Special place in hell award, voted by everyone who can no longer afford to turn the heater on. The Chair of Australia’s ACCC Christopher Niesche now opposes the privatization of public utilities, after 30 years of advocating for them:
The Chair of Australia’s ACCC Christopher Niesche now opposes the privatization of public utilities, after 30 years of advocating for them:
No he doesn’t. He still favours them but he’s upset with how the government has been carrying them out by not putting in place the correct regulations so as to get top dollar for them. He still believes that privatisation and competition makes things cheaper against all the evidence to the contrary.
Exactly Draco, he uses telecoms and airfares as examples but those price reductions are purely driven by technology changes. I’m amazed at at how a French girl staying with us talks for ages to family and friends back home via Facebook for free.
Yes dv. Would be interesting to compare accurately the cost of same or near same design, same size, same land form, of houses in 4 or 5 places around NZ. It would show up if costs are being inflated just because you can in Auckland. (Take the land cost out of the equation of course.)
A major reason is that because housing costs in some regions are lower, labour costs are lower and businesses can survive/thrive on lower profits. Often council compliance/consent costs are lower as well because there is a lot less NIMBY/NOTE/BANANA going on, so there are fewer challenges/hearings etc.
Over the weekend I got that caching system fully operational again, fixed the replies tab to use ajax to lazy load the replies – which meant that the cache system works better, tweaked a number of little bugs, optimised the media library images (still have some of the theme images to do), and generally made the system faster and tighter.
I also organised to increase the bandwidth uplink for the site.
What I didn’t do was to get the search working. Lyn is promising to cook tonight, so I I get home from work at a reasonable hour I’ll do it then. I also have to optimise some other images and look at when some of the javascript loads.
Good lad, much appreciated.
edited
If I ever get back up your way, and that pub on the north shore still sells Youngs SLA, i’ll love to shout you one at least. cheers
Glad we are so far away, but in many ways not really. Is Turkey an expansionist state?
My Greek friends all think so – in one way or another. My Kurdish friends on the whole loth them with a passion.
Here is an interesting interview, going to run off and read some of his writing now.
Some elements of the US gov likely provided support to the (presumably pro-US) coup plotters.
Erdogan is going to take a very unforgiving view of that.
NB he closed Incirlik airbase down again yesterday, surrounding it with up to 7,000 armed police equipped with automatic weapons and armoured personnel carriers, preventing all movement on and off base.
Official word is that this was just to provide extra security to a visiting top US admiral, and to conduct security checks ahead of time.
Which sounds like a PR story to me, given the observed facts.
waghorns conspiracy of the day.
trump truly is still good friends of the clintons and is doing the ultimate dirty politics play.
destroying the republicans and getting clinton elected in one foul swoop.
She Stoops to Conquer: Notes From the Democratic Convention
by Jeffrey St. Clair
One or two highlights from a relatively long opinion piece:
I want to apologize to the Sandernistas for any impolite things I may have written about you in the past 10 months. I especially want to apologize to those of you who rose up after your leader abandoned you, after Bernie wiped out your votes and muted your voices, after he turned you over to the DNC’s thuggish floor managers and security guards, after he sat passively as your brave chants of “No More Drones” were drowned out by the fascist war-cry of “USA! USA!!”
I want to apologize for doubting your resolve. I want to apologize without qualification. You didn’t cry when Bernie betrayed you. Not for long. You marched right back into the Wells Fargo Center intent on spoiling the party. You didn’t sour on your ideals. You refused to be domesticated. You pissed on their carpet. You shouted down their war criminals. You made this squalid affair fun for a few precious hours. And that ain’t bad. Somewhere Abbie Hoffman is cracking a smile (though perhaps not at the spectacle of Meryl Streep ripping off his wardrobe during her bewildering performance, an act so incoherent it made one long for the Absurdist theater of Clint Eastwood and his empty chair routine.)
I woke up this morning with a hangover that has defied the usual remedies. Too much mezcal from the Kaine Drinking Game (one shot for every reversal of a long-held position). Too many hours of tedium, dread and bombast. For relief, I turned to the Holy Text itself, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: ’72 and drank in HTS’s savage denunciation of lesser-evil voting …
… Trump took to Twitter early this morning, as his hair was being replastered into place, and denounced the All Star lineup at the Democratic Convention last night as an orgy of “empty rhetoric.” He wasn’t wrong. The whole affair had the feel of one of those rock concerts featuring bands from the 1970s. The first few phrases were thrilling, then it all started to fade away into a nostalgic stream of familiar hooks and licks you’ve heard a thousand times before on Classic Rock AM radio. All played very well with magnificent staging and a dazzling light show, yet utterly antiseptic. The curious Tim Kaine interlude was the lone exception. It was hard to tell if his performance was camp or kitsch …
… The New York Times reports that after spending most of the spring in hiding, mega-donors are flocking back to the Clinton campaign. With Bernie vanquished and pacified, it is now safe for the powerbrokers of the Clinton cash machine to re-emerge, after being asked by the campaign to be discreet during the primaries. Now hedge funders, insurance execs, Big Pharma lobbyists and securities traders can get back to the business of wining and dining the Clinton team with style …
… Chuck Schumer: “I’m not worried about the white working class voters. For every blue collar white male we lose, we’ll gain two college educated women voters in the suburbs.” I’d put my money on the TPP passing before Christmas.
