seems a bit different to the actual theft of computers.
The ignorant tend to call data theft "hacking" and imagine highly skilled coders wearing hoodies in dark rooms coming up with fancy ways to bypass security protocols. In reality, most of it is exactly like the example above: someone screws up and data that should have been protected is left exposed to the unscrupulous and unethical, who put time and effort into finding such exposed data. Whether you call data theft under those circumstances "hacking" or not depends on your enthusiasm for drama, but it's still data theft. If it's not illegal under our legislation, that's a problem with our legislation, not an endorsement of the theft.
But Slater is poisonous and a complete failure. His was a career in corrupt and criminal activity and that has been proven time and time again, so why on earth would anyone be fussed that he was hacked.
It's a good thing that Slater has been crushed because it rids NZ of a particularly odious form of cancer.
Solid public interest defence for publishing information derived from that theft, but didn't the hacker admit at the time it was illegal?
By contrast I've never seen Master Slater admit doing anything wrong – indeed he has wasted many a judge's time claiming absolute purity of thought and deed.
Just don’t tell Simon that Police officers are having coffees with MPs or emotional junior staffers from the electorate offices. The poor guy’s already worried sick about top cops having cups of coffee with Ministers.
I think most systems switched off 32bit and to 64 bit unix epoch times quite a long time again. I know I did. And that is even on the little Arm 32bit processors.
Most things I work on tend to use struct timeval. 64bit seconds since the unix epoch, and 64 bit micro seconds.
so according to the orange menace no one was hurt during the little bombing raid on their Airbase in Iraq by Iran.
well funny that, cause this is the second article now that speaks of wounded soldiers being evacuated due to injuries sustained during the attack.
The first eleven were evacuated to Ramstein Airbase in Germany with 'concussions' and now this diddy about 16 being evacuated to Saudi Arabia with severe injuries.
i consider the orange menace to be as competent as i considered ronald reagan to be competent, and both were/are currently adivised by the same people. its a bit the iran/contra affair redux. the iranians will be still there when america has nuked itself.
in the meant time its the boots on the ground that die.
And there was me thinking that "fatal" was like, y'know – dead?
"16 US military men with fatal injuries sustained during Iran's retaliatory missile strikes on Ain Al-Assad base earlier this month have been taken to a hospital…"
I did give the article another few secs of reading, but gave the fuck up with the Kuwaiti paper supposedly relying on "quoted [anonymous] informed sources as saying"
There were no injuries (let alone fatalities) because Iran gave prior notice of their retaliation precisely to avoid giving the US a 'go to' excuse for fucking war.
there is not one person in this admin that wants to go on record, not even the press secretary. tells you lot does it not? as for the no fatalities. yeah, right, tui.
These guys supposedly were in the hangar with the drones blahblahblah.
They had casualties and they had injuries. I am not the betting kind, but i bet you a pint.
There is a fucked up mix of war mongering "permanent state" actors and Democratic "cold war" warriors sitting right behind the US admin's "rapture" fundamentalists right now. The Iranian government is too rational and smart to offer them up an easy pretext to rain down destruction.
You really think the US wouldn't have been parading "dead babies" and getting on its moral high horse skeletal war horse given half a chance?
So yes, i think they will try to hide very much any dead bodies they may have found in the rubble, and will declare anything less then deadly injuries a 'concussions' and such.
The Iranians raised a point. Its simply “for those of us you kill we are able to take a few of yours”. Your turn.
I don't think thew White House would keep it quiet – that place leaks like a seive.
Whether the military would tell the white house anything that could be a c. belli is up for grabs – especially if the story about dolt45 choosing the artificial "worst option" of openly killing a sitting Iranian general is true.
The US military needs a break to retrain, recover, and refocus. Organisationally they're exhibiting classic overwork signs: navy ships are failing at basic things like navigating waterways without colliding with other ships, air crew are being killed because training hours are so low, soldiers are being deployed from combat theatre to combat theatre without a break in between.
Policy is one thing, the military-industrial complex is another, but admirals and generals know that if they're the ones in charge when something hits the papers that can seriously affect their post-military careers. Oh, and some of them probably care about their organisations, as well.
tl;dr: the US military wants to get ready for a near-peer confrontation, not another counter-insurgency in ME. This might affect whether they report precisely to the war-mongering white house injuries as being of US service personnel (vs contractors) occurring as a direct result of enemy action (no it was flying glass splinters and air pressure problems wot done it) and even (although I think this one is slightly farther-fetched) "no the attack was in Iraq and this soldier died in Saudi Arabia".
edit: although the US military is not really a monolith, either, so who knows
essentially the problem of poor recruiting and quality of recruit. Instate the draft and throw a bit of money to training and voila a little soldier is created to go kill kill kill.
and yes, the pentagon is gonna lie about this, in a way. They admit to people hurt but its only a bit of 'headache' a concussion so its nothing. And frankly who would care about Jonny and Jane Sixpack from somewhere US. No one. They get injured and die every other day currently in Iraq and Afghanistan and no one gives a care. These guys are nothing but tiny little blibs. There, gone. Kanonenfutter .
