Because you were the only one willing to pay, Patricia, I'd tried to post an image; the banana growing in my tunnel house, spectacularly large and out-of-zone, using the url from Facebook where I'd posted it yesterday, but failed to produce anything other than a question-box. I got distracted setting up a Zoom link to Uganda as I'm speaking to a group of farmers there about forest-gardening later today, and so didn't fix up the mis-post in time to deflect comment 🙂
Ugandans should know all about bananas. I lived in Kampala in the early 70s and discovered that there were at least 30 different varieties of banana grown there, although mostly they were not sweet and were eaten after cooking.
It's mama was growing, out of doors, on the West Coast (South Island), which has hot summers and plenty of rain. Keeping water to this one is a challenge!
Patricia – I've not posted on Facebook for a long time now; jaded, I suppose, but now I feel the sap rising and want to share the green-ness and the growth, so I'm re-starting my posting habit – I've lots of pictures to share and ideas to float 🙂
He's having a go at extending the boundaries on the Nat comfort zone:
On Tuesday, businesswoman and respected Māori leader Traci Houpapa will provide insights into building relationships with whānau and iwi, and outline where she thinks the party has been going wrong.
The party’s position on some Māori kaupapa has caused controversy in recent years, including claims the Government is being “separatist” in its pursuit of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Luxon told Newsroom the party's plans to get rid of the Māori Health Authority, which is set to be implemented this year, remain unchanged for now. “That’s the starting point, but that’s the question I want them to go away and think about very deeply," he said.
“Traci will be giving her view on Māoridom and where the National Party sits in respect of some of that. I’m trying to make sure we hear all perspectives.’’
It's all about pressure, eh? Doug Graham advancing Maoridom in the '90s got replaced by a pivot to China for 20 years. Now they've got Asians up to a significant minority of the populace they're feeling the need to mask their strategy with another stint at being pro-Maori. Gotta balance them 17% & 15% minorities!
My suggestion is you worry about something closer to home – potato's lying unharvested in the ground. Grain crop swaying in the breeze, while combine harvesters are parked up waiting for drivers who didn't make it through the merry-go-round called our border controls.
''John Key, Bailing Out if the Going gets Tough.''
Yes, his astrologer told him Covid was on the way so he had better bale.
Of course that was the best thing that ever happened to National as it turned out. Labour has done the donkey work with Covid. They are now old, jaded and hapless. National are fresh and ready to go. Hopefully having learnt from Labour what not to do, they can slowly get this nation back to a functional state.
"When Mr Luxon promised "a real shake-up" last year, it wasn't just a slip-of -the-tongue of a fresh-faced, inexperienced Leader. Two months later he has spelled it out:
Robert, stop rowing against the tide. Learn to look for tide changes. The tides 'are a changing,' No amount of bluster and having some supposed fun at my expense can save you or your stable mates. I tell you this as a fellow poster…and out of concern!
Tides though, don't turn once every three years, they're in and out twice daily; political tides change at every poll, we are encouraged to believe, although in my experience, they don't!
There has been no change, only tide-change-chatter 🙂
National rising 5% points to 31.5%, to its highest since March 2020 (37%), while support for Act NZ was up 1% point to a new record high of 18.5%.Support for the Opposition Maori Party fell 2% points to 1% in December… Labour support was down 0.5% points to 35.5% and support for the Greens decreased by 2% points to 8.5%.
No switch from ACT to National does seem peculiar – as does the MP drop size. Perhaps their method of polling is suspect? Or maybe there were fluctuations happening throughout the populace in December…
Yes, they are either off the mark, or ahead of the curve?
I read somewhere that polling has shifted away from landlines. The cry used to be that polls weren't picking up people with mobiles.
I have both. The only thing I like about mobiles is their convenience. Apart from that I become tired of being told …. move….can't…..better spot….that's better…hello!
I, for one, do hope Maori have a lot to do with three waters reform.
It would be great for a more holistic, sustainable, generational, spiritual and guardianship attitude to prevail.
As opposed to an ownership, commercial and dumping ground model with minimum standards and 'enforcement' done by district/regional councillors with farming interests.
What you don't understand is Maori have a long term plan for complete control of New Zealand ( oops – Aotearoa. Forgive my ignorance).
It started in the early 90s and has been an up and down process. But recently things have quickened.
Take the name ''Aotearoa. ''That basically superseded New Zealand almost overnight. Woke TV is helping the process along nicely. Talk about being hoisted by your own petard.
Maybe folk now understand why Nanaia Mahuta is so determined to get Three Waters underway. I would not like to be her if she fails.
All movements start with education. I would invited anyone to visit a year one class for new entrants ( state schools). If you can tell the difference between that and a kohanga, you will be a better person than me.
And so our state education system is producing useful idiots, while the average Maori in the street is also a useful idiot for his Pan Maori elite class who claim all things in their name. That's very important to understand.
I would like to thank taxpayers on this site for my latest Iwi Covid package. Gloves, masks, kai, washing products and a food voucher worth a lot of money. Chur!
Excellent, I am gonna die an old man before 'whitey' undoes the harmful direction we are headed in.
I heard a bit of AC Grayling on the tranny in the weekend. He spoke of Grayling's law. Along the lines of 'Something will not be done if it costs those that can stop it happening'. Eg landlord politicians sorting the housing shortage.
It is way past time for the 'have-nots' to have more influence in our direction.
Approximately 1/3 of NZ's population is in Auckland. I'm not aware of too many councillors in this part of the world having farming interests.
3Waters will not improve water quality one iota, and I suspect Labout know that. The plan is about assuaging Labour's Maori caucus.
Going forward, I too hope Maori get a say in water management. On the basis of one person one vote, in equal measure to every non-Maori, and appointed to governance on merit alone.
Plenty of golfers go a lifetime without ever doing it, but British amateur golfer Neil Watts has achieved a dozen hole-in-ones in the last seven months!
The odds against him must be astronomical. You'd need to know how many times he's hit the ball in that period, and then the ratio of the size of the hole to the area in front of his club (quadrisphere?) to do the maths.
According to the National Hole-in-One Registry, the odds of a tour player hitting a hole-in-one are 3,000-to-1, while for average players they are 12,000-to-1.
But that's just for one of them. Twelve in a sequence is probably unprecedented. Luck & fate lie outside science. He even got one of them while being filmed about his story by ITV!
he had it filmed. He had the camera on the green at the time, so it showed the ball going in as well."
Golf tradition dictates that if a player hits a hole-in-one, they must then buy a drink for everyone in the bar in the clubhouse after completing their round. Watts twice upheld this tradition, but as it was "very costly," he's had a rethink on his generosity. "When I did it the third time, I learned I had to put the key in the car and get out pretty quick after I got back."
All the ones I have belonged to over the years included a little item in your sub which paid for the round of drinks. Unfortunately, in my 55 years of playing they never had to pay out once. I would have had at least 10 within 3 cm of the hole but none ever went in. Sob.
You mean a homing device, with transmitter inserted into base of random selected hole prior to playing? Good theory but more likely when playing for money & he's amateur. Reputation-building strategy? That's plausible.
The Conservative Party could recruit him as candidate, eh? With his luck he'd be PM surprisingly fast…
Another insightful interview from Aron Mate' with guest Andrew Cockburn. Washington editor for Harper’s Magazine. His latest book is “The Spoils of War: Power, Profit and the American War Machine.”
From Ukraine to Yemen, US arms industry reaps the spoils of war
Interesting part with CIA operative Tony Poe, aka Anthony Poshepn, the person Kurtz from Apocalypse Now was (apparently) based on at about 45 minutes in….
"It described a policy change as “essential”, suggesting a compromise to take into account the circumstances of Māori and Pacific Islanders might be to means-test superannuation from the time people reached 65 until they reached a later age at which point the benefit would become universal."
For those getting the $22-$34,000 per year, putting an income benchmark over it until you got to say 75 would be worth having a look at. Say you had an independent income of $50k a year above NZSuper.
It is fiendishly complicated to means test pensions, and even then people (rich pricks) lie or use devious methods (often sort of "legal") to hide assets.
The Australian pension is means tested and the form you have to fill out is complicated and very long.
It will not be a surprise if Super is tinkered with, but not while Jacinda is PM. Not only that, I expect to see tax increases and or cuts to social services. There will be a lot of tears before bedtime but the Government can’t spend billions of borrowed money without there being consequences.
Need to start taxing rich pricks like you more, instead of plunging older people into hardship and closing hospitals. People like you really make me want to vomit.
[last chance before a ban. You will either provide evidence for what you claim about PR here, or withdraw the statement, or take a ban. Next time I see you making such a claim about anyone without providing a quote and a link to back it up, I will ban you with not warning (you’ve had enough warnings already for this pattern of behaviour). Certainly not going to be doing any more chasing up.
I have never voted for ACT in my 23 years of voting. I have voted for for Labour (2005, 08, 14, 17 and 20), The Alliance (99) and NZ First (02 and 11), but not ACT. And I never will vote for ACT. Looking at staying home next election, but we shall see.
The guy is a prude who wants abortion, homosexuality, sex outside of marriage, birth control, gender transitions criminalized, and wants a return to a time when women had their lives controlled by men. He has also suggested that men be allowed to beat their wives.
The guy is an enemy of all that is good and decent in this world, and by extension, that makes you such a thing Puck. It is clearly obvious that you are a homophobic prude who wants abortion criminalized.
Yeah sorry about that, I thought copy and pasting what Millsy said would be more efficient
Also I'm pretty sure Joe Rogan believes exactly nothing of what Millsy says (if shown proof I'll admit I was wrong)
'It is clearly obvious that you are a homophobic prude who wants abortion criminalized.'
Pretty sure I'm not (but I won't post my porn searches as proof), I mean my sister in law would be unimpressed by me being homophobic, the people for whom I once posed nude for would be surprised to know I'm a prude (I was a student and I needed the money)
As for criminalizing abortion, no I don't believe that at all and I don't believe I've ever said that on here
" the people for whom I once posed nude for would be surprised to know I'm a prude (I was a student and I needed the money)".
God, that would have broken the camera. I would imagine the people who took the pics would be washing their eyes out with bleach,
Any who, I retract all allegations against you, and Mr Rogan.
