do what they did last year, hunt them, donate to foodbanks etc. I am sure the many many food insecure people in NZ would love to get a nice slab of meet for free.
Unfortunately the wild market has been buggered by covid, Germans aren't going out for dinner and China has prohibited the sale of wild meat. Both factors have also knocked the stuffing out of farmed venison prices as well. Currently the only market for wild game, apart from a few niche suppliers to restaurants, is for pet food and you've got to have everything going your way to make any money out of that.
Would be good if a protocol was developed to allow sale of game meat through butchers. If it's ok to give it away through food banks it should be able to be sold on the open market.
More than 18,000 families throughout New Zealand will be able to enjoy hearty meals thanks to a donation of free-range Fiordland venison.
The challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic created the perfect opportunity for the foundation to trial an idea they’d been discussing for years, Sloan said.
The Fiordland Wapiti Foundation was the only recreational hunting group in New Zealand that managed deer on conservation land, he said, and it was important for the ecosystem.
“We understand that if you shoot a deer in Fiordland, the herd can replace it in four to five years, but if that deer damages the forest, it can take generations to recover,” Sloan said.
The foundation typically sends its carcasses to Canterbury for processing, before exporting the meat.
just call it free range. 🙂
Heck i would have it. Its better then what you can get in any supermarket.
Are you suggesting that Sabine @ 1.1 and others above are "incorrect" when suggesting that the distribution of wild venison to food banks etc last year did not happen?
Perhaps you should check your facts before hitting your keyboard.
Here is a generic Google search link to "wild venison food banks nz" providing a whole range of links to media reports on the distribution of 18000 kg of the wild deer meat last year to food banks and other charities here in NZ –
Pet food supply was in media recently, supply chain issues apparently. Turning pests into petfood is good ecological sense even if it doesn't get a gold standard for economics. It can't be that hard to at least supplement the money spent on conservation with income streams such as this.
I guarantee you that instead of government both local and national turning the exploding population of deer in this country into a job ,money,and environmental win they will just turn it into a tax burden that wastes a quality resource. By poisoning them and culling with out extraction.
That would be extremely sad, and in a country with lots of hungry people or people so poor tha they could not even afford a crap cut of meat it would be pure wastage. I hope they will do what they did last year, organise one big hunt, and donate the processed goods to marae and foodbanks. heck, train youngsters who to butcher some game. Skills for life. .
bwaghorn Very likely – the Semmelweis outcome. (He was a man with a good idea, which was tested as a success and saved lives, but the PTB were disturbed that he was changing the status quo without a complete dossier on why and how and ordered him not to proceed further.)
Up until about 10 years ago I or any other good old boy or girl could pot a deer and as long as the liver heart and head where attached trundle down to the local chiller and top their income up , jobs in out of the way places,pest control,and cash in the community, 1080 got picked up due in a carcase to a dick head jumping the wrong boundary,so instead of putting in place a way to stop that they just killed the trade dead.
It is interesting that a government that can live with the fouling of our drinking water from various gunk, is so concerned at one example of something going wrong and someone getting sick. With that sort of safety concern we shouldn't let men go out with rifles at all.
We shouldn't let people go tramping and have them call up our expensive helicopter service when they twist their ankle or get lost. The way that health and safety contracts are drawn up seems to indicate that prevention of any injury is a must for the employee/manager involved. I presume that is why the feral deer market was closed – safety?
In Germany you have a system where meat that was not meant to be butchered aka road kill etc, can be sold publicly at the Freibank. My family used to get their meat there, and was very unhappy when the last one in our town closed. Essentially it was mainly roadkill, animals that were not meant to be butchered but had to be killed, all sorts of meat horse, dear, boar, etc.
An interesting article here from 1911 outlines the rules.
For those interested in a bit of culinary history the above link is awesome to read. Who knew we ate dog in Germany in 1911. I did not.
But this system of a cheap meat butchery of meat that otherwise would not be used, and it could be pests, game etc, to be used solely by people of no means would not go amiss in certain towns where food insecurity and hunger is an issue.
As far as i know all Freibanks in Germany are closed as meat got plentyful and cheap.
I believe and this is anicdata that the traces of 1080 were picked up in wild venison after arriving in Germany, bit of a fuck up but surely an avoidable problem .
ome passengers on board three flights to New Zealand caught up in the Brisbane International Airport Covid-19 green zone breach have been told to immediately isolate.
The Ministry of Health was last night advised by the Queensland health authorities of an upgraded risk for some passengers on board three flights that left Brisbane airport on Thursday afternoon.
Brisbane International Airport was announced a "venue of concern" today after a passenger, who had travelled from Papua New Guinea and mingled with passengers bound for New Zealand, tested positive to Covid-19.
Almost 400 passengers who flew to New Zealand from Brisbane have potentially been exposed to the virus.
Surely there is a really innocent explanation, like Covid, emergency, blablablablah ……………..
The new features wanted by the ministry included a national booking system, with a website where people could "see their vaccination status, receive invitations and reminders to get immunised and have the ability to record adverse reactions".
