Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
plus 1,… the cartoonists been some of the only genuine voices against the govt narative, even old righties like tremain, & not only that they are usually even funny, im very proud of them, they are the real journalists as far as im concerned.
Hopefully we will see some decent left wing policies coming out of this conference, and not just some tinkering. And something more than living wages, etc. Im looking more at stuff like increasing public ownership and public services, etc.
Im thinking of joining Labour, but I have to have a reason. If I wanted to join National I would join National.
Two email providers forced to close their services in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations on mass surveillance have proposed a new open standard for secure email that would be harder for security services and others to eavesdrop upon.
The encrypted email service Lavabit, and Silent Circle, a firm also encrypting phone calls and texts, are the founding members of the Darkmail Alliance, a service that aims to prevent government agencies from listening in on the metadata of emails . . . </blockquote
I liked this bit in the exploded whale story (not done for reasons of cruelty mind, though some thought the aftermath was cruel to them), which is a comment from the reporting journalist.
“”Every time a whale washes ashore I get a call from Governor Kitzhaber telling me to get down there,” he told the website.
“He likes to watch the video when he needs cheering up.”
I like the Governor’s name. For a story like this it shouldn’t be Smith or the like.
It actually brings to mind the Katzenjammer Kids comics of my youth – anyone remember them? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Katzenjammer_Kids
Charter schools in NZ. The Greens very rightly complained about a definition of what charter schools are (as yet not even functioning), being taken from a political pamphlet and printed as unprovable fact by the on-line Maori dictionary. A naive academic? http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/226408/dictionary-changes-charter-school-definition The manager of the site at the Auckland University of Technology, Professor John Moorfield, admits the definition was taken from the Ministry of Education website, but does not agree that it is all government spin.
Google headings for NZ charter school Maori – (anytime)
“The reality is that 90% of Maori kids are in the mainstream, but instead of a helping those schools to develop a stronger, more robust learning and support network for Maori kids, government has instead scrapped the proven Te Kotahitanga programme and got them all worrying about ERO visits, school closures, cuts in funding, league tables, national standards, and Novopay.
“And finally, if it’s educational success for Maori kids that the government is after, why not increase the funding for Kura Kaupapa Maori, which has proven to be the highest achieving school system Maori kids have ever had?”
and
Charter schools: More input for Maori – National – NZ Herald News http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid…
Jun 6, 2013 – Charter schools will give Maori more input into a school model they can adapt to suit their children, the chairman of the Iwi Education Authority …
and
Māori Need More Than Charter Schools | Save Our Schools NZ
saveourschoolsnz.wordpress.com/…/maori-needs-more-than-charter-scho…
Jul 23, 2013 – Education For Māori Needs More Than Charter Schools – from Education Aotearoa Heni Collins investigates growing concerns in Māoridom ….
Rodel +100….thanks…case for public education and against privatization and right wing Charter School agenda in USA very succinctly put by Professor Dianne Raditch….and based on the research evidence
According to Lafer’s report, “The Legislative Attack on American Wages and Labor Standards, 2011-2012,” within those two years 15 states passed new restrictions on union collective bargaining or paycheck deductions; 16 passed new restrictions on unemployment benefits; four passed new restrictions on state minimum wage laws; and four reduced limitations on child labor. The child labor changes range from a Wisconsin law ending limits on 16- and 17-year-olds’ work hours to an Idaho law letting 12-year-olds be hired for manual labor at their school for 10 hours a week. Lafer notes that a Idaho school district spokesperson said that would both cut down on labor costs and teach kids “you have to be on time” and “do what you’re asked …”
Yep, the RWNJs are bringing back child labour to teach kids that “you have to be on time” and “do what you’re asked …”.
The fact that they’re sick enough to bring back child labour should prove that they should not be in office and that the corporations that support them need to be shut down.
“In various online communities there has been vigorous debate about what chemtrails actually mean. Some believe they spread barium as a highly-sensitive electromagnetic missile defense system. Others postulate they contain compounds that attack our blood cells and ultimately reduce populations, much like the fluoridation of our water supplies. The rise in disease and other unexplained medical phenomena does strangely coincide with the popularization of chemtrails.”
Funny how all they can do is speculate what they’re made of, instead of taking samples or doing a modicum of investigation.
I guess getting off the chair in front of the computer and going outside is too much effort.
nz post to restructure, sorting work to be done by non nz post employees, some kind of private contractor to take over, nz post will still deliver the mail, no more bikes, just walking & vans, up to 2000 jobs to go, michael cullen says its “sad”.
That’s one huge and hugely informative report. Thanks for posting it DTB. There’s a pile of troubling stats in there covering all aspects of precarious work. Imagine the stress individuals and households would be under working in these conditions, including the “tipped workers”. Their lives would be clouded by constant uncertainty and anxiety.
Above all, the most disturbing is the problem of child labour that you have discussed above and the attitude of the spokesperson. All that is teaching the child is that the world is an oppressive and authoritarian place and that you better get used to it because this is how your life will be lived. Zero respect, zero equality and zero prospects for a happy and fulfilling work life, let alone a comfortable and secure future. Welcome to the poorhouse kiddies.