It's not even a recruiting problem as such – like any machine, every so often chunks of it need down-time for preventive maintenance. But yeah, if you step on the accelerator you burn through more fuel, and people are the fuel of armed forces.
Three service members were flown to a facility at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait and the others were sent to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany after displaying signs of concussions, defense officials said Thursday. Jonathan Hoffman, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said Friday that al Asad is not outfitted with an MRI machine or other tools necessary for advanced brain injury examinations.
As a standard procedure, all personnel in the vicinity of a blast are screened for traumatic brain injury, and if deemed appropriate are transported to a higher level of care,” Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said in a prepared statement.
Kinda like how they do for 'sonic attacks' being unleashed on embassy staff on small Caribbean islands? (Oh. And China too…not to forget being microwaved by pesky Russians…) 🙄
You don't think that a skeletal presence was maintained following Iran telling Iraq where and when missiles were going to strike? Because just maybe there was some precautionary thing around equipment or what not being left around an entirely abandoned base? Maybe 11 or so volunteers holed up in bunkers/shelters to give an instant evaluation of damage? Maybe given a "once over" for possible effects of percussion from blasts?
I've had considerable personal contact with various Iranian people, they are widely misrepresented and misunderstood in the West. I'm assuming the Western media has fucked up this latest episode as usual.
Peeps will no doubt make of this what they will…in spite of what's actually being said.
Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Setareh Sadeqi, a PhD candidate at the University of Tehran who lost family friends in the tragic Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crash. Anya and Setareh discuss recent protests in Iran sparked by the crash, which western media have framed as an popular anti-government uprising. They also talk about the recent crackdown on Iranian news and social media accounts online, including the censorship of Press TV UK.
All I know for certain is the theocratic Iranian regime are not people whom the liberal left in the west should entertain as 'allies' in any sense of the word. No matter how anti-American they may be.
I dunno … maybe it was when I was standing next to the Iranian on the phone to his family back home, when they were explaining to him how much the government was charging them for the bullets used to execute his father. But that was a few decades ago now; maybe the leaders of this regime have transformed themselves into really nice people since.
But I tell you what, you engage with the cite I gave, and I'll give your one a go.
No it was in 1981 in the immediate aftermath of the Revolution, when members of the Baha'i Faith were executed. One of them was my flatmate at the time.
The bringing of fire to the Canadian Inuit was later …
I did engage with the cite 🙄 you gave. It's junk. The very first sentence is a bit of give away – referring to the assassination of Soleimani simply as "the death of", before going to on and attempting to turn corporate media reporting upside down (I haven't seen evidence of corporate media lionizing Soleimani as claimed in that link)…and he didn't foster instability in "Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen" as claimed. Neither did he lead "a group of armed thugs"…and that's just the first fucking paragraph!
But hey. I guess when the author of the piece is a former case officer who conducted operations against nuclear proliferation and terrorism for the CIA's National Clandestine Service , then a leetle bias might be par for the course, aye? 😉
You read any of his other stuff? The guy's a bit of a hoot.
Anyway. I gave you a link to an Iranian student living in Iran giving her perspective on recent events. Now I know she ain’t no ‘Bana of Aleppo’ and therefor unlikely to be courted by western media or western opinion, but hey…
Well using the same logic I feel zero obligation to trust your source either. I mean at least you can know who mine is, this student you reference, who knows?
So you just read stuff and other stuff and it's all stuff and you haven't equipped yourself of any critical faculty that might help you discern if agendas may, are, or are not in play? And so can't navigate information…
So what do you do?
Are you akin to those liberals who smear anyone not adhering to "the script" that comes down from on governmental/corporate high?
Given the gaslighting in response to my initial comment, I guess that might be the case, aye?
Correct me if I'm wrong please, but I've read you as being consistently anti-American for a very long time. Your immediate response to dismiss any source who has previously worked in American intelligence is indicative of this. And you are certainly not alone in this bias, there are plenty of other lefties here who routinely fulminate on the putative evils of American empire.
Like all empires it has certainly had it's inglorious moments. But the notion that it's record is nothing but evil incarnate is a nonsense. What none of ever do is ask the simple question "compared to what?". What other post-WW2 counterfactual empire would have been any better by comparison? The idea that absent the Americans the world might have been a peaceful nirvana is entirely unsupported by any reasoned interpretation of history at all.
And yes all sources have their bias. It's knowing what it is that's useful.
As for good analysis coming from ex-intelligence community types and such like, well…there's Snowden and Gen Lawrence Wilkerson, and Scott Ritter just off the top of my head. And of course, there are others (ex military etc) whose names aren't coming to mind right now.