What else would you expect from Schumer? The only regular interaction he has with working class people is the elevator operator at Citibank when he rides up to the executive suite to pick up a campaign check …
… Chris Cuomo is giving a tribute to his father Mario Cuomo, both of whom worked as lawyers for…Donald Trump. Trumps and Cuomos go way back. In fact, Donald encouraged Mario to run for president in 1988 (he hated Bush) and Mario urged Donald to run for governor of NY, after he stepped down. Bi-partisanship you can believe. (See Wayne Barrett’s Trump: the Deals and the Downfall)
Cuomo is attacking Trump for “selling fear,” as he simultaneously sells fear of Trump. The Republicans sell a dark dystopian fear. While the Democrats sell fear with a smile and a drone strike …
… Melania Trump’s petty crime of word theft was much less noxious than the Democrats flagrant cribbing of the GOP’s rabid USA! USA!! chants …
… Nancy Pelosi, defender of the poor & alleged inside stock (Visa) trader. Net Worth: $58 million. Who says West Coast liberalism doesn’t pay ? …
… Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen have shown up to talk about how Hillary practices the “poetry of doing.” Doing what, one might ask? Steenburgen, a native Arkansan, is the woman Bill Clinton reportedly took out to dinner the night he executed the brain-damaged Ricky Ray Rector to boost his poll numbers in the 1992 campaign. There’s ice running through those Clinton veins. It’s one thing to mock the disabled; it’s something else entirely to put them to death for your own political advancement …
… Yet another cop at the Mic, a moment of silence for the fallen police and speeches from relatives of dead officers. The Democrats have featured more cops as prime time speakers than the GOP, all of them lecturing about how “violence isn’t the solution” to anything. Since January 1, 668 civilians have been killed by police …
… Trump has really gotten under the skin of the military-security establishment. His repeated swipes at NATO did it. They’ve united behind HRC. You’ve got to give him that. On the other hand, it gives an ominous new meaning to “Stronger Together.” …
… Two parties, both proto-fascist. How to choose ? …
… We begin to see the outlines of Hillary’s economic plan: military Kaine-sianism.
Hillary has already out-Thatchered the Iron Lady and she hasn’t been elected yet. She’s made the complete metamorphosis from a Goldwater girl to a McGovern woman to a Reagan granny.
Hillary once again embraces Reagan to bash Trump. Reagan left the Democratic Party in the 1950s, but the Party apparently never left him …
… “How many times will she leave her mark? How many ways will she light up the world?” the disembodied voice of Morgan Freeman asks. Well, how many drones and cruise missiles can Lockheed and Boeing manufacture in four years?
I’m getting a weird vibe that they might actually bring out Qaddafi’s head on a pike …
… In her brisk recitation of the Rodham family history, Hillary somehow left out the fact that her father was a John Bircher. Of course, by the end of Hillary’s 2nd term her father may seem as meek as George McGovern …
Does Hillary cough every time she lies, or does she cough every time she stumbles into the truth?
Pledge fealty to Israel. Check.
Defend NATO. Check.
Bash Russia. Check.
Destroy ISIS (by funding Al Qaeda?). Check.
Praise the Generals. Check.
Hail our military (and its defense contractors) as a national treasure. Check.
Salute the troops. Check.
America is great. Check.
America is good. Check.
America is not a bully. Check.
Manifest Destiny. Check.
God bless America. Check.
Unlike Hillary’s idol Ronald Reagan, there was no pledge to eliminate nuclear weapons. Just a vow to have a more stable hand on the button than Trump. Like that Harry Truman. Duck and cover.
People in the audience are crying. I’m crying. I don’t think we’re crying for the same reasons.
It’ll be great to have a woman President of the United States, an outstanding woman like this to act as an examplar and role model to all our daughters and sisters and mothers and wives. A new generation of young women inspired to follow her footsteps to success in life.
I’m sure everyone notes the sincere concern and depth of consideration behind your kind words. Without the intelligent analyses you provide, one might fall into the error of believing an impulsive, boorish, bullying braggart would be a suitable person to have in possession of the nuclear trigger.
oh well, you know for a women who has made her life in a mans world you want to blame her for working like a man?
🙂
So yes, for the women of the US it is great. Since the inception of ‘all men are equal’ a women has finally made it to be nominated for Presnit.
And one day, they might even nominate a women that would meet your standard of approval. But for the moment this is as good as it gets.
Just read up on how Clinton is a threat to both the national security of middle east nations, and to her own USA
Clinton flagrantly disregarded highest level NSA “gamma” classification by mishandling emails
Comments by Bill Binney, NSA whistleblower, former technical director NSA with responsibilities for 6,000 NSA staff
And the other point is that Hillary, according to an article published by the Observer in March of this year, has a problem with NSA because she compromised Gamma material. Now that is the most sensitive material at NSA. And so there were a number of NSA officials complaining to the press or to the people who wrote the article that she did that. She lifted the material that was in her emails directly out of Gamma reporting. That is a direct compromise of the most sensitive material at the NSA. So she’s got a real problem there. So there are many people who have problems with what she has done in the past. So I don’t necessarily look at the Russians as the only one(s) who got into those emails.
NB Gamma compartmentalised is an NSA handling caveat for the most sensitive of intelligence materials.
What other critical national security transgressions will you forgive Hillary for just because she appeals to your sense of gender politics?
I also support Trump over Hillary Clinton…and “role model” has got nothing to do with it
…I actually think Hillary Clinton is mad as well as bad…and a threat to world peace
(see link at 16)
(…Trump is neither mad nor bad imo but a pragmatist who plays the field to get the deal… as one black left activist said, he would prefer “white trash” Trump who blows his mouth off to Clinton, who really is racist …based on her past form)
Apparently he has been promised the chair position of a major Congressional committee which would confer on him a lot of power to ‘effect positive change’ or whatever it is they say these days.
So he didnt even ask for/get a cabinet post. Given his record as mayor of Burlington, VT, he would have been a good candidate for Housing and Urban Development.
Trust the nasty old Herald aye ? The headline – “This is how a solo mum feeds her three kids with $81 a week.” The headline implies that it is reasonably do-able. Manifestly it is not. Only a fool would imply that, especially since the $81 must stretch to cover sustenance not just for the three kids but also for her. Besides that, the article doesn’t even purport to show the “how” the headline alludes to.
I suggest the headline writer be compelled to try it for a month. At pain of heavy sanction for refusal or failure in the task. That’d get the heartless bastard/s pretty quickly into line with common realities.
I have huge admiration for this woman and the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of similarly placed battlers. Oh that I could I flick a switch and instantly have her with a hundred bucks in her hands, so as to ‘indulge’ her kids (likes of BM and Alwyn speaking) with their first trip to the movies for some years.
