A negative test days before flying is no guarantee of being uninfected on arrival. So where is the extra security there?
The negative test requirement adds burden to lower income people and is either not possible in some countries, or it is expensive. This is the Nats through and through. If you're not wealthy then we don't want you back.
Refusing entry to people who have Covid-19 demonises them. All people with Covid 19 are 'dangerous' in Reti's eyes. The compassionate thing is to repeat, “people aren't the problem, the virus is”. No surprise National missed this crucial point.
'One hour wait for testing' is a ridiculous fast-food meme which is unlikely to be achieved in surge situations of which there would be many until any National/ACT government.
How is the current requirement for people to pay for their 14 day mandatory quarantine working out for low income returnees? Is that cheaper than the current free Covid test people can get now?
Venezuela is the right wing's favourite whipping boy.
This article is paywalled by our own right wing press so I can't read it, but the similarities between Venezuela's policy of criminalising Covid-19 suffers, and the National party's policy of denying entry to Covid-19 sufferers are hard to ignore.
National's border policy…………a relative of mine is flying back from the UK in November. They have been told by the airline they have to have a covid test 4 days before travel……………..Its a good idea as a bit of protection but we all know that there are false negatives, that what happens in the three days between flying and the test? And also it seems likely some people are picking up the virus in transit…………So not much use. would still have to quarantine etc, otherwise risk quite high
Great to see Heather Duplicity-Allan finally come around to the idea that the border and its integrity is critical to the way New Zealand navigates Covid-19.
Not weeks ago she was criticising the government for not creating a travel bubble with the Cook Islands. She will also have been keen on relaxing restrictions for international students, and for wealthy Americans to build bunkers. Her own sugar-daddy husband told us the government's warnings about resurgence were purely political.
I guess for Heather epiphanies come fast and cheap. Let us pray she has a few more.
Heather does not strike me as the most aware of people… Judith C has A similar quality, to my mind. Why else would she make such a preposterously silly suggestion, fatuously thinking that the majority of folks will agree…
Already, every critcism I have seen pointing out all the blatantly obvious failings of her policy read far better than her vacuous justification.
I think the Nats will have to quietly drop this idea. Now that the election date is another month away, they also have the possibility of not-so-quietly dropping Judith herself.
How many of them will be bright enough to seize the opportunity?
Already, every critcism I have seen pointing out all the blatantly obvious failings of her policy read far better than her vacuous justification.
I wonder if this pandemic is going to wake people up to the fact that National doesn't really do policy – that what they do is uncosted, untested, and uncontestable reckons.
I am in a quandary. My 4 yr old phone, which does everything I want it to, is rated as too old to take the covid tracing app. Do I now have to spend mega bucks on a new phone in order to be a responsible citizen? Maybe this is part of the reason why the uptake of the app is low. It's not lack of civic duty.
it's becoming a problem, I don't get the civil defence warnings either. My phone is starting to not work for some websites too. It's 6 years old, nothing wrong with it other than Apple don't update the OS and thus it's not supported by developers.
None of which would bother me except I'm not that confident that society and its systems is not going to centre itself around late model phones. I can't tell if the CD siren thing is an issue or not, and I shouldn't even have to be thinking about that.
The CD thing doesn't worry me so much – chances are we know someone who will get it and be all "wtf", or we'd notice the traffic heading for the hills.
But the covid tracer is a bit worse. Either make a single version that's retro-compatible, or do a version for the last ten year's or so of OS. And then there's the entire expectation that everyone has a phone of some sort anyway.
The economic demographic most likely to have incompatible phones quite possibly overlaps the demographic most likely to spend most of their time working all hours for f-all pay, getting their roster texted to them because they're casualised disposable. But they're also the ones most likely to still be having contacts when everyone else is zoom-working from home.
The CD thing doesn't worry me so much – chances are we know someone who will get it and be all "wtf", or we'd notice the traffic heading for the hills.
She'll be right Trev, lol.
It's more that I don't know if CD are relying on the phones and not focusing on the other systems now. I can't tell if we even still have sirens. That your answer didn't mention them suggests I'm not alone in that. Bad luck for people that live on their own I guess or happen to be around people with old phones. Hmm I wonder who that will affect most.
I caught the tail end of a conversation on RNZ about a lanyard with a card on it. I assume this registers via Bluetooth or some other witchcraft and automatically logs yr movements.
I am having similar issues as my Huawei doesn't support the app.
I missed where they were addressing the privacy/data side of things.
I have been reflecting on my own shift in attitudes over the last few years. 5 years ago I would have agreed with you. Now, not so much.
Not saying your concerns are unfounded or wanting to argue with you. I see it as a good solution for the 'electronically impaired' or the elderly who can get a bit flustered with these new processes.
Before they lost the last election National were already rolling out major plans to remove privacy rights in NZ (they were intending to reform our privacy laws), and they started with beneficiaries and low income people. As part of the beneficiary class, I take that very seriously. Until National change how they operate, and/or the left parties put some major Tory-proofed protections in, then *everything that involves tech and privacy should be viewed through the lens of what will National do? It's too hard to claw back rights after National destroys them.
Less of an issue, but still an issue, is I don't particularly trust government ICT security given the number of fails we've had.
Future-proofing IT seems like a no brainer, but not many people seem to be thinking about it. Maybe there's a niche there for some of the geeky people.
Would love to know if it's a tech issue, a cultural issue or a money one. How hard would it be to have produced a basic app that worked on all phones?
