Are some in the US with the help from their neighbor trying to make a case to kick NZ out of the Five Eyes system?
Is this the revenge for NZ not towing the US line?
As for Chinese influence, it was the National party that was getting a lot of Chinese money and even a member of their party is known to have trained Chinese Spies. There has been also been some suspicions they might be still under the employment of the Chinese government.
Yes, there’s something fishy about the claims. Labour’s president, Nigel Haworth is on record as saying there’s been no donations to the Labour Party from any Chinese based group – I paraphrase. Yet we know Chinese interests have been donating many thousands of dollars to the National Party in recent years. But the accusers wait until a Labour led government is in power before they make their claims.
I listened to the ex-CIA analyst interview on RNZ a few days ago and the tone of his claims and the way he delivered them made me suspicious. It was as if he was delivering pre-determined lines and trying not to deviate from them.
Old mate Paul, over at Kiwipolitico has put the RNZ link.
I think they told the “No Mates Party” senior leadership group, but got flog off with “She be right mate and we know what we are doing” so now they are having a wee chat to Jandals and the team and hoping they don’t flog them like the last mob did.
“MPI is captured by the fishing industry. We need an independent public inquiry into the Fisheries Management System and its regulator. Right now, MPI and the seafood industry are trying to prevent this independent inquiry and are instead pushing for an internal MPI review, but this further leaked report shows once again why that must not happen.
“MPI simply cannot be trusted to tell the truth or regulate the industry. Just last year when they didn’t prosecute anyone after their own video cameras exposed widespread fish dumping in the inshore fishery, MPI claimed the decision not to prosecute was due to legal advice. But it turned out that legal advice did not exist. MPI simply didn’t tell the truth.”
From what I’ve heard reported MPI’s response is usually along the lines of: “That was years ago and we’ve talked to them and they’re not being naughty now”.
Yeah right.
Like we believe you. Start doing your job! And that means not working in the interests of the fishing industry.
I’m afraid both major parties have colluded with the industry to let it do whatever the hell it wants. You may recall the foreign labour scandals that Key “couldn’t fix until 2016”, which was utter bullshit – all the charter vessels operating here are registered here and thus subject to NZ law in its entirety. Both parties are predominantly composed of lawyers, they knew it was bullshit, but went along with it – no doubt hoping for donations.
“Both parties are predominantly composed of lawyers”.
According to my dictionary the word “predominantly” is defined as
“for the most part; mostly; mainly’
In other words more than half.
That is certainly a spectacular claim. Can you produce even a skerrick of evidence to justify it?
I won’t go as far as making you prove that more than 50% of each parties members have practising certificates but can you please list the members of National and Labour who have the much lesser standard of a law degree?
By your claim there are at least 24 in Labour and 28 in the National Party.
Who are they?
What a tiny little point of order you raise. What a minuscule piece of pedantry you bring up. Instead of going with the essence of a comment and putting your view on that, you pick up on a single word and pontificate on your superior knowledge of what that word means.
This a prime perfect example of what trolling is. Never mind the thread, just drag a red herring across the topic trying to change the narrative. make it all about you and work hard at pissing people off.
I understand your MO because I went to school with annoying little pricks who did exactly the same thing.
I really should ignore you, but it’s like watching 2 monkeys at the zoo shagging their little hearts out. You have to watch and comment.
How fascinating. You have certainly answered one question. At least at the time that list was prepared the statement about the number of lawyers was false.
When on earth was it done? I was hard pressed to even vaguely remember some of the names.
Cunliffe? Goff? Mathers? Turei? Norman?
The names seem to ring a bell somewhere but they certainly aren’t shining lights in the current Parliament are they?
That quote I like.
Sounds like Lyndon Johnson.
When he got a bit down from what he thought were unfair attacks from the Washington Post he is reputed to have complained that
‘If I got up tomorrow and walked across the Potomac the headline in the Post the next day would be “President can’t swim”.’
I guess that explains why he continued for so long in Vietnam. He walked across, rather than swam in, the Sea of Knowledge.
Having made prostitution legal to enable the workers to insist on safety measures and not endure the two-faced disdain dumped on them, and to be able to earn a fair living at this therapeutic business, now it is said to be that NZs are undercut by foreign workers! What a pathetic society. Every time we take a step forward it seems to be followed by 2-3 steps back.
One of the main sex work websites advertised more than 800 women, separated into Asian and non-Asian prostitutes.
A registration scheme on sites would mean only those eligible to work could advertise – and ensure everyone was paying tax, Ms O’Hara said…
Other prostitutes RNZ spoke to said they were being crowded out and undercut by immigrant sex workers, who were charging half the rates of their New Zealand counterparts.
Hamilton sex worker Lisa Lewis said most people who went on holiday maxed-out their credit cards.
“These girls are leaving with their credit cards in credit,” she said.
“It’s definitely a disadvantage for any legal sex worker because we are having to pay tax, the provisional, the income, the GST, ACC levies.
“They are leaving New Zealand without any of that taken off them, which is robbery of the government.”
Prostitution is not the same as installing technology in the ground or anywhere.
