The Land Transport Management (Regulation of Public Transport) Amendment Bill replaces the Public Transport Operating Model (PTOM) 2011.
The PTOM had aimed to increase competition and curb costs by requiring councils to contract out public transport to a separate company.
However, a 2020 review by KPMG and Mott MacDonald found it had failed to achieve its aims, with commerciality even falling by up to 12 percent in major centres like Auckland, Wellington and Otago. Driver unions had long complained it also kept wages and conditions for drivers down.
The new law would allow councils to directly own and run public transport services themselves.
It also allows recruitment of migrant drivers.
Simeon Brown responded as it he had not read the 2020 report and said
it would only increase costs, would not increase efficiency and reliability, and would see services degrade.
"This government thinks everything should be operated by the government and not be outsourced to the private sector, and they don't even believe in competition," he said.
How can the bill even support competition when it takes away the requirement for competition to even be considered?"
The former requirement of councils to prefer the lower tender, drove down wages and conditions and left cities without bus services – failure to deliver on the contract.
Evidence clearly shows the cost savings and better services from privitisation are imaginary.
Similarly, in 2007, Roland Zullo found in his research that governments gained no immediate or long-term economic benefit from contracted bus services. This finding was substantiated in 2009 by Suzanne Leland and Olga Smirnova who found that privately owned and managed transit systems are not more efficient or more effective than government owned agencies.
Some of the explained real life results can be explained thus:
Their study suggests that under private production, incentives exist to reduce costs at the expense of quality. Under this framework, incentives work as follows:
1.With private ownership, the manager has incentives to reduce costs through quality deterioration. The manager does not need authorization from the government, which will bear the political costs of quality reduction. To give the manager incentives to innovate to increase quality, the manager would need to negotiate price increases with the government to ensure compensation for his investment. Most likely, this negotiation will not result in a full appropriation of benefits from the innovation, which reduces the manager’s incentives to innovate.
2.Under government ownership, incentives work in the opposite direction. Because the manager is government-employed, he will take into account potential quality erosion when considering the implementation of cost-reducing innovations. In addition, the public manager will need government permission for any innovation he wants to undertake (either quality improvement or cost reduction). In the absence of a pay-for-performance scheme, the public manager will not fully benefit from the results of innovation.
Overall, private ownership offers more incentives for cost reduction, but these incentives can induce quality erosion. Ensuring quality under privatization requires increased oversight, which can blur the line between public and private ownership (Guttman, 2000; Bozeman, 1987). As the difference between public and private ownership disappears, the potential for cost savings from private ownership may disappear as well.
Gets even worse for water. Note our semi-privatised power companies have been doing the same thing here – taking on debt to pay dividends to share holders.
Telecom's public image may take another hit as an audio clip of Theresa Gattung circulating on the internet has the chief executive admitting to the company "not being straight up" with customers.
"Think about pricing. What has every telco in the world done in the past? It's used confusion as its chief marketing tool. And that's fine," said Gattung in a speech recorded on March 20.
"You could argue that that's how all of us keep calling prices up and get those revenues, high-margin businesses, keep them going for a lot longer than would have been the case.
There has been 30 years of experimentation and research now which shows it is a failure in most cases.
The Privatised Water Industry in the UK. An ATM for investors.
This paper aims to critically evaluate the privatised water & sewage industry in England. We find that the public-owned sector in Scotland delivers the service just as efficiently, albeit at a lower cost to consumers. Our econometric analysis suggests that the 40% increase in real household bills since privatisation was mainly driven by continuously growing interest payments on debt, contrary to the regulator attributing them to growing costs and investments. Finally, we show that the accelerating debt levels are primarily the result of disproportionate dividend pay-outs, which exceeded the privatised companies’ cash balances in all but one year since 1989. We conclude that the way the industry operates may no longer be sustainable and seems to disadvantage consumers greatly without their knowledge, as there is a fog of misleading statements by the companies and the regulator.
But, but, but…….neo-lib is all good isn't it even when it is not, so why listen to reason or read objective results? /:sarc
Neo-lib wormed it's way into many unseen to the general public areas in public institutions/life that it really needs to have detailed investigations when aspects come up for renewal/review as well as an all out approach on the areas we as consumers are aware of.
(She checks notes to find the aspect she is always banging on about…..)
Did they really need expensive consultants to demonstrate the obvious? Extraction of passive income by the owners/shareholders of the new private entities tends to produce one of two outcomes – lower quality (bus services) or higher prices (private hospitals). Sometimes it leads to both.
If we weren't in the middle of an election campaign with multiple policy launches per day, the $1.1 billion deal from government to Auckland to buy out properties and remediate a whole regions worth of civil infrastructure would be surely worthy of note.