“I can put my hand on my heart and say that the majority of parents I see are not doing drugs, they’re not doing alcohol, in fact they have very little money to be able to afford those things. People need to understand that parents really do love their kids and quite frankly they’re embarrassed that they can’t provide for them, so for us it’s about giving them a hand up so they can get to school in a position to learn and do the best they can.”
All of this and the Weak Man averts eyes and giggles and sighs. And Paula Bennett defames. And Nick Smith raves in singular, detached, weirdo fashion. What the fuck ?
The biggest issue here seems to be rent, power and water. Everything else would be more manageable but for the level of rent, power and water she has to pay,
Get out your wallets, America: It might not be long before we’re bailing out “too big to fail” banks again
Despite assurances that things changed after 2008, banks are bigger, less transparent and riskier than ever
+100 save nz…yes I fully expect another banking crisis…especially when they start cold calling you and asking if you want a credit card as ANZ is doing
‘The Big Short’ is a great film for describing the last banking crisis
Marama Fox: “She [Helen Clark] didn’t want to sign up to the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People under the United Nations, she resisted that strongly. Also with the foreshore and seabed we saw that as the largest modern day confiscation of land for Maori. And then there was her support in the Tuhoe raids.”
With hindsight her time as pm seems only about building her cv for bigger things, steady hand on the tiller and all that, one also wonders if she shafted labour over the tpp to garner support from the US.
The F and S act was absolutely nessesary to ensure that the right of New Zealanders to access the beach was preserved. Iwi control of the beaches would have led to severe restrictions of access and curtailment of recreational options.
It is a bit more complicated than you and Marama Fox are implying Chris.
The reason Labour felt it couldn’t vote for the declaration is explained in this Herald article of 2007:
“Explaining that vote, New Zealand’s then permanent representative to the UN, diplomat Rosemary Banks, said one article in the document gave indigenous peoples the right “to own use, develop or control lands and territories they have traditionally owned, occupied or used”.
She said the entire country was potentially caught within the scope of that article. “The article appears to require recognition of rights to lands now lawfully owned by other citizens, both indigenous and non-indigenous …
“Furthermore, this article implies indigenous peoples have rights that others do not.”
New Zealand’s “explanation” also saw major problems with the declaration’s provisions on redress and compensation for indigenous peoples. The declaration also implied that indigenous peoples had a right of veto over Parliament and management of national resources.”
Meanwhile National has only ever given conditional support for the declaration as the same article explains:
“National appears to have given its backing to the declaration on condition a proviso is attached saying that progressing Maori rights occurs within New Zealand’s “current legal and constitutional frameworks”.
So in practice you could not get a cigarette paper between the position of the Nats and Labour.
Michael Cullen and others have have admitted that Labour got it wrong on the Foreshore and Seabed Act. That was 12 years ago-Marama Fox seems intent on remaining bitter and twisted on this issue when Labour has done so much for Maori. Who started the Treaty Process that will transfer perhaps $4 billion to Maori (justifiably) for instance? From memory Helen Clark was part of the government then.
So Tariana Turia’s childish venom towards Helen Clark is still holding sway with her Maori Party brain-washed minions? All because Tariana thinks Helen organised for someone to take a photo of her hiding in the back seat of a limousine after leaving Vogel House one evening.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the Maori Party is being “treacherous” in saying it does not support Helen Clark’s bid to become UN Secretary General.
“It is petty grand standing without any principle,” he said. “the reality is the Maori Party is desperately appearing to be relevant.”
“It is treacherous in the extreme,” he said.
All of Helen Clark’s opponents would be listening and the criticism would now become part of their campaign, although she had bigger problems than that.
Labour Party leader Andrew Little said the criticism of Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox “stinks.”
I’ve avoid responding to your comments because I find you a swooning sycophant for labour. Now you prove my fears of labour being a safe place for anti-maori sentiment it has morphed into.
Harry Holland would be rolling in his grave at your comments.
I’m pretty sure Peter Fraser would have kicked you out of the party.
But the party has changed, I get that, it’s OK to join in Maori bashing now ah Anne?
As for you lies about the formation about the Maori party, you’re the one talking personality politics, not the party. They were driven by ideas, for example Maori representing themselves and their own issues. Plus a distinct feeling, and proof that Maori were no better off under labour or national – for Maori – neoliberalism sucks, no matter who is the master.
I’ve had enough of your hysterical nonsense Adam. Most regulars here know I’m none of the things you claim. As for my supposed Maori bashing… you have seen no evidence of that whatsoever. The Maori Party betrayed their own people when they joined forces with NAct. In doing so, they were instrumental in supporting – even voting for – legislation which has had a detrimental impact on so many of their own people – a “fact” which has been well and truly canvassed on this site over the years.
Oh and btw, I retracted my comments about Tariana Turia yesterday. It transpires she has been big enough to move on from the F&S days. A pity Marama Fox didn’t do the same.
Your comments once again show how little you understand Māori politics, or the Māori Party, or indeed want to take the time to know.
The Māori Party have not betrayed their own people. They were mandated to sit at the table, you might not like that, but that is what they were asked to do by their people. With the bad, as well as the good. I think Marama can list the bad, and has listed the bad quite clearly every time she has been asked.
But, what I really don’t like about what you have said is try to equate the Māori Party as some sort modern day kūpapa party for Māori elites, it’s dishonest, plus it insults Māori and their choices. It demeans the choice to sit at the table, and that the only option you deem acceptable, is to be in perpetual opposition.
It is a bit more complicated than you and Marama Fox are implying Chris.
The reason Labour felt it couldn’t vote for the declaration is explained in this Herald article of 2007:
Bearded Git. 143 countries signed on to the Declaration. 4 did not. Yes, NZ was one of the 4.
143 member countries of the UN signed the declaration. Third world. African, South and Central American, coloured formerly colonised countries were prominent amongst them.
4 very white countries which massacred native tribes on their own lands opposed the declaration: New Zealand, Canada, Australia and USA. (Four of the FVEY nations).
