Evangelicals may be only 28% of the US electorate as a whole now, but only 3 House Republicans joined with Democrats last week to vote for the Equality Act which bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Trump's speech today to CPAC is going to be a theatrical wonder of the tropes these people adore.
20 God spoke, and these were his words: 2 “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves.
3 “Worship no god but me.
4 “Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth. 5 Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation. 6 But I show my love to thousands of generations[a] of those who love me and obey my laws.
Verses 4 thru to 6 are all part of the 2nd Commandment.
Some of the commandments have extra explanatory verses added – just to make things clear.
I put this up to show just how hypocritical this sector of the American society can be. Some in this sector look upon the chump as a Messiah! And in some sense that is precisely what he is to them. 2000 years ago the Jewish people were also looking for a Messiah. Then, after generations of oppression and exile, it meant God intervening in the world in a way in which the people couldn’t do by themselves. It would be a time of great tribulation, some kind of super-human figure out of Marvel comics would appear, who would remake the world, destroy the hostile powers (there would be a lot of blood shed) and bring down a new Jerusalem from heaven where the dispersed Jews from all over the world could return and gather. Then would follow a new age of peace and goodness that would last forever. Essentially this is how those on the religious right in America perceive the chump.
Now the artist behind the huge statue of Trump – Tommy Zegan – has revealed that the object was made in Mexico; a country that has been the target of much Trump racist abuse over his political career, and somewhere he has literally sought to build a wall against.
“It was made in Mexico,” Zegan told Politico’s Playbook newsletter. Zegan, who lives in Mexico on a permanent resident visa, described the transport of the monument to CPAC in full to Playbook.
Politico reported: “Zegan spent over six months crafting the 200lb fiberglass statue with the help of three men in Rosarito. He transported it to Tampa, Florida, where it was painted in chrome, then hauled it from there to CPAC.”
The PM seemed to acknowledge on RNZ today the difficulties for some people in accessing payment for personal work absence for COVID related reasons.
Surely it is time to let individuals have a go at handling this by quoting their IRD no., and organising their own direct payments through IRD. Company wide issues, such as downturns, layoffs, etc. the employer can handle. Enough employers have shown already what they think of Mr Robertson’s “high trust” model! Though to be fair, a number of prominent employers seem to have taken it more seriously as time elapses.
The NZCTU needs to be much firmer, and make it clear that employees disadvantaged for COVID related absences will be protected, by action if need be, including Employer shame listing. The Mediation Service and Employment Court are still oversubscribed with COVID related cases, according to union organisers I know.
Even though it looks like the business are paying the price for Employees or their families playing silly buggers in lockdown?
lockdown 2 everyone was blaming the business handling frozen food, now business should be caned for working out having to pay for lockdowns 3 & 4?
Some businesses are as reliant on the government as a person who is reliant on a benefit. The employee is reliant on the employer. At some point the employer may require a job seekers benefit.
maybe it is the duty of the Government to look after people that can't work rather then the businesses?
Maybe the Government a year into covid should have set up a webpage solely for wage -replacements and covid – isolation/quarantine payments that are so easy to use that even someone with lacking literacy skills, or less then best english skills can get onto it, fill out the forms and receive a payment if the criteria applies.
In saying that, after April there will be 10 sickdays, and it will be the business costs to pay isolation costs. 10 working days = 14 days.
but sure, lets find some more fault at the majority of businesses that have done right and are doing right by their staff, that are currently trying to continue to do business under less then stellar conditions and who for their own needs were given a 13.000 grand loan to tide them over the plague years – small businesses that is. The big businesses is a different story altogether..
As for your 6000 complaints filed, as per the Government stats in Dec 2020 NZ had 2,734,00 in employment. While that does not undo the hardship that people who laid complaints have suffered, it is a fairly small number compared to he overall number of people employed.
I guess it is easier to pick and blame a business – any business to lay the fault fair and square at their feed, but frankly the valentines lockdown should have never been lifted, and frankly if it would have not been lifted, we might not be where we are today.
The incubation period is 14 – 21 days, so to lift a lockdown 3 days into an outbreak was dumb. I can get where they felt the pressure to lift it, but at this stage any lockdown period for any outbreak should be 14 days at a minimum, and even longer if the new strains behave differently then the initial strain.
And if the government finds that in the poorer areas of our country and in our cities kids go dot work because otherwise the family suffers financially then the government can finally lift benefit levels and make applying for a benefit easier and faster. Cause on that stage the government is an actor who did not show up to play.
And last, what we are also seeing is the idiocy of various governments investing pretty much solely into Auckland and now every time they lock down that one city the rest of the country suffers. Maybe they need to think about decentralizing their populations and their businesses. Just a thought.
There was no need to keep the 3 day lockdown going as all indicators pointed to it being tracked and traced and contained, but some self-entitled dickhead lied, then spread the virus for the best part of a week against all advice. Should 5 million people have their health needs, education, businesses and recreation disrupted without penalty?
Nope there was good need to keep it. Tracking and tracing is after the fact.
As per numerous articles from England, Europe and US this new strain is more contagious, affects childrens and in some cases takes longer to detect.
