It is rare for me to agree with ACT MP's, current or former, so when it occurs one must note the occasion.
The Pharmac funding model prioritises savings on the upstream costs of medicines rather than the downstream impacts and costs to patients and their families, the wider health system and the economy. The cost of medicines should only be part of the decision calculation.
What the model doesn’t adequately consider is the cost of not treating people, such as the personal and societal burden of inability to work and the impact of chronic diseases on other, more costly health services. The list is long.
It has astounded me that Treasury has never determined the cost of Pharmac on the health system. People not well treated at the primary level soon become a cost at the secondary level – for mine it ruined the finances of the health boards (all that dialysis that could have been avoided with better drug treatment of diabetes earlier – and it took so long for us to change course).
Then there are all those on benefits, because their health was compromised.
If ACC was managing Pharmac they would intervene to get people back work capable because it would reduce their future cost.
The role of Pharmac has to be connected to some intelligent management as per reducing impost on the health and welfare system of people's health conditions not being well managed. Reducing the cost on Pharmac is not the same thing as reducing the health and welfare costs on the rest of government – nor of doing the right thing by the people concerned – that word well-being.
That said the same thing applies with reducing addiction to a product that contains a carcinogen, and some focus on a healthy standard of housing and processed food (rules as per adding sugar and salt). Even investment in affordable access to prescriptions, dental care, access to primary health and provision of healthy food in schools.
The property owning middle class want their cancer drugs, the profile of nicotine addicts is largely (some libertarian chaos capitalism junkies excepted) otherwise.
A parallel, they champion free speech but want criticism of Zionist nationalist excess condemned as antisemitism.
It’s about who they have affinity for and those they could not care less about.
Big corporate tobacco (tick), business owner retailers (tick) – indigenous poor to be ethnically cleansed of their identity, lives and place here. With no identity here – the high rents and low wages mean they are economically better off migrating to Oz.
Additional thoughts… maybe we should prepare a list of industries (companies) that probably did their best funding the election campaigns of "The Coalition":
Tobacco
Oil/Gas
Pharmaceutical
Real Estate
Industrial Farming / Food
Car dealerships (we don't really have a car industry as such)
Banks (?)
We should consider most/all of those industries "drug dealers" working with products that increase dependencies / addictions.
Bruce Jesson was the last one to draw a map of all the company directorships and how they all interrelated. He did it back in the late 1980s. Of course they still exist.
Anyone who underestimates Luxon's preparation to fully alter power is going to be gravely mistaken.
There is likely to be some truth in that – but I'm not sure exactly how Pharmac makes its decisions. I would doubt very much that it is made purely on the grounds of cost or some narrow definition of clinical efficacy. Health economics is a mature and pretty sophisticated affair, so Pharmac must surely consider downstream lifetime costs?
I think your comments are bang on about the preventative medicine space though – how much money would the health system save on diabetes drugs and dialysis if every household had access to healthy food not stuffed with sugar, and crap fizzy drink producers had to pay the actual social cost of their products?
No Pharmac is as the former ACT MP says. It's a known known.
It took years of people pointing out that the cheaper diabetes 2 drug they provided resulted in people going onto dialysis loss or work capability/cost to health boards. In another case the more costly drug allowed people to remain employed and yet …people had to organise to bring some intelligence into the equation.
IP and Pharmac.
An analysis led by researchers in Britain found that a year’s supply of the drug could be manufactured at an estimated cost of just $5,700.
I had understood that they maximised the impact on patients for the lowest possible cost – if a new drug is more effective than an older one, that may cause a drop in price that means the slightly less effective drug gives better results per dollar – hence why we often get requests to fund latest treatment. The answer to that problem is to increase funding, but not surprisingly all governments find Pharmac (and those that sell drugs) will use as much money as they are given. The bulk purchasing model has served us well; having a government intervene over a well publicised wonder drug puts a government in a difficult position. National are inclined to find examples where there are not many patients to push spending more for political purposes – it seems Nicola Willis did not realise the political difficulties involved.
Andrew Shaw, a television veteran who served on the board of NZ On Air, has resigned after criticising Winston Peters.
In a post on LinkedIn, Shaw called Peters “malicious” and thuggish. Shaw’s comments were in response to Peters’ ongoing attacks against reporters, which stem from the NZ On Air administered Public Interest Journalism Fund.
“Peters attack's independence of media. He's not truthful. He's not accurate. He's malicious and he is here on behalf of international tobacco. His return is the worst of this gang of thugs."
I have not come to facilitate Shaw's redemption, for Shaw was not entirely honest himself.
National opposed the reduction from 6000 to 600 tobacco outlets in parliament saying it would facilitate a black market (cost it tax money from poor people who did not vote National).
And this was in the NACT coalition agreement
"Repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022 to remove the requirements for denicotinisation and the reduction in retail outlets."
Around the Northland dinner table I sat tonight the most interesting comments I heard were about Cr Shortland and her being beholden to Cr (now Chairman) Crawford.
The Kiwi bird stops being monogomous and starts dating Australasian imports just because they are now popular
Having a Health Minister called “Shane Cigaretti” and a Finance Minister called “Nicotine Willis”.
Being represented overseas by a raptured bald man with waxing and waning wings on each side.