Sir Michael Cullen says that some of the 1000 odd retrenchment from NZ Post will be from natural attrition. I think this applies also to him. He has been there long enough to cast any clever spell he could concoct over the place. Now its time to move on to better pastures to fertilise. I think he has over-dosed nz Post going by this explanation of animal poisoning. Nitrates may cause inflammation of the gut when eaten in large quantities, but their main … Severely affected animals will go down, convulse and die. … Poor old NZ Post, that sturdy animal. Now they are going for efficiency for the workers, seeing management hasn’t achieved it, or been effective, the other part of the cliche. They are going to have contractors sort the mail now, not the posties. Gutted isn’t the word.
It was an unpleasant indication that management of NZ Post was not too good when it took how many years to deal with undelivered mail from one postie in Queenstown , I think from the first day. The consequent disaster with a large amount of accumulated mail, over which they must have had many complaints that should have led to prompt action was a sign of failure that now this sham management is trying to fix by gutting what must be a very cost effective service. And which is appreciated by citizens getting on with real life in the physical world.
And what have they done to encourage more use of the postal system I wonder? Well I looked on Trademe where NZ Post used to be prominent amongst the postal options, now there is only Pass the Parcel which is part of Post Haste couriers and I have never seen NZ Post advertising there. And presumably they cannot decline an advertisement on the site which would be anti-business.
Screwed over by decades of old boy managers (Elmar etc), paying datacom bucket loads for SFA and a sell off of the parcels business into a JV with DHL that was never openly tendered.
DHL took what they could and handed it back a few years ago.
Filled with refugees from other gov’t bodies, telecom and armed forces, remember the debacle with that overseas consulting arm early in the 2000’s. Many failed technology ventures with the current UPost laughable if it wasn’t so sad.
The postal business was one of the better run sectors till numptys like Peter Fenton were given the controls.
tc
Thanks for that interesting stuff. The number of times I have read of some bloke enriching himself from screwing his employer while he sets up some internet system to do something, not well, implies that it is frequent. The bloke often walks away from the failure into another internet job, or retires with a nice package. (A woman dying of cancer vows that women in Southland aren’t getting timely treatment because of all the money lost from the guy Swan’s depredations – I think he is in prison.)
I keep thinking about Ansett and the lack of acuity in directorship skills by the NZs on that board. Since then I have regarded NZ management with a septical eye (sic). If they can’t do it, they should know it, and get off the pot.
I thought that NZ Post was making a profit. Small, covering costs. So why can’t we have some hot shot come in and give it a go. NZ Post were so big at one time, advising others on how to set up postal systems, South Africa etc. Ozymandias! I have a book that I must stick my nose into going back to early days of beefing up the Dinosaur that was NZ Post so that’s next to catch up.
idlegus
There. That is what I find great about paper and hard copy. The complaints would have been on the desk if they had been written, letter or memo, in the file where the middle manager or anyone could see them. Instead they’re shut away out of sight in a computer system.
The mail division was the jewel being smudged across other divisions to make them look better than the dogs they were (transend, eBusiness, Courier post etc) they made a meal out of rural post and whined about their charter but in truth they were blowing it out their incompetant middles and upper managed A’s in these ventures.
they’ve been screwing contractor drivers down for years but eventually it all catches up, just look at Chore-us
re: queenstown, there certainly were complaints, they sat on a middle managers computer in dunedin all that time, he was very promptly sacked (when the shit hit the fan of course).
also, theres certainly been a feeling of these bosses running the place into the ground, little by little, they took away delivery boxes a few years ago, which were mostly used by old ppl, who mostly use personal mail, & then shutting down post shops, the rumours of 3 day delivery slowed the mail right down as many ppl believe it is already happening, shifting the sorting to chch out of dunedin so now it can take 3-5+ days for mail to be sent from one dunedin to the other. its either deliberate or stupid.
Ae. A couple of years ago they changed the pricing of packages being sent by mail, and made it so f*cking complicated that no-one could understand how it worked. So you had to go into a Post Shop and stand in a queue and then the person behind the counter had to measure and weigh and calculate, just to get a price. Maybe NZP thought people would just hand over whatever, but in the age of Trade Me etc, people want to know beforehand how much something is going to cost to post. They don’t want to have to do a trip to town or wait ages on the phone and then be given the wrong information. I suspect that a while back someone in NZ post thought we would all switch to their own packaging and that that would make things simpler. Fat chance.
I sat at home and read the instructions, and looked on line, and I got a ruler to measure the thickness of books, and I took measurements of paperbacks to see which size group they went into. All to find out how you worked out costs on parcels. It was worthwhile even though it took time. And I am happy with the system and want to keep it like it is NZ Post.
Soon I could work out quickly how much to charge. And I could send things cheaply. And it worked well for me and all the book traders I bought from. And knew enough to know when the Post shop at the dairy was wrong. I never found out how to work out the nationwide parcels over a certain limit that go on volume and seem to require algebra. There is help on-line but even then you can be limited by not using the right term, or looking in the wrong classification.
