Those Muppet’s should have consulted with everyone with a stake in that Dam instead of just trying to just ram the process trough and blowing all that money . This is how National has behaved for 9 years. In my view Hawkes Bay needs some irrigation to creat employment and economic growth as this is the economic model we run on for now. Irrigation can be run in a environmentally friendly way
Did Newshub break the rules on Election broadcasts tonight with their piece about National’s promise of Broadband rollout for rural communities? They repeatedly referred to Simon Bridges as Communications Minister rather than his correct position as National’s Spokesperson on Communications now the writ for the election has been dropped.
Parliament and the government are not the same things. Parliament has been dissolved and a general election is to held; however, the government remains in place and operates as normal.
After polling day, a defeated government is bound by the caretaker convention, but remains the government until the return of the writs (since writ day was 23rd August, and writs must be returned within 50 days, that will be the 11th October) and the declaration of a final result, and the formation of a new government – or, if it can still command the confidence of the house, the continuation of the old government.
The rules were made clearer after some of the long MMP coalition negotiations.
So the government – and ministers – remain so until the 11th October 2017, although after being defeated on the 23rd September the National government will just operate as caretakers.
The sound is better than that Nation minor party leaders debate, but the way the camera swerves about it pretty nauseating. Also, the disruptions (from Joyce in particular) are just not moderated at all that I’ve seen. But then, it isn’t the most gripping viewing and I haven’t watched it all.
Ed doesn’t seem to be the only one wondering why Seymour was there. The bit where Gower just ran out of patience with him and threw a question over to Shaw only to have it tossed back in the interest of fairness was entertaining (and a good dig at Gowers ineptitude at controlling the debate).
It is very much a filmed series of performances to a room rather than a camera focused debate to the country. It would be good if someone who was there were to give their impression of how it went.
Actually I found it a fascinating debate and for the most part Gower did a good job. Most of the questions from the audience in the latter stages were directed at Grant Robertson. He fielded them well but he was on a hiding to nothing because there was quite a strong anti-Labour bias in that audience. That was my perception anyway.
Wagner was a no-show at a Town Hall type meeting in Christchurch. Gerry fronted for her. Maybe she was out on the water?
” “Busy day with disability meetings in Auckland – rather be out on the harbour!” ….. looking dreamily out the window at the sparkly water ”
I have some connections to Disability work and workers in that area. They find her ill informed at meetings and frequently uses the wrong terms to describe this sector. They find it astounding that she attends important meetings, especiaslly in relation to the rebuild in christchurch with no knowledge of the project to be discussed. However they find she has many misguided (and dated) “suggestions”.
I’m not entirely sure why Wagner didn’t front at that Town Hall. But it’s tempting to think that National knew it wasn’t going to go well. Which begs the question; is Christchurch Central going to head back to Labour this election? And maybe Waimakariri? And if so, what about the Party Vote in Christchurch?
think it would be a good bet to back Duncan Webb in ChCh central…he has a high profile after 6 years of advocacy for EQ victims….Nicky Wagner is not rated, but the party vote doesn’t necessarily mirror
In conjunction with Basic Income New Zealand and Auckland Debating Society, Guy Standing, leading international speaker on Basic Income, author of “The Precariat’, with as a panel to respond to his presentation, Sue Bradford and Keith Rankin.
Guy Standing is a Professorial Research Associate at SOAS, University of London, and a founder and co-President of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), an NGO promoting basic income as a right. He has held chairs at the Universities of Bath and Monash (Australia) and was previously Director of the Socio-Economic Security Programme of the International Labour Organisation. He is currently working on pilot basic income schemes in India and on issues relating to his two recent books, The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class (2011) and A Precariat Charter: From Denizens to Citizens (2014).
Professor Standing’s book recently featured in University World News: Higher education and the precariat class
See his Guardian article from January, 2017 and his interview on Basic Income.
When
August 31st, 2017 6:30 PM through 8:00 PM
Location
76 Epsom Ave
Epsom Campus
Lecture Room J1 – J Block
Auckland, AUK 1023
New Zealand
Thanks,
It’s not just ToP, Greens also want UBI calculated by the next Govt. Trusting a UBI Commission Report could get cross party support from Labour at coalition negotiation time.
