25%? Very unlikely. And be careful what you wish for.
I want National to lose big, but unlike many (most?) on the left I don't want a 2002 meltdown. It was ACT, NZF and UF who benefited most from that, not Labour. That brought in some really terrible right wing MPs on their 3 lists. Worse than mediocre Nats, as it turned out.
Number 30 or 40 on National's list will still be better than nos 6 or 7 on ACT's list. Or NZF surviving thanks to Nat voters.
The opposite. I want and expect a Labour-Green majority. I certainly want the Greens' share of that majority to be higher than it is now. There will be less "ambition" if they don't have it.
In 2002 Parliament missed out on those oh-so-terrible Tories like Chester Borrows and replaced them with ultra-right horrors like Muriel Newman and Paul Adams (UF)
Not a swap that I'd take again, thanks. They obstructed social reform for those 2 terms. It took over a decade to catch up.
If ACT get across the threshold that's 6 seats minimum and with the ongoing meltdown of National that's entirely possible.
NZF will get nothing
Yeah, get the feeling this may be the end of NZF. Winston definitely.
Greens at 7 to 9 percent would be good. More would be better.
Time to crush National so bad we destroy the old guard like it's 1935.
1936 when National formed on the remnants of the old Reform and Liberal parties after they were struck by fear that, as Don Brash named the people, the punters out in punterland may actually have a say in running their country.
The quoted sentence (in comment 2.1.1) contains aggressive language, IMHO.
The Lost in Space clip is OTT fun, and that episode had a happy ending for the "Instant Destroyer and Killer" super android! I don’t favour a "Crush Kill Destroy" style of politics or political campaigning – it’s a real turn-off.
worse than medicore Nats?…perhaps but at least they were up front…it appears to me that the likes of ACT, (although I oppose them with a passion) are at least honest with their agenda….the Nats, less so
Watching the response from some of the electors in Faloons electorate gives you the impression they don't care who the MP representing them is, as long as they're National.
No real expectation of any morality or anything else, just as long as they're a National person.
This may be part of the problem, if electors aren't concerned, it gives the party member a lot of leeway to do whatever they like, as long as they're National.
It is entirely possible that some don’t view the Nat Party as a moral vacuum or wasteland at all and that the Party replacing one bad apple with a good one is the right and natural thing to do. In fact, that shows to them that the Party is functioning with a moral compass despite some people jumping up & down and popping blood vessels in the white of their eyes arguing the exact opposite. Wishing (!!) does it make it so.
I'm sure that they're are some moral National voters. Unfortunately, they wouldn't know what corruption was if it slapped them with a lawsuit.
An in-law was a policy advisor for National over decades. A story he likes to tell everybody goes like this:
When Shipley was PM he approached her and asked what she was going to do about Death Taxes. She responded that if he couldn’t avoid them then he probably shouldn’t be in the National Party.
Weak explanation. Shipley is not representative of all past, present, and future Nat MPs or its staffers. Shipley is most definitely not representative of Nat voters; in 2017 over one million people voted for National. They have been one of the two major parties in NZ for decades. All that because their supporters/voters don’t know the meaning or can’t recognise corruption? I expected something a little more compelling from you 😉
The person I was talking to was a policy advisor for decades and he really didn't seem to understand that the cheating he was talking about was corruption.
Things, there are many who are the same. The people who pay cash for jobs so that they can get it cheaper because the tradesman isn’t paying taxes. The business person who go to Maccas with his wife and kids and gets receipt so that he can put it on the business (seen it done).
They’re little and so people don’t see it as the theft and corruption that it is.
I was talking from the PoV of a hypothetical (imaginary, if you like) Nat supporter. You know, those people who sometimes prefer to vote for National. They do exist, you know. Do they suffer from major cognitive dissonance and can only people who vote for, say, Labour see the truth? Why would anybody vote for a bunch of ‘bad apples’? Self-interest only goes so far. I look forward to your explanation.