And I've no idea why you reckon I think the world would be shangri-la if the US empire was no more.
So your happy with the hard right militant Salafist Islamist crowd then Redlogix? Because that is what the US has been supporting, and that is a problem. But my real issue with you logic, is to kill the guy who helped knock off ISIS, is a real kick in the teeth to anyone who supports the rights and freedoms of people.
The left should align with people not governments on that we can agree?
Because the reality on the ground is the US is an empire, and Iran is not, no matter how shit their government is. If we support empire and empire games we are no better than the imperialist of the past – who were always the enemy of the economic freedom and rights of people at large.
So your happy with the hard right militant Salafist Islamist crowd then Redlogix?
What on earth would make you think that? I'm on record here for years as being highly critical of zealots and fundamentalists of all kinds.
But my real issue with you logic, is to kill the guy who helped knock off ISIS, is a real kick in the teeth to anyone who supports the rights and freedoms of people.
Does this mean that the enemy of enemy is always my friend? For example was the West supposed to then cuddle up to the mass murderer Stalin in the aftermath of WW2?
If we support empire and empire games we are no better than the imperialist of the past
Again I’m consistently on record as being opposed to empire and the only regular here who has constructively proposed an alternative future without it.
For example was the West supposed to then cuddle up to the mass murderer Stalin in the aftermath of WW2?
No, but the west acted in a similar manner, and Iran is a good example of that. The west established a far right government which eventually gave rise to the islamic revolution. Let's talk central america, how much mass murder with the support of the west?
The west is not pure here, and the elephant in the room is the US has acted more and more like Imperalist arseholes since WW2.
Again I’m consistently on record as being opposed to empire and the only regular here who has constructively proposed an alternative future without it.
I think you think to much of your opinion. I hardly found your solutions reasonable nor constructive, some yes – but many of you suggestions are just the same old, same old, with a big dose of sleight of hand.
Like everyone else your own ideological prejudice get in the way. Hey I'm no different in that regard. We all do it.
Back to the point, all sides are lying – but the side with the ability to wipe the other side off the face of the planet is the one I want to hold the preverbal gas light to. The one in the more powerful position has more of a responsibility to act in good faith, and it's not.
For example if I had 100kg of TNT around your house and started a fight with you – is it my responsibility to not light the TNT because I'm angry or is it yours?
I hardly found your solutions reasonable nor constructive, some yes – but many of you suggestions are just the same old, same old, with a big dose of sleight of hand.
I didn't ask you to agree with them, just to acknowledge my consistent track record in proposing a detailed vision beyond 'the age of the nation state empire'.
There really is only one path forward from here, a universal vision of a united humanity, a global moral horizon and a political framework to implement this at the same scale.
That the same Dershowtitz "respectable" liberal intelligentsia have been happy enough to give a pass to as long as he was smearing Jewish critics of Israel as antisemites? That Dershowitz?
also at least one opinion piece about how lowering the age of consent to 15 and maybe even fifteen and no claims of anything irrespective of how old the partner is. Oh gosh golly me. And he was friends with someone who liked his girls very young. Good grief. But hey Harvard or something.
It varies a lot. Age of consent laws can be quite complex, but 14 is not uncommon, Germany and China being two examples. 16 is probably the most common age, while at the other extreme is South Korea at 20.
the insurance companies must be quaking in their boots. I would like to see some numbers on total write offs, etc. It is just one thing after the other.
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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, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
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 ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. 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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
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Re- the burglary of the National Party regional headquarters:
The blame game has started – just inferences at this stage. But it's sinister folks. It's politically motivated at the start of election year:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/video.cfm?c_id=280&gal_cid=280&gallery_id=216055
Funny, they weren't fussed about the break-ins at the Labour Party and Alliance Party headquarters in the mid 1990s, nor the hacking of Labour's computers around 8-10 years ago.
But I'm sure the police will pull out all stops this time. When it happens to National hell that's bad, but if its Labour well, ho hum so what…
Can you provide references for you claims of break-ins and computer hacking?
The only thing I am aware of was that the Labour Party had left their membership details unprotected, which seems a bit different to the actual theft of computers. That was Cameron Slater and Graeme Edgeler at least though that no crime was committed.
"The question then is: does Cameron Slater have authority to access the server that hosts the Labour Party website? Well, it’s a publicly available website, that they put up there so that people can go to their website and download stuff from that server into their cache to read on their browsers. If Cameron doesn’t have authority (because, for example, it’s not express authority), I don’t see how any of us can lawfully look at it."
https://thestandard.org.nz/was-a-crime-committed-when-slater-accessed-labours-computer-system/
Was that what you had in mind?