One time I put something in a great big bag and thought it went on weight. But no it was going to cost $22 so helpful assistant folded in half, pulled the edges in and stuck them down and the price went down to $14 or so.
The staff at our Nelson main post shop are helpful, pleasant, I can’t bear to lose these important services. Computerisation is so dependent on electricity, on the flagfall of many dollars to first buy your machine, or take to a centre and pay for using theirs. It takes nous to keep this vulnerable thing going, and there is an expectation that everything will change within 5 years.
They have been sitting on their chuffs at NZ Post director and manager level. And we lose more people friendly stuff. And it is strange how it goes. When you use the alternative wonder-systems they provide, they don’t do the job as well. The designers leave out things that have been useful. They choose a style, appearance, that looks new modern sleek and the old one may have been the best, the most effective.
idlegus re: queenstown, there certainly were complaints, they sat on a middle managers computer in dunedin all that time, he was very promptly sacked (when the shit hit the fan of course).
Just thinking. Was there a connection between middle manager and Queenstown postie?
Family, friend connection? So got job, knew good ol’ so and so at main office wouldn’t make trouble and just kept on (not) doing the business. That scenario would explain what to me is unexplainable. Is it known?
the contract owner (whatever the real term is) is the parent of the offender. the parents of the offender run queenstown posties, or have the contract to run it. sorry, im not sure what the proper terms are. the manager running it from dunedin had no association, it was someone that used to get shifted from post to post in the branch.
idlegus
What a bad idea contractors are. Obviously this ‘efficiency’ has resulted in a moral hazard. Instead of NZ Post keeping control over its business by running it with its own employees, this contracting system in effect places the brand and the public perception of its quality, in the hands of one or two people with a small interest limited to their own returns.
I’m just thinking here of the hot air balloon tragedy. One guy runs his part in a manner satisfactory to him to a low level of responsibility, getting high in a way that a responsible operator would not have. Voluntary, self-regulation, self-enforcement, I spit on it. His crash, the deaths caused, have caused untold anguish and others have gone out of the business – 8 operators now 4. So individuals cannot be trusted to follow their own standards, there is far more to be lost than the immediate within the reach of the physical damage and the firm’s recompense to the damaged and payment of creditors.
yep, certainly seems a way to avoid liability, yet the whole nz post got smeared by this queenstown thing (but as i said, it was a nz post employee who was supposed to be responding to the complaints, he was a manager & well paid etc…but infamous for being useless within the branch.)
i have been away from work back tomorrow, talked to my team leader on the phone & all the changes were news to him, he had no idea baout the sorting being contracted out, & his job is to look after a team of sorters, & god knows how they going to walk some of these routes, some of these streets are long & flat & straight, theres a reason bicycles delivered them, walking is so inefficient! but ours not to reason why, the guys in the offices in suits in their high buildings know betterer!!
but like national its hard to actually know their ultimate motives, if it is to drive these companies into bankruptcies & massive job losses then they are doing bloody well. the original restructuring we were told with the 3 day week thing most of us could live with, but just delivering (& not sorting) means a loss of 3-4 hours of work a day, & considering the big branches (most urban centers) get paid by volume, thats gonna suck. its already hard to make the hours without killing oneself, the rounds are upto 20kms, 25-40 for bikes, theres only so much walking with that weight anyone can handle.
probably find out more tomorrow, but again our team leaders & regional managers seem to be in the dark too.
Key referring to the decision to allow Doug Graham to retain his knighthood -“a third reason being that his conviction was not in an area related to his knighthood” (treaty negotiations). Are they not both concerning theft and fraud.
NZ Oil and Gas will not be paying the District Court judgement of $3.5M reparation to the families of lost miners as
-they are “only” 29% shareholders in Pike River
-they invested approx a total of $20M following the explosion- salaries, contractors etc- some paid out by insurers, while the mine remained viable…
-the Royal Commission didn’t find them a “responsible party”
BUT
most importantly- “our shareholders have said ‘NO, we’ve done enough!'”
So I get that if you don’t carry out duties correctly you can keep your knighthood, wonder how other knighted people feel about that, how it makes them look, their potential value in having them on the board. Wonder what other companies have a knight or a dame on the board. Is Key decision merited? Time will tell if companies with Sir this and Sir that are less trustworthy because everyone knows the Sir might not do due diligence, etc. Now if Key had polled those who have been honour and said as much, point out this wasnt just his decision. Look I get intent was not proven, but Key is also running around suggest balance of probabilities in other cases, and how matters have to be serious to get to a court, a fairly good case much have been present.
Now for a company whose pickup a fire sale, do they have a responsibility to the wrongs of the previous company, would you buying a car be liable for the fines on that car? But of course they were a partial shareholder. what does it say about businesses if their employees die, and the costs of securing the viability of the business soak up the compensation that would have flowed to the rightly bereaved families. And given how much this all has to do with a government policy to deregulate, and how the value of the mine was been protected by the spending of that money for the good of the west coast, seems to me that was a political decision. What does it say, that a heap of coal, already sold off but sitting on the mine property, has continued funding to send to the ‘owners’, yet that money maybe now said to have ‘gone’.