"A cost-sharing agreement between the Government and Auckland Council will see the Crown contribute $877 million towards Auckland’s recovery following the Anniversary Day floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, earlier this year.
In addition to the $877 million which will come from the National Resilience Plan, Auckland Council has submitted an application for further recovery funding which is being reviewed by Waka Kotahi. Auckland Council estimates it will receive about $200 million from this process to help restore the transport network. This would bring the total Crown funding Auckland may receive to up to $1.1 billion."
I'm presuming that Auckland Council will approximately match that with its own contribution.
We can now see how much it is going to cost New Zealand taxpayers and ratepayers to continue to prop up this country through massive storm after massive storm event.
That's before the walls start to really break on South Dunedin, or the flood+surge overtops Westport's defences, or a direct cyclone wipes Gisborne off the map.
It's not being catastrophist to now expect more disasters.
I sincerely hope that the buyouts will be capped.
As a ratepayer (and taxpayer for that matter), I don't really want to be paying for 10 million dollar clifftop properties – buying out owners who have recklessly over-developed a fragile site
I'd like to see a straightforward land swap (if you had a 600 m2 site which is red-stickered (or whatever the new category is) – you get a 600m2 site elsewhere in a managed retreat spec'd development. It's up to you and your insurance company to either rebuild or relocate your existing house. If you don't want to live there – you can sell the new site – and buy wherever you please.
I'm all for helping out people in need. Much less keen on helping out millionaires.
Rewriggling a stream in the south of England to restore natural flow and reduce the risk of flooding.
Alan Stewart, a professor of ecology at the University of Sussex, said past construction of straightened, artificial canals to transport vessels had increased the risk of flooding, noting that Lewes had a “devastating” flood in 2000. The flood destroyed about 100 properties, including homes and businesses, and led to six days of power cuts.
Stewart said removing artificial river banks and allowing streams to create their own natural winding courses was ultimately the most sensible approach to reducing flood risk.
[You seem like a typical troll trying to derail a comment with a lazy illegible YT link and an equally intelligible comment. This is your warning – Incognito]
So Weston you are commenting by linking to a shouty You Tube video that I had to click away from as it just seemed to be saying '3.4%' all the time (& an enigmatic comment of Not what they seem?) with a scientific study from the Royal Society and Dr Simon Williams.
I find this positioning concerning as if they are some how considered to be peers?
What does your comment mean and can you summarise the YT vid so we don't need to be subjected to this stuck record commentary of '3.4%'?. I have my suspicions that the link may be anti all sensible measures placed around Covid transmission.
The mainstream media talking heads were claiming the death rate from the virus was 3.4% while Trump was claiming it was under 1%. Leading to the talking heads claiming Trump was touting mis/disinformation. Yet (as shown in the vid/link) it turned out the WHO and the talking heads were wrong and it was under 1%.
So (as shown in the vid/link) it seems the talking heads and the WHO were the ones spreading mis/disinformation.
[please provide evidence for your claims here. No, you can’t use that video as a source. I want credible sources (imo you will need multiple sources), and explanations from you on each point, short quotes to back that up, and links. I’m not willing to accept video/audio as I want to limit my time on this and your claims should be easily backed up in text.
You will also need to explain what you mean by ‘death rate from the virus’ as well as the time periods you are referring to.
If you can’t do that then retract your claims.
The claims are:
that many MSM reported the death rate from covid was 3.4%
that Trump claimed it was <1%
that many MSM said Trump was spreading mis/disinformation
that the WHO was spreading mis/disinformation in the virus death rate
Mod note. Because I warned you recently about not treating TS like FB and I had to use my own time to fact check your claims, if you waste my time on this again I will ban you until well after the election. We have an expectation here of a high level of debate and evidence.
You are in premod and none of your comments will appear on the front end until you attend to this.
Seeing as you won’t take the vid/link as evidence, I can’t be bothered so I will retract.
[that’s not a retraction. A retraction would be something like “I made claims I am unable to back up, so I will retract them”. Further, you seem to not understand why evidence matters.
That and saying you can’t be bothered tells me that you have little respect for debate here. This is the third time you have been warned about this and wasting moderator time in the past week or so. You seem to have no intention of changing how you comment here.
ban extended to 1 year, after follow up comment in Trash and looking at moderation history. You patently don't respect moderation here, repeatedly waste moderator time, and you've had plenty of warnings.
Weka that vid i posted came from a piece by Matt Taibbi called " Mashup the covid lie that started it all "
Esentialy MT is piggy backing on an article by Matt Orfalea called "Memory Hole : the original covid lie "
Both articles [ behind a paywall ] refer to an original estimate by the WHO in early 2020 that the death count from covid was likely to be 3.4 % when in fact as established down the track it was less than 1% which was what Trump claimed back then which in turn was what pretty much ALL the MSM used to beat him up with .!! Trump was correct and the media sock puppets were wrong .