Ruataniwha. There must be more to it, apart from the need and greed of farmers wanting more water, but how do you spend $14 million of ratepayers money when the land in question was not owned by the group seeking the dam, and the law as pronounced upon by the judge was pretty unequivocal to this layman as to the circumstances where conservation land can be alienated.
If I were a ratepayer in Hawkes Bay I’d be asking questions about how private individuals can spend so much public money for possible private gain. I’d also look at how $14 million can be spent essentially on paper shuffling.
Is it to do with that old/new adage “Privatise the profits , and socialise the costs”?
Thanks, Draco T. Bit of a corruption too of what ‘looking after your mates” should really mean.
I saw the Helen Clark film tonight, A Year with Helen, where she talked about clear instructions as to zero tolerance for corruption in her UN department, so that it became the most transparent aid agency in the world.
Ruataniwha and $14 mill. Does it match up to the Kaipara Harbour council spending – on something real and needed? They had to have a special Bill passed exonerating them didn’t they? And I haven’t followed the back story about that so don’t feel I have a good understanding.
But how can a Council spend $14m. on nothing without censure? The whole story about why less government was A Good Thing was because it would bring more efficiency and effectiveness, etc etc. It seems to have brought the problem of bad judgment of necessary workers, meaning huge expenditure on temporary contractors. And a slush fund apparently to pay them – resulting in a sort of double bookkeeping.
The whole story about why less government was A Good Thing was because it would bring more efficiency and effectiveness, etc etc.
And from what we’ve learned over the last thirty years that would be a lie. All the evidence we have now shows that less government and more privatisation results in higher costs and inefficiencies.
Suggests almost 60% of 2014 Green voters are now thinking of casting their Party Vote for other Parties. The vast majority of them swinging to Labour (about two-thirds of them because of the Jacinda-mania drawcard / one-third due to unhappiness over Turei’s benefit disclosures and subsequent resignation).
That level of voter disloyalty isn’t actually all that unusual for the Greens. NZES flow-of-the-Vote data suggests less than half of 2011 Green voters remained loyal at the 2014 General Election. About 1/4 swung to Lab, with a little less than one fifth going to the Nats and NZF (each)
But the difference now is … there appears to be no significant reciprocal swing from 2014 Lab voters to Greens (whereas at the 2014 General Election = an inflow of 2011 Labour supporters & previous Non-voters to Greens – largely (though not entirely) compensated for the Greens’ lost 2011 voters to Labour).
So usually there’s a lot of movement back and forth between voters for the two Left-leaning parties over consecutive Elections. But it all seems to be in 1 direction now.
Reinforces the fact that the Greens’ base vote is much lower than many pundits assume – more like 5%. Many of the other 6% who voted Green in 2014 would have been Labour-identifiers & former Labour voters. So the Green vote was always going to be vulnerable to the Metiria admission + New charismatic Lab leader.
Better asking that of Horizon, my Bearded Chum. I’m just summarising their latest (and the 2014 NZES) findings.
My Vote ?
If the Greens are averaging over 7% in the final round of Polls then I’ll Party Vote Labour as originally intended.
If, on t’other hand, the Greens are averaging between 4-7% in the final Polls then I’ll certainly switch Green to contribute – in my own ever so humble way – to getting them over the line.
But if they’re down below 4% in the week before the Election then I’ll have to seriously re-consider because it might just be a wasted vote.
Sorry if I was hassling you but last night I was just a bit pissed off having read so many MSM media comments trying to write the Greens off because they had polled 4.3% once, then I remembered you talking about how the Greens were only polling 3.6% in Whangarei (I do think there are special factors at play there this time round and was only a poll of 500) and then all your stuff on how flimsy the Greens vote may be (per your earlier analysis and the comment above).
For the record I will be voting Green (always do) unless they are polling below 4%, like you, but I have a strong affinity for Labour-in fact I’m organising a meeting for Labour at the moment.