I have an iphone 5c. It said it needed some funny-numbered thing to download the Govt Covid tracker. I gave up. Unless I am working, I leave the thing next to my bed for the entire day anyway.
I await a better system, like that card, which I would happily take with me.
The further back you want to take it, the more difficult it can be.
An app programmer would be able to comment about how far off the track I am, but apps aren't generally typed linearly in one big file. The operating system isn't just a translator between the app and the transistors on the chips, it has libraries of subroutines that apps can call. They all operate the same way across different manufacturers, and they save a LOT of programming time. But each new edition of an operating system introduces new subroutines, so you need to write ones that work for older systems.
But also the other issue is that new editions also deprecate inefficient or insecure subroutines, so they no longer work on newer versions. It can be difficult to program to suit an old version and expect it to work on newer systems. It needs to be as simple as possible, which might reduce functionality that saves power or is needed for a covid tracer.
There would eventually be a hard line where it goes to before there was cross-company standards and even getting equivalent-generation phones to work would be massively difficult.
But some location apps were around in Android 3 or earlier, so the tech would seem to be feasible for that level. I suspect they took an industry estimate and figured "95% is good enough", but it isn't. We need everyone who can to do, to make up for those who can't or won't.
tbh, I never sorted out the privacy issues, so I'm not even sure I would use it if I could. The CD one irks though.
How much of the problems with past proofing are a trade off to get more and new exiting developments. I'm guessing in a sane world the balance would sit somewhere else.
A lot of it's legitimate – anyone going to a website that hasn't been updated in 20 years can see that.
And once someone finds a security hole in a subroutine, it needs to go.
I suspect some apps use only later generation versions to target their customers, too. They don't necessarily want late adopters, either because their product doesn't warrant close examination or because they don't want broke people skewing their data.
Like uber and lime are too modern for my phone. But my banking app works fine and google maps does too (if slow). So it's not impossible to write it for me, but they probably figure someone with a phone >3years old is unlikely to be inclined or have the credit rating to use their service – and my using it might make their service look bad, anyway.
There was also at least one phone manufacturer caught issuing software updates that demonstrably slowed their phones, just before their nextgen phones hit the shelves. Planned obsolescence has been replaced by obsolescence-on-command.
My partner’s iPhone 7 with 128Gb of storage is just starting to do the usual Apple death – the available RAM is a running short doing routine tasks. This is pretty much the usual pattern. It has 2Gb RAM and it has been interesting watching the memory bloat creep up. The support with either stop for it this September or next year in the usual fashion.
Since this is the third iPhone that she has had that has died or started dying in the same manner (iPhone 3G, iPhone 5(?), and iPhone 7) I’m hoping she is going to do what I did after the 3G and do the switch to a large capacity android.
I have given up on Apple multiple times now. Writing code for the bloody horrible iOS made it lose the sheen of the front-end interface for me. Paying for excessive annual developer licenses and the equipment upgrades doesn’t help either. But the real kicker is the planned obsolescence in their APIs which essentially makes most code bases using Apple systems obsolete within a few years and almost invariably inside a decade.
At least windows provides some strong backwards compatibility and open development tools.
But mostly I do open source Linux wherever possible and Android kotlin/NDK if I need to work on mobiles.
You have not the right phone so therefore you can't reguster as a citizen and you must then be treated as an alien. Is that how it will be?
The PTB did that when we first got computers, and wiped some people out of existence causing them great hardship. Some were registered as dead, and it was no use saying it's me here are my docs. NZ Post and others have established Real Me presumably to prevent that happening. But I do not like the tech takeover, I do not like it at all.
I won't be using Real Me as long as we have a Labour and a National that treat beneficiaries as second class citizens. Nat's plans around data are particularly scary.
Uh well that's out for me. I don't want to lay down in the road and let technology run over me – decision it is more efficient in fuel to run over this person and drag them away, than to stop and swerve round. Don't laugh anybody, we already have gummint departments thinking like that about beneficiaries, you might have need but can't get anything done while you can still struggle to your feet.
keep a log of where you go and use sign-in sheets where possible.
Sound advice.
I am becoming increasingly concerned that a whole generation of young people are growing up reliant on bits of plastic technology to do all their thinking and communicating for them.
Once upon a time there were no cell phones and people relied on their own sensibilities when it came to solving problems and keeping themselves and others safe from harm. I suspect we are creating generations of young people who will grow up having no idea how to do that for themselves.
This is no reflection on Rosielee who obviously can think for herself, but its something I feel strongly about. My young relatives frequently get a 'sermon' on the subject from me although I fear they take no notice. 🙁
There's a joke that years ago we figured folks would make better decisions if they had more information, but now they have all human information available at their fingertips and we're more stupid than ever.
But I'm not so sure about that. The stupid is just louder, but young 'uns seem about the same – even smarter, maybe.
When it comes to adrenaline sports, you get to see everything that could go wrong, in endless slo-mo detail. No imagination needed for that "is this really a good idea?" moment. But the young'uns are doing shit many levels up from anything we were doing back when I wasn't far from being near the top of one of those sports.
Yeah, but that's the selected extreme population. Not sure base jumpers are pushing the envelope any further than the wing-walkers of the 1920s.
But the day to day stupidity seems about the same. Uni student disorder was getting out of hand about 15 years ago, but there were some decent riots 15 years before that, and skyrocket wars and burned fences in the 80s. If anything the student parties are a bit less hazardous than the drinking horns from back in the day.
