Honestly this is harming the police here if no-one is found responsible, because any fair minded person wants to see “justice” at work there as in every case because we meak 99% are being row beaten by “beaurocrats and the police” to “comply with the law” so should they enforce the same law there too.
“one law for all must apply.”
“Police has determined that there will be no criminal prosecution in relation to the collapse of the CTV building in Christchurch in February 2011.”
No, that’s not right. The Police have got this right, despite the fact that the CTV collapsed due to a series of human errors and negligence (not just Reay, but those that fiddled with the building structure some years later).
Grenfell Tower in London was third world. And that makes the whole world third world.
To the rest of New Zealand – your towns and cities building owners have been given plenty of time to get their buildings safe/r, yet they are not doing so. Tell the building owners in your towns to sort their buildings out quick-smart…
You will find most Christchurch people who went through the earthquakes walk around towns in the rest of New Zealand in fear – constantly looking up at the unsupported verandahs and facades. I do. I hate walking near old buildings everywhere except Christchurch now. Invercargill, Dunedin, Ranfurly, Taihape, Taupo, Whangarei, it just goes on and on… Those facades and verandahs in your towns are going to collapse and kill people. Sort it out. Harass the building owners.
I am from Napier and drive up north of Gisborne a lot.
We get spooked every time I go through gullies now with tall steep hilllsides, and see the cliffs above fracturing with big cracks going down there, so I become a dangerous driver & find i need to break the law and drive on the other side of the road now, further away from the steep hillside to save ourselves should the hillside slip occur and bury us and kill us now.
I know we could be fined for this but it is now becomming a threat to our very lives that count more.
So we asked the the roading engineers of three road companies, who conduct the road repairs and they all are now confirming to us now they suspect the larger, bigger heavier “over-weight” “HPMV” trucks that are causing large, stronger, road vibrations now, that they believe are responsible for the hillside fractures, as they have placed vibration monitoring devices on these hillisides, and are detecting heavier ground shacking vibrations occurring with the bigger, heavier HPMV trucks now.
So are the heavier truck operators now liable for legal costs if they damage people and/or property?
“so I become a dangerous driver & find i need to break the law and drive on the other side of the road now, further away from the steep hillside to save ourselves should the hillside slip occur and bury us and kill us now.”
Of course you are now more at risk of having a head on accident and killing yourselves and the poor sap who was innocently coming the other way.
Putting others lives at risk because you perceive it to be better for you.
I’ve lost friends on motorbikes because of people doing what you are doing. It’s a disgusting and selfish act.
If you end up having an accident I hope you don’t kill an innocent person.
Oh for fucksake! Somethings eventually going to get you, your only choice is to stay in bed and not do anything at all all the while remembering that the vast majority of people die in bed, but in your stupid case it’s most likely to be a truck coming the other way.
So are the heavier truck operators now liable for legal costs if they damage people and/or property?
Actually, I say that the ministers of the government that passed the legislation allowing the bigger trucks should held personally liable. This is an obvious consequence of doing so and they should have at lest asked the engineers about it.
cleangreen, your risk assessment seems a bit out of kilter so I’ll try to help you.
Failure to keep left is the fourth most common contributing cause to a fatal accident in the 2011 – 2016 period, cited as a factor in 191 fatal crashes, according to this government analysis.
The only road fatality attributable to landslide I can find any reference to is the 2014 double fatality in Westland where a tourist couple were apparently swept off the road into a river during an extreme weather event. Interestingly, landslides have caused a number of train accidents with numerous fatalities, but appear to be a negligible risk to road users.
So by crossing the centreline to keep away from cliffs, it certainly appears that you are choosing to create a very real hazard to yourself and other road users, in response to an imaginary threat.
not only what the others said, but the extra few metres will not give you time to dodge a darn thing. And where will you dodge to? Over the bank? Roads are often nowhere near the bottom of steep gullies, usually halfway up the darn hillside.
Sad to say that the police have been politicised.
Look at the Hager raids as one example of this.
And the Barclay shambles as a second exemplar of police conduct.
Roast Busters, TeaPot tapes etc we sort of only hear about the prominent ones.
Hagers book indicated the potential for alot more in exposing the behaviour of Collins which IMO should’ve triggered an inquiry into her activity across many portfolios.
This shows that under certain circumstances there is no backbone by the police to bring certain corporates to justice. It seems it is much easier to accuse and charge an ordinary person with average means than people who are well connected.
Remember the extraordinary involvement of police and management in TV presentation to the media, it was similar to a tag team, when the viewer is uncertain what the job of the police should be. Corruption in places is rife, always attempting to protect the corporation instead of siding with the innocent. Remember the planted cartridge, the disgraceful blame game in the Erebus disaster, or the very poor investigation in the Bain murders.
Anyone who thought anything as terrible as being held to account, being tried and going to jail might occur to professionals who are men of reputation and pillars of the establishment needed only look at at Pike River to know nothing was going to happen here.
If you want concerted outrage against a great injustice, you won’t find it in thundering newspaper editorials or middle aged white male shick jocks quaking in anger demanding justice for the 144 dead of the CTV building and Pike River.
However, true outrage still exists if you can can spitefully twist the truth and the target is a smart 32 year female lawyer from a refugee family.
Don’t forget National ‘realigned’ the SFO in a similar manner to the way it sorted out the commerce commission and anybody getting in the way of corporate cowboy antics.
She’s just giving the accepted spin to the reality that they neither have the resources or will to form a posse and chase the cowboys down as the evidence is available without a whistle blower.
I don’t agree with this decision by the NZPolice not to prosecute the designers of the CTV Building.
I perfectly understand why they went for internal legal and then Crown Law advice.
But they should publish all the advice.
If the Police had had an urge for justice, and Crown Law’s Deputy Solicitor was being more cautious, then Police should have insisted that the advice be escalated to the Solicitor General.
With a new government and Minister, I think the Solicitor General should also have had a chat with the Attourney General as Minister.
It should have gone to trial, at which Defence would put up a line that “It wasn’t just us, it was a systemic failure.”
At that point the judge could make a judgement on both the people, and the whole system.
A key point that mostly gets lost but would probably form a large part of the defence: the CTV building had already experienced its design event in the 2010 earthquake, and despite its serious design flaws it met its performance requirement that any occupants would have been able to safely leave.
It’s beyond me how to fairly apportion culpability between those who produced a seriously flawed design, those who approved the seriously flawed design, and those who allowed the re-occupation of a seriously flawed building after an extreme event that would be expected to produce serious structural damage.
Approval of a flawed building: Why hasn’t Alan Reay been taken to court for his part in the poor design and construction of the CTV building? He failed to do his job properly and unlawfully threatened the local council in order to have the building signed off as fit and proper. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CTV_Building
I agree Reay was seriously deficient in his lax oversight and rubberstamp approval of the work done by his firm. But he still has a pretty good defense that the building met the performance standard required of it in the 2010 quake.
And there are many other culpable parties. Yes, Reay appears to have applied inappropriate pressure to get approval of that building. But council officials are expected to wear big-boy pants – they also behaved inappropriately in caving to the pressure.
The approval process for re-occupation also appears to have been culpably flawed. ISTR reports that building occupants were uncomfortable with how much more building movement there seemed to be post-2010-quake than pre-quake.
Given how much other culpability seems to floating around this disaster, and how any of the many parties involved could plausibly have prevented the disaster by doing their jobs properly, the near exclusive focus on Reay really bothers me. Because if Reay is the sole scapegoat, then all those other failings won’t get addressed.
“I think the Solicitor General should also have had a chat with the Attourney General as Minister.”
Are you seriously suggesting that an MP, acting with the title of Attorney General but still just an MP, should have any say at all in deciding who should, or should not, face trial?
We have enough such countries in the world already. I don’t want NZ to become another one.
You want us to become like Turkey? Like Venezuela? Like The Philippines? Like Syria? No thanks.
Has anyone checked other buildings designed by those responsible for the CTV building ? I’ve heard rumours of a former commercial building in Auckland alledgedly designed by the CTV designers. This commercial building has recently been converted into very expensive apartments – most sold and waiting for sign off.
“Nothing to see here”. “Time to move on”.
You didn’t hear those lines used repeatedly and regularly during Key’s time as PM, Alwyn?
You must be as deaf as a post and unable to lip-read to boot!
What apology? The bit I saw has Shaw saying he made a mistake in his speech. That was only one of the many things thrown at Golriz and the Greens this week on the issue.
I have a theory about this issue-I think the Nats are really pissed off they didn’t carry out this nasty vicious hatchet job on Golriz before the election and so are sounding more bitter and twisted than ever.
They realise that this could have (unfairly) cost the Greens a percentage point or more and changed the election result…..epic fail Mr. Farrar.
Let’s open a discussion on the appalling behavior of Dr Nigel Murray and the path that led to his appointment.