Each vaccination would need to be easily recorded to assist with tracking and tracing of previous Pfizer doses.
In late October last year, the Ministry of Health awarded a $38m contract to Deloitte and Salesforce to deliver the new NIS, with an additional $5.4m per year over the system's first four years of operation. Deloitte and Salesforce are supported by Amazon-owned Amazon Web Services and Salesforce-owned Mulesoft……………………..
Did Orion pitch for the work? McCrae said neither his company nor any other local or international contender could have put in a bid because "there was no tender"…………………….
The situation seemed some distances from “key service requirements” outlined in the business case document, including a simple web interface that could be used by members of the public to access their immunisation data, a secure system that binds multiple agencies, including those outside the public health system, and that serves as a “single source of truth for all immunisations”.
A Ministry of Health spokesperson said the DHB’s were using a mix of systems because while a basic version of the new Salesforce-based systems was ready, it did yet include booking functionality.”
It had always been part of the plan to add new functionality over the course of 2021.
“The national online booking system is being built on the same Salesforce platform as the CIR uses but with an additional plug-in called Skedulo [made by an Australian company of the same name],” the MoH spokeswoman said.
“This platform has been successfully used internationally for similar booking systems. The system will be rolled out nationally in late May to support the ramping up of Covid-19 vaccinations, particularly as we move towards the middle of the year when the general population are able to access their vaccinations.
“The national online booking system will support and, in some instances, replace individual DHB booking systems.”
In McCrae’s view, the whole process is too slow, too complicated and too expensive.
“There’s a fair number at Orion who have been working on immunisations for a long time, and they’re just simply outraged how much money is being spent.”
This is trivial but I get really annoyed and have to vent when people re-write history… the review on stuff about The Handmaid's Tale said this…
Have June’s adventures in Gilead become the televisual equivalent of Groundhog Day? … the continuing perils of Offred/Ofjoseph/June (Elisabeth Moss) risk turning into Prison Break, The Fugitive or The Walking Dead, simply introducing new characters each season for her to butt up against, rather than progressing towards an ultimate tragedy or triumph.
The thing about The Fugitive is that it did have a definite end – It was a two part episode at the end of season 4. At the time it was the first series to have a definite end as the main actor signaled early that he wanted/needed to leave. Also, the final episode was the most watched episode of any tv series in the USA until the final episode of MASH sixteen years later – it had a similar social frisson as "who shot JR" on Dallas.
As an observer of The Fugitive from current times there are really four things that are interesting…
1) The show operates mostly amongst the working class as TF takes on whatever jobs are available. It shows the trials and tribulations of those at the bottom – govt contracts, unions, having to weather terrible bosses. At that time and following it was more typical to show the lives of the middle class and higher. This is probably the more interesting thing for this readership – 1960's working America looked recognisable whereas working life in the USA nowadays looks totally alien.
2) The story about a child of illegal immigrants born in the USA acquiring citizenship by birth, I suspect, had a major impact on illegal immigration to the USA.
3) The fear of teenagers (who were baby boomers at that time) – children are treated kindly but teenagers are treated as dangerous and troublesome. It was similar on Star Trek.
4) Black people were portrayed in very high social status jobs (doctor, diplomat).
(The acting was very patchy in a very 1960s way but David Janssen carried the cast along.)
One of my ideas is that among the retired etc there is a group in each town called the Friends of .. wherever, and they will take pride in their town and back up the authorities in different ways as volunteers which all unemployed people should do, for at least an hour a week – not taking support from government and putting little back – that's childlike.
The group would step in and weed, the hospital would shout them afternoon tea once a week, and it would be a good social and community thing. Some of the group would probably pick up somebody else to provide transport on their morning or afternoon on the job.
hey if the towns would hire all the unemployed people to fix the gardens, sweep the streets etc, that would be awesome. Suddenly all the people would have jobs, pay taxes and not try to survive on a beggars benefit, and then on the weekends they could volunteer for any charity they like to.
Or else what you are advocating is working for the a paid for benefit ‘aka the unemployment benefit’, which frankly should not be as you only get unemployment benefits when you can prove that you just lost a job, b. did nothing to deserve to have lost that job and c. have paid taxes for x amount of time.
One could say that unemployment benefits are actually an earned benefit courtesy of contributing at the very least 17.4 % and then up to 33 – 39% of ones wages to the upkeep of government and services.
So yeah, towns should hire people to keep their common grounds clean, and thus keep unemployment numbers low.
I don't really care about the part where Rimmer lied about not being able to buy properties (even though that is an insult to those who genuinely can't afford to buy a home and who help pay his wages) but the fact that he failed, apparently repeatedly, to declare these as pecuniary interests is cause for great concern.
Rimmer is a rules nerd so for him to claim ignorance does not wash.
