The alternative water "plan" put forward by Mayor Boomer and his two cockie mates yesterday is what happens when you lose control of a political narrative and instead turn your political management settings to "strolling towards suicide". I mean, Boomer and mates have basically proposed they be allowed unaccountable access to a pile of public money to do wjhat they may or may not want to do. “Let us do what you want, or not, but in any event give all the money to spend as we please”. Just imagine the reaction if a Maori group came up with a similar idea!
Labour has allowed three waters to drag on and on and on and on. In putting Mahuta in charge of the process – an almost deliberately provocative act – they provided an optics Godsend to their opponents, who in the absense of a strong government PR game have been enabled to dogwhistle a white racist backlash against the concept of co-governance whilst mobilising around issues of "local democracy". And it doesn't help that Mahuta -who is also foreign minister after all – has hardly been stellar (to be polite, others might use words like "missing in action" or "incompetent") in her (lack of) proactive political management of the job of selling three waters.
That has delivered at the recent local bosdy elections a slew of right wing mayors elected by conservative white voters with an implicit culture war mandate. They are bitterly opposed to progressive policies and they have no problem in bad faith dealings if it helps further their agenda.
The media sense the political vacuum and smell blood and with their usual bullying group think they are piling on with active connivance – allowing Mayor Boomer to announce his new plan yesterday and not take any questions (instead the non entity from Waimakariri has been doing the media) without commenting on this fact is an act of political connivance, as is over-looking whether or not these mayors even have a mandate from their councils for this plan.
Labour can't afford this issue to drag into the new year. Either ram it through under urgency or dump it.
Mayor Boomer is an idiot. It is clearly part of a larger political project – a disruptive anti-labour comms strategy being driven by Matthew Hooten.
However, the point is Hooten wouldn't be the mayor's puppet master if white conservative voters hadn't been galvanised by the right's exploitation of the government’s poor political management.
You mean like the anti-smacking bill, kinda like the way Sue Bradford “took people along” on that? because that little bit of Green "people power" cost Labour nine years in opposition.
The Greens consistantly rely on forming an elite consensus to get Green policy over the line, which is why they never get any Green policy over the line.
The only wins the Greens ever get is when they own the conservatives by scoffing Miraka Kirimi on twitter.
is that post satire? Like the voice of a grumpy old school leftie who can't understand how green politics works?
I was thinking of climate in terms of policy but there are plenty of examples. Remember how Labour was stuck in FPP thinking but couldn't get enough votes to gain power, and the Greens opened the door for campaigning on changing the government and working together. That was relationship building.
The reason the Greens are good at it, is because it's built into their kaupapa. From the charter,
Appropriate Decision-making
For the implementation of ecological wisdom and social responsibility, decisions will be made directly at the appropriate level by those affected.
Non-Violence
Non-violent conflict resolution is the process by which ecological wisdom, social responsibility and appropriate decision making will be implemented. This principle applies at all levels.
See the bit about decisions being made by those affected? Labour work against that, they've tried to impose their own ideas on a population of people who are resistant, and they don't know how to go back to people and work it through. Because they're old school lefties who have neoliberalised and still think power is about who can attain it rather than who can share it.
Seems to be a lot of Boomer ageist hate going down here… And while I disagree with you I support your right to say it…But get it all out of your system cos Kiri's gonna make it illegal nek year. I'll get my hate in early too…I ffing HATE Poto & TUT for demolishing the huts.
So Ok for you to use pejorative words such as Boomer. The comments about Brown would have been made had he been 21,41,81 years. Fundamentally not about age but about the crazy things he is doing.
Auckland's answer to Trump, right here in good old NZ….ya hoo!
Brown has joined my list of twits. There are two so far.
whilst mobilising around issues of "local democracy"
Yep – it's this pretense that they are defenders of 'localism' that is particularly galling. These guys inherently prioritise the economic interests of one portion of their local communities – farming and business – over others. These interests are traditionally handed the right to extract water from the environment at no cost, add pollutants to it (nitrates, animal effluent, etc.), then return it to the environment, also at no cost. Their wealth depends on this privatisation of the 'gifts of nature.' Any centralised structure, change in funding arrangements or co-governance interest from Maori, is a potential threat to this cosy, private wealth-generating tradition.
What I don't like is the implicit view that the other Treaty partner is best left out of this while the big guys, who know all about this, get on with the real oil. Anyone with the most basic understanding of Maori issues knows that water is a taonga not just an extractive resource. We need people with this long term, philosophical political view that neatly falls into a sustainable approach to leaven a wholesale extractive view.
When you get people of far differing views coming together with a common purpose the result is usually/often better than what an individual or group of same/same individuals can achieve. I liken it to the voice you hear when a choir is working well together. Strong voices making a new voice. This is not meant to be a wishy washy irredeemably liberal concept.
The point is with Wayne Brump the second group is locked out and we don't get the chance. Remembering if you keep doing the things the way you have always done it you will get the same result. We don't want that with water, it has not worked.
So locking Maori out and putting the Councils back in control seems very much like the bad old days.
On the plus side it at least is a different view.
