Daily Review 25/05/2016

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 pm, May 25th, 2016 - 50 comments
Categories: Daily review - Tags:

Paula Bennett Anne Tolley

Daily review is also your post.

This provides Standarnistas the opportunity to review events of the day.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

50 comments on “Daily Review 25/05/2016 ”

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  1. weka 1
    25 May 2016 at 6:29 pm

    The Greens on what we need from the Budget,

    Five things:

    A significant investment in reducing child poverty, like moving the in-work tax credit to a genuine child payment that will bring thousands of families above the poverty line.

    No less than a $200m fund for Housing New Zealand (HNZ) to build new state houses. It’s just a start but will double the number of new homes HNZ acquired or built in the last financial year.

    An end to the state house sell-off program. We must increase the stock of state and social housing, not reduce it. HNZ is not a real estate agency.

    A commitment to and the funding for the home insulation program. Over the last few years National has been removing money for the scheme so fewer and fewer homes are made warmer and drier. A comprehensive WOF for rentals will be much more effective with a quality home insulation scheme supported by government.

    A capital gains tax (excluding the family home), a restriction on foreign buyers of residential property and a investment in regional economic development. To cool the housing market and improve affordability, we need a suite of measures that deal with the drivers of house price growth. And that includes direct housing measures as well as regional economic development so families have greater choices about where they can work and build secure and stable lives.

    https://blog.greens.org.nz/2016/05/25/metiria-turei-what-we-need-from-budget-2016/

    • mauī 1.1
      25 May 2016 at 6:51 pm

      Now we just need the bottom of the ladder non-voters to start voting for their interests. If it’s possible to engage them.

      • Colonial Viper 1.1.1
        25 May 2016 at 6:59 pm

        These parties might have to start talking with those people then, instead of continuously talking at them.

        • Macro 1.1.1.1
          25 May 2016 at 7:21 pm

          You think the Greens don’t do that already?
          I know a number of Green MPs, and all spend a great deal of time visiting and talking with people in social agencies, woman refuges, schools, etc – not only the practitioners, but also clients.

          • Colonial Viper 1.1.1.1.1
            25 May 2016 at 7:29 pm

            OK allow me to reframe. I’m thinking of what Hamas did to gain its reputation in the occupied territories.

            Not dropping in, having a chat, and then heading back to your life of 1% privilege, tax payer funded flights and drinks in the Koru club. But actually being part of life amongst the people who are the most disadvantaged.

            • Macro 1.1.1.1.1.1
              25 May 2016 at 7:38 pm

              Having met Marama Davidson for instance I know the last place she will be found is the Koru Club. She speaks on social housing from a position of knowing it and living it.

              • Colonial Viper …
                25 May 2016 at 7:43 pm

                Parliamentary Services pays for Koru. AFAIK no MP has turned down membership, given how much flying they all do.

                But fair enough, I think Davidson is a great MP.

            • Macro 1.1.1.1.1.2
              25 May 2016 at 7:46 pm

              I can say the same regarding Jan Logie as well. She speaks on the social issues of Social development, sexual abuse, domestic violence, etc and has a huge background of work in this area.

  2. feijoa 2
    25 May 2016 at 6:39 pm

    I opened up my DomPost yesterday and guess what fell out?
    A little newspaper from the People’s Republic of China’s China Daily, called China Watch, with a little disclaimer from the Dom Post saying their editorial and news departments had nothing to do with it..
    It extoled the wonders of the NZ China relationship with articles on trade, tourism and some photos of China – “country’s exquisite beauty shines in pictures and words”.. ” Xi’s new diplomacy offers solutions” etc
    Lo and behold on the back page – “Manila has no leg to stand on”.. where the paper accuses the Phillipines of violating international law over the South China sea dispute.

    At best one could say the Chinese government is bypassing the media in order to get it’s own message across, at worst, well, ……….
    I wonder if this is going to be a regular thing?

    • Colonial Viper 2.1
      25 May 2016 at 7:06 pm

      How do the colonisers feel being colonised?

      As always, China is doing this with the long term in mind.

      That’s the interesting question.

      • weka 2.1.1
        25 May 2016 at 7:17 pm

        The long term what?

        • Draco T Bastard 2.1.1.1
          25 May 2016 at 8:14 pm

          Apparently the long term plan to become the world hegemon when the US Empire collapses.

          • Colonial Viper 2.1.1.1.1
            25 May 2016 at 10:21 pm

            Dude you are so ignorant in these matters it isn’t even worth measuring.

