The Nats and Greens don't agree on much so this will be interesting. I do find it hard to believe that house prices grew 17.3% last year and treasury expect hem to increase by just 0.9% between 2021 and 2022!!!!!
They seem a bit hesitant to release how they came up with that. Personally, due to the lack of supply and not enough builders / supplies, I believe houses will still increase this year (but not by as much as 17%).
Having some work history in the industry I have been advised that concrete and its associated industries (eg pipes ) are follong a 6-12% increase at the beginning of the year and have notified clients of a similar price increase in July. Land in a development close by have increased their prices from the last stage to the current release by 20%+. So the building industry is entrenching pricing increases based on the current housing market surge. I await an announcement that the Kiwibuild ceilings will increase as a consequence.
what was a kiwi dream of owning your own house and then benefits for society that came with that has been demolished. Eg children having stability by going to 1 school not moving around as the family moves from 1 rented place to the next, and the upheaval that moving causes.
Not to mention the fact that NZers always aspired to owning their own home for security in their old age. It was never about "mum and dad investors" or "getting on the property ladder" . I find this whole discourse deeply offensive.
That number will be a peg in the ground for inflationary pressures. With rates, shipping imports, farm supplies, insurance etc. etc… the average person will have to cope with some steep increases in living costs. Any wage adjustment will feel like a step forward and 2 back.
Can someone explain. The new hate speech proposals add more society identies to the previous list to protect them.Does that mean for others in society who are no on the list they will not be subject to hate speech?
Yes, like the tablets of Moses the laws will be set in stone. I would assume there will be a process to add & remove, coz you know, nothing is immovable.
Well its good business practice to wait will invoicing for 43 days (on average), right?
While the ministry has collected $50 million to date, with at least 67 per cent of returnees paying on time, the documents reveal the ministry expected debt collectors would be needed for 40 per cent of returnees.
A document from April shows invoices were being sent an average of 43 days after the person's stay.
In addition, 14,197 invoices have not been sent out at all – that's 23 per cent of returnees – because the ministry hasn't been able to confirm their contact details, or if they are liable to pay
Maybe the government should have tasked the receptionists of the hotels to invoice right before the guys depart the plague hotel. Like, here kind Sir and Lady, t'is your due for bed and feed. Thanks muchly and kindly, and please pay here, hands eftpos machine. 🙂
But no, its to hard, to complicated to hire someone who is actually skilled in handling people a bill for staying at a hotel.
In the documents, the ministry said people's personal details, travel dates, room allocation and contact details needed to be pulled from different sources, which takes "substantial manual processing and review".
I don't believe there was any real intention to enforce payment. Rightly, it has been determined that this sort of nit picking secondary function will never be allowed to interfere with the public health primary objective of MIQ.
The whole charging regime was a sop to a reactionary media.
The success of our covid response is testimony to the wisdom of not allowing the media set the public health agenda.
The media is simply reporting that the government is not enforcing its own rules.
Pray tell what the medias 'agenda' is? Or is it now verboten for the Media to report on unpleasent items that may or may not make the government look a bit lack luster?
And please, Pray tell, will you say the same thing a different government is running things? Seriously.
I get it, no matter what, Labour is the best for some, and why not? But honestly this is something that WE pay all for and some of us really believe that we have more pressing issues then paying for returning Kiwis, Athletes back from overseas trials, Kiddie TV stars, Americas Cup billionaires and their staff etc etc etc.
So yeah, If labour would have put in plan a pay to collect the costs for isolation, and if they had charged someone with being responsible for the collection of this cost, then they would have not had a bad day in the news. So frankly the Media is not responsible for MIQ and the associated costs, its government. Even if Labour is the one to fuck up.
"The success of our covid response is testimony to the wisdom of not allowing the media set the public health agenda"
That aside surely the decision that the returnee would be liable for costs was signaled to the returnee when he booked the spot. Before he got anywhere near a plane.
Pretty much – if something is going to get neglected because everyone is frantically busy, then I'd prefer it was the invoicing rather than managing the virus. Ideally both would be achievable – but whatever – life is a mess. The whole purpose of this non-story is to feed comforting myths about the uselessness of the public sector versus the thrusting efficiency of business. This despite the evidence that the public sector has done a pretty good job.
as i said, they should have hired some workers who actually know what they do, have the relevant skills to do what needs to be done.
And to add insult to injury, this Government will at great cost to the tax payer hire some debt collectors to enforce payment – even tho they have no idea what is invoiced and what not. And that i am sure off.
"…as i said, they should have hired some workers who actually know what they do, have the relevant skills to do what needs to be done…"
There has been no community transmission or outbreak of COVID from MIQ for four or five months now. I think they've hired people who know what they are doing. Sorry they didn't hire accountants to do a health job.
WE had a lockdown in August, in February, and the only reason we dont have a 'community' outbreak here is not due to the government, but literally the good Kiwis that go home and stay home if told to do so.
If we had some more people in this country that are like some in England or the US, then we would look much different now.
Firstly, secondly we HAVE covid in the country – we are not free of it, we have not eliminated it, and we just had a huge scare not even ten days ago with some plague tourist from OZ meandering about Wellington as if it were 1988. Which again resulted in a 'lockdown' albeit the least harmful one.
What a ridiculous post, dripping with a vacuous cultural cringe, and loaded with a sort of nihilistic yearning for a libertarian contrarianism to make NZ as full of idiots as the UK and USA.
Not much point in engaging with such idiocy any further.
You are right, totally nihilistic pointing out that We are not Covid free, that we had several scares over the last year, and continue to have them.
How totally libertarian contrarian from me to WANT this government to enforce the policies it so proudly states on its .govt. pages. How totally full of nihilistic yearnings from me to applaud the Kiwis for being good citizens as that is literally the thing that keeps us out of trouble for hte most part. Totally.
And how very left and socially minded of you to blame the Media for reporting that again the Government is not doing what it said it would do, what it so proudly posted on its own webpage. So very totally Labour! Just because we say we do does not mean we will. Labour 2023!
You questioned Sabine earlier about the use of the word agenda which you said you didn't use. Yet:
The whole charging regime was a sop to a reactionary media. The success of our covid response is testimony to the wisdom of not allowing the media set the public health agenda.
It seems that Sabine is making a perfectly valid point that after the isolation and the service, comes the bill. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. And we get their email and home address, and the total payment or stepped regular ones and send them the accounts showing remaining debt. They came, we looked after them as well as we could, and now they should be paying, we have Treasury making the poor people pay for their living, the workers are getting their pay, the country knows how it words, so let's get going.
The idea of paying later seems out of date and kinda stupid given the financial upheaval everywhere. Why aren't they paying immediately in a no pay, no stay type of deal? That way instead of paying bill collectors we could offer some compassionate free stays.
“the ministry had moved to an automated billing system, aiming to chop down the average invoice time to two weeks. Returnees will soon have 30 days to pay their bill rather than 90 days, and they will be offered credit card payment. The ministry is also now getting daily data from Immigration New Zealand, making it easier to get people’s details.
Main said it may be possible to backtrack and chase up the thousands of returnees who might think they have been forgotten about. We’re in the process of going back through those cases to see if they’re liable to pay. Not all of them will be liable to pay. But where they are we’ll be in touch with them”
“Gillespie said the Government’s refusal was the right choice. I think the Government have got that one right. I think you need to facilitate the ability of Kiwis to come home, and there is a degree of urgency to get them back. If you’ve got a barrier right at the front that says you’ve got to have the cash right upfront before you come into the country – that would be wrong,”
Lots of accounts coming out of the West Coast of America from those experienceing the unprecedented heatwave.
The West Coast of the North American continent, from Vancouver to Baha, bakes under an oppressive record breaking heatwave, There are lots of reports of the suffering and rising death toll from heat related death particlularly amongst the elderly.
Behind the human stories, is there an even bigger story taking place over a longer period?
The Saharafication of Califormia.
A product of its low average rainfall, Califormia is famed for its fine weather.
6,000 years ago the Sahara resembled California.
So what caused the switch?
Could heatwaves and fire have had something to do with it?
Heatwaves and fire are two things affecting the American West Coast right now. It may take 500 years, it may take longer.
Native north American desert plants adapted to low rainfall can't take the heat. And the effect is dramatic.
Unexpected: Desert Plants Are Struggling in Higher Heat
Scientists say even the toughest vegetation cannot tolerate today’s heat waves…
At least 134 people have died suddenly since Friday in the Vancouver area, according to figures released by the city police department and the Royal Canadian Mounted police.
i was in France in 2003 during the heatwave that killed an estimated 15.000. It was a miserable time and we were up in the Mountains of the Alpes de Provence.
Heat waves are a silent mass killer. Of all natural disasters, hurricanes, tornados earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, fires, heatwaves have the highest death toll.
But as this New York Times writer comments, we will not be seeing a disaster movie made about a heatwave, (but maybe we should)
Most Deadly of the Natural Disasters: The Heat Wave
By Tara Bahrampour
Aug. 13, 2002
Natural disasters usually come rife with drama. Hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, earthquakes — all make for good headlines and even better visuals.
But it would be hard to make a blockbuster movie about a heat wave. Heat waves come on subtly, raising summer temperatures just a little higher than normal and then receding. But they kill more people in the United States than all other natural disasters combined….
Biden illegally bombs in Iraq and Syria, while his FBI seize Iranian owned news sites on the net…the USA still remain the worlds largest and most effective terrorist nation even now Trump is gone, proving that for tens of millions if not billions of humans, the difference between Trump and Biden is less than zero, both are just figureheads of a terrorist nation to them.
US Again Bombs Nations On Other Side Of The World In 'Self-Defense'
If I were unfortunate enough to be based in the US I'd be staying the hell home July 4th since it is high profile + high attendance seems like a target. Crazy times in a crazy nation.
On a happier note, international terrorist and war criminal Donald Rumsfeld has passed away, this brutal relentless American imperialist is responsible for the deaths of over 200,000 innocent civilians…making him one of the worst post war war criminals.
The world breaths just a little more easily today.
Documented civilian deaths from violence 185,724 – 208,831 Total violent deaths including combatants 288,000
I'm pleased with the MIQ invoice story situation. If everyone had been chased and paid some unfortunate newshound would have had to present a story about the cruelty of a returnee being harassed to pay while dealing with her mother's terminal illness.
