Whats the bet the GST increase will be passed AND implemented in the budget. Ie within a few days.
Has to be in the budget to get the Coalition of the willing to vote for it
While all the other offsets , well they would just ‘promises’ which hes very relaxed about.
Cant see the tax cuts coming in till election year budget to take effect say September so you only get 6 months worth in that year
I wish I could find the clip of Clark saying she would never support a ban on smacking.
Times change guys, the NZ that Key was talking about when he made this statement is not the NZ he inherited, he (Key) certainly had no idea how bad the books were due to Dr Cullens incompetence.
I keep saying it, this is not the way to go about eating into Key’s popularity, you guys are still using the same tactics that did not work at the last election, the more you make small minded attacks on the man the more he will be supported by the public.
I wish I could find the clip of Clark saying she would never support a ban on smacking.
There is no ban on smacking, never has been, and it is probable that here never could be.
You just have to be able to justify your actions, if charged, to a court. You cannot use a rather stupid defence that used to exist. I realise that you probably think that this is a gross infringement on your ‘right’ to beat children. But that is just tough shit.
Incidentally there is no ban on assaulting people, murdering people, waving your dick in public, or anything else. What there are are consequences for all of these actions in the law. I have no idea where you get the idea of a ‘ban’ from (and I hesitate to suggest possibilities).
So you are just being as pointless as usual, or just bleating one of those wingnut urban myths? Here’s another one for you – “north of $50” tax cuts.
(like global medieval warm periods, global little iceages – for things that appear to have only happened in Europe.)
Where did you get the idea I am defending Key, I suspect I detest the man more than you.
BTW, you are only making a fool of yourself by suggesting there is not a ban on smacking, in other posts I have mentioned that you guys are out of touch and arrogant, this type of hiding behind semantics is a classic example.
There is no ban on smacking kids. There are consequences to doing the action.
If you think that there is a ‘ban’ to stopping someone doing it, then I’d suggest that you have zero idea of what you’re talking about. It is impossible to stop people from doing anything. All society can do is put consequences in for actions.
In this case all that happened was a defence in court was removed.
Use your brain to look at what you said, rather than your mindless slogans. And pleeze stop being such a meathead.
Clark lied to the people of NZ about the smacking ban, you know that, and in an attempt to change the debate you bring in the pathetic ‘child beating” slogan.
You told me that you are a smart person, while I have yet to be convinced it amazes me that you continue to parrot Labour party policy day after day without even suggesting that you can think for yourself.
Show us how smart you are Iprent, show us that you can actually debate an issue (any issue will do) without resorting to abuse or banning those who expose you as a person who is not quite as smart as you like to think you are.
Just being accurate – which you seem to have a real problem doing. Just at present I’m unsure if you could find your arse with your hands as your accuracy rate seems to be so useless.
Tell me exactly how you ‘ban’ anything unless you physically prevent A meeting B. It has never been proposed that would happen between most parents and their children.
This discussion came about because you suggested that Helen lied about ‘banning smacking’. What I’m saying is that you are a moronic idiot who is so in love with your slogans that you fail to see that she said exactly the truth.
Your avoidance behaviour in your last few comments is just that of a miserable serial liar trying to avoid the consequences of your ignorance and gross inaccuracies. You say things without bothering to check them for being correct.
Face it – basically you’re just acting like a dickhead.
I have invited you to debate the issue with me and show that intellect that you so often tell us about.
Your lack of patience with somebody who shares the same goal as you says so much about why Labour is in the basement at the moment.
The nation rejected your superior “we know best” attitude in Nov 08, I would have thought that you might have learnt something from that.
Seems I was wrong.
Let me know when you get over your arrogance Iprent, let me know when you wake up to the fact that the public are not going to come running back to you guys screaming “we got it wrong”.
I have some ideas that might help.
I have invited you to debate the issue with me and show that intellect that you so often tell us about.
Still squirming I see… Lets put the specimen pin in a little deeper…
You made several inaccurate assertions. Now you’re trying to avoid taking responsibility for them by diverting attention. Pretty typical of a meathead Act supporter who’d prefer to lie rather than use their brains. Lets have a look at them again shall we…
I wish I could find the clip of Clark saying she would never support a ban on smacking.
and Clark lied to the people of NZ about the smacking ban
You followed up on that by saying you are only making a fool of yourself by suggesting there is not a ban on smacking
You are totally inaccurate in all of your statements. Because there never was proposed to be a ban on smacking children. If you have a child in front of you that you want to hit, then you’re perfectly capable of doing so. However, there are consequences to hitting anyone, including children and always have been. The police are entitled to look at your actions and decide if they want to press charges.
The only thing that s59a did was remove a defence in court that the judges had condemned as being too vaguely worded and prevented them from judging appropriately.
Of course hysterical dickheads like yourself seem to fail to understand that. You cling to your inaccurate slogans like a babies safety blanket. Too sacred to face the real word without their comforting embrace.
The lie is your slogan of “banning smacking” – debate that.
Not to mention an Earth Science degree. Now, where could you go with that and an MBA – ENRON?
Thank God for a Carbon Trading Market – not!
Still, he’s one of the more balanced authors on this site – not that it means much!
[lprent: Accurate on both degrees (but there are a number of other part finished ones – I get bored). However, I somehow (obsession) wound up as a high-end computer programmer. It is more fun than Enron. ]
Oh my god. Well put. At LAST a commentator that actually understands the amendment to section 59.
I applaud you, Iprent. Now can you take some of that reasoning over to Farrar’s blog with his band of merry christian child bashers who appear not to have even read s 59???
[lprent: I think that the intellectual inbreeding over there is a bit intense. I’ll concentrate on keeping my home site clean of the same problem. ]
Yeah good point. Fair enough. I must stop reading it actually. The populist, christian-based, uneducated posts and comments over there just wind me up for the entire day!
I think the clip is the Radio Rhema interview with Bob McCrostie, and now you are playing the political game of symantics. A very crafty politician can get out of almost any statement by using symantics. And for me it is extremely poor that “we’ have to resort to this. Once an arguement has entered this stage it has been won/lost for the majority. We are not dumb, even if we do not get into politics
John English siad the books were brilliant.
Let us konw if you ever find the Clark clip {irrelevant anyway as we are talking $$$ now, so dear to the right}
So replaying his old words is ‘small minded’ and will make him ‘more popular’
The context of the interview was that the books would be looking so bad and of course the tax cuts had to be reversed as well.
Two broken promises! Let us be the judge of what the voters want to hear
Please watch your language. And it’s not nice wishing that others were deceased. UPDATE: Deleted other abusive comments. You’re not welcome here Moon Goddess – MF
You and I agree on one thing, we both want Key gone.