It is a delicate moral issue, and we have attempted to face up to it in NZ to the benefit of the workers and their clients. Allowing foreigners to come in and
exploit the workplace for this type of business shows the RW two-faced lack of integrity.
I’ve heard that some Indian students have made big sacrifices to come here. If they are allowed to come they should be treated fairly but I have also heard that Immigration can take people’s money, and when they have satisfied all the requirements, filled in the forms, the rules are changed and they are ineligible with no refund.
This time, in India, they have let sharks operating as agents operate in a feeding frenzy instead of establishing who is operating to standards, and registering them as officially recognised and reliable.
Matters of “fairness and natural justice” are enshrined in Immigration NZ’s immigration policy, created by Cabinet.
But one year ago – at about the same time that issues of fraud and exploitation in the Indian student market became common – Immigration dismantled the complaint process by bypassing the need for Cabinet to make changes to immigration policy and introducing a new complaints process.
It states: “Complaints which only raise matters of the merits of a decision will not be accepted for an investigation into that decision.”
At the same time, Immigration began advising the minister that its strategy to clamp down on migrant exploitation was to target those migrants who are at risk of exploitation – to deport people who may become victims, rather than stop the exploitation itself.
Immigration has suggested that budget constraints were responsible for this strategy.
Immigration in any country seems to attract behaviour that is abrupt and cold-blooded. Here they seem to have a similar attitude to Indians as Australians have to NZs. I feel, at base, it is a racial bias that doesn’t see them as worthy as whites. But they are good for getting money into the country, which counts as exports, bringing in live bodies, while we send so many dead ones (animals) overseas.
Arrogant and just plain nasty. The Immigration Protection Tribunal was set up as a judicial body independent of Immigration, and one of their functions is to review resident visa decisions. These decisions are published online.
While immigration instructions do not require Immigration to abide by principles set out in tribunal decisions, if the tribunal continues to point out that Immigration are making the same mistakes in their assessments, a responsive ministry would obviously correct those mistakes and amend its processes accordingly.
However, Immigration has taken the opposite approach over the past year and now makes it clear in its decisions that because it is not required to follow principles of policy interpretation in their decision-making, they are also entitled to ignore the tribunal’s criticisms of its decision-making.
McClymont sums up the situation well @grey.
I’m still waiting for the day when Immigration NZ (and its cohorts – Labour Inspectorate and Immigration Advisor’s Authority, etc.) realise that the best approach to reducing immigration and exploitation is to concentrate on the exploiters and scammers RATHER THAN their victims. The current approach means we’re just being complicit in what is effectively people trafficking. It’s actually quite disgusting.
Not sure whether you’ll see this or not because todays nooze is tomorrows fush’n’chups wrapper with Open Moik and Daily Reviews (unless there’s a dedicated strand for a discussion).
Recent events (changes announced yesterday) go SOMEWAY to stopping exploitation: i.e. stopping visa bondage to a specific employer. If the employer is good – count yourself lucky. If not – prepare to be faced with another round of shady ‘consultants’ clipping the ticket; plus visa applicat fees; and probably a $2-3K cost to break free of the arsehole. Bear in mind, that arsehole probably has interests in associated businesses they’ve been channeling labour through – and DON’T for a moment think those arseholes a simply those from the same background (culture/ethnicity/etc). They ARE signed-up PR’d up CITIZEN-up people who are complicit in keeping this gravy train rolling.
But……..we’ll see. The situation actually rivals the HCNZ methcon, MSD dysfunction/MPI bovis stuff.
And if Iain L-G (who incidentally I have a lot of respect for) thinks his “officials are just the ticket and tickety boo), he’s really in need of some further “learnings going forward” if he doeesn’t want to suffer a similar fate as Phil T has had with HCNZ and Andrew Master of the Universe.
There’s now been so much shit with our corrupted ‘ps’ that the possibilities for class action claims of compensation “are not fanciful”.
(Btw, I can hear the screams now – Woodhouse who’s just stuck his oar in has reminded me of one – better HE should STFU for a start! – his credentials rival those of the “Oim Layvung Pulla Bent” – even if with a haughtier grin and posher eggsent goan forwid)
No @ grey….. fuk ’em!
According to Hooton, over at the Herald salvage operation today, National’s support is “miraculous” ……Simon Bridges is the best thing since sliced bread.
Don’t you just love that old song “who do you think you are kidding Mr H…..”
National are trying to make themselves out to be the new socialists that want to care for the people now they are in opposition.
Does that make them National Socialists?
Yeah obviously he’s got an agenda behind that comment. The other option of course is that he’s really thick?
NZ. like most western democracy’s, has a roughly 50/50 split of voters between the left and right, with a center swinging vote block also. As National is the only party on the right you’d expect them to be between 40 and 5o percent at all times (unless they’re going through an amazingly bad patch)
So 45% IMO is the level they should be at without doing any work or any good at all, just by turning up and being the National party.
If our voting system was truly proportional (for example 100 list seats, 1% party vote threshold, 1% of total party vote =1 list MP) then ACT would have been gone ages ago as the Nats wouldn’t have been able to get extra seats off them
seems like willy j made judith collins flip her wig on the am show this am. hehehhe. and garner lost it too. hehehehe x 2. just tell em willie boy is here!