If everything was signed, sealed and done I wouldn't need to picture myself in a particular centre dealing with inmates, flaunting my great customer service skills, getting the money off them. Or in some nerve centre formulating a foolproof plan to do it across the board and directing the efficient troops.
As well as doing the same thing for vaccine procurement, distribution and inoculation of course. Not to mention picking and training the All Blacks to beat Tonga this week.
The joy of appreciating Chris Bishop in orgasmic raptures about the shortfall is just a bonus.
There you go, non-payment pays off in the sideline entertainment it provides.
God though, the media has learnt nothing. This morning on RNZ they had the usual fare of an entitled upper-middle class person (some member of the global elite called Chris Ruscoe in the USA) spouting on at how he should be allowed to travel unencumbered by any pesky regulations about MIQ from the NZ government because he has been vaccinated.
He flat out disputed the science on the MoH website. So there you have it. A rich expat in a country that has had 600,000 Covid deaths lecturing us on our public health response based on his own ropey scientific reckons, with the publically funded RNZ kindly providing him a megaphone.
If you are a NZ citizen or resident you will be liable for a charge if:
you have left New Zealand, and returned, at any time after 12:01am on 11 August 2020 (when the regulations came into effect).
you left New Zealand before 12:01 am on 11 August 2020, and on your first return since leaving you:
arrive in New Zealand before 12:01 am on 1 June 2021 and intend to stay for a period of less than 90 days, or
arrive in New Zealand after 12:01 am on 1 June 2021 and intend to stay for a period of less than 180 days.
You will be liable for charges if you travel to any country outside a quarantine-free travel zone during the 90, or 180, day period.
The term 'New Zealand citizen or resident' means NZ citizens and residence class visa holders. It also includes Australian citizens and permanent residents who are ordinarily resident in NZ.
Applications to waive charges for managed isolation will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Last updated: 14 June 2021
now all they need to do is hire some people to enforce their own stated policies and invoice for a service provided.
This has nothing to do with the Media, other then some not liking that while Labour is good at writing policies they seem unable to enforce them. But then theorising on paper what could / should happen is easier then enforcing it.
And guess what when the government will waste good money on bad money to pay debt collectors to chase up on the unpaid invoices and maybe even send some out, it is not hte media that will pay for htat, nor dear leader and her party, but You and I and everyone else in this country that pays taxes.
You’ve missed the point re media framing. "If everyone had been chased and paid some unfortunate newshound would have had to present a story about the cruelty of a returnee being harassed to pay while dealing with her mother's terminal illness" We all know that's exactly how the media would frame it, regardless that returnees know of their financial commitments outlined in your post.
You simply missed the point were the government states one thing on their web pages and then misses to actually do what they state. and that is not the fault of the media. Its the fault of the government. 🙂
Or in other words, if the government had hired the people to collect payment on MIQ stay, send 14500 invoices duly out and then followed up on payments and non payments , the Media would not have a story to write.
You still missed the valid point Peter had made and this from your own link Sabine
“Gillespie said the Government’s refusal was the right choice. I think the Government have got that one right. I think you need to facilitate the ability of Kiwis to come home, and there is a degree of urgency to get them back. If you’ve got a barrier right at the front that says you’ve got to have the cash right upfront before you come into the country – that would be wrong,”
Currently, as Christina Pagel points out, 3-4 per cent of cases in the UK will end up in hospital. The problem is, the growth of infections is exponential: cases are more than doubling each week. Each new addition of cases overwhelms previous additions. At the current rate of growth, the UK will be seeing 40,000 cases a day by the Tories arbitrarily selected ‘freedom day’, which is higher than the roughly 35,000 recorded in the whole week up to 21st June in the UK. Three per cent of 40,000 would bring 1,200 daily hospitalisations by early August, which is roughly what the NHS was coping with at the start of December.
A new study suggests the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines set off an immune response that is strong enough to last for years.
The study, published Monday in Nature, found evidence that the vaccines induced a persistent immunity to COVID-19, and that those who received either vaccine may not need a booster shot.
That’s assuming that the coronavirus and its variants do not significantly evolve, according to the study, led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
“Anything that would actually require a booster would be variant-based, not based on waning of immunity,” Dr. Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona, told The New York Times. “I just don’t see that happening.”
For those that consider news that make the government look like they are not quite up there and doing it, please don't read this, it will make you unhappy. For those that actually care about things others then funny speaches that lead to nowhere, here is some 'health news' and i am sure Mr. Little will front up again to tell us how 'unhappy and frustrated" with the underlings that don't do their job and make him look out of place, out of ideas, very old and crunchy and downright useless. But then he earned his spot, right?
Eleven sick babies are being cared for in a playroom at Middlemore Hospital because it has run out of space in the regular wards.
The number of beds for older children is also down, leaving families and already busy staff stressed as they decide who can be admitted and who should be cared for at home.
The bed cuts were because of building work taking place and come as a big spike in respiratory illnesses hit the hospital
But hey, its just South Auckland, right? its not as if that matters, surely come 2022 someone will be dispatched by the Labour Party to tell these people the many ways Labour will fix it. lol.
Reading today's 'Open Mike' (getting through the comments a lot faster these days) had me wondering if it's time for a name change – how about 'Moaning Report'?
You could have a bit of silly fun with the whole RNZ weekday schedule:
All Night Moan (12 midnight)
First Moan (5 am)
Moaning Report (6 am)|
Moan-til-Noon (9 am)
Midday Moan (12 noon)
Aftermoans with Jesse Moanagin (1 pm)
Moan Panel with Wallace Moanman (3:35 pm)
Moanpoint with Lisa Moanwen (5 pm)
Moaning Now (6:30 pm)
Night Moans with Barry Gripe
Moans at Ten
Late Moans with Karyn Howl
Music Moans 101
Unfair to most of the presenters who do their best to feed us positive stories.
The upsurge in RSV infections in babies and toddlers is very possibly due to the effect Lockdowns in the past 16 months. Worldwide.
While the concept of humans being able to generate natural immunity to various diseases is now considered anti-vaxxerconspiracytheorytinfoilhatwearingnutbarmisinformation…the sad fact is that in a desperate bid to protect the old and vulnerable from Te Covid we have left our babies and tots without the natural immune priming needed to protect them from the ever circulating seasonal greeblies.
And opening the bubble with Australia was maybe not such a shit -hot idea.
"It's fascinating. The week we opened the bubble we had one presentation of RSV and it's been increasing ever since to last week we saw 204 presentations … it's such a sharp exponential increase.
"I'm not surprised to hear Middlemore has been busy, I imagine Starship and others would have been too … which is concerning," Huang said.
She said usually children experienced episodes of RSV in their first two years of life but last year there was a cohort of young babies who were never exposed to the virus due to lockdown and high-level safety measures like social distancing and hand-washing.
"So not only are you getting those children who have delayed exposure of RSV but also the group of babies born after them being exposed," Huang said.
The bit that gets me is that they seem to be surprised that at this time of the year there is an increase in the number of kids that have respiratory illnesses. End of June and they didn't seem to have expected it?
Oversubscribing and then systemically underfunded a service like health as nact did takes decades to undo.
Middlemores also meant to be in south Auckland (brown's Rd) proper not just inside the boundary on the wrong site with buildings never intended as such.
Dismantling self servicing DHB’S is a good sign so far
Maybe the problem is not only that the Health System is systematically deprived of much needed funds to just keep up with population growth – specifically in Auckland, but maybe the problem really is that the underfunding is BIPARTISAN.
The same can be said of roads (Northland comes to mind, or are we only talking about the shitty roads up there when it is a National government and it is Simon "No Bridges in Northland' Bridges making an ass of himself), schools, public housing, and literally any other services that is vital for the upkeep of a healthy community.
And for what its worth, i have and will say the same thing when the same issue arises again under a different government, because essentially there are few critter in government that are not to some extend guilty of underfunding our services that we need while throwing cash at stuff that serves no one.
The state of our hosptials the country up and down is a public shame. Dismantling the DHB will be of little use imo as the same people that did not fund the DHBs will also not fund any other iteration thereof.
A bit of history of the DHB
DHBs were established in January 2001 by the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000. Although they may differ in size, structure and approach, all 20 DHBs have a common goal: to improve the health of their populations by delivering high quality and accessible health care
and they were established by the Labour /Alliance Government under Helen Clark.
So let me simply find it funny that the same people that created the DHBs now want accolades for dismantling it.
As i said, these issues are bipartisan. And the only ones paying for the willful neglect or the incompetence of government to fund and enforce rules / regulations are Mr and Mrs Ordinary Kiwis and the little urchins that are on the floor in a play room for lack of facilities and beds.
They dont want accolades Sabine, the DHB's haven't worked out, so why not dismantle it? You forget that the previous National govt ran down and underfunded the Health system by $2.3 billion dollars. It going to take many years to fix the long standing issues.
So you are saying that we should give the guys that build a system that don't work another chance at great cost to build another system? Why on earth would anyone do that? They in the meantime can't even fund their own system while they pontificate about how great their next system is gonna be. Your bar is so low, its literally underground.
In the meantime in NZ people who are sick and in pain and need medical care or surgeries can't get it for lack of funds, staff, and physical locations, and 5 years in their reign and 1 year in their majority reign they still refuse to do what is needed to do. Fund the Services as per their need and the countries need and not as per the need of Grant Robertson to achieve a surplus, or squander it on some bike bridges and Americas cups idiocy for rich people.
Its not the same Labour govt and there has been a most destructive National led govt that severely underfunded health/DHBs since they were introduced. The Labour govt has been doing a catchup and has injected a huge amount of funding into health and to repeat its going to take many years to fix those long standing issues. They dont have a magic wand.
lockdown vs quarantine vs a 2019 baseline. Might be a research paper in that. Between child illnesses and the flu-like symptom rate, might we be getting a picture of a "negative externality" from the tourist industry?
And for what its worth, i have and will say the same thing when the same issue arises again under a different government, because essentially there are few critter in government that are not to some extend guilty of underfunding our services that we need while throwing cash at stuff that serves no one.
Some comments are longish but the TS ones have fibre in them!