But, you can bash him as much as you want it is going to get you anywhere, you need to drop the tired old aggressive socialist style of attack and think a bit smarter.
Kiwis rejected that style of politics and that style of leader, sure these type of attacks might raise the morale of your hard line supporters but they are not the ones you need to convince, middle NZ is where it is at Ghost and while you might feel better with attack politics the average voter is turned off by it.
Your line of reasoning as as tired as I am of dicussing it with the closed minded right.
I really could not give a rats ass what you think I or people you think I am associated with (read: I am not) should do.
You are just another disingenuous righty come to these here boards to make trouble. Your mind has been made up and is thus CLOSED to all further discussion.
You seem to assume that you have some wisdom to impart here. Your tired old cliches and insults really are pathetic and do not add one iota to the debate.
My mind is not closed, I was a supporter of Key, now I see him as the most dangerous man in the country.
Those with closed minds are the Labour people who refuse to admit that they are on the wrong track and have not yet accepted that the nation turned away from their style of politics.
Gee Big bruv , wonder why the Dom is running the video clip on its web page.
I suggest TVNZ or TV3 will do the same on the news. Its such an easy story to do.
Showing Key is a liar-eventually the wider public get it. Its not rocket science.
But will Key go on Q+A this week and will Espiner have the nerve to confront him over the broken promises and the tax cuts which are paid for with tax increases
Are you going to rely on the mindless NZ media to do your job for you?
The Nat’s had to battle nine years of media bias to defeat Clark, the sooner you learn that you no longer set the rules of the game the better.
You highlight exactly my point Ghost, you are a hard lefty, you are going to get all excited about this clip showing on the news, middle NZ or the floating voter does NOT CARE LESS.
You comments are kind of ridiculous. They sound an awful lot like the US republican propaganda to be honest. You don’t watch/read a lot of fox news per chance??
– liberal use of “socialist” (pun intended)
– liberal media bias
– clueless
Always allowing for the fact that I work for a living and from time to time I have to pop out and administer a beating to my non union employees for not increasing productivity.
I have to work as well. However I’m usually beating software into submission. Right now it is a recalcitrant IIS7 server that is failing to deliver my WPF xaml application, and prefers sending me 401 ‘Unauthorised’ errors instead. The IIS6 server serves it perfectly, and so would Apache if I tried that.
Fortunately there was a convenient target blathering slogans to offload the Mickeysoft frustration into, while I had a wee think about what they’d screwed up this time.
Bruv, nothing you could ever say would ever embarrass anyone on the left. I’d say that it embarrasses people on the right but they’re far to inconsistent to realise that they should be embarrassed.
I am sorry your post is out of context. Nat are not increasing GST to cover debt, so John Key is technically correct. Even so I still believe that it is not a step in the right direction. His actions are that of a 2nd term government I was looking for someone to have a positive radical change in philosophy, but this appears not to have occurred. What I see is a tampering of the deck chairs.
His comments are to be taken as the same as Labours “Free” childcare, Michael Cullen NZ cannot afford taxcuts (pre 2005 electon) then giving them to us,& Helen Clarks interview with Bob McCoskie on Radio Rhema re S59.
I want more for NZ and what I can see Lab are not displaying anything that will move us forward. I was hoping Nats had a great plan (Like Obama) there is none, and the left have nothing to offer as well.
Buzz from the Beehive The Minister of Defence has returned from Noumea to announce New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting and (wearing another ministerial hat) to condemn malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government. A bigger cheer from people who voted for the Luxon ...
The suppression of individual thought in our universities spills over into society, threatening free speech everywhere.Elizabeth Rata writes – Indigenising New Zealand’s universities is well underway, presumably with the agreement of University Councils and despite the absence of public discussion. Indigenising, under the broader umbrella of decolonisation, ...
Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website. If he did, Peters would find MFAT celebrating the 25th anniversary of how New Zealand alerted the rest of the world to the genocide developing in Rwanda. Quote: New Zealand played an important role ...
It must have been a hard first couple of weeks for National voters, since the coalition was announced. Seeing their party make so many concessions to New Zealand First and ACT that there seems little remains of their own policies, other than the dwindling dream of tax cuts and the ...
It’s Friday again and Christmas is fast approaching. Here’s some of the stories that caught our attention. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt covered some of the recent talk around the costs, benefits and challenges with the City Rail Link. On Thursday Matt looked at how ...
Amsterdam to Hong Kong William McCartney16,000 kilometres41 days18 trains13 countries11 currencies6 long-distance taxis4 taxi apps4 buses3 sim cards2 ferries1 tram0 medical events (surprisingly)Episode 4Whether the Sofia-Istanbul Express really qualifies to be called an express is debatable, but it’s another one of those likeably old and slow trains tha… ...
Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro arrives for the State Opening of Parliament (Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:New Finance Minister Nicola Willis set herself a ...
Sometimes one gets morbidly curious about the oddities of one’s own legal system. Sometimes one writes entire essays on New Zealand’s experience with Blasphemous Libel: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/blasphemous-libel-new-zealand-politics/ And sometimes one follows up the exact historical status of witchcraft law in New Zealand. As one does, of course. ...
Don’t expect any fiscal shocks or surprises when the books are opened on December 20 with the unveiling of the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU). That was the message yesterday from Westpac in an economic commentary. But the bank’s analysis did not include any changes to capital ...
It is quiet reading time in Room 13! It is so quiet you can hear the Tui outside. It is so quiet you can hear the Fulton Hogan crew.It is so quiet you can hear old Mr Grant and old Mr Bradbury standing by the roadworks and counting the conesand going on ...
It looks like the new ministerial press secretaries have quickly learned the art of camouflaging exactly what their ministers are saying – or, at least, of keeping the hard news out of the headlines and/or the opening sentences of the statements they post on the home page of the governments ...
The big dairy co-op Fonterra had some Christmas cheer to offer its farmers this week, increasing its forecast farmgate milk price and earnings guidance for the year after what it calls a strong start to the year. The forecast midpoint for the 2023/24 season is up 25cs to $7.50 per ...
Michael Bassett writes – Many of the comments about the Coalition’s determination to wind back the dramatic Maorification of New Zealand of the last three years would have you believe the new government is engaged in a full-scale attack on Maori. In reality, all that is happening ...