There may be something in there that could be used. It worries me that he has got together with Chch Mayor. At the risk of annoying some Chch folk there does seem to be a but of anti Maori rhetoric white supremacist thinking there despite the phenomenal success of Ngai Tahu as an Iwi.
What the heck is going on in Auckland though? I thought it was proud to be the biggest Polynesian city in the world?
Go back to the 1980s with that fiction. I've seen more racism in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga than I've ever seen in Christchurch.
Christchurch is by any international standard a progressive city, more progressive than Auckland in a shit load of ways.
I tire of the snobbery of the left in this country bashing Dunedin and Christchurch two leftwing strongholds.
It ain't called the people's socialist republic of Christchurch for no reason, it's a labour strong hold. meanwhile the left in neoliberal/right-wing Auckland which has more skinheads than anywhere else in the country and with 800,000 renters struggles to connect with voters.
From Sheppard to Kirk to Anderton to Rod Donald, to having the first female mp and first female minister, to being the first city to declare itself nuclear free the legacy of Christchurch on the history of the left in NZ is immense and there wouldn't be a single labour government without it's support and it's Auckland not Christchurch that's frothing at the mouth with crazy nutcase right wing psychos and it's Aucklands notoriously fickle voters who keep giving us national govts.
Not liking three waters doesn't make people skinheads or racist.
If the left continue down the road where we refuse to engage and debate ideas then we have become intellectual failures bereft of ideas , demanding censorship of election coverage is bad enough but you know you've lost the debate when you're calling people who disagree with you on policy Nazis and skin heads.
I've noticed the people who bash Christchurch usually have nothing but contempt for working class people and are elitist af
Not liking three waters doesn't make people skinheads or racist.
I agree with this. I did not say this though. What are the reasons for not liking Three Waters? These are the ones I have heard:
Fear of a large body controlling water
Fear of co-governance
Then from a left point of view:
concern that this is not the time and could be an election loser.
Thanks Corey…..I have not said I am against Chch. It has a recent sad past. It also has Ngai Tahu and that organisation is making a good job of working with its Treaty Settlement.
it's Aucklands notoriously fickle voters who keep giving us national govts.
I regret that the last local body election brought a right wing Mayor to Chch and that he has 'found' Wayne Brown.
Agree with your general point to get the legislation through this year.
I was in Roxborough on Saturday for the NZBattery project which is going to be an order of magnitude more disruptive to locals for about 100km radius than 3 Waters, and boy you don't want to raise your head on 3 Waters but for Battery Dam you could see their eyes spinning dollar signs.
All the way down the Clutha there were anti-3 Waters signs.
Its the depth of the short against the NZ$,the worst performer in the G10 currencies,due to the highest current account deficit,high overseas debt liability,and a government deficit.
There are limited avenues to lower the current account problem,and a future that will see next year an increase in inflation as the fuel subsidies end and the biofuel mandate comes in (adding around 10% to fuel costs)
On the otherside of the debt problem,banks have increased term rates for term deposits,which removes liquidity from the economy,improves passive incomes,and increases government revenue from withholding tax,this may reduce international fund flows.
I'm going to suggest if their risk model is making estimates IIS don't understand then they should have a thorough look at it. On the other hand we shouldn't adopt it as a guide to NZs public policy.
The problem is that the IIF is the global institute of financial institutions,where the data of global flows show,the misalignment also captures undervalued currencies such as norway with its through the roof current account surplus (underpriced by 45%)
NZ public policy should be guided by the ability to fund internally,or by borrowing that will result in improvements that show efficiency.
Maybe the market agrees with this and realizes NZ is about to embark on a massive (internally funded) investment in energy efficiency? Going to be very confusing for the IIF before they catch up on the news.
The NZ energy strategy is outside of this governments realm of responsibility due to financial constraints as the governments aspirational goals have been sent back to consultation as the reality is greater then the rhetoric.
A good example of FX changes will be on the RBA cash rate review today (bigger spread then the melbourne cup) with the cross rates pairs with the AUS/US and NZ/Aus due to the interest rate differential.
Roxburgh and Alexandra both owe their existence to Government hydro schemes, there'd be SFA there if it wasn't for those lumps of concrete in the river. Of course their eyes will be a tad glazed.
Must have been the first community briefing for a major project you've been to where they are having to hose down expectations rather than pussy foot around objections
Swordfish makes complete sense to me. He is attacking the ideology that has infiltrated our public service, media, academia and the Labour and Greens Party.
You are the one who accsued Swordfish on being on an ideological crusade. It lies with you to give a rationale for your statement. I think the only reason you wont (and lets face it, it would only have to be a sentence long) is because what you have said isn't true.
He is attacking the ideology that has infiltrated our public service, media, academia and the Labour and Greens Party.
As they say, in this presumption you are 'drawing a long bow.'
Why don't you make a careful and reasoned response to Sanctuary's post. That is the way this work around here.
If an ideology (your explanation/Swordfish's) has it filled with 'woke this' and 'woke that' and generally unclear words) has infiltrated all those places and has had has the effect of righting wrongs etc what possible objection can there be to it? Or have you forgotten that looking at the way a country treats its citizens most in need is a reflection of the worth of that country.