He was appointed by Bob Murray who was, in turn, appointed by that smarmiest of National Cabinet Ministers’ one Tony Ryall, who on his retirement from his portfolio as Minister of Health, claimed to have left the department in wonderful shape and with morale on a high. I wonder how the good folk of Dunedin felt about that claim.
Murray was granted the post at the Waikato DHB in spite of grave concerns expressed by both Labour’s Shadow Minister of Health at the time, the wonderful Annette King who herself had been a superb Minister of Health, and the local MP Sue Maroney.
Below is a quote from the NZ Herald of 15th July 2014.
“Labour urged the DHB to hold off confirming Dr Murray’s Waikato appointment until this latest report had been released. It declined,” she said.
“I also sought information from the Ministry of Health and from Health Minister Tony Ryall as to the process around the appointment, but was given the brush-off.”
The “latest report” referred to the damming assessment of the performance of a Canadian Health Authority which had been in the charge of Murray.
This whole rotten episodes reeks of political cronyism. Sue Maroney has instigated the process for an official inquiry into the whole sordid affair.
This should be yet one more incident to expose the tawdriness of nine years of National misgovernment.
Derek Wright told Newstalk ZB host Mike Hosking this morning he was not concerned about the complaint
He said there were no red flags over Murray, who resigned in October amid an expenses scandal and after spending $218,000 of taxpayers money in his three years in the job.
HUH
No red flags
Wot about the Canadian report then?
The “latest report” referred to the damming assessment of the performance of a Canadian Health Authority which had been in the charge of Murray.
The problems we are getting because of the government’s welcome to private enterprise to come in and buy up the provision of services at a profit is going to compound.
I was thinking about the latest revelations around Waikato DHB.
Just having a new government which has some clues and wishes to be a government for the people, not business and not redcarpeting foreign business, is not enough to stop an insidious bleeding of NZ opportunities and provision of acceptable self-sufficiency and standards for us all.
1 Dec 2017
Purchase of HealthTap criticised, no value for money – Audit NZ
by Natalie Akoorie http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11951201 State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes announced today he has formally requested the Auditor-General conduct an inquiry into the Waikato District Health Board’s SmartHealth product and the procurement process from HealthTap…..
The news comes as the two-year contract with HealthTap, the American company that powers the DHB’s controversial SmartHealth app, has been revealed to have cost taxpayers almost $15 million….
Waikato DHB has kept the cost of HealthTap, which together with the cost to launch SmartHealth totals $18.8m, a closely guarded secret, citing commercial sensitivity and contract negotiations as reasons….
Auditors said the procurement raised a number of concerns including that:
• It should have been conducted through an open tendering process and that the US$10m trial was an amount well over any threshold for open tendering;…
Murray went on to champion the product, spending more than $45,000 flying internationally and domestically to learn about and promote SmartHealth, an app that uses smartphones and iPads to conduct online appointments between doctors and patients.
The app has flopped, not attracting the targeted number of users despite targets being lowered, and is now being independently reviewed ahead of the end of the trial.
Audit NZ says it’s been unable to establish the true extent of former Waikato DHB boss Nigel Murray’s excessive travel costs because of holes in the paper trail.
(I thought that holey punchcard technology had been replaced with better technology? Hanging chads anyone?)
I think there is an in-group with a secret handshake called the PPPP (Past Peter Principle Phoenixes.)
The executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, Ian Powell, says the resignation of the Waikato DHB Chairman Bob Simcock follows a period of destabilisation at the DHB. He tells us there’s been a “complete denial of responsibility all the way through the process” and there are still “some urchins that need to move on”.
And the neolibs still in the Departments will probably go on running down our national health while putting little injections of cash into new smart methods of delivering health better and cheaper. They will try and save money by running things down so that we are reliant on these new ideas. to fill the gaps that occur. (Think Pharmac swopping over contraceptive pills and running out – just what people don’t need. )
It seems that it it is cowboy territory out there, and good systems might be dirtied by those which don’t stand up to clear-eyed scrutiny for service to the people who need it most.
Here is a story about clever new tech. Navilluso Medical is led by 2014 New Zealander of the year Lance O’Sullivan who also developed iMoko, a virtual medical service to help vulnerable children.
Dr O’Sullivan said he constantly heard about patients not having access to doctors in isolated locations.
“These people aren’t coming in with trivial problems, it just goes to show we need to redesign how we allow people to get access to health.”
I like Lance O’Sullivan but we shouldn’t be dependent on him and others like the Canterbury Charity Hospital Trust, POBox 20409, Bishopdale, Christchurch 8543 – (donations will be welcome). There is a desperate need for good basic health care, which surely can be identified easily as it has been talked about for ages. Let’s do this and the new systems can fine-tune the effects.
I really wish that the David Parker has been given the Finance port folio. Grant is a superb MP and has the capability to be a fantastic Minister. I just don’t think that should be in Finance.
I am far from convinced that he has the knowledge or skills to be able to effect real change in the economy.
“I really wish that the David Parker has been given the Finance port folio. Grant is a superb MP and has the capability to be a fantastic Minister. I just don’t think that should be in Finance.
I am far from convinced that he has the knowledge or skills to be able to effect real change in the economy.”
This highlights to me that Grant Robertson is little more than a Mandarin following the prescribed way of economic thinking of the day, while underscoring why nothing fundamental is going to change with this Government. Running surpluses is not going to fix this country. However, it will ingratiate him with the economic apparatchiks in Treasury and high-finance.
Oh, it’s far better (worse!) than just running a surplus (which might be okay if the economy was humming and needed ‘cooling’).
He’s saying (in the links you provided) that the economy will likely dip, meaning less government revenue coming in while trying to produce a surplus. And that’s austerity.
Indeed. Announcing the running of surpluses while also forecasting an economic dip is just… dumb. It’s like no thinking has been applied and he’s just reading a script that someone has prepared for him. Robertson should NOT be Minister of Finance.
Over the last few decades we’ve been trained to believe that a government runs like a business and that it should have ‘profits’ which it can then divvy out like dividends as tax cuts.
This is, of course, a load of bollocks but it helps to maintain the status quo of the rich getting richer at everyone else’s expense.
Yes Bill I couldn’t help noticing that – it’s the cliche background for austerity measures. Hasn’t anyone noticed this or are we all bums in the air in NZ, with our heads in the sand?
I wonder what comfy chair Robertson has got his eye on after Labour loses in an election or two. He’s got that fatcat look of complacency and certainty.
Well, I’ll punt the “guys plan” is basically to mollify some abstract sense of “middle class” by introducing kiwi-build for middle class first time house buyers.
And that’s it.
Oh. And some ‘nice to have stuff’ around parental leave etc.
A fair shot at the kiwi dream then – at least for those occupying some position in society that’s deemed as “deserving”.
He claims he’s not pursuing “business as usual” which is a bit like the guy throwing punches making claims to pacifism. When this austerity ends badly (and austerity is the only name for an economic policy that seeks surpluses during times of economic slow-down), the National Party will sway back in as the “natural” government of capitalism.
I wouldn’t put money on NZ Labour achieving a second term.
“….the idea that Roy Moore, someone who is so clearly a repeated child molester and pedophile, could be endorsed meaningfully by the White House—it makes your skin crawl. And I think the Republican Party has a reckoning that they have to do about their morality as they take away children’s healthcare, as they bankrupt our future and endorse a pedophile.”—HEATHER McGHEE, head of Demos. https://www.democracynow.org/2017/11/29/abuses_of_power_heather_mcghee_on
What are you doing Alabama?
You got the rest of the Union
To help you along
What’s going wrong?
“GROPERS” is presented by GroperWatch, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
No.1 George Herbert Walker Bush; No. 2 Bill O’Reilly; No. 3 Al Franken; No. 4 Robin Brooke; No. 5 Lester Beck; No. 6 Arnold Schwarzenegger; No. 7 Joe Biden; No. 8 Rolf Harris; No. 9 Harold Bloom; No. 10 Sir Jimmy Savile; No. 11 Dr Morgan Fahey; No.12 Prince Harry; No. 13 Bill (“I feel your pain”) Clinton
Be assured, alwyn, the Kennedy clan is on the roster. In fact, No. 6 in the series, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was married to JFK’s niece—before she discovered he’d been JFKing around on her.
So farmers are into land speculation and making money that way and not productive agriculture as we might have been believing all this time. That would appear to be the National Party view through spokesperson on all things, Steven Joyce.
Opposition finance spokesperson Steven Joyce told Morning Report that farm buyers will be in favour of the change, but sellers may not be.”The changes could soften the farm sales market which is not necessarily a good thing,” Mr Joyce said.
Yep! National stands for looking after those who have – but those who have not; see things differently – Young farmers for instance welcomed the move saying stable farm prices would help to enable those seeking to buy their first farm.
I’m a bit sceptical about David Parker’s analysis though. He was of the opinion that overseas buyers only effected a small increase on the market. Having sold some rural land in the past 7 years, in my experience the price offered from overseas purchasers was always a significant margin over and above what NZ buyers could offer. Furthermore they were invariably “clean” offers – ie cash and not subject to finance, or the sale of another property.