I think there is more volatility in how people choose to vote than we (and the media) realise and that National’s vote is softer than the media are portraying it.
It makes sense that Labour’s loss of votes had to go somewhere. I remain hopeful that The Green Party may have made some headway engaging the non voting.
While we are distracted by mythical battles in the Game of Thrones, we are being robbed in the real world “Game of Mates” where the well-connected clip the wages and profits of the hard working. Murray and Frijters provide an entertaining and well researched expose of how privilege and rent-seeking dominates the Australian economy, enriching the Mates in the Game while robbing the rest. And they propose how to end the Game. And they name real names too. This is an explosive and essential book for all Australians. Except the Mates. Professor Steve Keen, Kingston University
I suspect that similar research in NZ would show the same thing. Our nation has become corrupt.
Corrupt or best people for the Job? Hey, I’ve been thinking about joining the Free Masons. They seem like a nice enough bunch. Anyone here have person experiences they would share?
RBNZ’s Spencer uses the word vanilla more than once:
Q. How close should New Zealand stick to international norms?
A. “In shaping our regulatory approach – with its emphasis on self- and market discipline and being at the more permissive end of the spectrum – we must consider the potential costs of deviating too far from international norms. This is especially important to consider as we seek to tailor the sometimes complex international regulatory environment to New Zealand’s relatively vanilla banking system.”
When banker’s use the word permissive, is it normal to think of Mel Gibson’s butt?
Thanx CoroDale
Relatively vanilla. Lovely. That in-group in-speech matey we’re-all-in-this-together jargon. There must be a humorous clip somewhere of an in-group talking in acronyms. I have heard the one about commercial travellers quoting their preferred joke by number. I think the one for tonight could be 42.
DRM the new spam. Some idiot genius writes up free info, then drms their content, which has ads of course, this starts a herd of people doing the same. Search engines pickup just drm content and the free unencumbered content disappears. now all well and good, original content should be paid for.But what if I want content from a community of Open sources who write up without down grading the work to some drm folly. Which obviously then pays people to churn open source methods to make a buck on writing it all up wrongly, drm leads to babel. Answer would be a search engine that you can switch to search non-drm or drm. Does anyone know of such a thing?
Tune in dude, I’m working so switching on and off when they are talking shite.
Relationships between politicians and family and who works where
Winston story being a distraction to mother of scandals
And some dickheads ringing up talking shite
After the news they be talking about Barclay, whichis massive interest to me, especially with what I personally know about that situation and the people involved. Wonder if Oil will spin his own agenda or be truthful.
When your boss tapes you on the phone and asks you to lie for him and gets up to dodgy dealings with a female who was a cabinet member at the time, then whats a girl to do? Talk about it with your old boss? Gosh that would make it go pear shaped wouldn’t it?
Fact of the matter is it has nothing to do with how well barclay was liked, and she wasn’t after his job at all. It’s not nice being asked to lie for another
Cause it was never about the tapes, it was why was he taping her, what was he worried she was going to say?
“as the dairy and agriculture industries grow, they are placing an ever-greater strain on the country’s water supply and raising concerns about the quality of New Zealand’s water.
In August 2016, more than 5,000 people fell sick with gastrointestinal illness in Havelock North, a suburb of New Zealand’s North Island’s Hawke’s Bay district. The suburb’s drinking water had become contaminated, resulting in the poisoning of a third of its population and contributing to the deaths of three residents.
The incident shook the public’s confidence in the safety of New Zealand’s drinking water, and led to an investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs.
But what exactly is tainting the quality of New Zealand’s fresh water supplies and could a potential solution have a knock-on effect on all of New Zealand’s main economic contributors?”
Fuck tourism 🙂 It’s a big polluter and has a hugely negative impact on the environment as well. It’s also not even remotely sustainable. The sooner we get off that sauce the better.
Tomorrow afternoon, if things go really really badly, I may find myself down to one eye. People who used to sneer at me on Twitter will no doubt say So what's changed? Nothing, that's what, you one-eyed lefty.I don’t mean to be dramatic, it’s just a routine bit of cataract ...