[two week ban for wasting my time. Next time reply to moderation directly. And expect bans to increase if you fail to follow the instructions given in the past two motes – weka]
You may well be expecting any and all those things Ross. Your concept of spending is predicated on the RBNZ running out of numbers in their computer system (where all these payments happen) of course. So you will be surprised to learn the govts spending capacity is exactly where it was before it paid for the wage subsidy.
That is the understatement of the year. When my wife turned 65, and applied for New Zealand Super, the New Zealand authorities insisted that she apply for the Australian super because we had lived there for a number of years and could be eligible. We told them that we were not going to be eligible because our assets exceeded the cut-off figure. We demonstrated that but they insisted she apply. The form was, IIRC, 48 pages long. You were liable for prosecution if you made a mistake and got more of the pension than you were allowed.
We filled it in, posted it off and in due course were declined it. Thank God the Government here has never made her do it again or made me go through the process. It was a nightmare and must be even more so if you actually qualify for anything. You are required, by law, to notify them of any change in your circumstances, such as the value of shares you own going up or down. You have to keep that up forever, at least in theory.
The New Zealand system is vastly simpler and fairer. Don't even think about bringing in means testing here. You will find that people here will, as they approach 65, do what Australians do. Spend everything above the means test exemption amount and get rid of it. I'll illustrate this for a couple who own their home. You will get the full pension if you assets are less than $405k. You will get no pension if your assets are more than $891k. The pension is about $40k. You cannot get an income of $40k from half a million dollars worth of assets.
The first thing you can do is carry out an expensive upgrade of your house or move to a bigger place. Your primary home is not included in the assets limit. Go for a long, expensive overseas trip. (Well that was in the old days). People did it, and it made very good sense. I know a number of them who had worked out that they were far worse out if they actually tried to save more than $400k toward retirement. The loss of the pension far outweighed the income they could make from their savings.
Pregnant,jetsetting,journalist and champion of wimmin's rights puts the boot into the NZ govt ..again.
'The fact of the matter is I’m a New Zealand citizen with a legal right to return in a unique and desperate situation. And I’ve applied under the emergency allocation system, I’ve done everything right, why is there such a problem?”
'
'Hipkins said Bellis’ emergency MIQ application was rejected because her flights were booked outside the 14-day requirement.
“I understand officials have also since invited her to apply for another emergency category. I encourage her to take these offers seriously,” Hipkins said.'
'New Zealand journalist Charlotte Bellis says the Government’s latest response to her situation is “incredibly disrespectful”,
Human rights lawyer Frances Joychild QC said the Government was breaching Bellis’ human rights by not allowing her back home. Joychild previously represented pregnant woman Bergen Graham, who was stuck in El Salvador while pregnant and denied an MIQ spot six times.
Joychild filed a judicial review claim on behalf of Graham, and shortly after her allocation was granted. She said the fact pregnant New Zealanders could not automatically return to their country was “disgraceful”, and the Government should change this rule, as Australia had.
Hipkins defending the patriarchy merely destroys his reputation. You can understand why he's peeved that ScoMo has decided not to discriminate against pregnant women.
Bellis told our media that her application was filed in response to Ardern's declaration of intent to open the border at the start of Feb. The anonymous bureaucrat was pissed off that she scheduled on the basis of Ardern's good faith, apparently, and rejected her accordingly.
Having found spurious undisclosed reasons to discriminate successfully against 90% of the pregnant applicatants, the scumbags in the bureaucracy must be extremely irritated that their make it up as you go along arbitrary rules didn't manage to keep out the other 10%. Or perhaps they got through due to a bureaucrat with a conscience?
I'm also puzzled why she hasn't explained her inability to reschedule in the 14-day window, and why she hasn't been liaising with our embassy. Consequently I can see why others are sceptical of her. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt.
Can only assume she's waiting for her partner to finish his contract?
She doesn't want to leave him behind because he might not get in, which is understandable, but their insistence on choosing a delayed travel date didn't meet the requirements of the category they applied for.
I wonder also if there is such a sense of independence which is preventing her from taking government advice. You know, she’s a big star on the world stage and has lived in a pretty hostile environment for a long time. She has had to get there the hard way by following a ferociously unconventional and self-reliant pathway.
hahahaha … "Having found spurious undisclosed reasons to discriminate successfully against 90% of the pregnant applicatants, the scumbags in the bureaucracy must…"
having 'found' 'undisclosed' – its not possible for the two things to go together as you have structured it there nincomhorsepoop
Dennis, how do you know they are “ spurious undisclosed reasons” it’s entirely possible that those in charge of allocation of limited MIQ spaces know a lot more than privacy allows them to divulge. Maybe the declined applicants have settled lives in another country which they intend to go back to after the birth but wish to have their baby in NZ for monetary or other reasons, I doubt it is free in Australia for NZ citizens. MIQ is under a huge stress and is not there to satisfy peoples whims no matter what the reason. It was never intended to be a flit in, flit out option.
And Womens Cricket, DJs etc are not a good example, those sort of spaces were arranged a long time ago. A lot of the complaints and static seems to come from Kiwis who have abandoned NZ quite a while ago but wish to avail themselves of taxpayer funded services that they have not contributed to for ages.
I get that you're trying to express a reasonable view, Adrian. I refrained from expressing an opinion on MIQ for months due to feeling agnostic & plenty of others arguing both sides. Quarantine was sensible as a strategy.
I can now see that bureaucrats are not being sensible in managing the system. It's obvious to me (a male) that pregnant women ought to have been catered for by design. One rule for all was wrong-thinking – I suspect it was by male decision-makers (possibly including women who haven't been pregnant or lack empathy).
They use privacy law to avoid accountability. The minister ought to instruct them to stop denying kiwis their citizens' rights. He has failed to do so, apparently. Labour's poll rating slide occurs due to such patterns of behaviour…
I suspect there is much more known about this by the govt and officials but they cannot disclose it. Hipkins went as far as he could.
She was on the news (?) last night and I am very cynical. It looked like she was performing to me.
I haven't seen any other pregnant women come through MIQ, with or without difficulty, being paraded on television like she has been parading herself. Like 99% of MIQ returnees they have sucked up the system and done it all for the good of New Zealand and I say 'thank you'
There will be thousands of difficult stories to be told out from this, and most won't be. Some have the ability to get on a platform and shout to the world
I agree with giving a thank you to those working in MIQ.
I also think it curious that the journo cannot bring her travel within the 14 day window and that she has not contacted the relevant consular officials. I also think it very likely that there is more to this than we are being told that is known by NZ officialss. Instead the journo seems to be getting very snooty because she originally applied in the incorrect category and was correctly declined. Officials apparently reached out to her to ask her to resubmit in the correct category and she has said, more or less 'you've got the info you do it."
Hard to feel very sympathetic if these are the circumstances.
I just find it curious all round……could they not have gone to London from Belgium to get married there? Is there something special about having to have the marriage in a Catholic church in Belgium (and wait 6 months?) in these urgent circumstances.
I just have a sinking feeling that maybe an anti vaxx controversy may be waiting in the wings…..apparently NZers cannot be required to be vaccinated before returning but people from other countries resident in NZ can be.
Not in the slightest bit sorry for her in view of her attitude, thinking more and more that this has something of a deliberate political slant/stunt.
"… thinking more and more that this has something of a deliberate political slant/stunt."
Without a doubt.
The little flower is now threatening legal action cos her privacy has been breached. She doesn't want stuff to come out does she. So we're into the bully boy/girl phase now.
She claims Hipkins' very mild remarks yesterday were "untrue".
Officials don't lie about official actions they have taken. There will be logged proof they reached out to her and she ignored them.
The more I learn about this case, the louder my bullshit antennae hums.
The more I learn about this case, the louder my bullshit antennae hums.
Maybe we could set up an orchestra of hummers
She now has a place based on where she is, ie danger etc but this does not really suit PP (precious petal)She states
Unfortunately, the approval was not granted on the basis of medical needs but on the risk factor of our location. We were denied based on medical needs because MIQ assessed we had no supporting information of a need for time-critical, scheduled treatment.
She has taken this offer up but I think she seems quite thick not to understand that just being pregnant does not fit the requirement. If she had a letter re pre eclampsia or gestational diabetes or any of a number of things that can happen. Small for dates, high blood pressure meaning travel in third trimester is not recommended etc etc
In his Queenstown stand-up, Luxon has committed National to having candidates in the Maori electorates, next election (as previously floated by Collins, and confirmed now).
Some time this year there's going to be a major internal row: for example, on the new Maori health authority (Collins said National would scrap it).
Bullshit Dennis, they use privacy to protect the privacy of the applicants..look at the shit that Winston visited on The Nat’s for exactly that. There is a lot more to this story than we are being drip fed. As Hipkins rightly inferred, it’s not an emergency if you wish to schedule it 4 weeks in advance, you don’t do that for car crashes or heart attacks. If the rules which are there to manage occupancy were to be altered for every “ special “ person the whole thing would be unworkable.
MIQ has protected the NZ right from the start when the Government asked the gathering of 40 or 50 experts back in January of 2020 about what they had to do to protect The 5 million of us from this contagation that nobody knew anything about, they said this, this, and this, and that is what we got. Compared to similar countries that didn’t do that our death toll would have been north of 12,000, how many of them would have likely been people you and I know? And by the way, it is a pretty horrible death.
My main problem with Bellis is her audacity to laud the fucking Taliban as examplars of womens rights compared to Jacinda Ardern. It reeks of Stockholm Syndrome and is grossly insulting to JA.
You can tell that it's not bullshit when you factor in those occasions when privacy citation by bureaucrats has been accompanied by the citizens disadvantaged appealing to the anonymous bureaucrat to provide a valid reason for discrimination.
I've noticed a sufficient pattern of evasion in news stories in the past couple of decades. The oppressed individual never gets satisfaction due to the bureaucrats using privacy law to stonewall the media. I've gotten into the habit of commenting on such behaviour when it shows up. That's due to feeling solidarity with the victims of the bureaucrats.
Re her schedule, Hipkins has yet to respond to the reason Bellis gave: the PM's announcement of the (Feb) change of policy coming into effect. I agree with you re the general efficacy of the quarantine system up till now.
