*MAD AS HELL* reporter Andrea Vance about being spied on – a threat if you ask me and a not so quiet warning for anyone disagreeing with government policies.
This is a must read article for everyone as far as I’m concerned.
Anyone have tips on how to avoid being spied on?
I’ve heard about Silent Circle, communicating using the “drafts” folder in email (so messages aren’t actually sent and therefore can’t be intercepted). Seems timely to figure out ways around this. Not that I have anything to hide(!)
Asww
First away from the block! You get the medal for being the most wide-awake around 6 a.m. despite your pseudonym.
‘Anyone have tips on how to avoid being spied on?’
Radionz a.m. interview said something along these lines.
Media freedom – the monitoring of journalists calls ( 13′ 14″ )
09:31 An international press freedom organisation reveals its concerns regarding the monitoring of New Zealand journalists. With Bob Dietz, Asia Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon
In answer to a question about what Labour will do about this bill on gaining power, David Cunliffe has said this bill should not, can not, and will not stand.
David Shearer has pointed out (Despite John Key’s denial), that documents reveal that the GCSB were instrumental in illegally passing on the time stamped metadata used to track Andrea Vance’ movements through parliament. This illegally collected and passed on metadata evidence, was used to finger Peter Dunne as the source of the leak of that revealed that 88 Kiwis were being illegally spied on by the GCSB.
In retalliation the GCSB/SIS, (without actually handing it over), let Winston Peters see Peter Dunne’s private email exchange with Andrea Vance. According to Peters, Dunne’s private emails included a lot of personal and embarrassing detail about Peter Dunne’s relationship with Andrea Vance that Peter Dunne would find deeply humiliating or even distressing for him if released.
The GCSB want the right to collect everyone’s metadata.
We have witnessed in microcosm how the GCSB are exercising that power illegally now.
Are you shocked are you appalled?
The GCSB ammendment bill seeks to make the abuse of metadata that we have witnessed in microcosm by this shadowy secret agency against Dunne and Vance not only legal, but universal, over every single inhabitant of this country. Not just monitoring reporters, but everyone. And not just movements through parliament, but the whole of society.
In defence of this (still currently) illegal activity our Prime Minister has lied.
“….I am that journalist and I’m mad as hell. Anyone who has had their confidential details hacked and shared around has the right to be angry.
My visit to Speaker David Carter’s office on Tuesday left me reeling. My jaw gaped open when he sheepishly confessed that a log of all calls I placed to people around Parliament over three months was released to an inquiry focused on the leak of the Kitteridge report on the GCSB.”
Andrea Vance
“On Tuesday, an IT staffer showed me pages of “metadata” – a record of hundreds of calls I made between February and May.
The conversations, of course, aren’t disclosed. But you can glean a lot from matching numbers, time and the dates of published stories.”
Andrea Vance
“Details of inquiry head David Henry’s intrusive and outrageous behaviour have had to be dragged from all parties. (He, curiously, omitted any reference of the swipe card records from his report.)
Can I, and my sources, be confident the records weren’t viewed? They were held on a Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet server up until Tuesday night. Why – if they had acted so properly – did the Henry inquiry not notify me of this intrusion? It rankles that Key was told days before I was.
I don’t know who had access to my records. And I’m suspicious why on June 5, less than a week after the unauthorised release, NZ First leader Winston Peters was making some startling allegations about phone records in the House. Neither the prime minister’s office, the Speaker or Parliamentary Service have been able to offer a guarantee that there was no leak to Peters.”
that documents reveal that the GCSB were instrumental in illegally passing on the time stamped metadata used to track Andrea Vance’ movements through parliament.
Bullshit. Card access data isn’t metadata, it’s the normal bog standard data. Collecting those ‘timestamps’ is what the cards do, it’s the bit of data they are designed to collect. The GCSB wouldn’t be needed to get that data, PS already have it. And the ‘documents’ don’t show anything like what you claim as fact.
Getting this stuff right is important, if you hype it and say stupid shit about it, it hurts the cause.
Community housing providers told a select committee yesterday that they generally supported social housing reforms which were designed to shift housing assistance from the state to the community sector.
Organisations especially supported a proposal to give non-government providers access to the same subsidies as Housing New Zealand. This meant churches, iwi, trusts and other NGOs would be able to charge tenants no more than 25 per cent of their income to rent social houses, and Government would top up the difference to the market rent of the house.
But the community housing sector and public health researchers strongly opposed moves to increase the “churn” or rate of turnover in social housing by making all tenancies fixed-term, three-year contracts.
I think the “churn” is a good idea and can’t see any reason why we should for example allow a single parent who’s children have left to remain in a 3brm house. It is inefficient and a total waste of housing stock not to mention subsidy.
Security of tenure though is important, and where applicable it is possible to persuade people to shift to smaller houses through a process of consultation; ensuring that they are not shoved out of their community and that their present needs really are met.
I somewhat agree with AWW, however and please correct me if i am in error but AWW seems to be pushing a punitive line,
Here is what SHOULD happen at the front end of the tenancy not at the back end when the kids have all grown up and left home,
It’s fine to want the right sized housing stock to match the size of the family that occupies them, BUT, when a tenant with a family is granted such a tenancy they should be informed both verbally and by a condition in the rental agreement that once the family has grown and if they still need State housing that they may be required to move to accommodation that matches their needs,AND,it must be the duty of the PROVIDER to those families required to downsize to provide them with the accommodation that meets their current needs at the same 25% of income as rent,
The only reason we are having this discussion is in fact because every government after the Kirk Labour Government has ensured that the number of State Houses for rent has not grown while the population has grown by 1 million,
We are woefully short of State houses by at least 30,000 houses, and , Auckland’s current and ongoing housing affordability issues in my opinion are a direct result of this,
What i am pleased with is that there now appears to be a consensus that Social and/or State housing should never exceed as a rental 25% of a tenants household income and i would like to see legislation that reflects this,
I still see no evidence or logical reason why large tranches of the States housing stock should be vested in the ‘social sector’, the State has been the major and successful provider of ‘social housing’ since the First Labour Government,
Tinkering with the current State Housing stock will provide nothing but confusion of responsibility, it is not tinkering that is required, what is required is an ongoing comprehensive State House building program which lifts the number of State Houses to such a number so that Low Waged working families can be housed…
Yep, the state should ensure that there is an over supply of housing. Having people living homeless isn’t efficient due to the social harm that it does.
30 years of the State not being a major player in the building of new housing stock isn’t long enough for you to ascertain that the market has failed to respond sufficiently to meet demand,
Even Slippery the Prime Minister has stated that in Auckland the market has failed…
Yes because state houses are cool places to live. I was raised in a state house, and lived in one until I was 17. It is not something anyone should aspire to.
srylands
You wouldn’t aspire to a state house? They probably have been run down since your day. But you are too proud and superior to want to live in a state house aren’t you, not like ‘those people’.
And economists don’t have to. They’re well paid. They can buy up a solid rather stolid old state house and give it a makeover – comes up like a polished gem. The old houses might be a little plain even rough but they were well built. Even today’s which may be less so are somewhere secure to live and are found good by people who want their own place.
It’s only bloody snobs that would turn up their noses at a healthy state house in good repair. And it’s only economists who love figures on a page, rather than real people who would put beneficiaries through an annual scare that they might be turned out for some spurious reason. It’s much like those pictures of Victorian landlords turning a fainting woman with a child in her arms out into the snow.
Further to my comment above – there is another reason why people would turn down a perfectly good state house. That is if it was too far from whatever work is available, whatever education is available, whatever medical help was available, whatever supportive family or friends that are available, and it takes too long to travel to these aids to living, the transport is too sparse, and that the transport is too dear to pay for the family to travel to these places and services.