A few weeks ago an invitation dropped into my email inbox to attend a joint Treasury/Motu seminar on recent, rather major, changes that had apparently been made to the discount rates used by The Treasury to evaluate proposals from government agencies. It was all news to me, but when ...
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After seeing yet-more-months of political debate and policy decisions to ‘go for growth’ by pulling the same old cheap migration and cheap tourism levers without nearly-enough infrastructure, or any attempt to address the same old lack of globally conventional tax incentives for investment, I thought it would be worth issuing ...
The plans for the buildings that will replace the downtown carpark have been publicly notified giving us the first detailed glance at what is proposed for one of the biggest and best development sites in the city centre. The council agreed to sell the site to Precinct Properties for $122 ...
With the Reserve Bank expected today to return the Official Cash Rate to where it was in mid-2022 comes a measure of how much of a psychological impact the rate has. Federated Farmers has published its latest six-monthly farm confidence survey, which shows that profit expectations have fallen and risen ...
Kiwis Disallowed From Waiting Lists Based on Arbitrary MeasuresWellington hospital are now rejecting patients from specialist waiting lists due to BMI (body mass index).This article from Rachel Thomas for The Post says it all (emphasis mine):A group of Porirua GPs are sounding alarm bells after patients with body mass indexes ...
The Prime Minister says he's really comfortable with us not knowing the reoffending rate for his boot camp programme.They asked him for it at yesterday’s press conference, and he said, nah, not telling, have to respect people's privacy.Okay I'll bite. Let's say they release this information to us:The rate of ...
Warning 1: There is a Nazi theme at the end of this article related to the disabled community. Warning 2: This article could be boring!One day, last year, I excitedly opened up a Substack post that was about how to fight back, and the answer at the end was disappointing ...
This may be rhetorical but here goes: did any of you invest in the $Libra memecoin endorsed and backed by Argentine president and darling of the global Right Javier Milei (who admitted to being paid a fee for his promotion of the token)? You know, the one that soared above ...
Last week various of the great and good of New Zealand economics and public policy trooped off to Hamilton (of all places) for the annual Waikato Economics Forum, one of the successful marketing drives of university’s Vice-Chancellor. My interest was in the speeches delivered by the Minister of Finance and ...
The Prime Minister says the Government would be open to sending peacekeepers to Ukraine if a ceasefire was reached. The government has announced a $30 million spend on tourism infrastructure and biodiversity projects, including $11m spent to improve popular visitor sites and further $19m towards biodiversity efforts. A New Zealand-born ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler “But what about when the sun doesn't shine?!” Ah yes, the energy debate’s equivalent of “The Earth is flat!” Every time someone mentions solar or wind power, some self-proclaimed energy expert emerges from the woodwork to drop this supposedly devastating truth bomb: ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article I look into data on how well the rail network serve New Zealanders, and how many people might be able to travel by train… if we ran more than a ...
Hi,Before we get into Hayden Donnell’s new column about how yes, Donald Trump is definitely the Antichrist, I wanted to touch on something feral that happened in New Zealand last week.Members of Destiny Church pushed and punched their way into an Auckland library, apparently angry it was part of Pride ...
Despite delays, logjams and overcrowding in our emergency departments, funding constraints are limiting the numbers of nurses and doctors being trained. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, February 18 are:A NZ Herald investigation ...
Now that the US has ripped up the Atlantic alliance, Europe is more vulnerable now than at any time since the mid-1930s. Apparently, Europe and Ukraine itself will not have a seat at the table in the talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin that will ...
Olivia and Noah and Hana are going to the library!It is fun to go to the library. It has books and songs and mat time and people who smile at you and say, Hello Olivia, what have you been doing this morning?The library is more fun than the mall. At ...
New World Orders: The challenge facing Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins is how to keep their small and vulnerable nation safe and stable in a world whose economic and political climate the forty-seventh American president is changing so profoundly.IT IS, SURELY, the ultimate Millennial revenge fantasy. Calling senior Baby-Boomer and Gen-X ...