But what is to come will be worse
A nation holding its breath waiting for the Guardian, or the BBC, or worse American late night TV to do a once over of the rest of the policies of the coalition.
A nation holding its breath waiting for the Guardian, or the BBC, or worse American late night TV to do a once over of the rest of the policies of the coalition.
Really?
Id suggest most couldnt give a toss what those offshore think…they are concerned about the reality of their day to day lives, not how some ill informed foreign journo wishes to spin it.
Those that matter to NZ (inc) do not base their decisions on MSM reporting….they base it on RoI….and the likes of the Guardian/ BBC CNN are so far behind the curve that they dont figure.
Voters dont care about foreign MSM reporting, they care about hip pocket.
Hip pocket is impacted by foreign investment/ investor perception of NZ….and that does not rely upon MSM reportage…as said MSM reportage is at best lagging if not totally erroneous.
If we are going to suffer from the likes of CC implications it will occur long before it appears in the MSM.
"A nation holding its breath waiting for the Guardian, or the BBC, or worse American late night TV to do a once over of the rest of the policies of the coalition."
I doubt anyone is bothered about what the Guardian has to say about NZ especially when there are many issues that will receive magnitudes of more clicks….we simply are not as important/influential as we like to tell ourselves.
It can be guaranteed that local media will re-publish the articles here.
But the real impost is in the impact on the New Zealand brand – nations have reputations, and they have an intangible value.
But for our exporters and those who market their products (whether here or abroad) there is a cost to all this.
A nation of polluted waterways, taking little action as per the Paris Accord, catering to the dirty tobacco industry, giving the fingers to UNDRIP, policies of by and for the landlord class – will face up a problem when exporting because foreign consumers may well ask are these products from a clean and green place?
And when (and if, because we are not the only ones failing on the environment) the impact of that hits the wallets of Kiwis then they will take notice….meanwhile the foreign MSM can write what they please as we are too busy trying to house and feed ourselves.
The thing is, it is the right wing alliance farmers have with the landlord class vs tenants and employers vs workers which is the driver of the high rent low wage society (and perpetual migrant worker replacement of exiles to Oz).
But this victory for farmers will come at a cost in their export markets, when this is all reported in foreign media – and thanks to the tobacco story, that will soon follow.
The ones of most concern would be Jimmy Kimmel (he accused his own wife of dive bombing Hawaii on a flight there) and Seth Myers or the Daily Show et al (in the is there anything as bad as Trump in the rest of the world segment).
Of much greater long term negative effect on NZ will be the repeal of the new RMA in this upcoming Parliamentary session.
That's years and years of legal work, thousands of submissions, whole Departments drafting it, endless select committee reports and debates .. and of course an entire building and infrastructure industry prepared for its implementation.
It will take at least two years to legislate a new one.
I'd predict this degree of legislative and legal uncertainty will put a real chill through the construction industry until they put their own replacement through.
It would be quicker to amend it. They could do that next year – keeping changes there is agreement on.
One thing I did not like about the RMA was the city wide nature of it, it upended urban planning as we knew it. Areas around transport spines and areas that had the infrastructure for it should be prioritised for growth/building up.
The problems of intensification in areas with poor drainage etc would have been a landscape leaky home – insurance disaster.
I thought the Metropolitan Urban Limit worked pretty well in Auckland. When it went, Auckland just ballooned out. The last guy in the Auckland region who can claim lineage to that is Mike Lee.
And Auckland also once had an urban plan (pre Super City) that prevented building on land flooded early this year.
And we changing building rules (onto leaky homes) and reduced focus on apprenticeships for a long period.
Seldom has a first world nation chosen the course of a cover up of a decline to second world nation status, rather than to prevent it.
It seems the haves have determined on another course, whereby they are catered to and an order of rule is built to preserve that privilege.
We are becoming a South American ruling over and ruled over class divide second world nation. And any organised resistance will be called a "socialist revolution" that our security partners will help to prevent.
The worry about Maori is just a diversion to give it white populist support – the GOP southern strategy.
So the question to ask for this Parliamentary sitting is:
Did National prepare for power enough to have names and CV's ready to go to replace all the big public sector boards:
– ACC, Transpower, EA, TEC, NZTA, Commerce Commission, Pharmac, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court judges, Police Commissioner, local government commissioners, Head of Armed Forces, Governor General, NZOnAir, all the University Chancellors, State Services Commissioner, HRC, AgResearch, Hortresearch, Pamu, Reserve Bank governors, NZTE, TVNZ and RNZ boards, key diplomatic appointments … right down to the Walking and Cycling Commission …
… of course many will claim that only DPMC vetting is the true gatekeeper of appointments, but a good forceful government who wants to tilt power and get stuff done fast will present their own list of qualified candidates and sweep the field.
A Judge of the High Court shall not be removed from office except by the Sovereign or the Governor-General, acting upon an address of the House of Representatives, which address may be moved only on the grounds of that Judge’s misbehaviour or of that Judge’s incapacity to discharge the functions of that Judge’s office.
From an organisation that I regard as the most recent incarnation of dirty tricks, albeit with a carefully managed public face – even after a change of government there will be a desire to keep them going for their ability to raise funds for 'research' rather than political party purposes, and to fund 'non-political' activities such as 'independent' polling, the organisation will continue, but I wonder whether some of these names will appear in Ministerial offices etc . . .