Olwyn
You offer a practical approach to ‘efficient’ housing for low income people. People shouldn’t be pushed around like pieces on a chess board. There are deep human reasons such as being social animals why people should be able to live in an area where they know others and are familiar with the location.
But more, children from homes with money and/or other difficulties tend not to learn well if they are shifted from one school to another as the family is forced to move when they are in their early to mid school years. Then when they are in college level education their studies and learning routines, if disrupted, can mean poor assessments or examination outcomes. Secure housing is more important than not having a spare bedroom.
It is beginning to sound like Russia after communism arrived. The wealthy had spare rooms in their houses given to the poor as it was deemed to be fair when there were so many poor and needy. In NZ you become equivalent to a decadent aristocrat if living in a 3 bedroom house when you could fit into a 2 bedroom. Garages next!
Hey what about renting those large people movers for overnight accommodation for the homeless. They and large 4wds are often left parked at the kerb just empty. What a waste of expense and space, when opening them up to doss down for the night would be so efficient, and would save land and expense on alternative accommodation. What a brilliant idea!
+1 agreed Rosetinted….”People shouldnt be shifted around like pieces on a chess board” ….and there is no reason they should if the state were to keep up the numbers of houses to accommodate NZers….as well as the jobs and free education and skills training
Another reason for preventing those non NZ overseas residents from buying up scarce NZ housing stock….and helping create unaffordable house pricing.
Indeed, especially as it’s often the older people who have settled down (and whose kids have flown) who have the time and inclination to say “hi” to regulars on the street, have a natter, and generally build a community. It’s one thing to meet in day care or in the school or church (other important community anchors), but actually having people in the street also helps.
Of the people I’ve known that were in state housing, many, many more were overcrowded rather than underutilised. I knew of situations with up to 10 in a 3 bedroom house, but none with a single person. I think we have to be very careful, as always, to frame the dialogue on the basis of need rather than greed. In this case, the greed of developers to get their paws on any appealing land still in the public domain.
One presentation claims the XKeyscore program covers ‘nearly everything a typical user does on the internet’
“Nice” to see that NZ contributes to this – Waihopi highlighted as a data source location.
Given this statement…
“The government doesn’t need to ‘target’ Americans in order to collect huge volumes of their communications,” said Jaffer. “The government inevitably sweeps up the communications of many Americans” when targeting foreign nationals for surveillance.
… I wouldn’t be surprised if the GCSB uses a similar rationale to ‘target’ far more than the 80 odd people they have admitted to.
If everyone is in a raw panic over the threat of a new housing price bubble, why is there seemingly no concern whatsoever about the agricultural land price bubble going on? Today on the rural news they noted a new increase in the milk solids payout to dairy farmers, followed by the usual platitudes abut farmers prudently using it to retire debt, yet then the commentating analyst from the bank noted the total farm debt is actually up again. Surely that is a huge red flag to the government??? Could it be that at a time of unprecedented high dairy prices, farmers appear to be using the money not to retire debt but to get into a pryamid scheme of speculative land purchasing for dairy conversions that can be flicked on for tax-free capital gain? We had better all pray the milk solid prices stay firmly high, because if the bubble ever bursts in the dairy sector you might as board up half of provincial New Zealand.
Yes, its happening. Agricultural debt is now over $50 billion.
When the North Island was in drought early this year the international dairy prices increased. http://www.interest.co.nz/charts/commodities/dairy-prices
A westpac economist claimed that part of the explanation for the increase in the international dairy price was because of the fall in volume caused by the North Island drought, I was surprised when I heard this. I would have thought that a relatively small fall in volume would not impact dairy prices. This just highlights how incredibly volatile the dairy commodity price is. Given the supply of dairy products that are coming out of Chile, Uruguay and other South American countries I guess it is possible that dairy prices could go the same way as coal. But the Bank economists are saying that China etc are going to consume any extra supply, but as we have seen with what happened during the drought, small changes in supply can have fairly big impacts in dairy prices.
Why would farm debt be a “huge red flag to the government”?
The government is owned by the banking system controllers, farming and control over NZ’s primary export industry, and the resources required to keep the industry moving, was identified, long ago, along with NZ’s mineral/oil/gas resources, as required to keep under control.
Can’t have a nation accessing its resources for the greater good of anyone but the so called, elite!
LOLZ, your post jiggled free a LIE that Bill from Dipton told in the Parliament yesterday, in answer to a patsy question from some non-entity on National’s back bench who i have never heard of and probably never will again,
English said this, this National Government has ensured that interest rates are low and families have lowered their household debt as a result of this,
Say what Bill, household debt is higher than it’s ever been and whoever is holding the brown end of the stick as Government when the Reserve Bank finally gets round to raising interest rates wont last longer than the following election as the pain from the over-blown debt being carried by the middle class gets translated into votes…
“We had better all pray the milk solid prices stay firmly high, because if the bubble ever bursts in the dairy sector you might as board up half of provincial New Zealand.”
You had better buy timber company shares then, because when the Chinese and the Russians start using the expertise they have siphoned from buying up our farms and agriculture companies to establish huge super dairy farms the size of this country on the steppes of Siberia, etc, and simply railing the produce out to Europe, then our farmers will go the way of our manufacurers.
Excepting of course that the major competitive advantage we have over most is the relativily friendly climate which helps keep production high and input costs comparitivily low…
the Russians start using the expertise they have siphoned from buying up our farms and agriculture companies to establish huge super dairy farms the size of this country on the steppes of Siberia, etc,
The Russians (lavrov) offered us substantive low cost land for enhanced sustainable agriculture development key and Grocer stuffed it up by insisting on short term (tariff reduction) in the FTA.
Sanctuary
What a blow to find that every time we appear to be going ahead successfully in farming or anything it gets screwed up and we end up pressing the wrong buttons and going down the wrong track. If we do well our dollar goes up and our exports stagnate and we import too much stuff.
(Theres a book looking at the role of clothing on consumption in the world, I think it is second in the spending stakes after food.) If anyone wants to know the name of the book I’ve got it, just have to look it up.
And you wonder, is it actually a one-way track. Is there no way back? And then you think about who is driving this thing – are they well-trained, practical and careful thinkers or are they like that Spanish guy, in the wrong place and going too fast to stop wrecking everything.
Is this the framework for our bill ?? STOP THE GCSB BILL AT ALL COSTS !
“The Guardian today has revealed a training guide for a program called XKeyscore, which NSA documents call the agency’s “widest-reaching” system for gathering Internet information. The program monitors everything anyone does on the Internet, from the content of emails to websites visited, searches, chats, and metadata. It can also be used to watch real-time Internet activity. The quantity of data collected is so huge—1 billion to 2 billion records a day—that they can only be stored for several days, with more “interesting” data saved for longer.
Though an NSA worker would need a warrant to target a U.S. citizen, the agency can collect data on any citizen in communication with someone on foreign soil without a warrant.
I doubt if Labour, whether under Cunliffe or Shearer, will repeal the GCSB bill. Once in government they would like nothing more than to be able to spy on us. So don’t think it will ever be repealed. Such talk from Labour leaders is there to appease the masses and to get votes in 2014. Secretly they will welcome the bill, they are revelling in the fact that it is the current government giving them a nice present. This bill is designed to create a Gestapo (right wing) or a Stasi (left wing) organisation to keep us all under surveillance.
It will be an election issue. You really think Labout are going to campaign saying they will repeal the bill, and then renege after the election, given that if they win they will most likely win by a small margin? Don’t forget the GP either.
Wrong approach, if I may suggest. You pressure Labour to commit to completely reworking the GCSB legislation to ensure the absolute maximum of democratic transparency and oversight possible as part of their manifesto, and then when Labour get in you pile on the pressure and absolutely force them to do it via popular pressure, as part of their first year in Government.
