Hardly an addition to "wellbeing".
Couples are taxed on individual income, which makes for an large variation on how households are taxed on the same income, disadvantaging women, usually, who have to stay at home for disabled children or other relatives. One of the few things they could access was the non qualifying spouse share in super, if their older partner retired.
And. They are using this to fund an effective increase for those who already get overseas pensions/super.
Slight correction KJT… spouse is too old to get a job, but too young to retire, or non qualifying spouse is providing full time high level care to qualifying spouse.
This is the situation with my man and myself. There is this… People who are currently included as a non-qualified partner will continue to receive this rate unless their circumstances change ….which might 'protect' me from having to get a (paid) job.
However, when we first discovered that little concealed nugget from the Wellbeing Budget we decided that a) I will refuse the 'non qualifying partner existing arrangement exemption' because, shit, we are only too aware of how absolutely fucking awful it is to see that person enjoying government largesse when yourself does not because of a date on the calendar, and b) ffs, they promised that they would pay a wage to those of us who provide fulltime care to a disabled family member with very high support needs..they did, they did!
They will be paying the Job Seeker Benefit (as means tested) to non working younger spouses, but some will have a carer role that is not paid, and yet which might be. If that happens will that payment also be available to those younger spouses currently (or as at July 2021) eligible to claim partner super?
Who knows. What I do know is that they will say…"Oh, you're fine, we are going to allow existing NQP arrangements to continue."
We have already decided we will not countenance yet another 'Pay this person but not that because… date/cause of disability/preparedness to circumvent the system for monetary gain etc.' There's been way too much of that already.
Despite loud protestations from some of this Current Mob over the way National responded to paying family carers of non ACC disabled with high/very high care needs back in 2013 and promises made in Manifestos in 2017 and further assurances last year, I have heard absolutely nothing that persuades me that this lot are not just another government who will basically tell non ACC disabled to go away and die. As quick as, if you please.
Betcha the Greens back down on their grievous and irremediable medical condition who is in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability standbefore the final reading of the EOLC Bill.
I'll take the bet, Seymour has said that will be taken out and Greens have restated their position in the second reading debate.
And I would not be pessimistic about the move to individual entitlement for super. It should strengthen the case of non qualifying spouses in the role of carer receiving a wage – given they are not eligible for the benefit as they are not available for work. And the saving made by not paying super to the younger spouse (if either of them are working) will make funds available in this instance.
That, and the principle of individual entitlement, should strengthen the case of younger couples where a partner cares for the other – particularly when this is a long term scenario rather than the more temporary couple on benefit.
Sadly I would not be confident about your own situation – maybe argue for natural justice (equal pay for equal work until reaching retirement age) and maybe a grant on "retirement" to those who have done this for years, much if not all of it unpaid.
Basically, because my spouse was a carer to my high needs son, he had to be home schooled and no one else would care for him, for many years, there are no jobs for her.
My son has actually got to a stage, all credit to her, that he doesn't need the care, so she will not get the carer payments, but with so long out of the job market, she is pretty much stuffed as far as getting a job.
Of course she has the minimum in KiwiSaver, which I have contributed from my wage.
Even worse if I kick the bucket and she has to live on the miserly unemployment benefit.
This is one of the many things that convince me Labour hadn't abandoned Neo-liberalism.
Disability care/equipment/home modifications was one of the first of the taxpayer funded services that was contracted out to 'Providers'. Some for- profit and some masquerading as 'charities'. All constantly whining to their paymasters that there isn't enough funding and all can simply refuse to provide care if the person's needs are too high for them to provide on the cheap.
Waste enough time searching and you'll find the same names popping up over and over again. This year they're working for a provider and next year for a NASC. Nekminnit the same name appears in the Misery of Health Disability Support Services newsletter having recently been appointed as Policy Analyst in the Making Disabled People's Life Even More Shit department. A few years of that then they're mentioned in dispatches for some Provider lobby group.
A revolving door…a wonder they don't meet themselves coming back.
This Current Mob simply don't have what it takes to undo this structure…its entrenched and none of the MPs have much experience.
Unless its old Thin Blue Line Greg O'Connor…who enjoyed a bit of kudos being on the board or whatever of the Charity caring for his disabled son.
The last time I did any serious checking into Hohepa it transpired that the yearly funding from the government for providing services was well over $100,000 per client. That's per client.
Imagine if those of us who provided the same (or better) level of support were paid even a quarter of that for what we do???
Respect to you and your spouse KJT, and fwiw I'm pretty sure she could get a job somewhere in the disability sector…perhaps as one of the new upper level teacher aides?…not that it would be something I'd be rushing to do…
The reason for current practice is obvious. It provides a couple rate where neither person is working.
The partner no longer able to be covered by the couple rate has recourse to eligibility for unemployment benefit if the income of a partner is low (as it is on super where there is little other income). So they are bringing in a bit of means testing in these instances.
This will cost them more in some cases and less in others.
It will get complicated if there are children involved, or care situations.
Basically it means I cannot retire until my wife is 65, which could be a real problem given past work injuries. Which I see with other people ACC call “degenerative, age related”.
If she is not working and you were on super, she would be eligible for the Job Seeker Benefit, but that is means tested against the partners income (if you have little income other than Super she would qualify for it).
Super single rate + single rate benefit would be similar to couples super.
$633 couples super, $601 if one partner does not qualify. Single super (sharing) $380 + benefit $219.
"disadvantaging women, usually, who have to stay at home for disabled children"
Cost to us of this has been 15 years of spouse's income – let's say $700k after tax. In addition $150k for neurosurgery overseas – by far the best treatment available and not funded by the NZ health system – in fact actively obstructed by patch-protecting doctors. Add to that thousands in shoes which are worn out rapidly and $80/week for essential gym sessions for post-operative strengthening – also not funded, while ACC shells out for rugby players.
Total compensation from the govt? $90/fortnight child disability allowance. So not at all surprised if this super cut (when I get to qualify) turns out to be another piece of radical injustice.
International award winning journalist Nicky Hager faced another round of character smears recently …. Ignoring the truth of the matter the ugly underside of NZ regurgitated all the dishonest John Key 'attack the messenger' lines .
Is it racism that allows both the war crime to take place …. and the dishonest defence of it .??
“This material gives a graphic and upsetting picture of a US helicopter gunship firing into a civilian village in which frightened woman and children were seen running and huddling in groups”, Nicky Hager said.
What a despicable U$ war crime toady is Judith Collins: ” Judith Collins should not be our Bolsonaro over Venezuela … she is backing Elliot Abrams and co at present. ”
Trump Adviser Grilled Over Cover Up of Latin America Massacre
“This material gives a graphic and upsetting picture of a US helicopter gunship firing into a civilian village in which frightened woman and children were seen running and huddling in groups”, Nicky Hager said.
Similar to Wikileaks gunship murder sequence in IRAQ. Our forces are guilty of war crimes! shame!
There is a 7 million dollar inquiry in to what happened that the current Government set up. Do you not have confidence this will get to the bottom of what actually happened?