Finally, I thought the comparison of what she's got from our govt as compared to the Taliban was accurate. I can't recall how she personalised the PM into that comparison. Could be a valid point from you on that. You'd think the PM, as a mother, would be empathic with pregnant kiwis being made to jump through 29.5 hoops and then rejected regardless. Some journo ought to ask her.
Your crocodile weeping on behalf of Miss Bellis (what's the causa bellis here, some are starting to wonder…) is deeply moving. And deeply unnecessary, while the full force of the National Party's machine is on fast spin for her case.
'Think it possible' as Oliver Cromwell suggested in superbly plain English to some Scottish bishops in the 1640s, 'in the bowels of Christ, that you may be mistaken.'
Are you morally corrupt too? Or just too stupid to comprehend empathy and civil rights? If you want to get traction on whether I'm mistaken or not you'd have to provide proof. Too lazy to search for it, right?
An Auckland couple "destitute" in Queensland with pensions axed face the threat of repaying all the $16,000 superannuation they got since leaving New Zealand last year.
Trapped Kiwi couple Keith and Michele Gorrett's super was stopped from January 8 because they have been out of New Zealand for more than the mandatory 26 weeks under the Ministry of Social Development's Work and Income regulations.
"This just beggars belief. We are destitute and Australia doesn't provide any relief to non-residents. Please help us we have nowhere else to turn," retired mechanic Keith Gorrett, 67, said.
and that too has been raised as an issue a few times over the last year.
Next to complain are the ones that have been stuck overseas now for a while and who risk loosing their right to vote as they did not manage to get back into the country for the requirements
something that was also raised last year, by the Greens (who hopefully are lefty enough to ask for such a thing without being vilified lol)
New Zealanders stranded overseas should be allowed to vote in next year’s local government elections and the 2023 general election, the Green Party said today.
“The reality of this pandemic is lots of people cannot renew their voting rights when they are home as they normally would. The Government must extend the three-year timeframe so New Zealanders can still exercise their democratic rights,” Green Party electoral reform spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman said.
I am sure that with the bad PR here and overseas something will change very quickly. Hopefully, because this current lottery system is not working for anyone and its just a mockery of the rights people have by law.
there was a discussion yesterday about how long can you end up in isolation if someone you live with has covid and how the isolation works for contacts.
Now this was on the bottom of a herald article:
Household contacts of a case need to spend up to 10 days in isolation after a case has completed their 14 days, essentially requiring them to isolate for a total of 24 days.
Three quarters of Kiwis want house prices to fall and almost half of us want them to fall substantially, according to the latest 1News Kantar Public Poll.
…
The Greens co-leader Marama Davidson told 1News that Labour Government Ministers were failing to take the action required – such as implementing a proper capital gains tax, a wealth tax and a guaranteed minimum income for people.
"It is very very clear that the Labour Cabinet Ministers have it in their power to do the right thing and use those levers, pull on those levers so that people have a decent chance of having some decent lives," she said.
So there will potentially be very little political fallout for some decisive action on this issue from the Ministers and Govt, in fact, it could be very helpful to ensuring a third term.
"So there will potentially be very little political fallout for some decisive action on this issue from the Ministers and Govt, in fact, it could be very helpful to ensuring a third term."…yeah because we all implicitly know that Labour (and National) are such hollow, pointless husks of shit that they would never dare move or act on anything this important unless the polls told them it was safe to do so…it is plainly obvious that none of them would know a firmly held moral/ethical position if they tripped up on it, fell over and planted their faces right into the middle it.
It's interesting that MSD is insisting on repayment of NZS from those stuck overseas for 30 weeks or more. There used to be provision in the Social Security Act for MSD to decide not to recover debt. It was a limited provision to allow MSD to avoid potential unfairness when all else was unavailable such as write-off because of MSD error. The National government repealed that ability around 2013, with the support of the Labour opposition.
The prospect of a $16,000 debt is of course only one problem those in situations similar to the Gorrets are going to have to deal with, but at least there would've been some relief available if the ridiculous decision to remove it hadn't been made.
I agree with Blazer. We are often talking of looking at consequences of any decisions and doing a risk analysis. I think it would have been fairly well apparent that the Covid situation was fragile/fluid. Perhaps if/when at the end of Feb when there are possible changes to the borders/MIQ open Air NZ could do a couple of flights dedicated to bringing people like this back to NZ.
Perhaps go via Afghanistan and collect the journo on the way.
"It's hard to find the right words to express my disgust at Jacinda Ardern and this Government.
Labour was elected with a huge mandate to do something serious about growing inequality, including the housing crisis. I know it takes a while to make change but I can't see any evidence that they are even considering any action that might have a serious impact. In fact she indicated on election night that she was ruling out anything that would impact the wealthy, I guess in the hope they could keep ruling the centre for ever.
Is that the extent of Labour's aspirations now? To rule without upsetting the wealthy?
I know Jacinda is dropping in the polls and media is blaming Covid. I disagree. I reckon people are beginning to think beyond covid and remembering why they voted for her in the first place. I'd say that despite the constant undermining by right wing commentators and a vocal but very small group of anti-vaxxers, the vast majority of NZers are very happy with our covid response. You just have to look at the death rates overseas to see we are doing very well.
I think the reason why they aren't dropping more is because a National / Act government would be worse in every respect.
What worries me is that instead of becoming MORE progressive to woo back the people that voted Labour to get change, they may misread what is happening and become even more conservative.
A lot of different people have been saying the same thing, are you now saying that it is ok to critizise this government and its leader now that an Ex Green Party MP has said something?
In that case, yei! finally. Took him just a few years of misery growing in abundance, but better late to the party then to never arrive, right?.
National / Act may be worse, but seriously in regards to increasing house prices and promoting exponential growth in poverty via their politics/policies i think L/G are as good as N/A. But the next election is L/Gs too loose, and from where i am standing and from what i am hearing, losing is possible. Very much so.
If L/G lose the next election then all Kiwis will lose, some sooner than others. With temperatures and societal pressures increasing, and tempers fraying, tribal politics is here to stay, and so this iteration of civilisation's goose is nearly 'cooked'.
In fifty years' time, with any luck most of today's NZ twentysomethings will be around to think back to their COVID days – when 'woke' concerns, and concerns about 'wokeness', exercised us so – and remember how wonderful everything was. I'd love to believe that the last 50 years won't be as good as it gets – doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t demand ‘more‘, but at the same time we need to think about what ‘more‘ means.
The crucial message is to panic now, but not to despair.
Today, for large parts of the population, deeply held religious commitments conflict with the results of scientific inquiry. Therefore, science must be wrong, a cult of liberal intellectuals in urban dens of iniquity infected by people who are not “true Americans” (no need to spell out who they are). All of this has been inflamed by the very effective use of irrationality in the Trump era, including his skillful resort to constant fabrication, eroding the distinction between truth and falsehood. For a showman with deeply authoritarian instincts, and few principles beyond self-glorification and abject service to the welfare of the ultrarich, there’s no better slogan than: “Believe me, not your lying eyes.”
I know quite a few young, poorer people who voted for Labour (actually, they mostly voted for Jacinda Ardern). People who had never voted before, quite often.
Many are complaining that Labour has done nothing to improve their lives – rents keep exploding, people on benefits remain in poverty and house ownership….not even a distant dream anymore.
'A 26-year-old woman who, during her teen years, sexually assaulted a child has been sentenced to a juvenile facility and won't be required to register as a sex offender.'
'Jonathan Hatami, a Deputy District Attorney in the Complex Child Abuse Unit, said since Tubbs’ case remained in juvenile court, she will not have to register as a sex offender.'
So as a 17 year old molests a child and as a 26 year old (allegedly only transitioning after being arrested) gets sent to a juvenile facility
"Does anyone still think women (biological ones) don't get the extremely short end of the stick in society"
That's a great question, typically raced past in the rush to underline some other issue.
How would you assess that question? What sort of measures/stats/facts would be considered in deciding (if one had to) whether males or females get the short end of the stick? Compilation of such a list of stats would be fascinating in itself… bags not
Don't know where to start? How about with what you said? "He'll probably be in solitary for his entire time there," and "what sort of message does it send?"
Does it send the message that in such circumstances you're going to be in solitary the whole time?
You hope he'll be in solitary but this is LA so I wouldn't be at all surprised if some lawyer argued that his clients civil rights meant he had to be put out into the general population
An Afghani female journalist now safely in NZ very disappointed in Charlotte Bellis.See her story in Stuff today. Sorry , can’t link, bad in and out internet.
Is Chris Bishop egging Charlotte Bellis and her team on? The reason I ask this is there has been a very peculiar escalation and Chris Bishop has form in covert operations such as this.
There was his involvement in breaking out of MIQ our very own Thelma and Louise. He and his office was also instrumental in hacking the 2019 Budget. And the Wally Haumaha incident when he happened to come across all sorts of confidential leaked information.
Bishop has long assumed the role of infiltrating the public service seeking sympathetic Trojan horses and I wonder if the same thing isn't happening in the Charlotte Bellis case.
Today Charlotte Bellis is being encouraged to pursue legal action against Chris Hipkins because mentioned she was offered consular assistance in Afghanistan.
I get the uneasy feeling this is no longer about the safety of her and her baby, rather an opportunistic hit job on the government. She's been told how to apply to get back to NZ but refuses to take he advice.
Also in there at the end is an attempt by the Herald to equate Hipkins' description of the assistance offered to Bellis with Paula Benefit's doxxing of beneficiaries’ data in a leak to the very same newspaper.
Hipkins also included details Bellis had not shared, including when the minister believed she had arrived in Afghanistan and that she had been offered consular assistance. Bellis says she never gave consent for this information to be shared, and that it is also untrue.
I'm astonished that official advice to her is in question. I guess the Minister will have to prove his point – if it is true. I wonder if the advice was sent but not received?? That could explain her denial – if she's telling the truth. If the thing goes to court she would be challenged to prove that!
Who the hell does this woman think she is. The Queen. There is no way Hipkins would have revealed that information without official evidence to back it up and he is within his rights to do so. It was NOT private information about her.
"I guess the Minister will have to prove his point – if it is true."
Good grief. It is entirely up to her to prove it didn't happen. She can't and won't because it did happen. She's either a moron or is ignorant of parliamentary operational procedures.