Immigration seems to operate on the edge of society. They are dealing with people who want to change status and cross the border line after applying for admittance and seem to lose rights on both sides of the border. NZ can’t seem to do anything for our nationals who have settled in Oz which is not a society known for its good behaviour, and no doubt has a lot of criminality, yet our people having already served one year of prison can be plucked out of their family and held on spurious grounds in a concentration camp.
Other people escape from some bad situation and end up camping out in an airport lounge for years lacking the entry agreement to any country worth escaping to.
Academics have noted the lopsided effect of the free market, with open borders welcoming foreign goods and seeking cheap prices; but ffor people the borders are chancy. Even the promise of being able to obtain cheap goods is patchy. Looking at some particular clocks, which are not made in NZ, (what is,?) the majority of sellers already state they will not trade with NZ. The new GST for under $40 comes in next year. What then?
The effect of open borders seems to have a long-term toxic effect.
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Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio, heads to Oslo today to represent New Zealand at the sixth Our Ocean Conference, which is being hosted by the Norwegian Government from the 23-24 October. “The Our Ocean Conference mobilises real action on issues like marine plastic pollution and the impacts of ...
Two secondary-school initiatives are being expanded as part of the Government’s plan to see more young New Zealanders take up a trade to help close the skills gap. This includes the largest single increase in Trades Academy places in recent years. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris ...
The Government today announced its support for a project that could substantially reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from cattle. The announcement was made as part of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor’s visit to Nelson’s Cawthron Aquaculture Park. The Cawthron Institute will receive $100,000 from the Government’s ...
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has welcomed the first reading of the New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Legislation Amendment Bill. “Every New Zealander has a stake in New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension,” says Carmel Sepuloni. “They are our most common form of social assistance – nearly 800,000 New ...
Babies in Auckland aged six months and over can receive a free vaccination and children will all have access to vaccines, Associate Minister of Health Julie Anne Genter announced today at Papatoetoe High School. The move comes as part of Government efforts to step up the fight against measles. ...
***Check against delivery*** Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here, and to have the honour of opening this important conference on behalf of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. Let us take the opportunity to acknowledge all the people who have helped make today possible, including our special ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash says the safety of frontline officers and members of the public will be the focus of a new trial of specialist Police response teams in three of our largest urban centres. Police have this morning released details of an initiative to be trialled in Counties Manukau, ...
The Minister of Fisheries is calling for entries for a new public award to celebrate innovation in our seafood sector. “I have established the Seafood Sustainability Awards to recognise and celebrate those throughout industry, tangata whenua and communities who demonstrate outstanding dedication and innovation towards the sustainability of New Zealand’s ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter welcomes leaders in the private sector taking action on closing their gender pay gaps to ensure a fairer workplace for all New Zealanders. Ms Genter today launched a new report, Addressing the gender pay gap and driving women’s representation in senior leadership, from the Champions for ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Feedback sought– Lyttelton commercial zone parking The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to remove on-site car parking requirements for new developments in the Lyttelton commercial zone. The proposal, by Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section 71 of the Greater ...
Hon Minister Poto Williams Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration MEDIA STATEMENT Tuesday 15 October 2019 Feedback sought – Hagley Oval The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal about Hagley Oval. The proposal was developed by Regenerate Christchurch ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says he'll be watching out for potential cost blow-outs for Auckland's light rail project, after warnings from a source within the transport industry. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University Fully Sikh, directed by Matt Edgerton, Perth’s Studio Underground The foyer is adorned with colourful fabric and bunting. We’re welcomed by the sounds of Indian music while members of the Sikh community offer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University Fully Sikh, directed by Matt Edgerton, Perth’s Studio Underground The foyer is adorned with colourful fabric and bunting. We’re welcomed by the sounds of Indian music while members of the Sikh community offer ...
New Zealand First leader and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters with Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.Trying to make sense of the New Zealand First party can be difficult at the best of times. Political journalists and commentators attempt to work out where the party ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.TV3 sale Tim Batt (Metro): What if THREE’s problem isn’t TVNZ but… MediaWorks? Alex Braae ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Miller, Professor of Violence Prevention and Addiction Studies, Deakin University Over recent weeks, the alcohol industry has been drumming up mediadiscussion around Australia’s new drinking guidelines. Australia’s guidelines on alcohol consumption are under ongoing review by the National Health and ...
Extremist Baptist pastor Steven Anderson has just been blocked from entering New Zealand, making us the 34th country to reject his hate speech-filled sermons. American pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church has been denied entry to New Zealand on character grounds, putting a stop to his plans to ...
Twenty years ago Stephen Chbosky had a massive hit with coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Now the director/producer/scriptwriter is back with an epic, kid-centric horror. Early on in Stephen Chbosky’s frustrating new horror novel, Imaginary Friend, its seven-year-old protagonist Christopher is sitting down to watch his favourite cartoon, ...