No more fucking trusting any politician bastards to keep their word, we have to make them do the right thing.
BTW you can’t just have the new legislation repealed, because the old legislation is an absolute dogs breakfast full of loopholes to start with.
I see there will be an Privileges committee inquiry into the leaking of Andrea Vances Emails/phone records. However I feel there will be another coverup/whitewash as the leader of the inquiry is the NAT MP Finlayson. Why oh Why can’t they JUST have an independent inquiry?
It’s not easy to look at Tamati, 1/3 of the screen is taken up with battleship grey. It’s a bloody screen use it all, and don’t say just lose it by pressing a few more buttons, useability should mean pressing less bloody buttons. BTW, that was a beauty, a real big jolt.
From what the Boffins have been saying Christchurch was more or less ‘direct hits’ whereas Wellingtons lot where more of ‘proximity’,
Should the 6.5 have occurred on the Wellington Fault which hasn’t apparently moved in a zillion years i could well imagine that the damage would have been way more severe and widespread,
The last biggy that moved things around a bit in Wellington was on the Wairarapa Fault and raised parts of Wellington by a meter, Kairangi, the island i live on, at that point i believe stopped being an island…
It looks pretty good on my Samsung only snag been I don’t have a reply button on each of the comments.
Am enjoying the fast load of comment heavy posts previously once a post got near 100 comments I had to flush the cache etc to even have a chance of getting them to load let alone have the ability to scroll through with any speed
Wow! Now that is better, so easy to see now. I am commenting on my Laptop but i just had to have a look on phone. A LG Optimus one with a 320 x 480 pixel, 3.2 inch (~180 ppi pixel density) screen
Second reading of the GCSB bill today and the reality has to now be setting in.
Sir Bruce Ferguson and Sir Jeffery Palmer have been out spoken in the last week exposing how undemocratic this bill is, e.g. rushed, will pass with a 1 vote majority and how the bill needs to be a conscience vote.
The sad reality is that Key cannot see the damage which he is going to cause with the passing of the bill and his attitude is I will have it my way like a SPOILT BRAT. Also Key has excluded many other better options e.g. having a review, looking at other international models, appointing people with intelligence and legal experience to have oversight of the GCSB/SIS (Shearer raised these points on morning report).
Yeah who does he think he is? The Prime Minister of the country or something? Its almost as if he thinks that getting enough votes to pass a bill means it becomes law or something…the gall of the man
“Yeah who does he think he is? The Prime Minister of the country or something?”
What makes a good Prime Minister?
Power corrupts as in being a dictator and those who surround a dictator are also culpable. Palmer even used the word “dictator” when he was interviewed on Campbell Live earlier in the week.
Golly gee well if Geoff Palmer says it then it was be true, that explains why JKs cancelled all elections, banned other political parties and why editors and journalists are being thrown in prison left right and centre
I am not going to split hairs, on second thoughts Palmer may have said dictatorial.
If you think a good Prime Minister can run the GCSB using legislation going back to 1976 before computers/smart phones were part of everyday life and knowlingly being aware of how the public feel about the management of the GCSB I find this to be short sighted.
Does an inquiry into an inquiry which is not independent some how make it alright?
And I note there is no clock as to what time comments were made. Handy if replying to something that may be hours ( or days old ), and the whole argument has moved on. And also handy to see if it’s just the booze talking at 2am.
There is a one wee problem with the new mobile version – no reply button.
Adrian *might* be using a mobile. I have a query off with the developers asking WTF! It isn’t a hard trick to do, they have the threading ok in this version…
Prime Minister John Key has justified the changes to the country’s spying laws by saying some people in New Zealand have been trained by al-Qaeda in places such as Yemen.
Mr Key said in “the real world” powers to spy on civilians was necessary.
“In New Zealand there are people who’ve been trained for al-Qaeda camps who operate out of New Zealand, who are in contact with people overseas, who have gone off to Yemen and other countries to train.
“I’m sorry, but that’s the real world.”
He said it was a “robust regime” before a signature was placed on a warrant to spy on someone.
“I wish those things didn’t happen in New Zealand,” Mr Key said.
“But if people don’t believe there’s the odd person in New Zealand who presents a potential threat, either on the international stage or in New Zealand, unfortunately they’re wrong.”
The question is why are they still trading in the NZ marketplace?
Whilst Key suggests that we need to be guarded as to a handful of people who have trained in Yemen,do we also have to have watching briefs on MBA from Harvard.
We know US residents are more prone to criminal behavior as the US has 25% of the worlds prison population,should we enhance our border protection to target visitors from the US?
Following the Roy Morgan poll it is noticable that alot of the Cunliffe harpies (excluding the institutionalised ones) on this site have gone very quiet. The Shearer hating appears to have died down.
It is not like there hasn’t been bait laid either. Alot of recent posts have provided ample opportunity to put the boot in.
Of course we all know that Shearer is going to get rolled, what we don’t know is when.
This weird lull could be viewed as a barometer reading for a very fast approaching storm.
I haven’t noticed a decrease in criticism of Shearer here. It’s just that we’ve been talking about the GCSB so much. But when the talk turns to Labour, amongst the good discussion on policy, there’s still plenty of comments about Shearer. What blog are you actually reading?
A vote for Labour is a vote for Shearer or a vote for Shearer is a vote for Labour?
Either way it makes no difference even though a person may have a preference for whom they would like to be the leader of a political party. E.g. Banks and the Act party.
The polls always reflect last month or so. At the moment they reflect Duncan Garner’s solo Labour leadership challenge, and the “man ban” beat up. Next month (or the next) they will reflect this lot…
Yep. After watching the damn things closely for the last 6 years, the lag seems to vary between 5 and 8 weeks most of the time. It shortens to about 2-3 weeks at election times. But they are always laggy.
On the other hand, there is a distinct trend over the last 3 polls and that GCR is “disturbing”
I take much heart from your previous comments McFlock that we mustn’t look at a single poll result and cry that the sky is falling. Shearer is doing fine, Labour is sitting on a natural rate of 32%-33% and this is most likely a one off low result which won’t be repeated.
Even at 29%, its still a good deal higher than the actual 2011 election result and Shearer must be given credit for that, as you have correctly mentioned on previous occasions.
🙄
It’s not the 29% that’s a concern (although it is a threshold-breaker), it’s the last four polls results. And what about the Greens, bucko? Is their lowest result since the election (and below their election performance) Shearer’s fault, too?
I mean, I know nobody’s happier than you at the thought of the left being back to where it was 18 months ago (not even Key), but you might have the decency to cut a hole in your trouser pocket rather than simply unzipping to show everyone your ecstatic reaction.
I do love how the new tactic to deflect commentary on Labour’s poll results is “butbutbut the GREENS are down too!!!! You must think that’s Shearer’s fault!!!!”
Makes just as much sense as demanding that we ignore Labour’s performance unless we also talk about Act’s.
No, because I’ve always argued for a left government, not just a labour one.
Try thinking about it a bit:
Problem: national are gaining support, the opposition are losing support. Both of them. Both the greens and labour have lost similar proportions of support in the same time period.
Whatever caused the sudden shift is not just restricted to labour. I know it goes against the gripefest mantra that it’s all just down to the (possibly imaginary) warring faction in the labour caucus that the fanclub doesn’t support, but reality can be a bitch like that.
When the Greens DO get into government watch their support crash to 6% as the Oriental Bay and Aro Valley Greens who own 2 rental properties see the light.
What? Greens support is hovering totally within its true level of 12% +/- 2%.
yeah, we’ll just ignore their couple of 14.5%s since 2011, shall we?
So basically, what you’re sarcastically arguing is that labour has a “true level” of something like 32% (and this is due to their bad performance), whereas their likely coalition partners have a “true level” of around 12% (perfectly fine performance from them, though).