Parliament has a register called the Register of Pecuniary and Other Specified Interests, in which MPs have to declare their interests
In February I voluntarily corrected my earlier returns, to declare interests in some properties and a Kiwisaver account. I had not declared these before, as an honest mistake
In reality I have no legally enforceable rights in any of the properties, being a discretionary beneficiary in other people’s trusts that own them, but Parliament’s rules ask that such interests be declared
I lived overseas when Kiwisaver was established, but was opted in as part of a second job upon return (having opted out on my main job). When I discovered this, I had to call AMP to get access to the account (my superannuation is through a separate scheme, which I declare)
I have not benefited from these ommisions, and nobody forced me to correct the record. Nobody had detected these omissions in the nearly seven years I’ve been a Member of Parliament, if I’d stayed silent it’s likely nobody ever would have. Correcting the record was an entirely voluntary choice
Everyone makes mistakes, the question is how you deal with them. I believe I’ve made the right choices, that ACT’s supporters would expect here.
Perhap we should be kinder to MPs for some minor errors and in less haste to make political attacks on the other side ??
i am Taken back by some comments that have been made including the post on this site on this topic when our PM has done something similar.
It’s been revealed the ANZ KiwiSaver scheme, in which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has money saved, has investments in companies which have supplied weapons to Saudi Arabia https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/300224963/air-nz-apologises-after-revelations-it-helped-saudi-arabian-military?rm=a
Our PM making commentary regarding Air NZ involvement with the saudis military and our PM having profited from the Saudi military doesn’t need me to drag her down her own actions have done that 🤭 but keep on being adjective and able to see all sides.
Always appreciate being channaged and reading balanced opinions.
On the sociopathic oink and his oozing, Bullington club entitlement and privilege.
A chronicler of the first Gilded Age, Fitzgerald would have seen Johnson for what he is. His novels are studded with just his type: men and women so thickly swaddled in money and privilege they can’t see the wreckage strewn behind them. Consult your copy of The Great Gatsby and near the end of that 1925 novel you will find a one-sentence portrait of our 2021 prime minister and his set. “They were careless people … they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
[…]
People like Johnson have always been around, as Fitzgerald reminds us. The most troubling question is how he came to be prime minister.
Agree with the characterisation of Johnson – it matters little whether he did or didn't say "let the bodies pile up", because they unquestionably and unnecessarily did. Yet somehow the story becomes whether he said it or not.
However I still don't like seeing the failures of the UK Covid response attributed to the personality of Johnson – rather than to the far-right, genocidal lunacy of Tory ideology that put an abstraction called "the economy" ahead of public health. "The economy" being nothing more than a sly, coded phrase for the financial interests of their own social class.
As far as Johnson is concerned if one reads the Posh Boys book about the effect of private school boys/men on English politics, it's illuminating. About a quarter of Brit PMs have come from Eton alone e&oe.
It's always been that way in Britain. Its not what you know but who you know that counts. Some of the brightest and most talented youngsters in the land never make it to the first step of the ladder because they come from the 'wrong' families.
Amateur landlord, Cassandra Gore, is a stain of a human being. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem but our residential tenancy model allows dangerous people to be in positions of power and soft authority.
If New Zealand's amateur landlords want to be considered a benefit to society, perhaps it's time for licensing and regulation. This I'm sure they would welcome as proof of their responsibility.
I've read a few articles on the property sections of the major news outlets, Homed, One Roof, etc, about 'how to do up the neglected rental you just bought'.
The articles are about what to do with the piece of crap you just bought to bring it up to a liveable standard for a decent, home-owning citizen. See what’s happening here?
The clear and irrefutable inference is that New Zealand landlords do 5/5ths of fudge-all to maintain their investment. They do nothing because they think their tenants aren't worth it and that the house and land lift the value far more than any consistent maintenance does. And they'd be right.
It's proof again that New Zealand landlords are not in it for the social service as they oft like to claim. They are in it for cash and the maximum possible cash at that.
As bwag says above, perhaps a microchip or ankle bracelet might buck their ideas up.
Landlords who do not know how to renovate also irk me. A vanity got installed, it could have been moved 40 cm if 40 cm got taken off a jutting out piece of wall. I cannot clean behind my washing machine as it needs to be lifted in and out. Great when washing machine flooded. As well I cannot have a front loader because the door could not open to load. I live in a really weird flat which could be great if stuff got fixed up properly in the first place when good money was spent. The real estate agent thought the flat was uninhabited as derelict inside until it got improved. I had to take the place to avoid being homeless as my previous landlord sold.
Farm owners could do with abit of that treatment, I went to an interview in a cold part of nz once ,the owners house had double glazing two big fires plus other heating very nice, the house I was offered had a semi outside concrete floored bathroom stained carpets leaky windows and a rusty old fire he got offended when I turned the job down an told him it was because of the house.
For those into trying to understand the dark web etc and also interested in Russia doing things to Ukraine, and Israel and the USA doing things to Iran, and Iran doing things to… and North Korea doing things and on and on. There was a very interesting and foreboding interview on Radionz this morning on Kim Hill. Thanks Kim for some hard-to-listen-to important info about on-line goings-on to keep to hand.
In her new book, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends, Nicole Perlroth, the cybersecurity and digital espionage reporter for the New York Times exposes threats posed by an international market in cyberweapons.