Hold on to your sponge nubbins, New Zealand’s loveliest reality show Great Kiwi Bake Off is back for a second serving. Before the show’s return on November 3, Tara Ward takes a sneak peek at 2019’s contestants. Lay me down on a soft bed of whipped cream and swab my forehead with a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ronald F Pol, Senior researcher NZ, La Trobe University Money laundering rarely gets as literal as the case in Thailand last week, where police raided homes of a ring suspected of laundering a billion baht (about A$48 million) of drug proceeds and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wilfred Wang, Lecturer, Communications & Media Studies, Monash University The Australian society has changed significantly since cemeteries in Victoria were planned and designed 150 years ago. But there haven’t been any major redevelopment or review of the community’s changing requirements for what ...
NZ Post’s failure to maintain an adequate postal voting infrastructure has been the subject of two submissions to Parliamentary Select Committees by the Postal Workers Union since the last Local Authority postal vote in 2016. The union maintained that ...
New Zealand honey growers appear to have so far avoided the heavy hand of the Australian government in their dispute with apiarists across the Tasman. ...
A downturn in Tourism Holdings' (THL) vehicle sales business in the United States is likely to have a material negative affect on its full year results, the company warns. ...
The troubled Auckland Light Rail project is back in the news again, and not for good reasons. So what does it all mean for transport and traffic congestion in New Zealand’s biggest city?What’s all this then?It seemed like such a good plan at the time. Over the course of 10 ...
Since taking office in this Govt, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has applied heft to NZ’s role in the Pacific. Now, 18 months on, he reflects on what has been achieved. Speaking to the NZ Institute of International Affairs, he said NZ is moving away from the donor-recipient dynamics of the ...
A white police officer who shot and killed an African American woman in her home in Fort Worth, Texas, in the presence of her eight-year-old nephew has been charged with murder after resigning from the force. The Fort Worth Police Department said its officers had been responding to a call from a neighbour, ...
Madeleine Chapman took her piano-playing nephew Harper to see the orchestra for the first time. Madeleine: When I was very small, I used to sit in the hallway at home with my closest siblings and we would ask our brother Bernard, a teenager at the time, to play songs on the ...
Otago-grown agricultural technology company Techion has cornered an international market. Its founder, Greg Mirams, explained how the internet of things and fast fibre broadband has transformed the way he does business.In a Dunedin bedroom in 1992, Greg Mirams invented Techion’s founding product: FEKPAKG2. It was developed to help local farmers ...
Botany is an electorate that deserves a representative who is committed to their community which is the reason New Conservative has confirmed Elliot Ikilei as the candidate for the 2020 election. ...
Anyone who would like to submit an account of their experience of state care to the Māori Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki has 10 days left before submissions close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justine Shaw, Conservation Biologist, The University of Queensland This year, five of the seven Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science were awarded to women. While this is a welcome development, the great majority of awards and prizes for science, technology, engineering and mathematics ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison seized the opportunity of his Jakarta weekend visit for Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s inauguration to obtain a meeting with Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan. Morrison told a news conference he had come out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon O’Connor, Associate Professor in American Politics at the United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney During the 2016 US presidential campaign, people around the world were regularly reassured by election experts that Donald Trump was too outrageous to be elected president. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Leask, Professor, University of Sydney Your neighbour is telling you about his new baby. He feels nervous about vaccinating, and says he’s considering delaying Lucy’s vaccines. Your mother’s group is chatting about vaccines. One mother tells the group Jimmy isn’t vaccinated, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hal Pawson, Associate Director – City Futures – Urban Policy and Strategy, City Futures Research Centre, Housing Policy and Practice, UNSW Low-income tenants in Australia are increasingly likely to be trapped in rental stress for years. New evidence from the Productivity Commission ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland In line with his usual practice, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has backed Donald Trump over the World Trade Organisation, criticising of China’s status in it as a “developing country”. Critics of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kristal Spreadborough, Casual Academic, University of New England As the Australian premier season of The Masked Singer draws to a close, fans are listening hard to guess which celebrities remain behind the weird and wonderful costumes. Although the celebrities throw listeners a ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: NZ First holds crucial party conference, roving AOS trial sparks concerns, and Mediaworks facing dramatic days ahead.The most pivotal political party in the country right now has held their annual conference, a year out from what will be a make ...
Five experts, all from countries with varying levels of cannabis legality, came to Auckland to speak on the benefits and costs of the drug before New Zealand’s cannabis referendum in 2020. Alice Webb-Liddall reports.While New Zealanders wait for the cannabis referendum in 2020, the government is working hard to draft ...
Protesting has brought about enormous social change in NZ. Will transformational groups emerge from the climate and Ihumātao protests? Trevor Richards hopes so. ...
Dr Olivier Jutel goes deep on blockchain, explaining why we should be cognisant of sweeping ideological claims masquerading as the technology of truth. ...
A psychiatric doctor who helps suicidal teenagers says the Ministry of Health’s suicide reduction plans miss much of the wider issue. We need to listen to affected communities, and equip them to make the changes they need, he writes.Last week, as I left yet another 3am crisis interview in ED ...
Highly trained, armed police are a necessary tool in emergency situations, but roving teams eager to find work could be a recipe for disaster, writes investigator and former police officer Tim McKinnel for RNZ. Police announced yesterday they are to introduce a trial of Armed Response Teams (ARTs) in Auckland, Waikato ...