If your idea of a “true level” of support is not complete bullshit, what is national’s “true level” of support?
And doesn’t that mean an eternity of national rule, because 31+12 will always be 43, never 53?
No, don’t ignore them, but I would expect a couple of results (very marginally) outside the +/-2% margin of error on the basis of a 95% CI
actually, fair call on that given your broad MoE and 37 datapoints..
and your thoughts on:
If your idea of a “true level” of support is not complete bullshit, what is national’s “true level” of support?
And doesn’t that mean an eternity of national rule, because 31+12 will always be 43, never 53?
I’m being at all negative – I’ve just adopted your view that the Labour Leader, whoever it may be, is not really an important factor for electoral success.
BTW, National can’t help but sabotage themselves and help out their crony millionaire mates. They’ll be thrown out eventually. But post WWII, National has been in power for many more years than Labour.
I’ve just adopted your view that the Labour Leader, whoever it may be, is not really an important factor for electoral success.
Come now, not “just”, by any means. You are being far to modest. You’ve added an entirely new and boldly innovative sociopolitical model of a static “true level” of party support within the NZ population.
Thank goodness Labour now has your political genius working for it!
May I also commend you on your boldly innovative concept that a political party’s leader is largely irrelevant to how that party performs in the electorate. Quite stunning thinking, really.
You are most kind, but it’s hardly revolutionary to suggest that a single person might have slightly less effect on an outcome than their three-dozen (give or take) colleagues, 65 more powerful competitors, and the aligned ranks of the New Zealand media.
“.. so how how come they are going up in the polls ?
What does that say about New Zealand today ?”
The real question might be: What does that say about the polling system?
Are polls conducted via landlines only? Of those wealthy enough/culturally still interested in paying for a landline? Many people I know now only use cell phones.
[lprent: Off topic – moved to OpenMike. Read the policy and consider yourself warned. ]
I hear Roy Morgan only polls people still on party lines.
The polls are complete nonsense, Labour is incredibly popular and these polls are purely a bankster neo liberalist smoke screen to keep the population in the dark and prop up a dying rich prick fascist dictatorship.
Irony is not your thing BM…….you’re far too piggishly “my own selfishly perceived interests” driven. Arising no doubt out of your prideful claims of having “done fabulously well in business blah blah blah.”
I was just thinking when looking at the Open Parachute rankings about how nice it’d been not having long server outages last month. And then the server system had an outage….
Drat… And I still haven’t finished having the fallbacks all running – 2 out of 3 bits ain’t good enough.
At least this support crew were on to it immediately
Big ups to the person or persons who have written statements in chalk on the footpaths in the Johnsonville shopping area about why Peter Dunne is an arse. I noticed people stopping and reading and some were even smiling with acknowledgment. Well done! We need more and more awareness raising exercises like this in the sleepy hamlet of Ohariu.
I am curious about the ‘Feeds’ box to the left of the screen. It seems that ‘No Minister’ is a bit of an oddball among the other sites that are there. Is there any particular reason for having this site among the Feeds?
Copyright advocates have long (and successfully) argued that keeping books copyrighted assures that owners can make a profit off their intellectual property, and that that profit incentive will “assure [the books’] availability and adequate distribution.” The evidence, it appears, says otherwise.
And another capitalist truism blown out of the water.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10906694
Soon there will be minimal ability with rising interest rates for a CGT to achieve any revenue for the govt. My worry is that should Labour win the next election (still possible with Dave) and to extract any revenue from a CGT that the LLG (Lab led govt) will be forced to supporting & implementing additional neo-lib policies in allowing for even greater housing inflation in order to balance the books.
Conformance to the neoliberal monetary system will always have this result. The Government spends its entire effort on trying to “balance the books” (a pointless and unproductive task) instead of getting done what is required.
Damn it looks like my planned annual holiday to the Yemen will have to be cancelled this year, i might get accused of being an Al Quaeda training recruit,
If the Slippery little Shyster is going to try and protect Himself by Him and his office not only spying upon the private communications between Members of the Parliament and the Fourth Estate by releasing what to all extents and purposes is classified information about New Zealand residents supposedly training at Al Quaeda camps in the Yemen then the little Shyster should release the names of these supposed trainees as well so that wrong aspersions cannot be directed in any direction,
The Prime Minister should also tell the Parliament NOW whether either the SIS or GCSB are or ever have been monitoring all the cell phone traffic going into and out of the Parliamentary precinct…
Yeah. Yemen. So tell me the US and UK don’t have capabilities to spy on (digitally surveil) people in Yemen?
I am puzzled by Key’s statement:
Academics believe the terror threat from New Zealanders being trained by al-Qaeda is too minimal to change the country’s spying laws.
Their comments follow an interview with John Key on More FM today in which the Prime Minister justified changes to the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) law because he said some people in New Zealand were being trained by the terror organisation in places such as Yemen.
He said there was the “odd person” here who presented a potential threat, either on the international stage or in New Zealand.
Otago University head of politics Professor Robert Patman said while it could not be ruled out that some members of the public were being trained by al-Qaeda, “it’s difficult to know whether the Prime Minister is accurate in his depiction of New Zealand members of al-Qaeda”.
“But that actually, is not really the point. The point, I think is that many people are concerned that we’re creating a national security state in order to deal with what is a relatively minor threat.”
And wouldn’t the SIS be monitoring any alleged terrorist threats from Kiwis in NZ?
Prof Jackson also said there was no evidence that mass surveillance of the type being put forward in the GCSB bill would stop terrorism.
“Most terrorist attacks are stopped by community policing and by directed intelligence operations.”
To correct Professor Jackson most terrorist attacks are stopped by no-one in spite of the billions and billions of dollars worldwide spent upon security and intelligence…
Remember who was the last high profile person to visit the country ?
“..Holmes said. “But the amazing thing is I cannot recall ever going to a friendlier country than this. Even people who are taken hostage report that they’re treated beautifully by the people who have taken them hostage. So they’re welcoming even when they’re holding you prisoner. Fantastic.” – Who are we to believe ?? http://tvnz.co.nz/intrepid-journeys/paul-holmes-yemen-1754392
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
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Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
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http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8987970/Spy-scandal-journalist-speaks-out
*MAD AS HELL* reporter Andrea Vance about being spied on – a threat if you ask me and a not so quiet warning for anyone disagreeing with government policies.
This is a must read article for everyone as far as I’m concerned.
Anyone have tips on how to avoid being spied on?
I’ve heard about Silent Circle, communicating using the “drafts” folder in email (so messages aren’t actually sent and therefore can’t be intercepted). Seems timely to figure out ways around this. Not that I have anything to hide(!)
Asww
First away from the block! You get the medal for being the most wide-awake around 6 a.m. despite your pseudonym.
‘Anyone have tips on how to avoid being spied on?’
Radionz a.m. interview said something along these lines.
Media freedom – the monitoring of journalists calls ( 13′ 14″ )
09:31 An international press freedom organisation reveals its concerns regarding the monitoring of New Zealand journalists. With Bob Dietz, Asia Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon
Permanent link
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2564121/media-freedom-the-monitoring-of-journalists-calls
In answer to a question about what Labour will do about this bill on gaining power, David Cunliffe has said this bill should not, can not, and will not stand.
David Shearer has pointed out (Despite John Key’s denial), that documents reveal that the GCSB were instrumental in illegally passing on the time stamped metadata used to track Andrea Vance’ movements through parliament. This illegally collected and passed on metadata evidence, was used to finger Peter Dunne as the source of the leak of that revealed that 88 Kiwis were being illegally spied on by the GCSB.