For decades the US government has been collecting "zero days", a software bug that allows a hacker to break into and silently spy on a computer or device, paying hackers for their code…
[mentioned are] hundreds of Chinese cyberattacks, including a months-long hack of the Times.
Perlroth is a guest lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a graduate of Princeton University and Stanford University.
Some of us believe if the US govt agencies had reported and had these zero day exploits fixed (rather than just recording them and occasionally trying to introduce them), then the Chinese would have had a much harder time breaking in themselves.
“The debate today has moved to: what is the role of the treaty in our democracy going forward? Did the treaty bring us together as one people, or split us apart as two?
Didn't see her answer. No doubt it would be to the affect that if it hasn't split us apart as two she'll do her best to achieve that.
There is nothing virtual about online violence. It has become the new frontline in journalism safety – and women journalists sit at the epicentre of risk. Networked misogyny and gaslighting intersect with racism, religious bigotry, homophobia and other forms of discrimination to threaten women journalists – severely and disproportionately. Threats of sexual violence and murder are frequent and sometimes extended to their families. This phenomenon is also bound up with the rise of viral disinformation, digital conspiracy networks and political polarisation. The psychological, physical, professional, and digital safety and security impacts associated with this escalating freedom of expression and gender equality crisis are overlapping, converging and frequently inseparable. They are also increasingly spilling offline, sometimes with devastating consequences.
Here, we present an edited extract from a major interdisciplinary study produced by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) under commission from UNESCO. The book-length study will be published by UNESCO in mid-2021.
I have a UK friend who is famous and she has to deal with hate every single day. Some of it concerted and organised. Whole threads about her on other pages. Fake pages pretending to be her. Men contacting her management, husband, friends, anyone… to tell them she's blocked them unfairly and they have the right to call her (insert insult here).
That she should die, that she must die… 'just jokes aye'. 'Bit of banter' it's 'fun and games' for the good old football lads of the UK.
Never see women need to go online and tell male comics they're not funny, and some of them… you'd hope they would.
Minimise threats of sexual violence and gendered abuse directed at woman who speak up about the assorted fascists, autocratic despots, war criminals and genocidal thugs you adore. Way to go, sport.
So you don't want to debate or try and understand your own report Joe… you would rather flame. I'm sure magneto will be along shortly to tidy up your commentary…
What is needed is an IRD decision, or a law change around the definition of Church. I'm sorry, but you can't be good for the community and simultaneously bad for it as well. And the Scientologists and any other "church" who uses similar techniques of pressure and intimidation can go the same way as far as I'm concerned. NZ could then use that money for welfare, housing, and health.
The Kaukapakapa resident regularly spray-paints circles around potholes out of “sheer frustration” over seeing motorists navigating around them.
Driving over road imperfections slowly damages your car and tyres by misaligning wheels and constantly stressing shocks and mounts. Avoiding road hazards is dangerous and distracting.
While Councils and NZTA think about pulling their socks up on potholes and other road veneer failures, they can have a look at utility covers as well.
If you are going to re-lay a road 50mm higher than before, you must lift the utility covers also.
Great story here. Local, innovative, forward thinking and award winning. Make smoothies without a blender, including native foods like kawakawa and puha – love it.
Be sweet to get some hot tips on cultivating puha, sounds like they've got the expertise there too.
AFAIK, he’s not gay and has had female partners in the past; I don’t know if he’s single at the moment. I couldn’t care less about his sexuality. What those two adults do or not do in their personal lives is none of our business. Let’s not turn TS into a gutter blog, thanks.
It doesn't matter of course. But I do worry about people in the public eye who may decide to remain in the closet, or keep a relationship secret for some reason.
I'll take the advice from Incognito on the subject from here on in.
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
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 Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
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https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/124993790/feral-deer-running-wild-bulldoze-native-plants-in-canterbury-ecosanctuary
Time to crack up the export freak deer market ,
do what they did last year, hunt them, donate to foodbanks etc. I am sure the many many food insecure people in NZ would love to get a nice slab of meet for free.
Absolutely. Good PR and good will all round.
also wild deer is so much better then the poor fenced of things eating nothing but highly fertilized grass.
Sabine – I love to see what slightly off piste response you come out with to others', always with a little wet blanket.
Unfortunately the wild market has been buggered by covid, Germans aren't going out for dinner and China has prohibited the sale of wild meat. Both factors have also knocked the stuffing out of farmed venison prices as well. Currently the only market for wild game, apart from a few niche suppliers to restaurants, is for pet food and you've got to have everything going your way to make any money out of that.
Would be good if a protocol was developed to allow sale of game meat through butchers. If it's ok to give it away through food banks it should be able to be sold on the open market.
I doubt any food banks would be taking the risk of distributing perishable meat, let alone wild stuff.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121834937/fiordland-venison-redirected-to-foodbank-freezers
The foundation typically sends its carcasses to Canterbury for processing, before exporting the meat.
just call it free range. 🙂
Heck i would have it. Its better then what you can get in any supermarket.
Ah, I did not think of freezers. Doh.
Are you suggesting that Sabine @ 1.1 and others above are "incorrect" when suggesting that the distribution of wild venison to food banks etc last year did not happen?