Malcolm Turnbull and his gang could intimidate the previous N.Z. government, but Jimmy Barnes is having none of their nonsense….
Rock legend Jimmy Barnes has again taken aim at the Liberal government, demanding they stop using his name and songs to spruik their “shitty policies”.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and energy minister Josh Frydenberg went to the Bluescope steelworks in Port Kembla, south of Wollongong, on Monday to talk about energy policy, industry and jobs.
“More than 30 years ago Jimmy Barnes came to Port Kembla to make the film clip for Working Class Man. Today the Prime Minister has come to Port Kembla to create jobs for Australia’s working class men and women,” Frydenberg said proudly.
He was referencing Barnes’ famous hit and iconic video clip, which was filmed at the NSW steelmaking facility.
Early on Tuesday morning, Barnes fired back on Twitter.
Barnes is outspoken and unabashedly political on Twitter, sharing lots of support for progressive causes. He was a loud supporter of marriage equality during the recent postal survey, as well as criticising Australia’s current asylum seeker policy as it relates to offshore detention.
They [Greenwald and Snowden] challenged Key over his promise to resign if mass surveillance was taking place and disclosed details about Speargun’s ability to suck data out of our only internet connection to the world. But Key said they were wrong and that Speargun had been cancelled in March 2013 because he believed it was “too intrusive”. [my bold]
The Herald investigation found Key approved the use of a Speargun test probe by signing a warrant which would have allowed the GCSB to spike it into the Southern Cross Cable and access New Zealanders’ data. Rather than stopping the project in March 2013, work continued on Speargun for months, then Key was briefed in June 2013 that Snowden could have stolen details about it and funding was eventually pulled by Cabinet in September 2013.
So much for Key’s claim he acted on the principle of being “too intrusive”. The programme was cancelled because they suspected Snowden had the details.
What we can deduce is: had Snowden not done what he did… the GCSB and it’s off-shore mates would be conducting mass surveillance of NZ citizens and we would not know it.
It certainly did, Anne! I recommend you click on the links below, especially the second one, and follow the angry snarling, the aneurisms and the gnashings of teeth. They’re hurt, and VERY angry….
No mikes, I don’t believe they are. Certainly Andrew Little is quite sure they are not conducting mass surveillance and he is an astute and highly intelligent politician. Add to that his sharp, experienced lawyer mind, I doubt anyone would try to pull the wool over his eyes.
I see they have breach my privacy rights here in Auckland many thanks for more Mana boys I see even the boys in Auckland like there fireworks to and all there idiot lying contracted liars they tried a move with a old work m8 but no my sense of smell is to good for those idiots. Got the bot hopefully it will be over by Monday Kia Kaha
Many thanks to OUR new coalition Government for increasing our spending on research and development and having a 10 year plan to target 2% of GDP spent on research and development . Also increasing OUR border security to keep out invasive species which would wreck our primary sector of $38 billion ka pai.
I think that we should investigate the feasibility into industrial scale worm farming so instead of pouring nitrogen on our farm which degrades our topsoil we could pour worm casting on our farms this will reduce waste to the landfill and increase our topsoil this will reduce OUR imports cost ECT subsidizing second hand electric cars will reduce our export spend immensely .kIa kaha
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Last week the Wall Street Journal published an article ‘The Dangerous Denial of Sex by two scientists Colin Wright and Emma Hilton. Write is an evolutionary biologist at Penn State and Hilton is a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester. It is well worth reading the article in full. Here ...
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...
Winston Peters - Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the NZ First PartyWe all know that politics can be pretty messy at times. Just look at the Dirty Politics saga in New Zealand, the misgovernment of the Australian bushfires or the recent Trump impeachment debacle in the US. In a ...
Last Monday SpaceX launched another clutch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing up to 300 the number of these units intended to bring 5G internet to the whole globe. In this post I present a movie showing how all 300 such satellites will be zipping around our planet over ...
The recent floods in Southland have highlighted the issue of Rio Tinto's illegal toxic waste dump in Mataura. But according to Newsroom, there's an even worse mess in Ruakaka near Whangarei:A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to ...
It’s amazing just how many attack ads $100,000 buys you these days. The National Party has really been going to town lately, with their latest Twitter campaign making a number of questionable and blatantly false assertions, one being that poverty has worsened under the Labour led Government.The National Party's claim ...
OMV's exploratory drilling in the Great South Basin has failed to find oil. Good. Firstly, because we can't afford to burn the oil and gas we've already found, so there's just no point looking for more. And secondly, because offshore, deep-water drilling poses a risk of an environmental catastrophe, which ...
The government has announced it will strengthen whistleblower protections. The major change is "allowing people to report serious wrongdoing direct to an external authority if they wish", which fixes one of the big flaws in the Act. At present, whistleblowers must generally make their disclosure direct to the body they ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bruce Lieberman CARLSBAD, CA. – When it comes to paying the electric bill, most people don’t give it a second thought – it’s something that in effect is “baked in.” But across California and several other states, local governments increasingly are ...
Excerpts from Being and Being Bought, by Kajsa Ekis Ekman, Spinifex Press, 2013. Part 4 Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book. This is the fourth part of a synopsis and brief commentary of the book by Daphna ...
The Democracy Virus: China’s authoritarian political system enables a level of social surveillance and control that liberal democratic societies cannot match. The Chinese Government makes full use of the latest digital technology to both punish – and reward – its citizens. The plans it formulates cannot be challenged, or hindered. Where ...
Another day, another IPCA report on criminal conduct by policy. This time they kicked a child in the head when he was handcuffed:Police chased him and yelled out for him to stop. When he turned to face the police, he threatened them with a hammer. That's when the officers tasered ...
The investigation of two of the five parties in Parliament for fraud around their election donations has pushed the issue of party funding back into the spotlight. And while there are obvious things we can do to tighten up the donations regime - a much lower declaration threshold, realtime disclosure ...
While the south of New Zealand has been struggling with too much rain in recent days, here in the north we are so very short of it (though Saturday’s forecast looks promising). Basically, we have had almost none since Christmas.As someone who relies on rain to wash the car, ...
Former National Party MP Jami-Lee RossIt comes as no surprise that Jami-Lee Ross has been named as one of the defendants in the X2 $100,000 National Party donations case currently before the courts. Click bait journalists who were chaffing at the bit to discredit the former senior whip had already ...
Stand Clear! Winston Peters is encouraging voters to think of RNZ as belonging to “The Media Party”. He wants them to see it as a politically partisan institution with its own, vicious attack-dogs in the electoral fight. If he succeeds, it will be, and probably should be, the end of ...
"You're going to need a longer runway" Gratton et al explore the ongoing effects of upward-creeping temperatures on aviation in Greece in the period since 1955 at a range of airports in that country. For longer runways impacts are measurable but with little impact on operations. For airports with shorter runways, ...
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...
Former National Party chief whip Jami-Lee Ross is one of the four people charged over National's multiple fraudulent donations. How unsurprising. Meanwhile, just days ago National leader Simon Bridges was trying to pretend the charges were nothing to do with his party. Yeah, right. When your chief whip effectively publicly ...
If you've been watching FYI for a while, you'll have noticed that the police have a bad habit of demanding ID from requesters. They have apparently been repeatedly told to stop doing this by the Ombudsman, but we all know what law enforcement thinks of the law, so thye keep ...
Collateral Damage: For the Green Phoenix to be reborn, the funeral pyre so patiently assembled by its identity politicians over the course of many fractious years – but with growing intensity over the past three – first has to be ignited. The terrible probability, of course, is that, in setting ...
If you follow politics in New Zealand you've likely noticed that the right wing have been going on and on about the Coalition Government failing to reduce poverty. In fact they’ve been incessantly claiming, in the absence of any conclusive data, that poverty has been getting worse.Yesterday, NewstalkZB reported:Mike Hosking: ...
The Herald reported over the weekend that an Auckland business owner is being targeted with asset forfeiture laws over a workplace death:A workplace fatality has seen police use a law usually associated with drugs and organised crime to seize millions of dollars in assets from a business owner because of ...
Just days after talking about how people feel "squeezed" and promising tax and service cuts as a "solution", National is talking about cancelling a rise in the minimum wage if elected: National is considering scrapping the Government's planned minimum wage increase if it wins this year's election, the party's finance ...
Nobody thinks about the next century anymore. That at least is Sci-Fi writer William Gibson’s observation (in this BBC 4 short interview, starting at 1:43:50 ). He calls it “Futures Fatigue”, but isn’t judgemental about it. Gibson notes that in the 20th century speculation about the 21st (and beyond) was common. Now ...
A Labour government desperate for the numbers crawls into bed with Winston Peters. Winston ignores the law and secretly takes money under the table from someone. When it is exposed just months out from an election, he is investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. That's what happened back in 2008. ...
So the Serious Fraud Office has another secret $100,050 National Party donation before the Courts in a major scandal that looks set to quash any chances Simon Bridges had of winning the 2020 election.Yesterday, Newsroom reported:The Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...
Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanHousing policy is building up to be the key election issue again. In this blog I reflect on the importance of the role of the New Zealand Government in improving access to affordable housing. I look at what the Government has been doing to increase quality public housing ...
Writing on The Spinoff, Danyl Mclauchlan argues that we have a vacuum in our political system, in that there is no longer an anti-establishment party anymore:I think there’s a vacuum in our political system. There are obvious problems with the status quo but no real critics offering reform. It’s a ...
Stuff today has a piece about the government discovering it has been oversubsidising polluters for a decade under the Emissions Trading scheme:The Government is pledging to urgently fix an issue within the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), after it emerged some polluters are likely being over-compensated with taxpayer-funded carbon credits. [...] ...
The Marlborough District Council, tired of public scrutiny, wants to increase the amount it charges for LGOIMA requests:The cost of requesting official information from Marlborough's government agency could almost double after a jump in "fishing expeditions". Charges could be raised from $60 to $100 an hour for information supplied by ...
When Winston Peters was caught money laundering donations and stalking journalists, the Greens were conspicuous by their silence. It was another example of how getting along with their government partners was eroding their values and their own reputation. It was obviously unsustainable, and so now James Shaw has finally spoken ...
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...
With over 69,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths, here’s your round-up of the latest coronavirus news. New disease and virus have now officially been named On the 11th February, the WHO Director General announced a new name for the disease: COVID-19 which is short for coronavirus disease 2019. The naming ...
The eastern Bay of Plenty town of Ōpōtiki is getting a new harbour, which will create 1,850 new jobs in the region, in a new round of regional services funding announced by Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones. Ōpōtiki's harbour is currently unusable by most ships, but it will receive ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First Law and Order spokesman Darroch Ball has submitted the ‘Sentencing (Priority of Interests in Sentencing) Amendment Bill’ – a Members Bill which introduces a new overarching ‘priority and weighting provision’ that courts must follow when sentencing ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, New Zealand First Deputy Leader A total delivery of 2,000 new Police Officers has been achieved. New Zealand First Deputy Leader, Fletcher Tabuteau attended the latest police graduation of Recruit Wing 335 in Porirua today. Mr Tabuteau said, “Increasing police numbers and boosting their resources was one of ...
Taupō District mayor David Trewavas has welcomed today’s announcement from regional economic development minister Shane Jones outlining $5.87m of funding for the re-development of the Taupō Airport. The bulk of the investment ($5 million) will come from the Provincial Growth Fund, while the rest will be from the New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has defended multi-million dollar provincial growth fund money for Northland water storage. The New Zealand First leader, along with Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones, were recently in Dargaville to announce up to $12.745 million PGF funding top-up for water storage initiatives in the ...
One of our most immediate priorities upon forming Government was to get people out of sleeping in cars, garages, or on the street and into safe and warm housing. Since then, we've made major progress towards breaking the cycle of homelessness, including expanding Housing First, building more state houses, and ...
Kids learn better with a full stomach. That's why we launched our Lunches in Schools programme, which is already providing free and healthy school lunches to thousands of children so they can focus on what's important - learning. ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland This afternoon to a crowd of over 100 people in Mataura -- Mark Patterson, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland launched a parliamentary petition regarding the aluminium dross issue in Mataura, Southland. The petition asks that the ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Spokesperson for Finance, Fletcher Tabuteau has welcomed Statistics New Zealand’s latest report as a timely reminder of the value that this Coalition Government brings to every day New Zealanders: “This Coalition Government has meant a ...
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order Newly released Police data shows once again the number of fleeing drivers have continued to skyrocket with a record 512 incidents occurring in December – almost tripling the number of incidents occurring just ten years ago, says New Zealand First Law and ...
While the Provincial Growth Fund has provided $2 million to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia, Regional Economic Minister Shane Jones said he is greatly concerned that there are “issues” in implementing the projects. The Minister said the immediate solution was to pipe water from a bore ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland NZ First is calling on Rio Tinto to accept its responsibilities to the Southland community and enable the immediate removal of the toxic Aluminium Dross from the Mataura Paper Mill site. New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland, Mark Patterson ...
The Coalition Government has announced that a further $500,000 will be given to help residents in Southland and Otago to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. It follows prior government assistance of $200,000 earlier this month where the Southland Mayoral Relief Fund received $100,000 to support communities impacted by ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking about the recent droughts in the Northland region and what the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is doing to alleviate its impact. The PGF recently announced a funding of $2 million for temporary water supplies to Kaikohe and Kaitaia, ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
It’s my pleasure to be in Sydney today for our annual meeting, Prime Minister. It’s fair to say that since we last met, tragedy and disaster have befallen our two countries. They say that in moments of that nature, the true character of an individual comes to the fore. I ...
Travel restrictions introduced for Iran from today No exemptions for students from China to enter the country Increased health staff presence at international airports The Government has announced a suite of new actions as it steps up its response to the rapidly changing global spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. This ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has today classified the drought conditions in Waikato and South Auckland as an adverse event for the primary sector, unlocking $80,000 in Government support for farmers and growers. “This is recognition that the extreme and prolonged nature of this dry spell is taking its toll on ...
The Crown accounts are in a strong position to weather any economic uncertainty as a result of coronavirus, with the books in surplus and expenses close to forecast, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown accounts for the seven months to January. The operating balance before ...
Supporting New Zealand to make most of digital and data driven technologies will be the focus of a new Digital Council that begins its work today. Minister for Government Digital Services, Kris Faafoi, and Minister of Statistics, James Shaw, have confirmed the group of experts chosen to advise the Government ...
Safety and climate change resilience are behind South Island regional roading projects that are being brought forward as part of the New Zealand Upgrade Programme, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. As part of the NZ Upgrade, $300 million was allocated for regional investment opportunities. “I’m pleased to ...
Digital and air connectivity in Fiordland are getting a big boost, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. As part of the $12 billion New Zealand Upgrade Programme announced in January, $300 million was allocated for regional investment opportunities, to be administered by the Provincial Development Unit. “I’m pleased ...
West Coast ports and roads will benefit from an investment of $18.6 million to improve safety and resilience and enable future economic growth, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The $12 billion NZ Upgrade Programme announced last month allocated $300 million for regional investment opportunities, to be administered ...
Regional roading projects that will improve safety and resilience are being brought forward as part of the New Zealand Upgrade Programme, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. As part of the NZ Upgrade, $300 million was allocated for regional investment opportunities. “I spend a lot of time in ...
The Eastern Bay of Plenty will finally get the harbour development it has wanted for decades, thanks to a $79.4 million central Government investment, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. This game-changing project will revitalise the township of Ōpōtiki and the wider Eastern Bay of Plenty, creating hundreds ...
Regional New Zealand will be a hive of activity in the coming months as the New Zealand Upgrade Programme delivers on its promise to modernise our infrastructure, prepare for climate change and help grow our economy. As part of the $12 billion NZ Upgrade Programme announced by the Government last ...
A milestone has been reached with the graduation of more than 2,000 new Police officers since the Coalition Government took office in October 2017. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the graduation today of Wing 335 marks a surge of 2,023 new officers, and coincides with some significant breakthroughs against organised ...
Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister, Kris Faafoi, and the Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins, have welcomed a new cyber security qualification as a step towards countering cyber threats and keeping New Zealanders safe. Attending the launch of the new Level 6 Diploma of Cyber Security at Auckland’s Unitec Institute ...
Government Ministers today celebrated 20 years of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park/ Ko te Pataka kai o Tikapa Moana/ Te Moananui a Toi, and recognise there is much to celebrate and so much more to do to give nature a helping hand. Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said “New Zealanders care deeply about nature.I want to ...
Prepared remarks on coronavirus by Finance Minister Grant Robertson to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and Massey University. Good morning ladies and gentlemen, The topic of this speech is the Budget 2020 priorities. But, given the considerable interest that I imagine is in the room about COVID-19 coronavirus, I do ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira ma. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Ni sa bula vinaka. Namaste Thank you Shamima, Hon. Minister Vuniwaqa, community leaders and Women’s Crisis Centre staff for your warm welcome. It’s an honour and privilege to officially ...
The Government has released a comprehensive response to ensuring New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump. This follows the Commerce Commission fuel market study which found motorists were paying more than they should for petrol and includes: Fuel Market Bill drafting, to pass mid-year Industry consultation in ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira ma Tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula vinaka As-salaam alaikum It is a privilege to be here today. Thank you for welcoming us to your house of prayer. Thank you for your warmth. Thank you for greeting ...
Taupō Airport is to be upgraded and expanded through a $5.9 million Government funding boost, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. “Taupō Airport is the gateway to the Central North Island. It is essential for both keeping local people and businesses connected, but also to bring more people ...
The Minister of Housing Megan Woods has confirmed the Government is working with Rotorua Lakes District Council and Te Arawa for the second place-based assessment to better understand the housing and urban issues affecting the city. “Every New Zealander has a right to a warm, safe and secure place to ...