In retalliation the GCSB/SIS, (without actually handing it over), let Winston Peters see Peter Dunne’s private email exchange with Andrea Vance. According to Peters, Dunne’s private emails included a lot of personal and embarrassing detail about Peter Dunne’s relationship with Andrea Vance that Peter Dunne would find deeply humiliating or even distressing for him if released.
The GCSB want the right to collect everyone’s metadata.
We have witnessed in microcosm how the GCSB are exercising that power illegally now.
Are you shocked are you appalled?
The GCSB ammendment bill seeks to make the abuse of metadata that we have witnessed in microcosm by this shadowy secret agency against Dunne and Vance not only legal, but universal, over every single inhabitant of this country. Not just monitoring reporters, but everyone. And not just movements through parliament, but the whole of society.
In defence of this (still currently) illegal activity our Prime Minister has lied.
Andrea Vance speaks out:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8987970/Spy-scandal-journalist-speaks-out
As David Cunliffe says “this bill cannot stand”.
ffs.
that documents reveal that the GCSB were instrumental in illegally passing on the time stamped metadata used to track Andrea Vance’ movements through parliament.
Bullshit. Card access data isn’t metadata, it’s the normal bog standard data. Collecting those ‘timestamps’ is what the cards do, it’s the bit of data they are designed to collect. The GCSB wouldn’t be needed to get that data, PS already have it. And the ‘documents’ don’t show anything like what you claim as fact.
Getting this stuff right is important, if you hype it and say stupid shit about it, it hurts the cause.
Please stop.
+1, PB. And this piece of ‘fact’ also got me
“In retalliation the GCSB/SIS, (without actually handing it over), let Winston Peters see Peter Dunne’s private email exchange with Andrea Vance.”
Further: Read section 65-66 on page 9 of the Henry report:
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/all/files/Henry%20Report.pdf
Could that explain why the GCSB provided records, (and what records they might be), to the inquiry Jenny?
Income related rent subsidy extended to all:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10906247
Community housing providers told a select committee yesterday that they generally supported social housing reforms which were designed to shift housing assistance from the state to the community sector.
Organisations especially supported a proposal to give non-government providers access to the same subsidies as Housing New Zealand. This meant churches, iwi, trusts and other NGOs would be able to charge tenants no more than 25 per cent of their income to rent social houses, and Government would top up the difference to the market rent of the house.
But the community housing sector and public health researchers strongly opposed moves to increase the “churn” or rate of turnover in social housing by making all tenancies fixed-term, three-year contracts.
I think the “churn” is a good idea and can’t see any reason why we should for example allow a single parent who’s children have left to remain in a 3brm house. It is inefficient and a total waste of housing stock not to mention subsidy.
Security of tenure though is important, and where applicable it is possible to persuade people to shift to smaller houses through a process of consultation; ensuring that they are not shoved out of their community and that their present needs really are met.
I somewhat agree with AWW, however and please correct me if i am in error but AWW seems to be pushing a punitive line,
Here is what SHOULD happen at the front end of the tenancy not at the back end when the kids have all grown up and left home,
It’s fine to want the right sized housing stock to match the size of the family that occupies them, BUT, when a tenant with a family is granted such a tenancy they should be informed both verbally and by a condition in the rental agreement that once the family has grown and if they still need State housing that they may be required to move to accommodation that matches their needs,AND,it must be the duty of the PROVIDER to those families required to downsize to provide them with the accommodation that meets their current needs at the same 25% of income as rent,
The only reason we are having this discussion is in fact because every government after the Kirk Labour Government has ensured that the number of State Houses for rent has not grown while the population has grown by 1 million,
We are woefully short of State houses by at least 30,000 houses, and , Auckland’s current and ongoing housing affordability issues in my opinion are a direct result of this,
What i am pleased with is that there now appears to be a consensus that Social and/or State housing should never exceed as a rental 25% of a tenants household income and i would like to see legislation that reflects this,
I still see no evidence or logical reason why large tranches of the States housing stock should be vested in the ‘social sector’, the State has been the major and successful provider of ‘social housing’ since the First Labour Government,
Tinkering with the current State Housing stock will provide nothing but confusion of responsibility, it is not tinkering that is required, what is required is an ongoing comprehensive State House building program which lifts the number of State Houses to such a number so that Low Waged working families can be housed…
I dont know about anyone else, but I seem to think that increasing the state housing stock would solve the problem of housing affordability….
Yep, the state should ensure that there is an over supply of housing. Having people living homeless isn’t efficient due to the social harm that it does.
“Yep, the state should ensure that there is an over supply of housing”
Or markets could provide houses. We need efficient markets.
No such thing as an efficient market. If there was then the government wouldn’t need to step in to provide housing.
30 years of the State not being a major player in the building of new housing stock isn’t long enough for you to ascertain that the market has failed to respond sufficiently to meet demand,
Even Slippery the Prime Minister has stated that in Auckland the market has failed…
Yes because state houses are cool places to live. I was raised in a state house, and lived in one until I was 17. It is not something anyone should aspire to.
My experience with state houses is that they’re no different to any other house and in many cases a lot better.
Is this another of your ‘story’s akin to i am a big time economist looking to hire employees for 150 grand a year,
People aspire to be housed in such a situation where their income can pay the rent plus put a decent feed on the table at meal times,
What do you find to be so ‘wrong’ with State Housing…
srylands
You wouldn’t aspire to a state house? They probably have been run down since your day. But you are too proud and superior to want to live in a state house aren’t you, not like ‘those people’.
And economists don’t have to. They’re well paid. They can buy up a solid rather stolid old state house and give it a makeover – comes up like a polished gem. The old houses might be a little plain even rough but they were well built. Even today’s which may be less so are somewhere secure to live and are found good by people who want their own place.
It’s only bloody snobs that would turn up their noses at a healthy state house in good repair. And it’s only economists who love figures on a page, rather than real people who would put beneficiaries through an annual scare that they might be turned out for some spurious reason. It’s much like those pictures of Victorian landlords turning a fainting woman with a child in her arms out into the snow.
Further to my comment above – there is another reason why people would turn down a perfectly good state house. That is if it was too far from whatever work is available, whatever education is available, whatever medical help was available, whatever supportive family or friends that are available, and it takes too long to travel to these aids to living, the transport is too sparse, and that the transport is too dear to pay for the family to travel to these places and services.
And you want other kids to live on the street…?
Olwyn
You offer a practical approach to ‘efficient’ housing for low income people. People shouldn’t be pushed around like pieces on a chess board. There are deep human reasons such as being social animals why people should be able to live in an area where they know others and are familiar with the location.
But more, children from homes with money and/or other difficulties tend not to learn well if they are shifted from one school to another as the family is forced to move when they are in their early to mid school years. Then when they are in college level education their studies and learning routines, if disrupted, can mean poor assessments or examination outcomes. Secure housing is more important than not having a spare bedroom.
It is beginning to sound like Russia after communism arrived. The wealthy had spare rooms in their houses given to the poor as it was deemed to be fair when there were so many poor and needy. In NZ you become equivalent to a decadent aristocrat if living in a 3 bedroom house when you could fit into a 2 bedroom. Garages next!
Hey what about renting those large people movers for overnight accommodation for the homeless. They and large 4wds are often left parked at the kerb just empty. What a waste of expense and space, when opening them up to doss down for the night would be so efficient, and would save land and expense on alternative accommodation. What a brilliant idea!
+1 agreed Rosetinted….”People shouldnt be shifted around like pieces on a chess board” ….and there is no reason they should if the state were to keep up the numbers of houses to accommodate NZers….as well as the jobs and free education and skills training
Another reason for preventing those non NZ overseas residents from buying up scarce NZ housing stock….and helping create unaffordable house pricing.