Re daily misery diatribes on every topic imaginable are very off-putting. Some people sure cannot see any joy in anything at all. After a few wild Wellington days, the sun is shining!
There is no depression in New Zealand
There are no emmisions from our farms
There is no depression in New Zealand
We can all keep perfectly calm
But everybody's talking about Housing affordability
'Cause everybody's talking about Housing affordability
But we're as safe as safe can be
There's no unrest in this country
We have no child poverty
We have no homelessness
We have no racism
We have no sexism
Sexism, no, no
There is no depression in New Zealand
There are no teeth in our heads
There is no depression in New Zealand
We have plenty of hospital beds
Oh, but everybody's talking about Housing affordability
Yes, everybody's talking about Housing affordability
But we're as safe as safe can be
There's no homelessness in this country
We have no Covid
We have no Secrets
We have no Violence
We have no Meth
Meth, no, no
There is no depression in New Zealand
There are no emissions from our farms
There is no depression in New Zealand
Thanks to Jacinda we can an all keep perfectly calm
Perfectly calm
Perfectly calm
Perfectly calm
Perfectly calm
edit
On looking at the truth behind the fog of myth, half–truth, comfortable and uncomfortable jargon and pretense, we can bless Donald Rumsfeld below who brought his thoughts to our notice. When you can understand the depth and width of his message, and the understandings of the intellectual people who wrote it down, one gets to know how a politician learns to think. If you can understand that, and still keep a clear and questing mind looking for a truth you can accept and work with, then one becomes part of a small percentage of the population that outreaches those in Mensa.
Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know.
We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know.
The reality is that we have to get the pollies moving this term or we could be final curtain. If you read regularly you will note the odd quip, funny link, creative work such as Cricklewood's below. You could have a go yourself. Did you see the link on Newshub I think that showed the otters organising insulation for their lodge?
His death doesn't undo the harm he caused – if anything it makes it even more depraved that such criminality was perpetrated by someone just as mortal as all those Iraqis whose lives he caused to be prematurely extinguished. He is now freed from the possibility of developing a conscience and from the need to repent.
Article in Herald this morning about wealthy parents receiving $35 million in Best Start payments. Since I refuse to pay the Herald anything I don't know if they have covered the fact that the $60 payment would have caused any parents recieving Temporary Additional Support (TAS) to lose money from that income. In some cases it would have nullified the TAS payment completely resulting in zero gain, or at worst a net loss to the poorest parents in the country.
The Give And Take And Take Government strikes again!
IRD has estimated that up to 58 per cent of households would get the three-year payments under Best Start.
Ministry of Social Development figures show 13,422 beneficiary families also received it in the 2019-20 tax year and 20,484 in the 2020-21 tax year.
The Families Package also included extensions to paid parental leave up to 26 weeks and more generous Working for Families tax credits.
An evaluation on the impact of those changes on the first cohort of parents to qualify for them found they delivered a much bigger increase to working parents than to beneficiaries for the six months after birth.
It found working parents on paid parental leave were $72 a week better off in the first six months of their baby's life than prior to the changes – an 11 per cent increase –
while those on benefits got the smallest increase in income – $31 a week on average – a 5 per cent increase.
On average, parents of newborns were $55 a week better off.
However, it said those on benefits and low incomes would get more than workers in the long run because they would be eligible for the Best Start payments for three years.
The local grapevine has been abuzz with the rumour that A Certain Prime Minister is going to grace the Far Far North with her presence today. Turning the sod on a massive solar farm..built in our special part of the rohe… because hey, the Far North has the highest wholesale electricity prices in the country, allowing the company to get a good price for its power. Whoopie, and bully for them.
Back to the double cab utes….which absolutely rule up here…(very handy for carting around the gas bottles because so many of us up here are dependent on the more affordable gas for cooking, heating and water heating)I heard a nasty rumour that owners of said offensive vehicles were planning some kind of protest action. A mere token gesture, off course, but a few were keen.
They'd feel less aggrieved if The Dignitaries turned up in one of these…
Yes I think it would create a stir if the pollies turned up in one of these; everyone would want one.
Electrically powered, zero emissions, billions saved on building more motorways, and roads, ballistic parachutes fitted in case of malfunction making them safer than the average car, for further safety piloted remotely, to google earth algorithms to pre-programmed flight paths and automated vehicle spacing, no pilots license required, just get in and punch in your destination.
Be like George Jetson who punched in a few buttons and then put his feet up for the ride from his house to his work.
It's the imagined future made real.
So it only carries one person. So what, sit beside the motorway and see how many cars carry more than one person. Your luggage can follow in second vehicle slaved to your one.
And no need for a parking space after it drops you off at work it returns home to its charging station, ready to come and pick you up at knock off time.
So, you object to solar farms being built in the North on the grounds that:
the Far North has the highest wholesale electricity prices in the country, allowing the company to get a good price for its power.
I assume you approve of solar energy farms to help combat the more dire effects of Climate Change but not in your back yard.
There are not many places in NZ that are climactically suitable to build solar farms but the far North is one of them… not only because of its warmer climes, but also the type and flatness of the land available.
Once they are up and running – and I'm sure there's more in the pipe-line for other suitable land masses around the country – they will have the desired effect of significantly reducing the cost of electricity for everyone because energy from the sun is free and requires virtually no maintenance work on a regular basis.
So, your assumption that they are being built in the Far north based on some sort of region related increase in profit margins sounds to me like nonsense.
The rumour... Andrews said the site was also strategic because the Far North has the highest wholesale electricity prices in the country, allowing the company to get a good price for its power.
Not sure where you got the impression I am objecting to this solar farm.
What I am very disappointed about is that the fact that the company is having a minor gloat about how this is a profit making venture and the fact that we pay the highest per unit power prices in the country is going to be good for his business.
Whooppieddoo…and nevermind the locals who struggle to pay their power bills with us being one of the areas of highest deprivation in the country.
The nimby factor…? Considering the biggest issue up here at the moment environmentwise is the ever increasing avocado acres and the associated groundwater take and agrichemical spraying…
The Pukenui lease was secured, on land now used for grazing and maize, because the landowner preferred the solar panels to any intensive horticulture, general manager John Andrews told Stuff earlier this year.
“We are not allowed to use chemical sprays on our site – the landowner prohibited it.”
So hopefully no issues there. (When I catch up with one of the neighbours of the solar farm, who is also active in the battle against the increasing avocado monoculture I'll get back to you. )
So, your assumption that they are being built in the Far North based on some sort of region related increase in profit margins sounds to me like nonsense.
Since the director of the company actually said that this was a factor…do you think you'd like to retract/revise your "sounds to me like nonsense"?
I think the objection is the North already pays over the odds for power on the basis electricity is generated much further away. Local generation dhould see the North get the same pricing as the everybody else…
Anyways if you think electricity is going to get cheaper you're dreaming its going to get alot more expensive with additional demand… no new gas connections, electric vehicles, increasing temperatures will put more load on as air con systems become more prevelant + population growth…
Look at the current spot price once retail contracts expire big increases are very likely
Bill Cosby is an unrepentant, un-exonerated sexual predator, who, in a just world, would remain incarcerated until he carcs it, yet women across 'Murica aren't burning everything to the fucking ground.
At 3pm on August 13 2004, Akku Yadav was lynched by a mob of around 200 women from Kasturba Nagar. It took them 15 minutes to hack to death the man they say raped them with impunity for more than a decade. Chilli powder was thrown in his face and stones hurled. As he flailed and fought, one of his alleged victims hacked off his penis with a vegetable knife. A further 70 stab wounds were left on his body. The incident was made all the more extraordinary by its setting. Yadav was murdered not in the dark alleys of the slum, but on the shiny white marble floor of Nagpur district court.
I think that women in the women in Nagpur, State of Maharashtra, India sparked off the anguished protests about this:
The incident took place [in Delhi] when Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old female physiotherapy intern, was beaten, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus in which she was travelling with her male friend. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend. Eleven daysafter the assault she was transferred to a hospital in Singapore for emergency treatment but died two days later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Delhi_gang_rape_and_murder
The aftermath; and anger has been building at the blatant lack of concern about women's freedom and rights to go about their lives safely:
An author for the South Asia Analysis Group explained the protests as expressions of middle-class angst arising out of a collapse of a social contract between them and the liberal state.[183] New Delhi has the highest number of sex crimes among India's major cities. Police figures show a rape reported on average every 18 hours; reported rape cases rose by nearly 17 percent between 2007 and 2011.[184] Only one of the 706 rape cases filed in Delhi in 2012 saw a successful conviction against the attacker.[78]
Between 16 December and 4 January 501 calls for harassment and 64 calls for rape were recorded by the Delhi Police, but only four were followed up by inquiries.[181 – 2013] The regional programme director for U.N. Women South Asia said, "There are rape cases in almost all cities and rural areas, where the victim dies immediately because of the brutality of the crime … This time, it was like, 'Wake up.'"
Trans women are also at risk of violence from men (& cis women too for that matter). Intersex (&NB) are obviously also irrelevant to the original Twit.
But anyway; have you got the NZ rather than UK data, Weka? I am on mobile, so that's not the easiest for me to find, otherwise I'd do it myself.
Feel free to talk about the issues around violence against trans women, intersex and NB people any time you like, then you won't need to appropriate women's issues.
Women don't need to mention all the people when they talk about their own politics. What you call irrelevant is simply women doing women's business. It's not a statement that other issues don't matter.
Violence against women is a rite of passage. Rape, sexual harrasment, being offered money for sex acts/pictures etc is also a rite of passage for women and girls.
So why be surprised that that exact societal violence against women is also applied to trans women?
As i said to the Transwoman who worked for me during her course when she complained about being offered a lower wage then her boyfriend for the same job at the same company, Welcome to the world of Women. You will work harder for less, and someone will try to pinch your bum and if you don't laugh they will let you know that you are not a good sport and lack in humor.
That is the life of women.
See the article about the School in Christchurch were at least 20 girls have come forward in a review as having been raped – some even gang raped and not one went to the police. And these are girls, not even adults. Violence against women is as old as the world.