What were the Break-ins of the Offices you talk about?
edit. I can’t seem to get the link correct. It was a story here on the Standard but my cut and paste seems to lose the first part of the link.
David Cunliffe’s electorate office.
Ah yes. Forgot about that. From memory police did nothing about that one either.
So, you are inferring I'm lying are you alwyn?
Both burglaries occurred in the lead up period to the 1996 election. Yes, I know who was behind them, but can't confirm the identities of the actual thieves who carried out the burglaries.
The Labour Party hack is well documented. Yes, there was controversy over whether it constituted a hack or not but that was just a distraction. Information was stolen from the Labour Party and the police did f**k all. In fact further down the track they actually had the gall to target Nicky Hager as a 'suspected accessory to a crime' while ignoring the criminal activities with which National’s Cameron Slater was associated.
Police bias when it comes to politically motivated criminal activity over the years has been a disgrace.
And don't forget the illegal raid on Kim Dotcom? What's happened to him?
"So, you are inferring I'm lying are you alwyn".
No I am not. I have never heard of these break-ins of the Labour and Alliance Offices and I am curious what they were about. It may of course, if they were in the early part of the decade, simply be because I wasn't living here at the time.
Asking for a reference for something stated by a contributor does not seem, to me, to be in anyway a statement that you are lying. I just want to see what the story is about. I always supply, when asked, links to statements I have made. This was I thought precisely why the second paragraph of the rules for the site seems to require that justification for comments should be available.
Now are there any available links to these stories, please. I would love to see what it was that the Police refused to investigate.
Well. I apologise for jumping to conclusions. The two break-ins in 1996 were the Auckland Central Alliance Party regional headquarters and the Auckland Central Labour Party electorate office. They were linked of course and the aim of the exercise was to gather information about their campaigns. It isn't likely links are available online because of the passage of time.
And I know who ordered the break-ins.
I didn't say they "refused" to investigate but they didn't try very hard – if they tried at all. They're very good at ‘not trying’ when they don’t want to.
Thank you. As I suggested, I wasn't living in New Zealand in 1996 so it is not surprising I hadn't heard of them. I was, from early 1995 until early 1997 touring the West Island. All of it, and boy that is a lot of territory.
I shall have to track the story down offline. As you say, once you get into last century there is very little available to Googles gaze.
Fair enough alwyn. 🙂
Note in my response to James I clarified it was nobody in the National Party.
So someone who was not with the Nats wanted to know what Labour and the Alliance were planning?
Think back to 1996.
And look at the electorate mentioned in my comment @ 7:47pm.
Ah. Some things never change.
"Yes, I know who was behind them, but can't confirm the identities of the actual thieves who carried out the burglaries."
So if you cant confirm the identities – then you 'think' you know who it is.
Else go to the police. But I would guess you have zero idea at all.
Stop your stalking of me and your childish venom. If I say I know who ordered the break-ins then I know who ordered the break-ins.
And yes, I had a good idea who actually did the job but couldn't be 100% sure so no, I did not go to the police. I don’t have a high opinion of the police when it comes to political criminal activity – and for very good reason that neither you nor anyone else here is privy to.
Oh, and btw you'll be delighted to hear it wasn't anyone in the National Party.
Anne,
Without commenting on the merits of the issue, 1996 is nearly 25 years ago.
And as Kim Dotcom, he is awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court. Incidentally the raid was not illegal.
…1996 is nearly 25 years ago.
What has that got to do with the price of fish? A break-in is a break-in no matter when it happens.
Not only is it useful to compare the difference in responses, but those break-ins were politically motivated and that was a dangerous precedent and should have been taken more seriously by the police at that time.
... the raid was not illegal.
Well something was considered unlawful. I thought it was the raid itself.
You are right, an aspect of the raid was illegal, I think it was the preceding surveillance.
As for the relevance of 25 years, it is because these events are hardly quite the huge things the partisans make them out to be. So something of relatively modest consequence 25 years ago is close to being ancient history. For instance while I might have a very clear memory of what it was like on selection night in North Shore in 1995, for everyone else it is old history.
Be that as it may Wayne but while it is "ancient history" in the eyes of most people, the difference in police responses is still pertinent.
When individuals stole material/equipment for political purposes from Labour and the Alliance Party by way of unlawful entry to their premises it was no mere "modest consequence". It was dirty politics carried out with hostile intent, and caused the victims just as much consternation and anxiety as it would today.
But it was not regarded as important 23 years ago and I venture to suggest that was in part because it was… only Labour and the Alliance Party personnel who were affected.
Anyway, it is a flawed conversation now, because it looks like National’s break-in was part of opportunist burglaries in the area targeting mainly laptops.
"The only thing I am aware of was that the Labour Party had left their membership details unprotected, which seems a bit different to the actual theft of computers."
Not this again. Lay people routinely use the word hack to refer to things that tech people don't. It is normal in English for this to happen (tech vs lay language usage).