Indeed, especially as it’s often the older people who have settled down (and whose kids have flown) who have the time and inclination to say “hi” to regulars on the street, have a natter, and generally build a community. It’s one thing to meet in day care or in the school or church (other important community anchors), but actually having people in the street also helps.
Of the people I’ve known that were in state housing, many, many more were overcrowded rather than underutilised. I knew of situations with up to 10 in a 3 bedroom house, but none with a single person. I think we have to be very careful, as always, to frame the dialogue on the basis of need rather than greed. In this case, the greed of developers to get their paws on any appealing land still in the public domain.
XKEYSCORE
One of the NSAs most powerful tools now revealed.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data
“Nice” to see that NZ contributes to this – Waihopi highlighted as a data source location.
Given this statement…
… I wouldn’t be surprised if the GCSB uses a similar rationale to ‘target’ far more than the 80 odd people they have admitted to.
Authoritarianism pure and simple.
Yesterdays joke on fb, –“GCSB and NSA, the only NZ and US government departments that really listen to you”
If everyone is in a raw panic over the threat of a new housing price bubble, why is there seemingly no concern whatsoever about the agricultural land price bubble going on? Today on the rural news they noted a new increase in the milk solids payout to dairy farmers, followed by the usual platitudes abut farmers prudently using it to retire debt, yet then the commentating analyst from the bank noted the total farm debt is actually up again. Surely that is a huge red flag to the government??? Could it be that at a time of unprecedented high dairy prices, farmers appear to be using the money not to retire debt but to get into a pryamid scheme of speculative land purchasing for dairy conversions that can be flicked on for tax-free capital gain? We had better all pray the milk solid prices stay firmly high, because if the bubble ever bursts in the dairy sector you might as board up half of provincial New Zealand.
Yes, its happening. Agricultural debt is now over $50 billion.
When the North Island was in drought early this year the international dairy prices increased.
http://www.interest.co.nz/charts/commodities/dairy-prices
A westpac economist claimed that part of the explanation for the increase in the international dairy price was because of the fall in volume caused by the North Island drought, I was surprised when I heard this. I would have thought that a relatively small fall in volume would not impact dairy prices. This just highlights how incredibly volatile the dairy commodity price is. Given the supply of dairy products that are coming out of Chile, Uruguay and other South American countries I guess it is possible that dairy prices could go the same way as coal. But the Bank economists are saying that China etc are going to consume any extra supply, but as we have seen with what happened during the drought, small changes in supply can have fairly big impacts in dairy prices.
Watch this space.
Why would farm debt be a “huge red flag to the government”?
The government is owned by the banking system controllers, farming and control over NZ’s primary export industry, and the resources required to keep the industry moving, was identified, long ago, along with NZ’s mineral/oil/gas resources, as required to keep under control.
Can’t have a nation accessing its resources for the greater good of anyone but the so called, elite!
LOLZ, your post jiggled free a LIE that Bill from Dipton told in the Parliament yesterday, in answer to a patsy question from some non-entity on National’s back bench who i have never heard of and probably never will again,
English said this, this National Government has ensured that interest rates are low and families have lowered their household debt as a result of this,
Say what Bill, household debt is higher than it’s ever been and whoever is holding the brown end of the stick as Government when the Reserve Bank finally gets round to raising interest rates wont last longer than the following election as the pain from the over-blown debt being carried by the middle class gets translated into votes…
“We had better all pray the milk solid prices stay firmly high, because if the bubble ever bursts in the dairy sector you might as board up half of provincial New Zealand.”
You had better buy timber company shares then, because when the Chinese and the Russians start using the expertise they have siphoned from buying up our farms and agriculture companies to establish huge super dairy farms the size of this country on the steppes of Siberia, etc, and simply railing the produce out to Europe, then our farmers will go the way of our manufacurers.
Excepting of course that the major competitive advantage we have over most is the relativily friendly climate which helps keep production high and input costs comparitivily low…
the Russians start using the expertise they have siphoned from buying up our farms and agriculture companies to establish huge super dairy farms the size of this country on the steppes of Siberia, etc,
The Russians (lavrov) offered us substantive low cost land for enhanced sustainable agriculture development key and Grocer stuffed it up by insisting on short term (tariff reduction) in the FTA.
Sanctuary
What a blow to find that every time we appear to be going ahead successfully in farming or anything it gets screwed up and we end up pressing the wrong buttons and going down the wrong track. If we do well our dollar goes up and our exports stagnate and we import too much stuff.
(Theres a book looking at the role of clothing on consumption in the world, I think it is second in the spending stakes after food.) If anyone wants to know the name of the book I’ve got it, just have to look it up.
And you wonder, is it actually a one-way track. Is there no way back? And then you think about who is driving this thing – are they well-trained, practical and careful thinkers or are they like that Spanish guy, in the wrong place and going too fast to stop wrecking everything.
Is this the framework for our bill ?? STOP THE GCSB BILL AT ALL COSTS !
“The Guardian today has revealed a training guide for a program called XKeyscore, which NSA documents call the agency’s “widest-reaching” system for gathering Internet information. The program monitors everything anyone does on the Internet, from the content of emails to websites visited, searches, chats, and metadata. It can also be used to watch real-time Internet activity. The quantity of data collected is so huge—1 billion to 2 billion records a day—that they can only be stored for several days, with more “interesting” data saved for longer.
Though an NSA worker would need a warrant to target a U.S. citizen, the agency can collect data on any citizen in communication with someone on foreign soil without a warrant.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data?CMP=twt_gu
And frakking General Alexander claims that the system is so safe that he can’t even access his daughter’s emails. Fucking lying prick.
I doubt if Labour, whether under Cunliffe or Shearer, will repeal the GCSB bill. Once in government they would like nothing more than to be able to spy on us. So don’t think it will ever be repealed. Such talk from Labour leaders is there to appease the masses and to get votes in 2014. Secretly they will welcome the bill, they are revelling in the fact that it is the current government giving them a nice present. This bill is designed to create a Gestapo (right wing) or a Stasi (left wing) organisation to keep us all under surveillance.
It will be an election issue. You really think Labout are going to campaign saying they will repeal the bill, and then renege after the election, given that if they win they will most likely win by a small margin? Don’t forget the GP either.
Wrong approach, if I may suggest. You pressure Labour to commit to completely reworking the GCSB legislation to ensure the absolute maximum of democratic transparency and oversight possible as part of their manifesto, and then when Labour get in you pile on the pressure and absolutely force them to do it via popular pressure, as part of their first year in Government.
No more fucking trusting any politician bastards to keep their word, we have to make them do the right thing.
BTW you can’t just have the new legislation repealed, because the old legislation is an absolute dogs breakfast full of loopholes to start with.
I see there will be an Privileges committee inquiry into the leaking of Andrea Vances Emails/phone records. However I feel there will be another coverup/whitewash as the leader of the inquiry is the NAT MP Finlayson. Why oh Why can’t they JUST have an independent inquiry?
Because then there will need to be an inquiry into the Privileges Committee inquiry. Then an inquiry into that inquiry…
Cheers to who made the new mobile site! Very clean and easy to use.
No it’s not!
Not new or not easy to use?
It’s not easy to look at Tamati, 1/3 of the screen is taken up with battleship grey. It’s a bloody screen use it all, and don’t say just lose it by pressing a few more buttons, useability should mean pressing less bloody buttons. BTW, that was a beauty, a real big jolt.
I am out East of the city, sure felt that one, not quite as big out here tho i think, maybe a third of the power of the 6.5…
4.9 geonet says?
Has there been any discussion about the current quakes in light of what happened to Chch? Smaller quake first and then big one 6 months later?