I understand that. But i really see standard bog misogyny is the main reason i would guess. The transphopia comes in once it is realised that the women is trans. And i could see it even be worse in some cases, as clearly why on earth would any men be a women if being a man comes with so much privilege. So any man who wants to be a women and who will go trough the motions to become one is almost a traitor to the gender male. (i hope i make sense here)
Ime online, there is a wide range of how trans women present. Many TW are not hard to identify as trans. I think they are at risk from a specific kind of male rage.
I also think that trans men are at risk specific to being trans too (despite having been left off FN's list above).
this guy killed, and then in prison found god and felt he should be a women, and now is a women and it appears he is threatening the family of one of his victims.
Where would you put him on that list? His previous murders were as a man, if he now were to follow up on his threats would they be the actions of a women?
no, but in the UK they would be recorded as a female crime. And if they raped a woman, that woman would be compelled to refer to them as she at court (assuming it ever went to court).
yep. It's already pretty bad. It's not like women were in a great position to start with. Now seeing some of those gains rolled back by the left, it's actually horrifying.
I need to get better bookmarking. There was some tweets a while back about the stats increase in sexual crimes by women. Because so few women sexually assault people, it doesn't take many men IDing as women to make a noticeable rise in the stats. Scary thing here is that the justice system in the UK may have no way of knowing how many of those crimes were by males. Also scary, Stats NZ wants to prioritise gender data over sex data.
It's not trans people, it's males, whatever their self identity. But the tweet is about women and why we need female only spaces. If you have some evidence for that trans women aren't ever violent, I'd like to see it. There's definitely this idea that they're not, and I'm not sure what that is based on, but there's enough evidence to suggest that trans women have patterns of male violence. It's not that trans women are all violent any more than men are. It's that to protect women from male violence we have women only spaces because women cannot predict which men will be violent.
If you have some evidence for that trans women aren't ever violent, I'd like to see it.
I don't have evidence for that, and I didn't claim it. Where do you detect there is an idea trans women aren't ever violent?
Is the tweet supposed to be evidence that trans women are as violent as men? Particularly in the most relevant category, 'Sexual offences' where the ratio is 98%/2%. That seems to be the claim and I struggled to believe it.
I did inadvertently stumble with the 'other men' reference. While not my intention, it's similar to the belief held that trans women are not women at all and never will be. This is the kind of othering which nurtures persecution.
if for some reason you can't use the Reply button, can you please signify what comment you are replying to? Number of comment works, or time stamp, or even the person's name.
This from Radionz on 29 June. What are they on about – it sounds like an advertisement for the tourism lobby. We already know that Covid19 is hard on families, this is not news. Is Radionz getting at the government over this – it is irresponsible for our public radio to make an issue of this point. (It has a QANTAS marked image on the net.)
…"It's so disheartening because you don't get the chance to say goodbye, to grieve … you just can't get the closure you need." Her brother has now been cremated. She did not get to see his body.
edit
Can you try to get the point I was obviously making. That the matter is not new, and that Radionz is not a tabloid more interested in the easy emotional 'human interest repetition' and should concentrate on the important new news,and the backgrounding giving us understanding of the issues.
Oh I get your point, it's just a utilitarian and unempathetic one that devalues the humanity of people dealing with a difficult and stressful situation. That's all.
Oh boohoo, there are a tonne of sad things going on every day in the world as well as NZ ie horrible domestic abuse, that we all ignore quite comfortably, and I am amazed at how much. Specialising in the favourite sad tale of the month devalues all the rest of the people who deserve our sympathy and action. Yours as well as mine, Big-heart. That's all.
RNZ National is on 24 hours a day. I'd describe it as having a 'magazine' format. To me it seems on any day lots of stories cover lots of facets about lots of aspects of our country and world.
What would they need to change to have them concentrating on the "important new news and the background giving us understanding of the issues"?
Would changing from what they have to what you foresee impact on their listenership? (Presuming the number of listeners is important to them and their funding.)
Pete Your last point is the crux of the matter. They should be funded as a public good, being aware of keeping in touch with all different groups, but providing good balanced reporting of news with background information and truthful reporting with relevant stats. Because that is what citizens who want to be effective in their inter-actions with pollies and planners and defend themselves against The Machine and Tech taking us and our lives over, need.
It may be fair to criticise RNZ, certainly the quality of journalism has declined in recent times imo but does that require a complete focus on 'serious matters'?
There should be space for more light hearted and 'public interest' coverage or we will end up with something akin to Al Jazerra….worthy but depressing.
My point again, is that the reference to people trying to be with dying relatives, has been covered before. To repeat it at this time is just a case of picking at the government getting tight on travel because of events, that people ought to know might happen, and did happen.
There are people having tragedies in NZ just as real as not being able to travel when booked. But they aren't as 'now' as those from Covid19. We are bored with those tragedies, people being pushed to 3rd-world status in our top-rating wealthy country. How can people be so much like weather-cocks, switching their compassion on and off in different directions. It doesn't seem to be able to spread over all and so remind pollies that they have to look at our world both directly and then with a fish-eye lens.
Teachers having to apply for renewal of their licence to work every year? And costing lots? Really our systems are unsatisfactory for people after being told we were over-regulated with government control. Now we are being trussed with regulations through business-controlled agencies and a letmotif of 'excellence' and competition to be the top on a sort of motorway to run along or be dropped off for not meeting the fanciful requirements of people with OCD.
Money, it costs an aweful lot of money to be in business, be that as a teacher, a lisenced kitchen, or nurse. We all pay for the pleasure to work. The councils and the state needs money.
Sabine – we know you are so good to the state, and it will in the end come to take note of your valuable advice, and why, because at the back of it is experience and practicality. You are probably being ironic about 'pleasure to work' but I believe that the studies show that humans need work to be satisfied, get a reward, and feel they are needed, have a place in society. And it is true that Councils and the state need money. All over the country they are going further into debt to erect some monument to our past good times, and counting on ratepayers to repay it in the future; we'll be lucky! All this is how I honestly feel. no BS.
Honestly all i said was that yes, depending on the type of business you do, you must pay a lisencing fee in order to work. Thus 'pay for the pleasure to work'. There was nothing more to my comment, it solely relied on your comments on teachers paying to update their teachers lisence every year. And yes the money raised by these fees is important to local and state government. It is certainly a considerable amount.
Nothing more nothing less. I am really sorry if that was not clear. I shall not try myself at humor again, my inner german is obviously not suited to it.
….This week in the Pacific north-west, temperature records are not just being broken, they are being obliterated. Temperatures reached a shocking 47.9C in British Columbia, Canada. Amid temperatures more typically found in the Sahara desert, dozens have died of heat stress, with “roads buckling and power cables melting”.
….in the Middle East and Asia something truly terrifying is emerging: the creation of unliveable heat.
While humans can survive temperatures of well over 50C when humidity is low, when both temperatures and humidity are high, neither sweating nor soaking ourselves can cool us.
….Humans cannot survive prolonged exposure to a wet-bulb temperature beyond 35C because there is no way to cool our bodies. Not even in the shade, and not even with unlimited water.
…..Of paramount importance is energy supplies being resilient to heatwaves, as people will be relying on electricity for cooling from air-conditioning units, fans and freezers, which are all life-savers in a heatwave. Similarly, internet communications and data centres need to be future-proofed, as these are essential services that can struggle in the heat.
Yes we can, there are no technological barriers. And we are the last generation that could implement them in time. All that is missing is the political will to do so.
Frankly I am disgusted.
Sharing this time with our children, knowing what we have left install for them, we should all feel a deep shame.
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
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Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
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Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles and that ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Are you deeply passionate about sharing Māori stories? We’re on the hunt for an experienced writer/editor to lead coverage in our Ātea section.Ātea is a deeply valued section of The Spinoff site, offering Māori perspectives and insights across politics, current affairs and culture. We are thrilled to be looking ...
By Aisha Azeemah in Suva With the lights on one of his sneakers blinking as he ran through the gallery, a little boy looked up at several works of art. One of them was a sculpture of his grandfather: the man who changed how we see the Pacific — Epeli ...
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perhaps we have this road block on finding out how the reserve bank and treasury operate is due to the failings of the government in how property prices are going up 8% per month. Thank you government for yet again hiding behind process to keep us in the dark.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300346439/greens-national-and-act-team-up-against-labour-for-house-price-info
[e-mail address corrected]
The Nats and Greens don't agree on much so this will be interesting. I do find it hard to believe that house prices grew 17.3% last year and treasury expect hem to increase by just 0.9% between 2021 and 2022!!!!!
They seem a bit hesitant to release how they came up with that. Personally, due to the lack of supply and not enough builders / supplies, I believe houses will still increase this year (but not by as much as 17%).
Having some work history in the industry I have been advised that concrete and its associated industries (eg pipes ) are follong a 6-12% increase at the beginning of the year and have notified clients of a similar price increase in July. Land in a development close by have increased their prices from the last stage to the current release by 20%+. So the building industry is entrenching pricing increases based on the current housing market surge. I await an announcement that the Kiwibuild ceilings will increase as a consequence.
what was a kiwi dream of owning your own house and then benefits for society that came with that has been demolished. Eg children having stability by going to 1 school not moving around as the family moves from 1 rented place to the next, and the upheaval that moving causes.
Tradies getting emails about increases reckon it's been out of control since we emerged from first national lockdown.
Timber is also increasing in price and builders and other tradies are run off their feet.
Not to mention the fact that NZers always aspired to owning their own home for security in their old age. It was never about "mum and dad investors" or "getting on the property ladder" . I find this whole discourse deeply offensive.
That number will be a peg in the ground for inflationary pressures. With rates, shipping imports, farm supplies, insurance etc. etc… the average person will have to cope with some steep increases in living costs. Any wage adjustment will feel like a step forward and 2 back.
Can someone explain. The new hate speech proposals add more society identies to the previous list to protect them.Does that mean for others in society who are no on the list they will not be subject to hate speech?
Yes, like the tablets of Moses the laws will be set in stone. I would assume there will be a process to add & remove, coz you know, nothing is immovable.
Open for public consultation.
Proposals against incitement of hatred and discrimination
https://www.justice.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/Incitement-Discussion-Document.pdf
Well its good business practice to wait will invoicing for 43 days (on average), right?