I think the government should pay a proportion as it was its policy that played so much a part, I think any shareholder should be paying up a share depending on their collective wins and losses because the dead should be the first in line, unless we are to believe that the workers in someway caused their own demise? we hear about suicide by police, suicidal murders, etc. It seems to me that those responsible aren’t be held responsible, and where nobody comes to the party, government should step in (and then maybe would not be so gunhoe about deregulation mines oversight).
I have commented on the message that came from the Min of Education that the Christchurch disaster was an opportunity to try out a new system of education for the schools affected by the earhquake. Experiment with the pigeons! Who really just want to stay home.
I heard something chilling about plans for Christchurch hospital that is going to be set in place,
something new. I have forgotten just what but it was fairly recently so keep an eye out.
And I have just been writing about NZ Post and noted that new things provided on the internet , can be disappointing and provide less service than previously.
Press Release: Penny Bright “Doug Graham should be stripped of his knighthood – John Banks and Don Brash should have been charged with the same ‘strict liability’ offence re: Huljich Wealth Management NZ Ltd.”
“… he was convicted of a strict liability offence, where dishonest or criminal intent wasn’t required for conviction…”
“At least Doug Graham was CHARGED for ‘for making false statements in a company prospectus’,” says anti-corruption campaigner Penny Bright.
“So – why weren’t John Banks and Don Brash equally charged, when, as Directors of Huljich Wealth Management NZ Ltd, they too signed the following registered prospectuses which contained false statements?
“It wasn’t for want of trying on my behalf, having formally requested that the Finance Markets Authority (FMA), the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), and Auckland Central Police, apply ‘one law for all’ and equally charge John Banks and Don Brash, under 58 (3) of the Securities Act 1978.”
58Criminal liability for misstatement in advertisement or registered prospectus
(1)Subject to subsection (2), where an advertisement that includes any untrue statement is distributed,—
(a)the issuer of the securities referred to in the advertisement, if an individual; or
(b)if the issuer of the securities is a body, every director thereof at the time the advertisement is distributed—
commits an offence.
(2)No person shall be convicted of an offence under subsection (1) if the person proves either that the statement was immaterial or that he or she had reasonable grounds to believe, and did, up to the time of the distribution of the advertisement, believe that the statement was true.
(3)Subject to subsection (4), where a registered prospectus that includes an untrue statement is distributed, every person who signed the prospectus, or on whose behalf the registered prospectus was signed for the purposes of section 41(1)(b), commits an offence.
(4)No person shall be convicted of an offence under subsection (3) if the person proves either that the statement was immaterial or that he or she had reasonable grounds to believe, and did, up to the time of the distribution of the prospectus, believe that the statement was true.
(5)Every person who commits an offence against this section is liable on conviction to—
(a)imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years; or
(b)a fine not exceeding $300,000 and, if the offence is a continuing one, to a further fine not exceeding $10,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence is continued.
__________________________________________________________________________
“I think it is a disgrace that neither the Finance Markets Authority (FMA), Serious Fraud Office (SFO), or NZ Police, chose to apply ‘one law for all’, to the former (and current) leaders of the NZ ACT Party, Don Brash, nor John Banks.”
“In my considered opinion, it is also a disgrace that the Commerce Committee of ‘Highest Court in the land – the NZ House of Parliament – chose not to “conduct an urgent inquiry into the decisions regarding prosecutions relating to the Huljich Kiwisaver Scheme registered prospectuses dated 22 August 2008 and 18 September 2009”, and has no matters to bring to the attention of the House. ”
“In my considered opinion, both John Banks and Don Brash should have been equally charged with the same ‘strict liability’ offence, and Doug Graham should be stripped of his knighthood”.
Penny Bright
Ph (09) 846 9825
021 211 4 127
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
I love your work and I voted for you. I’m likely to vote for you again if you stand. I disagree with you about Doug Graham giving up his knighthood. While I think all knighthoods should be banned, Doug Graham shouldn’t be vilified over any decision not to strip him of his knighthood or his refusal to give it up. The offence he was convicted of was not one that required him to actively and knowingly set out to do something that hurt others or that benefited himself. The offence he was found guilty of is pretty much about negligence only. We’ve just happened to have created within the criminal law a standard in relation to finance companies which is akin to negligence. This is because we place value on the need to ensure that in relation to finance companies dealing with people’s money, often life savings, we need to make sure the players do things correctly, and if they don’t then we’ve decided it’s a crime.
Compare what Graham did, with cars backing over toddlers in driveways. There’s no specific offence for killing a toddler by backing over them in a driveway. Unless there are other factors it’s regarded as an accident. Look at what Graham was convicted of. Take the offence away and all that’s left was a mistake – not an intentional act designed to harm anyone. I don’t think an offence for making the mistake of driving over a toddler in a driveway should be created. But it doesn’t follow that because there happens to be a criminal offence attached to doing something negligently all of a sudden that person should be seen as somehow unworthy or so bereft of integrity that we need to punish them further.