My niece's cohort seems pretty sensible – still dramas, but fewer hospital admissions lol
So I can't fault 'em too much where I am, anyway. We still have hoons and wannabe thugs and drunken dickheads who think daddy's wallet acts as a force-field against a broken jaw, but not any worse than back in my day.
The problem isn't that we have all the information available but that all the stupid things that are just plain wrong are also available and many people only accept what they believe as factual anyway.
25 years ago it was part of my duties in a particular government agency to train new recruits how to put their newly acquired knowledge into practice. It included making simple calculations in one's head. Not one of them could do it without a calculator. In the end I made them put their calculators away and learn how to work it out for themselves.
Why? Calculators/computers are quicker, and if the calculations are that important, there'll be an additional checking process anyway.
I can't claim any ability to do long division in my head. But I read a paper from the 1950s that took 105 person-years of collation and analysis to produce. I can literally replicate updated results of that information within half an hour.
We develop the skillsets we need, and we let the unneeded ones become boutique curiosities.
house brand phones are reasonably powerful , large and cheap I suggest checking them last time I bought one was a vodafone with a 5" screen about 3-4 years ago cost $100
If I'm not going to buy a new phone and transfer all my apps & shit, I'm definitely not going spend even more time seeing if I can root my phone without trashing all my apps and shit.
Looking online, the thing’s only 5 years old and already secondhand in that time lol. Regardless of generation of OS, it shouldn’t be so obsolete.
I'm definitely not going spend even more time seeing if I can root my phone without trashing all my apps and shit.
Not talking about putting in after market OS. Just seeing if it can be updated to a later version. My phone came out standard with Android 5 but its now running 7.1.1 but I had to tell it to update. It wouldn't do it automatically because it did a full reset of the data.
All your apps can be reinstalled and you should have backups of data.
Looking online, the thing’s only 5 years old and already secondhand in that time lol.
Tech changes and moves on but the big one for me is the security vulnerabilities in an old OS that are no longer being fixed.
That confirms to me that this is all a big con, the obsolescence thing, a forced sale of device or you will lose out on communication. To put it crudely the techs have got us by the short and curlies.
Really, the phone has one OS that applies across many makes and models. It's not specifically customised for you – its for everyone which means that each OS has every protection it can built in whether you think you want it or not. The fact that you obviously think that you don't probably does mean that you're an open book to the cyber criminals.
That software needs processing power and so, as the OS develops, so to does the hardware. You can't, effectively, run a new OS on old hardware.
The relationship between hardware and software is pretty arbitrary. The most obvious example is Linux. I just upgraded my old Sony laptop circa 2009 to kubuntu 20.04. No problems. No particular loss of speed since I first dropped ubuntu on in 2009.
I mowtly write code, read email, and read the net on it. Nothing fancy. Had a external USB wifi as that chip failed on the board.
But it had a full HD screen on it when I got it and 3GB Ram. Replaced the hdd with a ssd.
Still using both the origonal lithium batteries and they still last for about 3 hours.
The software issues on cell phones are mostly and issue with design and marketing.
And yes, I've seen some apps stop working after they got "updated" to newer OS.
But all major banks in NZ seem to still be happy giving their customers apps that work on my OS. So they don't think I'm wide open to cyber criminals, otherwise they'd have gone the way of… the wikipedia app (obviously in need of higher security than banking apps, that).
Now, my suspicion is that the banks know their apps are secure enough on an older OS, and because it helps them keep customers they put the work into updating their apps in such a way to keep them working for their customers. Whereas it's in the interests of other apps to simply ignore compatibility issues with older phones because of cost, and because the market information apps gather is most valuable for data gathered on people who are early/midlevel adopters.
But you can always explain why a bank will leave customers wide open to cyber criminals while the wikipedia app developers are so much more cautious.
Professor Rod Jackson on Radio NZ this afternoon made the observation that the best takeout from National’s border policy release today is that finally we’ve got broad consensus across the political spectrum that what we are doing is the right thing to do. All the gang that have been advocating open borders and open slather have effectively been sidelined. It’s only taken 6 months!
Yeah just saw that. I was thinking more of Thornley and the Plan B gang. And the Unis. National have quietly dropped their plan to let tertiary education providers manage quarantine for international students.
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Unis will have to attend closely to students' pastoral needs and not have any dying unnoticed, alone. Well that was Canterbury and perhaps all of them have fallen for factory education – have you caught up with Chch's latest distasteful disaster? I think that should be enough to have his contract broken.
Senior lecturer in chemical engineering Luke Schneider posted answers suggesting that beneficiaries should commit suicide, that he would “shoot to kill” looters in a riot to protect private property and that a virus which killed “the lowest IQ people” would help get back a “sustainable planet”.
The comments were among about 600 posted by Schneider to American question-and-answer website Quora, which lists Schneiders full name, job title and where he studied in the United States. One answer from a question about social security wealth redistribution on August 11, read: “If you can’t survive without the largess of others, it’s your patriotic duty to commit suicide”. ..
Schneider’s LinkedIn profile says he was educated at South Florida and Princeton universities in the United States, and has worked in both the Unites[d] States and New Zealand.
Not all….theres still a vocal and enabled minority pushing a different agenda….and National's position is loose enough to continue to support that agenda
Judith also said that if there was Bill of Rights implications for the pre-travel Covid testing she would legislate to override it ‘within the first hundred days’. So there you go April at the very earliest.