Maybe the government should have tasked the receptionists of the hotels to invoice right before the guys depart the plague hotel. Like, here kind Sir and Lady, t'is your due for bed and feed. Thanks muchly and kindly, and please pay here, hands eftpos machine. 🙂
But no, its to hard, to complicated to hire someone who is actually skilled in handling people a bill for staying at a hotel.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-officials-try-to-track-14000-people-to-bill-them-for-miq-fees/GO6WHAT32ZU65S5YFM6OZ5RJY4/
The saying "piss up in a brewery" comes to mind.
Surely after the 14 days stay, they have to check out.
Hotel staff: "Good morning Sir, Madam, checking out this morning?"
Returnee: "Yes thank you".
Hotel staff: hands EFTPOS machine across counter with invoice. "Here is your invoice, have you enjoyed your stay?"
Returnee: "Yes / no thank you etc." and presents EFTPOS card.
I guess the hotel is being or been paid by the government so they are happy, and as usual, government is sloppy as it's only tax payer funds.
I don't believe there was any real intention to enforce payment. Rightly, it has been determined that this sort of nit picking secondary function will never be allowed to interfere with the public health primary objective of MIQ.
The whole charging regime was a sop to a reactionary media.
The success of our covid response is testimony to the wisdom of not allowing the media set the public health agenda.
The media is simply reporting that the government is not enforcing its own rules.
Pray tell what the medias 'agenda' is? Or is it now verboten for the Media to report on unpleasent items that may or may not make the government look a bit lack luster?
And please, Pray tell, will you say the same thing a different government is running things? Seriously.
I get it, no matter what, Labour is the best for some, and why not? But honestly this is something that WE pay all for and some of us really believe that we have more pressing issues then paying for returning Kiwis, Athletes back from overseas trials, Kiddie TV stars, Americas Cup billionaires and their staff etc etc etc.
So yeah, If labour would have put in plan a pay to collect the costs for isolation, and if they had charged someone with being responsible for the collection of this cost, then they would have not had a bad day in the news. So frankly the Media is not responsible for MIQ and the associated costs, its government. Even if Labour is the one to fuck up.
You seem very confused, I didn't use the word agenda anywhere.
Perhaps you should consider a career as a journalist?
God no, we have enough crap reporters already.
"The success of our covid response is testimony to the wisdom of not allowing the media set the public health agenda"
That aside surely the decision that the returnee would be liable for costs was signaled to the returnee when he booked the spot. Before he got anywhere near a plane.
Pretty much – if something is going to get neglected because everyone is frantically busy, then I'd prefer it was the invoicing rather than managing the virus. Ideally both would be achievable – but whatever – life is a mess. The whole purpose of this non-story is to feed comforting myths about the uselessness of the public sector versus the thrusting efficiency of business. This despite the evidence that the public sector has done a pretty good job.
as i said, they should have hired some workers who actually know what they do, have the relevant skills to do what needs to be done.
And to add insult to injury, this Government will at great cost to the tax payer hire some debt collectors to enforce payment – even tho they have no idea what is invoiced and what not. And that i am sure off.
This lot. This effn lot.
"…as i said, they should have hired some workers who actually know what they do, have the relevant skills to do what needs to be done…"
There has been no community transmission or outbreak of COVID from MIQ for four or five months now. I think they've hired people who know what they are doing. Sorry they didn't hire accountants to do a health job.
WE had a lockdown in August, in February, and the only reason we dont have a 'community' outbreak here is not due to the government, but literally the good Kiwis that go home and stay home if told to do so.
If we had some more people in this country that are like some in England or the US, then we would look much different now.
Firstly, secondly we HAVE covid in the country – we are not free of it, we have not eliminated it, and we just had a huge scare not even ten days ago with some plague tourist from OZ meandering about Wellington as if it were 1988. Which again resulted in a 'lockdown' albeit the least harmful one.
So yeah, nah. nah.
What a ridiculous post, dripping with a vacuous cultural cringe, and loaded with a sort of nihilistic yearning for a libertarian contrarianism to make NZ as full of idiots as the UK and USA.
Not much point in engaging with such idiocy any further.
You are right, totally nihilistic pointing out that We are not Covid free, that we had several scares over the last year, and continue to have them.
How totally libertarian contrarian from me to WANT this government to enforce the policies it so proudly states on its .govt. pages. How totally full of nihilistic yearnings from me to applaud the Kiwis for being good citizens as that is literally the thing that keeps us out of trouble for hte most part. Totally.
And how very left and socially minded of you to blame the Media for reporting that again the Government is not doing what it said it would do, what it so proudly posted on its own webpage. So very totally Labour! Just because we say we do does not mean we will. Labour 2023!
Sabine. So far, there has been no community transmission of Covid19 in New Zealand for 124 days straight.
In fact, New Zealand is the only major economy with no community transmission of Covid19.
and unemployment is dropping and the economy is humming..what a bloody disaster eh sabine?
+1 Woodart
What agenda do you have Sanctuary?
You questioned Sabine earlier about the use of the word agenda which you said you didn't use. Yet:
The whole charging regime was a sop to a reactionary media.
The success of our covid response is testimony to the wisdom of not allowing the media set the public health agenda.
It seems that Sabine is making a perfectly valid point that after the isolation and the service, comes the bill. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. And we get their email and home address, and the total payment or stepped regular ones and send them the accounts showing remaining debt. They came, we looked after them as well as we could, and now they should be paying, we have Treasury making the poor people pay for their living, the workers are getting their pay, the country knows how it words, so let's get going.
That's probably because all the front line and MIQ workers would now be vaccinated.
Its an ongoing process as new front line workers are always coming on board. You cant work at the border unless you are vaccinated.
+1 Sanctuary
The idea of paying later seems out of date and kinda stupid given the financial upheaval everywhere. Why aren't they paying immediately in a no pay, no stay type of deal? That way instead of paying bill collectors we could offer some compassionate free stays.
Imagine if one in four people who stayed in a non MIQ hotel for 14 days did not pay.
Do people need to pay in advance in a non MIQ hotel or just a deposit?
A deposit should be taken when a person books an MIQ spot.
@ Treetop (3.3) … 100% agree with your comment
A non negotiable payment or deposit up front for a spot in NZ MIQ prior to departure should be the rule.
“the ministry had moved to an automated billing system, aiming to chop down the average invoice time to two weeks. Returnees will soon have 30 days to pay their bill rather than 90 days, and they will be offered credit card payment. The ministry is also now getting daily data from Immigration New Zealand, making it easier to get people’s details.
Main said it may be possible to backtrack and chase up the thousands of returnees who might think they have been forgotten about. We’re in the process of going back through those cases to see if they’re liable to pay. Not all of them will be liable to pay. But where they are we’ll be in touch with them”
“Gillespie said the Government’s refusal was the right choice. I think the Government have got that one right. I think you need to facilitate the ability of Kiwis to come home, and there is a degree of urgency to get them back. If you’ve got a barrier right at the front that says you’ve got to have the cash right upfront before you come into the country – that would be wrong,”
Thanks for that Louis. The usual – do you have a link, is to MoBie.
greywarshark, the quotes are from Sabine's posted link @ 3.
No rush.
I'd have been pissd if they'd mastered the billing side of it but were leaking covid like a seive.
I really hope that the economy is not run the same way. Oh hold on, our vaccine program … could it be?
'
Climate change the long story.
Lots of accounts coming out of the West Coast of America from those experienceing the unprecedented heatwave.
The West Coast of the North American continent, from Vancouver to Baha, bakes under an oppressive record breaking heatwave, There are lots of reports of the suffering and rising death toll from heat related death particlularly amongst the elderly.
Behind the human stories, is there an even bigger story taking place over a longer period?
The Saharafication of Califormia.
A product of its low average rainfall, Califormia is famed for its fine weather.
6,000 years ago the Sahara resembled California.
So what caused the switch?
Could heatwaves and fire have had something to do with it?
Heatwaves and fire are two things affecting the American West Coast right now. It may take 500 years, it may take longer.
While 500 years may be the blink of an eye in geologic time, it is possible that the change could come even quicker than that.
'
Saharafornication
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtXiwSCq99Q
heat is a killer for those that are not prepared for heat because they live in a usually colder climate. https://www.rawstory.com/scores-as-record-breaking-heat-wave-grips-canada-us/
i was in France in 2003 during the heatwave that killed an estimated 15.000. It was a miserable time and we were up in the Mountains of the Alpes de Provence.
Heat waves are a silent mass killer. Of all natural disasters, hurricanes, tornados earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, fires, heatwaves have the highest death toll.
But as this New York Times writer comments, we will not be seeing a disaster movie made about a heatwave, (but maybe we should)
Heatwaves + Fire = Desertification
West Coast of North America northern summer, Australia southern summer.
But it is hard to call this unfolding global horror a 'Natural Disaster' (though Scot Morrison tried his damndest. Thoughts and prayers everyone).
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/us-canada/300347550/the-whole-town-is-on-fire-wildfire-hits-canadian-village-after-it-records-hottest-temperature
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50952253
Biden illegally bombs in Iraq and Syria, while his FBI seize Iranian owned news sites on the net…the USA still remain the worlds largest and most effective terrorist nation even now Trump is gone, proving that for tens of millions if not billions of humans, the difference between Trump and Biden is less than zero, both are just figureheads of a terrorist nation to them.
US Again Bombs Nations On Other Side Of The World In 'Self-Defense'
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2106/S00091/us-again-bombs-nations-on-other-side-of-the-world-in-self-defense.htm
US authorities seize Iran-linked news websites
https://www.dw.com/en/us-authorities-seize-iran-linked-news-websites/a-58004961
If I were unfortunate enough to be based in the US I'd be staying the hell home July 4th since it is high profile + high attendance seems like a target. Crazy times in a crazy nation.
On a happier note, international terrorist and war criminal Donald Rumsfeld has passed away, this brutal relentless American imperialist is responsible for the deaths of over 200,000 innocent civilians…making him one of the worst post war war criminals.
The world breaths just a little more easily today.
Documented civilian deaths from violence 185,724 – 208,831 Total violent deaths including combatants 288,000
https://www.iraqbodycount.org/
Ex-Counterterrorism Czar Richard Clarke: Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld Committed War Crimes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N9AknF0ZMk
I'm pleased with the MIQ invoice story situation. If everyone had been chased and paid some unfortunate newshound would have had to present a story about the cruelty of a returnee being harassed to pay while dealing with her mother's terminal illness.