Then the question becomes why spend 7 million dollars of taxpayer money when that could have been done without the inquiry.
A long running and expensive inquiry feels good. The government can say "we did everything asked of us, we went the extra mile and we got to the truth". That such a statement may be bullshit won't change anything. But yeah, $7 million buys a lot of whitewash.
Reasons why we had to do the enquiry even if the NZDF will be whitewashed at the end of it:
1. Good governance. If there's an incident in which NZ troops kill a bunch of civilians with no enemy combatants involved, it must be investigated.
2. International obligations. NZ has a lot of credibility internationally for honest dealing. Covering up a possible war crime damages that credibility.
3. A lot more information about what happened is now in the public domain, so regardless of the amount of whitewash that gets applied in the final report, those of us who've been paying attention now know that yes the NZ SAS is quite capable of calling in air strikes on civilians, and yes the NZDF is quite capable of covering that up.
I fear you are right PM but it need not be that way.
My instincts tell me the Americans muzzled the NZDF thus preventing them from admitting what happened. It's to be remembered that it was the bullets etc. fired from the US helicopters which started the little killing spree. From that point, the ground situation appeared to end up out of control. That's my broad reading of what happened and I've read a lot about it including "Hit and Run".
So, why didn't the NZDF show some guts and acknowledge the mistake? Instead of undermining public confidence, I would venture to suggest that once the truth came out most NZers would have admired them for fessing up.
We stood up to the Yanks once before and despite the bitching and sulking we came out on top. NZ was admired around the world for standing up to the bullies.
My understanding is they were originally classified by the US military as top secret but have now been declassified – at least in part – so now able to release. Pretty sure it was something like that….
The victims who had their kids killed and maimed don't Gosman ….
And why would an idiot like yourself …. who laughs about 40000 siege /sanctions deaths … sorry make that 500000 deaths if I bring in past Iraq victims, to add to the recent Venezuela victims …
Why would an fool like yourself who laughs like Eliot Abrams care about NZ killing a few civilians"" …
lie-a-lot Gosbrams … 'They died because of Socialism' … 'Israel has never committed war crimes' … 'usa all the way'
““The liberal idea has started eating itself,” Putin said at a news conference. “Millions of people live their lives, and those who propagate those ideas are separate from them.””
Speaking after the summit in Osaka concluded on Saturday, Putin charged that Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and a drop of popularity of traditional parties in Europe have been rooted in growing public dismay with mainstream liberal policies.
Well, yeah. He's stating the obvious. The difference is that, unlike Putin, some of us don't find the above to be a good thing.
In Europe and North America, the establishment of social liberalism (often called simply "liberalism" in the United States) became a key component in the expansion of the welfare state.[20] Today, liberal parties continue to wield power and influence throughout the world. However, liberalism still has challenges to overcome in Africa and Asia. The fundamental elements of contemporary society have liberal roots. The early waves of liberalism popularised economic individualism while expanding constitutionalgovernment and parliamentaryauthority.[13] Liberals sought and established a constitutional order that prized important individual freedoms, such as freedom of speech and freedom of association; an independent judiciary and public trial by jury; and the abolition of aristocratic privileges.[13] Later waves of modern liberal thought and struggle were strongly influenced by the need to expand civil rights.[21] Liberals have advocated gender and racial equality in their drive to promote civil rights and a global civil rights movement in the 20th century achieved several objectives towards both goals. Continental European liberalism is divided between moderates and progressives, with the moderates tending to elitism and the progressives supporting the universalisation of fundamental institutions, such as universal suffrage, universal education and the expansion of property rights. Over time, the moderates displaced the progressives as the main guardians of continental European liberalism.
In general, those are things I value, with just a few caveats around things like free markets, where government interventions and regulations are needed to prevent abuses by the powerful.
I suggest that what people today have become disenchanted with is in fact the loss of liberalism and the rise of corporatocracy. But dictatorial authoritarians have become adept at misrepresenting where the problems lie and harnessing the anger to further their own interests. Their interests do not coincide with making life better for those they have duped.
Ahh the issue of the fearful white minority ™ they would like to keep what they and their ancestors had, would like to not share with anyone not them, and can't do so in a liberal democracy. Hence the need for strongmen that will take the world back to the 18 century and earlier if they could where the landowner had multiple votes (as per the properties they owned), women knew their place and the servants too, and the only sexy time that was ok was for men who fornicated for procreation or paid a prositute / mistress……(nothing gay of course).
Sadly, the same people that advocate these strongmen have a hard time understanding that women and servants might not be inclined to go back to these places to depend on the man for food and shelter, and sadder even they seem to truly believe that they don't belong to the servants class but will be those that get to keep their rights. Oh well to each their delusions.
The number of ANZ ads has really ramped up over the last couple of weeks. I think they sense the damage done in the eyes of the public, after 30 years we are finally on the move and will make clear why.
The big cheese at ANZ was a bit of a silly boy. He wrongly charged back to the company a couple of rides in a chauffeured car to a couple of dos. Just a taxi thing really.
Oh, and in moving around some bottles of expensive wine which had to be moved and stored somehow in the confusion of comings and goings that got put into the wrong list. Bloody paperwork!
Fortunately the Really Big Cheese found out about the mistakes and having the Highest Ethics, Standards and Morals said, “David, I know you’ve done nothing wrong, but we have the highest ethics, morals and standards which we all operate by, but what if someone hears about your slight mistakes and says it shows we don’t have the highest ethics, morals and standards?
If you leave after your outstanding innings with the good sort of deal you’ve had the public will see we’re upholding those highest standards and, heck, maybe even see us being the white knights upholding all the good things even though there’s been nothing wrong done, just a couple of silly misunderstandings.
It could be that maybe the company’s reputations will even be enhanced by our decisive upright actions. We know you always put the company first.”
David Hisco rides off into anonymity and St John climbs onto a higher pedestal.
When Key was our DP prime minister …. if a $700 million usa dollar gift /grift ( over $1 Billion NZ) landed in a ANZ personal account that he had …. and it came from china, russia or who cares where …… then Anz would have kept nice and quiet for him.
Its what they did for the Malaysian Prime Minister …. and now as a director Key can keep nice and quiet for ANZ.
“ANZ Bank is the most atrocious example of this failure, since the Australian regulators have done absolutely nothing to investigate, let alone chastise or punish blatant failures by this bank to control vast money laundering activity in a subsidiary where it was the dominant shareholder, namely AmBank.”
“All the top responsible personnel in charge of compliance, executive decisions and customer care at AmBank were on secondment from ANZ”
I know everyone hates John Key on here and everything is his fault, but he did actually get rid of Hisco. My only gripe is that it took him too long to do it. However Hisco had been claiming all these ludicrous expenses for many year before JK got there. Wouldn't surprise me if JK has had some harsh words to some of the directors that turned a blind eye to Hisco over the previous years and also wouldn't surprise me if there was a bit more fall out to come…possibly some 'resignations'.