If you read the original article weka you will see all of Orfaleas info is credible and well documented .
Incidentaly The Chairman made no "claims " he merely interpreted the vid as in "my take " [ did you miss his first two words ?? ]
Even if you did mis read what he actually said are you suggesting its some kind of HEROSY that someone question a so called " expert or experts " seems to me there's not an expert on the planet who doesnt get something wrong at some stage .
For heavens sake weka how can you expect reasonable discussion on a subject if you're gonna come down on someone like a ton of bricks you sounded to me like some sort of censorship police unfortunate cause i thought you were the fairest .
[please supply the two links you are referring to and read the mod note below. – weka]
Mod note: it’s not my job to look for links you claim back up your argument. It’s your job. It’s like you didn’t understand anything I have explained to you about moderation. Or you don’t care. Either way, banned two weeks for wasting moderator time.
this is a youtube link with zero explanation. We have long said this isn't ok. What we need is an explanation by the commenter of two things: what the video is about, and what the commenter thinks about it.
When you put up a link with no useful comment it lowers the quality of debate because we can't see what the video is about and most people aren't going to watch it.
As Shanreagh pointed out, the video is constructed in such a way as to put most people off.
We are also resisting letting TS be turned into FB. We're here for the political debate, not memery.
If instead, you had written an explanation like you have today, the debate would have gone much differently.
You also need to link if you are going to reference articles, it doesn't matter if they are behind a paywall.
We require debate here to be robust and evidence based. Everything I am writing here is about that, none of it is about the content of what your comments. By that I mean, if you put the effort into explaining your position and doing basic things like linking, then you won't get moderated.
2. The Chairman has a history of making misleading statements in his comments. He's been warning about this multiple times. He's copped a ban for wasting moderator time (again, read my link above).
In addition, he made the same mistake as you whereby his comment didn't explain anything for others.
He did indeed make the same claims as in the video and could have provide back up for those claims but refused to and instead doubled down.
He also has a history of litigating moderation, and I'm not willing to waste my time on that any more.
3. You said,
For heavens sake weka how can you expect reasonable discussion on a subject if you're gonna come down on someone like a ton of bricks you sounded to me like some sort of censorship police unfortunate cause i thought you were the fairest .
No-one has been censored here. TS lets people say most things so long as they can do so within the boundaries of robust debate. The Policy (written long before I was a mod),
We encourage robust debate and we’re tolerant of dissenting views. But this site run for reasonably rational debate between dissenting viewpoints and we intend to keep it operating that way.
What we’re not prepared to accept are pointless personal attacks, or tone or language that has the effect of excluding others. We are intolerant of people starting or continuing flamewars where there is little discussion or debate. This includes making assertions that you are unable to substantiate with some proof (and that doesn’t mean endless links to unsubstantial authorities) or even argue when requested to do so. Such comments may be deleted without warning or one of the alternatives below may be employed. The action taken is completely up to the moderator who takes it.
You have both been given the opportunity to meet the debate standards of the blog. If you can't do that, then stop making the claims of fact. If you are unclear on what evidence is required, then ask.
Please take the time to understand that the problem here is lack of debate etiquette.
Please also understand that taking up moderator time is the quickest way to a ban. It's taken me 25 mins to do all the various things around moderating your comment today, and I am not going to do that again.
But The Chariman the report of the Royal Society and Dr Simon Williams were about non pharmaceutical interventions such as mask wearing, distancing etc. I feel that as anything about so called % rates was not mentioned in the reports
In short:
Covid measures WERE EFFECTIVE including lockdowns, contact tracing & masks
So not sure why the topic was raised by Weston, well I do, to derail any learning about effective measures especially those that were top of the anti-vaxx hit list. Such as mask wearing and distancing…why I do not know.
They were measures to help the individual as well as the people they came into contact with. I've never understood why, even if you felt you were unlikely to spread or catch covid you would not mask or distance to help others. Seems quite selfish to me.
mod note: please be more careful with your grammar and formatting. Your second sentence is hard to understand and then you presumably put your own words in quotation.
Covid measures WERE EFFECTIVE including lockdowns, contact tracing & masks
[ok, but you didn’t provide a link at the time you quoted. Three day ban for yet again quoting without linking and for thus wasting moderator time – weka]
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Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
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 ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Bennett, Professor of Music, Australian National University Richard P J Lambert/flickr, CC BY The future belongs to the analogue loyalists. Fuck digital. As a tsunami of CDs, DAT tapes and samplers swept the recording industry in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT University This week American rapper Macklemore released a new track, Hind’s Hall, which has gained a lot of attention because of its explicitly political nature. The track is unapologetically pro-Palestine. It declares the artist’s ...