Mary Robinson asked Al Jaber a series of very simple, direct and highly pertinent questions and he responded with a high-octane public meltdown. Photos: Getty Images / montage: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR The hygiene effects of direct sunshine are making some inroads, perhaps for the very first time, on the normalised ‘deficit ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Appointed by new Labour PM Jacinda Ardern in 2018, Cindy Kiro headed the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) tasked with reviewing and recommending reforms to the welfare system. Kiro had been Children’s Commissioner during Helen Clark’s Labour government but returned to academia subsequently. ...
It seems even our transport agencies don’t want Labour’s harbour crossing plans. In August the previous government and Waka Kotahi announced their absurd preferred option the new harbour crossing that at the time was estimated to cost $35-45 billion. It included both road tunnels and a wiggly light rail tunnel ...
Hi,Paying Webworm members such as yourself keep this thing running, so as 2023 draws to close, I wanted to do two things to say a giant, loud “THANKS”. Firstly — I’m giving away 10 Mister Organ blu-rays in New Zealand, and another 10 in America. More details down below.Secondly — ...
Yesterday saw the State Opening of Parliament, the Speech from the Throne, and then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s dream for Aotearoa in his first address. But first the pomp and ceremony, the arrival of the Governor General.Dame Cindy Kiro arrived on the forecourt outside of parliament to a Māori welcome. ...
Probably not since 1975 have we seen a government take office up against such a wall of protest and complaint. That was highlighted yesterday, the day that the new Parliament was sworn in, with news that King Tuheitia has called a national hui for late January to develop a ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). War, conflict and climate change are tearing apart lives across the world. But these aren't separate harms - they're intricately connected. ...
These dire woeful and intolerant people have been so determinedly going about their small and petulant business, it’s hard to keep up. At the end of the new government’s first woeful week, Audrey Young took the time to count off its various acts of denigration of Te Ao Māori:Review the ...
The new white supremacist government made attacking te reo a key part of its platform, promising to rename government agencies and force them to "communicate primarily in English" (which they already do). But today they've gone further, by trying to cut the pay of public servants who speak te reo: ...
Buzz from the Beehive The biggest buzz we bring you from the Beehive today is that the government’s official website is up and going after being out of action for more than a week. The latest press statement came from Education Minister Eric Stanford, who seized on the 2022 PISA ...
There was another ETS auction this morning. and like all the other ones this year, it failed to clear - meaning that 23 million tons of carbon (15 million ordinary units plus 8 million in the cost containment reserve) went up in smoke. Or rather, they didn't. Being unsold at ...
This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, Audrey Young has compiled a useful list of the many, many ways that ...
New Zealand’s dairy industry, the mainstay of the country’s export trade, has been under pressure from rising costs. Down on the farm, this has been hitting hard. But there was more positive news this week, first from the latest Fonterra GDT auction where prices rose, and then from a report ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In their rush to discredit the new government (which our MainStream Media regard as illegitimate and having no right to enact the democratic will of voters) the NZ Herald and Newshub are arguing ACT’s Deputy Leader Brooke van Veldon is not following Treasury advice ...
Even many young people who smoke support smokefree policies, fitting in with previous research showing the large majority of people who smoke regret starting and most want to quit. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Wednesday, December ...
Well it didn’t take six months, but the leaks have begun. Yes the good ship Coalition has inadvertently released a confidential cabinet paper into the public domain, discussing their axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).Oops.Just when you were admiring how smoothly things were going for the new government, they’ve had ...
A wave of new and higher fees, rates and charges will ripple out over the economy in the next 18 months as mayors, councillors, heads of department and price-setters for utilities such as gas, electricity, water and parking ramp up charges. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Just when most ...
Hi,Kiwis — keep the evening of December 22nd free. I have a meetup planned, and will send out an invite over the next day or so. This sounds sort of crazy to write, but today will be Tony Stamp’s final Totally Normalcolumn of 2023. Somehow we’ve made it to ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
The electorate has high expectations of the new government. The question is: can it deliver? Some might say the signs are not promising. Protestors are already marching in the streets. The new Prime Minister has had little experience of managing very diverse politicians in coalition. The economy he ...
Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to …. Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand! Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations. • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme – that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.Brian Easton writes – The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
Time to revisit something I haven’t covered in a while: the D&D campaign, with Saqua the aquatic half-vampire. Last seen in July: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/the-song-of-saqua-volume-ii/ The delay is understandable, once one realises that the interim saw our DM come down with a life-threatening medical situation. They have since survived to make ...
A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate changeDaily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenanceBeehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
Radio NZ reports: Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has accused the new government of “deliberate .. systemic genocide” over its policies to roll back the smokefree policy and the Māori Health Authority. The left love hysterical language. If you oppose racial quotas in laws, you are a racist. And now if you sack ...
Open access notables From this week's government/NGO section, longitudinal data is gold and Leisorowitz, Maibachi et al. continue to mine ore from the US public with Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Fall 2023: Drawing on a representative sample of the U.S. adult population, the authors describe how registered ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Winston Peters reckons media outlets were bribed by the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund. He is not the first to make such an accusation. Last year, the Platform outlined conditions media signed up to in return for funds from the PJIF: . . . ...
Wow, it’s December already, and it’s a Friday. So here are few things that caught our attention recently. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt covered the new government’s coalition agreements and what they mean for transport. On Tuesday Matt looked at AT’s plans for fare increases ...
Late 1996, The Dogs Bollix, Tamaki Makaurau.I’m at the front of the bar yelling my order to the bartender, jostling with other thirsty punters on a Friday night, keen to piss their wages up against a wall letting loose. The black stuff, long luscious pints of creamy goodness. Back down ...
Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop and other National, ACT and NZ First MPs applaud the signing of the coalition agreements, which included the reversal of anti-smoking measures while accelerating tax cuts for landlords. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote ...
Labour’s immigration spokesperson Phil Twyford is calling on the Government to follow the example of Australia and help New Zealanders’ close family members stuck in Gaza to escape and take shelter here. ...
The Green Party is urging the Government to recognise its commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi so our tamariki and mokopuna can grow up in an Aotearoa where their language is celebrated, their health is prioritised, and their whenua is protected. ...
By scrapping Aotearoa’s world-leading smokefree laws, this government is sacrificing Māori lives to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. Not only is this plan revolting, but it doesn’t add up. Treasury has estimated that the reversal of smokefree laws to pay for tax cuts will cost our health system $5.25bn, ...
Figures showing National needs to find another $900 million for landlords highlights the mess this coalition Government is in less than a week into the job. ...
Community organisations, mana whenua and the Greens have written to the incoming Minister of Oceans and Fisheries to call for the progression without delay of the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill. ...