Mmmm – the Omaha holiday home $$$ on the one hand quite neatly balances the Auckland home $$$ saving to Hisco's wife – or is that all just a really unfortunate coincidence?
I can believe it, but it's not as bad as it looks. For example, my joint account clocks up thousands per month, which is paid the following month and incurs no interest. So the "debt" only lasts a month or so, but it's still debt. Also, a lot of businesses have credit card accounts. I have a work credit card, like other managers where I work – I don't buy much with it, but across the whole organisation it must come to a fair bit every month (which also gets paid the following month so is a very brief "debt").
Yes, it would be more useful to know what proportion of that $43 bil is currently incurring interest. I'm guessing it would be quite a horrifying number (for us, not the banks – to them it would be an awesomely profitable number).
Ahh, $43billion transaction volume seems a lot more plausible.
What do the card issuers clip the ticket for on every transaction? 2%? So over $800 million gross income from transaction fees, on which they pay $7 million tax. That explains the endless card offers I get deluged with.
Fuuuuuck! I had thought it was only American Express that gouged like that! I already had a habit of trying to pay small businesses in cash, but now I'm going to make more of a point of it.
Well, yeah. After she's taken a reasonable wage for herself out of the gross profit, the credit card companies are probably making more from her business than she is.
Angst on the right: "Around the world old school conservative parties are in trouble. In the United States, Donald Trump has rewritten the Republican rule book and in Britain, Nigel Farage's Brexit Party is more popular than the Tories. These outliers have replaced traditional conservatism with a populist agenda."
"Forms of this populism have taken over in Italy, Hungary and Poland and are rising in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and France. The belief something fundamentally important has been lost in the brave new global world lies behind them." Really?? Clinging to the past is fundamentally important? Only to those incapable of facing the future with the right attitude.
"In New Zealand, National still covers the traditional conservative ground, although you wonder what a more populist National Party would look like." NZ First, obviously. Duh!!
"Populism is difficult to define. It means different things in different countries. It is generally an appeal to gut reactions about race, national culture, class, immigration and globalism. Some glibly call it the rage of white men who see their entitlements and privilege threatened but, speaking from experience, most white men are not that entitled and not very privileged either." True.
"The politics of populism is also usually nostalgic, building on a myth the old order was working fine until power shifted to people with some crazy ideas." Yeah, but populism is shifting power to people with some crazy ideas too. Two wrongs don't make a right.
The author flounders around for a while in search of good ideas, fails, then winds up. But at least he's trying to use his intellect – swimming upstream against the National flow. God loves a trier. Conservatives, not so much. Stationary, going nowhere.
Planning and building 100,000 homes over a decade in our fastest growing cities requires much, much more than just finding people and building materials to build houses. It requires massive capital investment in transport, water, earthworks and other infrastructure….
After the mid 1980s, the Government saw the private sector as the provider of housing and saw any infrastructure as a cost that needed to be borne by those building the new houses and local Government, not the wider taxpaying public. …..
Excellent analysis from Bernard. Twyford caught by catch-22. "Even now, that thinking is infused through Treasury and into the minds of the current Labour leadership, going from Ardern through Finance Minister Grant Robertson to Twyford. That's reflected in their decision to re-sign up to the 20 percent net debt target before the 2017 election."
"The 20 percent number was born in the bruised aftermath of the New Zealand economy's near-bankruptcy experience of the late 1980s and early 1990s when bond vigilantes were a real thing to be feared. The 20 percent number coagulated into policy under Labour's last Finance Minister Michael Cullen and has been adopted reflexively (and I'd say mindlessly) since then by both Labour and National. It has anchored fiscal policy for 30 years and continues to do so."
Mindless adherence to neoliberal orthodoxy by the coalition govt. Failure to learn from history.
"The bond vigilantes have been euthanised by a decade of zero percent interest rates and US$15 trillion of quantitative easing or money printing by central banks in the Northern Hemisphere to buy government bonds. Fund managers all over the world are looking for safe government debt with some sort of yield more than 0.0 percent. The New Zealand Government bond yield fell to a record low of 1.5 percent last week."
"Labour fears being accused of being profligate and of raising the net debt of an already indebted nation, but the Government's net debt is at the bottom of the OECD and the nation's net debt has fallen 20-30 percentage points of GDP in the last decade. Robertson and Ardern argue we are so vulnerable in the event of another GFC or an earthquake that we have to keep our powder dry. But they're thinking as if they were in the offices of Helen Clark or Michael Cullen from 1999 to 2008, when New Zealand's economy and balance sheets were both actually and relatively vulnerable."
Govt by paranoia instead of realism. If govt finances permit us to reinvent socialism, why not give it a try? Because "a very present and known crisis exists right now and is right in front of their noses: a massive shortage of affordable and healthy housing that has consigned 250,000 kids to such poverty that 40,000 of them get so sick each year with respiratory and skin conditions they end up in hospital. Their parents are mired in working or non-working poverty that is impossible to break out of without affordable and healthy housing."
"Our growth cities need re-engineering to improve affordability and reduce carbon emissions. That means creating medium density housing corridors along train lines much closer to city centres that produce hundreds of thousands of new homes. Urban Development Authorites have to work in tandem with city and transport planners to buy up the land along those corridors and fund the building of the infrastructure and housing to make them work."
Bernard targets the financing of how to do this. "Twyford's solution to this infrastructure funding Catch 22 was to try to create Special Purpose Vehicles independent of the Government and the Council that could borrow money in their own rights to fund the infrastructure project by project. The model is the Municipal Utility District (MUD) bodies used in the United States to fund new suburbs and cities. They raise debt from bond markets, get their own credit ratings, and service the debt with targeted rates or fees on residents."
If that model works, why the hell couldn't Twyford get his cabinet colleagues to agree that the recipe is the one to use? Or did they agree in principle, then decide to keep quiet about it prior to getting ready to act. Don't spook the horses? Paranoia…
"Labour fears being accused of being profligate and of raising the net debt of an already indebted nation, but the Government's net debt is at the bottom of the OECD and the nation's net debt has fallen 20-30 percentage points of GDP in the last decade.
That is a favourite claim from National. They have embedded the claim that Labour spends and taxes. People believe it regardless of the evidence.So to stay in power the Labour Governments display careful conservative spending. My hope is that by the next election the current Coalition will remove the brakes and borrow and spend on infrastructure making it possible for less homelessness, less poverty and so on.
Thankfully we will never have to rely on My Hickey to run a country.
Minister Cullen's savings and debt record enabled future governments to recover New Zealand from the GFC, from the demolition by earthquake of our second largest city, from the demolition by earthquake of the rail line and State Highway 1 from Kaikoura to Picton, and massive spending increases in other areas … all the while keeping inflation in check.
And still with enough to survive another earthquake if we are pressed.
The current Minister of Finance has also deliberately expanded the net debt ratio precisely to give the government more headroom for other programmes.
As for housing, this government's track record is strong overall.