The state's authority on privacy law disagrees with you Anne (re Hipkins). I saw her quoted earlier. Anyway, if you haven't caught up with the latest news, the deputy PM did a press conference several hours ago & announced that she had been offered a place in MIQ and I saw it reported on the tv news that she has accepted the offer.
Yes. I watched it. I don't give a tinkers cuss what the privacy commissioner might say. Hipkins did not divulge any personal information about her. He merely corrected her claims nothing was done to help her when clearly there was an attempt to help her which she chose to ignore.
In my book he is entitled to do that. The law is a big ass sometimes and so are some of the people in it.
Oh, I see. Yeah I think there's some truth in that. However I believe the bureaucracy was being disingenuous too. I wonder if she will front with a full explanation when she gets back.
Must admit I was surprised at the details in Hipkins' statements yesterday and wondered about privacy.
I get the uneasy feeling this is no longer about the safety of her and her baby, rather an opportunistic hit job on the government. She's been told how to apply to get back to NZ but refuses to take he advice.
In your link she says it's hard to get flights out of Kabul within the 2 week timeframe. This would have been my first guess about the issue.
Both sides should stop playing this out in the MSM and just sort it out and release a statement.
Agree this should now be taken out of hte public domain, but then, there is the article today of the retired couple stuck in OZ who is asked to refund their super they received whilst out of the country. Never mind that these guys can't return. So this will be in hte public domain until MIQ is declared defunct and the borders are open again to allow NZ Citizens to return.
MIQ had a purpose initially but the issue is that they never re-assessed the needs and yeah, there are the Dj's, the Labour MP, the TV stars and all the others that got in while these people are stuck. And the government will have to answer for that. At some stage some of the fault for things that go wrong need to be admitted by the Government and its minion. This 'its not us' mentality is getting tiresome and quite unbelievable. And in the meantime, these people, Charlotte Bellis, the retired couple etc are still stuck overseas.
And none of this brouhahah is a good vote getter for the left, nor does it make the government and the Labour Party look kind and in touch with people who are not rich, connected, or entertainment stars.
Must admit I was surprised at the details in Hipkins' statements yesterday and wondered about privacy.
Fair enough but it was her who made this a public story and I took Hipkins' comments to be a broad explanation of the events which took place from a government point of view.
I can't see why the 'offer of assistance not taken' up is particularly confidential, rather it provides important clarification.
Agree that a solution should be offered (done) and accepted (not done) so she can get home which is the whole point.
Yes, Bennett was right. The whole of New Zealand then heard the other side of the story – if I remember correctly those two beanies were earning more than many folk doing menial work.
I support Hipkins. Whether right or wrong, everyone has the right to defend themselves if someone calls you out.
Talking of defence, Robbo was tap dancing at the parliamentary press conference today. Where was the PM? She was in isolation. Looks like she's on another lucky roll.
You may be ok with giving up your privacy, most people aren't and we still have privacy laws in NZ because not having them harms individuals and society.
I mean, if we took your argument to its logical conclusion, anyone who doesn't like anyone else's behaviour or the way they are living could then legitimately disclose private information about that person.
No, I like my privacy. In fact I will soon have someone in court on prvacy issues.
''I mean, if we took your argument to its logical conclusion, anyone who doesn't like anyone else's behaviour or the way they are living could then legitimately disclose private information about that person.''
That's too simplistic. We are talking of an individual accusing the government. The government has a right to respond to points made …and correct them with all information available The information released was very general.
Only one side has been playing this out in the public arena aided and abetted by the Nats and ACT. The Govt. was forced to make one press release by the Covid minister in response to her claims and on behalf of the officials who had served her case.
They keep getting asked questions by the insatiable media but Robertson deftly batted them away at the weekly Press conference today. They got nothing out of him except that she's been offered an MIQ position which she doesn't deserve because of the tactics she used. But if it shuts her up and we don't hear from her again it will be worth it.
Ok Annie (Oakely) taking pot shots again. "offered an MIQ position which she doesn't DESERVE because of the tactics she used. But if it shuts her up and we don't hear from her again it will be worth it." So then how should she have managed this ??? A kiwi wanting to come home and give birth in her home country. IMO repugnant comment from you again !!!
Where is this Labour be nice, or are we only to be selectively "Nice" ??
Anne – I have a feeling we will never hear the end of this saga. There'll be a report on 14 days of hell in MIQ. The state of medical care in NZ for people who are pregnant will be next ; there are so many situations ahead that could go awry and no doubt we'll hear about each and every one of them.
Not having a SSL cert will prevent some browsers to not allow access at all on a out of date cert. Some with switch to un-encrypted HTTP. Some will just provide cached pages only.
I'll look at LetsEncrypt on the weekend.
For the moment the SSL cert is being provided by CloudFlare as a backstop. I have Cloudflare as a backup because it is good for this and for handling certain load problems. But there are usually a few people who have issues with it on their particular systems – mostly due to the severity of the caching.
Just got a timed out when trying to look at a post preview.
Error 522
Ray ID: 6d69829559c95551 • 2022-02-01 07:36:41 UTC
Connection timed out
You
Browser
WorkingSydney
Cloudflare
Workingthestandard.org.nz
Host
Error
What happened?
The initial connection between Cloudflare's network and the origin web server timed out. As a result, the web page can not be displayed.
What can I do?
If you're a visitor of this website:
Please try again in a few minutes.
If you're the owner of this website:
Contact your hosting provider letting them know your web server is not completing requests. An Error 522 means that the request was able to connect to your web server, but that the request didn't finish. The most likely cause is that something on your server is hogging resources. Additional troubleshooting information here.
I'll look at kicking up the cloudflare timeout. The post previews often take some time to process and appear.
Unfortunately I don’t really have that much spare time between now and the next weekend (fortunately a long one) for technical work like fiddling with cert installs and DNS validations outside of work.
I already spent most of the last (long) weekend catching up on a knotty low level issue and reading the Unit Titles Act cover to cover. Either always tends to drop off my intellectual resilience for the following week.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
Opinion: New Health NZ commissioner Lester Levy is authorised to assume operational leadership – chief executive Margie Apa is effectively relegated to his operational deputy The post All-powerful Levy is feudal baron of a $28b fiefdom appeared first on Newsroom. ...
That's the most inclusive thing you've said in ages. 😉
extremely zen, even![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png?x42494)
😁
Keep the good work up, Robert. Less truly is more.
A very philosophical start to the day
"Rabbits" or "white rabbits" – weren't you supposed to say this first thing to bring you good luck on the 1st of the month?
The year of the Tiger starts today. Not sure which element.
Water Tiger.
Robert is correct. That's exactly what Luxon said in his speech.
Thanks, everyone.
The distillation of all I know.
Or rather, don't know.
What else can one say.
Hello Robert. What were you going to say?
Here’s a penny.
Because you were the only one willing to pay, Patricia, I'd tried to post an image; the banana growing in my tunnel house, spectacularly large and out-of-zone, using the url from Facebook where I'd posted it yesterday, but failed to produce anything other than a question-box. I got distracted setting up a Zoom link to Uganda as I'm speaking to a group of farmers there about forest-gardening later today, and so didn't fix up the mis-post in time to deflect comment 🙂
Ugandans should know all about bananas. I lived in Kampala in the early 70s and discovered that there were at least 30 different varieties of banana grown there, although mostly they were not sweet and were eaten after cooking.
Thanks, Koff. I'll ask for growing advice. Mine's spectacularly large-leafed, but hasn't flowered yet. It has pupped though, so now I have 5 plants 🙂
Lets hope you havnt got an ornamental one robert
Click on photo, then copy the URL and paste it in a comment. I'll edit to embed it 👍
Thanks, weka.
https://www.facebook.com/TheForestGardeners/photos/3010279029183864
That looks like a cold variety of banana. For those who don't know, some Asian varieties of banana can handle cold temps…even snow.
Yeah, used to look after a garden that had them growing outside in London. Used to wrap them in straw over winter and bag the fruit to speed ripening.
I wrap mine also, Cricklewood and the leaves still look a bit many come spring. Looking forward to bagging the fruit!
Meant "manky".
It's mama was growing, out of doors, on the West Coast (South Island), which has hot summers and plenty of rain. Keeping water to this one is a challenge!
https://www.facebook.com/TheForestGardeners/photos/a.1842561705955608/3010070505871383/
Robert you gave an interesting start to Feb Cheers. I'll look on your facebook.
Patricia – I've not posted on Facebook for a long time now; jaded, I suppose, but now I feel the sap rising and want to share the green-ness and the growth, so I'm re-starting my posting habit – I've lots of pictures to share and ideas to float 🙂
Great You will improve Facebook![laugh laugh](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/teeth_smile.png?x42494)
New broom sweeps Farrar out the door…
He's having a go at extending the boundaries on the Nat comfort zone:
It's all about pressure, eh? Doug Graham advancing Maoridom in the '90s got replaced by a pivot to China for 20 years. Now they've got Asians up to a significant minority of the populace they're feeling the need to mask their strategy with another stint at being pro-Maori. Gotta balance them 17% & 15% minorities!
This is what I feared from Luxon – he MAY be prepared to go down the woke path.
He obviously hasn't perceived the millstone around Labour's neck that Maori are.
Refreshing to see the racist door opened so early in the morning.
Yep, at least Luxon wants all sides of a debate heard.
Luxon called in an All Black coach to facilitate team-building at the conference.
I believe he also had Sean Plunket in to coach PR and Communications.
David Seymour on Effective Leadership.
John Key, Bailing Out if the Going gets Tough.
Cameron Slater, Muck Raking.
My suggestion is you worry about something closer to home – potato's lying unharvested in the ground. Grain crop swaying in the breeze, while combine harvesters are parked up waiting for drivers who didn't make it through the merry-go-round called our border controls.
''John Key, Bailing Out if the Going gets Tough.''
Yes, his astrologer told him Covid was on the way so he had better bale.
Of course that was the best thing that ever happened to National as it turned out. Labour has done the donkey work with Covid. They are now old, jaded and hapless. National are fresh and ready to go. Hopefully having learnt from Labour what not to do, they can slowly get this nation back to a functional state.
