How much money do you think a writer makes from a book with the sales numbers of Dirty Politics? Enough to cover ongoing legal expenses that could go into the many times thousands, you reckon?
Hmm. I guess he could spend all his money, remortgage (if he has one) , move into a car (if he has one) after renting his remortgaged house to tenants in an attempt to keep a cash flow flowing…
…and then just up and represent himself if all else fails.
That’s usually the plan. Look at what happened to the Urewera 8 and Kim Dotcom. Tied down in ongoing court proceedings. Officials paid for by our tax dollars spending their days developing and performing actions designed to cost good people like Hager their time, their livelihood, their savings, the security of their family, etc.
According to Nicky a first press of any book in NZ is about 2000. When I went to his Waikato uni lecture the sales had reached about 4000. An absolute bestseller here in NZ apparently!
I should like to donate Mike S, but I don’t do online banking and there is never any address where one can send a check or do an electronic transaction at the bank.
No, he hasn’t been charged with anything. He’s been done over… for nothing. Oh, that’s not quite true, is it? He’s been done over as a way of ‘sending a message’ to anyone who might be tempted to either speak truth to power or out them on their bullshit. Message reads – “You’ll pay.”
Nah, they can’t be the tools of his trade or there’d be compromising material on them. Hager assures us that his sources have not been compromised, therefore they cannot be the tools of his trade.
Unless he thinks that “deleting” a file deletes the information, I suppose.
Nah, I’m picking the police stole (an illegal warrant…*) personal belongings with no connection to Hager’s work.
*don’t give me this shit about the warrant being legal under the 2012 Bill: the 2012 Bill breaches our international obligation to protect human rights and constitutes a crime against humanity.
I seriously can’t understand how many people think Hagar is justified in using stolen materials.
They weren’t leaked, they were taken by force and stolen.
To defend Hagar is to defend the notation that the ends justify the means.
That its alright to break the law, rights of others, and even turn a tidy profit from it, so long as you feel like you’ve done good.
And thats not even touching the defamation aspect.
If Hagar and rawshark are the champions of the left, the bar could hardly be set lower.
“I seriously can’t understand how many people think Hagar is justified in using stolen materials.”
Not stolen, but in any case, he is justified in using them because the law says he is. You’ll note that he isn’t being charged with anything. NO one is even taking a civil claim AFAIK.
Accessed without permission.
Copied without permission
Distributed without permission.
I’m sure a lawyer can draw up the correct, and verbose list of crimes commited, but i’ll settle with calling it stealing.
“but in any case, he is justified in using them because the law says he is. You’ll note that he isn’t being charged with anything. NO one is even taking a civil claim AFAIK”
And yet the subject of this article is “Defend Nicky Hager”…
Are you in need of remedial English comprehension lessons? The 2012 Bill breaches fundamental human rights principles, which is why the New Zealand Law Society, that bastion of Communism, warned the UN about it.
I note you are lying about Nicky Hager. What kind of low-life asshole are you, anyway?
So if Rawshark stumbled upon a child-trafficking ring and stole their emails, do the same ethics apply?
Would the argument be that these traffickers shouldn’t be outed because the evidence against them was stolen?
Lets get this right.
Rawshark hacked the emails taking them by force. He didn’t just stumble across them by chance. He set out to break the security protecting private files, and then copied and distributed them.
But to elaborate your hypothesis, there are two scenarios he’d come across that data
First is that he hacked the child-trafficking PC and stole the data
The other is he stumbled into it. IE: fixing a clients/employers PC and finding the evidence the course of his work
In the first, both parties are scumbags, and i’d like to see both destroyed under our laws.
In the second, hes a whistleblower, having gained access to the information in good faith.
Or do you believe that Hackers should have freedom to access your PC whenever they like because “think of the children”
Fact is, chump, when burglars find evidence of worse crimes during their activities they are wont to turn it over. ‘Information received’ doesn’t just come from law-abiding citizens.
Your argument paints the cop following a tip-off from a seedy informant with the same brush as Hager. Mine too for that matter; you just seem to think Hager did something bad by exposing Dear Leader.
“I seriously can’t understand how many people think Hagar is justified in using stolen materials.”
yes he wrote a book using illegally obtained emails
but he wrote a book as a journalist that exposed the fact the govt was running an attack machine out of the PMs office and that the people involved in this are at best highly nasty and at worst outright criminals
do you have no problem with the govt of the day using such a mechanism to attack its opponent?
do you support the govt of the day getting away with keeping such activities secret?
do you support the exposure of such activities if they exist?
do you support other such instances were corruption has been exposed in similar ways?
do you understand the legal concept of public interest?
how many times do we have to repeat ourselves here?
The second being that if he really wanted to reveal wrongdoing, there were far better ways than just writing a book.
But he kept everything a secret, wrote it in a book, released it at a time to both inflict maximum political damage and maximum profitability, and gave no right of reply, or even fact checking and validation with those in the book.
Call me a cynic, but i have a hard time calling that journalism.
“do you have no problem with the govt of the day using such a mechanism to attack its opponent?
do you support the govt of the day getting away with keeping such activities secret?
do you support the exposure of such activities if they exist?”
I’ll be honest, i haven’t read the book, i’d not pay a dime to support Hagar and his actions, so you’d need to be more specific.
But in a general sense of what the book is about, with the national government leaking the failings of the opposition to a 3rd party. I don’t really have an issue with that no.
In fact i’d prefer it that way.
If i want to read about dirt and negativity, i can go to WO and thestandard.
If i to head about policies and nationals/goverments official stance on matters, its not cluttered by dirt throwing.
Honestly i have a hard time seeing what the difference is between WO and thestandard. Both have ties to their parties, both provide opposing views hidden facts, and dissenting opinions.
“do you understand the legal concept of public interest?”
I can say honestly no i can’t.
I did google it, and this is from the top of the wiki page.
“Public interest law is a somewhat elastic term referring to legal practices that are undertaken on a not for profit basis”
If thats the legal definition, then it clearly excludes Hagar’s actions.
It is kind of strange that Slater isn’t in prison then. After all he stole (by your definition) Blomfields data and then published it.
It is clear that you haven’t read the actual legislation rather than your pathetic distorted and delusional version of it. For instance section 68 of the Evidence Act covering journalists which explicitly states that there are public good considerations. This directly contradicts your idiotic mumblings..
Basically Slater won’t be able to use defamation because Hager didn’t lie about the content of the material that he received (unlike Slater who routinely lies about most things), he just summarized it and wrote an opinion on it. That Slater got upset and whines about it is his problem.
As i said before in a previous thread many months ago on this site about blomfield’s data.
If slater did obtain it illegally, he should be held accountable by the law.
I also said there was doubt as to how he obtained it, i suspect it was leaked to him by someone with access to the data, rather then hacked.
Thats the actions of a whistleblower, not a hacker.
Someone within the organization would of given him the data.
If someone from whale oil had leaked those emails to Hager, that’d be the same scenario.
Whistleblower or Hacker. You get to pick one, not both.
I suspect the judge’s judgement on the matter means something, and your ignorance of it is just ignorance, and watching your wittering drivel disintegrate in the face of it (the judgement) leaves me wanting better wingnuts.
Yes, that your argument wanted on several fronts from the get-go, not least of which is understanding of the law, and also including ignorance of almost every other aspect of the subject under discussion.
Further, that this is a pattern not confined to your behaviour alone, rather one we see repeated ad nauseam.
It’s transparent, and feeble, and a few moment’s thought (and some reading) might help you avoid it.
Surely there’s some conservative viewpoint you can imagine rather than this feeble tea-party melange?
@ Bazar
How do you know they were taken by force? Are you practising your ethics for a verbal test in your law study? What about revealing activities that play around with the rules and expectations of behaviour in our democracy?
Should the police have sent armed men to frighten and immobilise Tuhoe because they were playing games like hunting and shooting with paintballs or rifles and talking wildly, which the police would never have heard if they weren’t listening in and spying on them?
They imagined there was something solid where there was a lot of hot air. Rawshark demonstrated there was something solid when he looked at Cameron Slater’s unethical behaviour and saw the documents that showed it. Which as I said undermines our belief that our democracy is a good one. Which is worst?
I don’t think anyone is disputing the fact that the emails were hacked.
Thats what i mean by force.
Tuhoe has nothing to do with Hagar or Whaleoil, so i’m not going to be sidetracked there.
And as for something being wrong with our democracy, i’d agree.
When political figures can have their personal rights ignored and trampled over, i do fear for our democracy.
There are no real checks on them. The IPCA is pretty much a joke. Even when they do manage to find against the police, then typically the police simply ignore the result.
In this case they have clearly have and they are very likely to both have the search warrant eventually overturned and to appeal it whilst holding the ‘evidence’ while they use taxpayer funds to impose a non-legal punishment.
Don’t you think that when the police get things wrong that they should accept some responsibility for their actions, pay costs, compensation, and someone getting fired or demoted?
Currently none of those things happen when the police overstep their bounds.
They are the ones who argue that the means justify the ends because it allows them to provide punishments on activists where the courts wind up as mere bit players. They act as police and judge until overruled by a real judge with no penalty apart from those that we the public impose.
Of course we have to put up with simpering apologists like yourself in the process.. Or do we?
In this case Hager acted as a good journalist should. When a whistle blower gave him some information about underhanded political and commercial tactics, he acted in the public good and published it. Whistleblowers seldom get their material through legal means which amongst other reasons is why we give journalists legal protections to protect their sources. In this case the police appear to wish to obviate those protections, and a normal court (ie not the privacy commission who ruled on David Fisher and who operate under different rules) will almost certainly eventually rule against the police.
Incidentally, I believe that the privacy court will be looking at Cameron Slater’s invasion of Blomfield’s privacy later this month. I’m expecting that Slater is going to get some unpleasant surprises.