That picture shows a truck plowing through maybe 30cm of hail floating on 1.2m of water…..very impressive for all that, a vehicle would not be able to move through 1.5m of pure hail, full stop. So, much of that is hail that has flowed on meltwater down streets to a lower point. But even a fall averaging 10cm would be impressive…
Seen more pics – adjacent flat topped roofs don't have much depth at all. So it looks like a freak collection of hail, flowing down streets over blocked drains. So it's a bit of a media beat up, spectacular for all that…
Whatever happened to overshoot? We get lots of under shoot in the media… …wages no high enough bad, but wages too high no that's good. Neolibs like casting the agenda as under shoot, as it plays into zero govt, higher tax cuts. Since if they argue there is overshoot, planetary resources, overpaid cess, they know the solution is govt pressure cooker valve. And that means regulation and higher taxes. Overshoot management, when a retail over sells and burns their consumers pockets, either high prices or bait switch on quality, consistency, availability, etc. Managing between over and under shooting means some govt, some tax dollars, or in private business regular investment. Essentially the politics of brexit, Trump, are a overwhelm majority getting fedup with under managing govt, with media ignoring over shooting corps, and the political response is to mangle up the system. Trumps Twitter tirades, brexit shut down of parliament. They just don't have a clue how to do govt anymore, routinely rehiring neolib no govt types.
Nothing ventured nothing gain, the heckler years of Trump will cost us more and more.
My old friend Bill Watson was our Sea Shepherd national coordinator awhile, when the Japs arrested Pete Bethune. They got told he would die in a Jap jail – the Yakuza would do the job. So I wrote to our new PM, John Key, and asked him to make sure that didn't happen. Key, to his credit, got Bethune out.
Something that I found interesting, May was a strong month for new residential mortgage lending. It is the first time since this series begin (Aug 2014), that first home buyers have borrowed more than investors. It was also a record month for the other owner occupier category.
src: https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/statistics/c31
One more to supplement. I call this the first home buyer "highly leveraged" ratio. Basically, I take the amount borrowed by first home buyers that is greater than 80% LVR and divide it by the total amount borrowed by first home buyers. It continues to trend higher.
The driest 2 month in the Auckland on record the dry spell is a concern for Auckland cause climate change.
Antarctica is melting fast it is a big worry for our Pacific Island cousin the cause is human caused climate change this fast Global warming is affecting the start of the food chain the micro organisms.
Cool that Amazon is making the new TVs series follow up of the Movie Lord of the rings kia ora.
There you go the skill shortage was created by short sighted people canceling the traditional trade training program.
I think paying a bounty on plastic rubbish is needed that will clean up our environment this will help us get to a environmental sustainable economy.
The new Sky Waka on Mount Ruapehu is great for boosting tourism in the region all year instead of just in the winter months.
That's not cool all that waste water pouring into the great lake is not cool.T
Paul Goldsmith I know you lot were focused on the upper incomes growth thanks for confirming my theory. Paye tax cut that the wealthy gained the most from and raised gst that hits the poor people hardest .
As for living cost they Have risen sharply under national it's hard to live out there in Aotearoa now.
InTaupo who has a suerage main running close to a big water way I know it was built years ago but what a stupid design I say all waste water assets need to be audited to see if they will break a stuff our environment.
I,,, we have to look after the mental health of our men the construction industry is having a bit of a rise in this problem Its good that our government has increased investment in the mental health system.
The Alexandria Cortiz thing with the Spanish preacher running a story contrary to her story shows me something stinks with the Spanish preachers.???????????????????????.
I agree getting more Wahine in the construction industry is a must and the boys have to change their attitude to Wahine to get more Wahine in the industry it good for equality and the skill shortage of the trade workers.
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…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Asia Pacific Report A score of Palestine solidarity protesters draped themselves in white shrouds with mock blood in a sombre “die-in” demonstration at Te Komitanga Square — the heart of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city — today as speakers urged people to take a stronger boycott against Israeli products. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tackling violence against women will be the sole agenda item for a national cabinet meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has convened for Wednesday. The meeting, held remotely, follows thousands of Australians attending rallies across ...
The protest outside the White House correspondents’ dinner hotel. Image: Anatolu video screenshot APR More than two dozen Palestinian journalists had called for a boycott of the dinner, writing an open letter urging their American colleagues not to attend. “You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and ...
“Our exporters should, therefore, be deeply concerned that the Fast-track Approvals Bill was not assessed for consistency with any of our free trade commitments prior to being introduced to the House,” says Gary Taylor, Chief Executive of the Environmental ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
A historian with a track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
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Sneaky cut to super, for a retiree whose spouse is too old to get a job, but too young to retire.
https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/newsroom/factsheets/budget/factsheet-super-and-vp-modernisation-2019.pdf
Hardly an addition to "wellbeing".
Couples are taxed on individual income, which makes for an large variation on how households are taxed on the same income, disadvantaging women, usually, who have to stay at home for disabled children or other relatives. One of the few things they could access was the non qualifying spouse share in super, if their older partner retired.
And. They are using this to fund an effective increase for those who already get overseas pensions/super.
Again an inconsistent approach.
Slight correction KJT… spouse is too old to get a job, but too young to retire, or non qualifying spouse is providing full time high level care to qualifying spouse.
This is the situation with my man and myself. There is this… People who are currently included as a non-qualified partner will continue to receive this rate unless their circumstances change ….which might 'protect' me from having to get a (paid) job.
However, when we first discovered that little concealed nugget from the Wellbeing Budget we decided that a) I will refuse the 'non qualifying partner existing arrangement exemption' because, shit, we are only too aware of how absolutely fucking awful it is to see that person enjoying government largesse when yourself does not because of a date on the calendar, and b) ffs, they promised that they would pay a wage to those of us who provide fulltime care to a disabled family member with very high support needs..they did, they did!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12132665
Your case is going to be interesting.
They will be paying the Job Seeker Benefit (as means tested) to non working younger spouses, but some will have a carer role that is not paid, and yet which might be. If that happens will that payment also be available to those younger spouses currently (or as at July 2021) eligible to claim partner super?
Who knows. What I do know is that they will say…"Oh, you're fine, we are going to allow existing NQP arrangements to continue."
We have already decided we will not countenance yet another 'Pay this person but not that because… date/cause of disability/preparedness to circumvent the system for monetary gain etc.' There's been way too much of that already.
Despite loud protestations from some of this Current Mob over the way National responded to paying family carers of non ACC disabled with high/very high care needs back in 2013 and promises made in Manifestos in 2017 and further assurances last year, I have heard absolutely nothing that persuades me that this lot are not just another government who will basically tell non ACC disabled to go away and die. As quick as, if you please.
Betcha the Greens back down on their grievous and irremediable medical condition who is in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability stand before the final reading of the EOLC Bill.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/112375359/greens-will-support-euthanasia-bill-through-second-reading
I'll take the bet, Seymour has said that will be taken out and Greens have restated their position in the second reading debate.
And I would not be pessimistic about the move to individual entitlement for super. It should strengthen the case of non qualifying spouses in the role of carer receiving a wage – given they are not eligible for the benefit as they are not available for work. And the saving made by not paying super to the younger spouse (if either of them are working) will make funds available in this instance.