Have you anything to add Swordfish other than a grumpy view of
a) Treaty of Waitangi issues
b) wider issues involving Maori
And of course using current terms that are supposed to be gut wrenchingly slaying personally but which no-one knows what they mean as they have been misused for forever and day ie
woke
anti-woke
Today I see you have served these with a side of 'critical race theory'
I won't say any more as I don't want a repeat of the personal attack you made on me last week.
As an aside I am not finding that these are the musings of the Swordfish of old. I am hoping that things are Ok with you.
Swordfish makes complete sense to me. He is attacking the ideology that has infiltrated our public service, media, academia and the Labour and Greens Party.
You are the one who accsued Swordfish on being on an ideological crusade. It lies with you to give a rationale for your statement. I think the only reason you wont (and lets face it, it would only have to be a sentence long) is because what you have said isn't true.
I was referring to Swordfish's comment at 1.4 and his comments in general.
I think his blank comment was in response to your asking Swordfish if you have anything to add.
I hate to talk on Swordfish's behalf, but I think he like me and a small number of commentators on this site, see how ideologically driven Labour have become (think gender ideology and critical race theory). Also the PMC making decisions like not kicking anti social abusive tennants out of State Homes, leaving vulnerable State house tennants (such as Swordfish's elderly parents) to have their lives wrecked by the failure of decency by those who are responsible for managing the tennants in state houses.
The ideological stance of Labour e.g. setting up a new health authority during a pandemic, while denying there is a health crisis and that we are 3000 plus nurses short, is another good example of Labours failure to act decently and solve the real problems we all face.. Andrew Little dissing the nurses union and having nurses strike and mid wives forced to take legal action. Meanwhile we have a shiny new (extremely costly) NZ Health. I have a contact in NZ Health who tells me it is in a state of chaos and is unlikely in their opinion to achieve health equity) .
And the statement realeased about racism by NZ Health NZ (Chris Trotter has written about it if you want to read it) is drenched in CRT. Do they not realize what a slap in the face such a statement by NZ Health will be to most health professionals? Said health professionals are far more liketly to experience abuse and even assault just trying to do their job, than be racist. Health professionals go into this work mostly cause they care about people. Not whites only.
In a past life (so to speak) I was a health professional. We all worked our guts out and we cared deeply about doing a good job for our patients. There was no racism at all in our service. We did of course appreciate and maybe go the extra mile for some patients. These were the people who were pleasant and cooperative and helped make our lives easy in the demanding work we did. They could be any race and any sex. We really didn't care.
Getting back to Swordfish, I hope he won't mind me reminding people on this site, but he is seriously ill with cancer. He has had to go through chemo. And Swordfish if you are reading this, sending you my best regards. He is facing this while his elderly parents have had years of some bastard who sounds anti social making their lives hell. It is the sort of thing that makes you not give a dam if people find you grumpy or otherwise. I am sure if I was facing what he is facing I would be worse. Aside from all he is going through and how he may come across to some as grumpy, his actual views in my opinion are bang on.
Cheers, Anker …. genuinely appreciate your support & camaraderie.
I'll let you into a little secret … I don't always read replies from geezers I suspect are going to overly-irritate me … particularly those saddled with the classic Woke personality-type … narcissistic teens inhabiting adult bodies (quite often decidely middle-aged adult bodies) … all that ostentatious moral posturing & yet possessing zero actual ethics or morality. It's like they've adopted The Young One's Rik as their role model.
Suits everyone … I get my say … and they get to have the last word … and they do so without agravating the living hell out of me because I never have know what they said … which is fantastic for my health
.
Cheers, Red … by coincidence I've recently been thinking I'd like to have some on-going discussion with you in a more private setting … particularly as you're moving away from frequent engagement on The Standard.
Have you considered Twitter ? I know you don't have an account … but it's very easily set up … allows private direct messaging (I've had some great private discussions & kept in touch with a couple of former commenters here) … and you can deactivate your account any time you like.
Let me know if you're interested in heading in that direction.
Crude, dogmatic Cult members … whether they be simple-minded SJWs like yourself, L. Ron Hubbard-worshipping Scientologists or born-again Evangelical Christians should always be strenuously dissuaded from treading the boards.
As Noel Coward almost sang: “Don’t put your Wokester on the Stage, Mrs Muttonbird, don’t put your Wokester on the stage … he’s really quite a bore, for the audience he’s a chore, just don’t put your Wokester on the Stage !“.
A sensible approach (which is probably not mine ).
Would like to add that Anker's replies above are a much more articulate relating of my views and perspectives than I would achieve. Add to that a repetition of her wishes for your continued contributions and wellbeing.
Ok but how does that explain your personal attack on me then. You not only read something from me, presumably someone you disagreed with, and then instead of whizzing on by, decided to reply in a post that contained a multitude of ad hominem stuff and no substance.
I have actually been supportive of you in the bad tenants next to your parents.