“When a whistle blower gave him some information ”
And thats where we disagree fundamentally.
Hacking your victim, stealing his data, and publishing what you want from what you find isn’t whistleblowing. Its being a hacker, it’s a crime, and it should be punished.
By such s disgustingly bad definition of whistleblowing, i could justify hacking any and everyone.
I’ll start tonight, i’ll hack the emails of Cunliff, read all his dirty secrets, learn about who his secret trust funders were, and have it all published.
He can’t complain, i’m just a whistleblower.
How about the private emails of ABC members, i’m sure they have a lot to say that the public should know about Labour and Cunliffe.
And how about you Lprent, hack this server, steal all your membership data, publish all the membership details that people have entered.
Its for the public good, and as long as i get someone else to publish what i find, i’m a whistleblower and should not be prosecuted.
How you can believe a hacker praying on his victim is a whistleblower just because hes leftwing… Whatever it takes to sleep at night i guess.
What you don’t get is that if you found morally reprehensible crap on cunliffe’s computer and a journalist published it, that would still be a public good.
If you found and had published strong indications that national-security classifications didn’t apply to favoured bloggers when Labour is in power, it would still be in the public interest.
And the journalist who publishes it should still be protected from being forced to reveal your identity.
By such s disgustingly bad definition of whistleblowing, i could justify hacking any and everyone.
No you couldn’t.
Rawshark hacked Slater. This is against the law and as such should be punished but:
1. Did s/he have just cause? Considering the lies and attack politics of Slater on his blog this is a possible argument
2. Then, instead of publishing everything that they found they gave it to Hager who went through it carefully and published exposing
3. Corrupt, immoral and possibly illegal practices
@Draco
“Did s/he have just cause? ”
So again we come back to the ends justify the means.
That its okay to ignore the law and rights of others, because you feel you have something to prove.
2. “Then, instead of publishing everything that they found”
Yes, tell that to slater when rawshark was dumping every single email by twitter, including personally private emails about Slater with his mom dying of cancer.
3. I disagree with calling Hagar a whistleblower. But honestly i’m tired of arguing this so i’ll leave that issue alone.
@lprent
Thank you for creating such a large strawman for me. My last comment was clearly about the illegal and immoral hacking activities of a hacker. The only reference to Hagar was as a 3rd party publisher.
@McFlock
“What you don’t get is that if you found morally reprehensible crap on cunliffe’s computer and a journalist published it, that would still be a public good.”
No, i can clearly understand that point. But you’re missing my point.
THE ENDS DO NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS
You cannot go around breaking peoples rights or property without just cause. And because hes Slater isn’t just cause regardless of how much people here would like to believe that.
We are a country that values freedom and personal rights. To start trampling those core values to promote someone’s/some party’s agenda is to accept corruption at the heart of our society.
“And the journalist who publishes it should still be protected from being forced to reveal your identity.”
And so you’ve given your blessing to vigilantes to break laws and get off scott free, so long as they work as a team of lawbreaker/publisher.
Take a look at my previous post about what a precedence sets. Hacking Cunliffe’s emails would be just the start.
Perhaps these words may ring a bell
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” – B Franklin.
Is anyone saying the hacker shouldn’t be punished if caught and identified and it’s proven they got the right person in court?
If you want to go vigilante to get something, that’s the risk. That hasn’t changed, that’s what the law is.
Do you think the law should be changed? That we should remove journalistic privileges like the public interest defence?
Gpoing on about ‘what if this happened to so sand so’ doesn;t mean anything, because this is how the law already is. If someone hacked Cunliffe of whoever, that would be a crime, of they gave the info to a journalist, that part (giving it to a journo) would not be a crime. If the journo thought there was a public interest element they could publish. That’s a risk insofar as whether or not a court agrees there is a public interest.
In the Dirty Politics case, hell yeah there’s a public interest. Remember the Minister of Justice resigning? I doubt any court would say there was no public interest involved.
and
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” – B Franklin.”
lol what the fuck man? You are the one wanting to restrict the free press. Look up what Ben had to say about that. The quote you cite is better suited to the ‘OMG terrists are gonna kill us all’ debate.
Bazar,
I wonder, did you quote Ben Franklin when the GCSB’s activities against Kim Dotcom were revealed?
Somehow I doubt it.
Have you considered the liberty that you are giving up, for fear of hacking? The freedom of the press? Franklin, being a printer, probably had a few things to say about that and all.
Perhaps these words may ring a bell
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” – B Franklin.
*groan*
The letter wasn’t about liberty but about taxes and the ability to “raise money for defense against French and Indian attacks. The governor kept vetoing the assembly’s efforts at the behest of the family, which had appointed him.”
Indeed, if you look at the text surrounding the famous quote, it’s pretty clearly about money: “Our assemblies have of late had so many supply bill, and of such different kinds, rejected, on various pretences,” wrote Franklin.
There’s not much on liberty, as we understand the concept, in the entire letter.
Baszar
You don’t want to put your mind to the situation. Just keep revolving your argument. And that the Tuhoe police raid has no connection with this shows that you can’t see the underlying factors in this police raid and that.
Now over $7000.
We’ve all learnt a lot about the way the Nats government works, thanks to this guy and the whistleblowing hero who went to him.
Our heartfelt thanks are due.
If that’s the case, I don’t think money really is an issue.
[lprent: Read where? Where is your link?
I rather suspect that you are just repeating a smear probably by a blustering and whining technical incompetent liar. I’d suggest that you don’t make a habit of it. ]
“I read that Nicky Hager was a trust fund child. If that’s the case, I don’t think money really is an issue.”
🙄 Where did you read that, Bollox Man? From memory, he’s one of four kids bought up by parents who both worked for a living in Levin. Yeah, Levin. Glamorous bourgeois Levin, home of the filthy rich since, er, never.
BM – Two generations of the Hager family on one side and three on the other have contributed to NZ society in ways far beyond what your pathetic imagination could conceive. It is suggested you pull your head in rather than display such mind numbing ignorance.
My parents owned, quite a large factory in Levin, clothing manufacturer. I didn’t grow up in a state house.
After building houses around Wellington and renovating houses for a while, I am living in the house that I built. And that has, more than any other single thing, allowed me to… I [now] have the security of the house I don’t have to pay a … mortgage on.”
It’s just bizarre.
While it’s easy to embrace the fascism narrative, one would think they wouldn’t be so keen to keep testing the limits of public indifference.
What’s the wider strategy? Apart from perhaps getting it over with well before the next election, is it some kind of provocation or setup for something else? An extra round of intimidation just doesn’t seem a big enough payoff for the risk of backlash.
Or maybe they are simply that confident they can act with impunity … I’m not sure their confidence is misplaced.
Am I missing something , but wasn’t Hagar in possession of stolen material? A journalist protecting his source – give me a break.
[lprent: You just described Cameron Slater vs Blomfield. After his 10 hour ordeal last August when all of his computers were seized because he’d received and published stolen emails and documents, journalist Cameron Slater said.. (oops: that was from an alternate universe where the police are impartial rather than John Key’s poodles).
Wow I just wish you RWNJs could move past first base with your arguments. The material was not stolen but was hacked. And please justify how Slater’s treatment of Matt Blomfield is OK but Hager’s treatment of Slater is not.
“Where did I say I was defending Slater Iprent and Mickysavage?”
right here
“Am I missing something , but wasn’t Hagar in possession of stolen material? A journalist protecting his source – give me a break.”
just to bring you up to speed – its the EXACT SAME line used by every other fool and dishonest bullshitter whos been trying to defend slater for months.
you might think your being original – but its been used so much that anyone pulling that particular line out of their backside will meet a pretty swift and stern reactrion
why? because its old, discredited and diversionary bullshit
Wow I just wish you RWNJs could move past first base with your arguments.
How can they mickysavage? That’s all they were told to say and there’s been no update since this morning so they don’t know what to say next so they have to keep saying the same thing over and over again. Blubber boy’s slipping up on the job.
you may wish to update your sources on whether the HDD were actually stolen. according to sources they were never reported as such.
[lprent: Blomfield reported them as being stolen when Cameron Slater started writing stories about them. That was in 2012. The complaint appears to have been ignored by the police. Yet Cameron Slater reports it, and Hager gets raided as a witness mere months later. I’d say that the police appear to be corrupt. ]
The judge said that Slater was a journalist and could invoke source protection under the Evidence Act.
However, the judge also granted orders sought by Blomfield that this section of the law not apply to Slater in this case.
There was a “public interest” in the disclosure of the identity of Slater’s informants, Justice Asher said.
“There is a real public interest in those who claim that they are defamed being able to fully explore the circumstances of the defamation…” the judge said.
This was not a whistle blower case and it seemed the information was obtained illegally by sources, which diminished the importance of protecting them, the judge said.
“Moreover, any concern at the chilling effect of disclosure of sources is lessened when the subject matter of the material originally disclosed has the mark of a private feud, and features abusive and vindictive language.”
This is an almost inevitable consequence of any righteous public actions. We need to be prepared for it.
The other aspect to be aware of is ‘credible deny-ability’ – the person who has initiated this set of raids will have separated themselves far enough so that they can deny all knowledge of the Police actions.
Kia kaha Nicky
Does anyone know if anything even remotely like this happened during the investigation into The Hollow Men?
Because as I recall there was a police investigation (which resulted in nothing). I don’t know whether they turned over Hager’s house looking for information on the source.
If not, what is different about this case when compared to The Hollow Men?