Perhaps you should check your facts before hitting your keyboard.
Here is a generic Google search link to "wild venison food banks nz" providing a whole range of links to media reports on the distribution of 18000 kg of the wild deer meat last year to food banks and other charities here in NZ –
https://www.google.com/search?q=wild+venison+food+banks+nz&rlz=1C1LDJZ_enNZ499&oq=wild+venison+food+banks+nz&aqs=chrome..69i57.26185j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Please read my reply just above yours at 11.38am.
There is no market is because NZ never marketed that type of meat to NZ.
You can't get wild boar, hare, rabbit, fowl, pheasants, deer etc in NZ. And t'is a shame cause that meat is delicious.
But that grass fed Deer is and taste the same as grass fed beef. No flavor.
We have access to wild deer, boar, hare, duck in our small rural community from locals who hunt. It's the same in most small communities.
Yes, i know that full well, but if you don't then you don't have access to any of that.
And as i said before it is not marketed to NZ'lers as meat that could be delicious.
If ever you have any spare meat left, tell, me and i get the smoker going and bbq.
Even just a nice hare…i so love hare.
Premium Game in Blenheim have a great range and sell online – venison tahr hare goat, even wallaby and ostrich. They even do bacon, salami, sausages.
Stocked in supermarkets too.
thank you, i will check these guys out. Don't care about the wallaby and ostrich to much, but hare and goat. OH yeas! please! So thanks for that tip!
What does wallaby taste like?
like kangaroo
But wallabies are not kangaroos. I will try Google.
Pleased I did not ask what ostrich tastes like, you might have said emu.
Pet food supply was in media recently, supply chain issues apparently. Turning pests into petfood is good ecological sense even if it doesn't get a gold standard for economics. It can't be that hard to at least supplement the money spent on conservation with income streams such as this.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/124949577/global-supply-issues-and-shipping-delays-hit-the-family-cats-dinner-plate
I guarantee you that instead of government both local and national turning the exploding population of deer in this country into a job ,money,and environmental win they will just turn it into a tax burden that wastes a quality resource. By poisoning them and culling with out extraction.
That would be extremely sad, and in a country with lots of hungry people or people so poor tha they could not even afford a crap cut of meat it would be pure wastage. I hope they will do what they did last year, organise one big hunt, and donate the processed goods to marae and foodbanks. heck, train youngsters who to butcher some game. Skills for life. .
bwaghorn Very likely – the Semmelweis outcome. (He was a man with a good idea, which was tested as a success and saved lives, but the PTB were disturbed that he was changing the status quo without a complete dossier on why and how and ordered him not to proceed further.)
Up until about 10 years ago I or any other good old boy or girl could pot a deer and as long as the liver heart and head where attached trundle down to the local chiller and top their income up , jobs in out of the way places,pest control,and cash in the community, 1080 got picked up due in a carcase to a dick head jumping the wrong boundary,so instead of putting in place a way to stop that they just killed the trade dead.
It is interesting that a government that can live with the fouling of our drinking water from various gunk, is so concerned at one example of something going wrong and someone getting sick. With that sort of safety concern we shouldn't let men go out with rifles at all.
We shouldn't let people go tramping and have them call up our expensive helicopter service when they twist their ankle or get lost. The way that health and safety contracts are drawn up seems to indicate that prevention of any injury is a must for the employee/manager involved. I presume that is why the feral deer market was closed – safety?
stop calling it 'feral' its free range. 🙂
In Germany you have a system where meat that was not meant to be butchered aka road kill etc, can be sold publicly at the Freibank. My family used to get their meat there, and was very unhappy when the last one in our town closed. Essentially it was mainly roadkill, animals that were not meant to be butchered but had to be killed, all sorts of meat horse, dear, boar, etc.
An interesting article here from 1911 outlines the rules.
https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1911/1/1/cheap-meat-the-german-freibank
For those interested in a bit of culinary history the above link is awesome to read. Who knew we ate dog in Germany in 1911. I did not.
But this system of a cheap meat butchery of meat that otherwise would not be used, and it could be pests, game etc, to be used solely by people of no means would not go amiss in certain towns where food insecurity and hunger is an issue.
As far as i know all Freibanks in Germany are closed as meat got plentyful and cheap.
I believe and this is anicdata that the traces of 1080 were picked up in wild venison after arriving in Germany, bit of a fuck up but surely an avoidable problem .
well that escalated quickly. Luckily for them, our MIQ is half empty so maybe we can house all those travelers there for their isolation period?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-immediate-isolation-warning-for-brisbane-to-nz-travellers-caught-in-airport-bubble-breach/FXOK2T6DYIQXR4Q7MK6SNWWGDM/
500 MIQ rooms have been set aside in case there are issues with the trans tasman bubble eg passengers caught by an outbreak while they are in the air.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300276732/transtasman-travel-will-there-be-room-at-the-inn-if-the-bubble-bursts
aren't we lucky.