“Proposals to curb environmental damage help our coasts and the oceans Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. We at CEAC also ...
David Robie, concluding his three-part series about Iran, profiles an extraordinary pair of Tehran brothers who have been pioneering global research adventurers. They have been dubbed the “Persian Indiana Joneses”. Their adventures are fabled and hair-raising, as shown by a Jivaro shrunken human head and relics from curious rituals ...
Four months ago Caroline Shaw bought an e-bike. She explains why they’re the answer to our lethal car culture.Four months ago we took what felt like a huge leap of faith and bought an e-cargo bike. The combination of three things tipped us over the edge: feeling the need to ...
The online magazine that boasted a bigger Instagram following than most New Zealand media has abruptly come to an end. So what was Auckland Mag? Why did it exist? And who was it mysterious founder Dan Rolph? David Farrier investigates. The reply from Dan Rolph at Auckland Magazine came quickly. It came ...
In the wake of the shocking revelations about Three, Duncan Greive assesses the health of New Zealand’s six big media companies.Winston Peters has studied the cold, pitiless heart of a certain strand of New Zealander for four decades now, and has become our foremost expert on both expressing its feelings ...
US justice reform activists Deborah Small and asha bandele say white supremacy and colonialism are at the heart of punitive drug laws. They spoke to Teuila Fuatai about how drug reform can reverse their effects on minority communities. Deborah Small sees Donald Trump as the US Dorian Gray. “He’s the physical ...
Madeleine Chapman spent a day learning about Christchurch through its most famous dishes.What is there do with with a day in Christchurch? Thanks to the inexplicably early check-out times at hotels all over the world and a 7pm flight back to Auckland, I had a full day to wander the ...
Winston Peters says his party is a handbrake on bad ideas and a "supercharged turbo" for good ones - but will it be in the driver's seat come 2020? ...
Our former prime minister secured a meeting with Chinese premier Xi Jinping outside all normal diplomatic channels. Interest’s Jenée Tibshraeny asks what it means for New Zealand’s evolving relationship with the superpower.Former prime minister John Key secured a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week without the involvement of ...
David Robiecontinues his three-part series about travelling in Iran. I stumbled on the scene by chance. Our host family in Iran’s second city Mashhad, a modern and beautiful metropolis that would comfortably fit in New Zealand’s entire population, was taking us on a drive to the outskirts to ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has lashed out at the media, in particular, MediaWorks, just a day after the company announced it was selling off its television arm. ...
About a hundred disgruntled licensed gun owners have descended on the New Zealand First conference to tell the party leader Winston Peters that they feel like victims. ...
New Zealand First members will vote on a policy today that would allow businesses of all sizes to enforce 90-day trials when they employ people straight out of prison. ...
"Each time she held her lighter underneath the pipe and sucked the smoke into the back of her throat, the promise was there": a New Zealand tragedy by Alice Tawhai. ...
With the future of Mediaworks’ TV business hanging in the balance, Al Jazeera news presenter Kamahl Santamaria reflects on what the imperilled channel meant, and continues to mean, to him.I always liked the logo. The fresh bright colours, the nod to a koru in its shape, and just the fact ...
There are still many barriers preventing people from voting in local elections. Laura O’Connell Rapira proposes some social solutions.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.To vote in the local elections, I cast ...
What’s really stood out for me being back in Tokyo is the unique qualities of Japan’s spectators, writes Richard Light, professor of sport coaching at the University of Canterbury.The Rugby World Cup has thrown a global spotlight on Japan over recent weeks. Not just the rugby: the distinctive culture and ...
As the New Zealand First Party gathers for its annual conference, the question swirling in the year is how it can carve out a path to avoid electoral defeat in 2020, writes Jo Moir for RNZ. It’s not you, it’s me. It’s a familiar break up excuse that’s used ...
To the early intervention therapists, to the teachers, to the speech therapists, the occupational therapists, music therapists, diabetes nurses and all: you change the world.When I was married almost a decade ago we had the following reading at our wedding:You are holding up a ceilingwith both arms. It is very ...
The faces said it all. The smiles of the European leaders crowded round Boris after the Brexit deal was struck. The deal his opponents – no, pretty much everyone – said was impossible.So what’s in it? The detail is still opaque, but subject to gremlins in the fine print, ...
Iran attracts an onslaught of negative media in New Zealand and Western media. But is it fair or deserved? David Robie has spent several weeks travelling in the country on sabbatical and finds the media negativity far from the reality of the “most friendly” country he has ever visited ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Leigh Sullivan discusses the week in politics with Michelle Grattan. They talk about Alan Jones accusing Prime Minister Scott Morrison of failing the immediate needs of drought-striken farmers, ...