It won't negate the need for 14 day quarantine and day 3 and 12 testing, while creating headaches for kiwis in countries where test results can take over a week to come back, or where limited test stocks are reserved for symptomatic people only. So then the question is why?
Basically, National like to have the appearance of being tough on stuff by taking measures that don't make any difference. You could even call it virtue signalling LOL
This is great. The PM in her element with people. But also the way the the PMO is cleverly contrasting the PM with the Leader of The Opposition. Sheer brainpower.
GOnna be interesting to see the mental gymnastics over the freedom loving Nat supporters supporting this, if Collins doesn't like a law she will just change it.
not sure "eugenics" is the right word, but I'm sure someone could figure out a way to exclude or alienate groups they don't like. Having about fifty diseases to make the testing costs prohibitive, for example, or targeting diseases common in potus' s-hole countries even if we don't have effective vectors for those diseases here.
Even if they keep "infectious" in the legislation.
I find myself double-thinking quite a few reasonable or harmless ideas with "now, what if Judith Collins were in charge of this policy?"
Apparently in Taiwan new arrivals can choose to isolate in hotels, Air BnBs, or private homes but they are monitored by cell phone.
Student politician, David Seymour, wants to do the same thing here.
Curious he's picked Taiwan as a model. It is a country living under extreme paranoia and has done for several decades. A country pre-loaded for isolation, its citizens have been told to distrust anyone since birth in case they are infiltrated. A country which cannot get legitimacy from the West for fear of repercussion from China via a cutting off of cheap and under represented labour which makes the West’s 1%, and 10% so rich.
David Seymour also wants to re-open The Rock to house his scheme's rule breakers. Me-thinks another riot wouldn't be far behind that decision.
Question: Would New Zealand be better off without student politician, David Seymour?
If the next government hasn't figured out how to corral state entities like NZSuper to stop actively undermining NZTA, then they just don't have the muscle for the job to happen.
Twyford expressing "preferences" at this point in the election cycle has far less credence than when he announced the same thing three years ago at the same time.
Woods, Simpson and Roche are busy with other stuff. Time for a Cabinet with a really powerful integrated infrastructure portfolio set.
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Juli Ann Genter sounds confident in that stuff link. What about heavy goods? Is there something left in the kitty and space on the ground to ensure a good run for that to where it should deliver? Getting people round, getting goods around, they are both important.
Surface light rail on the Dominion Rd route will be more accessible, and quicker and cheaper to put in place. That means more money to invest in more rapid transit lines around Auckland, like rail to the North Shore and northwest,” Genter said.
She said her party was the party to trust when it comes to transport infrastructure. “The Green Party has a history of campaigning for successful public transport projects well before other parties pick them up, like the Northern Busway, electrification of Auckland’s rail network, and the CRL [City Rail Link],” Genter said.
“The Greens are the party people can trust to deliver when it comes to excellent public transport.”
We are now in construction for Auckland's Third Main line. Also electrification of Papakura to Pukekohe is underway, which is close to completing full electrification from Auckland to Hamilton to Wellington. That's also the secret to Kiwirail getting a fully electrified fleet for the North Island.
Most of the multiple billions Kiwirail are getting this term have come through New Zealand First cabinet advocacy at the Budget table.
Modular houses built in China because they're much cheaper to built there. Fancy that eh. We can scrap our home building industry and just import houses. Be terrible if we export logs there to have them turned into houses and returned here mind you. We could probably bring in workers from offshore to assemble and finish them though. Long hours, low wages, imagine the money someone could make.
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Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
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There's plenty wrong with Reti's border policy:
A negative test days before flying is no guarantee of being uninfected on arrival. So where is the extra security there?
The negative test requirement adds burden to lower income people and is either not possible in some countries, or it is expensive. This is the Nats through and through. If you're not wealthy then we don't want you back.
Refusing entry to people who have Covid-19 demonises them. All people with Covid 19 are 'dangerous' in Reti's eyes. The compassionate thing is to repeat, “people aren't the problem, the virus is”. No surprise National missed this crucial point.
'One hour wait for testing' is a ridiculous fast-food meme which is unlikely to be achieved in surge situations of which there would be many until any National/ACT government.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/08/covid-19-national-s-border-policy-slammed-as-fraught-by-labour-deeply-disappointing-by-greens.html
How is the current requirement for people to pay for their 14 day mandatory quarantine working out for low income returnees? Is that cheaper than the current free Covid test people can get now?
Hey moron. First time returnees are not charged.
This is the kind of thing that gets lost with the stupid right and they will try to push falsehoods.
Unbelievably, it is still necessary to stand up to this rampant idiocy whenever it appears.
Venezuela is the right wing's favourite whipping boy.
This article is paywalled by our own right wing press so I can't read it, but the similarities between Venezuela's policy of criminalising Covid-19 suffers, and the National party's policy of denying entry to Covid-19 sufferers are hard to ignore.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12358072
National's border policy…………a relative of mine is flying back from the UK in November. They have been told by the airline they have to have a covid test 4 days before travel……………..Its a good idea as a bit of protection but we all know that there are false negatives, that what happens in the three days between flying and the test? And also it seems likely some people are picking up the virus in transit…………So not much use. would still have to quarantine etc, otherwise risk quite high
Indeed….looks like more pointless bureaucracy…something National constantly rail against
I think both Emirates and Etihad both have that requirement if you are transiting through their hubs.
The airline wants to reduce risk. It is just trying to be practical and care for its passengers and staff.