If everything was signed, sealed and done I wouldn't need to picture myself in a particular centre dealing with inmates, flaunting my great customer service skills, getting the money off them. Or in some nerve centre formulating a foolproof plan to do it across the board and directing the efficient troops.
As well as doing the same thing for vaccine procurement, distribution and inoculation of course. Not to mention picking and training the All Blacks to beat Tonga this week.
The joy of appreciating Chris Bishop in orgasmic raptures about the shortfall is just a bonus.
There you go, non-payment pays off in the sideline entertainment it provides.
God though, the media has learnt nothing. This morning on RNZ they had the usual fare of an entitled upper-middle class person (some member of the global elite called Chris Ruscoe in the USA) spouting on at how he should be allowed to travel unencumbered by any pesky regulations about MIQ from the NZ government because he has been vaccinated.
He flat out disputed the science on the MoH website. So there you have it. A rich expat in a country that has had 600,000 Covid deaths lecturing us on our public health response based on his own ropey scientific reckons, with the publically funded RNZ kindly providing him a megaphone.
So this here then is the Media?
https://www.miq.govt.nz/being-in-managed-isolation/charges-for-managed-isolation/who-needs-to-pay-for-managed-isolation/
https://www.miq.govt.nz/being-in-managed-isolation/charges-for-managed-isolation/who-needs-to-pay-for-managed-isolation/
as per the disclaimer this was updated last 21 June 2021, so literally a few days ago.
here another thing not from the Media:
https://www.miq.govt.nz/being-in-managed-isolation/charges-for-managed-isolation/charges-for-critical-workers/
Charges for critical workers in managed isolation
These charges apply to all people entering New Zealand on a critical worker visa from 1 January 2021, regardless of when the visa was approved
Last updated: 28 May 2021
also not from the Media
https://www.miq.govt.nz/being-in-managed-isolation/charges-for-managed-isolation/waivers-for-charges/
Waivers for charges
Applications to waive charges for managed isolation will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Last updated: 14 June 2021
now all they need to do is hire some people to enforce their own stated policies and invoice for a service provided.
This has nothing to do with the Media, other then some not liking that while Labour is good at writing policies they seem unable to enforce them. But then theorising on paper what could / should happen is easier then enforcing it.
And guess what when the government will waste good money on bad money to pay debt collectors to chase up on the unpaid invoices and maybe even send some out, it is not hte media that will pay for htat, nor dear leader and her party, but You and I and everyone else in this country that pays taxes.
You’ve missed the point re media framing. "If everyone had been chased and paid some unfortunate newshound would have had to present a story about the cruelty of a returnee being harassed to pay while dealing with her mother's terminal illness" We all know that's exactly how the media would frame it, regardless that returnees know of their financial commitments outlined in your post.
You simply missed the point were the government states one thing on their web pages and then misses to actually do what they state. and that is not the fault of the media. Its the fault of the government. 🙂
Or in other words, if the government had hired the people to collect payment on MIQ stay, send 14500 invoices duly out and then followed up on payments and non payments , the Media would not have a story to write.
But i guess its all just fake news. Right?
You still missed the valid point Peter had made and this from your own link Sabine
“Gillespie said the Government’s refusal was the right choice. I think the Government have got that one right. I think you need to facilitate the ability of Kiwis to come home, and there is a degree of urgency to get them back. If you’ve got a barrier right at the front that says you’ve got to have the cash right upfront before you come into the country – that would be wrong,”
good one peter. when life hands out lemons, get the tequeila out!
See all those crowds in the UK watching the soccer?
yeah, about that… UK is heading for another COVID disaster.
https://twitter.com/chrischirp/status/1409538187840704513
Currently, as Christina Pagel points out, 3-4 per cent of cases in the UK will end up in hospital. The problem is, the growth of infections is exponential: cases are more than doubling each week. Each new addition of cases overwhelms previous additions. At the current rate of growth, the UK will be seeing 40,000 cases a day by the Tories arbitrarily selected ‘freedom day’, which is higher than the roughly 35,000 recorded in the whole week up to 21st June in the UK. Three per cent of 40,000 would bring 1,200 daily hospitalisations by early August, which is roughly what the NHS was coping with at the start of December.
Some good news to brighten up your day Sanctuary. 😉
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/covid-19-coronavirus-pfizer-moderna-vaccines-likely-to-produce-long-lasting-immunity-study/BWUQEB5UZPPRLJAUGLN6L2BEVE/
Sorry, item is 'premium' and I don't subscribe.
Maybe someone can supply pertinent quotes
Here a link that does not need payment 🙂
https://www.wavy.com/news/health/coronavirus/pfizer-moderna-vaccines-likely-to-give-long-lasting-protection-study-finds/
Thanks Sabine.
i just googled
"Pfizer Moderna offering long lasting protection study finds"
and then there are a variety of different news outlets that come up with it, and some video clips too.
OK. You learn something every day.
Very cool
Meanwhile, UK advisors said it might be necessary to give boosters to the elderly and most vulnerable.
The NHS has been given the green light to start planning a Covid vaccine booster programme in the UK ahead of this winter.
A bigger flu season than normal is expected, meaning extra protection against Covid is likely to be needed.
More than 30 million of the most vulnerable should receive a third dose, vaccine experts are advising.
They will include all adults aged 50 and over, and anyone younger who qualifies for a flu jab.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57667987
Moaning alert.
For those that consider news that make the government look like they are not quite up there and doing it, please don't read this, it will make you unhappy. For those that actually care about things others then funny speaches that lead to nowhere, here is some 'health news' and i am sure Mr. Little will front up again to tell us how 'unhappy and frustrated" with the underlings that don't do their job and make him look out of place, out of ideas, very old and crunchy and downright useless. But then he earned his spot, right?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300346537/sick-babies-cared-for-in-playroom-at-crowded-middlemore-hospital
But hey, its just South Auckland, right? its not as if that matters, surely come 2022 someone will be dispatched by the Labour Party to tell these people the many ways Labour will fix it. lol.
Careful Sabine you might get accused of hate speech with a comment like that
I totally expect that.
Reading today's 'Open Mike' (getting through the comments a lot faster these days) had me wondering if it's time for a name change – how about 'Moaning Report'?
Moaning Report certainly has the ring of truth.
Moaning Report: so obviously ‘right’ – Let's Do This!
Dear Leader, pull finger and make the change to Moaning Report – do it now!
And why stop at Moaning Report – Daily Review could become ‘Moanpoint’ (groan).
Damn, the good ones are taken – that's my unconstructive moan over and done with.
moaning report, yes, some of the posters get the bypass from me, same old whinge etc etc.
You could have a bit of silly fun with the whole RNZ weekday schedule:
All Night Moan (12 midnight)
First Moan (5 am)
Moaning Report (6 am)|
Moan-til-Noon (9 am)
Midday Moan (12 noon)
Aftermoans with Jesse Moanagin (1 pm)
Moan Panel with Wallace Moanman (3:35 pm)
Moanpoint with Lisa Moanwen (5 pm)
Moaning Now (6:30 pm)
Night Moans with Barry Gripe
Moans at Ten
Late Moans with Karyn Howl
Music Moans 101
Unfair to most of the presenters who do their best to feed us positive stories.
The upsurge in RSV infections in babies and toddlers is very possibly due to the effect Lockdowns in the past 16 months. Worldwide.
While the concept of humans being able to generate natural immunity to various diseases is now considered anti-vaxxerconspiracytheorytinfoilhatwearingnutbarmisinformation…the sad fact is that in a desperate bid to protect the old and vulnerable from Te Covid we have left our babies and tots without the natural immune priming needed to protect them from the ever circulating seasonal greeblies.
And opening the bubble with Australia was maybe not such a shit -hot idea.
Dr Sue Huang – a virologist who tracks flu-like illnesses – said since New Zealand opened our bubble to Australia there had been a sharp increase in the number of RSV hospital presentations.
"It's fascinating. The week we opened the bubble we had one presentation of RSV and it's been increasing ever since to last week we saw 204 presentations … it's such a sharp exponential increase.
"I'm not surprised to hear Middlemore has been busy, I imagine Starship and others would have been too … which is concerning," Huang said.
She said usually children experienced episodes of RSV in their first two years of life but last year there was a cohort of young babies who were never exposed to the virus due to lockdown and high-level safety measures like social distancing and hand-washing.
"So not only are you getting those children who have delayed exposure of RSV but also the group of babies born after them being exposed," Huang said.
The bit that gets me is that they seem to be surprised that at this time of the year there is an increase in the number of kids that have respiratory illnesses. End of June and they didn't seem to have expected it?
Oversubscribing and then systemically underfunded a service like health as nact did takes decades to undo.
Middlemores also meant to be in south Auckland (brown's Rd) proper not just inside the boundary on the wrong site with buildings never intended as such.
Dismantling self servicing DHB’S is a good sign so far
Maybe the problem is not only that the Health System is systematically deprived of much needed funds to just keep up with population growth – specifically in Auckland, but maybe the problem really is that the underfunding is BIPARTISAN.
The same can be said of roads (Northland comes to mind, or are we only talking about the shitty roads up there when it is a National government and it is Simon "No Bridges in Northland' Bridges making an ass of himself), schools, public housing, and literally any other services that is vital for the upkeep of a healthy community.
And for what its worth, i have and will say the same thing when the same issue arises again under a different government, because essentially there are few critter in government that are not to some extend guilty of underfunding our services that we need while throwing cash at stuff that serves no one.
The state of our hosptials the country up and down is a public shame. Dismantling the DHB will be of little use imo as the same people that did not fund the DHBs will also not fund any other iteration thereof.
A bit of history of the DHB
DHBs were established in January 2001 by the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000. Although they may differ in size, structure and approach, all 20 DHBs have a common goal: to improve the health of their populations by delivering high quality and accessible health care
and they were established by the Labour /Alliance Government under Helen Clark.
So let me simply find it funny that the same people that created the DHBs now want accolades for dismantling it.
As i said, these issues are bipartisan. And the only ones paying for the willful neglect or the incompetence of government to fund and enforce rules / regulations are Mr and Mrs Ordinary Kiwis and the little urchins that are on the floor in a play room for lack of facilities and beds.