Daily Review 31/05/2018 
by the Council of Disobedient Women We call on the Council of Trade Unions to show some fortitude and take a stand with your sisters. Unionists know that there is a material world, otherwise workers could simply identify out of poverty. They could declare themselves Well Paid. Why stop ...5 hours ago
I spent some time reading the Regulatory Impact Statement and Bill of Rights Act advice for the government's odious control order scheme today. I am not impressed with either of them. Starting with the RIS, it is built on some pretty questionable assumptions. For example:Unless individuals have been convicted of ...6 hours ago
#NoFly: Walking the talk on climate change, by Shaun Hendy. BWB Texts, 2019. Reviewed by Robert McLachlan In June 2018, Swede Maja Rosén founded We stay on the ground with a pledge not to fly in 2019, and a goal of persuading 100,000 other Swedes to join her. In August, ...7 hours ago
A Sustainable Proposition: With as much as 18 percent of the electorate declaring itself “undecided” about who to vote for, there is obviously plenty of space for a party like former Green Party member, Vernon Tava's, about-to-be-launched "Sustainable NZ Party" to move into. The most hospitable political territory for such ...12 hours ago
Keir Starmer has hinted that Labour might vote in favour of the Johnson government's shoddy deal, with the proviso that a second referendum is attached:Speaking to BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “We will see what that looks like but it makes sense to say that by whatever ...16 hours ago
In 1994, I was the editor for an issue of Planet magazine focused on cannabis, its culture and the prospects for the end of its prohibition. Part of that issue was an interview with 'Ringo', an experienced cannabis dealer.I recently posted my essay from that issue, and I figured it ...2 days ago
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Are some in the US with the help from their neighbor trying to make a case to kick NZ out of the Five Eyes system?
Is this the revenge for NZ not towing the US line?
As for Chinese influence, it was the National party that was getting a lot of Chinese money and even a member of their party is known to have trained Chinese Spies. There has been also been some suspicions they might be still under the employment of the Chinese government.
NZ labelled ‘soft underbelly’ of Five Eyes spy network in Canadian report
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/nz-labelled-soft-underbelly-of-five-eyes-spy-network-in-canadian-report/ar-AAy2ET2?li=BBqdg4K
Yes, there’s something fishy about the claims. Labour’s president, Nigel Haworth is on record as saying there’s been no donations to the Labour Party from any Chinese based group – I paraphrase. Yet we know Chinese interests have been donating many thousands of dollars to the National Party in recent years. But the accusers wait until a Labour led government is in power before they make their claims.
I listened to the ex-CIA analyst interview on RNZ a few days ago and the tone of his claims and the way he delivered them made me suspicious. It was as if he was delivering pre-determined lines and trying not to deviate from them.
I’ll see if I can find the item and link to it.
Old mate Paul, over at Kiwipolitico has put the RNZ link.
I think they told the “No Mates Party” senior leadership group, but got flog off with “She be right mate and we know what we are doing” so now they are having a wee chat to Jandals and the team and hoping they don’t flog them like the last mob did.
Found the link:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018646774/ex-cia-analyst-admits-trump-irony-in-china-influence-warning
I think I’d prefer my car actually.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018647386/whanganui-emergency-housing-providers-labelled-unliveable
From the 29th – this is pretty scathing about MPI.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1805/S00459/another-leaked-mpi-report-reveals-scale-of-underreporting.htm
“MPI is captured by the fishing industry. We need an independent public inquiry into the Fisheries Management System and its regulator. Right now, MPI and the seafood industry are trying to prevent this independent inquiry and are instead pushing for an internal MPI review, but this further leaked report shows once again why that must not happen.
“MPI simply cannot be trusted to tell the truth or regulate the industry. Just last year when they didn’t prosecute anyone after their own video cameras exposed widespread fish dumping in the inshore fishery, MPI claimed the decision not to prosecute was due to legal advice. But it turned out that legal advice did not exist. MPI simply didn’t tell the truth.”
The leaked compliance risk profile report can be downloaded at http://greenpeace.nz/leaked-sbw-fishery-repor
From Russel Norman
From what I’ve heard reported MPI’s response is usually along the lines of: “That was years ago and we’ve talked to them and they’re not being naughty now”.
Yeah right.
Like we believe you. Start doing your job! And that means not working in the interests of the fishing industry.
And I don’t have much confidence in Nash holding either the MPI or fishing companies to account.
I’m afraid both major parties have colluded with the industry to let it do whatever the hell it wants. You may recall the foreign labour scandals that Key “couldn’t fix until 2016”, which was utter bullshit – all the charter vessels operating here are registered here and thus subject to NZ law in its entirety. Both parties are predominantly composed of lawyers, they knew it was bullshit, but went along with it – no doubt hoping for donations.
“Both parties are predominantly composed of lawyers”.
According to my dictionary the word “predominantly” is defined as
“for the most part; mostly; mainly’
In other words more than half.
That is certainly a spectacular claim. Can you produce even a skerrick of evidence to justify it?
I won’t go as far as making you prove that more than 50% of each parties members have practising certificates but can you please list the members of National and Labour who have the much lesser standard of a law degree?
By your claim there are at least 24 in Labour and 28 in the National Party.
Who are they?
Or are you just making it up?
What a tiny little point of order you raise. What a minuscule piece of pedantry you bring up. Instead of going with the essence of a comment and putting your view on that, you pick up on a single word and pontificate on your superior knowledge of what that word means.