Jordan Williams – Executive Director & Co-founder ; Laurence Kubiak – Chair ; Hon. Ruth Richardson – Board member ; Chris Milne – Board member ; Hon. John Boscawen – Board member ; Jim Rose – Research Fellow ; Callum Purves – Chief Operating Officer and Head of Campaigns ; Michelle van der Veer– Funding and External Relationships Manager ; Sara Leckie – Office Manager & Development Officer ; Ray Deacon – Economist ; Connor Molloy – Campaigns Manager ; Oliver Bryan – Investigations Co-ordinator ; James Ross – Policy Adviser ; Alex Murphy – Researcher ; Rhys Hurley – Research Intern ; Noemi Leinfellner – Research Intern ; Dan Merry – Research Intern ; Regan Sayer – Research Intern ;
Do the Opposition parties have "non-political' organisations to ask a myriad of FOI requests? – including what advice Willis received on the tobacco policy changes)? In the last few years it has been clear that many MPs and others were being fed large numbers of 'concerned citizen' FOI requests to keep the public sector busy – the new Government may benefit from similar scrutiny . . .
when he claimed that vaping would be the governments primary tool for reducing the numbers of smokers and thus maintaining a large number of retail outlets for sale of a cancer causing carcinogen and maintaining the level of nicotine in the product to maintain the addiction were secondary issues.
Reti said the prime minister had already raised concerns about how the proposed legislation would have impacted on the black market and how it would focus crime on those retail outlets which were allowed to continue to sell cigarettes.
This is evidence that the smoking plan was National Party policy and fully embraced by their ACT and NZF partners. They all received international funding. From examplar to turncoat before the world media.
Meanwhile The Civilian Beehive today reported that most vapers had never smoked. And most who had smoked gave up because of the cost and or via nicotine patches. And that the British American Tobacco taskforce concluded that the best way to promote addiction to nicotine in the 21st C was to promote vaping as a way to reduce the numbers of smokers. And to maintain their original product, by warning governments of the risk of a black market and loss of tax revenue – that would undermine their ability to finance health care or tax cuts (whatever was the more important to their political brand).
With utter and total contempt for the opine of Shane Cigareti comes an Oz push
to phase out recreational vaping completely.
Vaping has been marketed as a way to quit smoking, but Australia's health minister says it has created a "new generation of nicotine dependency".
"All Australian governments are committed to working together to stop the disturbing growth in vaping among our young people," said Mark Butler, the federal health minister who is leading the ban.
Importers and manufacturers supplying therapeutic vapes will also have to comply with tighter government regulation concerning the flavours, nicotine levels, and packaging of their products.
Experts have warned that not enough is known yet about the long-term impacts of vaping.
And in Australia, scientists who have studied the liquids used in vapes have warned that they contain "a suite of chemicals" known to impact lung health.
Vape liquid here contains Propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavoring, sometimes water and nicotine is optional.
The glycerin and glycol are both alcohols and are very common in many different foodstuffs, cosmetics, etc.
Flavoring is what it says, same as all foodstuff flavorings.
Water is water
Nicotine isn't harmful in the dosages involved, other than it is addictive. So is sugar, exercise and a myriad of other things.
Essentially you're inhaling flavored water vapor or steam, which surely is way less dangerous than breathing in carcinogenic burnt carbon, etc from burning tobacco (plus a whole heap of added chemicals which the tobacco companies don't have to list)
I have to just add that of course prohibition has never worked, for anything, ever, in the history of humankind. Prohibition just generates massive amounts of income for organized crime along with the associated crime such as violence, theft, prostitution, etc. You'd think people would have cottoned on to that one by now, we've had around 10,000 years or more.
We will be able to observe the comparative track of vaping use levels in the two countries as Oz reduce the addictive element in the product.
Personally I have no problem with obstructing the death merchant corporations from continuing to profit from nicotine addiction. Nor of removing them and other organised crime groups from buying politicians, exploiting addiction and or a black market.
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Hi all,Firstly - thank you! You guys are awesome. The response I’ve received to last night’s mail has been quite overwhelming. It’s a ghastly day outside, but there are no clouds in here.In case you didn’t read my email and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about you can ...
If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gaye Taylor As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate. No longer quenched by winter, nor quelled by the ...
Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
Te Pāti Māori have launched a petition to stop the repeal of Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act. This announcement comes prior to the first reading of the Section 7AA repeal bill in Parliament today. “Section 7AA forces the Government to adhere to Te Tiriti o Waitangi with respect ...
The Government has yet again failed to do the one thing that needs to happen to ensure houses can be built – commit to ongoing funding, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Treasury officials have outlined many ways in which the Fast Track Approvals Bill is deeply flawed, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking says. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick used this year's State of the Planet to call on the Government to prioritise people and planet as the delivery of the Budget approaches. A full transcript of their speeches can be found below. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have used their State of the Planet speeches to challenge the Government to prioritise people and planet over profit as the delivery of the Budget approaches. ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
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. ...
The Coalition Government’s Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, which will improve tenancy laws and help increase the supply of rental properties, has passed its first reading in Parliament says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “The Bill proposes much-needed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 that will remove barriers to increasing private ...