Track and Trace always comes after the infection. Thus its a good tool to find people after the fact, but as shown it is not a preventive tool at all.
And the 5 million people of this country need to finally understand that this is here to stay.
I had a medical specialist appointment on the 15/2, that i rescheduled for 01/3 i have now rescheduled it to the 19 April (after easter for business reasons), it is now the 4 time i am rescheduling this thing. The doc and i we will have a glass of bubblies when we finally get this done. We are all depending on the government to do the correct thing, and with this fucking virus the correct thing is 14 days of lockdown plus track n trace to eliminate any misses. And at the very least if that would be set in stone everyone could plan around it. right now it feels like we are still making it up as we go along.
Oh and that self entitled prick who “lied” and spread it could not have done if the lockdown would not have been lifted. We all know that people don’t do what they are supposed to do, heck there are people that don’t believe in this virus…..and then there are all the rich pricks that jump into their fancy cars to travel to fancy batches in the nice areas of the country when the city gets lockdown. …..
Rubbish, the longer and more onerous lockdowns are there will be less compliance even if only in numerous small contacts, and longer lockdowns would almost certainly lead to the spreading of more conspiracy theories and public displays of defiance. It is a very fine balance that the Government is seeming to do very well. But some dickhead who costs every single one of us time, freedom and the ability to earn a living should not get off without any repercussions.
Level 3 lockdown essential workers still need to go to work and childcare could be required. This cannot be excluded. Another bubble is permitted for childcare at level 3.
Honestly i would guess most do already. You know in case they can't work anymore. Are you saying that employers need to take out income protection insurance for their staff too?
edit. Most people that work that i know have it, but it only kicks in if you have no income for three month. So it would not apply to this scenario. But you know that? Right?
Btw, employees in NZ have no way to write anything off – they can’t even write of the cost of going to work, that is for the bosses / self employed only.
And do you really think that the South Auckland Lady that cleans the plague hotel for min wage should take out income protection insurance? Seriously?
And wrong again. Employers and the self employed cannot claim the cost of travel to or from their work, only the costs whilst actually working.
And yes, all employees should. The premium is based on their income level so even the 'South Auckland lady' can afford it.
As regards when it pays out and how much, that is specific to the terms of the contract, just like any other insurance contract.
And why on earth should an employer pay for their employees income insurance? Whilst IPI is deductible for the employee, it is not for the employer (other than for specified 'key person' insurance).
We have it as self employed people, but sadly my partners only kicks in after three month of unemployment. so thanks to your information i will ask him to check this out
I wonder how much a South Auckland cleaning lady on min wage has left over to spend on such an insurance once she paid rent etc, and also if she can continue to pay for such an insurance should she receive a housing benefit or such.
As for my question to the employers paying, that really was what i understood.
But for what its worth, Employees pay already for an unemployment insurance via their taxes – Paye – and they should rather get unemployment benefits then add another expense to their already meager earnings and high cost of living.
Not so simple on that tax deduction for income protection… yes you can get a deduction for your premium, but only if the payments should you claim are taxable and in many cases the claim payments won't be subject to tax. Individual circumstances will determine which is the better outcome, but sucking it up on the premiums for many will be a far better outcome..
Yes. It seems that people like to forget the inconvenient truth that employees pay their full taxes every week with no way out to minimize that take tax.
And all the support for claiming for a non-working spouse (through disability for instance) was removed years ago. I pay $5,000 more tax per year than two people earning the same amount although I have two people to support and provide for in retirement. I only wish that $5,000 could go towards retirement savings.
even worse when you pay into this scheme – national unemployment insurance via the government – aka unemployment benefit but you are denied unemployment benefits because your spouse has an income that is above an arbitrary threshold, never mind that fact of having paid into the service.
Which is exactly what has happened. Worked in a job where being assaulted for the state was part of her job – not very well paid either for the stress and trauma.
that practice should be illegal as she was clearly charged the full amount of taxes when receiving her pay check.
that literally falls under taxation without representation, and while this also applies to man, i would venture a guess that the vast majority of those in this scenario are women. Cause……
Ignoring the fact that people on middle low incomes are struggling to pay rent let alone insurance, ignoring the fact that heavily mortgaged homeowners are increasingly letting their house insurance lapse etc etc…Lets just talk about the awesomeness of Insurance policies in NZ in general..
"BUSINESS
Could insurance companies lose the right to be unfair?
Questionable insurance contracts may soon be a thing of the past as the Government looks to change the law that allows insurance companies to be exempt from areas of the Fair Trading Act"
They do. It is called, "paying taxes for welfare" including unemployment benefit. Much less costly than private insurance, even if we double the payments.
"None of this is necessary to reduce the risks of a banking collapse. The Reserve Bank’s own stress-testing exercise last year showed the banks could easily handle a 40 per cent fall in house prices. Homeowners are paying a record-low six percent of their disposable incomes in mortgage payments. They could easily handle a doubling of interest rates."