I don’t think hollow man was a hack, simply national insiders who did not like brash passing on material legitimately in their possession. In the Hagar case a crime was clearly committed, police are in their right to search Hagar on the basis to find the hacker, similarly for all we know Hagar could be the hacker, there is no evidence to the contrary barring Hagar comments which the police can’t accept at face value. If Hagar was not the hacker did he assist indirectly etc thus is complicit in the crime All This bs about the police been JK poodle is ridiculous and really makes you all look a bit silly, but if it makes you feel better that’s ok, no harm done
[lprent: Hager is essentially a technophobe by my standards. He has even fewer technical skills than Cameron Slater. There is no way that he could have done any of the things that rawshark is reported to have done.
The police have had exactly the same complaint made against Cameron Slater. Emails copied from a hard disk and documents that the owner never gave permission to be accessed, and a ‘journalist’ who published them. Yet in the last year they appear to have not bothered to investigate the complaint that was laid.
Whereas Cameron Slater raises his head from licking John Keys arse for a few minutes and the police are all over his complaint. Yeah, the police appear to be John Key’s poodles. They had the exact same alacrity of response in the Ambrose recording in 2011. ]
so why havent they raided anybody else from the wide pool of people implicated by their own words as revealed in hagers book? (evidence that hasnt been denied challenged or refuted by anyone)
why havent they acted on, and in fact dismissed the other complaints received that implicate ede, key and slater explicitly?
Why did they raid the house of a witness for 10 hours, even when they could be pretty certain they would find nothing?
why does it look like they are going after a radio DJ for encouraging people to vote green on election day but not the all blacks for their tweets in the other direction on the same day? ( here )
why have we had two elections in a row where media who have made JKs life a bit harder have ended up being raided by the cops?
why do breaches of the electoral act (by all parties admitedly) never get looked into by the police?
okay – maybe not JKs poodle explicitly – but are you seriously going to sit there and ignore the rather obvious pattern of police bias and favour that they show to our rulers – and the nats in particular?
Not sure of slater case but Hagar,whale dump etc haven’t helped themselves by playing this up, red rag to a bull in that police had no choice but to act. Was slater more a case of sloppy security and unethical behaviour rather than a crime
Love how when I gave to Hagar fund, my card didn’t get charged an extra $8 like it did when I gave to the Daily Blog !! And for the record, when I commented about it to find out why, my comment never got past moderation.
This Glenn Greenwald article published in the Guardian last year is worth reading. Those RWNJ really do need to stop and think about
how the lack of transparency in government can lead to corrupt practices.
“On whistleblowers and government threats of investigation
No healthy democracy can endure when the most consequential acts of those in power remain secret and unaccountable. Those who step forward to blow these whistles rarely benefit at all. The ones who benefit are you. You discover what you should know but what is hidden from you: namely, the most consequential acts being taken by those with the greatest power, and how those actions are affecting your life, your country and your world.” http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/07/whistleblowers-and-leak-investigations
“After building houses around Wellington and renovating houses for a while, I am living in the house that I built. And that has, more than any other single thing, allowed me to… I [now] have the security of the house I don’t have to pay a … mortgage on.”
“My parents owned, quite a large factory in Levin, clothing manufacturer. I didn’t grow up in a state house.”
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There's a new twist in the Winston Peters secret donation story. It appears that a significant chunk of NZ First's secret laundered donations goes straight into the pockets of the people administering the scheme: Tens of thousands in donor's funds given to the New Zealand First Foundation were spent paying ...
Is Todd Muller the Ned Flanders of the National Party? This is how he’s been characterised by political commentator Gordon Campbell, who suggests the change in leadership is, in Simpsons terms, akin to swapping the scary and cruel Monty Burns for Homer Simpson’s compassionate but conservative neighbour. There’s almost a ...
We all know that many so-called journalists and political commentators in New Zealand work directly or indirectly for political parties or for certain political factions. This was obviously the case when pundit for hire Matthew Hooton launched a campaign against then National Party leader, Simon Bridges, over their numerous polling ...
Let's Roll! The easy victory over a Bridges-led National Party which the Left had every cause to anticipate just a few days ago is no longer in the offing. Our enemy’s position has changed. His numbers are swelling. A rapid thrust to the left, followed by an audacious outflanking manoeuvre ...
New National Party leader Todd Muller has been interviewed about his policies, and has promised to restart offshore fossil fuel exploration if elected: The Bay of Plenty MP rolled former leader Simon Bridges last week, but says the party has not changed its stance on previous promises. "That is ...
Anyone who keeps an eye on evidence around cannabis and public health will be familiar with the Christchurch Health and Development Study. It's one of two local longitudinal studies frequently cited with respect to cannabis and youth development. But in a new article in the New Zealand Medical Journal, it is ...
In the age of covid we are Jacinda’s team of five million, except for some. There has rarely been a more blatant case of discrimination against beneficiaries than Grant Robertson’s announcement yesterday that people who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus will receive weekly payments of $490 per week for 12 weeks and $250 per week for part time ...
It was 75 years ago this month that Germany surrendered and the Allies celebrated VE (Victory in Europe) Day. Millions of people around the world had been killed and many more injured or captured. It was an end to war not just for Europeans, but their allies too, in countries across Africa. But its impact is ...
Well, we are out of lockdown, essentially. I did end up getting the wage subsidy while we were on levels 3 and 4 but I would have been fine if we didn’t. The first day of level 2, the Thursday, the office opened again for the people who weren’t able ...
Watching Todd Muller make his first speech as the newly minted Leader of the Opposition after Simon Bridges’ defenestration on Friday brought to mind a headmaster addressing a school assembly. He showed no particular desire to ingratiate himself with his audience although the occasional flash of self-deprecating humour indicated a ...
The government has announced another income support scheme for people affected by the economic aftershocks of the pandemic: a $490 a week tax-free payment for the newly unemployed, which you can get even if you have a working partner. Which is great, because its supporting people who need help, but ...
The Greens have released their party list, and it contains a few surprises. The one that's getting all the news is that the membership are clearly fans of Chlöe Swarbrick, and she has worked hard to earn that. But they've also favoured incumbent protection over new blood, and in the ...
age credit:Science and Politics – Skeptically.org It seems impossible to keep politics out of science. It’s a pity because politics can end up forcing science to produce the results desired by ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Matthew Parry, Dr Ayesha Verrall, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Martin Eichner (author details*)This blog details a recent modelling study we conducted. In it we estimated that it would take between 27 and 33 days of no new detected cases of COVID-19 for there to be ...
The 2015 Schol Bio paper included a question about a group of birds known as honeycreepers, specifically, the 56 species endemic to the Hawaiian islands. (Or, were endemic: 18, or perhaps 19, are still living; the others are extinct.) Students who’ve already had a look at this paper as part of ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Climate Feedback Article Review... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... What a Week’s Disasters Tell Us About Climate and the PandemicExtreme weather presents an even bigger threat ...
Todd Muller has made a good start to his leadership, though it would obviously be pretty stupid to extrapolate too much from the first couple of days. Nevertheless, as a matter of speculation, it is interesting to think what success on his part might say about the preferences of the ...
A guest post by Hamish Price.“A leader is a dealer in hope.”— Napoléon BonaparteCatholics have a name for potential successors to a dead pope. Papabile. The small coterie of distinguished cardinals who have what it takes to step up. Todd Muller has always been one.I first met Muller at a National ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, May 17 through Sat, May 23, 2020Editor's ChoiceMore than 80 killed in India and Bangladesh as Cyclone Amphan heaps misery on coronavirus-hit areasA man salvages items from ...
Two poor political polls within the same week had seen National for the first time in over a decade dropping major support in the face of a competent and assured COVID-19 health response from the Coalition government. Step forward the relatively unknown Todd Muller, who by Friday afternoon had secured ...
SUNDAY MAY 24The Luminaries (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). There are an awful lot of indeterminate accents in The Luminaries; even lead Eve Hewson seems undecided about being Irish, and she is Irish. Fair play, accents can go badly wrong, so perhaps not over-egging was a consideration. Marton Csokas, always impeccable, and Himesh Patel ...
SUNDAY MAY 24The Luminaries (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). There are an awful lot of indeterminate accents in The Luminaries; even lead Eve Hewson seems undecided about being Irish, and she is Irish. Fair play, accents can go badly wrong, so perhaps not over-egging was a consideration. Marton Csokas, always impeccable, and Himesh Patel ...
Let’s be honest; Simon Bridges was a disaster of a political leader. If he wasn’t attempting to criticise the Government’s perfectly good policy initiatives that the public generally supported, he was fudging his lines after getting caught out in yet another lie. When Jami-Lee Ross said Bridges “is a flawed individual ...
The media treat budgets as bit of a circus: lots of theatre and soon forgotten. For a serious economist they show how a team of economists is thinking about the wider economy. The 2020 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) was the most difficult forecasting exercise in the history of ...
Air NZ shed 1,300 workers, Fletchers about to sack 1000. Economists Strateg.Ease predict over 12,400 jobs gone by March next year in central Auckland alone. Here’s Don Franks during the 2008 election campaign when he stood for the Workers Party. He’s talking about fightback strategies, ideas that he believes are ...
One of these MPs is the new leader of the National party. Can you pick which? (Source: Office of the Clerk/Parliamentary Service) National has chosen its new leader, and as expected, it is an old bald white man. Totally representative of modern New Zealand, then. But its not ...
Five years ago, Know Your Stuff didn't have a name. They were just a group of people from the festival community who began testing party drugs onsite because they'd seen the consequences of people taking substances they couldn't identify or didn't understand. They didn't want to see people in their ...
Last week, an article on Newsroom made it clear how the funder / provider split - a core part of our public service - was used to enable underfunding. The government holds the purse strings, but dumps responsibility for its decisions on providers, so they get the blame for poor ...
Dr Jaijus Pallippadan-Johny1, Dr John McDermott2, Rodney Jones1 and Michael Duddin1 (1 Wigram Capital Advisors, Auckland; 2Motu Economic and Policy Research, Wellington)In this blog, we introduce our modelling approach to estimating the transmissibility of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. We demonstrate the usefulness of ...