Key's feckless jumping-ship – " the best thing that ever happened to National"
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Well, yes. It served them the coup de grace I'd been wishing-for.
I'm astonished that his followers have been able to so noiselessly re-imagine history and still adore their abuser!
And now we have the Lindworm's brother in Luxxy! At least he's not covered in scales (it seems, so far…)
Oh no!
Seen the scales!
"When Mr Luxon promised "a real shake-up" last year, it wasn't just a slip-of -the-tongue of a fresh-faced, inexperienced Leader. Two months later he has spelled it out:
Robert, stop rowing against the tide. Learn to look for tide changes. The tides 'are a changing,' No amount of bluster and having some supposed fun at my expense can save you or your stable mates. I tell you this as a fellow poster…and out of concern!![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png?x42494)
I appreciate your concern, Blade, I really do.
Tides though, don't turn once every three years, they're in and out twice daily; political tides change at every poll, we are encouraged to believe, although in my experience, they don't!
There has been no change, only tide-change-chatter 🙂
Watch those gimlet eyes…..
Now that was priceless Robert.![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png?x42494)
Robert reads the tea leaves like a pro. The trouble is he has a cup of coffee, hence his proclivity for not seeing things clearly or in perspective.
What's priceless is the gift Key gave National by resigning.
But hey, Roberts your guru. Who am I to argue.![frown frown](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/confused_smile.png?x42494)
Herald today says he is using…John Key's agency=Curia.-no link sorry ,no sub to NZH.
Curia is Farrar. That's who they already use
I did hear a comment that Luxon wants to be more inclusive of people.
What was Luxon like when it came to the cost of flights when a CEO of Air NZ?
Roy Morgan doing funny stuff. However, the trend is similar to other polls.
https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/8889-nz-national-voting-intention-december-2021-202201310600
No switch from ACT to National does seem peculiar – as does the MP drop size. Perhaps their method of polling is suspect? Or maybe there were fluctuations happening throughout the populace in December…
Yes, they are either off the mark, or ahead of the curve?
I read somewhere that polling has shifted away from landlines. The cry used to be that polls weren't picking up people with mobiles.
I have both. The only thing I like about mobiles is their convenience. Apart from that I become tired of being told …. move….can't…..better spot….that's better…hello!
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2008/01/31/the-impact-of-cell-onlys-on-public-opinion-polling/
Nat/Act 50
Lab/Gr 44
That looks pretty good for the opposition if it holds as a trend. Labour at 35.5% is a worry.
Not sure why Roy Morgan puts the MP with Nat/Act-unlikely.
To be more concise – the trend of National gaining support.
'Not sure why RM puts the MP with Nat/Act-unlikely.''
Agree. Of course if Labour does not deliver Three Waters for Maori, anything is possible.
Three Waters is not about Maori. That is Nat/Act spin.
Three Waters has everything to do with Maori.
I have a fractious relationship with Internal Affairs. They have some of the most incompetent staff I have ever had dealings with.
That said, I will swallow my pride, and quote them this time around.
https://www.dia.govt.nz/three-waters-reform-programme-iwi-maori-interests
I, for one, do hope Maori have a lot to do with three waters reform.
It would be great for a more holistic, sustainable, generational, spiritual and guardianship attitude to prevail.
As opposed to an ownership, commercial and dumping ground model with minimum standards and 'enforcement' done by district/regional councillors with farming interests.
I totally agree with you Gsays.
Chur.
And I.
🙂
What you don't understand is Maori have a long term plan for complete control of New Zealand ( oops – Aotearoa. Forgive my ignorance).
It started in the early 90s and has been an up and down process. But recently things have quickened.
Take the name ''Aotearoa. ''That basically superseded New Zealand almost overnight. Woke TV is helping the process along nicely. Talk about being hoisted by your own petard.
Maybe folk now understand why Nanaia Mahuta is so determined to get Three Waters underway. I would not like to be her if she fails.
All movements start with education. I would invited anyone to visit a year one class for new entrants ( state schools). If you can tell the difference between that and a kohanga, you will be a better person than me.
And so our state education system is producing useful idiots, while the average Maori in the street is also a useful idiot for his Pan Maori elite class who claim all things in their name. That's very important to understand.
I would like to thank taxpayers on this site for my latest Iwi Covid package. Gloves, masks, kai, washing products and a food voucher worth a lot of money. Chur!
"Forgive my ignorance"
Why?
Excellent question.
What's the question?
Why should anyone forgive your ignorance?
Which Maori has "a long term plan for complete control of New Zealand." I don't think i've met them.
Excellent, I am gonna die an old man before 'whitey' undoes the harmful direction we are headed in.
I heard a bit of AC Grayling on the tranny in the weekend. He spoke of Grayling's law. Along the lines of 'Something will not be done if it costs those that can stop it happening'. Eg landlord politicians sorting the housing shortage.
It is way past time for the 'have-nots' to have more influence in our direction.
Thanks Patricia.
Approximately 1/3 of NZ's population is in Auckland. I'm not aware of too many councillors in this part of the world having farming interests.
3Waters will not improve water quality one iota, and I suspect Labout know that. The plan is about assuaging Labour's Maori caucus.
Going forward, I too hope Maori get a say in water management. On the basis of one person one vote, in equal measure to every non-Maori, and appointed to governance on merit alone.
.
Latest RM places the Oppo ahead of the Govt for first time in any Poll since Feb 2020.
(conducted 22 Nov-19 Dec 2021 … so more than a month older than the latest One News Kantar):
[Overall figures … together with some demographic crosstabs / breakdowns]:
.
Latest RM places the Oppo ahead of the Govt for first time in any Poll since Feb 2020.
(conducted 22 Nov-19 Dec 2021 … so more than a month older than the latest One News Kantar):
[Overall figures … together with some demographic crosstabs / breakdowns]:
Blokes:
It'll throw the cat among the pigeons but the levels of support variation by gender is stark.
I wonder if that was so much the case historically and what it says about contemporary politics?
Act NZ Total 18.5.
Yeah, righto.
Thanks Swordfish (4.3) …
Dear oh dear, ACT at 18.5% … really? Where did RM get that figure from?
Never trusted the RM polls. Interesting that they waited so long to publish?
If you are tired of the MSM bourgeoisie civil war over MIQ, I suggest you follow Efeso Collins on twitter – it is a breath of fresh air.
He's good value.
Plenty of golfers go a lifetime without ever doing it, but British amateur golfer Neil Watts has achieved a dozen hole-in-ones in the last seven months!
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/21/golf/neil-watts-hole-in-one-golf-spt-intl/index.html
The odds against him must be astronomical. You'd need to know how many times he's hit the ball in that period, and then the ratio of the size of the hole to the area in front of his club (quadrisphere?) to do the maths.
But that's just for one of them. Twelve in a sequence is probably unprecedented. Luck & fate lie outside science. He even got one of them while being filmed about his story by ITV!
He should join a New Zealand club.
All the ones I have belonged to over the years included a little item in your sub which paid for the round of drinks. Unfortunately, in my 55 years of playing they never had to pay out once. I would have had at least 10 within 3 cm of the hole but none ever went in. Sob.
It sounds suspicious to me Dennis. Have you checked his balls?![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png?x42494)
You mean a homing device, with transmitter inserted into base of random selected hole prior to playing? Good theory but more likely when playing for money & he's amateur. Reputation-building strategy? That's plausible.
The Conservative Party could recruit him as candidate, eh? With his luck he'd be PM surprisingly fast…
Another insightful interview from Aron Mate' with guest Andrew Cockburn. Washington editor for Harper’s Magazine. His latest book is “The Spoils of War: Power, Profit and the American War Machine.”
From Ukraine to Yemen, US arms industry reaps the spoils of war
Interesting part with CIA operative Tony Poe, aka Anthony Poshepn, the person Kurtz from Apocalypse Now was (apparently) based on at about 45 minutes in….
OECD suggests keeping the NZSuper age the same but means testing it for a few years.
NZ Super age must rise from 65 in wake of Covid debt, OECD warns | Stuff.co.nz
"It described a policy change as “essential”, suggesting a compromise to take into account the circumstances of Māori and Pacific Islanders might be to means-test superannuation from the time people reached 65 until they reached a later age at which point the benefit would become universal."
For those getting the $22-$34,000 per year, putting an income benchmark over it until you got to say 75 would be worth having a look at. Say you had an independent income of $50k a year above NZSuper.
It is fiendishly complicated to means test pensions, and even then people (rich pricks) lie or use devious methods (often sort of "legal") to hide assets.
The Australian pension is means tested and the form you have to fill out is complicated and very long.
It will not be a surprise if Super is tinkered with, but not while Jacinda is PM. Not only that, I expect to see tax increases and or cuts to social services. There will be a lot of tears before bedtime but the Government can’t spend billions of borrowed money without there being consequences.
Need to start taxing rich pricks like you more, instead of plunging older people into hardship and closing hospitals. People like you really make me want to vomit.
[last chance before a ban. You will either provide evidence for what you claim about PR here, or withdraw the statement, or take a ban. Next time I see you making such a claim about anyone without providing a quote and a link to back it up, I will ban you with not warning (you’ve had enough warnings already for this pattern of behaviour). Certainly not going to be doing any more chasing up.
See also https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-26-01-2022/#comment-1855078 – weka]
If you want to tax rich people more why did you for Act that one time?
I have never voted for ACT in my 23 years of voting. I have voted for for Labour (2005, 08, 14, 17 and 20), The Alliance (99) and NZ First (02 and 11), but not ACT. And I never will vote for ACT. Looking at staying home next election, but we shall see.
Millsy theres no shame in it, it happens and peoples allegiances change over time
But I am curious as to what made you change from a Roger Douglas acolyte?
If your looking for a way out AA have a 12 step process.
Don't worry, me and Millsy go a long ways back, back to nzdating days actually
sure it's the same millsy?
You think theres two people in NZ both named Millsy and they both happen to post like they're bat shit crazy?
No its the same guy and hes been it doing on here for years as well
Did you post under another username here?
You know who I am Millsy, you’ve always known.
Now go answer Wekas mod note.
Misread PRs comment. ACT taxing people more is a freaky thought.
People like you really make me want to vomit.