That, and the principle of individual entitlement, should strengthen the case of younger couples where a partner cares for the other – particularly when this is a long term scenario rather than the more temporary couple on benefit.
Sadly I would not be confident about your own situation – maybe argue for natural justice (equal pay for equal work until reaching retirement age) and maybe a grant on "retirement" to those who have done this for years, much if not all of it unpaid.
Basically, because my spouse was a carer to my high needs son, he had to be home schooled and no one else would care for him, for many years, there are no jobs for her.
My son has actually got to a stage, all credit to her, that he doesn't need the care, so she will not get the carer payments, but with so long out of the job market, she is pretty much stuffed as far as getting a job.
Of course she has the minimum in KiwiSaver, which I have contributed from my wage.
Even worse if I kick the bucket and she has to live on the miserly unemployment benefit.
This is one of the many things that convince me Labour hadn't abandoned Neo-liberalism.
….Labour hadn't abandoned Neo-liberalism.
Disability care/equipment/home modifications was one of the first of the taxpayer funded services that was contracted out to 'Providers'. Some for- profit and some masquerading as 'charities'. All constantly whining to their paymasters that there isn't enough funding and all can simply refuse to provide care if the person's needs are too high for them to provide on the cheap.
Waste enough time searching and you'll find the same names popping up over and over again. This year they're working for a provider and next year for a NASC. Nekminnit the same name appears in the Misery of Health Disability Support Services newsletter having recently been appointed as Policy Analyst in the Making Disabled People's Life Even More Shit department. A few years of that then they're mentioned in dispatches for some Provider lobby group.
A revolving door…a wonder they don't meet themselves coming back.
This Current Mob simply don't have what it takes to undo this structure…its entrenched and none of the MPs have much experience.
Unless its old Thin Blue Line Greg O'Connor…who enjoyed a bit of kudos being on the board or whatever of the Charity caring for his disabled son.
The last time I did any serious checking into Hohepa it transpired that the yearly funding from the government for providing services was well over $100,000 per client. That's per client.
Imagine if those of us who provided the same (or better) level of support were paid even a quarter of that for what we do???
Respect to you and your spouse KJT, and fwiw I'm pretty sure she could get a job somewhere in the disability sector…perhaps as one of the new upper level teacher aides?…not that it would be something I'd be rushing to do…
The reason for current practice is obvious. It provides a couple rate where neither person is working.
The partner no longer able to be covered by the couple rate has recourse to eligibility for unemployment benefit if the income of a partner is low (as it is on super where there is little other income). So they are bringing in a bit of means testing in these instances.
This will cost them more in some cases and less in others.
It will get complicated if there are children involved, or care situations.
Basically it means I cannot retire until my wife is 65, which could be a real problem given past work injuries. Which I see with other people ACC call “degenerative, age related”.
If she is not working and you were on super, she would be eligible for the Job Seeker Benefit, but that is means tested against the partners income (if you have little income other than Super she would qualify for it).
Super single rate + single rate benefit would be similar to couples super.
$633 couples super, $601 if one partner does not qualify. Single super (sharing) $380 + benefit $219.
"disadvantaging women, usually, who have to stay at home for disabled children"
Cost to us of this has been 15 years of spouse's income – let's say $700k after tax. In addition $150k for neurosurgery overseas – by far the best treatment available and not funded by the NZ health system – in fact actively obstructed by patch-protecting doctors. Add to that thousands in shoes which are worn out rapidly and $80/week for essential gym sessions for post-operative strengthening – also not funded, while ACC shells out for rugby players.
Total compensation from the govt? $90/fortnight child disability allowance. So not at all surprised if this super cut (when I get to qualify) turns out to be another piece of radical injustice.
International award winning journalist Nicky Hager faced another round of character smears recently …. Ignoring the truth of the matter the ugly underside of NZ regurgitated all the dishonest John Key 'attack the messenger' lines .
Is it racism that allows both the war crime to take place …. and the dishonest defence of it .??
“This material gives a graphic and upsetting picture of a US helicopter gunship firing into a civilian village in which frightened woman and children were seen running and huddling in groups”, Nicky Hager said.
The NZSAS, which led the raid and authorised all air attacks, knew about the presence of large numbers of civilians and their injuries immediately or soon after but it has never admitted to this nor offered medical assistance.” https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/06/30/nzdfs-key-evidence-in-operation-burnham-issue-is-not-what-it-was-made-out-to-be-nicky-hager/
http://www.nickyhager.info/foia/
Cornel West makes some very relevant points about a military mindset … neo lib corruption / inequality … and resurgent white supremacist sickness.
We need to stop encouraging them and stay out of their evil wars.
Judith Collins should not be our Bolsonaro over Venezuela … she is backing Eliot Abrhams and co at present.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4i61_12SGY
What a despicable U$ war crime toady is Judith Collins: ” Judith Collins should not be our Bolsonaro over Venezuela … she is backing Elliot Abrams and co at present. ”
Trump Adviser Grilled Over Cover Up of Latin America Massacre
“This material gives a graphic and upsetting picture of a US helicopter gunship firing into a civilian village in which frightened woman and children were seen running and huddling in groups”, Nicky Hager said.
Similar to Wikileaks gunship murder sequence in IRAQ. Our forces are guilty of war crimes! shame!
Nore on Abram's war criminal record:
There is a 7 million dollar inquiry in to what happened that the current Government set up. Do you not have confidence this will get to the bottom of what actually happened?
I have confidence that back-room appeals to "the national interest" and "let's not undermine public confidence in the NZDF" to win out in the end.
Then the question becomes why spend 7 million dollars of taxpayer money when that could have been done without the inquiry.
Then the question becomes why spend 7 million dollars of taxpayer money when that could have been done without the inquiry.
A long running and expensive inquiry feels good. The government can say "we did everything asked of us, we went the extra mile and we got to the truth". That such a statement may be bullshit won't change anything. But yeah, $7 million buys a lot of whitewash.
Reasons why we had to do the enquiry even if the NZDF will be whitewashed at the end of it:
1. Good governance. If there's an incident in which NZ troops kill a bunch of civilians with no enemy combatants involved, it must be investigated.
2. International obligations. NZ has a lot of credibility internationally for honest dealing. Covering up a possible war crime damages that credibility.
3. A lot more information about what happened is now in the public domain, so regardless of the amount of whitewash that gets applied in the final report, those of us who've been paying attention now know that yes the NZ SAS is quite capable of calling in air strikes on civilians, and yes the NZDF is quite capable of covering that up.
I fear you are right PM but it need not be that way.
My instincts tell me the Americans muzzled the NZDF thus preventing them from admitting what happened. It's to be remembered that it was the bullets etc. fired from the US helicopters which started the little killing spree. From that point, the ground situation appeared to end up out of control. That's my broad reading of what happened and I've read a lot about it including "Hit and Run".