The Illusions Of Power: Does Jacinda Ardern, like Abraham Lincoln, wake in the dark watches of the night still enveloped in the terrors of life-and-death decision-making? Maybe – maybe not. She’s a twenty-first century prime minister, not so susceptible, perhaps, to the deep religious feeling and romanticism that was such ...
Well, that seals it. The supposedly more National sympathetic One News-Colmar Brunton poll has tonight delivered Simon Bridges’ National Party a worst result than the Newshub-Reid Research three days agoi.On tonight’s numbers Labour sits at an “unprecedented” 59 percent, while National has slumped 17 percent to 29 percent. Anything in ...
The National Party are quite simply a party out of time…Literally, insofar as the 2020 Election is concerned, and certainly in terms of their ideological positioning which has grown far more trenchantly extreme in the last few years in particular, under the leadership of both Simon Bridges, and Paula ...
If tonight’s 1News-Colmar Brunton poll result is anywhere near the 31% recorded in Monday’s Newshub-Reid Research poll, Simon Bridges will surely be dog tucker when his caucus colleagues meet tomorrow to vote on the National Party leadership. The momentum is with newcomer Todd Muller, who seems likely to be installed ...
At last year's Splore festival Listening Lounge sessions, one of the most popular discussions was the one on psychedelic therapy. So for this year's festival, I brought back two of the participants from that panel – Dr Will Evans and Amadeus Diamond – and was delighted to be able to ...
The government is reportedly looking at "helicopter money" - giving cash directly to people to spend - as a way of stimulating the economy in the wake of the pandemic. But its not just central government: Palmerston North City Council is looking at the same thing, though on a much ...
Mahmoud Elkhodr, CQUniversity AustraliaNew Zealanders finally have access to the government’s new tracing app to help people monitor their movements as lockdown continues to ease. As businesses can now open, the NZ COVID Tracer app allows people to keep a register of the places they visit. This “digital diary” ...
Eyes Left! On the face of it, the election of Todd Muller and Nikki Kaye is a no-brainer. New Zealanders are clearly in no mood for a “dirty little street-fighter” and, if the polls are any indication, resent strongly Bridges’ implication that they are. To be at all competitive with ...
Tahu Kukutai, University of Waikato; Helen Moewaka Barnes, Massey University; Tim McCreanor, Massey University, and Tracey McintoshAs schools and businesses reopen and attention shifts to the longer-term repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical that Māori be involved in decision making more equitably than has so far happened. ...
Dane Giraud from The Free Speech Coalition talks with Redline writer and editor Daphna Whitmore on cancel culture, gender ideology, postmodernism and irrationalism. They look at the free speech implications of issues like the Twitter mob, the Government’s proposed emergency police powers, and the Israel-Palestine conflict. The Free Speech interview ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzAlmost every threat to modern humanity can be traced simply ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee is holding an inquiry into the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 which was rushed through Parliament last week, and has called for submissions. Submissions are due by Sunday, 28 June 2020. You can either submit online through the form above, or by posting dead ...
While the world is currently struggling with the pandemic, we have another crisis to deal with as well: climate change. Fortunately, not everyone has forgotten about it, with Spain announcing ambitious plans to go net-zero by 2050: Under the law, which still needs to be approved by Parliament, the government ...
Children used in this study were from Lintingkou town (a normal-fluoride/control area) and Dakoutun town (a high-fluoride area) in Baodi district of Tianjin, China. The towns are 25 km apart. Anti-fluoridation activists on ...
When we see how the pandemic is being handled in the rest of the world, we can thank our lucky stars that we live here, in New Zealand, and under our current government, led by Jacinda Ardern. The latest polls suggest that this is exactly how Kiwis feel. But the ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Sophie Febery, Dr Ling Chan, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Michael BakerThe concepts of an Alert Level system, household “bubbles”, and social event size limits are all valuable pandemic control measures. Nevertheless, better “source control” of COVID-19 at various Alert Levels by requiring masks in ...
This is a repost from the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund blog, by CSLDF Executive Director Lauren Kurtz The COVID-19 pandemic illuminates the crucial role scientists at university, state, and local laboratories in the United States and abroad play in protecting public health and safety—and shows that global research must be done ...
Arguments by religious folk that they are being discriminated against under the Level 2 pandemic restrictions in NZ, which limit church services to ten people or less when schools, restaurants, malls and other service outlets are allowed to host many more people under voluntary self-distancing protocols, got me to think ...
Now that the initial wave has passed, and we are (hopefully) safe in our national bubble, the government is thinking about how to keep the economy ticking over, and how to salvage the bits (like tourism) that are now useless. And for that particular industry, she has mentioned a great ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Hon Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation The West Coast forests of Mount Te Kinga at Kotuku Whakaoho/Lake Brunner are the latest predator free project to receive Government funding, announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
The Green Party says major freshwater reforms announced today provide the strongest ever protections of our waterways, to help ensure the next generation can swim in the rivers of Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party has begun the process for a Select Committee inquiry into student accommodation, which has been exposed during COVID-19 as an under-regulated sector that straddles students with unfair debt. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Megan Woods, Minister of Research, Science and Innovation Hon Dr David Clark, Minister of Health Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods, and Health Minister David Clark today announced a COVID-19 vaccine strategy, ...
Budget 2020 is about rebuilding together, supporting jobs, getting business moving and the books back into the black. It’s an integral part of our COVID-19 economic response, and our plan to grow our economy and get New Zealand moving again.Here’s a quick look at the five top things you ...
The Coalition Government has approved $206 million in essential upgrades at Ōhakea Air Base. Defence Minister Ron Mark said the money would be spent on improving old infrastructure. He said safety issues would be addressed, as well as upgrades to taxiways, accommodation and fresh, storm and waste water systems. "This ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First “I am not persisting with this case just for myself, but for all people who have had their privacy breached. Privacy of information is a cornerstone of our country’s democracy. Without it our society truly faces a bleak future. We now ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones has introduced a Bill to Parliament that he says will "force more transparency, integrity and respect" for the domestic wood-processing sector through the registration of log traders and practice standards. The Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Bill had its first reading in ...
Green MP Golriz Ghahraman is joining over 300 lawmakers from around the world in calling on the big banks and the IMF to forgive the debt of developing countries, in the wake of the COVID crisis. ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones says concerns that carbon foresters are planting pine trees that will never be harvested are the result of "misinformation". "The billion tree strategy is an excellent idea, unfortunately from time to time it's tainted by misinformation spread by the National Party or their grandees, hiding in scattered ...
The Green Party welcomes funding in the budget to reunite more refugees with their families, ensuring they have the best chance at a new life in Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
This year’s Budget is about rebuilding New Zealand together in the face of COVID-19. Jobs are central to how we’re going to do that.There’s a lot of targeted investment for employment in this year’s Budget, with announcements on creating new jobs, training people for the jobs we have, and supporting ...
Speaking to Stuff's Coronavirus NZ podcast, Foreign Minister Winston Peters revealed China tried to dissuade New Zealand from going into lockdown.“Without speaking out of turn, they wanted a discussion as to why we were doing it, because they thought it was an overreaction,” Mr Peters told Stuff’s Coronavirus NZ podcast.He also ...
The Coalition Government is making changes to the Overseas Investment Act to ensure New Zealand assets don't fall into the hands of foreign ownership in the economic aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Associate Minister of Finance David Parker announced the Act will be amended to bring forward a national interest ...
A quick start to a trans-Tasman bubble could see the tourism industry make a swift recovery, according to Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters. "I believe tourism will turn around dramatically faster than people think," Mr Peters told reporters after Thursday's Budget. "Why? Because I think the Tasman bubble is [going ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First Please check against deliveryhttps://vimeo.com/418303651 Budget 2020: Jobs, Business and Balance Introduction Acknowledgements to all Cabinet colleagues, and party ministers Tracey Martin, Shane Jones and Ron Mark, Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau and to caucus colleagues. Thank you for your support, your ...
The 2020 Budget includes significant support to stabilise New Zealand’s family violence services, whose work has been shown to be so essential throughout the COVID-19 lockdown. ...
The Green Party says huge new investment in public and transitional housing will get thousands more families into the warm, safe homes they deserve. ...
The Green Party says the $1.1 billion environmental investment in this year’s budget to create thousands of green jobs will help jump start a sustainable recovery from the COVID crisis. ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said today the Coalition Government told foreigners at the start of the Covid-19 crisis that if their circumstances had changed dramatically, they should go home. "And 50,000 did," Mr Peters said. Official advice to Cabinet revealed there is potentially 380,000 foreigners and migrant workers in ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the decision today to go to Alert Level 2 from midnight Wednesday, says Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters. Alert Level 2 will mean a return to work for the vast majority of New Zealand’s businesses. A return ...
Nurses now look set to get more protection from violence at work, under a proposed new law.This after NZ First MP Darroch Ball's "Protection for First Responders Bill", which introduces a six-month minimum sentence for assaults on first responders, will now also cover emergency department healthcare workers. The ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Law and Order Spokesperson An amendment to the ‘Protection of First Responders Bill’ is being tabled which will see emergency department healthcare workers included in the legislation. “During this COVID-19 crisis we have seen reports of violence and specifically increased incidents of spitting towards ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is breathing new life into the proposal to move Auckland's port to Whangārei to help in the economic recovery post Covid-19 pandemic.If New ZealandFirst was returned in the September general election, Minister Jones said a priority would be development of an "economic haven" at Northport, ...