"New Zealand's economy is a housing market with bits tacked on"..exactly right, it has become quite clear that this Liberal Free Market economic ideology, installed without public consent by Labour/Lange in 1984 has turned out to be in effect little more than a ponzi/pyramid scheme for the bulk of NZ citizens, using our homes as it's major currency…it's nothing less a obscenity, and one I am quite sure will be regarded by future generation as one of the most shameful periods in our short history.
Sadly it seems that neither Labour nor National have the vision, let alone the ideological drive to bring any real sanity to bear on this problem (or climate change for that matter).
I guess this is what happens when you live in a country with a ideological duopoly monopolizing the political conversation (with lots of help from a pretty lackluster media).
Bernard Hickey
“This week the idea that New Zealand Inc is just a housing market with appendages rather than real society and body politic graduated to full joke status. It’s official. This is a too-big-to-fail market and every policy, every political ambition and every investment choice must bow down before the great gods of the real estate agencies.
To prove it, the current Government, which railed against an “unsustainable” housing market in crisis while in opposition, has allowed over $200 billion of capital gain since it was elected in late 2017.
The Reserve Bank forecast this week prices are likely to have risen 51 per cent in Labour’s first two terms, delivering an extra $535b to homeowners. Tax-free.”
Multinational tech companies do not share the interests of local communities. We see the damage Airbnb does to the residential rental market, and now they refuse to acknowledge local Covid restrictions.
Time to kick them out of this country. Perfect opportunity to do so before tourism resumes.
One of the more blatant ones is polluter Rio Tinto, does anyone really think they are going to clean up their 8500 tonnes of toxic “ouvea premix” waste in Mataura before buggering off when Governments finally stop pandering to them with taxpayer funds?
Other multinationals shaft the host country in sneakier or less obvious ways–check the Australian owned Banks–one of NZ’s biggest exports remains repatriated profits to offshore owners, particularly since 1984 when Rogernomics ushered in some of the freest in and outflows of capital allowed in the world.
Westpac 30 years ago used to have a 2% margin in borrowing in New Zealand compared to Australia. It was a bit tricky to see at times but if you took the rate of inflation in both countries and then the difference between that and the mortgage interest rate for a 30 year mortgage New Zealand always was paying 2% more.
"Our community needs and deserves to be serviced by our only state-owned bank in a fit-for-purpose way – face-to-face, phone, internet and via an app.
"Kiwibank will need to consider more than just its economic reasons," she said.
"If the prime minister agrees to an inquiry and the inquiry highlights these negative impacts, the government should require that all major commercial banks operating in New Zealand – as part of their licence to operate – be required to provide a level of service that redresses these issues," Stoltz [Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz] said.
Part of bank's value is they are a repository of cash, that handy stuff that you can spend when you have it without running up debts through credit cards, and just adding extra cards and layers of complexity to small transactions. (Cheques are gone by about July.) Society and with it all of us, is being diminished by stealth and our naivety about what is happening and its future effects is appallingly high.
Yes banks should have to provide service levels to get a banking licence ( or maybe pay a big fee if they don't have the coverage) and other banks could then tender to provide. There may even be an argument for the transaction system being operated independently of banks sort of like the ATM net so we each "own" our own bank account number and that is visible to the bank that hands out the mortgage.
Plus it is now just about impossible to transfer one off money to another named party (think tradies bills) without an online account and even with an on line account amounts for individuals are usually capped at a daily amount of around the $700 to $800 level.
Overseas online fraud is endemic ( maybe half a billion ??) in the UK last year? – not sure anyone really knows but us customers are paying for that.
All this when one of the major banks didn't notice an online criminal ring operating under it's nose in Australia.
I'm pretty sure they have like many other companies a tried and true practice of selling to another company just before closure who then goes bust and has no money to clean up.
Multinational fast food chains, retail chains, supermarkets….
There are very few that do have New Zealand's interests at heart.
You then compound that by the fact that many buildings are now owned by out of town lawyers, accountants, property developers who do not have the local communities interests at heart and just see the locals as a means of wealth extraction.
Sigh and then there are all the bastard out of town landlords……….
This myth that New Zealand is made up of small businesses is just bullshit.
think global act local used to be the call. now all good men are required to come to the aid of protecting Robbies Park in the Parnell Rose Gardens. The proposal to ERECT a memorial to the crash of TE 901 is an act of gross vandalism and for some unknown reason is backed by phil goff and richard northey. hunter s. thompson would describe these two as grubby little ward heelers and that is precisely what they are. if this plan goes ahead then history will not treat them and their henchmen pippa coom, cathy casey and the rest of the gang kindly and karma will bite them badly.
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Following Trump’s tariff announcement, US stock values fell by the most ever in value terms (US$6.6 trillion). Photo: Getty ImagesLong story shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning:Donald Trump just detonated a neutron bomb under the globalised economy, but this time the Fed isn’t cutting interest rates to rescue ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 30, 2025 thru Sat, April 5, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
This is a longer read.Summary:Trump’s tariffs are reckless, disastrous and hurt the poorest countries deeply. It will stoke inflation, and may cause another recession. Funds/investments around the world have tanked.Trump’s actions emulate the anti-economic logic of another right wing libertarian politician - Liz Truss. She had her political career cut ...