There are 3 weeks left in this parliamentary sitting before the House rises on August 6 and the GG drops the writ on August 16, effectively firing the starting gun on the campaign. Given that neither the PM or Leader of the Opposition usually attend the House on a Thursday that means that Collins has 6 Questions Times left to take the fight to Ardern. Going by today’s rather lacklustre effort she’s going to need all of them.
Alison wrote about what Collins could do now to prove her sincerity:
So what can Judith Collins do, if she is in fact being honest about her willingness to deal with this as a human, rather than a political, issue?
She can release, with urgency, the report into harassment and bullying in the National Party that one of her predecessors Simon Bridges (remember him?) refused to release. It’s not likely to be a perfect document by any stretch – it did not even gather the views of the women whose treatment sparked it – but it would be a start.
Robert, it's been quite interesting watching some of the media cohorts squirming as they have to report and present news articles about their favoured party and there's no way of presenting it in a favourable light
Not that it is a big deal, the problem with trying to argue with post on here like your Mau's ends up getting you banned for a week,
[Really? I’ll tell what does get you banned here and that is making up shit about moderation here. A lying troll is as bad as a lying MP and moderation/banning is just the perfect anti-dote – Incognito]
Actually, it is a big deal. Such immoral behaviour needs to be recognised and punished – not swept under the rug as, apparently, Judith Collins tried to do.
What makes this policy so senseless is that over the last year we’ve seen gas-fired electricity generation decrease by 10 per cent (which is the aim of their policy), while coal-fired electricity generation has had to nearly double, increasing by 95 per cent, to make up for it.
That’s a classic backfire proving the Government’s advisers were right when they said that the ban will actually make New Zealand’s greenhouse gases go up and not down.
Sadly, when the Pohokura field closed down in 2018 it was eyes wide shut. New Zealand burned twice as much coal, with twice as many emissions, to replace the gas that wasn’t available. The coal was imported from Indonesia. The wholesale cost of electricity increased by 60 per cent for most of 2019, seeing some companies go broke.
Over the last month, 26 per cent of our electricity was generated by thermal heat, mostly natural gas. When natural gas supply has been low over the last couple of years, we’ve increased the use of coal to keep the lights on.
So extricating ourselves from fossil fuel dependency is boosting our contribution to global warming. Is he right about this paradox??
This month, the Government’s Transpower website described it as “non-gas thermal capacity”, saying it has been increased at the Huntly power station to reduce the risk to our security of supply. The Government’s new, four word, eight syllable phrase is a nothing more than a camouflage of what is really happening. It’s a convoluted way to describe a one syllable word called “coal”.
They are building up coal reserves to keep the lights on, because they are worried there isn’t enough gas. Meanwhile, the Green Party is insisting we end all new onshore exploration for natural gas. Smart move? Yeah – nah.
Dunno about the yeah bit. If he is actually correct. Wouldn't surprise me if our leftists are trying to get away with a smoke & mirrors scam. It's what lefists do. Equally, it wouldn't surprise me if he's making false claims. It's what the Nats do. Is there anything actually real about energy policy??
Young could do worse than continue hammering Labour on electricity prices, policy, and regulation. Ain't no-one buying that hydrogen crap this government is preaching in Taranaki.
We're all getting older, so readers may benefit from learning how old folk incorporate resilience lifestyles to age well.
The Ministry of Health’s 2017 Healthy Ageing Strategy said by the age of 65 people can expect to live half their remaining lives free of disability, or with manageable, functional limitations. The strategy sought to prioritise resilience, saying there was increasingly clear evidence that healthy lifestyles and physical and mental resilience were determinants of health in older age.
“Resilient people are more likely to age well and avoid cognitive decline or loss of function until very late in life. Resilient people can overcome stressful obstacles and recover from events that might tip a less resilient person into state of poor health,” the report said.
Resilience develops through physical activity, healthy behaviours, mental wellbeing and social connectedness. Healthy behaviours included good nutrition, drinking minimally, not smoking tobacco, and taking part in mentally stimulating activities and relationships. There was strong evidence that social isolation or loneliness was linked to poor mental and physical health outcomes.