But no it is 'woke' this 'woke' that, narcissistic etc. and many other buzz words that don't add much to the argument.
Sorry but I liked the Swordfish of old not this current 'geezer'. I know the temptation when facing bad health is to let all hell rip. My advice is to resist it.
The rift between the proponents of 3 waters/co=governance and the back benchers within Labour who fear for their ongoing political careers after the next election must be reaching boiling point – something will have to give soon.
Ardern will pay no mind to the Dead Meat Walking backbenchers coming on the unrepeatable 51% surge of 2020. Ardern can actually count.
What is remarkable is how well Labour's polls are holding up. Labour have a very good shot at forming a government next year, in no small part because Ardern is clearly a better tv and youtube performer than Luxon.
Jacinda is a superb communicator….she was so good on RNZ yesterday and she is always eloquent in parliament…..I predict that Luxon will refuse to debate her live at the election.
Luxon will be sufficiently trained to front-up. He'll Gish-gallop like a pro and surprise with a hot-button up-setter for Ardern. I hope her trainers are smart enough to know it's coming and advise her well. If she's prepared, she'll slay him 🙂
OK, are we done with this drug yet? Is this nice US randomized trial enough to convince people that results from a petri dish don't always transfer to humans, regardless of the presence or absence of an evil pharmaceutical cabal?
No, of course not. At this point, I can predict the responses. The dose wasn't high enough. It wasn't given early enough. The patients weren't sick enough, or they were too sick. This is motivated reasoning, plain and simple. It's not to say that there isn't a chance that this drug has some off-target effects on COVID that we haven't adequately measured, but studies like ACTIV-6 effectively rule out the idea that it's a miracle cure. And you know what? That's OK. Miracle cures are vanishingly rare. Most things that work in medicine work OK; they make us a little better, and we learn why they do that and improve on them, and try again and again. It's not flashy; it doesn't have that allure of secret knowledge. But it's what separates science from magic.
Of course, supposedly smart doctors are prescribing a drug that doesnt work.. because really they're either conspiracy theorists or stupid republicans.
Some of Bolsonaro’s closest allies have publicly acknowledged Lula’s victory, including Sao Paulo governor-elect Tarcisio de Freitas and Senator-elect Damares Alves, both of whom served as ministers under Bolsonaro.
“The will of the majority seen on ballots shall never be contested,” another ally, Lower House Speaker Arthur Lira, told reporters on Sunday. Evangelical pastor Silas Malafaia, who has been a strident Bolsonaro supporter, also called for God to bestow his “blessing” on Lula.
In March 1999 all state houses in Wairarapa were given to a community trust. Trust House – in 2014 it became New Zealand’s first registered social housing provider in the government’s new social housing scheme to make rents even more affordable for people on low incomes.
MSD, ACC and Enable New New Zealand are left with finding them a home suitable for modification for wheel chair access in the area. Maybe Kainga Ora buy such a home in the area (or starts building some) and takes over the provision of homes for those with disability in this region?
A concern about the increase in share of tax revenue coming from income tax (48 to 51% because of no indexing of tax thresholds).
Maybe when we tax annually the increase in wealth (a form of CG tax) on rising property value resulting from "inflation"? (much better than a land tax given we already do this when paying rates)
No I've been reliable informed that making poor people unemployed Is how you control inflation, lowering profits for grifters large and small just won't do it.
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TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
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The alternative water "plan" put forward by Mayor Boomer and his two cockie mates yesterday is what happens when you lose control of a political narrative and instead turn your political management settings to "strolling towards suicide". I mean, Boomer and mates have basically proposed they be allowed unaccountable access to a pile of public money to do wjhat they may or may not want to do. “Let us do what you want, or not, but in any event give all the money to spend as we please”. Just imagine the reaction if a Maori group came up with a similar idea!
Labour has allowed three waters to drag on and on and on and on. In putting Mahuta in charge of the process – an almost deliberately provocative act – they provided an optics Godsend to their opponents, who in the absense of a strong government PR game have been enabled to dogwhistle a white racist backlash against the concept of co-governance whilst mobilising around issues of "local democracy". And it doesn't help that Mahuta -who is also foreign minister after all – has hardly been stellar (to be polite, others might use words like "missing in action" or "incompetent") in her (lack of) proactive political management of the job of selling three waters.
That has delivered at the recent local bosdy elections a slew of right wing mayors elected by conservative white voters with an implicit culture war mandate. They are bitterly opposed to progressive policies and they have no problem in bad faith dealings if it helps further their agenda.
The media sense the political vacuum and smell blood and with their usual bullying group think they are piling on with active connivance – allowing Mayor Boomer to announce his new plan yesterday and not take any questions (instead the non entity from Waimakariri has been doing the media) without commenting on this fact is an act of political connivance, as is over-looking whether or not these mayors even have a mandate from their councils for this plan.
Labour can't afford this issue to drag into the new year. Either ram it through under urgency or dump it.
I think you give far too much credibility to Wayne Brown Sanc. He is clearly a nutter-witness the way he operates.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/130332317/auckland-mayor-sprang-three-waters-alternative-on-council-with-8-minutes-notice
Mayor Boomer is an idiot. It is clearly part of a larger political project – a disruptive anti-labour comms strategy being driven by Matthew Hooten.