We are all suckers for hope.He’s just being provocative, people will say, he wouldn’t really go that far. They wouldn’t really go that far.Germany in the 1920s and 30s was one of the world’s most educated, culturally sophisticated, and scientifically advanced societies.It had a strong democratic constitution with extensive civil ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Mars warming? Mars’ climate varies due to completely different reasons than Earth’s, and available data indicates no temperature trends comparable to Earth’s ...
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...
I was interested in David Seymour's public presentation of the Justice Select Committee's report after the submissions to the Treaty Principles Bill.I noted the arguments he presented and fact checked him. I welcome corrections and additions to what I have written but want to keep the responses concise.The Treaty of ...
Well, he runs around with every racist in townHe spent all our money playing his pointless gameHe put us out; it was awful how he triedTables turn, and now his turn to cryWith apologies to writers Bobby Womack and Shirley Womack.Eight per cent, asshole, that’s all you got.Smiling?Let me re-phrase…Eight ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The S&P 500 fell another 5.6% this morning after China retaliated with tariffs of 34% on all US imports, and the Fed warned of stagflation without rate cut relief.Delays for heart surgeries and scans are costing lives, specialists have told Stuff’s Nicholas Jones.Meanwhile, ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to scrap proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, after attending a petition calling for the Government to ‘Put tamariki at the heart of decisions about ECE’. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill today that will remove the power of MPs conscience votes and ensure mandatory national referendums are held before any conscience issues are passed into law. “We are giving democracy and power back to the people”, says New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters. ...
Welcome to members of the diplomatic corp, fellow members of parliament, the fourth estate, foreign affairs experts, trade tragics, ladies and gentlemen. ...
In recent weeks, disturbing instances of state-sanctioned violence against Māori have shed light on the systemic racism permeating our institutions. An 11-year-old autistic Māori child was forcibly medicated at the Henry Bennett Centre, a 15-year-old had his jaw broken by police in Napier, kaumātua Dean Wickliffe went on a hunger ...
Confidence in the job market has continued to drop to its lowest level in five years as more New Zealanders feel uncertain about finding work, keeping their jobs, and getting decent pay, according to the latest Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index. ...
The Greens are calling on the Government to follow through on their vague promises of environmental protection in their Resource Management Act (RMA) reform. ...
The Government’s new planning legislation to replace the Resource Management Act will make it easier to get things done while protecting the environment, say Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court. “The RMA is broken and everyone knows it. It makes it too hard to build ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay has today launched a public consultation on New Zealand and India’s negotiations of a formal comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. “Negotiations are getting underway, and the Public’s views will better inform us in the early parts of this important negotiation,” Mr McClay says. We are ...
More than 900 thousand superannuitants and almost five thousand veterans are among the New Zealanders set to receive a significant financial boost from next week, an uplift Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says will help support them through cost-of-living challenges. “I am pleased to confirm that from 1 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Isabelle Ng, PhD candidate, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University A couple of whip coral goby (_Bryaninops yongei_).randi_ang/Shutterstock Swim along the edge of a coral reef and you’ll often see schools of sleek, torpedo-shaped fishes gliding through the currents, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Kemp, Professor, School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Languages are windows into the worlds of the people who speak them – reflecting what they value and experience daily. So perhaps it’s no surprise different languages highlight different ...
A new poem by Daniel Frears. Pale Straw this season’s colour is pale straw a revelatory colour for an oh so special season it might mess with your head, or mine you can rub my belly like I was a dog. all actions are allowed in this .. phase. if ...
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 The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House, $32) “A truly helpful treatise on seeing ...
Tara Ward watches the return of The Handmaid’s Tale and discovers the dystopia of the future now feels all too real. If you like your television so bleak that you need to curl into a ball and rock back and forward afterwards, then clear the floor because I have great ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national YouGov poll, conducted April 4–10 from a sample of 1,505, gave Labor a 52.5–47.5 lead, a 1.5-point gain for Labor ...
Submissions close today on proposed reforms that would mark the most significant shakeup of fisheries in decades. Here’s what you need to know.On February 12, oceans and fisheries minister Shane Jones held up a wagging finger and a shiny, plastic-comb-bound document as Wellington’s downtown seagulls squawked overhead. Among a ...
This bill sought to fundamentally alter the meaning of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by selectively and incorrectly interpreting the reo Māori text, says E tū National Secretary Rachel Mackintosh. ...