Explainer - The government from 2025 is mandating how state schools teach children to read. But what is structured literacy and how does it compare to other teaching methods? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danica Jenkins, Lecturer in European Studies, University of Sydney On a freezing spring night in March, Georgia’s national soccer team beat Greece in a nail-biter penalty shootout to qualify for the Euro 2024 championships. The atmosphere on the streets of the capital ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam G. Arian, Lecturer (Accounting & Finance), Australian Catholic University Loic Manegarium/Pexels Imagine every ton of carbon dioxide a company emits is slowly inflating its costs — not just in terms of potential fines or fees but in the capital it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Somwrita Sarkar, Senior Lecturer in Design and Computation, University of Sydney The “latte line” is the infamous, invisible boundary that divides Sydney between the more affluent north-east and the south-west. Historically, people north of the line enjoy better access to jobs and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dowdy, Principal Research Scientist in Extreme Weather, The University of Melbourne Nomad_Soul/Shutterstock In media articles about unprecedented flooding, you’ll often come across the statement that for every 1°C of warming, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture. This ...
RNZ Pacific Former Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has been sentenced to one year in prison, Fiji media are reporting. Bainimarama, alongside suspended Fiji Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho appeared in the High Court in Suva today for their sentencing hearing for a case involving their roles in blocking a police ...
Acting Chief Human Rights Commissioner Saunoamaali’i Dr Karanina Sumeo says, “Addressing violence and abuse remains New Zealand’s most significant human rights issue affecting women. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Symons, Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University Michael Schiffer / Unsplash Life has transformed our world over billions of years, turning a dead rock into the lush, fertile planet we know today. But human activity is currently transforming Earth ...
One woman’s quest to watch Challengers without ruining her body clock. Every Saturday morning, I wake up with a screaming demon inside my head urging me to “Do. Something. This. Weekend.” I run through the possibilities in my head in a defensive mental crouch, reminiscent of that one time I ...
The PSA is alarmed that ACC is proposing to shed 309 jobs including 29 dedicated injury prevention jobs at a time when the number and cost of injuries is rising. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Baker, Associate Professor in Human Geography, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images As local and regional councils struggle with inadequate infrastructure and unsustainable costs, New Zealand will be hearing a lot more about the potential solution offered by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Sacks, Professor of Public Health Policy, Deakin University Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock In recent years, there’s been increasinghype about the potential health risks associated with so-called “ultra-processed” foods. But new evidence published this week found not all “ultra-processed” foods are linked ...
Fears that New Zealand is relying too heavily on low-cost forests to absorb its carbon dioxide emissions have been reignited by a report from the OECD. ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed the total dollar savings target from public sector cuts has been met, but the reductions have not been felt evenly across public agencies. Government departments were told to make savings set at 6.5 percent or 7.5 percent where headcount had grown by more than ...
She doesn’t have a single kind word for me and it’s getting under my skin.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,I have two amazing friends that I absolutely adore. Grace (all names have been changed) and I lived together across 2023 and Olivia moved in with us this ...
Can Western science and Māori science work together to support our well-being? The Te Ohu Mō Papatūānuku (TOMP) Trials Project was a landmark case for healing the land and people with the guidance of Māori science and leadership. This is what happened when Papatūānuku (Earth) was contaminated by toxic discharge, ...
The District Plan is a blueprint for a bigger, better Wellington, through tens of thousands of new apartments and townhouses and a new approach to urban growth. Joel MacManus lays out the vision. The process of putting together Wellington’s new District Plan has been long and excruciating. As a city, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Williams Veazey, ARC DECRA Research Fellow, University of Sydney DavideAngelini/Shutterstock In the 2007 film The Bucket List Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play two main characters who respond to their terminal cancer diagnoses by rejecting experimental treatment. Instead, they go ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohan Singh, Professor of Agri-Food Biotechnology, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences at the University of Melbourne., The University of Melbourne Tanja Esser/Shutterstock Australia’s vital agriculture sector will be hit hard by steadily rising global temperatures. Our climate is already ...
The Acumen Edelman Trust barometer reported that New Zealand’s political trust score now sits below the global average, a topic explored in a recent discussion paper by Maxim Institute. ...
Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director Russel Norman says, "The Fast-Track Bill is the most damaging piece of environmental legislation any Government has introduced in living memory. People are angry, and it’s time to march." ...
The school lunches programme has been retained – and will be extended to some preschoolers. So how is it going to cost $107 million less? To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. The minister with many hats David Seymour wears a number of hats, but this week ...
“Show us the bird,” I found myself muttering at times while reading Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker, a deeply thoughtful, often hilarious, at times rambling – but somehow delightfully so – search for the story of a big bird. But not just any bird: the bird. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, UK edition DPVUE .images/Shutterstock Your home was probably designed for a climate that no longer exists. As long as humanity continues to burn fossil fuel, padding the heat-trapping blanket of gases in Earth’s atmosphere, the ...