As for comparisons, most people who give their personal details to a political party don't expect those details to be accessed by political opponents for political gain. In other words, it was wrong. Let's not forget that Slater went on to orchestrate an attempt at hacking TS, amongst his many other dubious activities.
Besides,
When you put an internal link in a comment via a straight cut and paste, the system changes that to the name of the post (without all the URL detail). Your link still works.
Ok. Thanks. It just looks funny and I thought I must have screwed it up somehow. I assume this is only if the URL is the same as the place where you are posting it, which is of course what I was doing here?
I must revert to my old habit of clicking on any link I put up as soon as I post it. I always used to do it but I have gotten lazy. As you say it actually works just fine.
TS has some newish linking changes (happened while I was away). The other main one is that if you cut and paste a link to a TS comment, the link will revert back to the post (rather than the comment). The way around that is to use the html tags to insert a link.
That doesn't apply if you put the link in line with some text, but if you put it in its own line it won't work.
The only thing I am aware of was that the Labour Party had left their membership details unprotected, which seems a bit different to the actual theft of computers.
The ignorant tend to call data theft "hacking" and imagine highly skilled coders wearing hoodies in dark rooms coming up with fancy ways to bypass security protocols. In reality, most of it is exactly like the example above: someone screws up and data that should have been protected is left exposed to the unscrupulous and unethical, who put time and effort into finding such exposed data. Whether you call data theft under those circumstances "hacking" or not depends on your enthusiasm for drama, but it's still data theft. If it's not illegal under our legislation, that's a problem with our legislation, not an endorsement of the theft.
Sign Martyn Bradbury's petition to remove Dr Jian Yang from the National Party list.
https://www.change.org/p/national-party-nz-we-the-undersigned-demand-that-chinese-spy-jian-yang-be-removed-from-national-party-list-before-election-2020
Did that yesterday.
Me too!
Interesting that Goldsmith said the 'party' part of the office was where the laptops were, not the 'electorate' part of the office.
That suggests that the Chinese spy was the target.
You wern't that fussed when WhaleOil was hacked either.
* weren't (not often used in formal writing).
But Slater is poisonous and a complete failure. His was a career in corrupt and criminal activity and that has been proven time and time again, so why on earth would anyone be fussed that he was hacked.
It's a good thing that Slater has been crushed because it rids NZ of a particularly odious form of cancer.
Solid public interest defence for publishing information derived from that theft, but didn't the hacker admit at the time it was illegal?
By contrast I've never seen Master Slater admit doing anything wrong – indeed he has wasted many a judge's time claiming absolute purity of thought and deed.
Pretty sure that office is right next to a Police station.
Checked and yes…
Paul Goldsmith's office – 107 Gt South Road, Epsom.
Police Eastern Area HQ – 111 Gt South Road, Greenlane.
So yeah.
So it was the police wot done it.
OK. for the likes of James and co. I'm joking.
Edit: the Nats like to park their offices next to police stations. Maggie’s North Shore office is next door to the Takapuna station.
Woodhouses is on the same block as Chipmunks (the kids indoor playground).
Seymour must be envious.
Interesting how the suburb name changes..
It's called keeping up with the Joneses. Epsom is more upmarket sounding than Greenlane.
Maggie's office in Takapuna is on the second storey of the building so that she can look down on the cops next door.
Just don’t tell Simon that Police officers are having coffees with MPs or emotional junior staffers from the electorate offices. The poor guy’s already worried sick about top cops having cups of coffee with Ministers.
111 Great South Rd, Epsom is currently Presbyterian Support, not Police.
Google Streetview suggests that has been the case since at least 2015. Last image showing Police was in 2012.
One for @lprent – Y2k redux on the way (click tweet for thread):
https://twitter.com/jxxf/status/1219009308438024200
I think most systems switched off 32bit and to 64 bit unix epoch times quite a long time again. I know I did. And that is even on the little Arm 32bit processors.
Most things I work on tend to use struct timeval. 64bit seconds since the unix epoch, and 64 bit micro seconds.
Thank goodness
so according to the orange menace no one was hurt during the little bombing raid on their Airbase in Iraq by Iran.
well funny that, cause this is the second article now that speaks of wounded soldiers being evacuated due to injuries sustained during the attack.
The first eleven were evacuated to Ramstein Airbase in Germany with 'concussions' and now this diddy about 16 being evacuated to Saudi Arabia with severe injuries.
https://en.abna24.com/news//16-us-troops-flown-to-kuwait-hospitals-with-severe-injuries-after-irans-missile-strike-paper_1003700.html
That slap in the face was a fist on the nose it seems.