"On behalf of the Labour Party I would like to congratulate Christopher Luxon on his appointment as Prime Minister,” Labour Party Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
NZ First has gotten their wish to ‘take our country back’ to the 1800s with a policy program that will white-wash Aotearoa and erase tangata whenua rights. By disestablishing the Māori Health Authority this Government has condemned Māori to die seven years earlier than Pākehā. By removing Treaty obligations from ...
Te Pāti Māori have called for the resignation of the Ministry of Foreign and Trade chief executive Chris Seed following his decision to erase te reo Māori from government communications. While the country still waits for a new government to be formed, Mr Seed took it upon himself to undermine ...
The New Zealand Labour Party is urgently calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel to put a halt to the appalling attacks and violence, so that a journey to a lasting peace can begin, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Cyclone Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell and Transport and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, to meet leaders of cyclone and flood-affected regions in the Hawke’s Bay. The visit reinforced the coalition Government’s commitment to support the region and better understand its ongoing requirements, Mr Mitchell says. ...
New Zealand has joined the UK and other partners in condemning malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government, Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau Judith Collins says. The statement follows the UK’s attribution today of malicious cyber activity impacting its domestic democratic institutions and processes, as well ...
The Government has begun the process of disestablishing Te Pūkenga as part of its 100-day plan, Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds says. “I have started putting that plan into action and have met with the chair and chief Executive of Te Pūkenga to advise them of my ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will be leaving for Dubai today to attend COP28, the 28th annual UN climate summit, this week. Simon Watts says he will push for accelerated action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, deliver New Zealand’s national statement and connect with partner countries, private sector leaders ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins yesterday announced New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM). “Having just returned from this year’s meeting in Nouméa, I witnessed first-hand the value of meeting with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security and defence matters. I welcome the opportunity to ...
The Government is committed to lifting school achievement in the basics and that starts with removing distractions so young people can focus on their learning, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. The 2022 PISA results released this week found that Kiwi kids ranked 5th in the world for being distracted ...
Today I met with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to set out my expectations, which he has agreed to, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. Under section 16(1) of the Policing Act 2008, the Minister can expect the Police Commissioner to deliver on the Government’s direction and priorities, as now outlined in ...
New Zealand needs a strong and stable Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that is well placed for the future, after emission units failed to sell for the fourth and final auction of the year, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. At today’s auction, 15 million New Zealand units (NZUs) – each ...
With 2022 PISA results showing a decline in achievement, Education Minister Erica Stanford is confident that the Coalition Government’s 100-day plan for education will improve outcomes for Kiwi kids. The 2022 PISA results show a significant decline in the performance of 15-year-old students in maths compared to 2018 and confirms ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today departed for New Caledonia to attend the 8th annual South Pacific Defence Ministers’ meeting (SPDMM). “This meeting is an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security matters and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Pacific,” Judith Collins says. ...
Putting more money in the pockets of hard-working families is a priority of this Coalition Government, starting with an increase to Working for Families, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “We are starting our 100-day plan with a laser focus on bringing down the cost of living, because that is what ...
Most weeks, following Cabinet, the Prime Minister holds a press conference for members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. This page contains the transcripts from those press conferences, which are supplied by Hansard to the Office of the Prime Minister. It is important to note that the transcripts have not been edited ...
The Government has axed the $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme championed by the previous government, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says. “This hugely wasteful project was pouring money down the drain at a time when we need to be reining in spending and focussing on rebuilding the economy and ...
New Zealand welcomes the further one-day extension of the pause in fighting, which will allow the delivery of more urgently-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of more hostages, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. “The human cost of the conflict is horrific, and New Zealand wants to see the violence ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today expressed on behalf of the New Zealand Government his condolences to the family of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has passed away at the age of 100 at his home in Connecticut. “While opinions on his legacy are varied, Secretary Kissinger was ...
Every child deserves a world-leading education, and the Coalition Government is making that a priority as part of its 100-day plan. Education Minister Erica Stanford says that will start with banning cellphone use at school and ensuring all primary students spend one hour on reading, writing, and maths each day. ...
I would like to begin by echoing the Prime Minister’s thanks to the organisers of this Summit, Fran O’Sullivan and the Auckland Business Chamber. I want to also acknowledge the many leading exporters, sector representatives, diplomats, and other leaders we have joining us in the room. In particular, I would like ...
Good morning. Thank you, Rosemary, for your warm introduction, and to Fran and Simon for this opportunity to make some brief comments about New Zealand’s relationship with the United States. This is also a chance to acknowledge my colleague, Minister for Trade Todd McClay, Ambassador Tom Udall, Secretary of Foreign ...
Good morning, tēnā koutou and namaskar. Many thanks, Michael, for your warm welcome. I would like to acknowledge the work of the India New Zealand Business Council in facilitating today’s event and for the Council’s broader work in supporting a coordinated approach for lifting New Zealand-India relations. I want to also ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out the Coalition Government’s plan for its first 100 days from today. “The last few years have been incredibly tough for so many New Zealanders. People have put their trust in National, ACT and NZ First to steer them towards a better, more prosperous ...
A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bianca Baggiarini, Lecturer, Australian National University Last week, reports emerged that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are using an artificial intelligence (AI) system called Habsora (Hebrew for “The Gospel”) to select targets in the war on Hamas in Gaza. The system has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Johan Lidberg, Associate Professor, School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University The most significant recommendation in the Senate inquiry report on the functionality of the Commonwealth FOI system is this: move the federal Freedom of Information (FOI) function from the Office ...
Analysis: The government was under attack on multiple fronts during a week of relentless criticism and then faced its first Question Time in Parliament, Peter Wilson writes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Di Winkler, Adjunct Associate Professor, La Trobe University Shutterstock A home – in the physical and emotional sense – is foundational to living an ordinary life with a feeling of inclusion. National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants with the highest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darren Roberts, Conjoint Associate Professor in clinical pharmacology and toxicology, St Vincent’s Healthcare Clinical Campus, UNSW Sydney Veronika Kunitsyna/Shutterstock Red imported fire ants are a particularly nasty type of ant because they are aggressive, and inflict painful stings that may ...
Christopher Luxon says the new government is going to continue everything that the previous one put into place to help with the recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle. ...
Live - Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has been in Wairoa this morning to gauge progress of the town's recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle. Watch a media conference with him here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Pavlovich, Senior lecturer in the School of Accounting and Commercial Law, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington The new coalition government has announced a suite of tax reforms, including reintroducing the ability for property investors to deduct the interest ...