However, the point is Hooten wouldn't be the mayor's puppet master if white conservative voters hadn't been galvanised by the right's exploitation of the government’s poor political management.
Sanc-I agree totally that the perception management of 3 Waters has been a disaster from the start-and it still is.
What to do though? Put Megan Woods or Michael Wood in charge?
give it to the Greens who know how to work with people and bring them along (notable exception notwithstanding)
Is this post satirical?
You mean like the anti-smacking bill, kinda like the way Sue Bradford “took people along” on that? because that little bit of Green "people power" cost Labour nine years in opposition.
The Greens consistantly rely on forming an elite consensus to get Green policy over the line, which is why they never get any Green policy over the line.
The only wins the Greens ever get is when they own the conservatives by scoffing Miraka Kirimi on twitter.
is that post satire? Like the voice of a grumpy old school leftie who can't understand how green politics works?
I was thinking of climate in terms of policy but there are plenty of examples. Remember how Labour was stuck in FPP thinking but couldn't get enough votes to gain power, and the Greens opened the door for campaigning on changing the government and working together. That was relationship building.
The reason the Greens are good at it, is because it's built into their kaupapa. From the charter,
https://www.greens.org.nz/charter
See the bit about decisions being made by those affected? Labour work against that, they've tried to impose their own ideas on a population of people who are resistant, and they don't know how to go back to people and work it through. Because they're old school lefties who have neoliberalised and still think power is about who can attain it rather than who can share it.
Oh! it's in the Green party charter. Well, that'll teach 'em!
Seems to be a lot of Boomer ageist hate going down here… And while I disagree with you I support your right to say it…But get it all out of your system cos Kiri's gonna make it illegal nek year. I'll get my hate in early too…I ffing HATE Poto & TUT for demolishing the huts.
Good grief. Get a life.
So anti the demolition of some ageing rat infested huts
Interesting that FMC don't see things your way, thankfully
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/477672/te-urewera-huts-federated-mountain-clubs-backs-ngai-tuhoe-s-enlightened-plans.
So Ok for you to use pejorative words such as Boomer. The comments about Brown would have been made had he been 21,41,81 years. Fundamentally not about age but about the crazy things he is doing.
Auckland's answer to Trump, right here in good old NZ….ya hoo!
Brown has joined my list of twits. There are two so far.
Jordan Peterson
Wayne Brown
are prize twits.
Yep – it's this pretense that they are defenders of 'localism' that is particularly galling. These guys inherently prioritise the economic interests of one portion of their local communities – farming and business – over others. These interests are traditionally handed the right to extract water from the environment at no cost, add pollutants to it (nitrates, animal effluent, etc.), then return it to the environment, also at no cost. Their wealth depends on this privatisation of the 'gifts of nature.' Any centralised structure, change in funding arrangements or co-governance interest from Maori, is a potential threat to this cosy, private wealth-generating tradition.
What I don't like is the implicit view that the other Treaty partner is best left out of this while the big guys, who know all about this, get on with the real oil. Anyone with the most basic understanding of Maori issues knows that water is a taonga not just an extractive resource. We need people with this long term, philosophical political view that neatly falls into a sustainable approach to leaven a wholesale extractive view.
When you get people of far differing views coming together with a common purpose the result is usually/often better than what an individual or group of same/same individuals can achieve. I liken it to the voice you hear when a choir is working well together. Strong voices making a new voice. This is not meant to be a wishy washy irredeemably liberal concept.
The point is with Wayne Brump the second group is locked out and we don't get the chance. Remembering if you keep doing the things the way you have always done it you will get the same result. We don't want that with water, it has not worked.
So locking Maori out and putting the Councils back in control seems very much like the bad old days.
On the plus side it at least is a different view.
There may be something in there that could be used. It worries me that he has got together with Chch Mayor. At the risk of annoying some Chch folk there does seem to be a but of
anti Maori rhetoricwhite supremacist thinking there despite the phenomenal success of Ngai Tahu as an Iwi.What the heck is going on in Auckland though? I thought it was proud to be the biggest Polynesian city in the world?
Go back to the 1980s with that fiction. I've seen more racism in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga than I've ever seen in Christchurch.
Christchurch is by any international standard a progressive city, more progressive than Auckland in a shit load of ways.
I tire of the snobbery of the left in this country bashing Dunedin and Christchurch two leftwing strongholds.
It ain't called the people's socialist republic of Christchurch for no reason, it's a labour strong hold. meanwhile the left in neoliberal/right-wing Auckland which has more skinheads than anywhere else in the country and with 800,000 renters struggles to connect with voters.
From Sheppard to Kirk to Anderton to Rod Donald, to having the first female mp and first female minister, to being the first city to declare itself nuclear free the legacy of Christchurch on the history of the left in NZ is immense and there wouldn't be a single labour government without it's support and it's Auckland not Christchurch that's frothing at the mouth with crazy nutcase right wing psychos and it's Aucklands notoriously fickle voters who keep giving us national govts.