Standing here in Cassino War Cemetery, among the graves looking up at the beautiful Abbey of Montecassino, it is hard to imagine the utter devastation left behind by the battles which ended here in May 1944. Hundreds of thousands of shells and bombs of every description left nothing but piled ...
I present a legislative statement on the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill Mr. Speaker, I move that the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services and Community Committee to consider the Bill. Thank you, Mr. ...
The Bill to repeal Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has had its first reading in Parliament today. The Bill reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the care and safety of children in care, says Minister for Children Karen Chhour. “When I became the Minister for Children, I made ...
Kia ora koutou, good morning, and zao shang hao. Thank you Fran for the opportunity to speak at the 2024 China Business Summit – it’s great to be here today. I’d also like to acknowledge: Simon Bridges - CEO of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. His Excellency Ambassador - Wang ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing them ...
The Coalition Government will introduce legislation this year that will enable roadside drug testing as part of our commitment to improve road safety and restore law and order, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Alcohol and drugs are the number one contributing factor in fatal road crashes in New Zealand. In ...
The Government has announced a series of immediate actions in response to the independent review of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “Kāinga Ora is a large and important Crown entity, with assets of $45 billion and over $2.5 billion of expenditure each year. It ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour is pleased that Pseudoephedrine can now be purchased by the general public to protect them from winter illness, after the coalition government worked swiftly to change the law and oversaw a fast approval process by Medsafe. “Pharmacies are now putting the medicines back on their ...
Tēnā koutou katoa. Da jia hao. Good morning everyone. Prime Minister Luxon, your excellency, a great friend of New Zealand and my friend Ambassador Wang, Mayor of what he tells me is the best city in New Zealand, Wayne Brown, the highly respected Fran O’Sullivan, Champion of the Auckland business ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Snow, Research Scientist, CSIRO CSIRO How often do you check your local weather forecast? How about your local climate projections for 2050? For many farmers, the answer to the first question is all the time. But the answer to the ...
Pacific Media Watch A Māori supporter of Pacific independence movements claims the French government has “constructed the crisis” in New Caledonia by pushing the indigenous Kanak population to the edge, reports Atereano Mateariki of Waatea News. A NZ Defence Force Hercules is today evacuating about 50 New Zealanders stranded in ...
COMMENTARY:By Gordon Campbell The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. It was Gallant’s open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed ...
Reacting to today’s Budget Speech from Labour’s Finance spokesperson, Barbara Edmonds, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “It is encouraging to see that one of Labour’s stated priorities is to focus on creating ‘a level ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Turner, System Lead, Sustainable Economies, Climateworks Centre atk work/Shutterstock In the budget last week, the government was keen to talk about its efforts to turn Australia into a renewable superpower under the umbrella of the Future Made in Australia policies. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Opposition Leader Peter Dutton might have done us a favour. As part of his budget reply speech on Thursday night he promised to stop foreigners buying existing Australian homes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Maguire, Associate Professor in Human Rights and International Law, University of Newcastle The request by Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders is a significant step in the effort to ...
RNZ Pacific A New Zealand author, journalist and media educator who has covered the Asia-Pacific region since the 1970s says liberation “must come” for Kanaky/New Caledonia. Professor David Robie sailed on board Greenpeace’s flagship Rainbow Warrior until it was bombed by French secret agents in New Zealand in July 1985 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Renwick, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Lincoln University, New Zealand Fonterra caught the business world by surprise last week with plans to sell off its consumer brands and businesses – including supermarket mainstays such as Anchor, Fresh’n Fruity and Mainland. The move ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Small, Senior lecturer, Above the Bar School of Educational Studies and Leadership, University of Canterbury With an air force plane on its way to rescue New Zealanders stranded by the violent uprising in New Caledonia, many familiar with the island’s history ...
A New Zealand government plane is heading to New Caledonia to assist with bringing New Zealanders home. Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today confirmed it was the first in a series of proposed flights. Peters said the flight would carry around 50 passengers with the most pressing needs from Nouméa ...
Regional councils must focus on building meaningful and enduring relationships with iwi and hapū to support better freshwater management, says the Auditor-General in a new report. ...
Chris Glaudel, Deputy Chief Executive of Community Housing Aotearoa, sees the announcement as a step towards addressing New Zealand’s high and rising levels of homelessness by improving our approach and system to delivering affordable homes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ali Mamouri, Research fellow, Middle East studies, Deakin University The death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash this week occurred during one of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s most challenging periods. Raisi, a prominent figure in the political elite, ...
The end of universal flu shot funding for under-12s is a step backwards for New Zealand child health, say experts from the University of Auckland and the University of Otago. New Zealand’s decision to no longer offer free influenza vaccines for all children under 12 will likely wipe out recent ...
The PSA is taking action to force the Ministry of Education to comply with its legal obligations to do everything it can to find other roles for staff it is laying off because of the Government’s spending cuts. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Waling, Senior Lecturer & Research Fellow, Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University Netflix There has been much excitement in the lead up to the first four episodes of Bridgerton’s season three, featuring leading couple Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa De Bortoli, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Council for Educational Research Taylor Flowe/Unsplash, CC BY Australian teenagers have more disruptive maths classrooms and experience bullying at greater levels than the OECD average, a new report shows. But in better news, Australian ...