This was the inside news that was going around my Nat-voting brother’s social circles in Auckland.
It was about a well known National figure [name suppressed by the Court] being, let’s say, not very nice to his wife.
richard’s comment can be solved quite easily. Type the following into Google search:
site:wikileaks.org zealand wife national
Btw, John Key talks about people phoning in with stories and he writes them on a piece of paper and files them away in his top drawer as part of his dirt file.
Well, he is just as keen, if not more so, about his own MPs and keeps a file on them for when it might be convenient to use. And the Nat ones have really salacious stories.
Until Greg Hamilton came along the actual National Party membership was a closely guarded secret. In a heartwarming display of openness in what is usually a closed organisation, Greg has told members that there are about 28,000 members. What he hasn’t told us card carrying members is that there are more members over 80 than under 30, and that the median age is somewhere close to 70.
And while I am mentioning “card carrying” there really has to be more to membership than a little blue card and two begging letters a year from the President. Though I must say with the frost in Auckland the past few days the card has come in handy for removing ice from the windscreen.
The implications are obvious. National, without fresh recruiting, is in for a massive membership collapse. By 2022 a large number of current members will be dead, or infirm or senile. This is not a condemnation of people aging, it is just a statement of fact.
the rest is pretty much touting for business for the WhaleLusk School for How to do Politics Wrong, but that bit is funny.
A combination membership drive and constitutional reform of the party, driven by Whaleoil readers, for the win. What could possibly go wrong, except for the global depletion of all available popping-corn supplies.
I wonder how the nats stack up against NZ1, demographically? After key’s snide comments at the mad hatter’s tea party, it seems his cognitive dissonance was well-entrenched.
The fact that Douglas Graham can keep his Knighthood should serve as a reminder of this Frédéric Bastiat Quote:
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.”Frédéric Bastiat, Economic sophisms, 2nd series (1848), ch. 1 Physiology of plunder.
Yes, but she’s cottoned on to simply going back and doing things again, probably with the view of doing things properly this time but still reaching the same result. Parata’s making the mistake, however, of only going back to do the bits the High Court said they did wrong. Mai Chen called her out by pointing to the fact that doing this ignores the changes that have happened in relation to the other areas the High Court didn’t say were handled wrongly. This still leaves it open to argue later that the further consultation was flawed because it wouldn’t be a completely accurate picture of circumstances now, only in parts, because it would assume nothing had changed since the first consultation, and would essentially mean that the second consultation was not proper consultation at all. Just like last time.
Lots in fact has changed, including pupil numbers going through the roof. If Parata had half a brain she’d see this as an opportunity to make political capital by accepting that “the people have spoken and this National government listens to people. We’ve listened to the people of Phillipstown and we believe that they need their school. We have been convinced by their unfaltering loyalty to their community and that this is the right decision to make. This is an example of democracy in action, and this National government is about democracy. We listen to the people!”
There’s everything for Parata and the government to lose by retaining her bullying approach to all of this. At the same time there’s everything to gain, politically, by backing away from the original stance citing consultation and the democratic process. If the government did this it would of course be a total PR sham because this government does not believe in democracy. But if it were smart it would do this. It’s probably the prudent thing to do now anyway now that student numbers have increased by so many – another reason Parata can point to for allowing Phillipstown to keep its school, that “the situation has now changed in a way that government had not envisaged at the time of the original decision.”
Part of me wants Parata to try to steamroll over everything here so that it adds to the bag of ammunition that’s going to ensure the downfall of this hateful government. But that’s not good for Phillipstown. If Parata and the government knew what was good for them then they’d too make sure that Phillipstown kept their school.
Parata is challenged by a question on Te Karere ( 4/11) on this issue of will a name change prevent CSA? You could see just a little flash of trepidation as she knows what’s coming ….
Councils, Boards, the best of experts, sorting machines cannot make any CSA- er openly declare on any form or in any interview say ” yeah, I’m a KF er.” .
Believing that this Council name and member change is really about stopping paedophiles …?
or is about the issue of child sex abuse?
KF-ers are not an homogenous group defined by any one variable, gender, ethnicity, age, sex, profession, look…stereotype. And unsafe for anyone to think otherwise (or suggest to others to think there is) when aiming to keep children safe.
CSA Perpetrators are not paedophiles because they are teachers, priests, nuns, politicians the ones that grab shock news headlines; they are perpetrators because they want to be KF-ers; male and female !!!
Parata is not a simpleton that she believes the new “Council” can sniff a child predator out. But she thinks the public simpletons will believe this line !
CSA is a timely excuse for her to implement an already pre-planned move for the States ‘new vision’, a distraction whereby she is shamelessly using the abuse of children and subversively deflecting blame this time on teachers [All of them?] to further exert control on education and educators. These moves have been underway since 2010 under Nacts watch.