19 new community homes (in addition to 14 opened in December) delivered in Takanini, Auckland 500 people housed by CORT Housing Trust by end of March 2,290 new public housing homes delivered in Auckland (November 2017 – December 2019). Another nineteen new public housing homes are being delivered in Auckland, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker met today with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to discuss ways to strengthen ties between New Zealand and India. “India is a priority relationship for New Zealand. We share common democratic traditions, growing two-way trade, extensive people-to-people links, ...
Speech to the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) Delhi, India Wednesday 26 February 2020 [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] The Indo-Pacific: from principles to partnerships Distinguished guests, good afternoon and thank you for your invitation. It is good to be here at a time where New Zealand needs less of an introduction than ...
Tihei mauri ora Te Whare e tu nei Te Papa e takoto Tēnā korua No reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula Vinaka It is a real pleasure to be here today, and to have the honour of addressing you all. If you’ll indulge me I’m ...
Improved air quality to support better health and environmental wellbeing is the focus of proposed amendments to air quality regulations, says the Associate Minister for the Environment, Hon Nanaia Mahuta. “Although our air quality is good in most places, during winter certain places have spikes in air pollution, mainly from ...
The remote eastern Bay of Plenty community of Raukokere will receive a Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $10.6 million for a water storage facility, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “This is great news for the rural community. The landowner, Te Whānau a Maruhaeremuri Hapū Trust, will use ...
The Lake Ōkaro lakebed has transferred to Te Arawa Lakes Trust, Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis joined Te Arawa at Te Papaiōuru Marae in Rotorua to celebrate the reinstatement of Te Arawa Lakes Trust as a key decision maker over the bed ...
New legislation is being proposed which aims to reduce the stress and financial hardship caused by late payments to small businesses. The Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash is considering stricter rules around payment practices between businesses. “Late payments from large organisations to smaller suppliers can be crippling for these ...
A new partnership programme between the New Zealand Police and Fiji Police will focus on combatting transnational organised crime and enhancing investigative skills, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on the first day of her visit to Fiji. The programme will see: · New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama met today in Suva, and renewed their commitment to continue to strengthen Fiji-New Zealand relations on a foundation of shared values and equal partnership. The Prime Ministers acknowledged the kinship between Fijians and New Zealanders, one that has endured over ...
A $19.9 million investment from the Provincial Growth Fund will help develop essential infrastructure for an industrial hub in the Bay of Plenty town of Kawerau, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “The funding will go to three projects to further develop the Putauaki Trust Industrial Hub, an industrial ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing $8.3 million on a roading package for Mahia that will lead to greater and wider economic benefits for the region and beyond, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at an event in Mahia today. The $8.3 million announced consists of: $7 ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed new reporting showing the Coalition Government is on track to meet its child poverty targets, with 18,400 children lifted out of poverty as a result of the Families Package. Stats NZ has released the first set of comprehensive child poverty statistics since the Government ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today announced that Bikes in Schools facilities have been rolled out to 20,000 more kiwi kids under this Government. She made the announcement at the opening of a new bike track at Henderson North School in Auckland. “Bikes in Schools facilities give kids ...
Benefit settings rise in line with wages as of 1 April Main benefits will increase by over 3 percent, instead of 1.66 percent, on 1 April with the Government’s decision to annually adjust benefit rates to increases in the average wage. The Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni, said ...
Strengthening New Zealand’s political and business ties with India will be the focus of Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters’ and Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker’s visit to India this week. The Ministers are co-leading a high level business delegation to India to support increased people and economic engagement ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio continues to champion for greater Pacific participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers with the announcement of the Toloa Awards, with 8 recipients of the Toloa Community Fund and 13 Toloa Tertiary Scholarships. “The Toloa Programme encourages more Pacific peoples ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has extended the date for people to have their say on proposed changes to improve management of whitebait across New Zealand. Submissions were due to close on 2 March 2020 but will now remain open until 9am on Monday 16 March 2020. “I have ...
The endangered toroa/Antipodean albatross has new international protection for its 100,000km annual migration, thanks to collaborative efforts led by New Zealand, Australia and Chile. Today, 130 countries agreed to strictly protect Antipodean albatross at the Conference of Parties on the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild ...
No sales to under-18-year-olds No advertising and sponsorship of vaping products and e-cigarettes No vaping or smokeless tobacco in smokefree areas Regulates vaping product safety comprehensively, - including devices, flavours and ingredients Ensure vaping products are available for those who want to quit smoking Vaping regulation that balances ...
Yesterday New Zealand confirmed the first known case of Covid-19 in the country. As the virus approaches global pandemic status, what progress is being made in developing a vaccine? Siouxsie Wiles explains where we’re at, and how the vaccines work.The race to find a vaccine for Covid-19 is under way, ...
By RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed today that a suspected case of Covid-19 coronavirus has tested positive in New Zealand. Ardern said the person was in their 60s, and was a citizen of New Zealand who had recently travelled from Iran via Bali. The person had previously ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Happy February 29! It doesn’t come round very often, so make sure you enjoy it. But why do we have these extra days? Well, if we didn’t, the seasons would gradually move around the ...
New Zealand Pompe Network Allyson Lock, MNZM An open letter to New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern “Know us by our deeds”. This was the headline next to your picture on the cover of Time Magazine, for all the world to see. I saw it. I’m ...
Analysis: The government faces economic strife and uncertainty as the coronavirus continues to spread, four men charged in National's donations case plead not guilty, and more revelations about NZ First's "slush fund". ...
New Zealand’s first case of COVID-19 has just been confirmed. Here’s what we know so far.What’s the latest?Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed New Zealand’s first case of COVID-19 coronavirus. New Zealand is the 48th country to have a confirmed case of the virus. What do we know about the patient?The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University Review: Leviathan, directed by Yaron Lifschitz. Circa in collaboration with Co:3 Australia, MAXIMA Circus and CircusWA for Perth Festival. As the audience takes their seats, two feet poke out from beneath the curtain. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Bailey, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland If you’re hot and sticky even before your daily commute, you might ask why you sweat so much. Sweating is usually the body’s way of stopping you overheating. But for some people, sweating becomes ...
At a tense press conference in Sydney, the New Zealand prime minister has just issued a stark challenge to Australia over its treatment of NZ citizens. Here’s what she said. We appreciate that many Kiwis have taken up the opportunity to live and work in Australia – many more than has ...
New Zealand has widened, not narrowed, its coronavirus travel ban despite universities pleading for an exemption for international students The Government has extended its coronavirus-related travel restrictions to include Iran, while resisting calls from universities to provide an exemption for international students from China. Health officials will also monitor an ...
The Serious Fraud Office has today received a referral from NZ Police in relation to Phil Goff’s election expenses. The SFO will be assessing the matter and has no further comment at this time. ...
The series, a collaboration between Spinoff Members and Verb Wellington, kicks off with a discussion on politics and the media. As all right thinking people know, there are a mere 204 days until the general election. To get in the mood, we’re launching a new series of live events. And not ...
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 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20)What are you even up to, Auckland.2 Eleanor ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson insists NZ is in a strong position to weather the fallout from coronavirus, even though Australia has declared it a pandemic. He underlines the Crown accounts are buoyant, the fundamentals of the economy are strong and careful management has seen the economy continue to grow in ...
On the heels of the arrival of The Outsider on NEON, Jean Sergent explores how screen adaptations of Stephen King’s work are able to take on a life of their own. Stephen King, the 72 year old horror author from Portland, has a better work ethic than you or I and ...
Iwi are too reliant on investments in property and primary industries, restricting returns for their members, according to a new report. The annual Iwi Investment Report by consulting firm TDB Advisory, showed the country's eight largest iwi with a collective $9 billion worth of assets, had weak growth in the ...
Announcing a package of regional capital projects worth about $190 million, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones mentioned climate change. He said Regional New Zealand “will be a hive of activity in the coming months as the New Zealand Upgrade Programme delivers on its promise to modernise our infrastructure, prepare ...
The people of India have been holding mass protests all over India ever since the anti Muslim and anti working class Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was enacted into law on 12 December 2019. The state has made many attempts to suppress the rising ...
New Zealand consumer confidence remains high, according to the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index. The index was down just one point on last month to 122. "Consumers are feeling pretty happy with their lot at the moment - the lifting housing market is making homeowners feel richer, job opportunities are ...
Jacinda Ardern has described difficult conversations with Australia as being "gnarly'' - but says the trans-Tasman relationship is strong enough to get through them. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentPolitical donations Yvette McCullough (RNZ): Transparency International warns need for political funding reform is urgent Gordon Campbell: On where the ...
Continued strong demand for chicken, burgers and tacos has resulted in another strong year for Restaurant Brands. The fast food operator's net profit for the year ended December fell nearly 16 percent to $30.1m, but that was for a 44-week period, versus the year earlier's 52-week period. That company changed ...