A senior lawyer has filed a complaint about tikanga becoming a required law school module. Law lecturer Carwyn Jones explains what he’s getting wrong. “…the first law of Aotearoa, a law that served the needs of tangata whenua for a thousand years before the arrival of tauiwi.”– Ani Mikaere ...
In 2019, an Auckland woman woke up from surgery to find that she had undergone a treatment she didn’t consent to. She tells Alex Casey about her experience. From her very first period at the age of 14, Laura experienced “debilitating” levels of pain that forced her to withdraw from ...
Opinion: What if we got rid of our existing drug laws and replaced them with a new law that legalised and carefully regulated all psychoactive substances, from cannabis to MDMA, methamphetamine and LSD to magic mushrooms? And which also included legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine. “Wow,” you might ...
In the gloom following director-general Al Morrison’s job cuts in 2013, the Department of Conservation restructured its operations arm. Eleven conservancy districts were whittled into six new “conservation delivery” regions, under which the Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands area, comprising 40 scattered islands more than 800km east of Christchurch, was tethered to the ...
One of th e country’s top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of around 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so log-jammed that it’s taking over two years to get cases ...
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Comment: Concerns about the state of the economy are creeping up to the top of firms’ list of challenges. That’s evident in both surveys and the tone of our recent client discussions. Skimming the past few weeks of eco-news, it’s not hard to see why. – Retail card spending fell ...
Opinion: Could former co-leader James Shaw still make a difference to working with National? The post How the Greens could be contenders appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel “through to 2050 and beyond”. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuel’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush ...
A long-term project that will set out an alternative vision for Aotearoa that looks beyond the narrow confines of the policy straight jacket adopted by successive governments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT, Queensland University of Technology TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock A much-awaited report into Coles and Woolworths has found what many customers have long believed – Australia’s big supermarkets engage in price gouging. What started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney The Albanese government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its migration amendment bill. The report, handed down yesterday by a senate committee that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Lobbying is at the heart of government. Who has access to and influence over key government officials shapes the decisions governments make – and how they make them. The ability to influence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myfany Turpin, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, Linguistics and Ethnobiology, University of Sydney The act representing Australia at this year’s Eurovision contest has sadly not qualified for the grand final. Yet for Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the duo that makes up Electric Fields, ...
In announcing changes to the school lunches programme, David Seymour said kids would no longer be served ‘woke’ foods. To clear up any confusion, The Spinoff has compiled a guide to the wokeness levels of some common food items. Apple = NOT WOKE Avocado = WOKE Avocado, smashed = EVEN ...
The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Minglu Chen, Senior Lecturer, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney Robert Way/Shutterstock As the past few years have illustrated so clearly, the Australia-China relationship is complicated. As such, it is crucial for Australians to develop a more nuanced understanding of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mariana Campbell, Research Lecturer, Conservation, Charles Darwin University Marilyn Connell Australian freshwater turtles are facing an alarming trend. Almost half of these species are listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The Mary River turtle (Elusor macrurus) is one of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debbie Passey, Digital Health Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without ...
ACT wants more people in prison.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/08/election-2023-prison-numbers-will-balloon-if-act-elected-at-cost-of-1-billion-david-seymour-says.html
I guess cracking down on spending doesn't apply to throwing more Maori in jails.
They're already there.
The Land Transport Management (Regulation of Public Transport) Amendment Bill replaces the Public Transport Operating Model (PTOM) 2011.
Simeon Brown responded as it he had not read the 2020 report and said
The former requirement of councils to prefer the lower tender, drove down wages and conditions and left cities without bus services – failure to deliver on the contract.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/08/parliament-passes-bus-driver-pay-legislation-under-urgency.html
Evidence clearly shows the cost savings and better services from privitisation are imaginary.
Similarly, in 2007, Roland Zullo found in his research that governments gained no immediate or long-term economic benefit from contracted bus services. This finding was substantiated in 2009 by Suzanne Leland and Olga Smirnova who found that privately owned and managed transit systems are not more efficient or more effective than government owned agencies.
https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/High-Costs-of-Privatization.pdf
Some of the explained real life results can be explained thus:
Their study suggests that under private production, incentives exist to reduce costs at the expense of quality. Under this framework, incentives work as follows:
1.With private ownership, the manager has incentives to reduce costs through quality deterioration. The manager does not need authorization from the government, which will bear the political costs of quality reduction. To give the manager incentives to innovate to increase quality, the manager would need to negotiate price increases with the government to ensure compensation for his investment. Most likely, this negotiation will not result in a full appropriation of benefits from the innovation, which reduces the manager’s incentives to innovate.