“The new government has a clear choice to make before Christmas. Do they live up to their stated intention of governing for all New Zealanders, or do they dash the hopes of tens of thousands of kiwi workers by unilaterally abolishing Fair Pay ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kimberley Reid, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Atmospheric Sciences, Monash University titoOnz, Shutterstock You’ve probably heard El Niño brings hot and dry weather to the eastern states, but what about the rest of Australia? Are we all in for a scorcher ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Currie, Professor of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock Heatwaves are a major public health hazard. Socially disadvantaged people are especially exposed to extreme heat and other impacts of climate change. Many people experiencing homelessness – more than 120,000 ...
The Free Speech Union has sent 14 Cabinet Ministers a comprehensive Briefing to the Incoming Government, outlining five key areas of policy that the Government must address in order to protect and expand Kiwis’ speech rights. We look forward to ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis says she has already met twice with KiwiRail bosses over a "major cost blowout" in the project to replace the Interislander ferries. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the National Party to front up to consumers who will face 15% higher prices for some services from the likes of Uber, Airbnb and food delivery apps after their app tax U-turn rather than trying to erase all ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hunter Fujak, Lecturer in Sport Management, Deakin University While 2023 was a watershed year for Australian women’s sport due to the Matildas’ stirring run at the Women’s World Cup, netball is going through its worst period ever. Netball Australia and the ...
Responding to news that Wellington City Councillors have voted down a proposal to reduce business rates in the capital, Taxpayers’ Union Policy Adviser, James Ross, said: “When Mayor Tory Whanau comes out with a line like ‘I couldn’t in good ...
The new tertiary education minister says Te Pūkenga will be replaced with eight to 10 individual institutions, and hopes legislation will be in place within eight months. ...
Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission has today launched a short film calling for the public and government to champion and protect human rights ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “Seventy-five years on, ...
The parliamentary motion passed today , a full two months after Israel’s slaughter of Palestinian civilians began, says: "Express grave concern at the ongoing violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories, unequivocally condemn ...
To replace $700 million a year of revenues lost from a foreign buyers tax, the new coalition government is dumping the previous government’s smokefree 2025 goal. This relaxing of policies will keep more people smoking for longer, costing thousands of lives per year and at least $10 billion is extra ...
London has always been a hard place to live, but in 2023, it’s almost impossible. Charlotte Doyle, a New Zealander currently living in London, explores why we keep heading there. “You’re dreaming,” the letting agent tells me impatiently over the phone. “A one-bedroom for £1,500 per month is a needle ...
With The Project wrapping up last week (you can read Duncan Greive’s excellent reflections on that here), Warner Bros Discovery has announced broadcaster Ryan Bridge will host a brand new current affairs show for Three. The currently unnamed show will focus on live news and interviews and is a return ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew H. Holden, Lecturer, School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland Dot-underwing moth (_Eudocima materna_) found in the researchers’ yard.Matthew Holden, CC BY-NC We are biodiversity researchers – an ecologist, a mathematician and a taxonomist – who were locked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Bennett, Disability Program Director, Grattan Institute The long-awaited NDIS review has looked far beyond the National Disability Insurance Scheme, taking a bird’s eye view of disability services in Australia. Critical to the future of the NDIS are services for people with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca J McLeod, Senior Research Fellow in Marine Ecology, University of Otago Climate change might not be high on its immediate agenda, but New Zealand’s new government does have one potentially significant and innovative policy. Recognising the marine environment’s ability to remove ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Happé, Graduate researcher in art history and material culture studies, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock As we get closer to Christmas, your family will probably have some kind of gathering. You will reunite with people who you might not ...
Te Whatu Ora IT worker Barry Young had a “relatively muted” digital presence prior to his arrest last week over a massive Covid data breach, Stuff reports. Young has since become something of a cause celebre among vacccine sceptics, appearing on online shows hosted by local conspiracy theorist Liz Gunn and ...
After an 11 year hiatus, legendary Aotearoa hip-hop group Home Brew are back today with their first new album in over a decade, Run it Back, and will continue that reunion at Laneway Festival in February. Breaking their indefinite hiatus, Run it Back comes off the back off the 2023 ...
There may be less than a fortnight left in the political year, but politicians seem determined to make the final days count, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Question time is ...
Labour's leader says O'Connor is "incredibly passionate" about the issue but party policy is that relevant international bodies will determine whether Israel's actions are lawful. ...
The Spinoff’s live updates editor reflects on three-and-a-half years in the role, and looks forward to what’s next. Today marks the final day of live updates on The Spinoff. It’s a big day for me given I have been editing the live updates since mid-2020, but it’s also a big ...
On a quiet morning before the first parliamentary question time of the new term, Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon took a moment to analyse and reflect on their election campaigns. When Chris Hipkins was sworn in as prime minister on January 21, 2023, he had a feeling of optimism and ...
Liv McGoverne has just returned from an enjoyable season playing rugby in England, but playing there in a Black Ferns jersey, on the sport’s biggest stage, remains the ultimate goal. McGoverne, 26, played the 2022-23 campaign for Exeter Chiefs in the Premier 15s competition. Coached by former England half-back ...
FICTION 1 The Girl from London by Olivia Spooner (Hachette, $37.99) An ideal Xmas present for the commercial fiction reader who would relish a wartime story of a shipboard romance. 2 The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35) An ideal Xmas present for the ...
After most of a billion dollars and six years’ work, the Puhoi to Warkworth section of State Highway 1 has been warmly received by long-distance motorists no longer slowed down by small town traffic lights. Where once cars would back bumper to bumper on a Sunday evening, now the ...
The first regular sitting day of the new Parliament took place on Thursday and the country got a peek at what Question Time will look like over the next three years. The sitting started with a rare moment of cross-party unity, when the Government adopted Labour MP Phil Twyford’s ...
It could be the most consequential international climate change conference yet, but it’s being held in the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s major oil producers and led by one of the country’s top oil bosses. Newsroom journalist Rod Oram is attending COP28 and joins The Detail from ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 8 December appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: Courts are halls of justice, but they are also well-financed institutional purchasers of goods and services, outsourcing much of their work to private consultants and contractors, including lawyers, advocates, psychologists, social workers, and drug counsellors who earn their living from court contracts. Though there is nothing inherently wrong ...
Analysis: The United Nations’ COP28 climate negotiations have begun their final phase with only five days or so left to agree a wide range of measures designed to accelerate nations’ climate responses in coming years. While the draft text prepared by government officials over the past week has some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wesley Morgan, Research Fellow, Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University Fiji was flooded by a severe cyclone in 2016.ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock The federal government has announced an extra A$150 million for climate finance – including $100 million for the Pacific to help protect its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Bill Shorten, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Government Services, has released the review of the NDIS, which recommends sweeping changes to the scheme. The reforms to come will see the states take ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra It’s not just kids who get report cards (PDFs these days) as school breaks up. So do government ministers, when parliament rises at year’s end. Judgments about how members of the team have performed, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bradley Smith, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock For many of us, dogs are our best friends. But have you wondered what would happen to your dog if we suddenly disappeared? Can domestic dogs make do without people? ...