From what the Boffins have been saying Christchurch was more or less ‘direct hits’ whereas Wellingtons lot where more of ‘proximity’,
Should the 6.5 have occurred on the Wellington Fault which hasn’t apparently moved in a zillion years i could well imagine that the damage would have been way more severe and widespread,
The last biggy that moved things around a bit in Wellington was on the Wairarapa Fault and raised parts of Wellington by a meter, Kairangi, the island i live on, at that point i believe stopped being an island…
What kind of phone? What screen size?
How does it compare to the old theme? Which had the banner at the top.
It looks pretty good on my Samsung only snag been I don’t have a reply button on each of the comments.
Am enjoying the fast load of comment heavy posts previously once a post got near 100 comments I had to flush the cache etc to even have a chance of getting them to load let alone have the ability to scroll through with any speed
Wow! Now that is better, so easy to see now. I am commenting on my Laptop but i just had to have a look on phone. A LG Optimus one with a 320 x 480 pixel, 3.2 inch (~180 ppi pixel density) screen
Second reading of the GCSB bill today and the reality has to now be setting in.
Sir Bruce Ferguson and Sir Jeffery Palmer have been out spoken in the last week exposing how undemocratic this bill is, e.g. rushed, will pass with a 1 vote majority and how the bill needs to be a conscience vote.
The sad reality is that Key cannot see the damage which he is going to cause with the passing of the bill and his attitude is I will have it my way like a SPOILT BRAT. Also Key has excluded many other better options e.g. having a review, looking at other international models, appointing people with intelligence and legal experience to have oversight of the GCSB/SIS (Shearer raised these points on morning report).
Yeah who does he think he is? The Prime Minister of the country or something? Its almost as if he thinks that getting enough votes to pass a bill means it becomes law or something…the gall of the man
“Yeah who does he think he is? The Prime Minister of the country or something?”
What makes a good Prime Minister?
Power corrupts as in being a dictator and those who surround a dictator are also culpable. Palmer even used the word “dictator” when he was interviewed on Campbell Live earlier in the week.
Golly gee well if Geoff Palmer says it then it was be true, that explains why JKs cancelled all elections, banned other political parties and why editors and journalists are being thrown in prison left right and centre
I am not going to split hairs, on second thoughts Palmer may have said dictatorial.
If you think a good Prime Minister can run the GCSB using legislation going back to 1976 before computers/smart phones were part of everyday life and knowlingly being aware of how the public feel about the management of the GCSB I find this to be short sighted.
Does an inquiry into an inquiry which is not independent some how make it alright?
The position of PM isn’t that of a dictator no matter how much you RWNJs wish it was.
some journalist said ‘temporary leader’ which i thought was the right description.
And I note there is no clock as to what time comments were made. Handy if replying to something that may be hours ( or days old ), and the whole argument has moved on. And also handy to see if it’s just the booze talking at 2am.
If you use the reply button, your comments will make more sense 🙂
There is a one wee problem with the new mobile version – no reply button.
Adrian *might* be using a mobile. I have a query off with the developers asking WTF! It isn’t a hard trick to do, they have the threading ok in this version…
Interesting. So is this something written specifically for ts, or is it a more general thing that you’ve adapted?
I presume this is for the new mobile version? I’ll be attacking that part of the theme tonight. I didn’t notice it when I was testing *bad lprent*
The lack of a reply is the most severe functional problem though.
Works a whole lot better than the old version. I get some rendering hassles on my android test phone which are irritating.
Thank you for your practical suggestion and I usually give the day at least!
Re the booze, not applicable concerning me.
The best I can do is to provide the following info.
GCSB bill heads back to Parliament for second reading 08:09 1 August 2013 morning report.
Mr Key’s latest… Al Qaeda have “trainees” in NZ, they have been trained in places like Yemen… ffs
The man thinks we’re fools..or something else.
Prime Minister John Key has justified the changes to the country’s spying laws by saying some people in New Zealand have been trained by al-Qaeda in places such as Yemen.
Mr Key said in “the real world” powers to spy on civilians was necessary.
“In New Zealand there are people who’ve been trained for al-Qaeda camps who operate out of New Zealand, who are in contact with people overseas, who have gone off to Yemen and other countries to train.
“I’m sorry, but that’s the real world.”
He said it was a “robust regime” before a signature was placed on a warrant to spy on someone.
“I wish those things didn’t happen in New Zealand,” Mr Key said.
“But if people don’t believe there’s the odd person in New Zealand who presents a potential threat, either on the international stage or in New Zealand, unfortunately they’re wrong.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10906592
Sounds sensible to me and it will for most New Zealanders. No traction there.
The changes in the GCSB bill emphasize the “economic well being of New Zealand”.
Which entails the careful watch of money launderers and recidivist cartels that have gone rogue.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/130291230/GF-Co-JPM-Out-of-Control
The question is why are they still trading in the NZ marketplace?
Whilst Key suggests that we need to be guarded as to a handful of people who have trained in Yemen,do we also have to have watching briefs on MBA from Harvard.
We know US residents are more prone to criminal behavior as the US has 25% of the worlds prison population,should we enhance our border protection to target visitors from the US?
Looks like the Mark Taylor story is about to get dusted off for another outing:
Key’s initial spin: http://www.3news.co.nz/Key-confirms-Kiwi-linked-to-al-Qaeda-living-in-NZ/tabid/423/articleID/224171/Default.aspx
But then the truth comes out: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10751170
Problem for Key is that this all happened in 2009-2011
Following the Roy Morgan poll it is noticable that alot of the Cunliffe harpies (excluding the institutionalised ones) on this site have gone very quiet. The Shearer hating appears to have died down.
It is not like there hasn’t been bait laid either. Alot of recent posts have provided ample opportunity to put the boot in.
Of course we all know that Shearer is going to get rolled, what we don’t know is when.
This weird lull could be viewed as a barometer reading for a very fast approaching storm.
I haven’t noticed a decrease in criticism of Shearer here. It’s just that we’ve been talking about the GCSB so much. But when the talk turns to Labour, amongst the good discussion on policy, there’s still plenty of comments about Shearer. What blog are you actually reading?
I think there’s not all that much left to say on Shearer. We’re just waiting now.
Which one?
A vote for Labour is a vote for Shearer or a vote for Shearer is a vote for Labour?
Either way it makes no difference even though a person may have a preference for whom they would like to be the leader of a political party. E.g. Banks and the Act party.
.. so how how come they are going up in the polls ?
What does that say about New Zealand today ?
[lprent: off topic – moved to OpenMike. Read the policy and consider yourself warned. ]
The polls always reflect last month or so. At the moment they reflect Duncan Garner’s solo Labour leadership challenge, and the “man ban” beat up. Next month (or the next) they will reflect this lot…
The polls reflect that most peoples exposure to politics is the shit John Key spins on More FM etc.
Yep. After watching the damn things closely for the last 6 years, the lag seems to vary between 5 and 8 weeks most of the time. It shortens to about 2-3 weeks at election times. But they are always laggy.
On the other hand, there is a distinct trend over the last 3 polls and that GCR is “disturbing”
Indeed. I’m not liking the vibe. Even if there’s a slight bounce next time, it’ll still not mean labour’s out of the woods.
I take much heart from your previous comments McFlock that we mustn’t look at a single poll result and cry that the sky is falling. Shearer is doing fine, Labour is sitting on a natural rate of 32%-33% and this is most likely a one off low result which won’t be repeated.
Even at 29%, its still a good deal higher than the actual 2011 election result and Shearer must be given credit for that, as you have correctly mentioned on previous occasions.
🙄
It’s not the 29% that’s a concern (although it is a threshold-breaker), it’s the last four polls results. And what about the Greens, bucko? Is their lowest result since the election (and below their election performance) Shearer’s fault, too?
I mean, I know nobody’s happier than you at the thought of the left being back to where it was 18 months ago (not even Key), but you might have the decency to cut a hole in your trouser pocket rather than simply unzipping to show everyone your ecstatic reaction.