Great to see Heather Duplicity-Allan finally come around to the idea that the border and its integrity is critical to the way New Zealand navigates Covid-19.
Not weeks ago she was criticising the government for not creating a travel bubble with the Cook Islands. She will also have been keen on relaxing restrictions for international students, and for wealthy Americans to build bunkers. Her own
sugar-daddyhusband told us the government's warnings about resurgence were purely political.I guess for Heather epiphanies come fast and cheap. Let us pray she has a few more.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12358297
Heather does not strike me as the most aware of people… Judith C has A similar quality, to my mind. Why else would she make such a preposterously silly suggestion, fatuously thinking that the majority of folks will agree…
Already, every critcism I have seen pointing out all the blatantly obvious failings of her policy read far better than her vacuous justification.
I think the Nats will have to quietly drop this idea. Now that the election date is another month away, they also have the possibility of not-so-quietly dropping Judith herself.
How many of them will be bright enough to seize the opportunity?
I wonder if this pandemic is going to wake people up to the fact that National doesn't really do policy – that what they do is uncosted, untested, and uncontestable reckons.
I am in a quandary. My 4 yr old phone, which does everything I want it to, is rated as too old to take the covid tracing app. Do I now have to spend mega bucks on a new phone in order to be a responsible citizen? Maybe this is part of the reason why the uptake of the app is low. It's not lack of civic duty.
keep a log of where you go and use sign-in sheets where possible.
It's not our fault the default for the tech industry is "people who can buy new phones every year".
if your phone does the net, you can log your activity manually at https://tracing.covid19.govt.nz
it's becoming a problem, I don't get the civil defence warnings either. My phone is starting to not work for some websites too. It's 6 years old, nothing wrong with it other than Apple don't update the OS and thus it's not supported by developers.
None of which would bother me except I'm not that confident that society and its systems is not going to centre itself around late model phones. I can't tell if the CD siren thing is an issue or not, and I shouldn't even have to be thinking about that.
The CD thing doesn't worry me so much – chances are we know someone who will get it and be all "wtf", or we'd notice the traffic heading for the hills.
But the covid tracer is a bit worse. Either make a single version that's retro-compatible, or do a version for the last ten year's or so of OS. And then there's the entire expectation that everyone has a phone of some sort anyway.
The economic demographic most likely to have incompatible phones quite possibly overlaps the demographic most likely to spend most of their time working all hours for f-all pay, getting their roster texted to them because they're casualised disposable. But they're also the ones most likely to still be having contacts when everyone else is zoom-working from home.
She'll be right Trev, lol.
It's more that I don't know if CD are relying on the phones and not focusing on the other systems now. I can't tell if we even still have sirens. That your answer didn't mention them suggests I'm not alone in that. Bad luck for people that live on their own I guess or happen to be around people with old phones. Hmm I wonder who that will affect most.
I caught the tail end of a conversation on RNZ about a lanyard with a card on it. I assume this registers via Bluetooth or some other witchcraft and automatically logs yr movements.
I am having similar issues as my Huawei doesn't support the app.
the privacy issues never got addressed adequately for me (app or card).
I missed where they were addressing the privacy/data side of things.
I have been reflecting on my own shift in attitudes over the last few years. 5 years ago I would have agreed with you. Now, not so much.
Not saying your concerns are unfounded or wanting to argue with you. I see it as a good solution for the 'electronically impaired' or the elderly who can get a bit flustered with these new processes.
Before they lost the last election National were already rolling out major plans to remove privacy rights in NZ (they were intending to reform our privacy laws), and they started with beneficiaries and low income people. As part of the beneficiary class, I take that very seriously. Until National change how they operate, and/or the left parties put some major Tory-proofed protections in, then *everything that involves tech and privacy should be viewed through the lens of what will National do? It's too hard to claw back rights after National destroys them.
Less of an issue, but still an issue, is I don't particularly trust government ICT security given the number of fails we've had.
Future-proofing IT seems like a no brainer, but not many people seem to be thinking about it. Maybe there's a niche there for some of the geeky people.
Would love to know if it's a tech issue, a cultural issue or a money one. How hard would it be to have produced a basic app that worked on all phones?
Not everybody’s got a phone.
some of us still have a phone tied to the wall.
Point taken 🙂
I should have qualified it as meaning mobile phone.
I have an iphone 5c. It said it needed some funny-numbered thing to download the Govt Covid tracker. I gave up. Unless I am working, I leave the thing next to my bed for the entire day anyway.
I await a better system, like that card, which I would happily take with me.
I’ll wait for National to microchip me when they get back in power 😉
I’ve very little understanding of it but the CovidCard seems like something that could work well, at least for me.
quite. Emergency systems shouldn't be so dependent on a small thing.
Not so much "future proofing" as "past proofing".
The further back you want to take it, the more difficult it can be.
An app programmer would be able to comment about how far off the track I am, but apps aren't generally typed linearly in one big file. The operating system isn't just a translator between the app and the transistors on the chips, it has libraries of subroutines that apps can call. They all operate the same way across different manufacturers, and they save a LOT of programming time. But each new edition of an operating system introduces new subroutines, so you need to write ones that work for older systems.
But also the other issue is that new editions also deprecate inefficient or insecure subroutines, so they no longer work on newer versions. It can be difficult to program to suit an old version and expect it to work on newer systems. It needs to be as simple as possible, which might reduce functionality that saves power or is needed for a covid tracer.
There would eventually be a hard line where it goes to before there was cross-company standards and even getting equivalent-generation phones to work would be massively difficult.