He's refusing to express confidence in Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt, and while he won't abolish the commission like ACT wants, changes will be made. ...
A new chapter in the controversial dispute between an Auckland tech company and a government agency, with the tabling of a withering report in parliament today. A highly critical report from the auditor general has been tabled in parliament today, the latest twist in an acrimonious dispute between government agency ...
After most of a billion dollars and six years of work, the Puhoi to Warkworth section of State Highway One has been warmly received by long-distance motorists no longer slowed by small town traffic lights. Where once cars would back bumper to bumper on a Sunday evening, the road ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Downie, Associate Professor, Australian National University Shutterstock Until recently, financing fossil fuel projects has been relatively easy. But that is slowly changing. At the COP28 climate negotiations yesterday, Australia announced it will sign the Glasgow Statement and will ...
The prime minister has appeared to suggest that Act’s Treaty principles bill will not be allowed to proceed beyond the select committee stage. Supporting such legislation to select committee is promised in the Act-National coalition agreement, which implies the bill won’t go any further, but Luxon has not said it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Brown, Senior Research Fellow, La Trobe University Shutterstock Findings from an extensive review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) have been released with ideas on how to transform it. Led by co-chairs Bruce Bonyhady and Lisa Paul, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Plum, Senior Research Fellow in Applied Labour Economics, Auckland University of Technology New Zealand has made substantial progress on promoting LGBTQ+ rights over the past 20 years, including legalising same-sex civil unions in 2004, legalising same-sex marriage in 2013, and banning ...
Sentencing judges need to stop going lightly on those convicted of illegal hunting and the killing or stealing of livestock, Federated Farmers rural policing spokesperson Richard McIntyre says. And to keep pressure on the Government to ensure rural areas ...
The following quote can be attributed to Lisa Woods, Campaigns Director at Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand. This statement is in response to the news that the New Zealand Government has passed a motion indicating the government’s support ...
The motion by deputy prime minister Winston Peters to call for “urgent steps towards establishing a ceasefire” in Gaza has passed in parliament, after the majority of amendments suggested by the opposition were rejected. Labour leader Chris Hipkins said New Zealand should be calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has continued with National's approach in calling for "steps towards" a ceasefire, saying that must be in place before a ceasefire can begin. ...
$50,000 brand development package awarded to Rescued’s sustainable solution to surplus food Rescued, a social enterprise with a sustainable and delicious solution for food waste, has been named as the winner of the Brand For Good Competition. The ...
Responding to Hamilton City Council’s decision to spend $700,000 moving and re-developing a bus stop due to its location outside an adult toy store, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Only a couple of weeks ago, Hamilton City Council ...
During the first question time of the new parliament, MPs have debated a motion proposed by deputy prime minister Winston Peters for all parties involved in the conflict in Gaza to “take urgent steps towards establishing a ceasefire”. Members have spoken passionately about the conflict, with Labour MP Damien O’Connor ...
Aotearoa was one of only a few OECD countries missing from the initial list of 118 signatories to the pledge, but a spokesperson for the Climate Change Minister has confirmed NZ is supporting it. ...
The government’s policy to ‘restore balance to the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum’ could work to undermine more inclusive and honest ways of engaging with the past, argues history teacher Christopher Burns.When the plans for compulsory New Zealand history content were announced, Jacinda Ardern presented them as an opportunity ...
Three reviews of this year’s Basement Theatre Christmas Show.It pains me to say it but I’m a veteran of the annual Basement Theatre Christmas show at this point. In the decade that I’ve been a regular of the theatre, I’ve seen Kura Forrester do a tour-de-force 10-minute monologue that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James D Metzger, Senior Lecturer in Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney How many times have you booked travel – like a cruise or a tour – and simply clicked that you’ve read and agreed to the terms and conditions for your trip ...
The first question time of the new parliament is under way. Deputy prime minister Winston Peters has called on parties involved in the Gaza conflict to take urgent steps towards establishing a ceasefire. Greens co-leader Marama Davidson is currently seeking amendments to the motion. ...
The new Parliament's first Question Time today is coming after a motion from the Foreign Minister calling for urgent steps towards a ceasefire in Gaza. ...
North of fifty dollars a week.
I put this on another thread, but it’s worth repeating:
Bill English told the same porkie: asked about an increase in GST …
“We won’t be doing that … It is not our policy”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/politics/747758
We are leaving them in the dust – for GST
He was talking about Australian GST.
ha! nice reference
Whats the bet the GST increase will be passed AND implemented in the budget. Ie within a few days.
Has to be in the budget to get the Coalition of the willing to vote for it
While all the other offsets , well they would just ‘promises’ which hes very relaxed about.
Cant see the tax cuts coming in till election year budget to take effect say September so you only get 6 months worth in that year
I’ll take that bet and say 1 October for both.
I wish I could find the clip of Clark saying she would never support a ban on smacking.
Times change guys, the NZ that Key was talking about when he made this statement is not the NZ he inherited, he (Key) certainly had no idea how bad the books were due to Dr Cullens incompetence.
I keep saying it, this is not the way to go about eating into Key’s popularity, you guys are still using the same tactics that did not work at the last election, the more you make small minded attacks on the man the more he will be supported by the public.
I seem to remember something about “contrary to human nature”…
I wish I could find the clip of Clark saying she would never support a ban on smacking.
There is no ban on smacking, never has been, and it is probable that here never could be.
You just have to be able to justify your actions, if charged, to a court. You cannot use a rather stupid defence that used to exist. I realise that you probably think that this is a gross infringement on your ‘right’ to beat children. But that is just tough shit.
Incidentally there is no ban on assaulting people, murdering people, waving your dick in public, or anything else. What there are are consequences for all of these actions in the law. I have no idea where you get the idea of a ‘ban’ from (and I hesitate to suggest possibilities).
So you are just being as pointless as usual, or just bleating one of those wingnut urban myths? Here’s another one for you – “north of $50” tax cuts.
(like global medieval warm periods, global little iceages – for things that appear to have only happened in Europe.)
Iprent
Where did you get the idea I am defending Key, I suspect I detest the man more than you.
BTW, you are only making a fool of yourself by suggesting there is not a ban on smacking, in other posts I have mentioned that you guys are out of touch and arrogant, this type of hiding behind semantics is a classic example.