Anne, any comments on this? Why did NZ under Helen Clark hold out alongside a few other white dominated former European colony FVEY nations?
Not interested in your political games CV. I was responding to Marama Fox’s misrepresentations. For example, the Tuhoe raids. The Minister of Police was advised of the operation (out of courtesy), iirc, a matter of hours before it occurred. As it turned out the raid was based on faulty evidence and police over-kill and the attempt to blame Helen Clark was yet another strand of Dirty Politics – this time being indulged in by the Maori Party.
Got one better for you – NZ under John Key subsequently endorsed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
And settled Tuhoe’s treaty claims.
The Minister of Police was advised of the operation (out of courtesy), iirc, a matter of hours before it occurred.
Do you actually believe this? As I understood it not only were up to 300 cops involved, but it was said that both the police anti-terrorism squad (Special Tactics Group) and members of the SAS were around (possibly just in an observational role?).
The only way Cabinet members were not briefed on the biggest police operation of the year, an anti-terrorism one no less, would have been if the police were setting a political trap for the Government of the day.
Really your argument comes down to Maori should be grateful to labour, and why are they complaining?
Thanks Bearded Git, that went down like a pile of puke.
Let me ask you a simple question. If I came and took your house, or car, or indeed everything you had and left you with a tent, how would you feel? If I or my representatives then did little or nothing about that for – let’s say 150 years – you’d be ok with that? Then when I or my representatives did do somthing about it – I gave you back 5% of what I took, with the proviso that you should be grateful to me or my representative for having done so?
That kind explanation is often used by governments that simply don’t want to even think about providing guidance or redress in relation to issues that negatively affect a particular minority group. The reality is that the UNDRIP is not binding on states that sign it. It’s aspirational in nature, which doesn’t mean it’s worthless because it still focuses on important ideas and tells government which policy direction it should be taking. But signing it doesn’t mean the instrument takes precedent over domestic law or gives “a right of veto over Parliament and management of national resources.” That’s just not true. In 2008 the Labour government gave the same reason for its initial refusal to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Disability groups were angry because New Zealand played such a major role in the convention’s creation so saw the refusal as exposing a lack of real commitment to the convention’s principles. The Labour government eventually ratified it, but only after a lot of pressure from the disability sector pointing out that ratification wouldn’t mean what the government was saying it would mean. Clark and the Labour government claimed wrongly that nations would be bound by the UNDRIP and used this to justify actively voting against even adopting it. Quite sickening for a government that held itself out as progressive.
“”The Labour Party refused to sign the Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is a part of the UN agenda.
The Labour Party in its time saw the Tuhoe raids and of course also there is the Foreshore and Seabed amendment which took the rights of Māori away to go to court.””
Now hold on just one cotton picken minute Marama…don’t be so hasty in slamming others for doing exactly what Turia, Sharples and Flavell did in May 2013 when they voted with their National bedmates on the Part 4 amendment to the Public Health and Disability Act.
But when disabled people and their family carers go in good faith through the Human Rights Tribunal, the high court and the Appeal Court over the issue of the proven discrimination against them by the Misery of Health, and then the government responds by retrospectively making the discrimination legal AND, AND removing the rights of disabled people and their chosen family carers to ever take the case (that they have won X 3 btw) back to the HRC or the courts…well, what the fucking fuck I say.
Turia denied to my face in mid 2014 that she (as also Minister for Disability Issues and a noisy supporter for paying family carers) voted with her National buddies on this. Flavell also denied he voted with National on this Bill later on at a ‘meet the candidates’ meeting for the disability community in the run up to the 2014 general election.
Either they are both stupid. Or they both think they can lie and go unchallenged.
Whatever the reason…the Maori party did do this…voted for an amendment that removed the rights of people to take an issue to court…an issue they had already taken through the system and WON. And the legislation was passed under extraordinary conditions and with an outrageous lack of transparency.
WARNING…do not attempt to print the above document …the redacted sections are blacked out…guaranteed printer- killer.
I believe they sold their honour that May, for $1.2 billion in funding from the Budget for Maori Initiatives…a three times increase from the year before.
Hypocrites.
And barefaced cheek from Fox for calling the pot black.
(I am no particular fan of Clark…but I cannot abide fucking hypocrisy)
So…Marama Fox…what do you say???
Come on…I’d really like to know how your Party could ever claim to respect Human Rights when you were a party to this.
And how many other pieces of Govt. legislation have they supported that was NOT in the interest of the poorest and most needy people? (Bearing in mind Maori are over represented in these statistics.) Dozens of them. The hypocrisy of their stance is overwhelming. This Fox woman claims Labour has never apologised for the F&S Bill. Wrong!! I recall them making several admissions of “getting it wrong” and “being sorry” over that affair.
The Maori Party was founded on vengeful and petty minded hatred of Helen Clark and it looks like nothing has changed. Any political party founded for those reasons isn’t going to survive. It’s only by the grace of the NAct govt. they’ve lasted this long.
“Bearing in mind Maori are over represented in these…”
Interestingly with the PHDAct amendment, the definition of ‘family member’…and as a consequence a person who cannot be a paid carer of an eligible disabled person (unless its under the equally discriminatory Funded Family Care Policy) is…
““(a) spouse, civil union partner, or de facto partner; or
“(b) parent, step-parent, or grandparent; or
“(c) child, stepchild, or grandchild; or
“(d) sister, half-sister, stepsister, brother, half-brother, or
stepbrother; or
“(e) aunt or uncle; or
“(f) nephew or niece; or
“(g)first cousin
Now, take yourself to the Far North, or to Ngati Porou or Tuhoi territory and the chances are that a fair few of the available potential carers would fit the definition of ‘family’.
On the surface, this could potentially have led to a considerable saving for the Ministry as now those Maori Contracted Disability Providers, who were routinely employing family members as carers, could no longer do so.
Hmmm…it never happened, and to my knowledge Maori and Pacifica Providers are still flouting what is now law, and paying family carers )including spouses and partners which are expressly and emphatically excluded from any (transparent) Funded family Care policy.