Green papers, white papers, Parata toilet paper YET
coming VERY soon to a news channel near you……wait for it, the next lot of victims
Aha! I now get Al Jazeera English 24/7 on my Freeview TV! That’s something because it has some good docos. So now Freeview isn’t looking so bare, with Maori TV, a little sport, a little Choice, as Lindsay Shelton says….. pity we still don’t have TVNZ7 and that regional TV is being sidelined.
And it nows appears that The Economist is waking up to the way that banks create money:
This is not capitalism, [Duncan] suggests, but “creditism”. It is this system which has broken down, and unless you understand it, you will not be able to fix it.
It was the main fund to donate to Canterbury and donations could be either tagged or not. It has spent about $80m out of $100m so far.Of the $80m spent around $12m was tagged funds that could only be spent as the donor directed.
The spending is interesting.
Cricket and rugby have had $8m in total around 15% of the untagged funds spent.
Youth and education scored about $3m, lots of small grants that I hope made a real difference and $0.25m to rebuild a library which I would have thought was covered by the Council insurance.
Hardship Spiritual and Faith $9m. Again a lot of tagged funds to mostly mainstream charities doing on the ground work and rebuilding a couple of community centers -needed- but again why not the council? Did they not want to give a donation to the council in case it provoked too many questions so did a bit here, a bit there?
And a few items which looked like they should have been central govt funding – $0.23m to the retirement commissioner to fund legal advice to red zone residents. WTF
Now the legal advice surely was necessary but is this what the donors would have intended? Money to fend off the govt?
Heritage and culture $14.2m to rebuild the arts centre clock tower and grand hall
I dunno. I struggle to see why professional sport has managed to scoop so much of the untagged funds. I struggle to see why so many needed counsellors are funded by charity not central govt and why needed community centres didn’t come out of the council budgets. Is the Chch city council being directd by central govt to spend its funds on other things?
Good God. It’s official. As if any further proof that we abide in the twilight zone of utter and complete morono-tory domination of media was needed, they’re bringing back Paul Henry. Failed, rejected, talentless right-wing hack; revolting, repulsive, hatemongering filth of the most extreme order, paid zillions to further molest innocent sensibilities. Please, someone, find out who made this decision. Name and address please.
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
Trump being Trump, it won’t come as a shock to find that he regards a strong US currency (bolstered by high tariffs on everything made by foreigners) as a sign of America’s virility, and its ability to kick sand in the face of the world. Reality is a tad more ...
A listing of 24 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 26, 2025 thru Sat, February 1, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
What seems to be the common theme in the US, NZ, Argentina and places like Italy under their respective rightwing governments is what I think of as “the politics of cruelty.” Hate-mongering, callous indifference in social policy-making, corporate toadying, political bullying, intimidation and punching down on the most vulnerable with ...
If you are confused, check with the sunCarry a compass to help you alongYour feet are going to be on the groundYour head is there to move you aroundSo, stand in the place where you liveSongwriters: Bill Berry / Michael Mills / Michael Stipe / Peter Buck.Hot in the CityYesterday, ...
Shane Jones announced today he would be contracting out his thinking to a smarter younger person.Reclining on his chaise longue with a mouth full of oysters and Kina he told reporters:Clearly I have become a has-been, a palimpsest, an epigone, a bloviating fossil. I find myself saying such things as: ...
Warning: This post contains references to sexual assaultOn Saturday, I spent far too long editing a video on Tim Jago, the ACT Party President and criminal, who has given up his fight for name suppression after 2 years. He voluntarily gave up just in time for what will be a ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is global warming ...
Our low-investment, low-wage, migration-led and housing-market-driven political economy has delivered poorer productivity growth than the rest of the OECD, and our performance since Covid has been particularly poor. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty this ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.As far as major government announcements go, a Three Ministers Event is Big. It can signify a major policy development or something has gone Very Well, or an absolute Clusterf**k. When Three Ministers assemble ...
One of those blasts from the past. Peter Dunne – originally neoliberal Labour, then leader of various parties that sought to work with both big parties (generally National) – has taken to calling ...
Completed reads for January: I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson The Black Spider, by Jeremias Gotthelf The Spider and the Fly (poem), by Mary Howitt A Noiseless Patient Spider (poem), by Walt Whitman August Heat, by W.F. Harvey Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson ...
Do its Property Right Provisions Make Sense?Last week I pointed out that it is uninformed to argue that the New Zealand’s apparently poor economic performance can be traced only to poor regulations. Even were there evidence they had some impact, there are other factors. Of course, we should seek to ...
Richard Wagstaff It was incredibly jarring to hear the hubris from the Prime Minister during his recent state of the nation address. I had just spent close to a week working though the stories and thoughts shared with us by nearly 2000 working people as part of our annual Mood ...
Odd fact about the Broadcasting Standards Authority: for the last few years, they’ve only been upholding about 5% of complaints. Why? I think there’s a range of reasons. Generally responsible broadcasters. Dumb complaints. Complaints brought under the wrong standard. Greater adherence to broadcasters’ rights to freedom of expression in the ...