They dont want accolades Sabine, the DHB's haven't worked out, so why not dismantle it? You forget that the previous National govt ran down and underfunded the Health system by $2.3 billion dollars. It going to take many years to fix the long standing issues.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1706/S00102/23-billion-shortfall-in-health.htm
So you are saying that we should give the guys that build a system that don't work another chance at great cost to build another system? Why on earth would anyone do that? They in the meantime can't even fund their own system while they pontificate about how great their next system is gonna be. Your bar is so low, its literally underground.
In the meantime in NZ people who are sick and in pain and need medical care or surgeries can't get it for lack of funds, staff, and physical locations, and 5 years in their reign and 1 year in their majority reign they still refuse to do what is needed to do. Fund the Services as per their need and the countries need and not as per the need of Grant Robertson to achieve a surplus, or squander it on some bike bridges and Americas cups idiocy for rich people.
Its not the same Labour govt and there has been a most destructive National led govt that severely underfunded health/DHBs since they were introduced. The Labour govt has been doing a catchup and has injected a huge amount of funding into health and to repeat its going to take many years to fix those long standing issues. They dont have a magic wand.
Hmmm.
lockdown vs quarantine vs a 2019 baseline. Might be a research paper in that. Between child illnesses and the flu-like symptom rate, might we be getting a picture of a "negative externality" from the tourist industry?
You act like this is a new issue that has occurred only under this Labour govt that you clearly hate, Sabine.
Did you see this Louis.
And for what its worth, i have and will say the same thing when the same issue arises again under a different government, because essentially there are few critter in government that are not to some extend guilty of underfunding our services that we need while throwing cash at stuff that serves no one.
Some comments are longish but the TS ones have fibre in them!
Re daily misery diatribes on every topic imaginable are very off-putting. Some people sure cannot see any joy in anything at all. After a few wild Wellington days, the sun is shining!
With apologies to blam blam blam
There is no depression in New Zealand
There are no emmisions from our farms
There is no depression in New Zealand
We can all keep perfectly calm
But everybody's talking about Housing affordability
'Cause everybody's talking about Housing affordability
But we're as safe as safe can be
There's no unrest in this country
We have no child poverty
We have no homelessness
We have no racism
We have no sexism
Sexism, no, no
There is no depression in New Zealand
There are no teeth in our heads
There is no depression in New Zealand
We have plenty of hospital beds
Oh, but everybody's talking about Housing affordability
Yes, everybody's talking about Housing affordability
But we're as safe as safe can be
There's no homelessness in this country
We have no Covid
We have no Secrets
We have no Violence
We have no Meth
Meth, no, no
There is no depression in New Zealand
There are no emissions from our farms
There is no depression in New Zealand
Thanks to Jacinda we can an all keep perfectly calm
Perfectly calm
Perfectly calm
Perfectly calm
Perfectly calm
edit
On looking at the truth behind the fog of myth, half–truth, comfortable and uncomfortable jargon and pretense, we can bless Donald Rumsfeld below who brought his thoughts to our notice. When you can understand the depth and width of his message, and the understandings of the intellectual people who wrote it down, one gets to know how a politician learns to think. If you can understand that, and still keep a clear and questing mind looking for a truth you can accept and work with, then one becomes part of a small percentage of the population that outreaches those in Mensa.
Next grade – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johari_window
The reality is that we have to get the pollies moving this term or we could be final curtain. If you read regularly you will note the odd quip, funny link, creative work such as Cricklewood's below. You could have a go yourself. Did you see the link on Newshub I think that showed the otters organising insulation for their lodge?
On hearing of the death of Donald Rumsfeld.
Make sure he's buried face down.
and sprinkle salt. Several kilos of it.
His death doesn't undo the harm he caused – if anything it makes it even more depraved that such criminality was perpetrated by someone just as mortal as all those Iraqis whose lives he caused to be prematurely extinguished. He is now freed from the possibility of developing a conscience and from the need to repent.
Aye. And tramp the dirt down.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Article in Herald this morning about wealthy parents receiving $35 million in Best Start payments. Since I refuse to pay the Herald anything I don't know if they have covered the fact that the $60 payment would have caused any parents recieving Temporary Additional Support (TAS) to lose money from that income. In some cases it would have nullified the TAS payment completely resulting in zero gain, or at worst a net loss to the poorest parents in the country.
The Give And Take And Take Government strikes again!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/prime-ministers-best-start-scheme-for-babies-pays-out-millions-to-the-well-off/PMHSBHCRS5GOPBFVAODREYGBY4/
of course it does not,.from
'
bolded and colors all mine.
https://twitter.com/ClintVSmith/status/1410368844632236034
Remember this truth –
Thanks for that Sabine.
And thank you Leo T.
'
Toby Morris graphic novel illustrator and writer asks us: "What's not adding up?"
My two cents worth;
Wall to wall TV ads for these vehicles, for one thing.
Allowing them to be imported in massive numbers in the first place, for another.
Zero political will to take any meaningful action.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/the-side-eye/30-06-2021/the-side-eyes-two-new-zealands-the-double-cab-climate/?
Funny you should bring that up.
The local grapevine has been abuzz with the rumour that A Certain Prime Minister is going to grace the Far Far North with her presence today. Turning the sod on a massive solar farm..built in our special part of the rohe… because hey, the Far North has the highest wholesale electricity prices in the country, allowing the company to get a good price for its power. Whoopie, and bully for them.
Back to the double cab utes….which absolutely rule up here…(very handy for carting around the gas bottles because so many of us up here are dependent on the more affordable gas for cooking, heating and water heating)I heard a nasty rumour that owners of said offensive vehicles were planning some kind of protest action. A mere token gesture, off course, but a few were keen.
They'd feel less aggrieved if The Dignitaries turned up in one of these…
Yes I think it would create a stir if the pollies turned up in one of these; everyone would want one.
Electrically powered, zero emissions, billions saved on building more motorways, and roads, ballistic parachutes fitted in case of malfunction making them safer than the average car, for further safety piloted remotely, to google earth algorithms to pre-programmed flight paths and automated vehicle spacing, no pilots license required, just get in and punch in your destination.
Be like George Jetson who punched in a few buttons and then put his feet up for the ride from his house to his work.
It's the imagined future made real.
So it only carries one person. So what, sit beside the motorway and see how many cars carry more than one person. Your luggage can follow in second vehicle slaved to your one.
And no need for a parking space after it drops you off at work it returns home to its charging station, ready to come and pick you up at knock off time.
So, you object to solar farms being built in the North on the grounds that:
the Far North has the highest wholesale electricity prices in the country, allowing the company to get a good price for its power.
I assume you approve of solar energy farms to help combat the more dire effects of Climate Change but not in your back yard.
There are not many places in NZ that are climactically suitable to build solar farms but the far North is one of them… not only because of its warmer climes, but also the type and flatness of the land available.
Once they are up and running – and I'm sure there's more in the pipe-line for other suitable land masses around the country – they will have the desired effect of significantly reducing the cost of electricity for everyone because energy from the sun is free and requires virtually no maintenance work on a regular basis.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/125090584/300m-plan-for-five-solar-energy-farms-providing-1pc-of-countrys-supply
So, your assumption that they are being built in the Far north based on some sort of region related increase in profit margins sounds to me like nonsense.
My apologies for the potential confusion in the way I embedded the links.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/green-business/125610768/northland-solar-farm-opened-by-pm-jacinda-ardern-will-be-countrys-larg
The rumour... Andrews said the site was also strategic because the Far North has the highest wholesale electricity prices in the country, allowing the company to get a good price for its power.
Not sure where you got the impression I am objecting to this solar farm.
What I am very disappointed about is that the fact that the company is having a minor gloat about how this is a profit making venture and the fact that we pay the highest per unit power prices in the country is going to be good for his business.
Whooppieddoo…and nevermind the locals who struggle to pay their power bills with us being one of the areas of highest deprivation in the country.
The nimby factor…? Considering the biggest issue up here at the moment environmentwise is the ever increasing avocado acres and the associated groundwater take and agrichemical spraying…
The Pukenui lease was secured, on land now used for grazing and maize, because the landowner preferred the solar panels to any intensive horticulture, general manager John Andrews told Stuff earlier this year.
“We are not allowed to use chemical sprays on our site – the landowner prohibited it.”
So hopefully no issues there. (When I catch up with one of the neighbours of the solar farm, who is also active in the battle against the increasing avocado monoculture I'll get back to you. )
So, your assumption that they are being built in the Far North based on some sort of region related increase in profit margins sounds to me like nonsense.
Since the director of the company actually said that this was a factor…do you think you'd like to retract/revise your "sounds to me like nonsense"?
I think the objection is the North already pays over the odds for power on the basis electricity is generated much further away. Local generation dhould see the North get the same pricing as the everybody else…
Anyways if you think electricity is going to get cheaper you're dreaming its going to get alot more expensive with additional demand… no new gas connections, electric vehicles, increasing temperatures will put more load on as air con systems become more prevelant + population growth…
Look at the current spot price once retail contracts expire big increases are very likely
Bill Cosby is an unrepentant, un-exonerated sexual predator, who, in a just world, would remain incarcerated until he carcs it, yet women across 'Murica aren't burning everything to the fucking ground.
At 3pm on August 13 2004, Akku Yadav was lynched by a mob of around 200 women from Kasturba Nagar. It took them 15 minutes to hack to death the man they say raped them with impunity for more than a decade. Chilli powder was thrown in his face and stones hurled. As he flailed and fought, one of his alleged victims hacked off his penis with a vegetable knife. A further 70 stab wounds were left on his body. The incident was made all the more extraordinary by its setting. Yadav was murdered not in the dark alleys of the slum, but on the shiny white marble floor of Nagpur district court.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/sep/16/india.gender
I think that women in the women in Nagpur, State of Maharashtra, India sparked off the anguished protests about this:
The incident took place [in Delhi] when Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old female physiotherapy intern, was beaten, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus in which she was travelling with her male friend. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend. Eleven days after the assault she was transferred to a hospital in Singapore for emergency treatment but died two days later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Delhi_gang_rape_and_murder
The aftermath; and anger has been building at the blatant lack of concern about women's freedom and rights to go about their lives safely:
An author for the South Asia Analysis Group explained the protests as expressions of middle-class angst arising out of a collapse of a social contract between them and the liberal state.[183] New Delhi has the highest number of sex crimes among India's major cities. Police figures show a rape reported on average every 18 hours; reported rape cases rose by nearly 17 percent between 2007 and 2011.[184] Only one of the 706 rape cases filed in Delhi in 2012 saw a successful conviction against the attacker.[78]
Between 16 December and 4 January 501 calls for harassment and 64 calls for rape were recorded by the Delhi Police, but only four were followed up by inquiries.[181 – 2013] The regional programme director for U.N. Women South Asia said, "There are rape cases in almost all cities and rural areas, where the victim dies immediately because of the brutality of the crime … This time, it was like, 'Wake up.'"