Trump is a weak President who makes hollow threats. Iran's Supreme Leader must me pissing himself laughing at Trump's impotence.
i consider the orange menace to be as competent as i considered ronald reagan to be competent, and both were/are currently adivised by the same people. its a bit the iran/contra affair redux. the iranians will be still there when america has nuked itself.
in the meant time its the boots on the ground that die.
And there was me thinking that "fatal" was like, y'know – dead?
"16 US military men with fatal injuries sustained during Iran's retaliatory missile strikes on Ain Al-Assad base earlier this month have been taken to a hospital…"
I did give the article another few secs of reading, but gave the fuck up with the Kuwaiti paper supposedly relying on "quoted [anonymous] informed sources as saying"
There were no injuries (let alone fatalities) because Iran gave prior notice of their retaliation precisely to avoid giving the US a 'go to' excuse for fucking war.
there is not one person in this admin that wants to go on record, not even the press secretary. tells you lot does it not? as for the no fatalities. yeah, right, tui.
These guys supposedly were in the hangar with the drones blahblahblah.
They had casualties and they had injuries. I am not the betting kind, but i bet you a pint.
There is a fucked up mix of war mongering "permanent state" actors and Democratic "cold war" warriors sitting right behind the US admin's "rapture" fundamentalists right now. The Iranian government is too rational and smart to offer them up an easy pretext to rain down destruction.
You really think the US wouldn't have been parading "dead babies" and getting on its
moral high horseskeletal war horse given half a chance?i think the dumbarse realised that he is in over his head when it comes to Iran. Its one thing to hold people / country hostage in order to make a bit of coin or to get some dirt on someone, its a completely different thing to start a proper war in the middle east, block the straight of hormuz, have the gallon go to 5+ bring home thousands of body bags and maybe have some cleric issue a fatwah on the fat fuck in the shitty house and his family. So yeah, i think someone might have picked up a phone and explained Donnie just what the fuck he was gonna tweet next. 'https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1214739853025394693?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1214739853025394693&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Fdonald-trump%2Ftrump-tweets-all-well-after-iranian-missile-attack-targeting-u-n1112211
So yes, i think they will try to hide very much any dead bodies they may have found in the rubble, and will declare anything less then deadly injuries a 'concussions' and such.
The Iranians raised a point. Its simply “for those of us you kill we are able to take a few of yours”. Your turn.
I don't think thew White House would keep it quiet – that place leaks like a seive.
Whether the military would tell the white house anything that could be a c. belli is up for grabs – especially if the story about dolt45 choosing the artificial "worst option" of openly killing a sitting Iranian general is true.
The US military needs a break to retrain, recover, and refocus. Organisationally they're exhibiting classic overwork signs: navy ships are failing at basic things like navigating waterways without colliding with other ships, air crew are being killed because training hours are so low, soldiers are being deployed from combat theatre to combat theatre without a break in between.
Policy is one thing, the military-industrial complex is another, but admirals and generals know that if they're the ones in charge when something hits the papers that can seriously affect their post-military careers. Oh, and some of them probably care about their organisations, as well.
tl;dr: the US military wants to get ready for a near-peer confrontation, not another counter-insurgency in ME. This might affect whether they report precisely to the war-mongering white house injuries as being of US service personnel (vs contractors) occurring as a direct result of enemy action (no it was flying glass splinters and air pressure problems wot done it) and even (although I think this one is slightly farther-fetched) "no the attack was in Iraq and this soldier died in Saudi Arabia".
edit: although the US military is not really a monolith, either, so who knows
essentially the problem of poor recruiting and quality of recruit. Instate the draft and throw a bit of money to training and voila a little soldier is created to go kill kill kill.
and yes, the pentagon is gonna lie about this, in a way. They admit to people hurt but its only a bit of 'headache' a concussion so its nothing. And frankly who would care about Jonny and Jane Sixpack from somewhere US. No one. They get injured and die every other day currently in Iraq and Afghanistan and no one gives a care. These guys are nothing but tiny little blibs. There, gone. Kanonenfutter .
It's not even a recruiting problem as such – like any machine, every so often chunks of it need down-time for preventive maintenance. But yeah, if you step on the accelerator you burn through more fuel, and people are the fuel of armed forces.
No injuries?
Three service members were flown to a facility at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait and the others were sent to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany after displaying signs of concussions, defense officials said Thursday. Jonathan Hoffman, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said Friday that al Asad is not outfitted with an MRI machine or other tools necessary for advanced brain injury examinations.
https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/eleven-us-troops-flown-to-hospitals-from-al-asad-air-base-in-days-after-iran-missile-attack-1.615158
uh-huh
As a standard procedure, all personnel in the vicinity of a blast are screened for traumatic brain injury, and if deemed appropriate are transported to a higher level of care,” Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said in a prepared statement.
Kinda like how they do for 'sonic attacks' being unleashed on embassy staff on small Caribbean islands? (Oh. And China too…not to forget being microwaved by pesky Russians…) 🙄
Not injured., but deemed to be in need of a higher level of care following TBI screening.