A jobseekers programme for the creative sector and four new funds have been set up by the Government to help our arts and music industry recover from the blow of COVID-19. Thousands of jobs will be supported through today’s $175 million package in a crucial economic boost to support the ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has welcomed the First Reading of a Bill that will make legislative changes to further improve the veterans’ support system. The Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill No 2, which will amend the Veterans’ Support Act 2014, passed First Reading today. The bill addresses a number of ...
Views sought on Order in Council to help fast track the reinstatement of the Christ Church Cathedral The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Hon Poto Williams, will be seeking public written comment, following Cabinet approving the drafting of an Order in Council aimed at fast-tracking the reinstatement of the ...
The law setting out New Zealanders’ basic civil and human rights is today one step towards being strengthened following the first reading of a Bill that requires Parliament to take action if a court says a statute undermines those rights. At present, a senior court can issue a ‘declaration of ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today reiterated the deep concern of the New Zealand Government following confirmation by China’s National People’s Congress of national security legislation relating to Hong Kong. “New Zealand shares the international community’s significant and long-standing stake in Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability,” Mr Peters said. “New Zealand ...
Thousands of artists and creatives at hundreds of cultural and heritage organisations have been given much-needed support to recover from the impact of COVID-19, Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern announced today. “The cultural sector was amongst the worst hit by the global pandemic,” Jacinda ...
Key New Zealand assets will be better protected from being sold to overseas owners in a way contrary to the national interest, with the passage of the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Bill. The Bill, which passed its third reading in Parliament today, also cuts unnecessary red tape to help attract ...
Setting higher health standards at swimming spots Requiring urban waterways to be cleaned up and new protections for urban streams Putting controls on higher-risk farm practices such as winter grazing and feed lots Setting stricter controls on nitrogen pollution and new bottom lines on other measures of waterway health Ensuring ...
The Government is on the verge of reaching its target of state sector boards and committees made up of at least 50 percent women, says Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter and Minister for Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa. For the first time, the Government stocktake measures the number of Māori, ...
The Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister and Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister, Kris Faafoi, has today announced the appointment of Tristan Gilbertson as the new Telecommunications Commissioner and member of the Commerce Commission. “Mr Gilbertson has considerable experience in the telecommunications industry and a strong reputation amongst his peers,” ...
The Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa have agreed to settle the pay equity claim for teacher aides, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. This will see more than 22,000 teacher aides, mostly women, being valued and paid fairly for the work they do. “Teacher aides are frontline ...
Subcontractors will have greater certainty, more cashflow support and job security with new changes to retention payments under the Construction Contracts Act says Minister for Building and Construction, Jenny Salesa. A recent review of the retentions money regime showed that most of the building and construction sector is complying with ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have marked the first anniversary of the New Zealand-Singapore Enhanced Partnership with a virtual Leaders’ Meeting today. The Enhanced Partnership, signed on 17 May 2019, provides the framework for cooperation across the four main areas of trade, defence and ...
On 17 May 2019, New Zealand and Singapore established an Enhanced Partnership to elevate our relations. The Enhanced Partnership – based on the four pillars of trade and economics, security and defence, science, technology and innovation, and people-to-people links – has seen the long-standing relationship between our countries strengthen over the ...
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters has welcomed KiwiRail’s announcement that it is seeking a preferred shipyard to build two new rail-enabled ferries for the Cook Strait crossing. “This Government is committed to restoring rail to its rightful place in New Zealand. Bigger, better ships, with new technology are yet another ...
Better protection for seabirds is being put in place with a new National Plan of Action to reduce fishing-related captures, Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. The National Plan of Action for Seabirds 2020 outlines our commitment to reduce fishing-related captures and associated seabird ...
Almost $1 billion in interest-free loans for small businesses More than 55,000 businesses have applied; 95% approved Average loan approx. $17,300 90% of applications from firms with ten or fewer staff A wide cross-section of businesses have applied, the most common are the construction industry, accommodation providers, professional firms, and ...
Thousands of children will have healthier lungs after the Government’s ban on smoking in cars with kids becomes law, says Associate Minister of Health Jenny Salesa. This comes after the third reading of Smoke-free Environments (Prohibiting Smoking in Motor Vehicles Carrying Children) Amendment Bill earlier today. “This law makes it ...
The special Epidemic Response Committee (ERC) has successfully concluded its role, Leader of the House Chris Hipkins said today. The committee was set up on 25 March by the agreement of Parliament to scrutinise the Government and its actions while keeping people safe during levels 4 and 3 of lockdown. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced four diplomatic appointments: New Zealand’s Ambassador to Belgium, High Commissioners to Nauru and Niue, and Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism. “As the world seeks to manage and then recover from COVID-19, our diplomatic and trade networks are more important than ever,” Mr Peters said. “The ...
New Zealanders will be better protected from online harm through a Bill introduced to Parliament today, says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “The internet brings many benefits to society but can also be used as a weapon to spread harmful and illegal content and that is what this legislation targets,” ...
New Zealand’s world-first plan to eradicate the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis is on track the latest technical data shows, says Agriculture and Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “Two years ago the Government, DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand and industry partners made a bold decision to go hard and commit ...
Further support for New Zealanders affected by 1-in-100 year global economic shock 12-week payment will support people searching for new work or retraining Work programme on employment insurance to support workers and businesses The Government today announced a new temporary payment to support New Zealanders who lose their jobs due ...
The Provincial Growth Fund will play a vital role in New Zealand’s post-COVID-19 recovery by creating jobs in shorter timeframes through at least $600 million being refocused on projects with more immediate economic benefits, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The funding is comprised of repurposed Provincial Growth ...
Government exempts some home improvements from costly consents Homeowners, builders and DIYers will soon have an easier time making basic home improvements as the Government scraps the need for consents for low-risk building work such as sleep-outs, sheds and carports – allowing the construction sector to fire back up quicker ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says the New Zealand Government has reacted with concern at the introduction of legislation in China’s National People’s Congress relating to national security in Hong Kong. “We have a strong interest in seeing confidence maintained in the ‘one country, two systems’ principle under which Hong ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio, says the theme for the 2020 Samoa Language Week is a perfect fit for helping our Pacific communities cope with the unfolding COVID-19 crisis, and to prepare now for the journey ahead as New Zealand focuses on recovery plans and rebuilding New ...
A nearly 40-year programme to protect one of New Zealand’s most critically endangered birds is paying off, with a record number of adult kakī/black stilt recently recorded living in the wild, the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. “Thanks to the team effort involved in the Department of Conservation’s ...
The story of the Waikato-Tainui Treaty process and its enduring impact on the community is being told with a five-part web story launched today on the 25th anniversary of settlement, announced Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni. “I am grateful to Waikato-Tainui for allowing us to help capture ...
Taita College in the Hutt Valley will be redeveloped to upgrade its ageing classrooms and leaky roofs, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. “The work is long overdue and will make a lasting difference to the school for generations to come,” Chris Hipkins said. “Too many of our schools are ...
The Government is allocating $36.72 million to projects in regions hard hit economically by COVID-19 to keep people working, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Projects in Hawke’s Bay, Northland, Rotorua and Queenstown will be funded from the Government’s $100 million worker ...
A $35m boost to financial capability service providers funded by MSD will help New Zealanders manage their money better both day to day and through periods of financial difficulty, announced Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni. “It’s always been our position to increase support to key groups experiencing or at risk ...
Dunedin barrister Melinda Broek has been appointed as a District Court Judge with Family Court jurisdiction to be based in Rotorua, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Ms Broek has iwi affiliations to Ngai Tai. She commenced her employment in 1996 with Scholefield Cockroft Lloyd in Invercargill specialising in family and ...
The Coalition Government has approved a business case for $206 million in upgrades to critical infrastructure at Royal New Zealand Air Force Base Ohakea, with the first phase starting later this year, Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. The investment will be made in three phases over five years, and ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today released the Ministry of Transport’s review of the organisational culture at the Civil Aviation Authority. Phil Twyford says all employees are entitled to a safe work environment. “I commissioned this independent review due to the concerns I had about the culture within the CAA, and ...
Ensuring that Stats NZ’s direction and strategy best supports government policy decisions will be a key focus for a new Governance Advisory Board announced today by the Minister for Statistics, James Shaw. The new Governance Advisory Board will provide strategic advice to Stats NZ to ensure it is meeting New ...
Environment Judge David Kirkpatrick of Auckland has been appointed as the Principal Environment Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Judge Kirkpatrick was appointed an Environment Judge in February 2014. From December 2013 to July 2016 he was Chair of the Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel. Prior to appointment he ...
A programme to connect marae around the country to the internet has received $1.4 million to expand to include urban marae in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister Kris Faafoi and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The funding for the Marae Connectivity Programme ...
The Government will provide $500,000 to the Hawke’s Bay Mayoral Drought Relief Fund to help farmers facing one of the worst droughts in living memory, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Yesterday afternoon I received a letter from Hawke's Bay's five local Government leaders asking me to contribute to the Fund. ...
Budget 2020 provides a major investment in New Zealand’s documentary heritage sector, with a commitment to leasing a new Archives Wellington facility and an increase in funding for Archives and National Library work. “Last year I released plans for a new Archives Wellington building – a purpose-built facility physically connected ...
Put on the back foot over a lack of vision, National leader Todd Muller has announced the first policy under his rule - aimed at helping employees get back into work National has unveiled a proposal to provide $10,000 cash payments to businesses who hire additional employees, in what is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marilyn McMahon, Deputy Dean, School of Law, Deakin University Twenty-year-old Sydney woman Renae Marsden died by suicide after she was the victim of an elaborate catfishing scam. A recent coronial investigation into her 2013 death found no offence had been committed by ...
National and Labour have once again dominated the Electoral Commission’s broadcast allocation, reports The Spinoff’s minor party correspondent Alex Braae.The pot of money for political parties to spend on election advertising on radio, television and the internet has been divvied up for 2020, with Labour and National securing more than ...