Surely there is a really innocent explanation, like Covid, emergency, blablablablah ……………..
oh well just another day in Paradise.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/orion-healths-ian-mccrae-sees-tens-of-millions-in-overspend-on-vaccine-register-flawed-procurement/H6N3AH5GU43Q2NCSMK3JQWYEKQ/
If they use Salesforce, I wish the DHB or whatever replaces them good luck.
They have, hence why little has happened and every one seems to not like to talk about it at all.
Saleforce and Amazon. Why not.
Because its is useless, whether for scheduling or bookings etc. Have you ever worked with it?
Any idea how Deloitte ended up working with it? Any history elsewhere?
Looks like McCrae's got his nose out of joint because he couldn't get a govt contract.
This is trivial but I get really annoyed and have to vent when people re-write history… the review on stuff about The Handmaid's Tale said this…
Have June’s adventures in Gilead become the televisual equivalent of Groundhog Day? … the continuing perils of Offred/Ofjoseph/June (Elisabeth Moss) risk turning into Prison Break, The Fugitive or The Walking Dead, simply introducing new characters each season for her to butt up against, rather than progressing towards an ultimate tragedy or triumph.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/stuff-to-watch/300289269/the-handmaids-tale-as-season-4-comes-to-neon-has-gilead-hit-groundhog-day
The thing about The Fugitive is that it did have a definite end – It was a two part episode at the end of season 4. At the time it was the first series to have a definite end as the main actor signaled early that he wanted/needed to leave. Also, the final episode was the most watched episode of any tv series in the USA until the final episode of MASH sixteen years later – it had a similar social frisson as "who shot JR" on Dallas.
As an observer of The Fugitive from current times there are really four things that are interesting…
1) The show operates mostly amongst the working class as TF takes on whatever jobs are available. It shows the trials and tribulations of those at the bottom – govt contracts, unions, having to weather terrible bosses. At that time and following it was more typical to show the lives of the middle class and higher. This is probably the more interesting thing for this readership – 1960's working America looked recognisable whereas working life in the USA nowadays looks totally alien.
2) The story about a child of illegal immigrants born in the USA acquiring citizenship by birth, I suspect, had a major impact on illegal immigration to the USA.
3) The fear of teenagers (who were baby boomers at that time) – children are treated kindly but teenagers are treated as dangerous and troublesome. It was similar on Star Trek.
4) Black people were portrayed in very high social status jobs (doctor, diplomat).
(The acting was very patchy in a very 1960s way but David Janssen carried the cast along.)
Next installment in an occasional series of how neo-liberalism is failing us.
There is hope the new Health NZ will reverse the sub contracting of services and bring them back in-house.
Witness the gardens and grounds of yr local hospital. Here in the Manawatu, they are overgrown, unkempt and clearly a low priority.
One of my ideas is that among the retired etc there is a group in each town called the Friends of .. wherever, and they will take pride in their town and back up the authorities in different ways as volunteers which all unemployed people should do, for at least an hour a week – not taking support from government and putting little back – that's childlike.
The group would step in and weed, the hospital would shout them afternoon tea once a week, and it would be a good social and community thing. Some of the group would probably pick up somebody else to provide transport on their morning or afternoon on the job.
hey if the towns would hire all the unemployed people to fix the gardens, sweep the streets etc, that would be awesome. Suddenly all the people would have jobs, pay taxes and not try to survive on a beggars benefit, and then on the weekends they could volunteer for any charity they like to.
Or else what you are advocating is working for the a paid for benefit ‘aka the unemployment benefit’, which frankly should not be as you only get unemployment benefits when you can prove that you just lost a job, b. did nothing to deserve to have lost that job and c. have paid taxes for x amount of time.
One could say that unemployment benefits are actually an earned benefit courtesy of contributing at the very least 17.4 % and then up to 33 – 39% of ones wages to the upkeep of government and services.
So yeah, towns should hire people to keep their common grounds clean, and thus keep unemployment numbers low.
Both Korea & Japan have city beautification programs specifically to provide jobs to those without them. They do a pretty good job too.
I don't really care about the part where Rimmer lied about not being able to buy properties (even though that is an insult to those who genuinely can't afford to buy a home and who help pay his wages) but the fact that he failed, apparently repeatedly, to declare these as pecuniary interests is cause for great concern.
Rimmer is a rules nerd so for him to claim ignorance does not wash.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/05/act-leader-david-seymour-admits-he-s-a-beneficiary-of-property-holding-trusts-after-years-of-saying-he-couldn-t-afford-to-buy.html
The oink tries to excuse himself.
The key facts you may like to know are
Everyone makes mistakes, the question is how you deal with them. I believe I’ve made the right choices, that ACT’s supporters would expect here.
google cache
Rimmer is a stickler for the rules, often using others’ indiscretions for political gain.
Now he wants us to laugh all this off?
Perhap we should be kinder to MPs for some minor errors and in less haste to make political attacks on the other side ??
i am Taken back by some comments that have been made including the post on this site on this topic when our PM has done something similar.