The redacted sections of the RIS linked to above…does it hide provisions to allow these Providers (under Whanau ora, perhaps?) to ignore the intention of this amendment?
This would be the only circumstances I can think of why the Maori Party voted with the Government on this….especially after Turia fully supporting the payment of family carers up to the passing of the legislation.
Really upset that the police are digging up CTV site looking for someone to blame while the Christchurch City Council gets off scott free.
Bottom line NO ONE SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THAT BUILDING. This was the direct responsibility of CCC . They are criminally liable and yet they are home free.. why?
Why?
Not just council the designer and the consultants who no doubt ok.ed the design for the council who then rubber stamped its construction actually i would say these consultants were more to blame than anybody because theyre supposed to know what theyre doing unlike councilers who are mere lay people if thats the right term and who pay to be advised by “experts”.
I think Xanthe is referring to the fact that even though the building was made unstable after the first big shake , the council oked workers going back into the building .
Yeah but someone must have assured the council that the building was safe who was that person or persons ? logically it was the same person or persons that said it was safe in the first place .I seem to remember reading that the designer was known for some sort of unusual design features of a structually minimilist nature so being as this apparent departure from the norm would have had to be signed off on …..
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CrossTalking with Dmitry Babich, Mark Sleboda, and Xavier Moreau.”
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Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
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Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Special place in hell award, voted by everyone who can no longer afford to turn the heater on. The Chair of Australia’s ACCC Christopher Niesche now opposes the privatization of public utilities, after 30 years of advocating for them:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11684826
No he doesn’t. He still favours them but he’s upset with how the government has been carrying them out by not putting in place the correct regulations so as to get top dollar for them. He still believes that privatisation and competition makes things cheaper against all the evidence to the contrary.
Exactly Draco, he uses telecoms and airfares as examples but those price reductions are purely driven by technology changes. I’m amazed at at how a French girl staying with us talks for ages to family and friends back home via Facebook for free.
oh well nuthing can be dunne about it, cause the free market has spoken and it is good or not
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/299688/uncovered-more-faults-in-steel-testing
I really don’t understand why this is so
Yes dv. Would be interesting to compare accurately the cost of same or near same design, same size, same land form, of houses in 4 or 5 places around NZ. It would show up if costs are being inflated just because you can in Auckland. (Take the land cost out of the equation of course.)
Probably readers of the std might be able to provide the data to TS?
you are a reader of the standard. So please find and provide us with the information.
thanks.
I was thinking of readers who have built of know some one who has built recently.
A major reason is that because housing costs in some regions are lower, labour costs are lower and businesses can survive/thrive on lower profits. Often council compliance/consent costs are lower as well because there is a lot less NIMBY/NOTE/BANANA going on, so there are fewer challenges/hearings etc.
Well, Malcolm Turnbull tip toed over Kevin Rudd’s ambitions to be the UNSG. So now its coming back to bite him on the bum. Serves him right.
Why he didnt jut say “Look Kevin Rudd’s a narsistic prick and the UN despite its many many faults, deserves better than that”
Over the weekend I got that caching system fully operational again, fixed the replies tab to use ajax to lazy load the replies – which meant that the cache system works better, tweaked a number of little bugs, optimised the media library images (still have some of the theme images to do), and generally made the system faster and tighter.
I also organised to increase the bandwidth uplink for the site.
What I didn’t do was to get the search working. Lyn is promising to cook tonight, so I I get home from work at a reasonable hour I’ll do it then. I also have to optimise some other images and look at when some of the javascript loads.
All I can say is. You are doing a great job and I for one appreciate it.
Cheers for your labour of love, lprent…
+100
Good lad, much appreciated.
edited
If I ever get back up your way, and that pub on the north shore still sells Youngs SLA, i’ll love to shout you one at least. cheers
Thanks lprent for all your hard work.
Wow. Just testing from work, and the screens are snappy.
This comment is purely to see if it is better with saving comments (and going through all of that background checking)
Better – still not fast.
Replies tab isn’t working for me today, Chrome on Linux. Was working yesterday at home, Chrome on Win10.
Edit: after having closed that browser tab, and opened up a new one sometime later, replies tab is now working for me.
Glad we are so far away, but in many ways not really. Is Turkey an expansionist state?
My Greek friends all think so – in one way or another. My Kurdish friends on the whole loth them with a passion.
Here is an interesting interview, going to run off and read some of his writing now.
johnhelmer.net/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgCekC8VqiI
Some elements of the US gov likely provided support to the (presumably pro-US) coup plotters.
Erdogan is going to take a very unforgiving view of that.
NB he closed Incirlik airbase down again yesterday, surrounding it with up to 7,000 armed police equipped with automatic weapons and armoured personnel carriers, preventing all movement on and off base.
Official word is that this was just to provide extra security to a visiting top US admiral, and to conduct security checks ahead of time.
Which sounds like a PR story to me, given the observed facts.
In a nutshell…… http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11685106
waghorns conspiracy of the day.
trump truly is still good friends of the clintons and is doing the ultimate dirty politics play.
destroying the republicans and getting clinton elected in one foul swoop.
With Bernie helping out the same effort on the side.
She Stoops to Conquer: Notes From the Democratic Convention
by Jeffrey St. Clair
One or two highlights from a relatively long opinion piece:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/29/she-stoops-to-conquer-notes-from-the-democratic-convention/
It’ll be great to have a woman President of the United States, an outstanding woman like this to act as an examplar and role model to all our daughters and sisters and mothers and wives. A new generation of young women inspired to follow her footsteps to success in life.
Better than an oompah-loompah with a chronic inferiority complex.
Great to see that glass ceiling cracking, as per her own words, this is real progress
I’m sure everyone notes the sincere concern and depth of consideration behind your kind words. Without the intelligent analyses you provide, one might fall into the error of believing an impulsive, boorish, bullying braggart would be a suitable person to have in possession of the nuclear trigger.
oh well, you know for a women who has made her life in a mans world you want to blame her for working like a man?