I do love how the new tactic to deflect commentary on Labour’s poll results is “butbutbut the GREENS are down too!!!! You must think that’s Shearer’s fault!!!!”
Makes just as much sense as demanding that we ignore Labour’s performance unless we also talk about Act’s.
No, because I’ve always argued for a left government, not just a labour one.
Try thinking about it a bit:
Problem: national are gaining support, the opposition are losing support. Both of them. Both the greens and labour have lost similar proportions of support in the same time period.
Whatever caused the sudden shift is not just restricted to labour. I know it goes against the gripefest mantra that it’s all just down to the (possibly imaginary) warring faction in the labour caucus that the fanclub doesn’t support, but reality can be a bitch like that.
What? Greens support is hovering totally within its true level of 12% +/- 2%.
Don’t panic McFlock, the sky is NOT falling, the “Left” which you are so proud of is still on track to win.
As you wish it, so it will be. I have total faith in Labour and the Greens. Why don’t you? Find your faith again, and let’s get this ride moving!
When the Greens DO get into government watch their support crash to 6% as the Oriental Bay and Aro Valley Greens who own 2 rental properties see the light.
yeah, we’ll just ignore their couple of 14.5%s since 2011, shall we?
So basically, what you’re sarcastically arguing is that labour has a “true level” of something like 32% (and this is due to their bad performance), whereas their likely coalition partners have a “true level” of around 12% (perfectly fine performance from them, though).
If your idea of a “true level” of support is not complete bullshit, what is national’s “true level” of support?
And doesn’t that mean an eternity of national rule, because 31+12 will always be 43, never 53?
No, don’t ignore them, but I would expect a couple of results (very marginally) outside the +/-2% margin of error on the basis of a 95% CI.
But the vast majority of results for the Greens lie exactly +/- 2% of 12%.
actually, fair call on that given your broad MoE and 37 datapoints..
and your thoughts on:
National could actually rule the country permanently, if they were focussed on serving the top 33%, instead of just the top 1%.
so everything is futile, and the leadership really doesn’t matter.
Bit of a fucking grim viewpoint, though.
I’m being at all negative – I’ve just adopted your view that the Labour Leader, whoever it may be, is not really an important factor for electoral success.
BTW, National can’t help but sabotage themselves and help out their crony millionaire mates. They’ll be thrown out eventually. But post WWII, National has been in power for many more years than Labour.
Come now, not “just”, by any means. You are being far to modest. You’ve added an entirely new and boldly innovative sociopolitical model of a static “true level” of party support within the NZ population.
Thank goodness Labour now has your political genius working for it!
May I also commend you on your boldly innovative concept that a political party’s leader is largely irrelevant to how that party performs in the electorate. Quite stunning thinking, really.
You are most kind, but it’s hardly revolutionary to suggest that a single person might have slightly less effect on an outcome than their three-dozen (give or take) colleagues, 65 more powerful competitors, and the aligned ranks of the New Zealand media.
Worth a laugh: http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/8988229/Meridian-sends-letter-to-lamp-post
“.. so how how come they are going up in the polls ?
What does that say about New Zealand today ?”
The real question might be: What does that say about the polling system?
Are polls conducted via landlines only? Of those wealthy enough/culturally still interested in paying for a landline? Many people I know now only use cell phones.
[lprent: Off topic – moved to OpenMike. Read the policy and consider yourself warned. ]
I hear Roy Morgan only polls people still on party lines.
The polls are complete nonsense, Labour is incredibly popular and these polls are purely a bankster neo liberalist smoke screen to keep the population in the dark and prop up a dying rich prick fascist dictatorship.
Irony is not your thing BM…….you’re far too piggishly “my own selfishly perceived interests” driven. Arising no doubt out of your prideful claims of having “done fabulously well in business blah blah blah.”
I have an opening for a shoe shiner if you’re interested.
BM – how wonderfully you illustrate my point ! Thanks.
No worries, Uncle North.
Read the Roy Morgan report (linked elsewhere). Not just landlines.
Also read the date of polling period.
I’m on an Ipad lprent. on broadband wi=fi in a house, yeah and no reply button.
As always, the motive, happen here…nah…never
/
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/07/money-nsa-vote/
why didnt dunne just tell hendry he had soup on his tie and why didnt he just piss off?
what sort of whore is he?
I was just thinking when looking at the Open Parachute rankings about how nice it’d been not having long server outages last month. And then the server system had an outage….
Drat… And I still haven’t finished having the fallbacks all running – 2 out of 3 bits ain’t good enough.
At least this support crew were on to it immediately
Big ups to the person or persons who have written statements in chalk on the footpaths in the Johnsonville shopping area about why Peter Dunne is an arse. I noticed people stopping and reading and some were even smiling with acknowledgment. Well done! We need more and more awareness raising exercises like this in the sleepy hamlet of Ohariu.
Nice tidy writing too:-)
yes, good job!
So, the head of Parliamentary Services has taken the knife in the back. There are no words to describe key. He’s just a pimple on the r sole of life.
I am curious about the ‘Feeds’ box to the left of the screen. It seems that ‘No Minister’ is a bit of an oddball among the other sites that are there. Is there any particular reason for having this site among the Feeds?
Decades of books have vanished because of US copyright protections
And another capitalist truism blown out of the water.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10906694
Soon there will be minimal ability with rising interest rates for a CGT to achieve any revenue for the govt. My worry is that should Labour win the next election (still possible with Dave) and to extract any revenue from a CGT that the LLG (Lab led govt) will be forced to supporting & implementing additional neo-lib policies in allowing for even greater housing inflation in order to balance the books.
Conformance to the neoliberal monetary system will always have this result. The Government spends its entire effort on trying to “balance the books” (a pointless and unproductive task) instead of getting done what is required.
Damn it looks like my planned annual holiday to the Yemen will have to be cancelled this year, i might get accused of being an Al Quaeda training recruit,
If the Slippery little Shyster is going to try and protect Himself by Him and his office not only spying upon the private communications between Members of the Parliament and the Fourth Estate by releasing what to all extents and purposes is classified information about New Zealand residents supposedly training at Al Quaeda camps in the Yemen then the little Shyster should release the names of these supposed trainees as well so that wrong aspersions cannot be directed in any direction,
The Prime Minister should also tell the Parliament NOW whether either the SIS or GCSB are or ever have been monitoring all the cell phone traffic going into and out of the Parliamentary precinct…
Yeah. Yemen. So tell me the US and UK don’t have capabilities to spy on (digitally surveil) people in Yemen?
I am puzzled by Key’s statement:
And wouldn’t the SIS be monitoring any alleged terrorist threats from Kiwis in NZ?
To correct Professor Jackson most terrorist attacks are stopped by no-one in spite of the billions and billions of dollars worldwide spent upon security and intelligence…
Remember who was the last high profile person to visit the country ?
“..Holmes said. “But the amazing thing is I cannot recall ever going to a friendlier country than this. Even people who are taken hostage report that they’re treated beautifully by the people who have taken them hostage. So they’re welcoming even when they’re holding you prisoner. Fantastic.” – Who are we to believe ??
http://tvnz.co.nz/intrepid-journeys/paul-holmes-yemen-1754392
LOL
http://www.thecivilian.co.nz/al-qaeda-offered-charter-school-contract-after-showing-proficiency-in-training-new-zealanders/
Indeed triples the LOLZ…
Was Key talking about Tamati Iti and the rest of Tuhoe, I wonder. They were real terrorists weren’t they. Even Auntie Helen’s mob thought so.
Who on Earth is Tamati Iti? Get back to the slime from whence you crawled. The WhaleSpew Army is missing you.
“They were real terrorists weren’t they”
Of course they weren’t, what makes you think that?
Ooops.