Not liking three waters doesn't make people skinheads or racist.
If the left continue down the road where we refuse to engage and debate ideas then we have become intellectual failures bereft of ideas , demanding censorship of election coverage is bad enough but you know you've lost the debate when you're calling people who disagree with you on policy Nazis and skin heads.
I've noticed the people who bash Christchurch usually have nothing but contempt for working class people and are elitist af
I agree with this. I did not say this though. What are the reasons for not liking Three Waters? These are the ones I have heard:
Then from a left point of view:
Thanks Corey…..I have not said I am against Chch. It has a recent sad past. It also has Ngai Tahu and that organisation is making a good job of working with its Treaty Settlement.
I regret that the last local body election brought a right wing Mayor to Chch and that he has 'found' Wayne Brown.
Agree with your general point to get the legislation through this year.
I was in Roxborough on Saturday for the NZBattery project which is going to be an order of magnitude more disruptive to locals for about 100km radius than 3 Waters, and boy you don't want to raise your head on 3 Waters but for Battery Dam you could see their eyes spinning dollar signs.
All the way down the Clutha there were anti-3 Waters signs.
Yeah and the market has priced significant risk into the NZ$ shorting it at 30% against the US$.
With a terminal rate of 5.5% for the ocr,and little sign of reduction in the CA deficit,funding for big projects is vary limited.
https://twitter.com/RobinBrooksIIF/status/1586742405251973121?cxt=HHwWgoC-8fDznoUsAAAA
If the market is shorting every major currency against the US$ then is this really related to NZ policy?
Its the depth of the short against the NZ$,the worst performer in the G10 currencies,due to the highest current account deficit,high overseas debt liability,and a government deficit.
There are limited avenues to lower the current account problem,and a future that will see next year an increase in inflation as the fuel subsidies end and the biofuel mandate comes in (adding around 10% to fuel costs)
On the otherside of the debt problem,banks have increased term rates for term deposits,which removes liquidity from the economy,improves passive incomes,and increases government revenue from withholding tax,this may reduce international fund flows.
"Its the depth of the short against the NZ$"
Isn't that chart cumulative?
Its expansive with the currency rating shown.the IIF risk model show the NZ $ overvalued by 36%.
I'm going to suggest if their risk model is making estimates IIS don't understand then they should have a thorough look at it. On the other hand we shouldn't adopt it as a guide to NZs public policy.
The problem is that the IIF is the global institute of financial institutions,where the data of global flows show,the misalignment also captures undervalued currencies such as norway with its through the roof current account surplus (underpriced by 45%)
NZ public policy should be guided by the ability to fund internally,or by borrowing that will result in improvements that show efficiency.
Maybe the market agrees with this and realizes NZ is about to embark on a massive (internally funded) investment in energy efficiency? Going to be very confusing for the IIF before they catch up on the news.
have you met the crew from the IIF? at the recent meeting concurrent with the IMF.
https://www.iif.com/Events/2022_AMM_DC/meetingid/54717ecf-19b1-ec11-9840-00224826b530
The NZ energy strategy is outside of this governments realm of responsibility due to financial constraints as the governments aspirational goals have been sent back to consultation as the reality is greater then the rhetoric.
A good example of FX changes will be on the RBA cash rate review today (bigger spread then the melbourne cup) with the cross rates pairs with the AUS/US and NZ/Aus due to the interest rate differential.
Roxburgh and Alexandra both owe their existence to Government hydro schemes, there'd be SFA there if it wasn't for those lumps of concrete in the river. Of course their eyes will be a tad glazed.
Must have been the first community briefing for a major project you've been to where they are having to hose down expectations rather than pussy foot around objections
Graeme we should catch up about Queenstown. Can we figure out how.
Yeah, what's the best way to do do that.
.
Sanctuary
I see you're currently in the Critical Race Theory phase of your wild swings back & forth between Woke & anti-Woke commentary.
Actually you've detected thinking.
You're the one on the ideological crusade.
What is the ideology that Swordfish is crusading about Ad?
You can go directly to any of Swordfishes' extensive verbatim quotes and see for yourself. Don't ask me to make sense of it for you.
Swordfish makes complete sense to me. He is attacking the ideology that has infiltrated our public service, media, academia and the Labour and Greens Party.
You are the one who accsued Swordfish on being on an ideological crusade. It lies with you to give a rationale for your statement. I think the only reason you wont (and lets face it, it would only have to be a sentence long) is because what you have said isn't true.
As they say, in this presumption you are 'drawing a long bow.'
Why don't you make a careful and reasoned response to Sanctuary's post. That is the way this work around here.
If an ideology (your explanation/Swordfish's) has it filled with 'woke this' and 'woke that' and generally unclear words) has infiltrated all those places and has had has the effect of righting wrongs etc what possible objection can there be to it? Or have you forgotten that looking at the way a country treats its citizens most in need is a reflection of the worth of that country.
Vogon poetry
There's always one fan of the surrealism of the underlying metaphor.