“This might surprise you, Laurie, but I reckon Trump’s putting on a bloody impressive performance.”“GOODNESS ME, HANNAH, just look at all those Valentine’s Day cards!”“Occupational hazard, Laurie, the more beer I serve, the more my customers declare their undying love!”“Crikey! I had no idea business was so good.” Laurie squinted ...
In 2005, Labour repealed the long-standing principle of birthright citizenship in Aotearoa. Why? As with everything else Labour does, it all came down to austerity: "foreign mothers" were supposedly "coming to this country to give birth", and this was "put[ting] pressure on hospitals". Then-Immigration Minister George Hawkins explicitly gave this ...
And I just hope that you can forgive usBut everything must goAnd if you need an explanation, nationThen everything must goSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Today, I’d like to talk about a couple of things that happened over the weekend:Brian Tamaki’s Library Invasion and ...
New reporting highlights how Brooke van Velden refuses to meet with the CTU but is happy to meet with fringe Australian-based unions. Van Velden is pursuing reckless changes to undermine the personal grievance system against the advice of her own officials. Engineering New Zealand are saying that hundreds of engineers ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill. This Bill represents a positive step towards addressing serious issues around unlawful disparities in pay by protecting workers’ rights to discuss their pay and conditions. This Bill also provides welcome support for helping tackle the prevalent gender and ...
Years of hard work finally paid off last week as the country’s biggest and most important transport project, the City Rail Link reached a major milestone with the first test train making its way slowly though the tunnels for the first time. This is a fantastic achievement and it is ...
Engineers are pleading for the Government to free up funds to restart stalled projects. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 17 are:Engineering New Zealand CEO Richard Templer said yesterday hundreds of ...
It’s one of New Zealand’s great sustaining myths: the spirit of ANZAC, our mates across the ditch, the spirit of Earl’s Court, Antipodeans united against the world. It is also a myth; it is not reality. That much was clear from a series of speakers, including a former Australian Prime ...
Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
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Hot damn! Ruataniwha!
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2017/08/dead-and-buried.html
Indeedy.
Yep. That battle is over.
They were still hoping for more private money. Rust never sleeps.
$14m of ratepayers money. Gone.
They would have spent more if they could. Thank God for Royal Forest and Bird. And Kevin Hague.
True. And the non monetary cost.
No more dairy conversions in drought suceptible areas… eg North Canterbury
+ 100 tracey I think that farmers should not be farming in environments that are unsustainable environmentally or financially
That’s just it – they are financial. They can make money if the nation shoulders the costs which is what’s been happening for decades.
F and B are one of the premier activist groups in NZ now. We are incredibly fortunate to have them.
Those Muppet’s should have consulted with everyone with a stake in that Dam instead of just trying to just ram the process trough and blowing all that money . This is how National has behaved for 9 years. In my view Hawkes Bay needs some irrigation to creat employment and economic growth as this is the economic model we run on for now. Irrigation can be run in a environmentally friendly way
In my opinion we can’t trust the RW and dairy farmers to limit their use and abuse of the waterways. Better that individuals trap their own water.
If farmers go round trapping all the water what’s going to happen to all the rivers that depend upon that water?
Did Newshub break the rules on Election broadcasts tonight with their piece about National’s promise of Broadband rollout for rural communities? They repeatedly referred to Simon Bridges as Communications Minister rather than his correct position as National’s Spokesperson on Communications now the writ for the election has been dropped.
Parliament and the government are not the same things. Parliament has been dissolved and a general election is to held; however, the government remains in place and operates as normal.
After polling day, a defeated government is bound by the caretaker convention, but remains the government until the return of the writs (since writ day was 23rd August, and writs must be returned within 50 days, that will be the 11th October) and the declaration of a final result, and the formation of a new government – or, if it can still command the confidence of the house, the continuation of the old government.
The rules were made clearer after some of the long MMP coalition negotiations.
So the government – and ministers – remain so until the 11th October 2017, although after being defeated on the 23rd September the National government will just operate as caretakers.
Is someone doing an inventory on the silver now?