Righto….
You don't think that a skeletal presence was maintained following Iran telling Iraq where and when missiles were going to strike? Because just maybe there was some precautionary thing around equipment or what not being left around an entirely abandoned base? Maybe 11 or so volunteers holed up in bunkers/shelters to give an instant evaluation of damage? Maybe given a "once over" for possible effects of percussion from blasts?
In the meantime while segments of the Western press were happy to frame Quassem Soleimani as the loss of a deeply beloved hero, while in Iran itself the regime is widely hated and ordinary Iranian's struggle with deteriorating living conditions.
I've had considerable personal contact with various Iranian people, they are widely misrepresented and misunderstood in the West. I'm assuming the Western media has fucked up this latest episode as usual.
Peeps will no doubt make of this what they will…in spite of what's actually being said.
Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Setareh Sadeqi, a PhD candidate at the University of Tehran who lost family friends in the tragic Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crash. Anya and Setareh discuss recent protests in Iran sparked by the crash, which western media have framed as an popular anti-government uprising. They also talk about the recent crackdown on Iranian news and social media accounts online, including the censorship of Press TV UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=EBGw5GMXb4c&feature=emb_logo
All I know for certain is the theocratic Iranian regime are not people whom the liberal left in the west should entertain as 'allies' in any sense of the word. No matter how anti-American they may be.
Gaslighting? Really? That all you got in lieu of engagement with or response to shared third person info/perspective?
I dunno … maybe it was when I was standing next to the Iranian on the phone to his family back home, when they were explaining to him how much the government was charging them for the bullets used to execute his father. But that was a few decades ago now; maybe the leaders of this regime have transformed themselves into really nice people since.
But I tell you what, you engage with the cite I gave, and I'll give your one a go.
Was this before or after you single-handedly brought fire to the Inuit of Canada?
No it was in 1981 in the immediate aftermath of the Revolution, when members of the Baha'i Faith were executed. One of them was my flatmate at the time.
The bringing of fire to the Canadian Inuit was later …
That should read of course "The son of one of them …"
I did engage with the cite 🙄 you gave. It's junk. The very first sentence is a bit of give away – referring to the assassination of Soleimani simply as "the death of", before going to on and attempting to turn corporate media reporting upside down (I haven't seen evidence of corporate media lionizing Soleimani as claimed in that link)…and he didn't foster instability in "Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen" as claimed. Neither did he lead "a group of armed thugs"…and that's just the first fucking paragraph!
But hey. I guess when the author of the piece is a former case officer who conducted operations against nuclear proliferation and terrorism for the CIA's National Clandestine Service , then a leetle bias might be par for the course, aye? 😉
You read any of his other stuff? The guy's a bit of a hoot.
Anyway. I gave you a link to an Iranian student living in Iran giving her perspective on recent events. Now I know she ain’t no ‘Bana of Aleppo’ and therefor unlikely to be courted by western media or western opinion, but hey…
Well using the same logic I feel zero obligation to trust your source either. I mean at least you can know who mine is, this student you reference, who knows?
Back to square one for both of us.
So you just read stuff and other stuff and it's all stuff and you haven't equipped yourself of any critical faculty that might help you discern if agendas may, are, or are not in play? And so can't navigate information…
So what do you do?
Are you akin to those liberals who smear anyone not adhering to "the script" that comes down from on governmental/corporate high?
Given the gaslighting in response to my initial comment, I guess that might be the case, aye?
Correct me if I'm wrong please, but I've read you as being consistently anti-American for a very long time. Your immediate response to dismiss any source who has previously worked in American intelligence is indicative of this. And you are certainly not alone in this bias, there are plenty of other lefties here who routinely fulminate on the putative evils of American empire.
Like all empires it has certainly had it's inglorious moments. But the notion that it's record is nothing but evil incarnate is a nonsense. What none of ever do is ask the simple question "compared to what?". What other post-WW2 counterfactual empire would have been any better by comparison? The idea that absent the Americans the world might have been a peaceful nirvana is entirely unsupported by any reasoned interpretation of history at all.
And yes all sources have their bias. It's knowing what it is that's useful.
You're wrong. Are you now standing corrected?
As for good analysis coming from ex-intelligence community types and such like, well…there's Snowden and Gen Lawrence Wilkerson, and Scott Ritter just off the top of my head. And of course, there are others (ex military etc) whose names aren't coming to mind right now.
And I've no idea why you reckon I think the world would be shangri-la if the US empire was no more.
So your happy with the hard right militant Salafist Islamist crowd then Redlogix? Because that is what the US has been supporting, and that is a problem. But my real issue with you logic, is to kill the guy who helped knock off ISIS, is a real kick in the teeth to anyone who supports the rights and freedoms of people.