It’s been revealed the ANZ KiwiSaver scheme, in which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has money saved, has investments in companies which have supplied weapons to Saudi Arabia
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/300224963/air-nz-apologises-after-revelations-it-helped-saudi-arabian-military?rm=a
That's not similar. The case at hand is an MP failing to declare pecuniary interests as required by New Zealand law.
It would be great if you didn't try minimise Seymour's dishonesty here, and even better if you didn't try to drag Ardern down to his level.
Thanks in advance 🙂
Our PM making commentary regarding Air NZ involvement with the saudis military and our PM having profited from the Saudi military doesn’t need me to drag her down her own actions have done that 🤭 but keep on being adjective and able to see all sides.
Always appreciate being channaged and reading balanced opinions.
On the sociopathic oink and his oozing, Bullington club entitlement and privilege.
A chronicler of the first Gilded Age, Fitzgerald would have seen Johnson for what he is. His novels are studded with just his type: men and women so thickly swaddled in money and privilege they can’t see the wreckage strewn behind them. Consult your copy of The Great Gatsby and near the end of that 1925 novel you will find a one-sentence portrait of our 2021 prime minister and his set. “They were careless people … they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
[…]
People like Johnson have always been around, as Fitzgerald reminds us. The most troubling question is how he came to be prime minister.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/29/sleaze-boris-johnson-careless-privilege.
Agree with the characterisation of Johnson – it matters little whether he did or didn't say "let the bodies pile up", because they unquestionably and unnecessarily did. Yet somehow the story becomes whether he said it or not.
However I still don't like seeing the failures of the UK Covid response attributed to the personality of Johnson – rather than to the far-right, genocidal lunacy of Tory ideology that put an abstraction called "the economy" ahead of public health. "The economy" being nothing more than a sly, coded phrase for the financial interests of their own social class.
As far as Johnson is concerned if one reads the Posh Boys book about the effect of private school boys/men on English politics, it's illuminating. About a quarter of Brit PMs have come from Eton alone e&oe.
It's always been that way in Britain. Its not what you know but who you know that counts. Some of the brightest and most talented youngsters in the land never make it to the first step of the ladder because they come from the 'wrong' families.
To a lesser extent it is true of NZ as well.
Yep, so much waste because the wealthy work the system to protect their own mediocre offspring.
Amateur landlord, Cassandra Gore, is a stain of a human being. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem but our residential tenancy model allows dangerous people to be in positions of power and soft authority.
If New Zealand's amateur landlords want to be considered a benefit to society, perhaps it's time for licensing and regulation. This I'm sure they would welcome as proof of their responsibility.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/renting/124788759/nightmare-landlord-drives-tenants-out-but-court-action-has-left-them-unable-to-rent-again
Lisencing would be a good start. And it would be nice to have a register of Landlords that have been taken to the court.
Licensing landlords is a great idea,and if they a spayed or neutered they could get a cheaper fee, stop the buggers breeding.
shhhh……
bwaghorn –
Some people should not be landlords
I find the most annoying landlords are those who procrastinate and nothing gets done. So draining as well.
I've read a few articles on the property sections of the major news outlets, Homed, One Roof, etc, about 'how to do up the neglected rental you just bought'.
The articles are about what to do with the piece of crap you just bought to bring it up to a liveable standard for a decent, home-owning citizen. See what’s happening here?
The clear and irrefutable inference is that New Zealand landlords do 5/5ths of fudge-all to maintain their investment. They do nothing because they think their tenants aren't worth it and that the house and land lift the value far more than any consistent maintenance does. And they'd be right.
It's proof again that New Zealand landlords are not in it for the social service as they oft like to claim. They are in it for cash and the maximum possible cash at that.
As bwag says above, perhaps a microchip or ankle bracelet might buck their ideas up.
Landlords who do not know how to renovate also irk me. A vanity got installed, it could have been moved 40 cm if 40 cm got taken off a jutting out piece of wall. I cannot clean behind my washing machine as it needs to be lifted in and out. Great when washing machine flooded. As well I cannot have a front loader because the door could not open to load. I live in a really weird flat which could be great if stuff got fixed up properly in the first place when good money was spent. The real estate agent thought the flat was uninhabited as derelict inside until it got improved. I had to take the place to avoid being homeless as my previous landlord sold.
I hear you. The idea they do good is a complete fallacy. They do the bare minimum, and sometimes not even that.
Wonder why NZ’s housing stock is in such poor condition? Amateur landlordism.
Time to professionalise the industry in NZ and have proper, regulated adults in place.
Rich pricks can still invest in housing, just through regulated companies, instead of getting their filthy hands directly all over vulnerable tenants.
May be landlords could do a test run to see what living in their rental is like, for 14 days before leasing the property.
Farm owners could do with abit of that treatment, I went to an interview in a cold part of nz once ,the owners house had double glazing two big fires plus other heating very nice, the house I was offered had a semi outside concrete floored bathroom stained carpets leaky windows and a rusty old fire he got offended when I turned the job down an told him it was because of the house.