This a prime perfect example of what trolling is. Never mind the thread, just drag a red herring across the topic trying to change the narrative. make it all about you and work hard at pissing people off.
I understand your MO because I went to school with annoying little pricks who did exactly the same thing.
I really should ignore you, but it’s like watching 2 monkeys at the zoo shagging their little hearts out. You have to watch and comment.
That’s nice dear.
You certainly seem to have the most peculiar hobbies.
Just keep away from young children.
As part of my contribution to the Sisyphean task of educating RWNJ:
https://fyi.org.nz/request/2412/response/7816/attach/html/2/MPs%20Qualifications.xlsx.html
You might be interested in de Toqueville’s predictions with respect to lawyers within a democratic system.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/DETOC/1_ch16.htm
How fascinating. You have certainly answered one question. At least at the time that list was prepared the statement about the number of lawyers was false.
When on earth was it done? I was hard pressed to even vaguely remember some of the names.
Cunliffe? Goff? Mathers? Turei? Norman?
The names seem to ring a bell somewhere but they certainly aren’t shining lights in the current Parliament are they?
“You can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and still come out completely dry. Most people do.” – The Phantom Tollbooth.
That quote I like.
Sounds like Lyndon Johnson.
When he got a bit down from what he thought were unfair attacks from the Washington Post he is reputed to have complained that
‘If I got up tomorrow and walked across the Potomac the headline in the Post the next day would be “President can’t swim”.’
I guess that explains why he continued for so long in Vietnam. He walked across, rather than swam in, the Sea of Knowledge.
Having made prostitution legal to enable the workers to insist on safety measures and not endure the two-faced disdain dumped on them, and to be able to earn a fair living at this therapeutic business, now it is said to be that NZs are undercut by foreign workers! What a pathetic society. Every time we take a step forward it seems to be followed by 2-3 steps back.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/358658/nz-sex-workers-undercut-by-illegal-foreign-prostitutes
One of the main sex work websites advertised more than 800 women, separated into Asian and non-Asian prostitutes.
A registration scheme on sites would mean only those eligible to work could advertise – and ensure everyone was paying tax, Ms O’Hara said…
Other prostitutes RNZ spoke to said they were being crowded out and undercut by immigrant sex workers, who were charging half the rates of their New Zealand counterparts.
Hamilton sex worker Lisa Lewis said most people who went on holiday maxed-out their credit cards.
“These girls are leaving with their credit cards in credit,” she said.
“It’s definitely a disadvantage for any legal sex worker because we are having to pay tax, the provisional, the income, the GST, ACC levies.
“They are leaving New Zealand without any of that taken off them, which is robbery of the government.”
No difference to NZ companies out sourcing our labour to India or wherever it is cheaper.
Take a look and see who is putting fibre in for your internet connections these past ten years.
Prostitution is not the same as installing technology in the ground or anywhere.
It is a delicate moral issue, and we have attempted to face up to it in NZ to the benefit of the workers and their clients. Allowing foreigners to come in and
exploit the workplace for this type of business shows the RW two-faced lack of integrity.
I’ve heard that some Indian students have made big sacrifices to come here. If they are allowed to come they should be treated fairly but I have also heard that Immigration can take people’s money, and when they have satisfied all the requirements, filled in the forms, the rules are changed and they are ineligible with no refund.
This time, in India, they have let sharks operating as agents operate in a feeding frenzy instead of establishing who is operating to standards, and registering them as officially recognised and reliable.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/358564/students-left-stranded-by-immigration-s-lack-of-oversight
Matters of “fairness and natural justice” are enshrined in Immigration NZ’s immigration policy, created by Cabinet.
But one year ago – at about the same time that issues of fraud and exploitation in the Indian student market became common – Immigration dismantled the complaint process by bypassing the need for Cabinet to make changes to immigration policy and introducing a new complaints process.
It states: “Complaints which only raise matters of the merits of a decision will not be accepted for an investigation into that decision.”
At the same time, Immigration began advising the minister that its strategy to clamp down on migrant exploitation was to target those migrants who are at risk of exploitation – to deport people who may become victims, rather than stop the exploitation itself.
Immigration has suggested that budget constraints were responsible for this strategy.
Immigration in any country seems to attract behaviour that is abrupt and cold-blooded. Here they seem to have a similar attitude to Indians as Australians have to NZs. I feel, at base, it is a racial bias that doesn’t see them as worthy as whites. But they are good for getting money into the country, which counts as exports, bringing in live bodies, while we send so many dead ones (animals) overseas.
Arrogant and just plain nasty.
The Immigration Protection Tribunal was set up as a judicial body independent of Immigration, and one of their functions is to review resident visa decisions. These decisions are published online.
While immigration instructions do not require Immigration to abide by principles set out in tribunal decisions, if the tribunal continues to point out that Immigration are making the same mistakes in their assessments, a responsive ministry would obviously correct those mistakes and amend its processes accordingly.
However, Immigration has taken the opposite approach over the past year and now makes it clear in its decisions that because it is not required to follow principles of policy interpretation in their decision-making, they are also entitled to ignore the tribunal’s criticisms of its decision-making.