Millennials – who are now aged between 22 and 38 – have become known as the burnout generation, with some research suggesting they respond to emotional exhaustion differently to Boomers. Psychiatrist and University of Auckland senior lecturer Tony Fernando says studies have shown senior doctors tend to be more resilient than junior doctors, whose burnout rates are much higher.
“It could be life experience, or there might be some brain changes that make them more adaptable,” Fernando says. “Older people are more realistic, more accepting of life, more accepting of illness and death because it’s real to them, and they’ve seen it.
“People will think those who are older, they have more illness, they have more loss, they’re frail, or not living in their own homes any more – you would expect they are more fragile. No, they’re not.”
This apparently is for real, Tova O’Brien knocked on door of Andrew Falloon’s mother. Can someone who saw it please give some context, because I can't see any valid reason for this. However annoying O'Brien's terrier approach is to politicians, family are a different matter entirely.
It's disheartening how often people watch the 6 pm news and don't pay attention, or don't understand editing, and leap to conclusions (where do they think Tova spent the day? Timaru or Parliament?). It's a fair gripe, but not against O'Brien.
But now we have a huge social media pile-on, an audience that thinks she interviewed Nat MPs in the morning and reported on Parliament in the afternoon and somehow flew down to Rangitata in her lunch break. And you wouldn't want any of them as eyewitnesses to a crime, because the clip clearly shows it is not her.
But far more importantly … Nobody seems capable of looking past a face on a screen, as the target. Nobody seems aware that bulletin producers and heads of news departments make the bigger decisions about what reporters do. They are anonymous suits in Auckland, so who cares. (Anybody who wants better news, that's who).
Instead of tracing the tabloid television back to the demands of corporate owners, we have Tova-hate, which used to be Paddy-hate or Guyon-hate or whoever it was.
If we're that shallow and stupid, maybe we get the telly we deserve.
Maybe coz she's capable of such action, and it was a Newshub thing, I certainly don't consider her a journalist anymore, I figure she's after a Hosking or Garner type role.
Wow! History has been made here in New Plymouth tonight! Looks like there's been a sea-change out there in white supremacy land:
"As the chamber erupted in applause and members embraced, there were tears from the man whose life was irrecoverably changed when he championed a Māori ward six years ago. Former New Plymouth mayor Andrew Judd said he was humbled that district councillors had voted to bypass community consultation and establish a Māori ward in time for the 2022 election."
And the current mayor turned out to be so gutless that he parked himself on the sidelines:
The motion was passed 12-2, with Holdom abstaining, prompting celebrations in the council chamber.
I appreciate it's been a bit hard being a National supporter lately. The old saying 'when the going gets tough' came to mind today while I was checking out Kiwiblog.
When the going gets tough the tough get going? Or engage the brain and rationalise the situation? No, you come up with whatever angle you can to blame or implicate J Ardern or Labour.
The sad bastards deserve their mob to disintegrate and be humbled in the election.
Beautiful trees, down in a trice. Those who protest are heroes and heroines. Yes the Protections need to be put back. This RMA has not been suitable for citizens purpose I think, speculators maybe.
Went and took a peek 🕵️♀️ at kw, as you do when something big politically goes down.
An apologist post grasping at straws, linking the 'young' age and lack of offspring, of certain disgraced MP's… falloon, barclay, walker and JLR, as the newest excuse.
dpf, of dirty politics fame 🚽, lamenting he's more responsible now he has a daughter ….
But the real kicker…..a large advert …'meet tender girls nearby'… with a photo of a young girl.
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
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Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
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Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
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The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
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The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
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It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
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This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
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 ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
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. ...
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. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
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 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
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Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
As I keenly observe our political landscape I have to say it's totally depressing.
I'm sure that it takes more energy to be an arsehole.
Than to just behave like a decent human being.
Yup.
It takes less words to tell the truth than to cover up a lie. So less time used more energy.