As part of a $175 million arts package, a new $7.5 million ‘Careers Support for Creative Jobseekers’ programme was announced today, building on ‘the most successful aspects’ of the former Pathways to Arts and Cultural Employment (Pace) programme, which ran from 2001-2012. Former Pace-recipient Henry Oliver writes on what he ...
In the spirit of international cooperation and mutual chair dancing, Sam Brooks and New York City-based culture critic Mark Blankenship are revisiting the top 10 singles from key weeks in their respective countries. This week, Sam and Mark discuss the top 10 singles from the chart dated May 28, 2000 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew McLachlan, Head of School and Dean of Pharmacy, University of Sydney A paper published in The Lancet has cast fresh controversy on the use of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for COVID-19. The study’s authors reported they were ...
A new poem by Wellington writer Joanna Cho.Dig deep! I have to write a poembut I’m finding it quite hardso I call Jos and he says‘Dig deep!’ He is driving back from basketballin Palmy, where he trains three times a week. I say ‘I just wanted to run some ideas by you’and he ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jayashri Kulkarni, Professor of Psychiatry, Monash University We’ve recently heard experts raise concerns about a looming mental health crisis, warning COVID-19’s psychological toll on Australians could be like a second wave of the pandemic. Suicide modelling from the University of Sydney’s Brain ...
The government will start publicly releasing wage subsidy audit and repayment data weekly after it was revealed it was only being collected every three months. ...
Creative Kiwis and cockies are among the beneficiaries of government decisions announced yesterday. The creative crowd was given support amounting to $95 million (or so), announced by Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern, who said thousands of artists and creatives at hundreds of cultural and ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35)Winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, the most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Clarke, Associate Professor, National Security College, Australian National University There were certainly questions asked when Victoria first signed a memorandum of understanding to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2018, but it wasn’t until the past week that the ...
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Defend Nicky Hager 
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Has the sales from his book dried up?
Has the capacity for craven lickspittles to besmirch themselves diminished?
Why must Hager pay for the National Party’s abuses of power?
Because Big Government is your Daddy?
Good gawd you idiot.
How much money do you think a writer makes from a book with the sales numbers of Dirty Politics? Enough to cover ongoing legal expenses that could go into the many times thousands, you reckon?
Hmm. I guess he could spend all his money, remortgage (if he has one) , move into a car (if he has one) after renting his remortgaged house to tenants in an attempt to keep a cash flow flowing…
…and then just up and represent himself if all else fails.
That’s usually the plan. Look at what happened to the Urewera 8 and Kim Dotcom. Tied down in ongoing court proceedings. Officials paid for by our tax dollars spending their days developing and performing actions designed to cost good people like Hager their time, their livelihood, their savings, the security of their family, etc.
Prosecute those who are prepared to follow such orders, There is no alternative.
Yeah, all these right-wingers who are suddenly incensed at the idea of people making money really have no idea how much authors earn.
According to Nicky a first press of any book in NZ is about 2000. When I went to his Waikato uni lecture the sales had reached about 4000. An absolute bestseller here in NZ apparently!
Has your English skills “not achieved”?
I should like to donate Mike S, but I don’t do online banking and there is never any address where one can send a check or do an electronic transaction at the bank.
Is anyone able to assist in this regard?
Contact them directly? http://dirtypoliticsnz.com/contact/
Thanks wekarawshark
Don’t be such a techno-phobe.
Com’n old girl crank handle those synapses into life and get with the times.
This is straight out of the right winger’s song sheet…
“Why can’t everyone live like me?”
+100
Has he been charged with something?
No, he hasn’t been charged with anything. He’s been done over… for nothing. Oh, that’s not quite true, is it? He’s been done over as a way of ‘sending a message’ to anyone who might be tempted to either speak truth to power or out them on their bullshit. Message reads – “You’ll pay.”
now 36 mins later it’s $5,515
15 minutes later it is 6,035
Even if Hager finally doesn’t need these defence monies, it’s pretty certain that Rawshark will, if they catch up with him.
The tools of his trade have been confiscated. And lawyers don’t come cheap. Pretty sure he’ll need the money.
Nah, they can’t be the tools of his trade or there’d be compromising material on them. Hager assures us that his sources have not been compromised, therefore they cannot be the tools of his trade.
Unless he thinks that “deleting” a file deletes the information, I suppose.
Nah, I’m picking the police stole (an illegal warrant…*) personal belongings with no connection to Hager’s work.
*don’t give me this shit about the warrant being legal under the 2012 Bill: the 2012 Bill breaches our international obligation to protect human rights and constitutes a crime against humanity.
A crime against humanity, thats rich.
I seriously can’t understand how many people think Hagar is justified in using stolen materials.
They weren’t leaked, they were taken by force and stolen.
To defend Hagar is to defend the notation that the ends justify the means.
That its alright to break the law, rights of others, and even turn a tidy profit from it, so long as you feel like you’ve done good.
And thats not even touching the defamation aspect.
If Hagar and rawshark are the champions of the left, the bar could hardly be set lower.
“I seriously can’t understand how many people think Hagar is justified in using stolen materials.”
Not stolen, but in any case, he is justified in using them because the law says he is. You’ll note that he isn’t being charged with anything. NO one is even taking a civil claim AFAIK.
“Not stolen”
If you want to be techinical, then:
Accessed without permission.
Copied without permission
Distributed without permission.
I’m sure a lawyer can draw up the correct, and verbose list of crimes commited, but i’ll settle with calling it stealing.
“but in any case, he is justified in using them because the law says he is. You’ll note that he isn’t being charged with anything. NO one is even taking a civil claim AFAIK”
And yet the subject of this article is “Defend Nicky Hager”…
Against an intimidating search and seizure of property. Baby steps.
Are you in need of remedial English comprehension lessons? The 2012 Bill breaches fundamental human rights principles, which is why the New Zealand Law Society, that bastion of Communism, warned the UN about it.
I note you are lying about Nicky Hager. What kind of low-life asshole are you, anyway?
So if Rawshark stumbled upon a child-trafficking ring and stole their emails, do the same ethics apply?
Would the argument be that these traffickers shouldn’t be outed because the evidence against them was stolen?
You can’t make an “argument” out of fecal matter and wind.
Lets get this right.
Rawshark hacked the emails taking them by force. He didn’t just stumble across them by chance. He set out to break the security protecting private files, and then copied and distributed them.
But to elaborate your hypothesis, there are two scenarios he’d come across that data
First is that he hacked the child-trafficking PC and stole the data
The other is he stumbled into it. IE: fixing a clients/employers PC and finding the evidence the course of his work
In the first, both parties are scumbags, and i’d like to see both destroyed under our laws.
In the second, hes a whistleblower, having gained access to the information in good faith.
Or do you believe that Hackers should have freedom to access your PC whenever they like because “think of the children”
Fact is, chump, when burglars find evidence of worse crimes during their activities they are wont to turn it over. ‘Information received’ doesn’t just come from law-abiding citizens.
Your argument paints the cop following a tip-off from a seedy informant with the same brush as Hager. Mine too for that matter; you just seem to think Hager did something bad by exposing Dear Leader.
“I seriously can’t understand how many people think Hagar is justified in using stolen materials.”
yes he wrote a book using illegally obtained emails
but he wrote a book as a journalist that exposed the fact the govt was running an attack machine out of the PMs office and that the people involved in this are at best highly nasty and at worst outright criminals
do you have no problem with the govt of the day using such a mechanism to attack its opponent?
do you support the govt of the day getting away with keeping such activities secret?
do you support the exposure of such activities if they exist?
do you support other such instances were corruption has been exposed in similar ways?
do you understand the legal concept of public interest?
how many times do we have to repeat ourselves here?
Well although i think we’re going to disagree, i at least you’ve broken the issue down to revelant issues.
That makes this a quality post for thestandard, and nice to address.
“but he wrote a book as a journalist”
Two issues right there, the first being that a book is not a news medium.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11283331
The second being that if he really wanted to reveal wrongdoing, there were far better ways than just writing a book.
But he kept everything a secret, wrote it in a book, released it at a time to both inflict maximum political damage and maximum profitability, and gave no right of reply, or even fact checking and validation with those in the book.
Call me a cynic, but i have a hard time calling that journalism.
“do you have no problem with the govt of the day using such a mechanism to attack its opponent?
do you support the govt of the day getting away with keeping such activities secret?
do you support the exposure of such activities if they exist?”
I’ll be honest, i haven’t read the book, i’d not pay a dime to support Hagar and his actions, so you’d need to be more specific.
But in a general sense of what the book is about, with the national government leaking the failings of the opposition to a 3rd party. I don’t really have an issue with that no.
In fact i’d prefer it that way.
If i want to read about dirt and negativity, i can go to WO and thestandard.
If i to head about policies and nationals/goverments official stance on matters, its not cluttered by dirt throwing.
Honestly i have a hard time seeing what the difference is between WO and thestandard. Both have ties to their parties, both provide opposing views hidden facts, and dissenting opinions.
“do you understand the legal concept of public interest?”
I can say honestly no i can’t.
I did google it, and this is from the top of the wiki page.
“Public interest law is a somewhat elastic term referring to legal practices that are undertaken on a not for profit basis”
If thats the legal definition, then it clearly excludes Hagar’s actions.
You have little understanding of the material in Dirty Politics, and consequently, running your mouth on the subject makes you look very foolish.
It is kind of strange that Slater isn’t in prison then. After all he stole (by your definition) Blomfields data and then published it.
It is clear that you haven’t read the actual legislation rather than your pathetic distorted and delusional version of it. For instance section 68 of the Evidence Act covering journalists which explicitly states that there are public good considerations. This directly contradicts your idiotic mumblings..
