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notices and features - Date published:
5:30 pm, August 29th, 2022 - 16 comments
Categories: Daily review -
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The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
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Outperforming banks and energy companies star performer for profit is Auckland city council.
http://nzx-prod-s7fsd7f98s.s3-website-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/AKC/397785/377811.pdf
Total net profit/(loss) 1,723,777,000
Good thing it's not a private company but the council of our largest city with an obligation to it's residents rather than to off shore investors.
They have to service their debt out of net profit. They borrow for capital projects which keeps our city evolving with modern infrastructure and community services
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Really not impressed at the level of 'transparency' (i.e. none) from the new health authority, Te Whatu Ora/Health NZ.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/473681/new-national-health-organisation-te-whatu-ora-accused-of-secrecy
Rob Campbell appeared on RNZ and said he's not interested in providing "occupational therapy for journalists" [Does the man have *no* political instincts at all!]
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/analysis-free-flow-of-information-out-of-health-system-stifled-with-new-mega-board-meetings-held-in-private/YYGPJTLG3JJ2LTABCU6UIEYQCI/
To be honest, that sounds more like a Big Business board reaction, than a public service one. Especially a public service entity which is presiding over the greatest administrative shake up of health infrastructure in NZ for decades. The public, and the journalists who present the information to us, are absolutely entitled to know what is going on, and whether this giant experiment is working or not.
[The confidential nature is a red herring, anything that involves commercial expenditure and/or individual hiring decisions could just go into closed session – just as the DHB used to do.]
The claim that they answer questions is moot, if no one has any inkling of what difficult questions actually need to be asked.
Many people (and I'm one of them) will believe that this is a damage-limitation exercise. Very frequently, the first time that the public knew there was an issue, was when something was discussed at a DHB board meeting – and there were some very politically messy dramas resulting (sewerage in the walls, anyone).
There seems to be a passionate desire from the higher levels of civil service to control information flow completely.
The fact that open meetings and/or transparent governance isn't required under the legislation, appears to me to be a giant error – and needs to be corrected immediately.
At some point in time, there will again be a right-wing government in NZ. Just think, would you be happy with that level of 'transparency' with a different, right-slanted, board controlling NZ's health system?
Are you suggesting or implying that the current Board is left-slanted?
https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/about-us/who-we-are/our-board/board-members/
Nope. Although they seem (or at least the Chair does) startlingly naive politically.
Do you think that political neutrality will always be the case?
Yes, I’d like to think that boards at that level will be more or less politically neutral (in the sense of the one-dimensional Left-Right spectrum although to many it is more categorical/binary), as they should be. However, this doesn’t mean I think there won’t be any ideological bias, which many seem to conflate with political partisanship.
Perhaps ‘political neturality’ was a poor word choice – I like your concept of idealogical bias much better. (Not of course, the reality; but the description).
I feel that it's an enormous step backwards in terms of open governance. And not something that was openly signalled at any point in the transition.
But Te Whatu Ora releases only a brief summary of its board meeting agendas – and no media or public are allowed in.
The Ombudsman is currently looking into the practise of Councils going into 'workshops' far too regularly, potentially to avoid OIA obligations. At some point these organisations seem to become disconnected from the idea of democracy.
"not providing occupational therapy for journalists." Does Rob Campbell not realize his responsibility for transperency as a public servant?
Arrogance much. Meanwhile our nurses and drs leave for Australia. Why wouldn't they.
Knockoffs, of course. But it's the thought that counts.
https://twitter.com/ChollimaOrg/status/1563684457890349056
"But now all that — all of it — is going to change. It already is. The Age of Abundance is very, very clearly coming to an end now. The shelves aren’t always full of stuff like they used to be. Even when they are, prices are skyrocketing in ways that are shocking to behold — especially for basics, like food, energy, water. That isn’t going to stop. It’s only going to get worse. And we are going to have to prepare for it — just as Macron say, without doom-mongering, but being realistic about where we stand at this juncture in human history."
https://eand.co/the-end-of-the-age-of-abundance-and-the-beginning-of-the-age-of-scarcity-9222a316c8e1
Guarav Sharma seems to be on a mission. A mission to prove he has serious issues.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/former-gaurav-sharma-staffer-urges-mp-to-move-on-stop-breaching-confidentiality-after-latest-4700-word-facebook-rant/5ALT7CEWH6VETV7WVEJR2H7WNQ/
It's easy to tell that National now realize they backed the wrong horse.
When Sharma first hit the headlines 2 weeks ago, Chris Bishop and the Nat cheerleaders were happy to portray him as the plucky hero, standing up against Jacinda the bully. But now? Silence.
Bishop has made a habit of this, the ally who deserts at the drop of a hat. Ask Todd Muller.
Funny as, very good take on scomo and his dark desires.