19 September no longer feels too far away.
No-one's going to get anything done in Parliament now with the government parties fully at each other.
Ah to be a tv reporter at National Party campaign headquarters when we take them back down to the 25% range, and take out solid blue seats.
25%? Very unlikely. And be careful what you wish for.
I want National to lose big, but unlike many (most?) on the left I don't want a 2002 meltdown. It was ACT, NZF and UF who benefited most from that, not Labour. That brought in some really terrible right wing MPs on their 3 lists. Worse than mediocre Nats, as it turned out.
Number 30 or 40 on National's list will still be better than nos 6 or 7 on ACT's list. Or NZF surviving thanks to Nat voters.
Took them 2 more terms to recover. I'll take that.
In 2020 Act will pull in about 4 seats, NZF will get nothing, Greens will get about 7-9.
Time to crush National so bad we destroy the old guard like it's 1935.
It's that kind of moment.
Your numbers don't add up.
Also, it was 2 terms relying on UF/NZF. Hardly transformational.
Yes MMP existed. It still does. Get over it. National were out for 3 terms.
I'm amazed you have so little political or policy ambition.
The opposite. I want and expect a Labour-Green majority. I certainly want the Greens' share of that majority to be higher than it is now. There will be less "ambition" if they don't have it.
In 2002 Parliament missed out on those oh-so-terrible Tories like Chester Borrows and replaced them with ultra-right horrors like Muriel Newman and Paul Adams (UF)
Not a swap that I'd take again, thanks. They obstructed social reform for those 2 terms. It took over a decade to catch up.
If ACT get across the threshold that's 6 seats minimum and with the ongoing meltdown of National that's entirely possible.
Yeah, get the feeling this may be the end of NZF. Winston definitely.
Greens at 7 to 9 percent would be good. More would be better.
1936 when National formed on the remnants of the old Reform and Liberal parties after they were struck by fear that, as Don Brash named the people, the punters out in punterland may actually have a say in running their country.
Act won't get over the threshold but Epsom will drag in a couple. That soft 12% of swinging Nat vote is ours this time.
Possibly but I won't be surprised to see enough of National's more liberal members vote ACT pushing it over threshold.
With a centrist like Muller as leader, pretty much assured that ACT would be over 5%, but at National's expense.
With Collins at the front, well that's going to drag the ACT leaning voter right back into National.
Muller failed because National was loosing too many votes (and MP's jobs) to ACT, Collins is there to save as many jobs as they can.
"Time to crush National so bad we destroy the old guard…"
Aggressive language; have you been chatting with Jacinda?
Time to "CRUSH KILL DESTROY" the Crusher.
Well that is nice.
The quoted sentence (in comment 2.1.1) contains aggressive language, IMHO.
The Lost in Space clip is OTT fun, and that episode had a happy ending for the "Instant Destroyer and Killer" super android! I don’t favour a "Crush Kill Destroy" style of politics or political campaigning – it’s a real turn-off.
I wish I could share your optimism, Ad. I really do.
Its not over till its over. I wont be celebrating till midnight on 19th September. (the day after my 40th birthday…..)
worse than medicore Nats?…perhaps but at least they were up front…it appears to me that the likes of ACT, (although I oppose them with a passion) are at least honest with their agenda….the Nats, less so
Watching the response from some of the electors in Faloons electorate gives you the impression they don't care who the MP representing them is, as long as they're National.
No real expectation of any morality or anything else, just as long as they're a National person.
This may be part of the problem, if electors aren't concerned, it gives the party member a lot of leeway to do whatever they like, as long as they're National.
It is entirely possible that some don’t view the Nat Party as a moral vacuum or wasteland at all and that the Party replacing one bad apple with a good one is the right and natural thing to do. In fact, that shows to them that the Party is functioning with a moral compass despite some people jumping up & down and popping blood vessels in the white of their eyes arguing the exact opposite. Wishing (!!) does it make it so.