But some location apps were around in Android 3 or earlier, so the tech would seem to be feasible for that level. I suspect they took an industry estimate and figured "95% is good enough", but it isn't. We need everyone who can to do, to make up for those who can't or won't.
tbh, I never sorted out the privacy issues, so I'm not even sure I would use it if I could. The CD one irks though.
How much of the problems with past proofing are a trade off to get more and new exiting developments. I'm guessing in a sane world the balance would sit somewhere else.
A lot of it's legitimate – anyone going to a website that hasn't been updated in 20 years can see that.
And once someone finds a security hole in a subroutine, it needs to go.
I suspect some apps use only later generation versions to target their customers, too. They don't necessarily want late adopters, either because their product doesn't warrant close examination or because they don't want broke people skewing their data.
Like uber and lime are too modern for my phone. But my banking app works fine and google maps does too (if slow). So it's not impossible to write it for me, but they probably figure someone with a phone >3years old is unlikely to be inclined or have the credit rating to use their service – and my using it might make their service look bad, anyway.
There was also at least one phone manufacturer caught issuing software updates that demonstrably slowed their phones, just before their nextgen phones hit the shelves. Planned obsolescence has been replaced by obsolescence-on-command.
My partner’s iPhone 7 with 128Gb of storage is just starting to do the usual Apple death – the available RAM is a running short doing routine tasks. This is pretty much the usual pattern. It has 2Gb RAM and it has been interesting watching the memory bloat creep up. The support with either stop for it this September or next year in the usual fashion.
Since this is the third iPhone that she has had that has died or started dying in the same manner (iPhone 3G, iPhone 5(?), and iPhone 7) I’m hoping she is going to do what I did after the 3G and do the switch to a large capacity android.
I have given up on Apple multiple times now. Writing code for the bloody horrible iOS made it lose the sheen of the front-end interface for me. Paying for excessive annual developer licenses and the equipment upgrades doesn’t help either. But the real kicker is the planned obsolescence in their APIs which essentially makes most code bases using Apple systems obsolete within a few years and almost invariably inside a decade.
At least windows provides some strong backwards compatibility and open development tools.
But mostly I do open source Linux wherever possible and Android kotlin/NDK if I need to work on mobiles.
You have not the right phone so therefore you can't reguster as a citizen and you must then be treated as an alien. Is that how it will be?
The PTB did that when we first got computers, and wiped some people out of existence causing them great hardship. Some were registered as dead, and it was no use saying it's me here are my docs. NZ Post and others have established Real Me presumably to prevent that happening. But I do not like the tech takeover, I do not like it at all.
I won't be using Real Me as long as we have a Labour and a National that treat beneficiaries as second class citizens. Nat's plans around data are particularly scary.
Uh well that's out for me. I don't want to lay down in the road and let technology run over me – decision it is more efficient in fuel to run over this person and drag them away, than to stop and swerve round. Don't laugh anybody, we already have gummint departments thinking like that about beneficiaries, you might have need but can't get anything done while you can still struggle to your feet.
I hear how your phone won't work, but there is a civil defence alert compatible phone list to check. Mine doesn't work either.
https://getready.govt.nz/prepared/stay-informed/emergency-mobile-alert/capable-phones/
yes, my phone isn't on the list.
Sound advice.
I am becoming increasingly concerned that a whole generation of young people are growing up reliant on bits of plastic technology to do all their thinking and communicating for them.
Once upon a time there were no cell phones and people relied on their own sensibilities when it came to solving problems and keeping themselves and others safe from harm. I suspect we are creating generations of young people who will grow up having no idea how to do that for themselves.
This is no reflection on Rosielee who obviously can think for herself, but its something I feel strongly about. My young relatives frequently get a 'sermon' on the subject from me although I fear they take no notice. 🙁
There's a joke that years ago we figured folks would make better decisions if they had more information, but now they have all human information available at their fingertips and we're more stupid than ever.
But I'm not so sure about that. The stupid is just louder, but young 'uns seem about the same – even smarter, maybe.
Dunno about that.
When it comes to adrenaline sports, you get to see everything that could go wrong, in endless slo-mo detail. No imagination needed for that "is this really a good idea?" moment. But the young'uns are doing shit many levels up from anything we were doing back when I wasn't far from being near the top of one of those sports.
Yeah, but that's the selected extreme population. Not sure base jumpers are pushing the envelope any further than the wing-walkers of the 1920s.
But the day to day stupidity seems about the same. Uni student disorder was getting out of hand about 15 years ago, but there were some decent riots 15 years before that, and skyrocket wars and burned fences in the 80s. If anything the student parties are a bit less hazardous than the drinking horns from back in the day.
My niece's cohort seems pretty sensible – still dramas, but fewer hospital admissions lol
So I can't fault 'em too much where I am, anyway. We still have hoons and wannabe thugs and drunken dickheads who think daddy's wallet acts as a force-field against a broken jaw, but not any worse than back in my day.
The problem isn't that we have all the information available but that all the stupid things that are just plain wrong are also available and many people only accept what they believe as factual anyway.
Jeez. Have I wandered into teatime at the old folks home…?
Yeah, we can't stand that new-fangled rock'n'roll either.
No.
But to give you an idea what I mean…
25 years ago it was part of my duties in a particular government agency to train new recruits how to put their newly acquired knowledge into practice. It included making simple calculations in one's head. Not one of them could do it without a calculator. In the end I made them put their calculators away and learn how to work it out for themselves.