🙂
So yes, for the women of the US it is great. Since the inception of ‘all men are equal’ a women has finally made it to be nominated for Presnit.
And one day, they might even nominate a women that would meet your standard of approval. But for the moment this is as good as it gets.
Your role model is trump dick – you are the last one who should cast stones at others.
Of course Trump is my preferred candidate.
Just read up on how Clinton is a threat to both the national security of middle east nations, and to her own USA
Clinton flagrantly disregarded highest level NSA “gamma” classification by mishandling emails
Comments by Bill Binney, NSA whistleblower, former technical director NSA with responsibilities for 6,000 NSA staff
NB Gamma compartmentalised is an NSA handling caveat for the most sensitive of intelligence materials.
What other critical national security transgressions will you forgive Hillary for just because she appeals to your sense of gender politics?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-31/whistleblowers-stunning-claim-nsa-has-all-hillarys-deleted-emails-it-may-be-leak
I said role model.
I also support Trump over Hillary Clinton…and “role model” has got nothing to do with it
…I actually think Hillary Clinton is mad as well as bad…and a threat to world peace
(see link at 16)
(…Trump is neither mad nor bad imo but a pragmatist who plays the field to get the deal… as one black left activist said, he would prefer “white trash” Trump who blows his mouth off to Clinton, who really is racist …based on her past form)
Best he tells black women where they’re going wrong.
/
African-American female voters are supporting Hillary Clinton at a rate of 85+%.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/6/5/1534693/-Why-85-of-Black-Female-Voters-Support-Hillary-Clinton-And-Its-Not-for-the-Reasons-You-Think
That was both hilarious and utterly depressing. I hope Sanders takes his 30 pieces of silver and buys himself a spine, and a conscience to go with it.
Apparently he has been promised the chair position of a major Congressional committee which would confer on him a lot of power to ‘effect positive change’ or whatever it is they say these days.
So he didnt even ask for/get a cabinet post. Given his record as mayor of Burlington, VT, he would have been a good candidate for Housing and Urban Development.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11685067
Trust the nasty old Herald aye ? The headline – “This is how a solo mum feeds her three kids with $81 a week.” The headline implies that it is reasonably do-able. Manifestly it is not. Only a fool would imply that, especially since the $81 must stretch to cover sustenance not just for the three kids but also for her. Besides that, the article doesn’t even purport to show the “how” the headline alludes to.
I suggest the headline writer be compelled to try it for a month. At pain of heavy sanction for refusal or failure in the task. That’d get the heartless bastard/s pretty quickly into line with common realities.
I have huge admiration for this woman and the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of similarly placed battlers. Oh that I could I flick a switch and instantly have her with a hundred bucks in her hands, so as to ‘indulge’ her kids (likes of BM and Alwyn speaking) with their first trip to the movies for some years.
“I can put my hand on my heart and say that the majority of parents I see are not doing drugs, they’re not doing alcohol, in fact they have very little money to be able to afford those things. People need to understand that parents really do love their kids and quite frankly they’re embarrassed that they can’t provide for them, so for us it’s about giving them a hand up so they can get to school in a position to learn and do the best they can.”
All of this and the Weak Man averts eyes and giggles and sighs. And Paula Bennett defames. And Nick Smith raves in singular, detached, weirdo fashion. What the fuck ?
+100 North…these are the New Zealanders the politicians have betrayed
I’d love to see John Roughan try.
There are words for people like him.
The biggest issue here seems to be rent, power and water. Everything else would be more manageable but for the level of rent, power and water she has to pay,
Get out your wallets, America: It might not be long before we’re bailing out “too big to fail” banks again
Despite assurances that things changed after 2008, banks are bigger, less transparent and riskier than ever
http://www.salon.com/2016/07/31/get_out_your_wallets_america_it_might_not_be_long_before_were_bailing_out_too_big_to_fail_banks_again/
+100 save nz…yes I fully expect another banking crisis…especially when they start cold calling you and asking if you want a credit card as ANZ is doing
‘The Big Short’ is a great film for describing the last banking crisis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Short
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDlYm15ztK4
An awesome movie…and by all reports, the Wall St a-holes are back at it full tilt
yes I must watch it again
If you do a youtube search a lot of the best scenes from the movie are there
Scary stuff
Profiting big from the implosion of the economy and people losing their houses.
This is very good on dealing with stress and post -traumatic stress, dealing with crisis situations and the importance of empathy and communication
‘Behind the police tape, crisis negotiations’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201810373/behind-the-police-tape,-crisis-negotiations
Very astute and accurate appraisal by the Maori Party.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/82681977/maori-party-doesnt-back-helen-clark-for-united-nations-top-job
Marama Fox: “She [Helen Clark] didn’t want to sign up to the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People under the United Nations, she resisted that strongly. Also with the foreshore and seabed we saw that as the largest modern day confiscation of land for Maori. And then there was her support in the Tuhoe raids.”
With hindsight her time as pm seems only about building her cv for bigger things, steady hand on the tiller and all that, one also wonders if she shafted labour over the tpp to garner support from the US.
See below b waghorn. 143 countries signed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
4 countries were against.
NZ was one of the four. I hadn’t known that.
Not surprised now that Labour under Helen Clark put forward the Seabed Foreshore legislation.
The F and S act was absolutely nessesary to ensure that the right of New Zealanders to access the beach was preserved. Iwi control of the beaches would have led to severe restrictions of access and curtailment of recreational options.
*yawn* Oh that right reactionary delusional paranoia is alive and well.
*chough* instead, if you bought it and if you white, restrict away…
It is a bit more complicated than you and Marama Fox are implying Chris.
The reason Labour felt it couldn’t vote for the declaration is explained in this Herald article of 2007:
“Explaining that vote, New Zealand’s then permanent representative to the UN, diplomat Rosemary Banks, said one article in the document gave indigenous peoples the right “to own use, develop or control lands and territories they have traditionally owned, occupied or used”.