Poet, editor and former bookseller Jane Arthur’s debut children’s novel Brown Bird is the story of a shy, self-conscious 11-year-old – partly based on her childhood self – venturing out of her quiet comfort zone. Children’s books are close to my heart because mostly I believe that adults are rings ...
Peter Jackson is bringing Lord of the Rings back to Wellington, producing two new Gollum films in Wellington. Madeleine Chapman (Gollum) argues with Madeleine Chapman (Smeagol) about it. First of all, I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation. Of course it’s great news!I don’t know, it gives me ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a part-time media librarian and superannuitant explains how he spends and saves. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Male Age: 65 Ethnicity: EuropeanRole: Media librarian ...
The Government’s Environmental Select Committee is refusing to engage meaningfully when it matters the most over new fast tracking environmental legislation, says Ngāti Ruanui. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Marsh, Senior Research Fellow in Public Health, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Christoph Soeder/dpa New Zealand’s decision to no longer offer free influenza vaccines for all children under 12 will likely wipe out recent gains in uptake. And it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexis Anja Kallio, Deputy Director (Research), Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University Many young people in contact with the justice system come from backgrounds of extreme poverty, parental abuse or neglect, parental incarceration and disrupted education. These complex traumas often manifest as addictions ...
The agency was found to be underperforming and ‘not financially viable’, explains Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A damning report A government-ordered ...
Asia Pacific Report For more than 76 years, Palestinians have resisted occupation, dispossession and ethnic cleansing, culminating in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Yet in the midst of this catastrophic seven months of “hell on earth”, it is a paradox that there exists an extraordinary oasis of peace and nature. ...
You’ll never set foot in one. But its emissions still effect you. Shanti Mathias reports on a campaign to make private jet owners pay for their emissions in some way. The private jet passengers saunter down the red carpet, wearing sunglasses and heels; paparazzi cameras flash. The sky is blue, ...
Quality teachers back on the front line can only be a good thing. One of the difficult things we teach in senior English classes at secondary school is the development of an idea. This involves deepening your argument, without instead “going sideways” and merely adding examples while repeating the same ...
Opinion: People with certain types of health conditions are more likely than others to have their symptoms dismissed, minimised or disbelieved. These conditions are diagnosed based on the patient self-report of symptoms, where there is no definitive diagnostic test that can prove the existence of disease or demonstrate structural or ...
The intensity of it, ironically, can feel like bullying. Social media activism is reaching something of a peak with the war in Gaza, using the hashtag Blockout2024. It started at this year’s MetGala when influencer and model Haley Kalil was caught on video muttering ‘let them eat cake’ – suddenly ...
It’s 2011 and I am 43 years old. My partner, Christine, and I got together when I was 36. We had been friends for about 10 years before that. One of the first things I asked Christine was whether she wanted to have kids. I had just come out of ...
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Opinion: As an indication of the eye-watering sums involved for the mega-prison plans announced two weeks ago by Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell, consider that $932 million has already been spent on a separate facility due to open at Waikeria next year – that’s about $1.5 million for each of the ...
New Caledonia’s Tontouta International Airport remains closed, and Air New Zealand’s next scheduled flight is on Saturday — although it is not ruling out adding extra services. Air NZ’s Captain David Morgan said on Monday evening flights would only resume when they were assured of the security of the airport ...
Asia Pacific Report As Israel drives the Palestinians deeper into another Nakba in Gaza with its assault on Rafah, the Palestine Youth Aotearoa (PYA) and solidarity supporters in Aotearoa New Zealand tonight commemorated the original Nakba — “the Catastrophe” — of 1948. The 1948 Nakba . . . more than ...
Young people on the streets in New Caledonia are saying they will “never give up” pushing back against France’s hold on the Pacific territory, a Kanak journalist in Nouméa says. Pro-independence Radio Djiido’s Andre Qaeze told RNZ Pacific young people had said that “Paris must respect us” and what had ...
This episode of A View from Afar podcast was recorded live from 12:45pm May 20, 2024 (NZST). Political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning examine: The United States and how the world is engaging with it geopolitically.Specifically, Paul and Selwyn analyse what has changed in this regard in ...
Analysis - Power is not being abused, but it is not being well managed either. New Zealand democracy, unique and currently brittle, should be handled with greater care, Alexander Gillespie writes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University Forest Conservation Victoria, CC BY-NC-ND Victoria’s native forest logging industry ended on January 1 this year. The news was met with jubilation from conservationists. But did logging really ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University Rose Marinelli/ShutterstockThis article is part two of The Conversation’s “Business Basics” series where we ask leading experts to discuss key concepts in business, economics and finance. How governments should manage their budgets, and how ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole George, Associate Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Queensland On Sunday afternoon, Australian citizens who have been trapped in New Caledonia were called to a meeting at one of the large hotels in the capital, Noumea. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Soong, Senior Lecturer and Socio-cultural researcher, UniSA Education Futures, University of South Australia International students have come under fire from both sides of federal politics in the past week. The Albanese government introduced legislation to parliament last Thursday to put ...
It is rare for me to agree with ACT MP's, current or former, so when it occurs one must note the occasion.
https://www.thepost.co.nz/a/nz-news/350119373/pharmacs-failed-culture-overdue-shake?utm_source=stuff_website&utm_medium=stuff_referral&utm_campaign=mh_stuff&utm_id=mh_stuff
It has astounded me that Treasury has never determined the cost of Pharmac on the health system. People not well treated at the primary level soon become a cost at the secondary level – for mine it ruined the finances of the health boards (all that dialysis that could have been avoided with better drug treatment of diabetes earlier – and it took so long for us to change course).