Why? Calculators/computers are quicker, and if the calculations are that important, there'll be an additional checking process anyway.
I can't claim any ability to do long division in my head. But I read a paper from the 1950s that took 105 person-years of collation and analysis to produce. I can literally replicate updated results of that information within half an hour.
We develop the skillsets we need, and we let the unneeded ones become boutique curiosities.
Don’t be an age-ist 😉
Haha. That’s usually what I’m saying to the kids at work.
Thanks for that. Will try it.
[Fixed typo in user name]
house brand phones are reasonably powerful , large and cheap I suggest checking them last time I bought one was a vodafone with a 5" screen about 3-4 years ago cost $100
mine is too old too. I use a manual system and my eftpos transactions.
Yes. That's what i do already. I'm old but tech savvy and equipped so i thought the app was a great idea. but i am not buying a new phone.
Have you tried updating your phones operating system?
The app requires Android 6.0 or OS11.
A phone that old may require you to manually do it (if it can do it at all). My phone was released in 2014 and can only update to Android 7.1.1
If I'm not going to buy a new phone and transfer all my apps & shit, I'm definitely not going spend even more time seeing if I can root my phone without trashing all my apps and shit.
Looking online, the thing’s only 5 years old and already secondhand in that time lol. Regardless of generation of OS, it shouldn’t be so obsolete.
Not talking about putting in after market OS. Just seeing if it can be updated to a later version. My phone came out standard with Android 5 but its now running 7.1.1 but I had to tell it to update. It wouldn't do it automatically because it did a full reset of the data.
All your apps can be reinstalled and you should have backups of data.
Tech changes and moves on but the big one for me is the security vulnerabilities in an old OS that are no longer being fixed.
no, it can't be updated, and reinstalling all the apps would be bloody annoying.
That confirms to me that this is all a big con, the obsolescence thing, a forced sale of device or you will lose out on communication. To put it crudely the techs have got us by the short and curlies.
So, you would prefer to have you as an open book for the criminals?
The techs and the upgrades go a long way to thwarting them from doing so. To get those benefits does require you to upgrade though.
My bank doesn't think I'm an open book to cybercriminals.
What do the covid app designers know that my bank app designers don't?
/facepalm
Really, the phone has one OS that applies across many makes and models. It's not specifically customised for you – its for everyone which means that each OS has every protection it can built in whether you think you want it or not. The fact that you obviously think that you don't probably does mean that you're an open book to the cyber criminals.
That software needs processing power and so, as the OS develops, so to does the hardware. You can't, effectively, run a new OS on old hardware.
The relationship between hardware and software is pretty arbitrary. The most obvious example is Linux. I just upgraded my old Sony laptop circa 2009 to kubuntu 20.04. No problems. No particular loss of speed since I first dropped ubuntu on in 2009.
I mowtly write code, read email, and read the net on it. Nothing fancy. Had a external USB wifi as that chip failed on the board.
But it had a full HD screen on it when I got it and 3GB Ram. Replaced the hdd with a ssd.
Still using both the origonal lithium batteries and they still last for about 3 hours.
The software issues on cell phones are mostly and issue with design and marketing.
I know they're not tailored for me.
And yes, I've seen some apps stop working after they got "updated" to newer OS.
But all major banks in NZ seem to still be happy giving their customers apps that work on my OS. So they don't think I'm wide open to cyber criminals, otherwise they'd have gone the way of… the wikipedia app (obviously in need of higher security than banking apps, that).
Now, my suspicion is that the banks know their apps are secure enough on an older OS, and because it helps them keep customers they put the work into updating their apps in such a way to keep them working for their customers. Whereas it's in the interests of other apps to simply ignore compatibility issues with older phones because of cost, and because the market information apps gather is most valuable for data gathered on people who are early/midlevel adopters.
But you can always explain why a bank will leave customers wide open to cyber criminals while the wikipedia app developers are so much more cautious.
Take a pic wherever you go, somebody suggested.
you could just photograph the qr code or just the shop frontage photo metadata will give time
no alerts but simple
Professor Rod Jackson on Radio NZ this afternoon made the observation that the best takeout from National’s border policy release today is that finally we’ve got broad consensus across the political spectrum that what we are doing is the right thing to do. All the gang that have been advocating open borders and open slather have effectively been sidelined. It’s only taken 6 months!
+1. See my post at 4.
Finally the opposition has come around. Only took a second outbreak to do it…
Yeah just saw that. I was thinking more of Thornley and the Plan B gang. And the Unis. National have quietly dropped their plan to let tertiary education providers manage quarantine for international students.
edit
Unis will have to attend closely to students' pastoral needs and not have any dying unnoticed, alone. Well that was Canterbury and perhaps all of them have fallen for factory education – have you caught up with Chch's latest distasteful disaster? I think that should be enough to have his contract broken.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/122499126/senior-engineering-lecturer-investigated-after-posting-insensitive-comments-online
(Guess where he comes from – Paranoia Central.)
Senior lecturer in chemical engineering Luke Schneider posted answers suggesting that beneficiaries should commit suicide, that he would “shoot to kill” looters in a riot to protect private property and that a virus which killed “the lowest IQ people” would help get back a “sustainable planet”.
The comments were among about 600 posted by Schneider to American question-and-answer website Quora, which lists Schneiders full name, job title and where he studied in the United States.
One answer from a question about social security wealth redistribution on August 11, read: “If you can’t survive without the largess of others, it’s your patriotic duty to commit suicide”. ..
