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 …..
“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.”
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Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
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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.”