Grrrr … yes …. we need to make a stock take of the inventory …
Just to be sure,… to be sure…
Live Stream link for Financial Debate
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/08/decision-17-livestream-the-asb-great-finance-debate.html
Edit they are just starting to introduce the candidates now
How does a party with 0.4% of the party vote invited?
More evidence of the neoliberal bias in the media.
I believe the Maori Party get more votes.
So the Conservative Party must be there too then?
Of course 25% of the selected audience in Queenstown vote ACT.
The 0.4 % party are well represented in that town.
Not really
Act is below average in C/S, they got 122 votes in 2014, 0.36%, in Wakatipu they got the grand total of 14 votes.
Were you at the debate tonight? Impressions from the locals?
The sound is better than that Nation minor party leaders debate, but the way the camera swerves about it pretty nauseating. Also, the disruptions (from Joyce in particular) are just not moderated at all that I’ve seen. But then, it isn’t the most gripping viewing and I haven’t watched it all.
Ed doesn’t seem to be the only one wondering why Seymour was there. The bit where Gower just ran out of patience with him and threw a question over to Shaw only to have it tossed back in the interest of fairness was entertaining (and a good dig at Gowers ineptitude at controlling the debate).
It is very much a filmed series of performances to a room rather than a camera focused debate to the country. It would be good if someone who was there were to give their impression of how it went.
So the role of the moderator is important.
And that’s why Hosking should never have that role.
Actually I found it a fascinating debate and for the most part Gower did a good job. Most of the questions from the audience in the latter stages were directed at Grant Robertson. He fielded them well but he was on a hiding to nothing because there was quite a strong anti-Labour bias in that audience. That was my perception anyway.
I thought Gower did well too, refreshing to see him not in rabid mode.
Instructive to see Stephen Joyce laughing while Winston Peters claims that privacy matters.
That’s why we need live audiences armed with dildo’s at the ready.
Wagner was a no-show at a Town Hall type meeting in Christchurch. Gerry fronted for her. Maybe she was out on the water?
” “Busy day with disability meetings in Auckland – rather be out on the harbour!” ….. looking dreamily out the window at the sparkly water ”
I have some connections to Disability work and workers in that area. They find her ill informed at meetings and frequently uses the wrong terms to describe this sector. They find it astounding that she attends important meetings, especiaslly in relation to the rebuild in christchurch with no knowledge of the project to be discussed. However they find she has many misguided (and dated) “suggestions”.
I’m not entirely sure why Wagner didn’t front at that Town Hall. But it’s tempting to think that National knew it wasn’t going to go well. Which begs the question; is Christchurch Central going to head back to Labour this election? And maybe Waimakariri? And if so, what about the Party Vote in Christchurch?
think it would be a good bet to back Duncan Webb in ChCh central…he has a high profile after 6 years of advocacy for EQ victims….Nicky Wagner is not rated, but the party vote doesn’t necessarily mirror
A meeting tomorrow night in Auckland, with Guy Standing on UBI/Basic Income:
Thanks,
It’s not just ToP, Greens also want UBI calculated by the next Govt. Trusting a UBI Commission Report could get cross party support from Labour at coalition negotiation time.
Ruataniwha. There must be more to it, apart from the need and greed of farmers wanting more water, but how do you spend $14 million of ratepayers money when the land in question was not owned by the group seeking the dam, and the law as pronounced upon by the judge was pretty unequivocal to this layman as to the circumstances where conservation land can be alienated.
If I were a ratepayer in Hawkes Bay I’d be asking questions about how private individuals can spend so much public money for possible private gain. I’d also look at how $14 million can be spent essentially on paper shuffling.
Is it to do with that old/new adage “Privatise the profits , and socialise the costs”?
But I don’t come from there, so I don’t know.
I had some family members involved in this.
It never added up except as a direct subsidy to the farmers concerned.
Some of which could have paid for smaller irrigation dams on their own land. But that would have cost them money.
Privatise the gains and socialise the loses was exactly the aim.
See the link I provide here.
Thanks, Draco T. Bit of a corruption too of what ‘looking after your mates” should really mean.