For those into trying to understand the dark web etc and also interested in Russia doing things to Ukraine, and Israel and the USA doing things to Iran, and Iran doing things to… and North Korea doing things and on and on. There was a very interesting and foreboding interview on Radionz this morning on Kim Hill. Thanks Kim for some hard-to-listen-to important info about on-line goings-on to keep to hand.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018793738/nicole-perlroth-the-cyberweapons-arms-race
In her new book, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends, Nicole Perlroth, the cybersecurity and digital espionage reporter for the New York Times exposes threats posed by an international market in cyberweapons.
For decades the US government has been collecting "zero days", a software bug that allows a hacker to break into and silently spy on a computer or device, paying hackers for their code…
[mentioned are] hundreds of Chinese cyberattacks, including a months-long hack of the Times.
Perlroth is a guest lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a graduate of Princeton University and Stanford University.
Some of us believe if the US govt agencies had reported and had these zero day exploits fixed (rather than just recording them and occasionally trying to introduce them), then the Chinese would have had a much harder time breaking in themselves.
And hey, this may be a far left blessing but here it goes,
A very happy May Day, Workers Day, Labour Day to all workers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day
Judith Collins asks:
“The debate today has moved to: what is the role of the treaty in our democracy going forward? Did the treaty bring us together as one people, or split us apart as two?
Didn't see her answer. No doubt it would be to the affect that if it hasn't split us apart as two she'll do her best to achieve that.
Some of the vile shit directed at women who dare speak up.
https://twitter.com/julieposetti/status/1387889654221918212
Introduction
There is nothing virtual about online violence. It has become the new frontline in journalism safety – and women journalists sit at the epicentre of risk. Networked misogyny and gaslighting intersect with racism, religious bigotry, homophobia and other forms of discrimination to threaten women journalists – severely and disproportionately. Threats of sexual violence and murder are frequent and sometimes extended to their families. This phenomenon is also bound up with the rise of viral disinformation, digital conspiracy networks and political polarisation. The psychological, physical, professional, and digital safety and security impacts associated with this escalating freedom of expression and gender equality crisis are overlapping, converging and frequently inseparable. They are also increasingly spilling offline, sometimes with devastating consequences.
Here, we present an edited extract from a major interdisciplinary study produced by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) under commission from UNESCO. The book-length study will be published by UNESCO in mid-2021.
https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/the-chilling.pdf
I have a UK friend who is famous and she has to deal with hate every single day. Some of it concerted and organised. Whole threads about her on other pages. Fake pages pretending to be her. Men contacting her management, husband, friends, anyone… to tell them she's blocked them unfairly and they have the right to call her (insert insult here).
That she should die, that she must die… 'just jokes aye'. 'Bit of banter' it's 'fun and games' for the good old football lads of the UK.
Never see women need to go online and tell male comics they're not funny, and some of them… you'd hope they would.
Well they can expect a visit from the popo if she complains, which hopefully she does.
According to the linked Unesco report 55% of the abuse towards Cadwalladr was "highly gendered".
Yet looking at your word cloud picture of most frequent abuse terms, you could hardly call it gendered abuse..
Minimise threats of sexual violence and gendered abuse directed at woman who speak up about the assorted fascists, autocratic despots, war criminals and genocidal thugs you adore. Way to go, sport.
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So you don't want to debate or try and understand your own report Joe… you would rather flame. I'm sure magneto will be along shortly to tidy up your commentary…
WTF would anyone bother indulging a fucking tankie.
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What is needed is an IRD decision, or a law change around the definition of Church. I'm sorry, but you can't be good for the community and simultaneously bad for it as well. And the Scientologists and any other "church" who uses similar techniques of pressure and intimidation can go the same way as far as I'm concerned. NZ could then use that money for welfare, housing, and health.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/441479/ex-exclusive-brethren-accuse-church-of-tearing-families-apart-there-are-some-pretty-nasty-stories
Solid activism here:
Driving over road imperfections slowly damages your car and tyres by misaligning wheels and constantly stressing shocks and mounts. Avoiding road hazards is dangerous and distracting.
While Councils and NZTA think about pulling their socks up on potholes and other road veneer failures, they can have a look at utility covers as well.
If you are going to re-lay a road 50mm higher than before, you must lift the utility covers also.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300290088/auckland-transport-to-report-pothole-penis-painter-to-police
Great story here. Local, innovative, forward thinking and award winning. Make smoothies without a blender, including native foods like kawakawa and puha – love it.
Be sweet to get some hot tips on cultivating puha, sounds like they've got the expertise there too.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300285142/south-taranaki-iwis-smoothie-business-about-to-sweep-nz
Is David Seymour gay? If he ain't shagging his deputy and ideological duplicate, Brooke van Velden, then my gaydar is twitching.
AFAIK, he’s not gay and has had female partners in the past; I don’t know if he’s single at the moment. I couldn’t care less about his sexuality. What those two adults do or not do in their personal lives is none of our business. Let’s not turn TS into a gutter blog, thanks.
I'm not sure. Does it matter anyway? Are you homophobic?
It doesn't matter of course. But I do worry about people in the public eye who may decide to remain in the closet, or keep a relationship secret for some reason.
I'll take the advice from Incognito on the subject from here on in.