McClymont sums up the situation well @grey.
I’m still waiting for the day when Immigration NZ (and its cohorts – Labour Inspectorate and Immigration Advisor’s Authority, etc.) realise that the best approach to reducing immigration and exploitation is to concentrate on the exploiters and scammers RATHER THAN their victims. The current approach means we’re just being complicit in what is effectively people trafficking. It’s actually quite disgusting.
Once was Tim
What you say fits in with what I have heard. Totally agree with you.
Not sure whether you’ll see this or not because todays nooze is tomorrows fush’n’chups wrapper with Open Moik and Daily Reviews (unless there’s a dedicated strand for a discussion).
Recent events (changes announced yesterday) go SOMEWAY to stopping exploitation: i.e. stopping visa bondage to a specific employer. If the employer is good – count yourself lucky. If not – prepare to be faced with another round of shady ‘consultants’ clipping the ticket; plus visa applicat fees; and probably a $2-3K cost to break free of the arsehole. Bear in mind, that arsehole probably has interests in associated businesses they’ve been channeling labour through – and DON’T for a moment think those arseholes a simply those from the same background (culture/ethnicity/etc). They ARE signed-up PR’d up CITIZEN-up people who are complicit in keeping this gravy train rolling.
But……..we’ll see. The situation actually rivals the HCNZ methcon, MSD dysfunction/MPI bovis stuff.
And if Iain L-G (who incidentally I have a lot of respect for) thinks his “officials are just the ticket and tickety boo), he’s really in need of some further “learnings going forward” if he doeesn’t want to suffer a similar fate as Phil T has had with HCNZ and Andrew Master of the Universe.
There’s now been so much shit with our corrupted ‘ps’ that the possibilities for class action claims of compensation “are not fanciful”.
(Btw, I can hear the screams now – Woodhouse who’s just stuck his oar in has reminded me of one – better HE should STFU for a start! – his credentials rival those of the “Oim Layvung Pulla Bent” – even if with a haughtier grin and posher eggsent goan forwid)
No @ grey….. fuk ’em!
My latest musings on immigration and borders at 10 Once was Tim. I
got it out of sequence by a big margin.
According to Hooton, over at the Herald salvage operation today, National’s support is “miraculous” ……Simon Bridges is the best thing since sliced bread.
Don’t you just love that old song “who do you think you are kidding Mr H…..”
Hear, hear Kat I had a quick look at the op ed and quickly decided that it was simply a love in with Soimun. Puke inducing stuff.
National are trying to make themselves out to be the new socialists that want to care for the people now they are in opposition.
Does that make them National Socialists?
Yes, pretty much.
NZ Jester
You are well named. Lol. Keep the quips up please to give us a needed giggle.
Yeah obviously he’s got an agenda behind that comment. The other option of course is that he’s really thick?
NZ. like most western democracy’s, has a roughly 50/50 split of voters between the left and right, with a center swinging vote block also. As National is the only party on the right you’d expect them to be between 40 and 5o percent at all times (unless they’re going through an amazingly bad patch)
So 45% IMO is the level they should be at without doing any work or any good at all, just by turning up and being the National party.
If our voting system was truly proportional (for example 100 list seats, 1% party vote threshold, 1% of total party vote =1 list MP) then ACT would have been gone ages ago as the Nats wouldn’t have been able to get extra seats off them
Despite mycoplasma bovis, the stock trucks are out in force tonight in the foggy Waikato.
Happy Gypsy Day, it’s business as usual…https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=12062147
IDEA Services…again the object of a damning Health and Disability Commission report.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/104356676/idea-services-blasted-over-treatment-of-vulnerable-man-found-with-surgical-glove-in-his-bowel
Seems like there was poor staff coverage…again…and yet, their annual returns would indicate their income (what they were being funded to provide the care) exceeded their expenditure, (what they actually spent on providing care…usually measured in person hours.) https://www.register.charities.govt.nz/CharitiesRegister/ViewCharity?accountId=bc751b66-268a-dc11-98a0-0015c5f3da29&searchId=4229de60-ee6f-4d1b-8404-6292e07b8c3a
seems like willy j made judith collins flip her wig on the am show this am. hehehhe. and garner lost it too. hehehehe x 2. just tell em willie boy is here!
Immigration seems to operate on the edge of society. They are dealing with people who want to change status and cross the border line after applying for admittance and seem to lose rights on both sides of the border. NZ can’t seem to do anything for our nationals who have settled in Oz which is not a society known for its good behaviour, and no doubt has a lot of criminality, yet our people having already served one year of prison can be plucked out of their family and held on spurious grounds in a concentration camp.
Other people escape from some bad situation and end up camping out in an airport lounge for years lacking the entry agreement to any country worth escaping to.
Academics have noted the lopsided effect of the free market, with open borders welcoming foreign goods and seeking cheap prices; but ffor people the borders are chancy. Even the promise of being able to obtain cheap goods is patchy. Looking at some particular clocks, which are not made in NZ, (what is,?) the majority of sellers already state they will not trade with NZ. The new GST for under $40 comes in next year. What then?
The effect of open borders seems to have a long-term toxic effect.