The left should align with people not governments on that we can agree?
Because the reality on the ground is the US is an empire, and Iran is not, no matter how shit their government is. If we support empire and empire games we are no better than the imperialist of the past – who were always the enemy of the economic freedom and rights of people at large.
So your happy with the hard right militant Salafist Islamist crowd then Redlogix?
What on earth would make you think that? I'm on record here for years as being highly critical of zealots and fundamentalists of all kinds.
But my real issue with you logic, is to kill the guy who helped knock off ISIS, is a real kick in the teeth to anyone who supports the rights and freedoms of people.
Does this mean that the enemy of enemy is always my friend? For example was the West supposed to then cuddle up to the mass murderer Stalin in the aftermath of WW2?
If we support empire and empire games we are no better than the imperialist of the past
Again I’m consistently on record as being opposed to empire and the only regular here who has constructively proposed an alternative future without it.
For example was the West supposed to then cuddle up to the mass murderer Stalin in the aftermath of WW2?
No, but the west acted in a similar manner, and Iran is a good example of that. The west established a far right government which eventually gave rise to the islamic revolution. Let's talk central america, how much mass murder with the support of the west?
The west is not pure here, and the elephant in the room is the US has acted more and more like Imperalist arseholes since WW2.
Again I’m consistently on record as being opposed to empire and the only regular here who has constructively proposed an alternative future without it.
I think you think to much of your opinion. I hardly found your solutions reasonable nor constructive, some yes – but many of you suggestions are just the same old, same old, with a big dose of sleight of hand.
Like everyone else your own ideological prejudice get in the way. Hey I'm no different in that regard. We all do it.
Back to the point, all sides are lying – but the side with the ability to wipe the other side off the face of the planet is the one I want to hold the preverbal gas light to. The one in the more powerful position has more of a responsibility to act in good faith, and it's not.
For example if I had 100kg of TNT around your house and started a fight with you – is it my responsibility to not light the TNT because I'm angry or is it yours?
I hardly found your solutions reasonable nor constructive, some yes – but many of you suggestions are just the same old, same old, with a big dose of sleight of hand.
I didn't ask you to agree with them, just to acknowledge my consistent track record in proposing a detailed vision beyond 'the age of the nation state empire'.
There really is only one path forward from here, a universal vision of a united humanity, a global moral horizon and a political framework to implement this at the same scale.
This explains a lot.
https://twitter.com/paleofuture/status/1218904084612182016
That the same Dershowtitz "respectable" liberal intelligentsia have been happy enough to give a pass to as long as he was smearing Jewish critics of Israel as antisemites? That Dershowitz?
Go on! Who'd have thunk it!!
All piss and vinegar. Been a tough day, sport?
lol
also at least one opinion piece about how lowering the age of consent to 15 and maybe even fifteen and no claims of anything irrespective of how old the partner is. Oh gosh golly me. And he was friends with someone who liked his girls very young. Good grief. But hey Harvard or something.
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/dershowitz-responds-after-1997-statutory-rape-is-an-outdated-concept-op-ed-resurfaces/
But hey Harvard or something.
Boom. (I'll throw in a smiley, because, you know, charges of "piss and vinegar") 🙂
have some beer. Some call it piss, but i like beer. Prost.
slàinte mhath
and even to fourteen.
edit ran out.
It varies a lot. Age of consent laws can be quite complex, but 14 is not uncommon, Germany and China being two examples. 16 is probably the most common age, while at the other extreme is South Korea at 20.
totally seasonal weather for OZ, totally.
https://twitter.com/tamsinroses/status/1219075347662004224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1219075347662004224&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2020%2F1%2F19%2F1912647%2F-Overnight-News-Digest-January-19-2020
this is just normal.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/19/australia/australia-hail-dust-storm-intl-hnk-scli/index.html
yeah, right Tui, is just not cutting it anymore.
A different link. Holy heck those Aussies are copping it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3RRTwIEFQg
yep.
the insurance companies must be quaking in their boots. I would like to see some numbers on total write offs, etc. It is just one thing after the other.
Lev Parnas starte his work for the Trumps with Fred "The elder" Trump. But the orange menace has never met him,
yeah, right Tui.
https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalHumor/comments/er1930/i_dont_know_who_lev_parnas_is/
fwiw, this last three years have been an excellent soap opera. Who needs TV when you can have politics.
How amusing. The moment David Seymour uses the name Aotearoa his fans revolt in the way only far right wing nut jobs can.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12301946
It must be tough being a one-man band trying to please all the racist alt-right fuckwits. Seymour's trying really hard though.
Seymour and ACT are playing us and their supporters like a banjo: https://www.act.org.nz/cn_news
The media play the chorus, of course.
I note the ACT website was created by 'nationbuilder'. Acknowledging Aotearoa is a maga step towards that.