Then there are all those on benefits, because their health was compromised.
If ACC was managing Pharmac they would intervene to get people back work capable because it would reduce their future cost.
The role of Pharmac has to be connected to some intelligent management as per reducing impost on the health and welfare system of people's health conditions not being well managed. Reducing the cost on Pharmac is not the same thing as reducing the health and welfare costs on the rest of government – nor of doing the right thing by the people concerned – that word well-being.
That said the same thing applies with reducing addiction to a product that contains a carcinogen, and some focus on a healthy standard of housing and processed food (rules as per adding sugar and salt). Even investment in affordable access to prescriptions, dental care, access to primary health and provision of healthy food in schools.
Agreed, I’m not sure how this reconciles with ACTs / Coalition (of Chaos) smoking policies:
Maybe, they are just hypocrites.
The property owning middle class want their cancer drugs, the profile of nicotine addicts is largely (some libertarian chaos capitalism junkies excepted) otherwise.
A parallel, they champion free speech but want criticism of Zionist nationalist excess condemned as antisemitism.
It’s about who they have affinity for and those they could not care less about.
Big corporate tobacco (tick), business owner retailers (tick) – indigenous poor to be ethnically cleansed of their identity, lives and place here. With no identity here – the high rents and low wages mean they are economically better off migrating to Oz.
Additional thoughts… maybe we should prepare a list of industries (companies) that probably did their best funding the election campaigns of "The Coalition":
We should consider most/all of those industries "drug dealers" working with products that increase dependencies / addictions.
I'd add employers (limited MW increases – no Fair Pay Agreement/Industry Awards).
And landlords
And also the pay day loans industry
And also tobacco, liquor and gambling retail outlets in low income neighbourhoods.
Bruce Jesson was the last one to draw a map of all the company directorships and how they all interrelated. He did it back in the late 1980s. Of course they still exist.
Anyone who underestimates Luxon's preparation to fully alter power is going to be gravely mistaken.
There is likely to be some truth in that – but I'm not sure exactly how Pharmac makes its decisions. I would doubt very much that it is made purely on the grounds of cost or some narrow definition of clinical efficacy. Health economics is a mature and pretty sophisticated affair, so Pharmac must surely consider downstream lifetime costs?
I think your comments are bang on about the preventative medicine space though – how much money would the health system save on diabetes drugs and dialysis if every household had access to healthy food not stuffed with sugar, and crap fizzy drink producers had to pay the actual social cost of their products?
No Pharmac is as the former ACT MP says. It's a known known.
It took years of people pointing out that the cheaper diabetes 2 drug they provided resulted in people going onto dialysis loss or work capability/cost to health boards. In another case the more costly drug allowed people to remain employed and yet …people had to organise to bring some intelligence into the equation.
IP and Pharmac.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/health/cystic-fibrosis-drug-trikafta.html
https://www.cfnz.org.nz/news-and-events/latest-news/we-did-it-trikafta-to-be-funded-in-aotearoa-by-april-2023/
Sure some on the right just wanted drugs for middle class people – cancer drugs etc when it impacted on those they knew.
I had understood that they maximised the impact on patients for the lowest possible cost – if a new drug is more effective than an older one, that may cause a drop in price that means the slightly less effective drug gives better results per dollar – hence why we often get requests to fund latest treatment. The answer to that problem is to increase funding, but not surprisingly all governments find Pharmac (and those that sell drugs) will use as much money as they are given. The bulk purchasing model has served us well; having a government intervene over a well publicised wonder drug puts a government in a difficult position. National are inclined to find examples where there are not many patients to push spending more for political purposes – it seems Nicola Willis did not realise the political difficulties involved.
Well, its coming thick and fast:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/301016371/live-nz-on-air-board-member-resigns-after-calling-winston-peters-malicious
The meme: under no circumstances must you tell the truth, even in your capacity as a private citizen.
Tuesday night challenge: Who said this?
“Peters attack's independence of media. He's not truthful. He's not accurate. He's malicious and he is here on behalf of international tobacco. His return is the worst of this gang of thugs."
Anne, you're not allowed to play 🙂
Winston's first scalp said it, how long can luxon hold together a coalition with a deranged old man ,
I have the impression, perhaps wrongly, that Luxon will be a travelling PM – "promoting the interests of NZ overseas," for two reasons:
First, to avoid QT in the House as much as possible – even his ego won't be able to cope with the hammering it'll get, and
Secondly, to distance himself as much as possible from the infighting within his cabinet, and not only between Winnie and Davie.
He's already begun distancing himself from Winnie's outrageous statements.
I have not come to facilitate Shaw's redemption, for Shaw was not entirely honest himself.
National opposed the reduction from 6000 to 600 tobacco outlets in parliament saying it would facilitate a black market (cost it tax money from poor people who did not vote National).
And this was in the NACT coalition agreement
The three stooges were in it together.