The New Zealand share market opened lower on Friday, following a sixth day of world market losses as investors respond to the economic threat of coronavirus. The NZX benchmark top 50 index opened down 1.5 percent, after last night's 0.9 percent fall. The benchmark top 50 Index has fallen more ...
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For those mothers who gave birth by non-elective Caesarean section, feelings of sadness – even of failure – can be overwhelming, writes Janice Sharan.I’m sitting next to my 15-month-old. He’s sleeping peacefully, his mop of dark hair damp with sweat, lips pursed and his chest rising and falling as he ...
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Ahead of the forthcoming public meeting on Monday 2 March regarding the Newlands Volunteer Fire Brigade former Ohariu MP Hon Peter Dunne is extending his best wishes to all those involved in the current campaign to keep the station open. "Although ...
Sure, the new wave of RTDs might have cool labels and no carbs or whatever, but for Sam Brooks, none come close to the perfection held within that little yellow can.RTDs are coming back, if they were ever really gone. I remember the halcyon days of getting drunk off Purple ...
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Open Mike 01/12/2017 
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Rachel Stewart
‘This is when you realise that NZ is basically a third world country.’
http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/outcome-investigation-collapse-ctv-building
Although I would disagree with her slightly.
We found this out when no-one got prosecuted for Pike River.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/pike-river-mine-blast/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503000&objectid=10899419
Honestly this is harming the police here if no-one is found responsible, because any fair minded person wants to see “justice” at work there as in every case because we meak 99% are being row beaten by “beaurocrats and the police” to “comply with the law” so should they enforce the same law there too.
“one law for all must apply.”
“Police has determined that there will be no criminal prosecution in relation to the collapse of the CTV building in Christchurch in February 2011.”
No, that’s not right. The Police have got this right, despite the fact that the CTV collapsed due to a series of human errors and negligence (not just Reay, but those that fiddled with the building structure some years later).
Grenfell Tower in London was third world. And that makes the whole world third world.
To the rest of New Zealand – your towns and cities building owners have been given plenty of time to get their buildings safe/r, yet they are not doing so. Tell the building owners in your towns to sort their buildings out quick-smart…
You will find most Christchurch people who went through the earthquakes walk around towns in the rest of New Zealand in fear – constantly looking up at the unsupported verandahs and facades. I do. I hate walking near old buildings everywhere except Christchurch now. Invercargill, Dunedin, Ranfurly, Taihape, Taupo, Whangarei, it just goes on and on… Those facades and verandahs in your towns are going to collapse and kill people. Sort it out. Harass the building owners.
Hey VTO;
I am from Napier and drive up north of Gisborne a lot.
We get spooked every time I go through gullies now with tall steep hilllsides, and see the cliffs above fracturing with big cracks going down there, so I become a dangerous driver & find i need to break the law and drive on the other side of the road now, further away from the steep hillside to save ourselves should the hillside slip occur and bury us and kill us now.
I know we could be fined for this but it is now becomming a threat to our very lives that count more.
So we asked the the roading engineers of three road companies, who conduct the road repairs and they all are now confirming to us now they suspect the larger, bigger heavier “over-weight” “HPMV” trucks that are causing large, stronger, road vibrations now, that they believe are responsible for the hillside fractures, as they have placed vibration monitoring devices on these hillisides, and are detecting heavier ground shacking vibrations occurring with the bigger, heavier HPMV trucks now.
So are the heavier truck operators now liable for legal costs if they damage people and/or property?
“so I become a dangerous driver & find i need to break the law and drive on the other side of the road now, further away from the steep hillside to save ourselves should the hillside slip occur and bury us and kill us now.”
Of course you are now more at risk of having a head on accident and killing yourselves and the poor sap who was innocently coming the other way.
Putting others lives at risk because you perceive it to be better for you.
I’ve lost friends on motorbikes because of people doing what you are doing. It’s a disgusting and selfish act.
If you end up having an accident I hope you don’t kill an innocent person.
Oh for fucksake! Somethings eventually going to get you, your only choice is to stay in bed and not do anything at all all the while remembering that the vast majority of people die in bed, but in your stupid case it’s most likely to be a truck coming the other way.
assuming they dont kill somebody else first
Actually, I say that the ministers of the government that passed the legislation allowing the bigger trucks should held personally liable. This is an obvious consequence of doing so and they should have at lest asked the engineers about it.
cleangreen, your risk assessment seems a bit out of kilter so I’ll try to help you.
Failure to keep left is the fourth most common contributing cause to a fatal accident in the 2011 – 2016 period, cited as a factor in 191 fatal crashes, according to this government analysis.
http://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Research/Documents/Overseas-drivers2016.pdf
The only road fatality attributable to landslide I can find any reference to is the 2014 double fatality in Westland where a tourist couple were apparently swept off the road into a river during an extreme weather event. Interestingly, landslides have caused a number of train accidents with numerous fatalities, but appear to be a negligible risk to road users.
https://teara.govt.nz/files/d-8801-enz.pdf
So by crossing the centreline to keep away from cliffs, it certainly appears that you are choosing to create a very real hazard to yourself and other road users, in response to an imaginary threat.
not only what the others said, but the extra few metres will not give you time to dodge a darn thing. And where will you dodge to? Over the bank? Roads are often nowhere near the bottom of steep gullies, usually halfway up the darn hillside.
Sad to say that the police have been politicised.
Look at the Hager raids as one example of this.
And the Barclay shambles as a second exemplar of police conduct.
Roast Busters, TeaPot tapes etc we sort of only hear about the prominent ones.
Hagers book indicated the potential for alot more in exposing the behaviour of Collins which IMO should’ve triggered an inquiry into her activity across many portfolios.
Don’t forget Darren Hughes – or does that not count as he was labour.
That does not count as his case was reviewed by the Crown Solicitors’ Office
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5116263/No-charges-against-former-Labour-MP-Darren-Hughes
Perhaps you mean Dr. Richard Worth?
Well spotted Jeremy. But no doubt james will come back with some lie or half truth.
He can’t stand being proven the lying, spinner, gutter sycophant he so often is.
This shows that under certain circumstances there is no backbone by the police to bring certain corporates to justice. It seems it is much easier to accuse and charge an ordinary person with average means than people who are well connected.
Remember the extraordinary involvement of police and management in TV presentation to the media, it was similar to a tag team, when the viewer is uncertain what the job of the police should be. Corruption in places is rife, always attempting to protect the corporation instead of siding with the innocent. Remember the planted cartridge, the disgraceful blame game in the Erebus disaster, or the very poor investigation in the Bain murders.
Anyone who thought anything as terrible as being held to account, being tried and going to jail might occur to professionals who are men of reputation and pillars of the establishment needed only look at at Pike River to know nothing was going to happen here.
If you want concerted outrage against a great injustice, you won’t find it in thundering newspaper editorials or middle aged white male shick jocks quaking in anger demanding justice for the 144 dead of the CTV building and Pike River.
However, true outrage still exists if you can can spitefully twist the truth and the target is a smart 32 year female lawyer from a refugee family.
+1000% How fucking true Sanctuary.
Some people are above the law.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11870607
Yes Ed,
Money talks = truth walks.
And we have another classic example right here, fresh as……… Nigel Murray.
Seems the true extent of his theft may never be known and his enabler Bob Simcock finally fell on his sword when the SFO put their beak in.
Both these middle aged, privileged males should be in the dock facing charges of fraud/theft and being the accomplice of same.
Link is to a RNZ article of the latest as of 30/11/17 in this sorry saga
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/345079/murray-may-have-spent-more-than-officially-recorded-audit-nz
Big corporations pass on the cost of externalities.
Socialism for the rich.
Don’t forget National ‘realigned’ the SFO in a similar manner to the way it sorted out the commerce commission and anybody getting in the way of corporate cowboy antics.
She’s just giving the accepted spin to the reality that they neither have the resources or will to form a posse and chase the cowboys down as the evidence is available without a whistle blower.
Cashless
Make it so that most financial crime will be detected automatically by computer.
I don’t agree with this decision by the NZPolice not to prosecute the designers of the CTV Building.
I perfectly understand why they went for internal legal and then Crown Law advice.
But they should publish all the advice.
If the Police had had an urge for justice, and Crown Law’s Deputy Solicitor was being more cautious, then Police should have insisted that the advice be escalated to the Solicitor General.
With a new government and Minister, I think the Solicitor General should also have had a chat with the Attourney General as Minister.
It should have gone to trial, at which Defence would put up a line that “It wasn’t just us, it was a systemic failure.”
At that point the judge could make a judgement on both the people, and the whole system.
This is not right, not just.
A key point that mostly gets lost but would probably form a large part of the defence: the CTV building had already experienced its design event in the 2010 earthquake, and despite its serious design flaws it met its performance requirement that any occupants would have been able to safely leave.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-earthquake/7332804/CTV-building-damaged-by-earlier-quakes
It’s beyond me how to fairly apportion culpability between those who produced a seriously flawed design, those who approved the seriously flawed design, and those who allowed the re-occupation of a seriously flawed building after an extreme event that would be expected to produce serious structural damage.