Basically Slater won’t be able to use defamation because Hager didn’t lie about the content of the material that he received (unlike Slater who routinely lies about most things), he just summarized it and wrote an opinion on it. That Slater got upset and whines about it is his problem.
I was waiting for the blomfield’s argument.
As i said before in a previous thread many months ago on this site about blomfield’s data.
If slater did obtain it illegally, he should be held accountable by the law.
I also said there was doubt as to how he obtained it, i suspect it was leaked to him by someone with access to the data, rather then hacked.
Thats the actions of a whistleblower, not a hacker.
Someone within the organization would of given him the data.
If someone from whale oil had leaked those emails to Hager, that’d be the same scenario.
Whistleblower or Hacker. You get to pick one, not both.
I suspect the judge’s judgement on the matter means something, and your ignorance of it is just ignorance, and watching your wittering drivel disintegrate in the face of it (the judgement) leaves me wanting better wingnuts.
Do you ever have anything meaningful to say?
Yes, that your argument wanted on several fronts from the get-go, not least of which is understanding of the law, and also including ignorance of almost every other aspect of the subject under discussion.
Further, that this is a pattern not confined to your behaviour alone, rather one we see repeated ad nauseam.
It’s transparent, and feeble, and a few moment’s thought (and some reading) might help you avoid it.
Surely there’s some conservative viewpoint you can imagine rather than this feeble tea-party melange?
So thats a no then?
You talk so much, and yet say so little, and mostly just for the sake of talking down.
@ Bazar
How do you know they were taken by force? Are you practising your ethics for a verbal test in your law study? What about revealing activities that play around with the rules and expectations of behaviour in our democracy?
Should the police have sent armed men to frighten and immobilise Tuhoe because they were playing games like hunting and shooting with paintballs or rifles and talking wildly, which the police would never have heard if they weren’t listening in and spying on them?
They imagined there was something solid where there was a lot of hot air. Rawshark demonstrated there was something solid when he looked at Cameron Slater’s unethical behaviour and saw the documents that showed it. Which as I said undermines our belief that our democracy is a good one. Which is worst?
I don’t think anyone is disputing the fact that the emails were hacked.
Thats what i mean by force.
Tuhoe has nothing to do with Hagar or Whaleoil, so i’m not going to be sidetracked there.
And as for something being wrong with our democracy, i’d agree.
When political figures can have their personal rights ignored and trampled over, i do fear for our democracy.
The ends do not justify the means.
Including the police?
There are no real checks on them. The IPCA is pretty much a joke. Even when they do manage to find against the police, then typically the police simply ignore the result.
In this case they have clearly have and they are very likely to both have the search warrant eventually overturned and to appeal it whilst holding the ‘evidence’ while they use taxpayer funds to impose a non-legal punishment.
Don’t you think that when the police get things wrong that they should accept some responsibility for their actions, pay costs, compensation, and someone getting fired or demoted?
Currently none of those things happen when the police overstep their bounds.
They are the ones who argue that the means justify the ends because it allows them to provide punishments on activists where the courts wind up as mere bit players. They act as police and judge until overruled by a real judge with no penalty apart from those that we the public impose.
Of course we have to put up with simpering apologists like yourself in the process.. Or do we?
In this case Hager acted as a good journalist should. When a whistle blower gave him some information about underhanded political and commercial tactics, he acted in the public good and published it. Whistleblowers seldom get their material through legal means which amongst other reasons is why we give journalists legal protections to protect their sources. In this case the police appear to wish to obviate those protections, and a normal court (ie not the privacy commission who ruled on David Fisher and who operate under different rules) will almost certainly eventually rule against the police.
Incidentally, I believe that the privacy court will be looking at Cameron Slater’s invasion of Blomfield’s privacy later this month. I’m expecting that Slater is going to get some unpleasant surprises.
“When a whistle blower gave him some information ”
And thats where we disagree fundamentally.
Hacking your victim, stealing his data, and publishing what you want from what you find isn’t whistleblowing. Its being a hacker, it’s a crime, and it should be punished.
By such s disgustingly bad definition of whistleblowing, i could justify hacking any and everyone.
I’ll start tonight, i’ll hack the emails of Cunliff, read all his dirty secrets, learn about who his secret trust funders were, and have it all published.
He can’t complain, i’m just a whistleblower.
How about the private emails of ABC members, i’m sure they have a lot to say that the public should know about Labour and Cunliffe.
And how about you Lprent, hack this server, steal all your membership data, publish all the membership details that people have entered.
Its for the public good, and as long as i get someone else to publish what i find, i’m a whistleblower and should not be prosecuted.
How you can believe a hacker praying on his victim is a whistleblower just because hes leftwing… Whatever it takes to sleep at night i guess.
What you don’t get is that if you found morally reprehensible crap on cunliffe’s computer and a journalist published it, that would still be a public good.
If you found and had published strong indications that national-security classifications didn’t apply to favoured bloggers when Labour is in power, it would still be in the public interest.
And the journalist who publishes it should still be protected from being forced to reveal your identity.
No you couldn’t.
Rawshark hacked Slater. This is against the law and as such should be punished but:
1. Did s/he have just cause? Considering the lies and attack politics of Slater on his blog this is a possible argument
2. Then, instead of publishing everything that they found they gave it to Hager who went through it carefully and published exposing
3. Corrupt, immoral and possibly illegal practices
which fits the definition of whistle-blower
None of which you’d have.
Hager didn’t hack the system, he didn’t really profit from it (have you ever looked at the profit margins for book runs in NZ), he simply exposed it.
So what you are saying is that because you can’t find the actual crim, that you will take any available victim and attack them in their stead.
I have to say that YOUR morals look fucking awful….
@Draco
“Did s/he have just cause? ”
So again we come back to the ends justify the means.
That its okay to ignore the law and rights of others, because you feel you have something to prove.
2. “Then, instead of publishing everything that they found”
Yes, tell that to slater when rawshark was dumping every single email by twitter, including personally private emails about Slater with his mom dying of cancer.
3. I disagree with calling Hagar a whistleblower. But honestly i’m tired of arguing this so i’ll leave that issue alone.
@lprent
Thank you for creating such a large strawman for me. My last comment was clearly about the illegal and immoral hacking activities of a hacker. The only reference to Hagar was as a 3rd party publisher.
@McFlock
“What you don’t get is that if you found morally reprehensible crap on cunliffe’s computer and a journalist published it, that would still be a public good.”
No, i can clearly understand that point. But you’re missing my point.
THE ENDS DO NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS
You cannot go around breaking peoples rights or property without just cause. And because hes Slater isn’t just cause regardless of how much people here would like to believe that.
We are a country that values freedom and personal rights. To start trampling those core values to promote someone’s/some party’s agenda is to accept corruption at the heart of our society.
“And the journalist who publishes it should still be protected from being forced to reveal your identity.”
And so you’ve given your blessing to vigilantes to break laws and get off scott free, so long as they work as a team of lawbreaker/publisher.
Take a look at my previous post about what a precedence sets. Hacking Cunliffe’s emails would be just the start.
Perhaps these words may ring a bell
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” – B Franklin.
Is anyone saying the hacker shouldn’t be punished if caught and identified and it’s proven they got the right person in court?
If you want to go vigilante to get something, that’s the risk. That hasn’t changed, that’s what the law is.
Do you think the law should be changed? That we should remove journalistic privileges like the public interest defence?
Gpoing on about ‘what if this happened to so sand so’ doesn;t mean anything, because this is how the law already is. If someone hacked Cunliffe of whoever, that would be a crime, of they gave the info to a journalist, that part (giving it to a journo) would not be a crime. If the journo thought there was a public interest element they could publish. That’s a risk insofar as whether or not a court agrees there is a public interest.
In the Dirty Politics case, hell yeah there’s a public interest. Remember the Minister of Justice resigning? I doubt any court would say there was no public interest involved.
and
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” – B Franklin.”
lol what the fuck man? You are the one wanting to restrict the free press. Look up what Ben had to say about that. The quote you cite is better suited to the ‘OMG terrists are gonna kill us all’ debate.
The standard RWNJ capability of having two opposing views at the same time.
Just cause would be due to Slater’s actions.
I didn’t call Hager a whistleblower so this indicates that you either can’t read or you’re trying to distract.
And yet you don’t seem to have any problem with the indications that the National Party have been doing exactly that.
Nope, only if it was justified and in the public interest and what Dirty Politics exposed was.
Bazar,
I wonder, did you quote Ben Franklin when the GCSB’s activities against Kim Dotcom were revealed?
Somehow I doubt it.
Have you considered the liberty that you are giving up, for fear of hacking? The freedom of the press? Franklin, being a printer, probably had a few things to say about that and all.
*groan*
The letter wasn’t about liberty but about taxes and the ability to “raise money for defense against French and Indian attacks. The governor kept vetoing the assembly’s efforts at the behest of the family, which had appointed him.”
Indeed, if you look at the text surrounding the famous quote, it’s pretty clearly about money: “Our assemblies have of late had so many supply bill, and of such different kinds, rejected, on various pretences,” wrote Franklin.
There’s not much on liberty, as we understand the concept, in the entire letter.
http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/14/how-the-world-butchered-benjamin-franklins-quote-on-liberty-vs-security/
Baszar
You don’t want to put your mind to the situation. Just keep revolving your argument. And that the Tuhoe police raid has no connection with this shows that you can’t see the underlying factors in this police raid and that.
The way Mr Hager is being treated could be from the rule book of the stasi. I never thought that this is possible in NZ.
Now over $7000.
We’ve all learnt a lot about the way the Nats government works, thanks to this guy and the whistleblowing hero who went to him.
Our heartfelt thanks are due.
over $11,000 now.
over $11,600 now
I read that Nicky Hager was a trust fund child.
If that’s the case, I don’t think money really is an issue.
[lprent: Read where? Where is your link?