Luxon has an opportunity to emerge as a stabiliser without the diplomatic risk of poking the bear in the White House. Last month, pundits from across the political spectrum were begging Christopher Luxon to add a modicum of clarity to the way he communicates after a disastrous interview with Mike ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Mitchell, Professor of Nursing and Health Services Research, University of Newcastle Annie Spratt/Unsplash Hospital-acquired infections are infections patients didn’t have when they were admitted to hospital. The most common include wound infections after surgery, urinary tract infections and pneumonia. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christina Hanna, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Planning, University of Waikato Christina Hanna, CC BY-SA Once floodwaters subside, talk of planned retreat inevitably rises. Within Aotearoa New Zealand, several communities from north to south – including Kumeū, Kawatiri Westport and parts ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arian Wallach, Future Fellow in Ecology, Queensland University of Technology michael garner/Shutterstock In 1938, zoologist Ellis Le Geyt Troughton mourned that Australia’s “gentle and specialized creatures” were “unable to cope with changed conditions and introduced enemies”. The role of these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Peetz, Laurie Carmichael Distinguished Research Fellow at the Centre for Future Work, and Professor Emeritus, Griffith Business School, Griffith University doublelee/Shutterstock Can the government actually make a difference to the wages Australians earn? A lot of attention always falls on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Egliston, Senior Lecturer in Digital Cultures, Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow, University of Sydney Last week, Nintendo announced the June 5 release of its long anticipated Switch 2. But the biggest talking point wasn’t the console’s launch titles or features. At ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Woodman, TR Ashworth Professor in Sociology, The University of Melbourne Securing the welfare of future generations seems like solid grounds for judging policies and politicians, especially during an election campaign. Political legacies are on the line because the stakes are so ...
With protests in the gallery, a projectile thrown and an MP ejected, the second reading of the controversial bill ended in a resounding defeat, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.Disruption, then defeat In a parliamentary sketch optimistically ...
Legal experts and Māori advocates say the fight to protect Te Tiriti is only just beginning - as the controversial Treaty Principles Bill is officially killed in Parliament. ...
Waiata, heckling and cheers rang out as ACT's Treaty Principles Bill was voted out of Parliament, but some say it should never have got off the ranks. ...
The Treaty principles bill will officially go no further – within this parliament, at least. Lyric Waiwiri-Smith reports from the House of Representatives.Eleven in favour, 112 opposed: that was the count that officially killed the Treaty principles bill on Thursday afternoon, after nearly two years of “will they, won’t ...
On the occasion of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, Hannah August ranks her novels. Happy birthday, Jane!It was 250 years ago this year that a family in a small village in Hampshire welcomed the arrival of a baby daughter. This daughter would go on to write six of the most ...
Analysis: The PM, the main driver of Lester Levy’s appointment as commissioner, acted as if he offered salvation to the health system The post He’s not the messiah; he’s a false prophet appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Uncertainty is the order of the day in the global stock market, with the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff crusade and disruption of Big Tech stocks rippling out from the United States.A driving factor behind market volatility is a decline of the ‘Magnificent Seven’, comprising Apple, Microsoft, Google parent ...
Heading an NZ-headquartered multinational operating across the Asia-Pacific region is not for the easily rattled right now.Global markets are in upheaval after the US imposition of tariffs – and countries and businesses are struck by economic uncertainty, with the outlook unclear and implications unknown.Like companies everywhere, professional services and engineering ...
The Government may have declared war on the “sea of cones” on New Zealand roads, but a road cone apologist claims it is on a hiding to nothing.“I think that the war on cones is unwinnable,” Newsroom political reporter and road cone fan Fox Meyer tells The Detail.“It’s like the ...
WTB often talked about the need to understand the value of fire-resistant plants. Here's a recent piece in support of that thinking.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/rural/2021/02/how-different-plant-species-can-reduce-the-risk-of-fire-on-farm.html
This is a nice succinct analysis of the powerful grip that white evangelical Christians have over the US Republican Party.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/28/politics/white-evangelicals-gop-trump/index.html
Evangelicals may be only 28% of the US electorate as a whole now, but only 3 House Republicans joined with Democrats last week to vote for the Equality Act which bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Trump's speech today to CPAC is going to be a theatrical wonder of the tropes these people adore.
And yet!
But they will punish women who have abortions and take birth control. Cause….God!
Is number 4 considered a stand alone commandment of the bible?
Or is it mixed into 5?
Seems like number 4 is very anti-photography and art and etc etc
Verses 4 thru to 6 are all part of the 2nd Commandment.
Some of the commandments have extra explanatory verses added – just to make things clear.
I put this up to show just how hypocritical this sector of the American society can be. Some in this sector look upon the chump as a Messiah! And in some sense that is precisely what he is to them. 2000 years ago the Jewish people were also looking for a Messiah. Then, after generations of oppression and exile, it meant God intervening in the world in a way in which the people couldn’t do by themselves. It would be a time of great tribulation, some kind of super-human figure out of Marvel comics would appear, who would remake the world, destroy the hostile powers (there would be a lot of blood shed) and bring down a new Jerusalem from heaven where the dispersed Jews from all over the world could return and gather. Then would follow a new age of peace and goodness that would last forever. Essentially this is how those on the religious right in America perceive the chump.
Too funny.
Now the artist behind the huge statue of Trump – Tommy Zegan – has revealed that the object was made in Mexico; a country that has been the target of much Trump racist abuse over his political career, and somewhere he has literally sought to build a wall against.
“It was made in Mexico,” Zegan told Politico’s Playbook newsletter. Zegan, who lives in Mexico on a permanent resident visa, described the transport of the monument to CPAC in full to Playbook.
Politico reported: “Zegan spent over six months crafting the 200lb fiberglass statue with the help of three men in Rosarito. He transported it to Tampa, Florida, where it was painted in chrome, then hauled it from there to CPAC.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/27/golden-trump-statue-mexico-cpac
The PM seemed to acknowledge on RNZ today the difficulties for some people in accessing payment for personal work absence for COVID related reasons.