Not sure if that’s directed at me. If so, the standards at TS are getting rather low. And it’s the first time I’ve been described as rich lol
Millsy has a…tenuous grasp on reality but it goes something like this:
Millsy hates rich pricks
Millsy hates people with different opinions than his
Rich pricks have different opinions to Millsy
Therefore you must be a rich prick
You were the guy who called for swinging cuts to social spending in this country. Which will break a lot of people.
did you see this mod note?
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-26-01-2022/#comment-1855078
I'm going to guess no…
millsy14.2.2
31 January 2022 at 5:24 pm
that needs quotation
Yeah sorry about that, I thought copy and pasting what Millsy said would be more efficient
Also I'm pretty sure Joe Rogan believes exactly nothing of what Millsy says (if shown proof I'll admit I was wrong)
'It is clearly obvious that you are a homophobic prude who wants abortion criminalized.'
Pretty sure I'm not (but I won't post my porn searches as proof), I mean my sister in law would be unimpressed by me being homophobic, the people for whom I once posed nude for would be surprised to know I'm a prude (I was a student and I needed the money)
As for criminalizing abortion, no I don't believe that at all and I don't believe I've ever said that on here
" the people for whom I once posed nude for would be surprised to know I'm a prude (I was a student and I needed the money)".
God, that would have broken the camera. I would imagine the people who took the pics would be washing their eyes out with bleach,
Any who, I retract all allegations against you, and Mr Rogan.
[two week ban for wasting my time. Next time reply to moderation directly. And expect bans to increase if you fail to follow the instructions given in the past two motes – weka]
Paintings, not pics.
So they were looking at my meat and two veg for at least an hour at a time.
‘I retract all allegations against you’
-So why did you continually say what you said about me when you knew it was lies?
mod note.
You may well be expecting any and all those things Ross. Your concept of spending is predicated on the RBNZ running out of numbers in their computer system (where all these payments happen) of course. So you will be surprised to learn the govts spending capacity is exactly where it was before it paid for the wage subsidy.
"is complicated and very long.".
That is the understatement of the year. When my wife turned 65, and applied for New Zealand Super, the New Zealand authorities insisted that she apply for the Australian super because we had lived there for a number of years and could be eligible. We told them that we were not going to be eligible because our assets exceeded the cut-off figure. We demonstrated that but they insisted she apply. The form was, IIRC, 48 pages long. You were liable for prosecution if you made a mistake and got more of the pension than you were allowed.
We filled it in, posted it off and in due course were declined it. Thank God the Government here has never made her do it again or made me go through the process. It was a nightmare and must be even more so if you actually qualify for anything. You are required, by law, to notify them of any change in your circumstances, such as the value of shares you own going up or down. You have to keep that up forever, at least in theory.
The New Zealand system is vastly simpler and fairer. Don't even think about bringing in means testing here. You will find that people here will, as they approach 65, do what Australians do. Spend everything above the means test exemption amount and get rid of it. I'll illustrate this for a couple who own their home. You will get the full pension if you assets are less than $405k. You will get no pension if your assets are more than $891k. The pension is about $40k. You cannot get an income of $40k from half a million dollars worth of assets.
The first thing you can do is carry out an expensive upgrade of your house or move to a bigger place. Your primary home is not included in the assets limit. Go for a long, expensive overseas trip. (Well that was in the old days). People did it, and it made very good sense. I know a number of them who had worked out that they were far worse out if they actually tried to save more than $400k toward retirement. The loss of the pension far outweighed the income they could make from their savings.
I agree with most of that Alwyn including the fact that the NZ system is simpler…I am not so sure about fairer.
Winston will be very pleased.
Pregnant,jetsetting,journalist and champion of wimmin's rights puts the boot into the NZ govt ..again.
'The fact of the matter is I’m a New Zealand citizen with a legal right to return in a unique and desperate situation. And I’ve applied under the emergency allocation system, I’ve done everything right, why is there such a problem?”
'
'Hipkins said Bellis’ emergency MIQ application was rejected because her flights were booked outside the 14-day requirement.
“I understand officials have also since invited her to apply for another emergency category. I encourage her to take these offers seriously,” Hipkins said.'
'New Zealand journalist Charlotte Bellis says the Government’s latest response to her situation is “incredibly disrespectful”,
Charlotte Bellis: ‘Covid-19 Minister’s statement on MIQ incredibly disrespectful’ | Stuff.co.nz
Hipkins defending the patriarchy merely destroys his reputation. You can understand why he's peeved that ScoMo has decided not to discriminate against pregnant women.
Bellis told our media that her application was filed in response to Ardern's declaration of intent to open the border at the start of Feb. The anonymous bureaucrat was pissed off that she scheduled on the basis of Ardern's good faith, apparently, and rejected her accordingly.
Having found spurious undisclosed reasons to discriminate successfully against 90% of the pregnant applicatants, the scumbags in the bureaucracy must be extremely irritated that their make it up as you go along arbitrary rules didn't manage to keep out the other 10%. Or perhaps they got through due to a bureaucrat with a conscience?
Interesting info about Scomo.
Wouldn't be surprised in the least, if Australia is one of the two countries offering Bellis asylum.
Would be a great political statement taking NZ's refugee policy and the 501 situation into consideration.
Bellis who has shared so much information with reporters is not saying who the two are.
I'm also puzzled why she hasn't explained her inability to reschedule in the 14-day window, and why she hasn't been liaising with our embassy. Consequently I can see why others are sceptical of her. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt.
Can only assume she's waiting for her partner to finish his contract?
She doesn't want to leave him behind because he might not get in, which is understandable, but their insistence on choosing a delayed travel date didn't meet the requirements of the category they applied for.
I wonder also if there is such a sense of independence which is preventing her from taking government advice. You know, she’s a big star on the world stage and has lived in a pretty hostile environment for a long time. She has had to get there the hard way by following a ferociously unconventional and self-reliant pathway.
Good points there. If I were in her situation liaison with the NZ embassy would be a high priority so I'm puzzled that she's not into it.
She claimed it's not true, but then said 'even if it were true they wouldn't have been any help'.
Not sure how she can be so certain of this, but it does fit with my theory that she knows best and is used to doing everything herself.
I’m also concerned that she had been taking the advice of an unnamed opposition mp from before the letter was sent to the media.
hahahaha … "Having found spurious undisclosed reasons to discriminate successfully against 90% of the pregnant applicatants, the scumbags in the bureaucracy must…"
having 'found' 'undisclosed' – its not possible for the two things to go together as you have structured it there nincomhorsepoop
plus you still have no evidence
do you
none
where is your evidence?
What a wonderful name of the lawyer appearing for the pregnant women trying to get back into New Zealand.
Frances Joychild. What could be more appropriate?
It is rather like the person leading the campaign against reducing the speed limit on the bulk of the Napier Taupo road to 80 kph.
Keri Goodspeed is fronting the protests. Another gorgeous aptronym.
Do they not know who she IS?
Dennis, how do you know they are “ spurious undisclosed reasons” it’s entirely possible that those in charge of allocation of limited MIQ spaces know a lot more than privacy allows them to divulge. Maybe the declined applicants have settled lives in another country which they intend to go back to after the birth but wish to have their baby in NZ for monetary or other reasons, I doubt it is free in Australia for NZ citizens. MIQ is under a huge stress and is not there to satisfy peoples whims no matter what the reason. It was never intended to be a flit in, flit out option.
And Womens Cricket, DJs etc are not a good example, those sort of spaces were arranged a long time ago. A lot of the complaints and static seems to come from Kiwis who have abandoned NZ quite a while ago but wish to avail themselves of taxpayer funded services that they have not contributed to for ages.
I get that you're trying to express a reasonable view, Adrian. I refrained from expressing an opinion on MIQ for months due to feeling agnostic & plenty of others arguing both sides. Quarantine was sensible as a strategy.
I can now see that bureaucrats are not being sensible in managing the system. It's obvious to me (a male) that pregnant women ought to have been catered for by design. One rule for all was wrong-thinking – I suspect it was by male decision-makers (possibly including women who haven't been pregnant or lack empathy).
They use privacy law to avoid accountability. The minister ought to instruct them to stop denying kiwis their citizens' rights. He has failed to do so, apparently. Labour's poll rating slide occurs due to such patterns of behaviour…
your sexism is a mile wide
I suspect there is much more known about this by the govt and officials but they cannot disclose it. Hipkins went as far as he could.
She was on the news (?) last night and I am very cynical. It looked like she was performing to me.
I haven't seen any other pregnant women come through MIQ, with or without difficulty, being paraded on television like she has been parading herself. Like 99% of MIQ returnees they have sucked up the system and done it all for the good of New Zealand and I say 'thank you'
There will be thousands of difficult stories to be told out from this, and most won't be. Some have the ability to get on a platform and shout to the world
However, all the best to her and her baby.
And thank you to everyone working in MIQ
I agree with giving a thank you to those working in MIQ.
I also think it curious that the journo cannot bring her travel within the 14 day window and that she has not contacted the relevant consular officials. I also think it very likely that there is more to this than we are being told that is known by NZ officialss. Instead the journo seems to be getting very snooty because she originally applied in the incorrect category and was correctly declined. Officials apparently reached out to her to ask her to resubmit in the correct category and she has said, more or less 'you've got the info you do it."
Hard to feel very sympathetic if these are the circumstances.
Is she a dual citizen?
Of where?
I just find it curious all round……could they not have gone to London from Belgium to get married there? Is there something special about having to have the marriage in a Catholic church in Belgium (and wait 6 months?) in these urgent circumstances.
I just have a sinking feeling that maybe an anti vaxx controversy may be waiting in the wings…..apparently NZers cannot be required to be vaccinated before returning but people from other countries resident in NZ can be.
Not in the slightest bit sorry for her in view of her attitude, thinking more and more that this has something of a deliberate political slant/stunt.
"… thinking more and more that this has something of a deliberate political slant/stunt."
Without a doubt.
The little flower is now threatening legal action cos her privacy has been breached. She doesn't want stuff to come out does she. So we're into the bully boy/girl phase now.
She claims Hipkins' very mild remarks yesterday were "untrue".
Officials don't lie about official actions they have taken. There will be logged proof they reached out to her and she ignored them.
The more I learn about this case, the louder my bullshit antennae hums.