So, why didn't the NZDF show some guts and acknowledge the mistake? Instead of undermining public confidence, I would venture to suggest that once the truth came out most NZers would have admired them for fessing up.
We stood up to the Yanks once before and despite the bitching and sulking we came out on top. NZ was admired around the world for standing up to the bullies.
It is the US military who have released the video that the NZ ones refused to.
My understanding is they were originally classified by the US military as top secret but have now been declassified – at least in part – so now able to release. Pretty sure it was something like that….
The victims who had their kids killed and maimed don't Gosman ….
And why would an idiot like yourself …. who laughs about 40000 siege /sanctions deaths … sorry make that 500000 deaths if I bring in past Iraq victims, to add to the recent Venezuela victims …
Why would an fool like yourself who laughs like Eliot Abrams care about NZ killing a few civilians"" …
lie-a-lot Gosbrams … 'They died because of Socialism' … 'Israel has never committed war crimes' … 'usa all the way'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrcT3GJuh0A
““The liberal idea has started eating itself,” Putin said at a news conference. “Millions of people live their lives, and those who propagate those ideas are separate from them.””
https://globalnews.ca/news/5445734/vladimir-putin-liberalism-g20/
Speaking after the summit in Osaka concluded on Saturday, Putin charged that Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and a drop of popularity of traditional parties in Europe have been rooted in growing public dismay with mainstream liberal policies.
Well, yeah. He's stating the obvious. The difference is that, unlike Putin, some of us don't find the above to be a good thing.
Use FF + addon
When it disappears it will return under another name
Let's take a moment to remind ourselves what the values of liberalism really are:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism
In general, those are things I value, with just a few caveats around things like free markets, where government interventions and regulations are needed to prevent abuses by the powerful.
I suggest that what people today have become disenchanted with is in fact the loss of liberalism and the rise of corporatocracy. But dictatorial authoritarians have become adept at misrepresenting where the problems lie and harnessing the anger to further their own interests. Their interests do not coincide with making life better for those they have duped.
Ahh the issue of the fearful white minority ™ they would like to keep what they and their ancestors had, would like to not share with anyone not them, and can't do so in a liberal democracy. Hence the need for strongmen that will take the world back to the 18 century and earlier if they could where the landowner had multiple votes (as per the properties they owned), women knew their place and the servants too, and the only sexy time that was ok was for men who fornicated for procreation or paid a prositute / mistress……(nothing gay of course).
Sadly, the same people that advocate these strongmen have a hard time understanding that women and servants might not be inclined to go back to these places to depend on the man for food and shelter, and sadder even they seem to truly believe that they don't belong to the servants class but will be those that get to keep their rights. Oh well to each their delusions.
Paywalled, but it looks like Key is running scared from scrutiny and is hiding behind the skirts of the PR industry.
Lol.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12245236
The number of ANZ ads has really ramped up over the last couple of weeks. I think they sense the damage done in the eyes of the public, after 30 years we are finally on the move and will make clear why.
The image trying to be created:
The big cheese at ANZ was a bit of a silly boy. He wrongly charged back to the company a couple of rides in a chauffeured car to a couple of dos. Just a taxi thing really.
Oh, and in moving around some bottles of expensive wine which had to be moved and stored somehow in the confusion of comings and goings that got put into the wrong list. Bloody paperwork!
Fortunately the Really Big Cheese found out about the mistakes and having the Highest Ethics, Standards and Morals said, “David, I know you’ve done nothing wrong, but we have the highest ethics, morals and standards which we all operate by, but what if someone hears about your slight mistakes and says it shows we don’t have the highest ethics, morals and standards?
If you leave after your outstanding innings with the good sort of deal you’ve had the public will see we’re upholding those highest standards and, heck, maybe even see us being the white knights upholding all the good things even though there’s been nothing wrong done, just a couple of silly misunderstandings.
It could be that maybe the company’s reputations will even be enhanced by our decisive upright actions. We know you always put the company first.”
David Hisco rides off into anonymity and St John climbs onto a higher pedestal.
When Key was our DP prime minister …. if a $700 million usa dollar gift /grift ( over $1 Billion NZ) landed in a ANZ personal account that he had …. and it came from china, russia or who cares where …… then Anz would have kept nice and quiet for him.
Its what they did for the Malaysian Prime Minister …. and now as a director Key can keep nice and quiet for ANZ.
“ANZ Bank is the most atrocious example of this failure, since the Australian regulators have done absolutely nothing to investigate, let alone chastise or punish blatant failures by this bank to control vast money laundering activity in a subsidiary where it was the dominant shareholder, namely AmBank.”
“All the top responsible personnel in charge of compliance, executive decisions and customer care at AmBank were on secondment from ANZ”
http://www.sarawakreport.org/2017/07/australia-and-new-zealand-slide-from-their-responsibilities-over-mass-corruption-and-malaysia/
Aside from not whistle blowing on some of the biggest crooks on the planet …..Banks like the ANZ are the funnel for money into tax havens ….
How gutless calling in a PR person to tidy up the mess.
It's a frank admission of disaster and soft corruption, and an inability to address the issues in an honest way.
In short, a portrait of John Key.
I know everyone hates John Key on here and everything is his fault, but he did actually get rid of Hisco. My only gripe is that it took him too long to do it. However Hisco had been claiming all these ludicrous expenses for many year before JK got there. Wouldn't surprise me if JK has had some harsh words to some of the directors that turned a blind eye to Hisco over the previous years and also wouldn't surprise me if there was a bit more fall out to come…possibly some 'resignations'.
Quite. That the dodgy $3.75m capital gain handed to Hisco ending up buying Key's Omaha home is an unfortunate look.
Not sure if that one is that bad, but certainly the ANZ selling the property to Hisco's wife at a few million under rateable value is dodgy
Mmmm – the Omaha holiday home $$$ on the one hand quite neatly balances the Auckland home $$$ saving to Hisco's wife – or is that all just a really unfortunate coincidence?
I'm going with a coincidence that looks bad. #optics
In stuff article about household debt.
They say that cc debt is 43 billion. in NZ.
That means each of 4 million people have a debt of $10,000 each!!!
I am not sure that is credible.
(OR maybe it is the credit limit is 43 billion?)
from the article New Zealanders owe at least $43 billion on their cards.
I can believe it, but it's not as bad as it looks. For example, my joint account clocks up thousands per month, which is paid the following month and incurs no interest. So the "debt" only lasts a month or so, but it's still debt. Also, a lot of businesses have credit card accounts. I have a work credit card, like other managers where I work – I don't buy much with it, but across the whole organisation it must come to a fair bit every month (which also gets paid the following month so is a very brief "debt").
Yes a lot of the debt will be 'transient'
And i hadn't considered business cards.
Still seem a lot though.
Yes, it would be more useful to know what proportion of that $43 bil is currently incurring interest. I'm guessing it would be quite a horrifying number (for us, not the banks – to them it would be an awesomely profitable number).
At at 2%, the cost to charge on the CC, that alone in in the order of $1Billion on 43b
And say 10% not paid in time and interest rate 15% that is another $600mill.