Schneider’s LinkedIn profile says he was educated at South Florida and Princeton universities in the United States, and has worked in both the Unites[d] States and New Zealand.
Also late last year there was this:
Oct//19 https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/116288238/law-lecturer-outs-himself-as-subject-of-unjustified-harassment-complaint
May be about time for the vicious little shit to go home to seckinamemmintville.
Not all….theres still a vocal and enabled minority pushing a different agenda….and National's position is loose enough to continue to support that agenda
Yep. If National gets power expect the borders to be open within 6 months and a massive surge of the pandemic in NZ within 6 months of that.
Lisa’s giving Judith a hard time on Checkpoint. “How are you going to deliver this, you couldn't even build the bridges in Northland!” Ouch!
Judith also said that if there was Bill of Rights implications for the pre-travel Covid testing she would legislate to override it ‘within the first hundred days’. So there you go April at the very earliest.
Hopefully at least April 2024
It won't negate the need for 14 day quarantine and day 3 and 12 testing, while creating headaches for kiwis in countries where test results can take over a week to come back, or where limited test stocks are reserved for symptomatic people only. So then the question is why?
Basically, National like to have the appearance of being tough on stuff by taking measures that don't make any difference. You could even call it virtue signalling LOL
This is great. The PM in her element with people. But also the way the the PMO is cleverly contrasting the PM with the Leader of The Opposition. Sheer brainpower.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/masked-pm-praises-esr-team-critical-work-in-mapping-covid-19-cases
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018760413/we-ll-make-sure-it-s-legal-collins-on-compulsory-testing-before-flying-to-nz
GOnna be interesting to see the mental gymnastics over the freedom loving Nat supporters supporting this, if Collins doesn't like a law she will just change it.
It's quite a slippery slope isn't it? Why not test for any infectious disease? A eugenics wet dream.
Carrying an infectious disease and eugenics are unrelated AFAIK but I love to be educated.
not sure "eugenics" is the right word, but I'm sure someone could figure out a way to exclude or alienate groups they don't like. Having about fifty diseases to make the testing costs prohibitive, for example, or targeting diseases common in potus' s-hole countries even if we don't have effective vectors for those diseases here.
Even if they keep "infectious" in the legislation.
I find myself double-thinking quite a few reasonable or harmless ideas with "now, what if Judith Collins were in charge of this policy?"
Apparently in Taiwan new arrivals can choose to isolate in hotels, Air BnBs, or private homes but they are monitored by cell phone.
Student politician, David Seymour, wants to do the same thing here.
Curious he's picked Taiwan as a model. It is a country living under extreme paranoia and has done for several decades. A country pre-loaded for isolation, its citizens have been told to distrust anyone since birth in case they are infiltrated. A country which cannot get legitimacy from the West for fear of repercussion from China via a cutting off of cheap and under represented labour which makes the West’s 1%, and 10% so rich.
David Seymour also wants to re-open The Rock to house his scheme's rule breakers. Me-thinks another riot wouldn't be far behind that decision.
Question: Would New Zealand be better off without student politician, David Seymour?
Answer: Computer says yes.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/424035/covid-19-act-wants-to-ditch-government-run-isolation-hotels
Nobody would ever think of leaving their cell phone behind.
https://democracyproject.nz/2020/08/20/josiah-banbury-why-is-national-struggling-to-convince-voters/
Like a phoenix…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300087643/super-fund-still-in-the-picture-as-auckland-light-rail-heads-to-the-election
If the next government hasn't figured out how to corral state entities like NZSuper to stop actively undermining NZTA, then they just don't have the muscle for the job to happen.
Twyford expressing "preferences" at this point in the election cycle has far less credence than when he announced the same thing three years ago at the same time.
Woods, Simpson and Roche are busy with other stuff. Time for a Cabinet with a really powerful integrated infrastructure portfolio set.
edit
Juli Ann Genter sounds confident in that stuff link. What about heavy goods? Is there something left in the kitty and space on the ground to ensure a good run for that to where it should deliver? Getting people round, getting goods around, they are both important.
Surface light rail on the Dominion Rd route will be more accessible, and quicker and cheaper to put in place. That means more money to invest in more rapid transit lines around Auckland, like rail to the North Shore and northwest,” Genter said.
She said her party was the party to trust when it comes to transport infrastructure. “The Green Party has a history of campaigning for successful public transport projects well before other parties pick them up, like the Northern Busway, electrification of Auckland’s rail network, and the CRL [City Rail Link],” Genter said.
“The Greens are the party people can trust to deliver when it comes to excellent public transport.”
Kiwirail is the key to that.
We are now in construction for Auckland's Third Main line. Also electrification of Papakura to Pukekohe is underway, which is close to completing full electrification from Auckland to Hamilton to Wellington. That's also the secret to Kiwirail getting a fully electrified fleet for the North Island.
Most of the multiple billions Kiwirail are getting this term have come through New Zealand First cabinet advocacy at the Budget table.
That would be a big up for NZFirst, that allows them to retire with good wishes and a gold watch, or similar.
I'm guessing minimal poll bump for the Democrats after that Convention.
Which would be a first.
Modular houses built in China because they're much cheaper to built there. Fancy that eh. We can scrap our home building industry and just import houses. Be terrible if we export logs there to have them turned into houses and returned here mind you. We could probably bring in workers from offshore to assemble and finish them though. Long hours, low wages, imagine the money someone could make.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12358131