Your bullshit antennae hums EVERY time you stick up for the labour government. Might be a pattern forming there.
Without doubt.
Maybe we could set up an orchestra of hummers
She now has a place based on where she is, ie danger etc but this does not really suit PP (precious petal)She states
She has taken this offer up but I think she seems quite thick not to understand that just being pregnant does not fit the requirement. If she had a letter re pre eclampsia or gestational diabetes or any of a number of things that can happen. Small for dates, high blood pressure meaning travel in third trimester is not recommended etc etc
Pregnancy is not of itself an illness.
In his Queenstown stand-up, Luxon has committed National to having candidates in the Maori electorates, next election (as previously floated by Collins, and confirmed now).
Some time this year there's going to be a major internal row: for example, on the new Maori health authority (Collins said National would scrap it).
Bullshit Dennis, they use privacy to protect the privacy of the applicants..look at the shit that Winston visited on The Nat’s for exactly that. There is a lot more to this story than we are being drip fed. As Hipkins rightly inferred, it’s not an emergency if you wish to schedule it 4 weeks in advance, you don’t do that for car crashes or heart attacks. If the rules which are there to manage occupancy were to be altered for every “ special “ person the whole thing would be unworkable.
MIQ has protected the NZ right from the start when the Government asked the gathering of 40 or 50 experts back in January of 2020 about what they had to do to protect The 5 million of us from this contagation that nobody knew anything about, they said this, this, and this, and that is what we got. Compared to similar countries that didn’t do that our death toll would have been north of 12,000, how many of them would have likely been people you and I know? And by the way, it is a pretty horrible death.
My main problem with Bellis is her audacity to laud the fucking Taliban as examplars of womens rights compared to Jacinda Ardern. It reeks of Stockholm Syndrome and is grossly insulting to JA.
You can tell that it's not bullshit when you factor in those occasions when privacy citation by bureaucrats has been accompanied by the citizens disadvantaged appealing to the anonymous bureaucrat to provide a valid reason for discrimination.
I've noticed a sufficient pattern of evasion in news stories in the past couple of decades. The oppressed individual never gets satisfaction due to the bureaucrats using privacy law to stonewall the media. I've gotten into the habit of commenting on such behaviour when it shows up. That's due to feeling solidarity with the victims of the bureaucrats.
Re her schedule, Hipkins has yet to respond to the reason Bellis gave: the PM's announcement of the (Feb) change of policy coming into effect. I agree with you re the general efficacy of the quarantine system up till now.
Finally, I thought the comparison of what she's got from our govt as compared to the Taliban was accurate. I can't recall how she personalised the PM into that comparison. Could be a valid point from you on that. You'd think the PM, as a mother, would be empathic with pregnant kiwis being made to jump through 29.5 hoops and then rejected regardless. Some journo ought to ask her.
Your crocodile weeping on behalf of Miss Bellis (what's the causa bellis here, some are starting to wonder…) is deeply moving. And deeply unnecessary, while the full force of the National Party's machine is on fast spin for her case.
'Think it possible' as Oliver Cromwell suggested in superbly plain English to some Scottish bishops in the 1640s, 'in the bowels of Christ, that you may be mistaken.'
Are you morally corrupt too? Or just too stupid to comprehend empathy and civil rights? If you want to get traction on whether I'm mistaken or not you'd have to provide proof. Too lazy to search for it, right?
Maybe these guys should ask for Asylum in OZ.
and that too has been raised as an issue a few times over the last year.
Next to complain are the ones that have been stuck overseas now for a while and who risk loosing their right to vote as they did not manage to get back into the country for the requirements
something that was also raised last year, by the Greens (who hopefully are lefty enough to ask for such a thing without being vilified lol)
https://www.greens.org.nz/kiwis_overseas_must_be_allowed_to_vote_next_year
I am sure that with the bad PR here and overseas something will change very quickly. Hopefully, because this current lottery system is not working for anyone and its just a mockery of the rights people have by law.
there was a discussion yesterday about how long can you end up in isolation if someone you live with has covid and how the isolation works for contacts.
Now this was on the bottom of a herald article:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-locations-of-interest-auckland-bus-routes-rotorua-cafe-new-locations/63UYBP3DN55OWX3S3BETTUH77I/
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/01/31/three-quarters-of-kiwis-want-house-prices-to-fall/
So there will potentially be very little political fallout for some decisive action on this issue from the Ministers and Govt, in fact, it could be very helpful to ensuring a third term.
"So there will potentially be very little political fallout for some decisive action on this issue from the Ministers and Govt, in fact, it could be very helpful to ensuring a third term."…yeah because we all implicitly know that Labour (and National) are such hollow, pointless husks of shit that they would never dare move or act on anything this important unless the polls told them it was safe to do so…it is plainly obvious that none of them would know a firmly held moral/ethical position if they tripped up on it, fell over and planted their faces right into the middle it.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/miq-lockout-kiwi-pensioners-stuck-in-australia-have-super-payments-ceased/CWOVMABOXPR34COB6MS4UU4K4Q/
It's interesting that MSD is insisting on repayment of NZS from those stuck overseas for 30 weeks or more. There used to be provision in the Social Security Act for MSD to decide not to recover debt. It was a limited provision to allow MSD to avoid potential unfairness when all else was unavailable such as write-off because of MSD error. The National government repealed that ability around 2013, with the support of the Labour opposition.
The prospect of a $16,000 debt is of course only one problem those in situations similar to the Gorrets are going to have to deal with, but at least there would've been some relief available if the ridiculous decision to remove it hadn't been made.
More people that chose to leave NZ in the middle of a pandemic,knowing full well the possibility of events occuring that could impact their situation.
Went over in July last year.Hard to sympathise with them.
I agree with Blazer. We are often talking of looking at consequences of any decisions and doing a risk analysis. I think it would have been fairly well apparent that the Covid situation was fragile/fluid. Perhaps if/when at the end of Feb when there are possible changes to the borders/MIQ open Air NZ could do a couple of flights dedicated to bringing people like this back to NZ.![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png?x42494)
Perhaps go via Afghanistan and collect the journo on the way.![wink wink](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png?x42494)
Too bloody right. People need to take more personal responsibility. We need to teach it is schools, for crying out loud.
Oops!
Nandor's dropped a bomb!
"It's hard to find the right words to express my disgust at Jacinda Ardern and this Government.
Labour was elected with a huge mandate to do something serious about growing inequality, including the housing crisis. I know it takes a while to make change but I can't see any evidence that they are even considering any action that might have a serious impact. In fact she indicated on election night that she was ruling out anything that would impact the wealthy, I guess in the hope they could keep ruling the centre for ever.
Is that the extent of Labour's aspirations now? To rule without upsetting the wealthy?
I know Jacinda is dropping in the polls and media is blaming Covid. I disagree. I reckon people are beginning to think beyond covid and remembering why they voted for her in the first place. I'd say that despite the constant undermining by right wing commentators and a vocal but very small group of anti-vaxxers, the vast majority of NZers are very happy with our covid response. You just have to look at the death rates overseas to see we are doing very well.
I think the reason why they aren't dropping more is because a National / Act government would be worse in every respect.
What worries me is that instead of becoming MORE progressive to woo back the people that voted Labour to get change, they may misread what is happening and become even more conservative.
What a waste of a parliamentary majority."
https://www.facebook.com/nandor.tanczos
A lot of different people have been saying the same thing, are you now saying that it is ok to critizise this government and its leader now that an Ex Green Party MP has said something?
In that case, yei! finally. Took him just a few years of misery growing in abundance, but better late to the party then to never arrive, right?.
National / Act may be worse, but seriously in regards to increasing house prices and promoting exponential growth in poverty via their politics/policies i think L/G are as good as N/A. But the next election is L/Gs too loose, and from where i am standing and from what i am hearing, losing is possible. Very much so.
Hey, Sabine! I didn't say, "…it is ok to critizise this government and its leader now that an Ex Green Party MP has said something…"
I said, "Oops!
Nandor's dropped a bomb!"
I've never thought, "All is well",
I've long thought, there are serious issues that must be addressed.
Okay?
If L/G lose the next election then all Kiwis will lose, some sooner than others. With temperatures and societal pressures increasing, and tempers fraying, tribal politics is here to stay, and so this iteration of civilisation's goose is nearly 'cooked'.
In fifty years' time, with any luck most of today's NZ twentysomethings will be around to think back to their COVID days – when 'woke' concerns, and concerns about 'wokeness', exercised us so – and remember how wonderful everything was. I'd love to believe that the last 50 years won't be as good as it gets – doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t demand ‘more‘, but at the same time we need to think about what ‘more‘ means.
Nandor has nailed it I reckon.
I know quite a few young, poorer people who voted for Labour (actually, they mostly voted for Jacinda Ardern). People who had never voted before, quite often.
Many are complaining that Labour has done nothing to improve their lives – rents keep exploding, people on benefits remain in poverty and house ownership….not even a distant dream anymore.
Keir Starmer does a good solid job in the House of Commons holding the Prime Minister to task re the Sue Grey report:
Starmer's greatest speech? Tories stunned into lethal silence by extraordinary oratory – YouTube
Does anyone still think women (biological ones) don't get the extremely short end of the stick in society
https://www.newsweek.com/woman-who-sexually-assaulted-child-when-she-was-teen-will-sent-juvenile-facility-1673804
'A 26-year-old woman who, during her teen years, sexually assaulted a child has been sentenced to a juvenile facility and won't be required to register as a sex offender.'
https://nypost.com/2022/01/17/la-da-ripped-after-child-molester-faces-little-or-no-time/
'Jonathan Hatami, a Deputy District Attorney in the Complex Child Abuse Unit, said since Tubbs’ case remained in juvenile court, she will not have to register as a sex offender.'
So as a 17 year old molests a child and as a 26 year old (allegedly only transitioning after being arrested) gets sent to a juvenile facility
"Does anyone still think women (biological ones) don't get the extremely short end of the stick in society"
That's a great question, typically raced past in the rush to underline some other issue.
How would you assess that question? What sort of measures/stats/facts would be considered in deciding (if one had to) whether males or females get the short end of the stick? Compilation of such a list of stats would be fascinating in itself… bags not
'How would you assess that question?'