2.Under government ownership, incentives work in the opposite direction. Because the manager is government-employed, he will take into account potential quality erosion when considering the implementation of cost-reducing innovations. In addition, the public manager will need government permission for any innovation he wants to undertake (either quality improvement or cost reduction). In the absence of a pay-for-performance scheme, the public manager will not fully benefit from the results of innovation.
Overall, private ownership offers more incentives for cost reduction, but these incentives can induce quality erosion. Ensuring quality under privatization requires increased oversight, which can blur the line between public and private ownership (Guttman, 2000; Bozeman, 1987). As the difference between public and private ownership disappears, the potential for cost savings from private ownership may disappear as well.
https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/High-Costs-of-Privatization.pdf
So there was evidence to show that the 2011 approach was wrong and they did it anyway …
Gets even worse for water. Note our semi-privatised power companies have been doing the same thing here – taking on debt to pay dividends to share holders.
And let us not forget
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/gattung-admits-telcos-not-being-straight/CVL6FXSNGGNID32ZGUPGWPQHTE/
Telecom's public image may take another hit as an audio clip of Theresa Gattung circulating on the internet has the chief executive admitting to the company "not being straight up" with customers.
"Think about pricing. What has every telco in the world done in the past? It's used confusion as its chief marketing tool. And that's fine," said Gattung in a speech recorded on March 20.
"You could argue that that's how all of us keep calling prices up and get those revenues, high-margin businesses, keep them going for a lot longer than would have been the case.
There has been 30 years of experimentation and research now which shows it is a failure in most cases.
https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/21097/20/21097%20YEARWOOD_The_Privatised_Water_Industry_in_the_UK_2018.pdf
The Privatised Water Industry in the UK. An ATM for investors.
This paper aims to critically evaluate the privatised water & sewage industry in England. We find that the public-owned sector in Scotland delivers the service just as efficiently, albeit at a lower cost to consumers. Our econometric analysis suggests that the 40% increase in real household bills since privatisation was mainly driven by continuously growing interest payments on debt, contrary to the regulator attributing them to growing costs and investments. Finally, we show that the accelerating debt levels are primarily the result of disproportionate dividend pay-outs, which exceeded the privatised companies’ cash balances in all but one year since 1989. We conclude that the way the industry operates may no longer be sustainable and seems to disadvantage consumers greatly without their knowledge, as there is a fog of misleading statements by the companies and the regulator.
But, but, but…….neo-lib is all good isn't it even when it is not, so why listen to reason or read objective results? /:sarc
Neo-lib wormed it's way into many unseen to the general public areas in public institutions/life that it really needs to have detailed investigations when aspects come up for renewal/review as well as an all out approach on the areas we as consumers are aware of.
(She checks notes to find the aspect she is always banging on about…..)
Energy costs review of the Bradford changes…..
Did they really need expensive consultants to demonstrate the obvious? Extraction of passive income by the owners/shareholders of the new private entities tends to produce one of two outcomes – lower quality (bus services) or higher prices (private hospitals). Sometimes it leads to both.
If we weren't in the middle of an election campaign with multiple policy launches per day, the $1.1 billion deal from government to Auckland to buy out properties and remediate a whole regions worth of civil infrastructure would be surely worthy of note.
"A cost-sharing agreement between the Government and Auckland Council will see the Crown contribute $877 million towards Auckland’s recovery following the Anniversary Day floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, earlier this year.
In addition to the $877 million which will come from the National Resilience Plan, Auckland Council has submitted an application for further recovery funding which is being reviewed by Waka Kotahi. Auckland Council estimates it will receive about $200 million from this process to help restore the transport network. This would bring the total Crown funding Auckland may receive to up to $1.1 billion."
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2308/S00159/government-and-auckland-council-agree-cost-sharing-arrangements.htm
I'm presuming that Auckland Council will approximately match that with its own contribution.
We can now see how much it is going to cost New Zealand taxpayers and ratepayers to continue to prop up this country through massive storm after massive storm event.
That's before the walls start to really break on South Dunedin, or the flood+surge overtops Westport's defences, or a direct cyclone wipes Gisborne off the map.
It's not being catastrophist to now expect more disasters.
I sincerely hope that the buyouts will be capped.
As a ratepayer (and taxpayer for that matter), I don't really want to be paying for 10 million dollar clifftop properties – buying out owners who have recklessly over-developed a fragile site
I'd like to see a straightforward land swap (if you had a 600 m2 site which is red-stickered (or whatever the new category is) – you get a 600m2 site elsewhere in a managed retreat spec'd development. It's up to you and your insurance company to either rebuild or relocate your existing house. If you don't want to live there – you can sell the new site – and buy wherever you please.