I'm sure that they're are some moral National voters. Unfortunately, they wouldn't know what corruption was if it slapped them with a lawsuit.
An in-law was a policy advisor for National over decades. A story he likes to tell everybody goes like this:
When Shipley was PM he approached her and asked what she was going to do about Death Taxes. She responded that if he couldn’t avoid them then he probably shouldn’t be in the National Party.
Weak explanation. Shipley is not representative of all past, present, and future Nat MPs or its staffers. Shipley is most definitely not representative of Nat voters; in 2017 over one million people voted for National. They have been one of the two major parties in NZ for decades. All that because their supporters/voters don’t know the meaning or can’t recognise corruption? I expected something a little more compelling from you 😉
The person I was talking to was a policy advisor for decades and he really didn't seem to understand that the cheating he was talking about was corruption.
Things, there are many who are the same. The people who pay cash for jobs so that they can get it cheaper because the tradesman isn’t paying taxes. The business person who go to Maccas with his wife and kids and gets receipt so that he can put it on the business (seen it done).
They’re little and so people don’t see it as the theft and corruption that it is.
Your premise is totally dependent on this though
"the Party replacing one bad apple with a good one"
You asume the replacement is "better" than the one just removed.
You could also argue, and this does apply to National, that the replacement is equally bad, sometimes, even worse.
I'd also argue that the last 2 or 3 weeks have proven that theory, not mentioning any names..
I was talking from the PoV of a hypothetical (imaginary, if you like) Nat supporter. You know, those people who sometimes prefer to vote for National. They do exist, you know. Do they suffer from major cognitive dissonance and can only people who vote for, say, Labour see the truth? Why would anybody vote for a bunch of ‘bad apples’? Self-interest only goes so far. I look forward to your explanation.
There are 3 weeks left in this parliamentary sitting before the House rises on August 6 and the GG drops the writ on August 16, effectively firing the starting gun on the campaign. Given that neither the PM or Leader of the Opposition usually attend the House on a Thursday that means that Collins has 6 Questions Times left to take the fight to Ardern. Going by today’s rather lacklustre effort she’s going to need all of them.
Alison Mau is not impressed by Falloon or Collins.
"https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300061996/national-mp-andrew-falloon-scandal-lets-not-forget-the-women-affected-by-this"
great article. I attempted to raise the issue on another post that grief and drinking are separate issues from sending inappropriate text to women.
Mau expresses it well
Alison wrote about what Collins could do now to prove her sincerity:
Fat hope!
The biggest reason she would also be unlikely to release it is that I bet both she and her deputy could possibly feature heavily in it.
Robert, it's been quite interesting watching some of the media cohorts squirming as they have to report and present news articles about their favoured party and there's no way of presenting it in a favourable light
We know who they are, it's blatantly obvious.
Not that it is a big deal, the problem with trying to argue with post on here like your Mau's ends up getting you banned for a week,
[Really? I’ll tell what does get you banned here and that is making up shit about moderation here. A lying troll is as bad as a lying MP and moderation/banning is just the perfect anti-dote – Incognito]
Actually, it is a big deal. Such immoral behaviour needs to be recognised and punished – not swept under the rug as, apparently, Judith Collins tried to do.
See my Moderation note @ 12:29 AM.
My local dinosaur Nat MP targets the Greens' energy policy: https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/opinion/122187375/a-labourgreen-government-would-see-the-end-of-taranaki-as-we-know-it-says-jonathan-young
So extricating ourselves from fossil fuel dependency is boosting our contribution to global warming. Is he right about this paradox??
Dunno about the yeah bit. If he is actually correct. Wouldn't surprise me if our leftists are trying to get away with a smoke & mirrors scam. It's what lefists do. Equally, it wouldn't surprise me if he's making false claims. It's what the Nats do. Is there anything actually real about energy policy??
No, really, they don't. That would be National and other right-whingers.
Young could do worse than continue hammering Labour on electricity prices, policy, and regulation. Ain't no-one buying that hydrogen crap this government is preaching in Taranaki.