There is no ban on smacking kids. There are consequences to doing the action.
If you think that there is a ‘ban’ to stopping someone doing it, then I’d suggest that you have zero idea of what you’re talking about. It is impossible to stop people from doing anything. All society can do is put consequences in for actions.
In this case all that happened was a defence in court was removed.
Use your brain to look at what you said, rather than your mindless slogans. And pleeze stop being such a meathead.
Iprent
Please stop being so precious.
Clark lied to the people of NZ about the smacking ban, you know that, and in an attempt to change the debate you bring in the pathetic ‘child beating” slogan.
You told me that you are a smart person, while I have yet to be convinced it amazes me that you continue to parrot Labour party policy day after day without even suggesting that you can think for yourself.
Show us how smart you are Iprent, show us that you can actually debate an issue (any issue will do) without resorting to abuse or banning those who expose you as a person who is not quite as smart as you like to think you are.
Just being accurate – which you seem to have a real problem doing. Just at present I’m unsure if you could find your arse with your hands as your accuracy rate seems to be so useless.
Tell me exactly how you ‘ban’ anything unless you physically prevent A meeting B. It has never been proposed that would happen between most parents and their children.
This discussion came about because you suggested that Helen lied about ‘banning smacking’. What I’m saying is that you are a moronic idiot who is so in love with your slogans that you fail to see that she said exactly the truth.
Your avoidance behaviour in your last few comments is just that of a miserable serial liar trying to avoid the consequences of your ignorance and gross inaccuracies. You say things without bothering to check them for being correct.
Face it – basically you’re just acting like a dickhead.
I have not avoided anything Iprent.
I have invited you to debate the issue with me and show that intellect that you so often tell us about.
Your lack of patience with somebody who shares the same goal as you says so much about why Labour is in the basement at the moment.
The nation rejected your superior “we know best” attitude in Nov 08, I would have thought that you might have learnt something from that.
Seems I was wrong.
Let me know when you get over your arrogance Iprent, let me know when you wake up to the fact that the public are not going to come running back to you guys screaming “we got it wrong”.
I have some ideas that might help.
big bruv:
Still squirming I see… Lets put the specimen pin in a little deeper…
You made several inaccurate assertions. Now you’re trying to avoid taking responsibility for them by diverting attention. Pretty typical of a meathead Act supporter who’d prefer to lie rather than use their brains. Lets have a look at them again shall we…
I wish I could find the clip of Clark saying she would never support a ban on smacking.
and
Clark lied to the people of NZ about the smacking ban
You followed up on that by saying
you are only making a fool of yourself by suggesting there is not a ban on smacking
You are totally inaccurate in all of your statements. Because there never was proposed to be a ban on smacking children. If you have a child in front of you that you want to hit, then you’re perfectly capable of doing so. However, there are consequences to hitting anyone, including children and always have been. The police are entitled to look at your actions and decide if they want to press charges.
The only thing that s59a did was remove a defence in court that the judges had condemned as being too vaguely worded and prevented them from judging appropriately.
Of course hysterical dickheads like yourself seem to fail to understand that. You cling to your inaccurate slogans like a babies safety blanket. Too sacred to face the real word without their comforting embrace.
The lie is your slogan of “banning smacking” – debate that.
Iprent
I really seem to have hit a raw nerve don’t I.
I note that in true Alinsky fashion you are now accusing me of doing what you yourself are doing.
I am not incorrect Iprent, and frankly, you look like an idiot by hiding behind semantics.
But lets move on….
Nope – this is more fun….
Using stupid slogans instead of thinking is sort of your trademark. Lets keep looking at what you say…
You really do make the most stupid statements without thinking. I’m sure it is a habit we can cure you of.
Careful BB, in an unguarded moment some time ago lprent let slip he has an MBA.
A lefty with an MBA – how can he live with himself?
“A lefty with an MBA how can he live with himself?”
Because according to his own words he is “brilliant”.
Must be hard to be that smart and modest at the same time.
Not to mention an Earth Science degree. Now, where could you go with that and an MBA – ENRON?
Thank God for a Carbon Trading Market – not!
Still, he’s one of the more balanced authors on this site – not that it means much!
[lprent: Accurate on both degrees (but there are a number of other part finished ones – I get bored). However, I somehow (obsession) wound up as a high-end computer programmer. It is more fun than Enron. ]
Ken Lay – is that you?
I thought you were still inside?
[lprent: no need to repeat. We get around to releasing stuff from the auto-moderation/auto-spam eventually if they get in there by accident. ]
Point taken Ken, but no need to be so touchy. You wouldn’t be the first white collar wrong doer to be retrained into IT by the Government.
But it’s the radical change in politics that puzzles me.
Iprent
Are you sure you find this fun?, it is highly embarrassing for you, I would have thought you might have had enough by now.
I am not one given to acts of cruelty, but if you insist on carrying on then so be it.
Now, how about we chat about the appalling way you guys are going about being the opposition?
Nope, I’ll just keep an eye out for you substituting slogans for understanding.
I always find it appalling and irritating that people turn their brains off in favour of their prejudices when they hear a good slogan.
You’re one of the worst offenders. Care to debate that?
“you look like an idiot by hiding behind semantics”
Depends on your point of view.
Or are YOU accusing HIM of doing the same as what YOU are doing??
Or maybe you are both accusing each other of doing what you both are doing and this is just a tangled web of hypocrisy?!
Ok sure, they have banned smacking “for the purpose of correction”.. congratulations you win the obtuse medal of the day.
I suppose they never banned smoking in workplaces either, because there is no smoking guards armed with water pistols walking the corridors.
lprent theres no clip – it was an audio. DO you want it?
Oh my god. Well put. At LAST a commentator that actually understands the amendment to section 59.
I applaud you, Iprent. Now can you take some of that reasoning over to Farrar’s blog with his band of merry christian child bashers who appear not to have even read s 59???
[lprent: I think that the intellectual inbreeding over there is a bit intense. I’ll concentrate on keeping my home site clean of the same problem. ]
Yeah good point. Fair enough. I must stop reading it actually. The populist, christian-based, uneducated posts and comments over there just wind me up for the entire day!
I have to support iprent.
Smacking is permited under quite a range of circumstances. Read the law bro.
I think the clip is the Radio Rhema interview with Bob McCrostie, and now you are playing the political game of symantics. A very crafty politician can get out of almost any statement by using symantics. And for me it is extremely poor that “we’ have to resort to this. Once an arguement has entered this stage it has been won/lost for the majority. We are not dumb, even if we do not get into politics
John English siad the books were brilliant.