Have you anything to add Swordfish other than a grumpy view of
a) Treaty of Waitangi issues
b) wider issues involving Maori
And of course using current terms that are supposed to be gut wrenchingly slaying personally but which no-one knows what they mean as they have been misused for forever and day ie
woke
anti-woke
Today I see you have served these with a side of 'critical race theory'
I won't say any more as I don't want a repeat of the personal attack you made on me last week.
As an aside I am not finding that these are the musings of the Swordfish of old. I am hoping that things are Ok with you.
He does seem different, eh.
Swordfish makes complete sense to me. He is attacking the ideology that has infiltrated our public service, media, academia and the Labour and Greens Party.
You are the one who accsued Swordfish on being on an ideological crusade. It lies with you to give a rationale for your statement. I think the only reason you wont (and lets face it, it would only have to be a sentence long) is because what you have said isn't true.
Not complicated. Simple response to: "I am not finding that these are the musings of the Swordfish of old". Sometimes a cigar..
Crusading is best addressed in your mirror.
Not me. No mention of ideological crusade. Just a comment about him being grumpy and not the Swordfish of old.
Looks like Anker has replied to the wrong tweet.
Sorry to hear about the cancer, swordfish. Had missed that.
Yes I am too. I did not know.
Though how coming on here will help that I do not know, each to his own I guess.
Swordfish I think you are bang on. Keep commenting if you are able
Is this a joke? The post 1.5 you were replying to is blank.
I was referring to Swordfish's comment at 1.4 and his comments in general.
I think his blank comment was in response to your asking Swordfish if you have anything to add.
I hate to talk on Swordfish's behalf, but I think he like me and a small number of commentators on this site, see how ideologically driven Labour have become (think gender ideology and critical race theory). Also the PMC making decisions like not kicking anti social abusive tennants out of State Homes, leaving vulnerable State house tennants (such as Swordfish's elderly parents) to have their lives wrecked by the failure of decency by those who are responsible for managing the tennants in state houses.
The ideological stance of Labour e.g. setting up a new health authority during a pandemic, while denying there is a health crisis and that we are 3000 plus nurses short, is another good example of Labours failure to act decently and solve the real problems we all face.. Andrew Little dissing the nurses union and having nurses strike and mid wives forced to take legal action. Meanwhile we have a shiny new (extremely costly) NZ Health. I have a contact in NZ Health who tells me it is in a state of chaos and is unlikely in their opinion to achieve health equity) .
And the statement realeased about racism by NZ Health NZ (Chris Trotter has written about it if you want to read it) is drenched in CRT. Do they not realize what a slap in the face such a statement by NZ Health will be to most health professionals? Said health professionals are far more liketly to experience abuse and even assault just trying to do their job, than be racist. Health professionals go into this work mostly cause they care about people. Not whites only.
In a past life (so to speak) I was a health professional. We all worked our guts out and we cared deeply about doing a good job for our patients. There was no racism at all in our service. We did of course appreciate and maybe go the extra mile for some patients. These were the people who were pleasant and cooperative and helped make our lives easy in the demanding work we did. They could be any race and any sex. We really didn't care.
Getting back to Swordfish, I hope he won't mind me reminding people on this site, but he is seriously ill with cancer. He has had to go through chemo. And Swordfish if you are reading this, sending you my best regards. He is facing this while his elderly parents have had years of some bastard who sounds anti social making their lives hell. It is the sort of thing that makes you not give a dam if people find you grumpy or otherwise. I am sure if I was facing what he is facing I would be worse. Aside from all he is going through and how he may come across to some as grumpy, his actual views in my opinion are bang on.
.
Cheers, Anker …. genuinely appreciate your support & camaraderie.
I'll let you into a little secret … I don't always read replies from geezers I suspect are going to overly-irritate me … particularly those saddled with the classic Woke personality-type … narcissistic teens inhabiting adult bodies (quite often decidely middle-aged adult bodies) … all that ostentatious moral posturing & yet possessing zero actual ethics or morality. It's like they've adopted The Young One's Rik as their role model.
Suits everyone … I get my say … and they get to have the last word … and they do so without agravating the living hell out of me because I never have know what they said … which is fantastic for my health
Win-Win.
Excellent strategySwordfish.
Take care. And please continue to give your take on things on this site, but only if its o.k. for you to do so.
Please contact Lynn Prentice. I would like to get in contact if that is Ok with you.
.
Cheers, Red … by coincidence I've recently been thinking I'd like to have some on-going discussion with you in a more private setting … particularly as you're moving away from frequent engagement on The Standard.
Have you considered Twitter ? I know you don't have an account … but it's very easily set up … allows private direct messaging (I've had some great private discussions & kept in touch with a couple of former commenters here) … and you can deactivate your account any time you like.
Let me know if you're interested in heading in that direction.
OK I will go down that path. Let me know your account name please.
RedLogix
@RedLogixTS
Says you cannot be messaged.
Your new movement is off to a rocky start.
Best leave humour to the grown-ups.
Crude, dogmatic Cult members … whether they be simple-minded SJWs like yourself, L. Ron Hubbard-worshipping Scientologists or born-again Evangelical Christians should always be strenuously dissuaded from treading the boards.