I saw the Helen Clark film tonight, A Year with Helen, where she talked about clear instructions as to zero tolerance for corruption in her UN department, so that it became the most transparent aid agency in the world.
Ruataniwha and $14 mill. Does it match up to the Kaipara Harbour council spending – on something real and needed? They had to have a special Bill passed exonerating them didn’t they? And I haven’t followed the back story about that so don’t feel I have a good understanding.
But how can a Council spend $14m. on nothing without censure? The whole story about why less government was A Good Thing was because it would bring more efficiency and effectiveness, etc etc. It seems to have brought the problem of bad judgment of necessary workers, meaning huge expenditure on temporary contractors. And a slush fund apparently to pay them – resulting in a sort of double bookkeeping.
And from what we’ve learned over the last thirty years that would be a lie. All the evidence we have now shows that less government and more privatisation results in higher costs and inefficiencies.
Horizon poll
https://t.co/syTeQNQq7J?amp=1
I can’t even remember what was happening 3 weeks ago (when poll was done).
A 100% internet based poll…
And?
Suggests almost 60% of 2014 Green voters are now thinking of casting their Party Vote for other Parties. The vast majority of them swinging to Labour (about two-thirds of them because of the Jacinda-mania drawcard / one-third due to unhappiness over Turei’s benefit disclosures and subsequent resignation).
That level of voter disloyalty isn’t actually all that unusual for the Greens. NZES flow-of-the-Vote data suggests less than half of 2011 Green voters remained loyal at the 2014 General Election. About 1/4 swung to Lab, with a little less than one fifth going to the Nats and NZF (each)
But the difference now is … there appears to be no significant reciprocal swing from 2014 Lab voters to Greens (whereas at the 2014 General Election = an inflow of 2011 Labour supporters & previous Non-voters to Greens – largely (though not entirely) compensated for the Greens’ lost 2011 voters to Labour).
So usually there’s a lot of movement back and forth between voters for the two Left-leaning parties over consecutive Elections. But it all seems to be in 1 direction now.
Reinforces the fact that the Greens’ base vote is much lower than many pundits assume – more like 5%. Many of the other 6% who voted Green in 2014 would have been Labour-identifiers & former Labour voters. So the Green vote was always going to be vulnerable to the Metiria admission + New charismatic Lab leader.
Or have you simply got it in for the Greens Swordfish? Who do you vote for?
Better asking that of Horizon, my Bearded Chum. I’m just summarising their latest (and the 2014 NZES) findings.
My Vote ?
If the Greens are averaging over 7% in the final round of Polls then I’ll Party Vote Labour as originally intended.
If, on t’other hand, the Greens are averaging between 4-7% in the final Polls then I’ll certainly switch Green to contribute – in my own ever so humble way – to getting them over the line.
But if they’re down below 4% in the week before the Election then I’ll have to seriously re-consider because it might just be a wasted vote.
Thanks Swordfish.
Sorry if I was hassling you but last night I was just a bit pissed off having read so many MSM media comments trying to write the Greens off because they had polled 4.3% once, then I remembered you talking about how the Greens were only polling 3.6% in Whangarei (I do think there are special factors at play there this time round and was only a poll of 500) and then all your stuff on how flimsy the Greens vote may be (per your earlier analysis and the comment above).
For the record I will be voting Green (always do) unless they are polling below 4%, like you, but I have a strong affinity for Labour-in fact I’m organising a meeting for Labour at the moment.
I think there is more volatility in how people choose to vote than we (and the media) realise and that National’s vote is softer than the media are portraying it.
It makes sense that Labour’s loss of votes had to go somewhere. I remain hopeful that The Green Party may have made some headway engaging the non voting.
James Shaw just dropped a big hint at the end of the Economics debate tonight about their intention to reform politics.
https://www.facebook.com/NewshubNZ/videos/vb.97548423605/10155831917943606/ (around 2hrs exact).
Game Of Mate: How favours bleed the nation
I suspect that similar research in NZ would show the same thing. Our nation has become corrupt.
Keen is excellent.
Corrupt or best people for the Job? Hey, I’ve been thinking about joining the Free Masons. They seem like a nice enough bunch. Anyone here have person experiences they would share?