She said the entire country was potentially caught within the scope of that article. “The article appears to require recognition of rights to lands now lawfully owned by other citizens, both indigenous and non-indigenous …
“Furthermore, this article implies indigenous peoples have rights that others do not.”
New Zealand’s “explanation” also saw major problems with the declaration’s provisions on redress and compensation for indigenous peoples. The declaration also implied that indigenous peoples had a right of veto over Parliament and management of national resources.”
Meanwhile National has only ever given conditional support for the declaration as the same article explains:
“National appears to have given its backing to the declaration on condition a proviso is attached saying that progressing Maori rights occurs within New Zealand’s “current legal and constitutional frameworks”.
So in practice you could not get a cigarette paper between the position of the Nats and Labour.
Michael Cullen and others have have admitted that Labour got it wrong on the Foreshore and Seabed Act. That was 12 years ago-Marama Fox seems intent on remaining bitter and twisted on this issue when Labour has done so much for Maori. Who started the Treaty Process that will transfer perhaps $4 billion to Maori (justifiably) for instance? From memory Helen Clark was part of the government then.
So Tariana Turia’s childish venom towards Helen Clark is still holding sway with her Maori Party brain-washed minions? All because Tariana thinks Helen organised for someone to take a photo of her hiding in the back seat of a limousine after leaving Vogel House one evening.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11685387
Intro to item.
Anne, should I rustle up some sheets for ya?
Some rope?
A burning cross maybe?
I’ve avoid responding to your comments because I find you a swooning sycophant for labour. Now you prove my fears of labour being a safe place for anti-maori sentiment it has morphed into.
Harry Holland would be rolling in his grave at your comments.
I’m pretty sure Peter Fraser would have kicked you out of the party.
But the party has changed, I get that, it’s OK to join in Maori bashing now ah Anne?
As for you lies about the formation about the Maori party, you’re the one talking personality politics, not the party. They were driven by ideas, for example Maori representing themselves and their own issues. Plus a distinct feeling, and proof that Maori were no better off under labour or national – for Maori – neoliberalism sucks, no matter who is the master.
I’ve had enough of your hysterical nonsense Adam. Most regulars here know I’m none of the things you claim. As for my supposed Maori bashing… you have seen no evidence of that whatsoever. The Maori Party betrayed their own people when they joined forces with NAct. In doing so, they were instrumental in supporting – even voting for – legislation which has had a detrimental impact on so many of their own people – a “fact” which has been well and truly canvassed on this site over the years.
Oh and btw, I retracted my comments about Tariana Turia yesterday. It transpires she has been big enough to move on from the F&S days. A pity Marama Fox didn’t do the same.
Your comments once again show how little you understand Māori politics, or the Māori Party, or indeed want to take the time to know.
The Māori Party have not betrayed their own people. They were mandated to sit at the table, you might not like that, but that is what they were asked to do by their people. With the bad, as well as the good. I think Marama can list the bad, and has listed the bad quite clearly every time she has been asked.
But, what I really don’t like about what you have said is try to equate the Māori Party as some sort modern day kūpapa party for Māori elites, it’s dishonest, plus it insults Māori and their choices. It demeans the choice to sit at the table, and that the only option you deem acceptable, is to be in perpetual opposition.
Bearded Git. 143 countries signed on to the Declaration. 4 did not. Yes, NZ was one of the 4.
143 member countries of the UN signed the declaration. Third world. African, South and Central American, coloured formerly colonised countries were prominent amongst them.
4 very white countries which massacred native tribes on their own lands opposed the declaration: New Zealand, Canada, Australia and USA. (Four of the FVEY nations).
Anne, any comments on this? Why did NZ under Helen Clark hold out alongside a few other white dominated former European colony FVEY nations?
Not interested in your political games CV. I was responding to Marama Fox’s misrepresentations. For example, the Tuhoe raids. The Minister of Police was advised of the operation (out of courtesy), iirc, a matter of hours before it occurred. As it turned out the raid was based on faulty evidence and police over-kill and the attempt to blame Helen Clark was yet another strand of Dirty Politics – this time being indulged in by the Maori Party.
Got one better for you – NZ under John Key subsequently endorsed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
And settled Tuhoe’s treaty claims.
Do you actually believe this? As I understood it not only were up to 300 cops involved, but it was said that both the police anti-terrorism squad (Special Tactics Group) and members of the SAS were around (possibly just in an observational role?).
The only way Cabinet members were not briefed on the biggest police operation of the year, an anti-terrorism one no less, would have been if the police were setting a political trap for the Government of the day.
Really your argument comes down to Maori should be grateful to labour, and why are they complaining?
Thanks Bearded Git, that went down like a pile of puke.
Let me ask you a simple question. If I came and took your house, or car, or indeed everything you had and left you with a tent, how would you feel? If I or my representatives then did little or nothing about that for – let’s say 150 years – you’d be ok with that? Then when I or my representatives did do somthing about it – I gave you back 5% of what I took, with the proviso that you should be grateful to me or my representative for having done so?
That kind explanation is often used by governments that simply don’t want to even think about providing guidance or redress in relation to issues that negatively affect a particular minority group. The reality is that the UNDRIP is not binding on states that sign it. It’s aspirational in nature, which doesn’t mean it’s worthless because it still focuses on important ideas and tells government which policy direction it should be taking. But signing it doesn’t mean the instrument takes precedent over domestic law or gives “a right of veto over Parliament and management of national resources.” That’s just not true. In 2008 the Labour government gave the same reason for its initial refusal to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Disability groups were angry because New Zealand played such a major role in the convention’s creation so saw the refusal as exposing a lack of real commitment to the convention’s principles. The Labour government eventually ratified it, but only after a lot of pressure from the disability sector pointing out that ratification wouldn’t mean what the government was saying it would mean. Clark and the Labour government claimed wrongly that nations would be bound by the UNDRIP and used this to justify actively voting against even adopting it. Quite sickening for a government that held itself out as progressive.