Surely it is time to let individuals have a go at handling this by quoting their IRD no., and organising their own direct payments through IRD. Company wide issues, such as downturns, layoffs, etc. the employer can handle. Enough employers have shown already what they think of Mr Robertson’s “high trust” model! Though to be fair, a number of prominent employers seem to have taken it more seriously as time elapses.
The NZCTU needs to be much firmer, and make it clear that employees disadvantaged for COVID related absences will be protected, by action if need be, including Employer shame listing. The Mediation Service and Employment Court are still oversubscribed with COVID related cases, according to union organisers I know.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/covid-19-coronavirus-6000-complaints-filed-against-bosses-since-first-lockdown/3RL5XL7SXAXI5ZKN3LTACU2RUM/
Even though it looks like the business are paying the price for Employees or their families playing silly buggers in lockdown?
lockdown 2 everyone was blaming the business handling frozen food, now business should be caned for working out having to pay for lockdowns 3 & 4?
Some businesses are as reliant on the government as a person who is reliant on a benefit. The employee is reliant on the employer. At some point the employer may require a job seekers benefit.
maybe it is the duty of the Government to look after people that can't work rather then the businesses?
Maybe the Government a year into covid should have set up a webpage solely for wage -replacements and covid – isolation/quarantine payments that are so easy to use that even someone with lacking literacy skills, or less then best english skills can get onto it, fill out the forms and receive a payment if the criteria applies.
In saying that, after April there will be 10 sickdays, and it will be the business costs to pay isolation costs. 10 working days = 14 days.
but sure, lets find some more fault at the majority of businesses that have done right and are doing right by their staff, that are currently trying to continue to do business under less then stellar conditions and who for their own needs were given a 13.000 grand loan to tide them over the plague years – small businesses that is. The big businesses is a different story altogether..
As for your 6000 complaints filed, as per the Government stats in Dec 2020 NZ had 2,734,00 in employment. While that does not undo the hardship that people who laid complaints have suffered, it is a fairly small number compared to he overall number of people employed.
I guess it is easier to pick and blame a business – any business to lay the fault fair and square at their feed, but frankly the valentines lockdown should have never been lifted, and frankly if it would have not been lifted, we might not be where we are today.
The incubation period is 14 – 21 days, so to lift a lockdown 3 days into an outbreak was dumb. I can get where they felt the pressure to lift it, but at this stage any lockdown period for any outbreak should be 14 days at a minimum, and even longer if the new strains behave differently then the initial strain.
And if the government finds that in the poorer areas of our country and in our cities kids go dot work because otherwise the family suffers financially then the government can finally lift benefit levels and make applying for a benefit easier and faster. Cause on that stage the government is an actor who did not show up to play.
And last, what we are also seeing is the idiocy of various governments investing pretty much solely into Auckland and now every time they lock down that one city the rest of the country suffers. Maybe they need to think about decentralizing their populations and their businesses. Just a thought.
There was no need to keep the 3 day lockdown going as all indicators pointed to it being tracked and traced and contained, but some self-entitled dickhead lied, then spread the virus for the best part of a week against all advice. Should 5 million people have their health needs, education, businesses and recreation disrupted without penalty?
Nope there was good need to keep it. Tracking and tracing is after the fact.
As per numerous articles from England, Europe and US this new strain is more contagious, affects childrens and in some cases takes longer to detect.
Track and Trace always comes after the infection. Thus its a good tool to find people after the fact, but as shown it is not a preventive tool at all.
And the 5 million people of this country need to finally understand that this is here to stay.
I had a medical specialist appointment on the 15/2, that i rescheduled for 01/3
i have now rescheduled it to the 19 April (after easter for business reasons), it is now the 4 time i am rescheduling this thing. The doc and i we will have a glass of bubblies when we finally get this done. We are all depending on the government to do the correct thing, and with this fucking virus the correct thing is 14 days of lockdown plus track n trace to eliminate any misses. And at the very least if that would be set in stone everyone could plan around it. right now it feels like we are still making it up as we go along.
Oh and that self entitled prick who “lied” and spread it could not have done if the lockdown would not have been lifted. We all know that people don’t do what they are supposed to do, heck there are people that don’t believe in this virus…..and then there are all the rich pricks that jump into their fancy cars to travel to fancy batches in the nice areas of the country when the city gets lockdown. …..
Rubbish, the longer and more onerous lockdowns are there will be less compliance even if only in numerous small contacts, and longer lockdowns would almost certainly lead to the spreading of more conspiracy theories and public displays of defiance. It is a very fine balance that the Government is seeming to do very well. But some dickhead who costs every single one of us time, freedom and the ability to earn a living should not get off without any repercussions.
Level 3 lockdown essential workers still need to go to work and childcare could be required. This cannot be excluded. Another bubble is permitted for childcare at level 3.
How about employees take a little self responsibilty and take out income protection insurance? Very cheap and tax deductible. A no brainer.