+100 Draco
Outgoing Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler:
“…every prospect the strong growth would continue.”
“The greatest risk we face at this stage relates to the inflated global asset prices and the continuing build up in global debt.”
“There is a risk of a housing market resurgence… if loan to value ratios (LVRs) were removed…”
“We believe that it (inflation targets only) is still the best monetary policy framework for New Zealand.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/338345/reserve-bank-head-defends-record-in-last-public-speech
Sleep well boys and girls, for the Bank for International Settlements quotes our next RBNZ Chairman Grant Spencer as saying;
“The NZ banking system is relatively vanilla.”
https://www.bis.org/review/r170809b.htm
RBNZ’s Spencer uses the word vanilla more than once:
Q. How close should New Zealand stick to international norms?
A. “In shaping our regulatory approach – with its emphasis on self- and market discipline and being at the more permissive end of the spectrum – we must consider the potential costs of deviating too far from international norms. This is especially important to consider as we seek to tailor the sometimes complex international regulatory environment to New Zealand’s relatively vanilla banking system.”
When banker’s use the word permissive, is it normal to think of Mel Gibson’s butt?
Thanx CoroDale
Relatively vanilla. Lovely. That in-group in-speech matey we’re-all-in-this-together jargon. There must be a humorous clip somewhere of an in-group talking in acronyms. I have heard the one about commercial travellers quoting their preferred joke by number. I think the one for tonight could be 42.
DRM the new spam. Some idiot genius writes up free info, then drms their content, which has ads of course, this starts a herd of people doing the same. Search engines pickup just drm content and the free unencumbered content disappears. now all well and good, original content should be paid for.But what if I want content from a community of Open sources who write up without down grading the work to some drm folly. Which obviously then pays people to churn open source methods to make a buck on writing it all up wrongly, drm leads to babel. Answer would be a search engine that you can switch to search non-drm or drm. Does anyone know of such a thing?
Listening to the wireless, radio live, Slater is on, crikey he has plenty to say, worth tuning into.
Please enlighten us
Tune in dude, I’m working so switching on and off when they are talking shite.
Relationships between politicians and family and who works where
Winston story being a distraction to mother of scandals
And some dickheads ringing up talking shite
After the news they be talking about Barclay, whichis massive interest to me, especially with what I personally know about that situation and the people involved. Wonder if Oil will spin his own agenda or be truthful.
When your boss tapes you on the phone and asks you to lie for him and gets up to dodgy dealings with a female who was a cabinet member at the time, then whats a girl to do? Talk about it with your old boss? Gosh that would make it go pear shaped wouldn’t it?
Fact of the matter is it has nothing to do with how well barclay was liked, and she wasn’t after his job at all. It’s not nice being asked to lie for another
Cause it was never about the tapes, it was why was he taping her, what was he worried she was going to say?
Lolz anyways back to work here’s the link he’s on for another hour
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/home.player.html
One last thing loolz I prefer not to visit his blog could get a virus, radio works well
HOLY SHITE.. Al Jazeera just posted a 23min doco about NZ’s water pollution problem
This won’t be good for our tourism, but fantastic for awareness.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/08/problem-zealand-water-sources-170831090704101.html
“as the dairy and agriculture industries grow, they are placing an ever-greater strain on the country’s water supply and raising concerns about the quality of New Zealand’s water.
In August 2016, more than 5,000 people fell sick with gastrointestinal illness in Havelock North, a suburb of New Zealand’s North Island’s Hawke’s Bay district. The suburb’s drinking water had become contaminated, resulting in the poisoning of a third of its population and contributing to the deaths of three residents.
The incident shook the public’s confidence in the safety of New Zealand’s drinking water, and led to an investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs.
But what exactly is tainting the quality of New Zealand’s fresh water supplies and could a potential solution have a knock-on effect on all of New Zealand’s main economic contributors?”
Fuck tourism 🙂 It’s a big polluter and has a hugely negative impact on the environment as well. It’s also not even remotely sustainable. The sooner we get off that sauce the better.