Jeez!!!!
7,257 billion
https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/statistics/c12
About 1.2 billion interest to the banks.
the43 billion number is the transaction vol of which the cc companies pay around 7 million in tax nice little grift.
Ahh, $43billion transaction volume seems a lot more plausible.
What do the card issuers clip the ticket for on every transaction? 2%? So over $800 million gross income from transaction fees, on which they pay $7 million tax. That explains the endless card offers I get deluged with.
Double that commission rate,the smaller business (local cafe etc) pay around5%.
Fuuuuuck! I had thought it was only American Express that gouged like that! I already had a habit of trying to pay small businesses in cash, but now I'm going to make more of a point of it.
My favorite cafe was complaining to me about the cost,and the problems that arose for her with the corporates not wanting to pay surcharge on cc.
Well, yeah. After she's taken a reasonable wage for herself out of the gross profit, the credit card companies are probably making more from her business than she is.
Thanks P.
Thats better., make more sense.
Still large nos, but 10k per YEAR per CC is feasible.
Got there in the end!!!!
5 million now dv
BG, most kids don't have a CC though.
Many adults have more than one
Eg business, personal, second personal for emergency use
A, $10 k bal for emergency use is unlikely though.
what about those of us that don't have credit cards?
Can we be excluded or would that scare off the credit card holders?
Angst on the right: "Around the world old school conservative parties are in trouble. In the United States, Donald Trump has rewritten the Republican rule book and in Britain, Nigel Farage's Brexit Party is more popular than the Tories. These outliers have replaced traditional conservatism with a populist agenda."
"Forms of this populism have taken over in Italy, Hungary and Poland and are rising in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and France. The belief something fundamentally important has been lost in the brave new global world lies behind them." Really?? Clinging to the past is fundamentally important? Only to those incapable of facing the future with the right attitude.
"In New Zealand, National still covers the traditional conservative ground, although you wonder what a more populist National Party would look like." NZ First, obviously. Duh!!
"Populism is difficult to define. It means different things in different countries. It is generally an appeal to gut reactions about race, national culture, class, immigration and globalism. Some glibly call it the rage of white men who see their entitlements and privilege threatened but, speaking from experience, most white men are not that entitled and not very privileged either." True.
"The politics of populism is also usually nostalgic, building on a myth the old order was working fine until power shifted to people with some crazy ideas." Yeah, but populism is shifting power to people with some crazy ideas too. Two wrongs don't make a right.
"National must be wondering, like the Republicans and Tories, if social trends towards a more diverse and urban society have left it behind." https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/113843911/what-a-populist-national-party-would-look-like
The author flounders around for a while in search of good ideas, fails, then winds up. But at least he's trying to use his intellect – swimming upstream against the National flow. God loves a trier. Conservatives, not so much. Stationary, going nowhere.
TL;DR Martin van Beynen
All I got was a wikipedia page for the latter, some journo in Chch. Relevance?
That's his M.O.
The amateur landlord industry is in disarray. One rep suggests up to 33% of rentals are no longer legal, and another claims it is just 4%.
No wonder there is no faith in this poorly administered and poorly regulated sector.
No wonder there is a housing crisis.
No wonder our housing stock is in such a dire state.
No wonder our communities are under such stress.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2019/06/the-880-million-bill-looming-for-kiwi-landlords.html
This column on Newsroom by Bernard Hickey is a great view on Kiwibuild and why it was bound to fail. A sad position for Phil.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/07/01/657972/how-phil-twyford-lost-housing-and-kiwibuild-failed
Very good article by Hickey.
I expect Labour to 'bite the bullet' and introduce braver policies to address housing ,if re-elected.
Excellent analysis from Bernard. Twyford caught by catch-22. "Even now, that thinking is infused through Treasury and into the minds of the current Labour leadership, going from Ardern through Finance Minister Grant Robertson to Twyford. That's reflected in their decision to re-sign up to the 20 percent net debt target before the 2017 election."
"The 20 percent number was born in the bruised aftermath of the New Zealand economy's near-bankruptcy experience of the late 1980s and early 1990s when bond vigilantes were a real thing to be feared. The 20 percent number coagulated into policy under Labour's last Finance Minister Michael Cullen and has been adopted reflexively (and I'd say mindlessly) since then by both Labour and National. It has anchored fiscal policy for 30 years and continues to do so."
Mindless adherence to neoliberal orthodoxy by the coalition govt. Failure to learn from history.
"The bond vigilantes have been euthanised by a decade of zero percent interest rates and US$15 trillion of quantitative easing or money printing by central banks in the Northern Hemisphere to buy government bonds. Fund managers all over the world are looking for safe government debt with some sort of yield more than 0.0 percent. The New Zealand Government bond yield fell to a record low of 1.5 percent last week."
"Labour fears being accused of being profligate and of raising the net debt of an already indebted nation, but the Government's net debt is at the bottom of the OECD and the nation's net debt has fallen 20-30 percentage points of GDP in the last decade. Robertson and Ardern argue we are so vulnerable in the event of another GFC or an earthquake that we have to keep our powder dry. But they're thinking as if they were in the offices of Helen Clark or Michael Cullen from 1999 to 2008, when New Zealand's economy and balance sheets were both actually and relatively vulnerable."
Govt by paranoia instead of realism. If govt finances permit us to reinvent socialism, why not give it a try? Because "a very present and known crisis exists right now and is right in front of their noses: a massive shortage of affordable and healthy housing that has consigned 250,000 kids to such poverty that 40,000 of them get so sick each year with respiratory and skin conditions they end up in hospital. Their parents are mired in working or non-working poverty that is impossible to break out of without affordable and healthy housing."
"Our growth cities need re-engineering to improve affordability and reduce carbon emissions. That means creating medium density housing corridors along train lines much closer to city centres that produce hundreds of thousands of new homes. Urban Development Authorites have to work in tandem with city and transport planners to buy up the land along those corridors and fund the building of the infrastructure and housing to make them work."
Bernard targets the financing of how to do this. "Twyford's solution to this infrastructure funding Catch 22 was to try to create Special Purpose Vehicles independent of the Government and the Council that could borrow money in their own rights to fund the infrastructure project by project. The model is the Municipal Utility District (MUD) bodies used in the United States to fund new suburbs and cities. They raise debt from bond markets, get their own credit ratings, and service the debt with targeted rates or fees on residents."
If that model works, why the hell couldn't Twyford get his cabinet colleagues to agree that the recipe is the one to use? Or did they agree in principle, then decide to keep quiet about it prior to getting ready to act. Don't spook the horses? Paranoia…
That is a favourite claim from National. They have embedded the claim that Labour spends and taxes. People believe it regardless of the evidence.So to stay in power the Labour Governments display careful conservative spending. My hope is that by the next election the current Coalition will remove the brakes and borrow and spend on infrastructure making it possible for less homelessness, less poverty and so on.
What is Winston First's position on it?