"Ain't no-one buying that hydrogen crap this government is preaching in Taranaki."
Hydrogen = magic fairy dust.
Got that ole broad brush out there again eh. In praxis how aligned are you with your local dinosaur?
😀
We're all getting older, so readers may benefit from learning how old folk incorporate resilience lifestyles to age well.
This apparently is for real, Tova O’Brien knocked on door of Andrew Falloon’s mother. Can someone who saw it please give some context, because I can't see any valid reason for this. However annoying O'Brien's terrier approach is to politicians, family are a different matter entirely.
It isn't for real. A reporter did, Tova didn't.
It's disheartening how often people watch the 6 pm news and don't pay attention, or don't understand editing, and leap to conclusions (where do they think Tova spent the day? Timaru or Parliament?). It's a fair gripe, but not against O'Brien.
Either way, whoever did it and whoever included it in their "news" report, it was a lazy and sleazy act.
Yes it was.
But now we have a huge social media pile-on, an audience that thinks she interviewed Nat MPs in the morning and reported on Parliament in the afternoon and somehow flew down to Rangitata in her lunch break. And you wouldn't want any of them as eyewitnesses to a crime, because the clip clearly shows it is not her.
But far more importantly … Nobody seems capable of looking past a face on a screen, as the target. Nobody seems aware that bulletin producers and heads of news departments make the bigger decisions about what reporters do. They are anonymous suits in Auckland, so who cares. (Anybody who wants better news, that's who).
Instead of tracing the tabloid television back to the demands of corporate owners, we have Tova-hate, which used to be Paddy-hate or Guyon-hate or whoever it was.
If we're that shallow and stupid, maybe we get the telly we deserve.
Maybe coz she's capable of such action, and it was a Newshub thing, I certainly don't consider her a journalist anymore, I figure she's after a Hosking or Garner type role.
And if she fell under a bus tomorrow, her replacement would be Ed Murrow? Woodward and Bernstein?
No. It would be the next Tova. It's Mediaworks.
Forty three to go.
/
https://twitter.com/ibeblackgirl/status/1285304744727187457
As of March 2020, six U.S. states have prohibited discrimination based on hair texture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination_based_on_hair_texture_in_the_United_States
Hell of a country.
Wow! History has been made here in New Plymouth tonight! Looks like there's been a sea-change out there in white supremacy land:
And the current mayor turned out to be so gutless that he parked himself on the sidelines:
Hard fought.
Now they just need to vote to give back Waitara.
I appreciate it's been a bit hard being a National supporter lately. The old saying 'when the going gets tough' came to mind today while I was checking out Kiwiblog.
When the going gets tough the tough get going? Or engage the brain and rationalise the situation? No, you come up with whatever angle you can to blame or implicate J Ardern or Labour.
The sad bastards deserve their mob to disintegrate and be humbled in the election.
Or the Newshub poll, a man sends unsolicited porn to women, who's fault is it? Jacindas or Judiths?
I'm popping this here – I can't get action from my system otherwise.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/421702/green-party-candidate-steve-abel-arrested-during-tree-felling-protest-in-avondale
Beautiful trees, down in a trice. Those who protest are heroes and heroines. Yes the Protections need to be put back. This RMA has not been suitable for citizens purpose I think, speculators maybe.
+100!
Went and took a peek 🕵️♀️ at kw, as you do when something big politically goes down.
An apologist post grasping at straws, linking the 'young' age and lack of offspring, of certain disgraced MP's… falloon, barclay, walker and JLR, as the newest excuse.
dpf, of dirty politics fame 🚽, lamenting he's more responsible now he has a daughter ….
But the real kicker…..a large advert …'meet tender girls nearby'… with a photo of a young girl.
What an actual fucktard.
The Farrar thing about becoming a parent caught my attention too.
"I'm an arsehole, I'm an arsehole, I'm an arsehole … oops, I've become a parent… I'm not an arsehole…
Well, only when I go to work.