I'm all for helping out people in need. Much less keen on helping out millionaires.
Plan now or pay later.
Councils begin the task of assessing the cost of the expected rise in sea/river outlet levels on their infrastructure replacement.
https://www.thepress.co.nz/a/nz-news/350058087/more-3b-worth-christchurchs-public-assets-risk-due-climate-change?utm_source=stuff_website&utm_medium=stuff_referral&utm_campaign=stuff_skybox&utm_id=stuff_skybox
Too late we're paying now.
Our safest city for seismic+climate risk is Hamilton.
Every other city has very high risks now that are near impossible to plan out of.
Yes. We’ve had 30-35 years to work this out. The pandemic is one thing. But to be making this up on the fly is inexcusable.
Rewriggling a stream in the south of England to restore natural flow and reduce the risk of flooding.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/24/rewriggle-room-lewes-river-channel-project-new-wetland-cockshut-chalk-stream-flood-risk
Thread.
(1/17)
@drsimonwilliams
Our MAJOR new @royalsociety report out TODAY Evidence shows COVID measures together = EFFECTIVE
Key findings:
Distancing/lockdowns=MOST EFFECTIVE measure
FACEMASKS consistently found to be EFFECTIVE
Strong evidence for contact tracing apps
https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/impact-non-pharmaceutical-interventions-on-covid-19-transmission/
https://twitter.com/drsimonwilliams/status/1694484949666038044
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1694484949666038044.html
Not what they seem ?
[You seem like a typical troll trying to derail a comment with a lazy illegible YT link and an equally intelligible comment. This is your warning – Incognito]
So Weston you are commenting by linking to a shouty You Tube video that I had to click away from as it just seemed to be saying '3.4%' all the time (& an enigmatic comment of Not what they seem?) with a scientific study from the Royal Society and Dr Simon Williams.
I find this positioning concerning as if they are some how considered to be peers?
What does your comment mean and can you summarise the YT vid so we don't need to be subjected to this stuck record commentary of '3.4%'?. I have my suspicions that the link may be anti all sensible measures placed around Covid transmission.
My take on the vid/link Weston posted.
The mainstream media talking heads were claiming the death rate from the virus was 3.4% while Trump was claiming it was under 1%. Leading to the talking heads claiming Trump was touting mis/disinformation. Yet (as shown in the vid/link) it turned out the WHO and the talking heads were wrong and it was under 1%.
So (as shown in the vid/link) it seems the talking heads and the WHO were the ones spreading mis/disinformation.
[please provide evidence for your claims here. No, you can’t use that video as a source. I want credible sources (imo you will need multiple sources), and explanations from you on each point, short quotes to back that up, and links. I’m not willing to accept video/audio as I want to limit my time on this and your claims should be easily backed up in text.
You will also need to explain what you mean by ‘death rate from the virus’ as well as the time periods you are referring to.
If you can’t do that then retract your claims.
The claims are:
Mod note. Because I warned you recently about not treating TS like FB and I had to use my own time to fact check your claims, if you waste my time on this again I will ban you until well after the election. We have an expectation here of a high level of debate and evidence.
You are in premod and none of your comments will appear on the front end until you attend to this.
Seeing as you won’t take the vid/link as evidence, I can’t be bothered so I will retract.
[that’s not a retraction. A retraction would be something like “I made claims I am unable to back up, so I will retract them”. Further, you seem to not understand why evidence matters.
That and saying you can’t be bothered tells me that you have little respect for debate here. This is the third time you have been warned about this and wasting moderator time in the past week or so. You seem to have no intention of changing how you comment here.
You are banned for six months. – weka]
ban extended to 1 year, after follow up comment in Trash and looking at moderation history. You patently don't respect moderation here, repeatedly waste moderator time, and you've had plenty of warnings.
Weka that vid i posted came from a piece by Matt Taibbi called " Mashup the covid lie that started it all "
Esentialy MT is piggy backing on an article by Matt Orfalea called "Memory Hole : the original covid lie "
Both articles [ behind a paywall ] refer to an original estimate by the WHO in early 2020 that the death count from covid was likely to be 3.4 % when in fact as established down the track it was less than 1% which was what Trump claimed back then which in turn was what pretty much ALL the MSM used to beat him up with .!! Trump was correct and the media sock puppets were wrong .
If you read the original article weka you will see all of Orfaleas info is credible and well documented .
Incidentaly The Chairman made no "claims " he merely interpreted the vid as in "my take " [ did you miss his first two words ?? ]
Even if you did mis read what he actually said are you suggesting its some kind of HEROSY that someone question a so called " expert or experts " seems to me there's not an expert on the planet who doesnt get something wrong at some stage .