OK yes it's sad but it would have been great if Labour had moved this fast in 2017.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/northland-regional-council-chair-geoff-crawford-elected-at-explosive-meeting/YD4U4GPDARHUFF73BFE5HOVG6Q/
So many decades of experience and leadership trashed.
Talk about moving fast!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/northland-regional-council-chair-geoff-crawford-elected-at-explosive-meeting/YD4U4GPDARHUFF73BFE5HOVG6Q/
See if you can find a copy of the documentary Rats in the Ranks.
It's a Sydney Council, labyrinthine in its power groups, but still didn’t move as efficiently as this Northland one.
If you have the numbers…
Indeed the right sure can count.
Yup. And wait…
Around the Northland dinner table I sat tonight the most interesting comments I heard were about Cr Shortland and her being beholden to Cr (now Chairman) Crawford.
International embarrassment
But what is to come will be worse
A nation holding its breath waiting for the Guardian, or the BBC, or worse American late night TV to do a once over of the rest of the policies of the coalition.
Really?
Id suggest most couldnt give a toss what those offshore think…they are concerned about the reality of their day to day lives, not how some ill informed foreign journo wishes to spin it.
It would be the well informed one that would most embarrass "brand New Zealand" for the government its people elected.
And dismissing critics, as ill informed, is what apologists for a regime would insinuate.
Those that matter to NZ (inc) do not base their decisions on MSM reporting….they base it on RoI….and the likes of the Guardian/ BBC CNN are so far behind the curve that they dont figure.
You seem to be confusing voter behaviour here with our brand reputation abroad – which does have consequences.
Wait till they do a look at our Paris Accord position and our waterways.
Grist to the mill for the buy local campaigners and those supermarkets that greenwash.
Consider the selling of fish caught by bottom trawling as an example.
Voters dont care about foreign MSM reporting, they care about hip pocket.
Hip pocket is impacted by foreign investment/ investor perception of NZ….and that does not rely upon MSM reportage…as said MSM reportage is at best lagging if not totally erroneous.
If we are going to suffer from the likes of CC implications it will occur long before it appears in the MSM.
Maybe just confused about what the issue I was raising was.
Possibly… though you did say
"A nation holding its breath waiting for the Guardian, or the BBC, or worse American late night TV to do a once over of the rest of the policies of the coalition."
I doubt anyone is bothered about what the Guardian has to say about NZ especially when there are many issues that will receive magnitudes of more clicks….we simply are not as important/influential as we like to tell ourselves.
It can be guaranteed that local media will re-publish the articles here.
But the real impost is in the impact on the New Zealand brand – nations have reputations, and they have an intangible value.
But for our exporters and those who market their products (whether here or abroad) there is a cost to all this.
A nation of polluted waterways, taking little action as per the Paris Accord, catering to the dirty tobacco industry, giving the fingers to UNDRIP, policies of by and for the landlord class – will face up a problem when exporting because foreign consumers may well ask are these products from a clean and green place?
And when (and if, because we are not the only ones failing on the environment) the impact of that hits the wallets of Kiwis then they will take notice….meanwhile the foreign MSM can write what they please as we are too busy trying to house and feed ourselves.
The thing is, it is the right wing alliance farmers have with the landlord class vs tenants and employers vs workers which is the driver of the high rent low wage society (and perpetual migrant worker replacement of exiles to Oz).
But this victory for farmers will come at a cost in their export markets, when this is all reported in foreign media – and thanks to the tobacco story, that will soon follow.
Perhaps …but again, nobody will place any import upon it until such time as it happens….if it happens.
John Oliver or Stephen Colbert most likely candidates.
The ones of most concern would be Jimmy Kimmel (he accused his own wife of dive bombing Hawaii on a flight there) and Seth Myers or the Daily Show et al (in the is there anything as bad as Trump in the rest of the world segment).
Of much greater long term negative effect on NZ will be the repeal of the new RMA in this upcoming Parliamentary session.
That's years and years of legal work, thousands of submissions, whole Departments drafting it, endless select committee reports and debates .. and of course an entire building and infrastructure industry prepared for its implementation.
It will take at least two years to legislate a new one.
I'd predict this degree of legislative and legal uncertainty will put a real chill through the construction industry until they put their own replacement through.
It would be quicker to amend it. They could do that next year – keeping changes there is agreement on.
One thing I did not like about the RMA was the city wide nature of it, it upended urban planning as we knew it. Areas around transport spines and areas that had the infrastructure for it should be prioritised for growth/building up.
The problems of intensification in areas with poor drainage etc would have been a landscape leaky home – insurance disaster.
I thought the Metropolitan Urban Limit worked pretty well in Auckland. When it went, Auckland just ballooned out. The last guy in the Auckland region who can claim lineage to that is Mike Lee.
Back in the day…
And Auckland also once had an urban plan (pre Super City) that prevented building on land flooded early this year.
And we changing building rules (onto leaky homes) and reduced focus on apprenticeships for a long period.
Seldom has a first world nation chosen the course of a cover up of a decline to second world nation status, rather than to prevent it.
It seems the haves have determined on another course, whereby they are catered to and an order of rule is built to preserve that privilege.
We are becoming a South American ruling over and ruled over class divide second world nation. And any organised resistance will be called a "socialist revolution" that our security partners will help to prevent.
The worry about Maori is just a diversion to give it white populist support – the GOP southern strategy.