Mind boggling that this still has to be pointed out.
https://twitter.com/jo_bartosch/status/1410289060602650632?s=21
Trans women are also at risk of violence from men (& cis women too for that matter). Intersex (&NB) are obviously also irrelevant to the original Twit.
But anyway; have you got the NZ rather than UK data, Weka? I am on mobile, so that's not the easiest for me to find, otherwise I'd do it myself.
Feel free to talk about the issues around violence against trans women, intersex and NB people any time you like, then you won't need to appropriate women's issues.
Women don't need to mention all the people when they talk about their own politics. What you call irrelevant is simply women doing women's business. It's not a statement that other issues don't matter.
Violence against women is a rite of passage. Rape, sexual harrasment, being offered money for sex acts/pictures etc is also a rite of passage for women and girls.
So why be surprised that that exact societal violence against women is also applied to trans women?
As i said to the Transwoman who worked for me during her course when she complained about being offered a lower wage then her boyfriend for the same job at the same company, Welcome to the world of Women. You will work harder for less, and someone will try to pinch your bum and if you don't laugh they will let you know that you are not a good sport and lack in humor.
That is the life of women.
See the article about the School in Christchurch were at least 20 girls have come forward in a review as having been raped – some even gang raped and not one went to the police. And these are girls, not even adults. Violence against women is as old as the world.
trans women also are at risk of violence from men because of transphobia and transmisogyny.
I understand that. But i really see standard bog misogyny is the main reason i would guess. The transphopia comes in once it is realised that the women is trans. And i could see it even be worse in some cases, as clearly why on earth would any men be a women if being a man comes with so much privilege. So any man who wants to be a women and who will go trough the motions to become one is almost a traitor to the gender male. (i hope i make sense here)
I understand.
Ime online, there is a wide range of how trans women present. Many TW are not hard to identify as trans. I think they are at risk from a specific kind of male rage.
I also think that trans men are at risk specific to being trans too (despite having been left off FN's list above).
Without having read that Twitter feed, I am slightly alarmed that general violence in men is being equated with transgenders.
On the surface it seems to be demonising Transgenders and pasting the violence statistics of other men onto them.
well, what about this then?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/australian-serial-killer-reginald-arthurells-new-life-as-regina-allegedly-made-threats-against-victims-family/SPAN2DL6QEWHEYOQJNV2QTM6EA/
this guy killed, and then in prison found god and felt he should be a women, and now is a women and it appears he is threatening the family of one of his victims.
Where would you put him on that list? His previous murders were as a man, if he now were to follow up on his threats would they be the actions of a women?
no, but in the UK they would be recorded as a female crime. And if they raped a woman, that woman would be compelled to refer to them as she at court (assuming it ever went to court).
can you see how this could end really badly? Cause i can.
yep. It's already pretty bad. It's not like women were in a great position to start with. Now seeing some of those gains rolled back by the left, it's actually horrifying.
I need to get better bookmarking. There was some tweets a while back about the stats increase in sexual crimes by women. Because so few women sexually assault people, it doesn't take many men IDing as women to make a noticeable rise in the stats. Scary thing here is that the justice system in the UK may have no way of knowing how many of those crimes were by males. Also scary, Stats NZ wants to prioritise gender data over sex data.
'other men'. Glad you got that bit right.
It's not trans people, it's males, whatever their self identity. But the tweet is about women and why we need female only spaces. If you have some evidence for that trans women aren't ever violent, I'd like to see it. There's definitely this idea that they're not, and I'm not sure what that is based on, but there's enough evidence to suggest that trans women have patterns of male violence. It's not that trans women are all violent any more than men are. It's that to protect women from male violence we have women only spaces because women cannot predict which men will be violent.
I don't have evidence for that, and I didn't claim it. Where do you detect there is an idea trans women aren't ever violent?
Is the tweet supposed to be evidence that trans women are as violent as men? Particularly in the most relevant category, 'Sexual offences' where the ratio is 98%/2%. That seems to be the claim and I struggled to believe it.
I did inadvertently stumble with the 'other men' reference. While not my intention, it's similar to the belief held that trans women are not women at all and never will be. This is the kind of othering which nurtures persecution.
Yes indeed. But the Minister of Women and the Greens, might accuse of transphobia for pointing this out
if for some reason you can't use the Reply button, can you please signify what comment you are replying to? Number of comment works, or time stamp, or even the person's name.
Don't know if it's been covered, but The Guardian calls, "Karen" 🙂
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/01/new-zealand-jacinda-ardern-opposition-judith-collins-leader-karen
that is a bit rich?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/oranga-tamariki-investigation-three-complaints-about-violent-staffer-worried-parents-kidnap-son-from-care/W7IFXSLRPIJRGTKN3T6BFXJPQY/
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/445899/officials-try-to-track-14-000-people-to-bill-them-for-managed-isolation-fees
Is the government getting its needs too easily through 15% GST so not in a hurry to collect fees for MIQ, or set up regular payments?
This from Radionz on 29 June. What are they on about – it sounds like an advertisement for the tourism lobby. We already know that Covid19 is hard on families, this is not news. Is Radionz getting at the government over this – it is irresponsible for our public radio to make an issue of this point. (It has a QANTAS marked image on the net.)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/445722/devastating-trans-tasman-bubble-pause-splits-grieving-families
…"It's so disheartening because you don't get the chance to say goodbye, to grieve … you just can't get the closure you need."
Her brother has now been cremated. She did not get to see his body.
So you're saying that human interest stories should be censored because they're inconvenient?
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Can you try to get the point I was obviously making. That the matter is not new, and that Radionz is not a tabloid more interested in the easy emotional 'human interest repetition' and should concentrate on the important new news,and the backgrounding giving us understanding of the issues.
Oh I get your point, it's just a utilitarian and unempathetic one that devalues the humanity of people dealing with a difficult and stressful situation. That's all.
Oh boohoo, there are a tonne of sad things going on every day in the world as well as NZ ie horrible domestic abuse, that we all ignore quite comfortably, and I am amazed at how much. Specialising in the favourite sad tale of the month devalues all the rest of the people who deserve our sympathy and action. Yours as well as mine, Big-heart. That's all.
RNZ National is on 24 hours a day. I'd describe it as having a 'magazine' format. To me it seems on any day lots of stories cover lots of facets about lots of aspects of our country and world.
What would they need to change to have them concentrating on the "important new news and the background giving us understanding of the issues"?
Would changing from what they have to what you foresee impact on their listenership? (Presuming the number of listeners is important to them and their funding.)
Pete Your last point is the crux of the matter. They should be funded as a public good, being aware of keeping in touch with all different groups, but providing good balanced reporting of news with background information and truthful reporting with relevant stats. Because that is what citizens who want to be effective in their inter-actions with pollies and planners and defend themselves against The Machine and Tech taking us and our lives over, need.
It may be fair to criticise RNZ, certainly the quality of journalism has declined in recent times imo but does that require a complete focus on 'serious matters'?
There should be space for more light hearted and 'public interest' coverage or we will end up with something akin to Al Jazerra….worthy but depressing.
My point again, is that the reference to people trying to be with dying relatives, has been covered before. To repeat it at this time is just a case of picking at the government getting tight on travel because of events, that people ought to know might happen, and did happen.
There are people having tragedies in NZ just as real as not being able to travel when booked. But they aren't as 'now' as those from Covid19. We are bored with those tragedies, people being pushed to 3rd-world status in our top-rating wealthy country. How can people be so much like weather-cocks, switching their compassion on and off in different directions. It doesn't seem to be able to spread over all and so remind pollies that they have to look at our world both directly and then with a fish-eye lens.
Fair enough….theres plenty of grief in the world but everyone will rank it differently and the media will always focus on the tragedy du jour
Teachers having to apply for renewal of their licence to work every year? And costing lots? Really our systems are unsatisfactory for people after being told we were over-regulated with government control. Now we are being trussed with regulations through business-controlled agencies and a letmotif of 'excellence' and competition to be the top on a sort of motorway to run along or be dropped off for not meeting the fanciful requirements of people with OCD.
Money, it costs an aweful lot of money to be in business, be that as a teacher, a lisenced kitchen, or nurse. We all pay for the pleasure to work. The councils and the state needs money.
The state needs you to need their money….thats a big difference
Sabine – we know you are so good to the state, and it will in the end come to take note of your valuable advice, and why, because at the back of it is experience and practicality. You are probably being ironic about 'pleasure to work' but I believe that the studies show that humans need work to be satisfied, get a reward, and feel they are needed, have a place in society. And it is true that Councils and the state need money. All over the country they are going further into debt to erect some monument to our past good times, and counting on ratepayers to repay it in the future; we'll be lucky! All this is how I honestly feel. no BS.
Honestly all i said was that yes, depending on the type of business you do, you must pay a lisencing fee in order to work. Thus 'pay for the pleasure to work'. There was nothing more to my comment, it solely relied on your comments on teachers paying to update their teachers lisence every year. And yes the money raised by these fees is important to local and state government. It is certainly a considerable amount.
Nothing more nothing less. I am really sorry if that was not clear. I shall not try myself at humor again, my inner german is obviously not suited to it.
What a nasty thing to leave to our children.
Can we prevent it?
Yes we can, there are no technological barriers. And we are the last generation that could implement them in time. All that is missing is the political will to do so.
Frankly I am disgusted.
Sharing this time with our children, knowing what we have left install for them, we should all feel a deep shame.