As Noel Coward almost sang: “Don’t put your Wokester on the Stage, Mrs Muttonbird, don’t put your Wokester on the stage … he’s really quite a bore, for the audience he’s a chore, just don’t put your Wokester on the Stage !“.
Well, if you two want to fight woke nonsense and stop the Maoris you'd better learn to how to work social media. Just saying.
The reason I wanted to contact Swordfish has nothing to do with your fevered imaginings.
A sensible approach (which is probably not mine
).
Would like to add that Anker's replies above are a much more articulate relating of my views and perspectives than I would achieve. Add to that a repetition of her wishes for your continued contributions and wellbeing.
Ok but how does that explain your personal attack on me then. You not only read something from me, presumably someone you disagreed with, and then instead of whizzing on by, decided to reply in a post that contained a multitude of ad hominem stuff and no substance.
I have actually been supportive of you in the bad tenants next to your parents.
But no it is 'woke' this 'woke' that, narcissistic etc. and many other buzz words that don't add much to the argument.
Sorry but I liked the Swordfish of old not this current 'geezer'. I know the temptation when facing bad health is to let all hell rip. My advice is to resist it.
Why the hell hasn't this been sold as a money saver and a life saver?
Blank slate, clean slate so deep its zooming over me.
if 1.5 from Swordfish is the answer what was the question
The rift between the proponents of 3 waters/co=governance and the back benchers within Labour who fear for their ongoing political careers after the next election must be reaching boiling point – something will have to give soon.
Ardern will pay no mind to the Dead Meat Walking backbenchers coming on the unrepeatable 51% surge of 2020. Ardern can actually count.
What is remarkable is how well Labour's polls are holding up. Labour have a very good shot at forming a government next year, in no small part because Ardern is clearly a better tv and youtube performer than Luxon.
Jacinda is a superb communicator….she was so good on RNZ yesterday and she is always eloquent in parliament…..I predict that Luxon will refuse to debate her live at the election.
Luxon will be sufficiently trained to front-up. He'll Gish-gallop like a pro and surprise with a hot-button up-setter for Ardern. I hope her trainers are smart enough to know it's coming and advise her well. If she's prepared, she'll slay him 🙂
Want a “miracle cure“? Try "magic" – provided there's a sound reason to trust the magician.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2797483
Of course, supposedly smart doctors are prescribing a drug that doesnt work.. because really they're either conspiracy theorists or stupid republicans.
https://twitter.com/bhrenton/status/1430971184699617283
So far so good.
https://twitter.com/DLBiller/status/1587167214398050304
Some of Bolsonaro’s closest allies have publicly acknowledged Lula’s victory, including Sao Paulo governor-elect Tarcisio de Freitas and Senator-elect Damares Alves, both of whom served as ministers under Bolsonaro.
“The will of the majority seen on ballots shall never be contested,” another ally, Lower House Speaker Arthur Lira, told reporters on Sunday. Evangelical pastor Silas Malafaia, who has been a strident Bolsonaro supporter, also called for God to bestow his “blessing” on Lula.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/31/after-lula-victory-brazil-asks-wheres-bolsonaro
The IRD wanting to tax sweets gifted to children on Halloween to teach them about tax. Who the hell came up with this gem?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/130334088/inland-revenue-deletes-halloweenthemed-tweet-after-it-backfires
Hi Jimbo. Who the hell came up with this gem? Well, why don't you find out then you can tell us all .![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png?x42494)
I'm sure all the dads have been taxing the plunder, !!
In March 1999 all state houses in Wairarapa were given to a community trust. Trust House – in 2014 it became New Zealand’s first registered social housing provider in the government’s new social housing scheme
to make rents even more affordable for people on low incomes.https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/11/disabled-woman-and-family-facing-homelessness-after-poor-wheelchair-modifications-see-them-evicted-from-rental-home.html
MSD, ACC and Enable New New Zealand are left with finding them a home suitable for modification for wheel chair access in the area. Maybe Kainga Ora buy such a home in the area (or starts building some) and takes over the provision of homes for those with disability in this region?
A concern about the increase in share of tax revenue coming from income tax (48 to 51% because of no indexing of tax thresholds).
Maybe when we tax annually the increase in wealth (a form of CG tax) on rising property value resulting from "inflation"? (much better than a land tax given we already do this when paying rates)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/300726868/individuals-tax-bill-up-55-in-five-years
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/prosper/finances/130326242/cheat-sheet-where-to-turn-if-youre-broke-and-struggling
Apparently most intend a 5% rent increase – c$600 to $630. But some might be facing 10%.
A rent freeze would lower the inflation rate before the election …
No I've been reliable informed that making poor people unemployed Is how you control inflation, lowering profits for grifters large and small just won't do it.
Oh god, I love this:
Have I Got News For You
@haveigotnews
12h
Amid claims Liz Truss's phone was hacked, MI5 reassures everyone that absolutely no intelligence will have been found.
Those who work in intelligence did not maintain contact as they knew it only have to be repeated later …