Approval of a flawed building: Why hasn’t Alan Reay been taken to court for his part in the poor design and construction of the CTV building? He failed to do his job properly and unlawfully threatened the local council in order to have the building signed off as fit and proper.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CTV_Building
I agree Reay was seriously deficient in his lax oversight and rubberstamp approval of the work done by his firm. But he still has a pretty good defense that the building met the performance standard required of it in the 2010 quake.
And there are many other culpable parties. Yes, Reay appears to have applied inappropriate pressure to get approval of that building. But council officials are expected to wear big-boy pants – they also behaved inappropriately in caving to the pressure.
The approval process for re-occupation also appears to have been culpably flawed. ISTR reports that building occupants were uncomfortable with how much more building movement there seemed to be post-2010-quake than pre-quake.
Given how much other culpability seems to floating around this disaster, and how any of the many parties involved could plausibly have prevented the disaster by doing their jobs properly, the near exclusive focus on Reay really bothers me. Because if Reay is the sole scapegoat, then all those other failings won’t get addressed.
I agree it’s beyond me as well.
What gets me is that it should also be “beyond” the Deputy Solicitor General.
The best person in the country to make that call, including those calls about the layers of accountability , is a High Court Judge.
The families deserve their day in court to hold the system accountable.
Granted the designers aren’t like Whittle.
But those families deserve their day.
“I think the Solicitor General should also have had a chat with the Attourney General as Minister.”
Are you seriously suggesting that an MP, acting with the title of Attorney General but still just an MP, should have any say at all in deciding who should, or should not, face trial?
We have enough such countries in the world already. I don’t want NZ to become another one.
You want us to become like Turkey? Like Venezuela? Like The Philippines? Like Syria? No thanks.
Has anyone checked other buildings designed by those responsible for the CTV building ? I’ve heard rumours of a former commercial building in Auckland alledgedly designed by the CTV designers. This commercial building has recently been converted into very expensive apartments – most sold and waiting for sign off.
Geez Louise, I see Steve Bannon minime David Farrar is STILL banging on about Golriz.
The right have turned that non-story into their own little Benghazi.
Oh well, they can wallow about in irrelevance I suppose.
Looks like Shaw’s apology yesterday has lanced it.
The Greens are, again, fucking lucky to have him.
The experts – the people who really know, are saying quite clearly that Golriz has done absolutely nothing wrong. What are your credentials.
H2 has clearly been brought in.
She is trying the lines of the last Labour Government.
“Nothing to see here”. “Time to move on”.
“Nothing to see here”. “Time to move on”.
You didn’t hear those lines used repeatedly and regularly during Key’s time as PM, Alwyn?
You must be as deaf as a post and unable to lip-read to boot!
What apology? The bit I saw has Shaw saying he made a mistake in his speech. That was only one of the many things thrown at Golriz and the Greens this week on the issue.
@Sanctuary
I have a theory about this issue-I think the Nats are really pissed off they didn’t carry out this nasty vicious hatchet job on Golriz before the election and so are sounding more bitter and twisted than ever.
They realise that this could have (unfairly) cost the Greens a percentage point or more and changed the election result…..epic fail Mr. Farrar.
Let’s open a discussion on the appalling behavior of Dr Nigel Murray and the path that led to his appointment.
He was appointed by Bob Murray who was, in turn, appointed by that smarmiest of National Cabinet Ministers’ one Tony Ryall, who on his retirement from his portfolio as Minister of Health, claimed to have left the department in wonderful shape and with morale on a high. I wonder how the good folk of Dunedin felt about that claim.
Murray was granted the post at the Waikato DHB in spite of grave concerns expressed by both Labour’s Shadow Minister of Health at the time, the wonderful Annette King who herself had been a superb Minister of Health, and the local MP Sue Maroney.
Below is a quote from the NZ Herald of 15th July 2014.
“Labour urged the DHB to hold off confirming Dr Murray’s Waikato appointment until this latest report had been released. It declined,” she said.
“I also sought information from the Ministry of Health and from Health Minister Tony Ryall as to the process around the appointment, but was given the brush-off.”
The “latest report” referred to the damming assessment of the performance of a Canadian Health Authority which had been in the charge of Murray.
This whole rotten episodes reeks of political cronyism. Sue Maroney has instigated the process for an official inquiry into the whole sordid affair.
This should be yet one more incident to expose the tawdriness of nine years of National misgovernment.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11951081
The interim chief executive at Waikato District Health Board has welcomed a formal complaint to the Serious Fraud
Derek Wright told Newstalk ZB host Mike Hosking this morning he was not concerned about the complaint
He said there were no red flags over Murray, who resigned in October amid an expenses scandal and after spending $218,000 of taxpayers money in his three years in the job.
HUH
No red flags
Wot about the Canadian report then?
The problems we are getting because of the government’s welcome to private enterprise to come in and buy up the provision of services at a profit is going to compound.
I was thinking about the latest revelations around Waikato DHB.
Just having a new government which has some clues and wishes to be a government for the people, not business and not redcarpeting foreign business, is not enough to stop an insidious bleeding of NZ opportunities and provision of acceptable self-sufficiency and standards for us all.
1 Dec 2017
Purchase of HealthTap criticised, no value for money – Audit NZ
by Natalie Akoorie
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11951201
State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes announced today he has formally requested the Auditor-General conduct an inquiry into the Waikato District Health Board’s SmartHealth product and the procurement process from HealthTap…..
The news comes as the two-year contract with HealthTap, the American company that powers the DHB’s controversial SmartHealth app, has been revealed to have cost taxpayers almost $15 million….
Waikato DHB has kept the cost of HealthTap, which together with the cost to launch SmartHealth totals $18.8m, a closely guarded secret, citing commercial sensitivity and contract negotiations as reasons….
Auditors said the procurement raised a number of concerns including that:
• It should have been conducted through an open tendering process and that the US$10m trial was an amount well over any threshold for open tendering;…
Murray went on to champion the product, spending more than $45,000 flying internationally and domestically to learn about and promote SmartHealth, an app that uses smartphones and iPads to conduct online appointments between doctors and patients.
The app has flopped, not attracting the targeted number of users despite targets being lowered, and is now being independently reviewed ahead of the end of the trial.
health crime
30 Nov 2017
Neither Audit NZ or Waikato DHB have spoken to Nigel Murray
From Checkpoint, 5:25 pm on 30 November 2017
Listen duration 3′ :35″
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018623712/neither-audit-nz-or-waikato-dhb-have-spoken-to-nigel-murray
Audit NZ says it’s been unable to establish the true extent of former Waikato DHB boss Nigel Murray’s excessive travel costs because of holes in the paper trail.
(I thought that holey punchcard technology had been replaced with better technology? Hanging chads anyone?)
I think there is an in-group with a secret handshake called the PPPP (Past Peter Principle Phoenixes.)
money health
29 Nov 2017
Senior doctors welcome DHB chair’s resignation
From Morning Report, 8:11 am on 29 November 2017
Listen duration 3′ :41″
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018623443/senior-doctors-welcome-dhb-chair-s-resignation
The executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, Ian Powell, says the resignation of the Waikato DHB Chairman Bob Simcock follows a period of destabilisation at the DHB. He tells us there’s been a “complete denial of responsibility all the way through the process” and there are still “some urchins that need to move on”.
And the neolibs still in the Departments will probably go on running down our national health while putting little injections of cash into new smart methods of delivering health better and cheaper. They will try and save money by running things down so that we are reliant on these new ideas. to fill the gaps that occur. (Think Pharmac swopping over contraceptive pills and running out – just what people don’t need. )
It seems that it it is cowboy territory out there, and good systems might be dirtied by those which don’t stand up to clear-eyed scrutiny for service to the people who need it most.
Here is a story about clever new tech.
Navilluso Medical is led by 2014 New Zealander of the year Lance O’Sullivan who also developed iMoko, a virtual medical service to help vulnerable children.
Dr O’Sullivan said he constantly heard about patients not having access to doctors in isolated locations.
“These people aren’t coming in with trivial problems, it just goes to show we need to redesign how we allow people to get access to health.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/345034/virtual-medical-clinic-gets-funding-boost
I like Lance O’Sullivan but we shouldn’t be dependent on him and others like the Canterbury Charity Hospital Trust, POBox 20409, Bishopdale, Christchurch 8543 – (donations will be welcome). There is a desperate need for good basic health care, which surely can be identified easily as it has been talked about for ages. Let’s do this and the new systems can fine-tune the effects.
Also http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/335802/virtual-medical-centre-seen-as-model-for-the-future
Grant Robertson is saying we will be waiting another 2 weeks for the half year fiscal update, which includes the latest Treasury forecasts.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1712/S00001/robertson-achieving-shared-prosperity.htm
Excuse me if I was underwhelmed by this first major statement by our Minister of Finance.
This guy is supposed to be at the ideological core of gaining and redistributing wealth for this country. Not a note of anything connected like that.