Don't ask me. Nor expect anyone in the media to ask him. Suggest it, and they'd respond "That sounds like investigative journalism. Ever so '70s."
Thankfully we will never have to rely on My Hickey to run a country.
Minister Cullen's savings and debt record enabled future governments to recover New Zealand from the GFC, from the demolition by earthquake of our second largest city, from the demolition by earthquake of the rail line and State Highway 1 from Kaikoura to Picton, and massive spending increases in other areas … all the while keeping inflation in check.
And still with enough to survive another earthquake if we are pressed.
The current Minister of Finance has also deliberately expanded the net debt ratio precisely to give the government more headroom for other programmes.
As for housing, this government's track record is strong overall.
When laws go wrong…
well migrant children in Guantanamo Bay?
why not, right?
https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1448206/
https://twitter.com/mle_goldman/status/1145321487534104576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1145321487534104576&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2019%2F6%2F30%2F1868541%2F-Looks-Like-Trump-Is-Planning-to-Ship-Detained-Kids-to-Gitmo
ahhhh, can you smell the sweet sweet economic anxiety from the white working class man and his missus? I sure can.
nah, the weather is not fucked up, its always did that at this time of hte year…..
https://twitter.com/SciWorld/status/1145417694512058369?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1145417694512058369&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2019%2F6%2F30%2F1868539%2F-Unusual-hailstorm-buries-Guadalahara-under-an-accumulation-of-up-to-four-feet-of-hail
https://twitter.com/drandreaskruger/status/1145447930645688327/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1145447930645688327&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2019%2F6%2F30%2F1868539%2F-Unusual-hailstorm-buries-Guadalahara-under-an-accumulation-of-up-to-four-feet-of-hail
https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1145436974184062976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1145436974184062976&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2019%2F6%2F30%2F1868539%2F-Unusual-hailstorm-buries-Guadalahara-under-an-accumulation-of-up-to-four-feet-of-hail
That picture shows a truck plowing through maybe 30cm of hail floating on 1.2m of water…..very impressive for all that, a vehicle would not be able to move through 1.5m of pure hail, full stop. So, much of that is hail that has flowed on meltwater down streets to a lower point. But even a fall averaging 10cm would be impressive…
Seen more pics – adjacent flat topped roofs don't have much depth at all. So it looks like a freak collection of hail, flowing down streets over blocked drains. So it's a bit of a media beat up, spectacular for all that…
Whatever happened to overshoot? We get lots of under shoot in the media… …wages no high enough bad, but wages too high no that's good. Neolibs like casting the agenda as under shoot, as it plays into zero govt, higher tax cuts. Since if they argue there is overshoot, planetary resources, overpaid cess, they know the solution is govt pressure cooker valve. And that means regulation and higher taxes. Overshoot management, when a retail over sells and burns their consumers pockets, either high prices or bait switch on quality, consistency, availability, etc. Managing between over and under shooting means some govt, some tax dollars, or in private business regular investment. Essentially the politics of brexit, Trump, are a overwhelm majority getting fedup with under managing govt, with media ignoring over shooting corps, and the political response is to mangle up the system. Trumps Twitter tirades, brexit shut down of parliament. They just don't have a clue how to do govt anymore, routinely rehiring neolib no govt types.
Nothing ventured nothing gain, the heckler years of Trump will cost us more and more.
Amateur day at Kiwiblog as they forget to post the General Debate.
When the official Pollster and Blogger can't be bothered, you know the National Party are in serious Eeyore mode.
Eeyore Quotes.
YouTube 1:13.
Yep. Yesterday one of them was complaining, with not a hint of reflection, the Australian mass murderer 'ruined the place for everyone'.
The exposure of far right extremists has had a profound effect on Kiwiblog because that exposure shone a spotlight upon them and their behaviour.
They have slithered back under their rocks.
"They have slithered back under their rocks" which is quite worrying really…
Maybe Farrar is trying to limit comments until Newshub have concluded their latest far-right news stories.
OMG Japan starts commercial whaling again.
Here's why: "distribution systems within Japan, from docks to markets, are intricately networked by the Yakuza". https://earthtrust.org/impossiblemissions/homepage/whales-yakuza/
My old friend Bill Watson was our Sea Shepherd national coordinator awhile, when the Japs arrested Pete Bethune. They got told he would die in a Jap jail – the Yakuza would do the job. So I wrote to our new PM, John Key, and asked him to make sure that didn't happen. Key, to his credit, got Bethune out.
The self proclaimed proper progressive left's favourite right winger normalises state murders.
https://twitter.com/LisPower1/status/1145320896300814336
Something that I found interesting, May was a strong month for new residential mortgage lending. It is the first time since this series begin (Aug 2014), that first home buyers have borrowed more than investors. It was also a record month for the other owner occupier category.
src: https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/statistics/c31
Chart:
https://i.imgur.com/UZ9WnFV.png
One more to supplement. I call this the first home buyer "highly leveraged" ratio. Basically, I take the amount borrowed by first home buyers that is greater than 80% LVR and divide it by the total amount borrowed by first home buyers. It continues to trend higher.
https://imgur.com/a/lHd5xNN
Nice work there Abba
Kia ora Newshub.
The driest 2 month in the Auckland on record the dry spell is a concern for Auckland cause climate change.
Antarctica is melting fast it is a big worry for our Pacific Island cousin the cause is human caused climate change this fast Global warming is affecting the start of the food chain the micro organisms.
Cool that Amazon is making the new TVs series follow up of the Movie Lord of the rings kia ora.
There you go the skill shortage was created by short sighted people canceling the traditional trade training program.
I think paying a bounty on plastic rubbish is needed that will clean up our environment this will help us get to a environmental sustainable economy.
The new Sky Waka on Mount Ruapehu is great for boosting tourism in the region all year instead of just in the winter months.
That's not cool all that waste water pouring into the great lake is not cool.T
Ka kite ano
Kia ora te ao Maori news.
At so much for positive te ao Maori News tonight Show is all repetitive negative stories that has been thrashed in the Media is this the pro —– tv .
I think that tangata whenua O Aotearoa deserves some positive stories. Sorry about the ——Party collapse
Ka kite ano
Kia ora The Am Show.
Paul Goldsmith I know you lot were focused on the upper incomes growth thanks for confirming my theory. Paye tax cut that the wealthy gained the most from and raised gst that hits the poor people hardest .
As for living cost they Have risen sharply under national it's hard to live out there in Aotearoa now.
InTaupo who has a suerage main running close to a big water way I know it was built years ago but what a stupid design I say all waste water assets need to be audited to see if they will break a stuff our environment.
I,,, we have to look after the mental health of our men the construction industry is having a bit of a rise in this problem Its good that our government has increased investment in the mental health system.
The Alexandria Cortiz thing with the Spanish preacher running a story contrary to her story shows me something stinks with the Spanish preachers.???????????????????????.
I agree getting more Wahine in the construction industry is a must and the boys have to change their attitude to Wahine to get more Wahine in the industry it good for equality and the skill shortage of the trade workers.
Ka kite ano