Honestly i would guess most do already. You know in case they can't work anymore. Are you saying that employers need to take out income protection insurance for their staff too?
edit. Most people that work that i know have it, but it only kicks in if you have no income for three month. So it would not apply to this scenario. But you know that? Right?
Btw, employees in NZ have no way to write anything off – they can’t even write of the cost of going to work, that is for the bosses / self employed only.
And do you really think that the South Auckland Lady that cleans the plague hotel for min wage should take out income protection insurance? Seriously?
Wrong. Employees can get a tax deduction for income protection insurance and for the cost of tax return preparation.
https://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax/income-tax-for-individuals/types-of-individual-expenses
And wrong again. Employers and the self employed cannot claim the cost of travel to or from their work, only the costs whilst actually working.
And yes, all employees should. The premium is based on their income level so even the 'South Auckland lady' can afford it.
As regards when it pays out and how much, that is specific to the terms of the contract, just like any other insurance contract.
And why on earth should an employer pay for their employees income insurance? Whilst IPI is deductible for the employee, it is not for the employer (other than for specified 'key person' insurance).
That is great as i have never heard of this.
We have it as self employed people, but sadly my partners only kicks in after three month of unemployment. so thanks to your information i will ask him to check this out
I wonder how much a South Auckland cleaning lady on min wage has left over to spend on such an insurance once she paid rent etc, and also if she can continue to pay for such an insurance should she receive a housing benefit or such.
As for my question to the employers paying, that really was what i understood.
But for what its worth, Employees pay already for an unemployment insurance via their taxes – Paye – and they should rather get unemployment benefits then add another expense to their already meager earnings and high cost of living.
Not so simple on that tax deduction for income protection… yes you can get a deduction for your premium, but only if the payments should you claim are taxable and in many cases the claim payments won't be subject to tax. Individual circumstances will determine which is the better outcome, but sucking it up on the premiums for many will be a far better outcome..
and thanks for that bit of information too.
so you can not write of the monthly payments unless you get a payout on which you would be paying taxes? Am i understanding this correctly?
Your accountant seems to be having another bad day Sabine.
I think Peter chch is correct.
Honey, that is why I have an accountant. He is good at this shit.
It's called "PAYE".
Yes. It seems that people like to forget the inconvenient truth that employees pay their full taxes every week with no way out to minimize that take tax.
And all the support for claiming for a non-working spouse (through disability for instance) was removed years ago. I pay $5,000 more tax per year than two people earning the same amount although I have two people to support and provide for in retirement. I only wish that $5,000 could go towards retirement savings.
even worse when you pay into this scheme – national unemployment insurance via the government – aka unemployment benefit but you are denied unemployment benefits because your spouse has an income that is above an arbitrary threshold, never mind that fact of having paid into the service.
Which is exactly what has happened. Worked in a job where being assaulted for the state was part of her job – not very well paid either for the stress and trauma.
that practice should be illegal as she was clearly charged the full amount of taxes when receiving her pay check.
that literally falls under taxation without representation, and while this also applies to man, i would venture a guess that the vast majority of those in this scenario are women. Cause……
Except there will be an exclusion that covers natural disasters, wars, insurrection and pandemic. Standard on all business insurance.
By your comment you obviously don't have any business insurance yourself.
Ignoring the fact that people on middle low incomes are struggling to pay rent let alone insurance, ignoring the fact that heavily mortgaged homeowners are increasingly letting their house insurance lapse etc etc…Lets just talk about the awesomeness of Insurance policies in NZ in general..
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/07/01/661910/could-insurance-companies-lose-the-right-to-be-unfair
Has this actually happened yet? Or are 'we' still reviewing the options?
Personally I wouldn't call any insurance policy a "no brainer"…..do your research…and then do it again…
Employees have income protection insurance by default…its called jobseeker
They do. It is called, "paying taxes for welfare" including unemployment benefit. Much less costly than private insurance, even if we double the payments.
Also there needs to be protections for staff who get dropped from rosters rather than being given leave (or after getting leave, as a punishment)
yes, good point
The trap of viewing the world in aggregate…
"None of this is necessary to reduce the risks of a banking collapse. The Reserve Bank’s own stress-testing exercise last year showed the banks could easily handle a 40 per cent fall in house prices. Homeowners are paying a record-low six percent of their disposable incomes in mortgage payments. They could easily handle a doubling of interest rates."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/124385961/new-zealands-economy-is-a-housing-market-with-bits-tacked-on
6% of disposable household income equates to around $95 per week….much of what Mr Hickey says is true except unfortunately his conclusions.
Thanks for that link.
"New Zealand's economy is a housing market with bits tacked on"..exactly right, it has become quite clear that this Liberal Free Market economic ideology, installed without public consent by Labour/Lange in 1984 has turned out to be in effect little more than a ponzi/pyramid scheme for the bulk of NZ citizens, using our homes as it's major currency…it's nothing less a obscenity, and one I am quite sure will be regarded by future generation as one of the most shameful periods in our short history.
Sadly it seems that neither Labour nor National have the vision, let alone the ideological drive to bring any real sanity to bear on this problem (or climate change for that matter).