Could someone please tell me what this guy’s plan is, beyond anodyne abstract nouns about”fairness”?
Goodness, such impatience.
I really wish that the David Parker has been given the Finance port folio. Grant is a superb MP and has the capability to be a fantastic Minister. I just don’t think that should be in Finance.
I am far from convinced that he has the knowledge or skills to be able to effect real change in the economy.
“I really wish that the David Parker has been given the Finance port folio. Grant is a superb MP and has the capability to be a fantastic Minister. I just don’t think that should be in Finance.
I am far from convinced that he has the knowledge or skills to be able to effect real change in the economy.”
Tend to agree with this
If he told you, then people would just attack him for everything he plans to back track on.
He’s gonna run surpluses!!
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/345153/robertson-unveils-govt-s-plan-for-the-economy
This highlights to me that Grant Robertson is little more than a Mandarin following the prescribed way of economic thinking of the day, while underscoring why nothing fundamental is going to change with this Government. Running surpluses is not going to fix this country. However, it will ingratiate him with the economic apparatchiks in Treasury and high-finance.
Oh, it’s far better (worse!) than just running a surplus (which might be okay if the economy was humming and needed ‘cooling’).
He’s saying (in the links you provided) that the economy will likely dip, meaning less government revenue coming in while trying to produce a surplus. And that’s austerity.
Indeed. Announcing the running of surpluses while also forecasting an economic dip is just… dumb. It’s like no thinking has been applied and he’s just reading a script that someone has prepared for him. Robertson should NOT be Minister of Finance.
The only loop hole could be if they expanded the tax take from the rich to compensate, but that seems unlikely.
Over the last few decades we’ve been trained to believe that a government runs like a business and that it should have ‘profits’ which it can then divvy out like dividends as tax cuts.
This is, of course, a load of bollocks but it helps to maintain the status quo of the rich getting richer at everyone else’s expense.
Straight from Theresa May’s copy book, unfortunately.
Yes Bill I couldn’t help noticing that – it’s the cliche background for austerity measures. Hasn’t anyone noticed this or are we all bums in the air in NZ, with our heads in the sand?
I wonder what comfy chair Robertson has got his eye on after Labour loses in an election or two. He’s got that fatcat look of complacency and certainty.
Whatever chair someone else is sitting in. That’s his nature.
We’re also being drip fed details of the tax working group which is slightly annoying. I would rather they make one big announcement on that.
@Ad give the man a chance….let’s see what he comes up with and judge it in 2020 not a month out from being elected.
For instance, Labour are still coming to terms with Joyce’s $32 billion health/defence spending hole.
9 fucking years to prepare.
No excuses.
Well, I’ll punt the “guys plan” is basically to mollify some abstract sense of “middle class” by introducing kiwi-build for middle class first time house buyers.
And that’s it.
Oh. And some ‘nice to have stuff’ around parental leave etc.
A fair shot at the kiwi dream then – at least for those occupying some position in society that’s deemed as “deserving”.
He claims he’s not pursuing “business as usual” which is a bit like the guy throwing punches making claims to pacifism. When this austerity ends badly (and austerity is the only name for an economic policy that seeks surpluses during times of economic slow-down), the National Party will sway back in as the “natural” government of capitalism.
I wouldn’t put money on NZ Labour achieving a second term.
GROPERS
No. 14: Judge Roy Moore
Some republicans have been leaping through incredibly convoluted hoops in their attempts to justify supporting Judge Roy Moore in the special Senate election in Alabama, in light of the revelations from at least five women claiming that Moore groped or sexually assaulted them when they were teenagers and he was in his thirties.
https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/8053790/roy-moore-twitter-breitbart-editor-defends-ringo-starr-youre-sixteen
What are you doing Alabama?
You got the rest of the Union
To help you along
What’s going wrong?
“GROPERS” is presented by GroperWatch, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
No.1 George Herbert Walker Bush; No. 2 Bill O’Reilly; No. 3 Al Franken; No. 4 Robin Brooke; No. 5 Lester Beck; No. 6 Arnold Schwarzenegger; No. 7 Joe Biden; No. 8 Rolf Harris; No. 9 Harold Bloom; No. 10 Sir Jimmy Savile; No. 11 Dr Morgan Fahey; No.12 Prince Harry; No. 13 Bill (“I feel your pain”) Clinton
Why don’t you go back into history and bring in John Kennedy.
Then we could be told about his little pals “Fiddle” and “Faddle”
Be assured, alwyn, the Kennedy clan is on the roster. In fact, No. 6 in the series, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was married to JFK’s niece—before she discovered he’d been JFKing around on her.
So farmers are into land speculation and making money that way and not productive agriculture as we might have been believing all this time. That would appear to be the National Party view through spokesperson on all things, Steven Joyce.
Opposition finance spokesperson Steven Joyce told Morning Report that farm buyers will be in favour of the change, but sellers may not be.”The changes could soften the farm sales market which is not necessarily a good thing,” Mr Joyce said.
Yep! National stands for looking after those who have – but those who have not; see things differently – Young farmers for instance welcomed the move saying stable farm prices would help to enable those seeking to buy their first farm.
I’m a bit sceptical about David Parker’s analysis though. He was of the opinion that overseas buyers only effected a small increase on the market. Having sold some rural land in the past 7 years, in my experience the price offered from overseas purchasers was always a significant margin over and above what NZ buyers could offer. Furthermore they were invariably “clean” offers – ie cash and not subject to finance, or the sale of another property.
Malcolm Turnbull and his gang could intimidate the previous N.Z. government, but Jimmy Barnes is having none of their nonsense….
Rock legend Jimmy Barnes has again taken aim at the Liberal government, demanding they stop using his name and songs to spruik their “shitty policies”.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and energy minister Josh Frydenberg went to the Bluescope steelworks in Port Kembla, south of Wollongong, on Monday to talk about energy policy, industry and jobs.
“More than 30 years ago Jimmy Barnes came to Port Kembla to make the film clip for Working Class Man. Today the Prime Minister has come to Port Kembla to create jobs for Australia’s working class men and women,” Frydenberg said proudly.
He was referencing Barnes’ famous hit and iconic video clip, which was filmed at the NSW steelmaking facility.
Early on Tuesday morning, Barnes fired back on Twitter.
Barnes is outspoken and unabashedly political on Twitter, sharing lots of support for progressive causes. He was a loud supporter of marriage equality during the recent postal survey, as well as criticising Australia’s current asylum seeker policy as it relates to offshore detention.
Read more…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/11/27/jimmy-barnes-tells-shitty-liberals-not-to-use-his-music_a_23289666/
So here you have it:
So much for Key’s claim he acted on the principle of being “too intrusive”. The programme was cancelled because they suspected Snowden had the details.
What we can deduce is: had Snowden not done what he did… the GCSB and it’s off-shore mates would be conducting mass surveillance of NZ citizens and we would not know it.
GCSB minister Andrew Little on mass surveillance and our spies obeying the law.
Anne, I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve just reposted your excellent contribution over on David Farrar’s blog….
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/12/general_debate_1_december_2017.html/comment-page-1#comment-2089816
Hilarious Morrissey. That should stir a few Righties. 😀
It certainly did, Anne! I recommend you click on the links below, especially the second one, and follow the angry snarling, the aneurisms and the gnashings of teeth. They’re hurt, and VERY angry….
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/12/general_debate_1_december_2017.html/comment-page-1#comment-2089816
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/12/the_speargun_beatup.html/comment-page-1#comment-2090312
“the GCSB and it’s off-shore mates would be conducting mass surveillance of NZ citizens and we would not know it.”
swap out “would be” and “would not” for “probably are” (or just “are”) and “don’t”.
(And I’m more than happy to wear a tin foil hat, it seems to keep me awake)
No mikes, I don’t believe they are. Certainly Andrew Little is quite sure they are not conducting mass surveillance and he is an astute and highly intelligent politician. Add to that his sharp, experienced lawyer mind, I doubt anyone would try to pull the wool over his eyes.
Parker and Jones should induce Xero to syay NZX listed.
Worth it.
I see they have breach my privacy rights here in Auckland many thanks for more Mana boys I see even the boys in Auckland like there fireworks to and all there idiot lying contracted liars they tried a move with a old work m8 but no my sense of smell is to good for those idiots. Got the bot hopefully it will be over by Monday Kia Kaha
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FRAUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is what it looks like when the right wing lose, they cheat.
Many thanks to OUR new coalition Government for increasing our spending on research and development and having a 10 year plan to target 2% of GDP spent on research and development . Also increasing OUR border security to keep out invasive species which would wreck our primary sector of $38 billion ka pai.
I think that we should investigate the feasibility into industrial scale worm farming so instead of pouring nitrogen on our farm which degrades our topsoil we could pour worm casting on our farms this will reduce waste to the landfill and increase our topsoil this will reduce OUR imports cost ECT subsidizing second hand electric cars will reduce our export spend immensely .kIa kaha