And I said, "Mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone"'Cause I can't go outside, I'm scared I might not make it homeWell I'm alive, I'm alive, but I'm sinking inIf there's anyone at home at your place, darlingWhy don't you invite me in?Don't try to feed me'Cause I've been ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ star is on the rise, having just added the Energy, Local Government and Revenue portfolios to his responsibilities - but there is nothing ambitious about the Government’s new climate targets. Photo: SuppliedLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
With The Stroke Of A Pen:Populism, especially right-wing populism, invests all the power of an electoral/parliamentary majority in a single political leader because it no longer trusts the bona fides of the sprawling political class among whom power is traditionally dispersed. Populism eschews traditional politics, because, among populists, traditional politics ...
I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. ...
Mr Mojo Rising: Economic growth is possible, Christopher Luxon reassures us, but only under a government that is willing to get out of the way and let those with drive and ambition get on with it.ABOUT TWELVE KILOMETRES from the farm on the North Otago coast where I grew up stands ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
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The last bits of brilliant commentary in the MSM is now coming only from the cartoonists:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/news-cartoons/news/article.cfm?c_id=500814&objectid=11149702
plus 1,… the cartoonists been some of the only genuine voices against the govt narative, even old righties like tremain, & not only that they are usually even funny, im very proud of them, they are the real journalists as far as im concerned.
This cannot be true. No way. What if Sky City buys some?
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Conference-materials-for-mailing.pdf
kiwiblog mischief Red Horse?
It’s going to be one heck of a weekend.
Hopefully we will see some decent left wing policies coming out of this conference, and not just some tinkering. And something more than living wages, etc. Im looking more at stuff like increasing public ownership and public services, etc.
Im thinking of joining Labour, but I have to have a reason. If I wanted to join National I would join National.
If you wanted to join National I’d call for an ambulance to check on you…
Join Mana and hold your head high.
What the hell happened to legal aid?? The stripping away began around 2008.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/11/01/8-interest-rate-on-legal-aid-will-please-private-prisons/
‘
A new email encryption standard announced by DarkMail . . .
This guy passed on before his work was complete….
The blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds
I liked this bit in the exploded whale story (not done for reasons of cruelty mind, though some thought the aftermath was cruel to them), which is a comment from the reporting journalist.
“”Every time a whale washes ashore I get a call from Governor Kitzhaber telling me to get down there,” he told the website.
“He likes to watch the video when he needs cheering up.”
I like the Governor’s name. For a story like this it shouldn’t be Smith or the like.
It actually brings to mind the Katzenjammer Kids comics of my youth – anyone remember them? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Katzenjammer_Kids
I’m sure some village in Ireland tried the same thing once as well – with the same result.
Charter school b-s. Interesting interview on the Daily show with Dianne Raditch.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/?xrs=eml_tds_103113
Charter schools in NZ. The Greens very rightly complained about a definition of what charter schools are (as yet not even functioning), being taken from a political pamphlet and printed as unprovable fact by the on-line Maori dictionary. A naive academic?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/226408/dictionary-changes-charter-school-definition
The manager of the site at the Auckland University of Technology, Professor John Moorfield, admits the definition was taken from the Ministry of Education website, but does not agree that it is all government spin.
Google headings for NZ charter school Maori – (anytime)
Military, Maori among first charter schools – Radio New Zealand
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/…/govt-announces-first-charter-school…
Sep 17, 2013 – The Education Minister has announced the first five charter schools, with one to use a military training ethos and two to be Maori bilingual.
and
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1309/S00312/harawira-new-charter-schools-for-maori-in-the-north.htm
and
Charter schools: More input for Maori – National – NZ Herald News
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid…
Jun 6, 2013 – Charter schools will give Maori more input into a school model they can adapt to suit their children, the chairman of the Iwi Education Authority …
and
Māori Need More Than Charter Schools | Save Our Schools NZ
saveourschoolsnz.wordpress.com/…/maori-needs-more-than-charter-scho…
Jul 23, 2013 – Education For Māori Needs More Than Charter Schools – from Education Aotearoa Heni Collins investigates growing concerns in Māoridom ….
Rodel +100….thanks…case for public education and against privatization and right wing Charter School agenda in USA very succinctly put by Professor Dianne Raditch….and based on the research evidence
Newt’s revenge: Child labor makes a comeback
Yep, the RWNJs are bringing back child labour to teach kids that “you have to be on time” and “do what you’re asked …”.
The fact that they’re sick enough to bring back child labour should prove that they should not be in office and that the corporations that support them need to be shut down.
Reply to you at #13…………
Mighty River investors re-evaluate the windfall from their investment…
ChemTrails busted wide open, Snowden to leak dox.
http://web.archive.org/web/20130821112549/http://usahitman.com/mauctpa/
“In various online communities there has been vigorous debate about what chemtrails actually mean. Some believe they spread barium as a highly-sensitive electromagnetic missile defense system. Others postulate they contain compounds that attack our blood cells and ultimately reduce populations, much like the fluoridation of our water supplies. The rise in disease and other unexplained medical phenomena does strangely coincide with the popularization of chemtrails.”