I guess this is what happens when you live in a country with a ideological duopoly monopolizing the political conversation (with lots of help from a pretty lackluster media).
Bernard Hickey
“This week the idea that New Zealand Inc is just a housing market with appendages rather than real society and body politic graduated to full joke status. It’s official. This is a too-big-to-fail market and every policy, every political ambition and every investment choice must bow down before the great gods of the real estate agencies.
To prove it, the current Government, which railed against an “unsustainable” housing market in crisis while in opposition, has allowed over $200 billion of capital gain since it was elected in late 2017.
The Reserve Bank forecast this week prices are likely to have risen 51 per cent in Labour’s first two terms, delivering an extra $535b to homeowners. Tax-free.”
Turn Labour Left!
Multinational tech companies do not share the interests of local communities. We see the damage Airbnb does to the residential rental market, and now they refuse to acknowledge local Covid restrictions.
Time to kick them out of this country. Perfect opportunity to do so before tourism resumes.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/auckland-airbnb-hosts-told-to-ignore-covid-alert-levels-or-face-fines/BNDM6BVRJCXXKDZVZIQ4GBK5CQ/
+1
+1,"Multinational tech companies do not share the interests of local communities." add to that list multinational banks, oil companies etc.
One of the more blatant ones is polluter Rio Tinto, does anyone really think they are going to clean up their 8500 tonnes of toxic “ouvea premix” waste in Mataura before buggering off when Governments finally stop pandering to them with taxpayer funds?
Other multinationals shaft the host country in sneakier or less obvious ways–check the Australian owned Banks–one of NZ’s biggest exports remains repatriated profits to offshore owners, particularly since 1984 when Rogernomics ushered in some of the freest in and outflows of capital allowed in the world.
Westpac 30 years ago used to have a 2% margin in borrowing in New Zealand compared to Australia. It was a bit tricky to see at times but if you took the rate of inflation in both countries and then the difference between that and the mortgage interest rate for a 30 year mortgage New Zealand always was paying 2% more.
New Zealand was seen as a cash cow.
I suspect it hasn't changed much.
Banks shutting down in small towns, Kiwibank also which seemed to copy the big boys, afraid of anything different.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/437420/mayors-nationwide-call-on-pm-for-inquiry-into-bank-closures
"Our community needs and deserves to be serviced by our only state-owned bank in a fit-for-purpose way – face-to-face, phone, internet and via an app.
"Kiwibank will need to consider more than just its economic reasons," she said.
"If the prime minister agrees to an inquiry and the inquiry highlights these negative impacts, the government should require that all major commercial banks operating in New Zealand – as part of their licence to operate – be required to provide a level of service that redresses these issues," Stoltz [Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz] said.
Part of bank's value is they are a repository of cash, that handy stuff that you can spend when you have it without running up debts through credit cards, and just adding extra cards and layers of complexity to small transactions. (Cheques are gone by about July.) Society and with it all of us, is being diminished by stealth and our naivety about what is happening and its future effects is appallingly high.
Yes banks should have to provide service levels to get a banking licence ( or maybe pay a big fee if they don't have the coverage) and other banks could then tender to provide. There may even be an argument for the transaction system being operated independently of banks sort of like the ATM net so we each "own" our own bank account number and that is visible to the bank that hands out the mortgage.
Plus it is now just about impossible to transfer one off money to another named party (think tradies bills) without an online account and even with an on line account amounts for individuals are usually capped at a daily amount of around the $700 to $800 level.
Overseas online fraud is endemic ( maybe half a billion ??) in the UK last year? – not sure anyone really knows but us customers are paying for that.
All this when one of the major banks didn't notice an online criminal ring operating under it's nose in Australia.
I'm pretty sure they have like many other companies a tried and true practice of selling to another company just before closure who then goes bust and has no money to clean up.
The Patea Freezing works were the cautionary tale in this space.
In regards to Rio Tinto, what makes me annoyed is the Environment Minister is devolving responsibility to the council.
Leaving the locals to take on a multi national corporation does not sound like a fair fight.
Perhaps the government is afraid of repercussions from the TPPA (or whatever it is called now).
Multinational fast food chains, retail chains, supermarkets….
There are very few that do have New Zealand's interests at heart.
You then compound that by the fact that many buildings are now owned by out of town lawyers, accountants, property developers who do not have the local communities interests at heart and just see the locals as a means of wealth extraction.
Sigh and then there are all the bastard out of town landlords……….
This myth that New Zealand is made up of small businesses is just bullshit.
Twitter's brutal, anti-democratic censorship regime is a menace to free speech
Why on earth would this post earn a "potentially sensitive content" warning?
https://twitter.com/The1OnlyRichie/status/1363667904479301632
think global act local used to be the call. now all good men are required to come to the aid of protecting Robbies Park in the Parnell Rose Gardens. The proposal to ERECT a memorial to the crash of TE 901 is an act of gross vandalism and for some unknown reason is backed by phil goff and richard northey. hunter s. thompson would describe these two as grubby little ward heelers and that is precisely what they are. if this plan goes ahead then history will not treat them and their henchmen pippa coom, cathy casey and the rest of the gang kindly and karma will bite them badly.