Apart from the old LEC and the West Coast beaches and forest, I probably miss the Smith and Caughey's sales.
Those day trips out in the latest fashion with the team from the committee.
https://www.newzealand.com/int/feature/aucklands-west-coast-beaches/
https://www.smithandcaugheys.co.nz/men
So the question to ask for this Parliamentary sitting is:
Did National prepare for power enough to have names and CV's ready to go to replace all the big public sector boards:
– ACC, Transpower, EA, TEC, NZTA, Commerce Commission, Pharmac, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court judges, Police Commissioner, local government commissioners, Head of Armed Forces, Governor General, NZOnAir, all the University Chancellors, State Services Commissioner, HRC, AgResearch, Hortresearch, Pamu, Reserve Bank governors, NZTE, TVNZ and RNZ boards, key diplomatic appointments … right down to the Walking and Cycling Commission …
… of course many will claim that only DPMC vetting is the true gatekeeper of appointments, but a good forceful government who wants to tilt power and get stuff done fast will present their own list of qualified candidates and sweep the field.
Some have better tenure protection than others.
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2016/0048/latest/DLM5759479.html
Protection of Judges against removal from office
A Judge of the High Court shall not be removed from office except by the Sovereign or the Governor-General, acting upon an address of the House of Representatives, which address may be moved only on the grounds of that Judge’s misbehaviour or of that Judge’s incapacity to discharge the functions of that Judge’s office.
It's not the tenure it's the accelerated retirements and replacements that need to be watched.
From an organisation that I regard as the most recent incarnation of dirty tricks, albeit with a carefully managed public face – even after a change of government there will be a desire to keep them going for their ability to raise funds for 'research' rather than political party purposes, and to fund 'non-political' activities such as 'independent' polling, the organisation will continue, but I wonder whether some of these names will appear in Ministerial offices etc . . .
Jordan Williams – Executive Director & Co-founder ; Laurence Kubiak – Chair ; Hon. Ruth Richardson – Board member ; Chris Milne – Board member ; Hon. John Boscawen – Board member ; Jim Rose – Research Fellow ; Callum Purves – Chief Operating Officer and Head of Campaigns ; Michelle van der Veer– Funding and External Relationships Manager ; Sara Leckie – Office Manager & Development Officer ; Ray Deacon – Economist ; Connor Molloy – Campaigns Manager ; Oliver Bryan – Investigations Co-ordinator ; James Ross – Policy Adviser ; Alex Murphy – Researcher ; Rhys Hurley – Research Intern ; Noemi Leinfellner – Research Intern ; Dan Merry – Research Intern ; Regan Sayer – Research Intern ;
Do the Opposition parties have "non-political' organisations to ask a myriad of FOI requests? – including what advice Willis received on the tobacco policy changes)? In the last few years it has been clear that many MPs and others were being fed large numbers of 'concerned citizen' FOI requests to keep the public sector busy – the new Government may benefit from similar scrutiny . . .
Very impressed with how Winston Peters at his age, was able to get down on his hands and knees to suck corporate cock.
Shane Cigareti earned his new moniker
when he claimed that vaping would be the governments primary tool for reducing the numbers of smokers and thus maintaining a large number of retail outlets for sale of a cancer causing carcinogen and maintaining the level of nicotine in the product to maintain the addiction were secondary issues.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/11/28/health-minister-defends-plan-to-scrap-smokefree-legislation/
This is evidence that the smoking plan was National Party policy and fully embraced by their ACT and NZF partners. They all received international funding. From examplar to turncoat before the world media.
Meanwhile The Civilian Beehive today reported that most vapers had never smoked. And most who had smoked gave up because of the cost and or via nicotine patches. And that the British American Tobacco taskforce concluded that the best way to promote addiction to nicotine in the 21st C was to promote vaping as a way to reduce the numbers of smokers. And to maintain their original product, by warning governments of the risk of a black market and loss of tax revenue – that would undermine their ability to finance health care or tax cuts (whatever was the more important to their political brand).
With utter and total contempt for the opine of Shane Cigareti comes an Oz push
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-67550685
Yea…nah
Vape liquid here contains Propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavoring, sometimes water and nicotine is optional.
The glycerin and glycol are both alcohols and are very common in many different foodstuffs, cosmetics, etc.
Flavoring is what it says, same as all foodstuff flavorings.
Water is water
Nicotine isn't harmful in the dosages involved, other than it is addictive. So is sugar, exercise and a myriad of other things.
Essentially you're inhaling flavored water vapor or steam, which surely is way less dangerous than breathing in carcinogenic burnt carbon, etc from burning tobacco (plus a whole heap of added chemicals which the tobacco companies don't have to list)
I have to just add that of course prohibition has never worked, for anything, ever, in the history of humankind. Prohibition just generates massive amounts of income for organized crime along with the associated crime such as violence, theft, prostitution, etc. You'd think people would have cottoned on to that one by now, we've had around 10,000 years or more.
We will be able to observe the comparative track of vaping use levels in the two countries as Oz reduce the addictive element in the product.
Personally I have no problem with obstructing the death merchant corporations from continuing to profit from nicotine addiction. Nor of removing them and other organised crime groups from buying politicians, exploiting addiction and or a black market.
Migrants own the corner store cancer shops, there's votes in selling death.