I rather suspect that you are just repeating a smear probably by a blustering and whining technical incompetent liar. I’d suggest that you don’t make a habit of it. ]
You are such a generous spirited person.
BM is the epitome of the right wing Key-love and English-worship.
No humanity. Ugly to the core.
I’m a realist.
Also I think there’s more worthy charity cases than Nicky Hager , yeah it’s a piss, but I don’t think he’ll be too put out by the loss of a computer.
🙄
as if anyone here gives a shit about what your meanspirited self thinks on the matter.
Nah. You’re just ugly-inside and out- but you don’t know. Nothing like a realist.
Just hope you haven’t offspring.
“I read that Nicky Hager was a trust fund child. If that’s the case, I don’t think money really is an issue.”
🙄 Where did you read that, Bollox Man? From memory, he’s one of four kids bought up by parents who both worked for a living in Levin. Yeah, Levin. Glamorous bourgeois Levin, home of the filthy rich since, er, never.
It goes like this:
Step One: write “X has a trust fund”.
Step Two: read what you just wrote.
Step three: add the phrase “I read that” in front of the previous phrase.
With experience, you can move directly to step three.
ONB 7.2.1. Lol ++
BM – Two generations of the Hager family on one side and three on the other have contributed to NZ society in ways far beyond what your pathetic imagination could conceive. It is suggested you pull your head in rather than display such mind numbing ignorance.
My parents owned, quite a large factory in Levin, clothing manufacturer. I didn’t grow up in a state house.
After building houses around Wellington and renovating houses for a while, I am living in the house that I built. And that has, more than any other single thing, allowed me to… I [now] have the security of the house I don’t have to pay a … mortgage on.”
He read it on Blubberblog.
BM, Nicky Hager is a very brave men. In 20 -30 years time people will know who he is/was. I doubt that this is true for you.
Joyously contributed 😀
me too happily
It’s just bizarre.
While it’s easy to embrace the fascism narrative, one would think they wouldn’t be so keen to keep testing the limits of public indifference.
What’s the wider strategy? Apart from perhaps getting it over with well before the next election, is it some kind of provocation or setup for something else? An extra round of intimidation just doesn’t seem a big enough payoff for the risk of backlash.
Or maybe they are simply that confident they can act with impunity … I’m not sure their confidence is misplaced.
This needs to be bigger than a few individuals contributing their $20. It needs to get full coverage.
This is about those at the centre of dirty politics taking their revenge for being exposed. We live in dangerous times.
Am I missing something , but wasn’t Hagar in possession of stolen material? A journalist protecting his source – give me a break.
[lprent: You just described Cameron Slater vs Blomfield. After his 10 hour ordeal last August when all of his computers were seized because he’d received and published stolen emails and documents, journalist Cameron Slater said.. (oops: that was from an alternate universe where the police are impartial rather than John Key’s poodles).
Don’t you stupid dongles ever use your brains? ]
Wow I just wish you RWNJs could move past first base with your arguments. The material was not stolen but was hacked. And please justify how Slater’s treatment of Matt Blomfield is OK but Hager’s treatment of Slater is not.
Where did I say I was defending Slater Iprent and Mickysavage? My point was regading Hagar – ie. the subject of this post.
By the way, real classy with the name calling just because I happen to offer an alternative view.
Lies aren’t “alternative views” – they’re just lies, indicative of ignorance, gullibility or mendacity, and in many cases all three.
I’m picking all three apply in your case.
“Where did I say I was defending Slater Iprent and Mickysavage?”
right here
“Am I missing something , but wasn’t Hagar in possession of stolen material? A journalist protecting his source – give me a break.”
just to bring you up to speed – its the EXACT SAME line used by every other fool and dishonest bullshitter whos been trying to defend slater for months.
you might think your being original – but its been used so much that anyone pulling that particular line out of their backside will meet a pretty swift and stern reactrion
why? because its old, discredited and diversionary bullshit
How can they mickysavage? That’s all they were told to say and there’s been no update since this morning so they don’t know what to say next so they have to keep saying the same thing over and over again. Blubber boy’s slipping up on the job.
you may wish to update your sources on whether the HDD were actually stolen. according to sources they were never reported as such.
[lprent: Blomfield reported them as being stolen when Cameron Slater started writing stories about them. That was in 2012. The complaint appears to have been ignored by the police. Yet Cameron Slater reports it, and Hager gets raided as a witness mere months later. I’d say that the police appear to be corrupt. ]
The judge said that Slater was a journalist and could invoke source protection under the Evidence Act.
However, the judge also granted orders sought by Blomfield that this section of the law not apply to Slater in this case.
There was a “public interest” in the disclosure of the identity of Slater’s informants, Justice Asher said.
“There is a real public interest in those who claim that they are defamed being able to fully explore the circumstances of the defamation…” the judge said.
This was not a whistle blower case and it seemed the information was obtained illegally by sources, which diminished the importance of protecting them, the judge said.
“Moreover, any concern at the chilling effect of disclosure of sources is lessened when the subject matter of the material originally disclosed has the mark of a private feud, and features abusive and vindictive language.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11323615
Highlighted: where the judge indicates he thinks it was obtained illegally, and the diffs between what Slater did and Hager.
and if slater is a journalist then hager sure as he is…
This is an almost inevitable consequence of any righteous public actions. We need to be prepared for it.
The other aspect to be aware of is ‘credible deny-ability’ – the person who has initiated this set of raids will have separated themselves far enough so that they can deny all knowledge of the Police actions.
Kia kaha Nicky
Or perhaps they will just say ‘I don’t recall that, but at the end of the day…’
Does anyone know if anything even remotely like this happened during the investigation into The Hollow Men?
Because as I recall there was a police investigation (which resulted in nothing). I don’t know whether they turned over Hager’s house looking for information on the source.
If not, what is different about this case when compared to The Hollow Men?
I don’t think hollow man was a hack, simply national insiders who did not like brash passing on material legitimately in their possession. In the Hagar case a crime was clearly committed, police are in their right to search Hagar on the basis to find the hacker, similarly for all we know Hagar could be the hacker, there is no evidence to the contrary barring Hagar comments which the police can’t accept at face value. If Hagar was not the hacker did he assist indirectly etc thus is complicit in the crime All This bs about the police been JK poodle is ridiculous and really makes you all look a bit silly, but if it makes you feel better that’s ok, no harm done
[lprent: Hager is essentially a technophobe by my standards. He has even fewer technical skills than Cameron Slater. There is no way that he could have done any of the things that rawshark is reported to have done.
The police have had exactly the same complaint made against Cameron Slater. Emails copied from a hard disk and documents that the owner never gave permission to be accessed, and a ‘journalist’ who published them. Yet in the last year they appear to have not bothered to investigate the complaint that was laid.
Whereas Cameron Slater raises his head from licking John Keys arse for a few minutes and the police are all over his complaint. Yeah, the police appear to be John Key’s poodles. They had the exact same alacrity of response in the Ambrose recording in 2011. ]
“All This bs about the police been JK poodle”
so why havent they raided anybody else from the wide pool of people implicated by their own words as revealed in hagers book? (evidence that hasnt been denied challenged or refuted by anyone)
why havent they acted on, and in fact dismissed the other complaints received that implicate ede, key and slater explicitly?
Why did they raid the house of a witness for 10 hours, even when they could be pretty certain they would find nothing?
why does it look like they are going after a radio DJ for encouraging people to vote green on election day but not the all blacks for their tweets in the other direction on the same day? ( here )
why have we had two elections in a row where media who have made JKs life a bit harder have ended up being raided by the cops?
why do breaches of the electoral act (by all parties admitedly) never get looked into by the police?
okay – maybe not JKs poodle explicitly – but are you seriously going to sit there and ignore the rather obvious pattern of police bias and favour that they show to our rulers – and the nats in particular?
Not sure of slater case but Hagar,whale dump etc haven’t helped themselves by playing this up, red rag to a bull in that police had no choice but to act. Was slater more a case of sloppy security and unethical behaviour rather than a crime
legal aid!
Love how when I gave to Hagar fund, my card didn’t get charged an extra $8 like it did when I gave to the Daily Blog !! And for the record, when I commented about it to find out why, my comment never got past moderation.
This Glenn Greenwald article published in the Guardian last year is worth reading. Those RWNJ really do need to stop and think about
how the lack of transparency in government can lead to corrupt practices.
“On whistleblowers and government threats of investigation
No healthy democracy can endure when the most consequential acts of those in power remain secret and unaccountable. Those who step forward to blow these whistles rarely benefit at all. The ones who benefit are you. You discover what you should know but what is hidden from you: namely, the most consequential acts being taken by those with the greatest power, and how those actions are affecting your life, your country and your world.”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/07/whistleblowers-and-leak-investigations
Right wing nut jobs only understand this argument when Margaret Thatcher is making it in reference to Communists.
All the 47% that voted for this govt, should do what I have just done, watch
CRY FREEDOM
the issue is the ~1.1M non vote and unenrolled.
http://www.getfrank.co.nz/editorial/features/interview-nicky-hager-2
“After building houses around Wellington and renovating houses for a while, I am living in the house that I built. And that has, more than any other single thing, allowed me to… I [now] have the security of the house I don’t have to pay a … mortgage on.”
“My parents owned, quite a large factory in Levin, clothing manufacturer. I didn’t grow up in a state house.”
If you only have financial security because you don’t have to pay a mortgage, your income can’t be very large.
@ johnb 8.26
Your meaning is obscure. What is your point? Thanks for the link, interesting.
its over 15k.
how do we know it is what it says it is?
trust.
nearly $16,000 now.
😉
presumably hager would speak out if he knew nothing of it.
he said he doesn’t know meg the woman that is running it but is grateful. Might have been in the Stuff article?