            • weka 2.1.1.1.1.1
              25 May 2016 at 10:26 pm

              My question was genuine CV. I’d be interested to hear what you meant.

              • Colonial Viper …
                25 May 2016 at 10:31 pm

                The long term what?

                I mean, formulate an actual fucking question which shows some basic thought and interpretation, if you don’t mind.

              • jcuknz …
                26 May 2016 at 9:15 am

                it is obvious what CV meant and likely very close to the mark.

            • Draco T Bastard 2.1.1.1.1.2
              25 May 2016 at 10:44 pm

              So, China isn’t trying to annex several million square kilometres of the South China Sea that it has no claim to?
              It isn’t building up it’s influence across the Pacific, Asia, Africa and Latin America?
              It’s not building up its military capabilities to match that of the US?
              It’s not buying up land in other nations as fast as it can?

              • Colonial Viper …
                25 May 2016 at 10:48 pm

                Hi Draco, yes China is returning to its natural position in the history of human civilisation after a brief 200 year hiccup.

                What’s your point?

                • Psycho Milt …
                  26 May 2016 at 6:59 am

                  …China is returning to its natural position in the history of human civilisation…

                  Manifest destiny!

                  • jcuknz …
                    26 May 2016 at 9:18 am

                    Once it was Britain, currently USA, and future China with Russia a would be player awhile ago.

                    By the Bye .. They talk about Maori being first to NZ but surely it was the Chinese before their Emporer closed things down.

                • Draco T Bastard …
                  26 May 2016 at 11:15 am

                  There is no such natural position no matter how much the fascists like to think that there is.

                • Colonial Viper …
                  25 May 2016 at 11:00 pm

                  It’s like Draco thinks that only the USA is allowed to build influence across the world, only the USA is allowed to have an effective military , only the USA is allowed to control the world’s seas as it pleases.

                  Talk about vassal state conditioning.

                  • Pat …
                    25 May 2016 at 11:12 pm

                    it has always been my understanding that China (probably due to the shear size of its population) has been little concerned with expansionism and more concerned with retaining control within its immediate area of influence…..history would appear to bear this out..consider North (or south for that matter) Korea….does anyone seriously suggest that China could not annex the peninsula if they wished?
                    As most empires have discovered ,if you expand too far the collapse when it comes is usually from within.

                    i may be wrong, but I have no great fears of Chinese expansionism and as to influence, well we have survived (sort of) 70 years of US hegemony

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      25 May 2016 at 11:28 pm

                      The USA is on a drive to surround both Russia and China with military forces right now, as well as engineering political, financial and social brush fires on the borderlands of those countries where possible.

                      Both China and Russia have been seeking ways to push back and secure what they see as their respective and traditional spheres of influence.

                      More specific to China – I don’t think the Chinese leadership want the headache of trying to manage millions of Vietnamese, Koreans, Japanese, Thai, Cambodians, etc. when the Chinese themselves have a tonne of internal problems right now.

                      But China wants to be able to project power thousands of kilometres from its shores, in order to counter the total dominance the US has held in the region since the end of WWII.

                  • Pat …
                    25 May 2016 at 11:33 pm

                    the US is a dying empire…..that in my opinion is a positive….provided there isn’t a new dark age in the following vacuum.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      25 May 2016 at 11:44 pm

                      If the US accepts its future role as a major world power relating to a small club of other major world powers, life will go much easier for the 99% around the world.

                      However, if the US attempts to maintain global dominance and pole position at any cost…well, its going to be a rocky ride for the entire world.

                  • Pat …
                    25 May 2016 at 11:54 pm

                    think there is little doubt the US (or rather corporate america) will seek to retain preeminence….I doubt their success in that, it is more a question of how much damage they cause and how long it takes.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      26 May 2016 at 12:05 am

                      BTW it is quite possible that US corporation driven climate denial has already properly fucked our civilisation.

                  • Pat …
                    26 May 2016 at 12:19 am

                    there is that

                  • Draco T Bastard …
                    26 May 2016 at 12:36 am

                    WTF have I ever said that only the US can build an empire? In fact, where have I ever said that anyone should build an empire?

                    Now prove it or apologise.

                  • dukeofurl …
                    26 May 2016 at 8:42 am

                    There is an island in Caribbean, between Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba but US has sovereignty. Not anywhere near anything to do with US. How did that happen

                    Christmas Is , is 1600km from Australia and 350 km from Java, but Australia has sovereignty. How did that happen

                    Diego Garcia in south India Ocean is a US military base, but the UK expelled the local residents before giving it over to US in exchange for nuclear missiles in early 60s. Previously UK administered the Chagos Archipelago as part of Mauritius but when they got independence they found Chagos Is didnt come with it.