Let us konw if you ever find the Clark clip {irrelevant anyway as we are talking $$$ now, so dear to the right}
So replaying his old words is ‘small minded’ and will make him ‘more popular’
The context of the interview was that the books would be looking so bad and of course the tax cuts had to be reversed as well.
Two broken promises! Let us be the judge of what the voters want to hear
Like my grandad always said..
“Never trust a tory!”
Funny that, mine always told me never to trust a socialist and always check your wallet when you have been in their company.
funny, that was exactly what an Aussie mate of mine used to say about Key in the 1990’s (the checking your wallet bit after being in his company)
grandfathers tend to be a bit too attached to cliches..
A bit like my last sentence.
However every analysis I have seen of Right vs Left politicians and keeping their promises, the Right falls short.
This is no surprise to anyone, including the Right. They know what they are doing. They are just disingenuous.
When asked about his change of stance, Key replied, “I’m pretty relaxed about it”.
Please watch your language. And it’s not nice wishing that others were deceased. UPDATE: Deleted other abusive comments. You’re not welcome here Moon Goddess – MF
Mr Key? Is that you?
Ghost
You and I agree on one thing, we both want Key gone.
But, you can bash him as much as you want it is going to get you anywhere, you need to drop the tired old aggressive socialist style of attack and think a bit smarter.
Kiwis rejected that style of politics and that style of leader, sure these type of attacks might raise the morale of your hard line supporters but they are not the ones you need to convince, middle NZ is where it is at Ghost and while you might feel better with attack politics the average voter is turned off by it.
You need to drop the tired old socialist-as-an-insult cliche.
Just because people are to the left of you does not make them a socialist.
And being called a socialist is not an insult. I would be far more insulted being called a neo con than a socialist!
But seriously. Using the loaded S word just makes everything else you say kind of vanish in a right-headed haze.
Use what ever you like Magoo, but prepared to be on the opposition benches for years and years to come.
You guys need to change….big time.
Your message is not getting through, the public are yawning at what you have to say and the people who are saying it.
Oh you are so banned – MF
ahh….and here is a classic example of what I was talking about.
To be fair, our new friend “Moon Goddess” seems to be quite non-partisan.
Your line of reasoning as as tired as I am of dicussing it with the closed minded right.
I really could not give a rats ass what you think I or people you think I am associated with (read: I am not) should do.
You are just another disingenuous righty come to these here boards to make trouble. Your mind has been made up and is thus CLOSED to all further discussion.
You seem to assume that you have some wisdom to impart here. Your tired old cliches and insults really are pathetic and do not add one iota to the debate.
Go back to your cave.
Got any more cliché’s you want to toss in ?
My mind is not closed, I was a supporter of Key, now I see him as the most dangerous man in the country.
Those with closed minds are the Labour people who refuse to admit that they are on the wrong track and have not yet accepted that the nation turned away from their style of politics.
Ahh another enlightened Act supporter.
You were fooled into thinking key would lie through his teeth and then sell NZ out to the Neo-Con Way(TM) but it turns out he fooled you instead.
Good for you….
Gee Big bruv , wonder why the Dom is running the video clip on its web page.
I suggest TVNZ or TV3 will do the same on the news. Its such an easy story to do.
Showing Key is a liar-eventually the wider public get it. Its not rocket science.
But will Key go on Q+A this week and will Espiner have the nerve to confront him over the broken promises and the tax cuts which are paid for with tax increases
So bloody what?
Are you going to rely on the mindless NZ media to do your job for you?
The Nat’s had to battle nine years of media bias to defeat Clark, the sooner you learn that you no longer set the rules of the game the better.
You highlight exactly my point Ghost, you are a hard lefty, you are going to get all excited about this clip showing on the news, middle NZ or the floating voter does NOT CARE LESS.
Last time I checked neither do you.
You comments are kind of ridiculous. They sound an awful lot like the US republican propaganda to be honest. You don’t watch/read a lot of fox news per chance??
– liberal use of “socialist” (pun intended)
– liberal media bias
– clueless
yep..I am smelling Fox in there….
keys nose is growing as we speak – i wish i could do pinocchiokeyphotoshop
from wikipedia
The name Pinocchio is a Tuscan word meaning “pine nut” – says it all really
That nice Mr Key is having a terrible time in the house.
Repeating his lie over and over isn’t helping either.
And the nzherald reported it, so much it for being in keys back pocket.
It took them a whole year to get out of it.
Oh FFS. This thread resembles Kiwiblog.
[lprent: Yep. Idiotic isn’t it. But look at the participants. ]
Iprent
This is your place, I will play by your rules.
Fire away….
Always allowing for the fact that I work for a living and from time to time I have to pop out and administer a beating to my non union employees for not increasing productivity.
I have to work as well. However I’m usually beating software into submission. Right now it is a recalcitrant IIS7 server that is failing to deliver my WPF xaml application, and prefers sending me 401 ‘Unauthorised’ errors instead. The IIS6 server serves it perfectly, and so would Apache if I tried that.
Fortunately there was a convenient target blathering slogans to offload the Mickeysoft frustration into, while I had a wee think about what they’d screwed up this time.
Iprent
My reply seems to have vanished into the ether…
Or did you delete it because I embarrassed you again?
Bruv, nothing you could ever say would ever embarrass anyone on the left. I’d say that it embarrasses people on the right but they’re far to inconsistent to realise that they should be embarrassed.
I don’t know, I often feel embarrassed for him.
Ken Lay!, Is that you – I thought you were still inside?
Last time I checked, Lay had been dead for quite a while.
Who bloody cares, The world has changed since 1988 or haven’t you lot noticed.
Shows how desperate Goff is getting bringing this crap up
Um, this vid is from 2008, not 1988.
You might recall there was an election coming up at the time.
I am sorry your post is out of context. Nat are not increasing GST to cover debt, so John Key is technically correct. Even so I still believe that it is not a step in the right direction. His actions are that of a 2nd term government I was looking for someone to have a positive radical change in philosophy, but this appears not to have occurred. What I see is a tampering of the deck chairs.
His comments are to be taken as the same as Labours “Free” childcare, Michael Cullen NZ cannot afford taxcuts (pre 2005 electon) then giving them to us,& Helen Clarks interview with Bob McCoskie on Radio Rhema re S59.
I want more for NZ and what I can see Lab are not displaying anything that will move us forward. I was hoping Nats had a great plan (Like Obama) there is none, and the left have nothing to offer as well.
Not a good look.
The Two Faces of John Key
Politians, they have lied in the past, they are lying today and they will be lying tomorrow. When will we ever learn!