I’m late to this, (having had a longish day indulging in a spot of disability activism) but I’d like to add my two pennyworth…
Marama Fox on Natrad…http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/309918/maori-party-refuses-to-support-helen-clark's-un-bid
“”The Labour Party refused to sign the Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is a part of the UN agenda.
The Labour Party in its time saw the Tuhoe raids and of course also there is the Foreshore and Seabed amendment which took the rights of Māori away to go to court.””
Now hold on just one cotton picken minute Marama…don’t be so hasty in slamming others for doing exactly what Turia, Sharples and Flavell did in May 2013 when they voted with their National bedmates on the Part 4 amendment to the Public Health and Disability Act.
Andrew Geddis explains the outrage here…http://pundit.co.nz/content/i-think-national-just-broke-our-constitution… much better than I ever could.
But when disabled people and their family carers go in good faith through the Human Rights Tribunal, the high court and the Appeal Court over the issue of the proven discrimination against them by the Misery of Health, and then the government responds by retrospectively making the discrimination legal AND, AND removing the rights of disabled people and their chosen family carers to ever take the case (that they have won X 3 btw) back to the HRC or the courts…well, what the fucking fuck I say.
Turia denied to my face in mid 2014 that she (as also Minister for Disability Issues and a noisy supporter for paying family carers) voted with her National buddies on this. Flavell also denied he voted with National on this Bill later on at a ‘meet the candidates’ meeting for the disability community in the run up to the 2014 general election.
Either they are both stupid. Or they both think they can lie and go unchallenged.
Whatever the reason…the Maori party did do this…voted for an amendment that removed the rights of people to take an issue to court…an issue they had already taken through the system and WON. And the legislation was passed under extraordinary conditions and with an outrageous lack of transparency.
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/informationreleases/ris/pdfs/ris-moh-fcc-may13.pdf
WARNING…do not attempt to print the above document …the redacted sections are blacked out…guaranteed printer- killer.
I believe they sold their honour that May, for $1.2 billion in funding from the Budget for Maori Initiatives…a three times increase from the year before.
Hypocrites.
And barefaced cheek from Fox for calling the pot black.
(I am no particular fan of Clark…but I cannot abide fucking hypocrisy)
So…Marama Fox…what do you say???
Come on…I’d really like to know how your Party could ever claim to respect Human Rights when you were a party to this.
Here endeth the rant…
And how many other pieces of Govt. legislation have they supported that was NOT in the interest of the poorest and most needy people? (Bearing in mind Maori are over represented in these statistics.) Dozens of them. The hypocrisy of their stance is overwhelming. This Fox woman claims Labour has never apologised for the F&S Bill. Wrong!! I recall them making several admissions of “getting it wrong” and “being sorry” over that affair.
The Maori Party was founded on vengeful and petty minded hatred of Helen Clark and it looks like nothing has changed. Any political party founded for those reasons isn’t going to survive. It’s only by the grace of the NAct govt. they’ve lasted this long.
+100 Anne
“Bearing in mind Maori are over represented in these…”
Interestingly with the PHDAct amendment, the definition of ‘family member’…and as a consequence a person who cannot be a paid carer of an eligible disabled person (unless its under the equally discriminatory Funded Family Care Policy) is…
““(a) spouse, civil union partner, or de facto partner; or
“(b) parent, step-parent, or grandparent; or
“(c) child, stepchild, or grandchild; or
“(d) sister, half-sister, stepsister, brother, half-brother, or
stepbrother; or
“(e) aunt or uncle; or
“(f) nephew or niece; or
“(g)first cousin
Now, take yourself to the Far North, or to Ngati Porou or Tuhoi territory and the chances are that a fair few of the available potential carers would fit the definition of ‘family’.
On the surface, this could potentially have led to a considerable saving for the Ministry as now those Maori Contracted Disability Providers, who were routinely employing family members as carers, could no longer do so.
Hmmm…it never happened, and to my knowledge Maori and Pacifica Providers are still flouting what is now law, and paying family carers )including spouses and partners which are expressly and emphatically excluded from any (transparent) Funded family Care policy.
The redacted sections of the RIS linked to above…does it hide provisions to allow these Providers (under Whanau ora, perhaps?) to ignore the intention of this amendment?
This would be the only circumstances I can think of why the Maori Party voted with the Government on this….especially after Turia fully supporting the payment of family carers up to the passing of the legislation.
We will never know.
Well that Clark woman doesn’t make a habi of apologising. Generally it turns out someone else was wrong.
The banality of evil persists amongst us.
Read this article about WINZ in NZ.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/08/01/film-review-tale-of-two-films/
Really upset that the police are digging up CTV site looking for someone to blame while the Christchurch City Council gets off scott free.
Bottom line NO ONE SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THAT BUILDING. This was the direct responsibility of CCC . They are criminally liable and yet they are home free.. why?
Why?
Not just council the designer and the consultants who no doubt ok.ed the design for the council who then rubber stamped its construction actually i would say these consultants were more to blame than anybody because theyre supposed to know what theyre doing unlike councilers who are mere lay people if thats the right term and who pay to be advised by “experts”.
I think Xanthe is referring to the fact that even though the building was made unstable after the first big shake , the council oked workers going back into the building .
Yeah, that’s a massive f**k up.
Yup thats it, the council signed off that it was safe to occupy when there was ample evidence that it was not, how are they escaping any liability?
If I was investigating ,I’d be looking for links between the owners of the building and the relevant council staff that made the call.
Yeah but someone must have assured the council that the building was safe who was that person or persons ? logically it was the same person or persons that said it was safe in the first place .I seem to remember reading that the designer was known for some sort of unusual design features of a structually minimilist nature so being as this apparent departure from the norm would have had to be signed off on …..
Why we should be scared of Hillary Clinton winning the Presidency…
‘Bullhorns in overdrive’
https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/354108-russia-american-politics-turkey/
“Is Russia meddling in American politics? Also, are we witnessing another crucial tipping point in Syria? And, has Turkey’s Erdogan turned his back on the West?
CrossTalking with Dmitry Babich, Mark Sleboda, and Xavier Moreau.”