For heavens sake weka how can you expect reasonable discussion on a subject if you're gonna come down on someone like a ton of bricks you sounded to me like some sort of censorship police unfortunate cause i thought you were the fairest .
[please supply the two links you are referring to and read the mod note below. – weka]
Mod note:
Please read the bolded note in your comment and respond to that before commenting again.
Please also read this post before commenting again, and let me know when you have read it and that you understand it.
https://thestandard.org.nz/moderation-notes-in-election-year/
You are in premod until I see those two things completed. This means your comments won't appear in the front end until this is sorted.
weka : the two links respectively are : taibbi@substack.com and http://www.censorednews.substack.com I have read and understood your moderation post .
thank-you. Can you please provide the correct URL for your first link. What you have given is an email address.
Dunno about a URL but you'll find Matt Taibbi's stuff under Racket News
Mod note: it’s not my job to look for links you claim back up your argument. It’s your job. It’s like you didn’t understand anything I have explained to you about moderation. Or you don’t care. Either way, banned two weeks for wasting moderator time.
as to your criticisms of moderation, you don't seem to understand why and how we moderate, so I will explain.
1. your comment here https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-24-08-2023/#comment-1965724
this is a youtube link with zero explanation. We have long said this isn't ok. What we need is an explanation by the commenter of two things: what the video is about, and what the commenter thinks about it.
When you put up a link with no useful comment it lowers the quality of debate because we can't see what the video is about and most people aren't going to watch it.
As Shanreagh pointed out, the video is constructed in such a way as to put most people off.
We are also resisting letting TS be turned into FB. We're here for the political debate, not memery.
If instead, you had written an explanation like you have today, the debate would have gone much differently.
You also need to link if you are going to reference articles, it doesn't matter if they are behind a paywall.
We require debate here to be robust and evidence based. Everything I am writing here is about that, none of it is about the content of what your comments. By that I mean, if you put the effort into explaining your position and doing basic things like linking, then you won't get moderated.
2. The Chairman has a history of making misleading statements in his comments. He's been warning about this multiple times. He's copped a ban for wasting moderator time (again, read my link above).
In addition, he made the same mistake as you whereby his comment didn't explain anything for others.
He did indeed make the same claims as in the video and could have provide back up for those claims but refused to and instead doubled down.
He also has a history of litigating moderation, and I'm not willing to waste my time on that any more.
3. You said,
No-one has been censored here. TS lets people say most things so long as they can do so within the boundaries of robust debate. The Policy (written long before I was a mod),
https://thestandard.org.nz/policy/
You have both been given the opportunity to meet the debate standards of the blog. If you can't do that, then stop making the claims of fact. If you are unclear on what evidence is required, then ask.
Please take the time to understand that the problem here is lack of debate etiquette.
Please also understand that taking up moderator time is the quickest way to a ban. It's taken me 25 mins to do all the various things around moderating your comment today, and I am not going to do that again.
But The Chariman the report of the Royal Society and Dr Simon Williams were about non pharmaceutical interventions such as mask wearing, distancing etc. I feel that as anything about so called % rates was not mentioned in the reports
So not sure why the topic was raised by Weston, well I do, to derail any learning about effective measures especially those that were top of the anti-vaxx hit list. Such as mask wearing and distancing…why I do not know.
They were measures to help the individual as well as the people they came into contact with. I've never understood why, even if you felt you were unlikely to spread or catch covid you would not mask or distance to help others. Seems quite selfish to me.
mod note: please be more careful with your grammar and formatting. Your second sentence is hard to understand and then you presumably put your own words in quotation.
The quote was directly from the Dr Williams report (para 17).
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1694484949666038044.html
[ok, but you didn’t provide a link at the time you quoted. Three day ban for yet again quoting without linking and for thus wasting moderator time – weka]
mod note.
Mod note
What is it about pigs like Orfela that appeals to soft-headed pricks like yourself?
(Orfela's content nsfw)
@receiptmaven
Matt Orfalea made the most offensive video about Martin Luther King, Jr. I have EVER seen. It's vile. Repugnant. Racist.
@BernieSanders just hired him as a member of his video team. MLK's famous "I Have a Wet Dream" speech
https://twitter.com/receiptmaven/status/1183455116827021316/photo/1
https://twitter.com/receiptmaven/status/1183448789333532673
@receiptmaven
·
Oct 16, 2019
These are just some of the pictures Matt Orf used on his videos about Hillary Clinton:
https://twitter.com/receiptmaven/status/1184085027199602688
Joe90 I am amazed looking back that antis were able to make people doubt the efficacy of commonsense provisions around the transmission of a virus.
That several measures taken together were effective shows that the Swiss Cheese Model of prevention had much going for it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/05/health/coronavirus-swiss-cheese-infection-mackay.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/05/health/coronavirus-swiss-cheese-infection-mackay.html