– I don't think I'm capable
'What sort of measures/stats/facts would be considered in deciding (if one had to) whether males or females get the short end of the stick?'
– I'm looking at someone that molested a little girl being sent to a, probably, girls juvenile facility, as a 26 year old
– Yeah he'll probably be in solitary for his entire time there but even so what sort of message does it send
– There are numerous examples where a man claims to be female and is sent to a female prison and thats not right
Compilation of such a list of stats would be fascinating in itself… bags not
– Me neither, I wouldn't even know where to start
Don't know where to start? How about with what you said? "He'll probably be in solitary for his entire time there," and "what sort of message does it send?"
Does it send the message that in such circumstances you're going to be in solitary the whole time?
You hope he'll be in solitary but this is LA so I wouldn't be at all surprised if some lawyer argued that his clients civil rights meant he had to be put out into the general population
Well he says hes a woman (which is supposed to have happened after he was arrested) therefore he must be a woman, right?
An Afghani female journalist now safely in NZ very disappointed in Charlotte Bellis.See her story in Stuff today. Sorry , can’t link, bad in and out internet.
Well ain't that person lucky that she is safe in NZ, and Charlotte Bellis is stateless until she has been given the right to come home to her country.
I was quite surprised that you said Bellis should stay and have her baby…in Afghanistan.![sad sad](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/sad_smile.png?x42494)
Mission accomplished-'She said her application was not granted on the medical needs of her pregnancy, but on the safety of her situation.'-Stuff.
Is Chris Bishop egging Charlotte Bellis and her team on? The reason I ask this is there has been a very peculiar escalation and Chris Bishop has form in covert operations such as this.
There was his involvement in breaking out of MIQ our very own Thelma and Louise. He and his office was also instrumental in hacking the 2019 Budget. And the Wally Haumaha incident when he happened to come across all sorts of confidential leaked information.
Bishop has long assumed the role of infiltrating the public service seeking sympathetic Trojan horses and I wonder if the same thing isn't happening in the Charlotte Bellis case.
Today Charlotte Bellis is being encouraged to pursue legal action against Chris Hipkins because mentioned she was offered consular assistance in Afghanistan.
I get the uneasy feeling this is no longer about the safety of her and her baby, rather an opportunistic hit job on the government. She's been told how to apply to get back to NZ but refuses to take he advice.
Weird.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-pregnant-kiwi-journalist-charlotte-bellis-considering-legal-options-after-chris-hipkins-alleged-privacy-breach/W6WRTU4D3X5WV5Z43AFRZME6W4/
Also in there at the end is an attempt by the Herald to equate Hipkins' description of the assistance offered to Bellis with Paula Benefit's doxxing of beneficiaries’ data in a leak to the very same newspaper.
Disgraceful.
"He and his office was also instrumental in hacking the 2019 Budget."
Was that the budget that was open for all and sundry to look at as they forgot to put any security on the site?
Well, no. That is a slightly selective memory.
The hack was not "open for all and sundry", it required many repeated inputs from the data workers in his office.
Anybody asked Bellis whether it's true? Or would that be impertinent?
The significant bit is here:
I'm astonished that official advice to her is in question. I guess the Minister will have to prove his point – if it is true. I wonder if the advice was sent but not received?? That could explain her denial – if she's telling the truth. If the thing goes to court she would be challenged to prove that!
Unfortunately this drags it out even further in public which we all seem to agree is a bad thing.
Who the hell does this woman think she is. The Queen. There is no way Hipkins would have revealed that information without official evidence to back it up and he is within his rights to do so. It was NOT private information about her.
"I guess the Minister will have to prove his point – if it is true."
Good grief. It is entirely up to her to prove it didn't happen. She can't and won't because it did happen. She's either a moron or is ignorant of parliamentary operational procedures.
The state's authority on privacy law disagrees with you Anne (re Hipkins). I saw her quoted earlier. Anyway, if you haven't caught up with the latest news, the deputy PM did a press conference several hours ago & announced that she had been offered a place in MIQ and I saw it reported on the tv news that she has accepted the offer.
Yes. I watched it. I don't give a tinkers cuss what the privacy commissioner might say. Hipkins did not divulge any personal information about her. He merely corrected her claims nothing was done to help her when clearly there was an attempt to help her which she chose to ignore.
In my book he is entitled to do that. The law is a big ass sometimes and so are some of the people in it.
Oh, I see. Yeah I think there's some truth in that. However I believe the bureaucracy was being disingenuous too. I wonder if she will front with a full explanation when she gets back.
If she has any sense she will call it quits and disappear from the public platform.
Why are you so nasty about young women who criticise labour politicians or labour policies?
Must admit I was surprised at the details in Hipkins' statements yesterday and wondered about privacy.
In your link she says it's hard to get flights out of Kabul within the 2 week timeframe. This would have been my first guess about the issue.
Both sides should stop playing this out in the MSM and just sort it out and release a statement.
Agree this should now be taken out of hte public domain, but then, there is the article today of the retired couple stuck in OZ who is asked to refund their super they received whilst out of the country. Never mind that these guys can't return. So this will be in hte public domain until MIQ is declared defunct and the borders are open again to allow NZ Citizens to return.
MIQ had a purpose initially but the issue is that they never re-assessed the needs and yeah, there are the Dj's, the Labour MP, the TV stars and all the others that got in while these people are stuck. And the government will have to answer for that. At some stage some of the fault for things that go wrong need to be admitted by the Government and its minion. This 'its not us' mentality is getting tiresome and quite unbelievable. And in the meantime, these people, Charlotte Bellis, the retired couple etc are still stuck overseas.
And none of this brouhahah is a good vote getter for the left, nor does it make the government and the Labour Party look kind and in touch with people who are not rich, connected, or entertainment stars.
Fair enough but it was her who made this a public story and I took Hipkins' comments to be a broad explanation of the events which took place from a government point of view.
I can't see why the 'offer of assistance not taken' up is particularly confidential, rather it provides important clarification.
Agree that a solution should be offered (done) and accepted (not done) so she can get home which is the whole point.
By that logic Bennett was right.
Looks like she's overegging things now.
Perhaps, but there's a world of difference between the two responses.
Yes, Bennett was right. The whole of New Zealand then heard the other side of the story – if I remember correctly those two beanies were earning more than many folk doing menial work.
I support Hipkins. Whether right or wrong, everyone has the right to defend themselves if someone calls you out.
Talking of defence, Robbo was tap dancing at the parliamentary press conference today. Where was the PM? She was in isolation. Looks like she's on another lucky roll.
You may be ok with giving up your privacy, most people aren't and we still have privacy laws in NZ because not having them harms individuals and society.
I mean, if we took your argument to its logical conclusion, anyone who doesn't like anyone else's behaviour or the way they are living could then legitimately disclose private information about that person.
''You may be ok with giving up your privacy, ''
No, I like my privacy. In fact I will soon have someone in court on prvacy issues.
''I mean, if we took your argument to its logical conclusion, anyone who doesn't like anyone else's behaviour or the way they are living could then legitimately disclose private information about that person.''
That's too simplistic. We are talking of an individual accusing the government. The government has a right to respond to points made …and correct them with all information available The information released was very general.
Hipkins could have responded without using private details. There's a principle at stake here.
And Bennett actually broke privacy law. You can't have it both ways. Either we have privacy that is upheld or we don't.
Only one side has been playing this out in the public arena aided and abetted by the Nats and ACT. The Govt. was forced to make one press release by the Covid minister in response to her claims and on behalf of the officials who had served her case.
They keep getting asked questions by the insatiable media but Robertson deftly batted them away at the weekly Press conference today. They got nothing out of him except that she's been offered an MIQ position which she doesn't deserve because of the tactics she used. But if it shuts her up and we don't hear from her again it will be worth it.![angry angry](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/angry_smile.png?x42494)
Ok Annie (Oakely) taking pot shots again. "offered an MIQ position which she doesn't DESERVE because of the tactics she used. But if it shuts her up and we don't hear from her again it will be worth it.
" So then how should she have managed this ??? A kiwi wanting to come home and give birth in her home country. IMO repugnant comment from you again !!!
Where is this Labour be nice, or are we only to be selectively "Nice" ??
Anne – I have a feeling we will never hear the end of this saga. There'll be a report on 14 days of hell in MIQ. The state of medical care in NZ for people who are pregnant will be next ; there are so many situations ahead that could go awry and no doubt we'll hear about each and every one of them.
Quite possible. I think the limelight may have gone to her head. 🙂
Well that was irritating. An outage because LetsEncrypt wouldn't update the site SSL cert.
I flicked it over to cloudflare. Let me know if anything weird shows up.
The only good thing was that it stopped towards the end of my working day.
Warning on FF ,seems ok now
Not having a SSL cert will prevent some browsers to not allow access at all on a out of date cert. Some with switch to un-encrypted HTTP. Some will just provide cached pages only.
I'll look at LetsEncrypt on the weekend.
For the moment the SSL cert is being provided by CloudFlare as a backstop. I have Cloudflare as a backup because it is good for this and for handling certain load problems. But there are usually a few people who have issues with it on their particular systems – mostly due to the severity of the caching.
Something weird has shown up. My comments are not appearing!
Yeah, something post-outage is sending a lot of comments direct to trash
No edit function since the outage.
What are browser and OS are you getting the problem on? Or just mail me – thestandard at gmail.
It's working again this morning. Thanks.
Just got a timed out when trying to look at a post preview.
I'll look at kicking up the cloudflare timeout. The post previews often take some time to process and appear.
Unfortunately I don’t really have that much spare time between now and the next weekend (fortunately a long one) for technical work like fiddling with cert installs and DNS validations outside of work.
I already spent most of the last (long) weekend catching up on a knotty low level issue and reading the Unit Titles Act cover to cover. Either always tends to drop off my intellectual resilience for the following week.
looks like a bunch of comments made during the outage ended up in Trash.
Wouldn’t surprise me. I’ll have a look through them.
Had
onetwo reports of not being able to save comments. Don't have enough information to reproduce it.Tested in the
It also looks like some comments may have been going direct to trash during the outage today. Just having a look at those now.
Ok – fixed everything I know of this morning.
Tanks the booster jab. I wasn't up to work working today (tired, stiff, and sore), so I had time to fix this.