                    There are many island territories in pacific that US has control, some came from victory in WW2 over Japan, others like Guam came from victory over Spain in war ( when they got Philippines)

                    So rule previously was if you took it was yours, now its not ?

    • Ad 2.2
      25 May 2016 at 8:29 pm

      Thank Christ for China.
      They have saved our economy for nearly a decade now.

      • Colonial Viper 2.2.1
        25 May 2016 at 10:25 pm

        You’ve just mistaken selling out our economy* for saving it. An easy error to make when you have no idea how to properly deal with China.

        *eg. handing over all our dairy processing knowledge, livestock genetic information, our best farming breeds etc. to the Chinese for a few pieces of silver.

        • Draco T Bastard 2.2.1.1
          25 May 2016 at 10:47 pm

          Actually, doing that would do more to ‘save’ our economy than all the FTAs that we’re a part of. It’d mean that we’d have to develop our own economy because we couldn’t possibly compete on the world stage and thus won’t be either able to export or import.

  3. whateva next? 3
    25 May 2016 at 6:44 pm

    Caption competition…?
    “Oh, you found us….we didn’t think you would see us under here!”

  4. Gabby 4
    25 May 2016 at 6:53 pm

    ‘See, plenty of room for a family of five.’

  5. Repateet 5
    25 May 2016 at 7:14 pm

    “Opposition that led to a legal challenge against a popular teaching scheme that puts top university graduates in low decile schools could be reignited, the Post Primary Teachers Association says.

    With the long-term future of the programme unclear, a crucial agreement was reached between the Ministry of Education, Teach First NZ, the University of Auckland and PPTA.”

    So now the Government’s gone back on the deal. “A spokeswoman for Education Minister Hekia Parata said she was unable to comment on the matter as it was before the select committee, and to do so would be a breach of privilege.”

    Isn’t it lovely how the bastards invoke all sorts of protocols and resort to propriety when it suits them.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11644737

    • mpledger 5.1
      25 May 2016 at 10:31 pm

      Teach First NZ was supposed to be about putting new graduates into teaching positions where there were no suitable applicants. It wasn’t supposed to be about replacing highly qualified, experienced teachers.

      The TFNZ learner-teachers get placed into the poorest schools where the kids actually need the best teachers we can give them not those with the most basic of teacher education and zero experience.

  7. Grey Area 7
    25 May 2016 at 8:45 pm

    Has anyone else noticed Paula Bennett being referred to as “Mrs Bennett” on RNZ in the past couple of days? Bennett is her maiden name so is this just another case of news media ignorance/laziness/incompetence?

  8. swordfish 8
    25 May 2016 at 9:54 pm

    David Farrar’s modus operandi is to indulge in cherry-picked Poll comparisons, carefully aimed at favouring National and making the Left look as bad as poss.

    Here are some comparisons based on the latest 3 Polls to be released (1 Reid Research / 2 Roy Morgans) that you’re unlikely to see on Kiwiblog:

    Nat/L+G = Nat’s percentage point lead over combined Lab+Green Support
    Right Bloc = Govt Bloc + Cons

    Party/Bloc ………2014 Election ………..Last 3 Polls ……………. Diff
    Lab+Green……………..36%………………………….41%…………………..+5
    NZF………………………….9%………………………….10%……………………+1
    Oppo Bloc……………….46%…………………………51%…………………..+5

    National………………….47%…………………………45%………………….– 2

    Nat/L+G………………….11 points……………….4 points………………– 7

    Govt Bloc………………..49%…………………………47%………………….– 2
    Right Bloc………………..53%………………………..48%………………….– 5

    Oppo/Govt Lead……Govt by 3 points……Oppo by 4 points….7

    The key comparison is Oppo Bloc vs Right Bloc = 5 point swing.

    Essentially, there’s been a significant swing from National to the Opposition Parties (particularly Nat-to-Lab) since the last Election – but this has been partially disguised by the collapse of Colin Craig’s Conservatives: most of whose former supporters have swung to National.

  9. Draco T Bastard 9
    25 May 2016 at 10:36 pm

    Just had to share this cartoon

  10. aerobubble 10
    26 May 2016 at 11:28 am

    Trump wont be the first arsehole to become President, he’ll be the first to run as an arsehole.