Funny how all they can do is speculate what they’re made of, instead of taking samples or doing a modicum of investigation.
I guess getting off the chair in front of the computer and going outside is too much effort.
Actually this story is even better: http://usahitman.com/4mcdufnh/
Pb….lol ..never heard that argument before ie blaming the atheists …..scientists….. for chemtrails!
New Zealand Post chairman Sir Michael Cullen announced the state-owned company would slash between 1500 and 2000 jobs from its processing, delivery, retail and corporate operations.
http://news.msn.co.nz/nationalnews/8748460/nz-post-announces-job-cuts
Dear, oh dear.
nz post to restructure, sorting work to be done by non nz post employees, some kind of private contractor to take over, nz post will still deliver the mail, no more bikes, just walking & vans, up to 2000 jobs to go, michael cullen says its “sad”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9350304/NZ-Post-job-losses-restructure-revealed
EPMU it’s “simply cruel”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11150048
2000 ‘middle income earners’ ?
That’s one huge and hugely informative report. Thanks for posting it DTB. There’s a pile of troubling stats in there covering all aspects of precarious work. Imagine the stress individuals and households would be under working in these conditions, including the “tipped workers”. Their lives would be clouded by constant uncertainty and anxiety.
Above all, the most disturbing is the problem of child labour that you have discussed above and the attitude of the spokesperson. All that is teaching the child is that the world is an oppressive and authoritarian place and that you better get used to it because this is how your life will be lived. Zero respect, zero equality and zero prospects for a happy and fulfilling work life, let alone a comfortable and secure future. Welcome to the poorhouse kiddies.
Oops. That was meant to be a reply to Draco at 8
A Wise Man
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11149719
Welby Ings, AUT
Yes with the award being presented by an evil man whose gov’t is dumbing down and gutting that system
yes, there is always irony in politics tc
very interesting…thanx
A wonderful man and a wise, generous teacher.
Sir Michael Cullen says that some of the 1000 odd retrenchment from NZ Post will be from natural attrition. I think this applies also to him. He has been there long enough to cast any clever spell he could concoct over the place. Now its time to move on to better pastures to fertilise. I think he has over-dosed nz Post going by this explanation of animal poisoning.
Nitrates may cause inflammation of the gut when eaten in large quantities, but their main … Severely affected animals will go down, convulse and die. … Poor old NZ Post, that sturdy animal. Now they are going for efficiency for the workers, seeing management hasn’t achieved it, or been effective, the other part of the cliche. They are going to have contractors sort the mail now, not the posties. Gutted isn’t the word.
It was an unpleasant indication that management of NZ Post was not too good when it took how many years to deal with undelivered mail from one postie in Queenstown , I think from the first day. The consequent disaster with a large amount of accumulated mail, over which they must have had many complaints that should have led to prompt action was a sign of failure that now this sham management is trying to fix by gutting what must be a very cost effective service. And which is appreciated by citizens getting on with real life in the physical world.
And what have they done to encourage more use of the postal system I wonder? Well I looked on Trademe where NZ Post used to be prominent amongst the postal options, now there is only Pass the Parcel which is part of Post Haste couriers and I have never seen NZ Post advertising there. And presumably they cannot decline an advertisement on the site which would be anti-business.
Screwed over by decades of old boy managers (Elmar etc), paying datacom bucket loads for SFA and a sell off of the parcels business into a JV with DHL that was never openly tendered.
DHL took what they could and handed it back a few years ago.
Filled with refugees from other gov’t bodies, telecom and armed forces, remember the debacle with that overseas consulting arm early in the 2000’s. Many failed technology ventures with the current UPost laughable if it wasn’t so sad.
The postal business was one of the better run sectors till numptys like Peter Fenton were given the controls.
tc
Thanks for that interesting stuff. The number of times I have read of some bloke enriching himself from screwing his employer while he sets up some internet system to do something, not well, implies that it is frequent. The bloke often walks away from the failure into another internet job, or retires with a nice package. (A woman dying of cancer vows that women in Southland aren’t getting timely treatment because of all the money lost from the guy Swan’s depredations – I think he is in prison.)
I keep thinking about Ansett and the lack of acuity in directorship skills by the NZs on that board. Since then I have regarded NZ management with a septical eye (sic). If they can’t do it, they should know it, and get off the pot.
I thought that NZ Post was making a profit. Small, covering costs. So why can’t we have some hot shot come in and give it a go. NZ Post were so big at one time, advising others on how to set up postal systems, South Africa etc. Ozymandias! I have a book that I must stick my nose into going back to early days of beefing up the Dinosaur that was NZ Post so that’s next to catch up.
idlegus
There. That is what I find great about paper and hard copy. The complaints would have been on the desk if they had been written, letter or memo, in the file where the middle manager or anyone could see them. Instead they’re shut away out of sight in a computer system.
The mail division was the jewel being smudged across other divisions to make them look better than the dogs they were (transend, eBusiness, Courier post etc) they made a meal out of rural post and whined about their charter but in truth they were blowing it out their incompetant middles and upper managed A’s in these ventures.
they’ve been screwing contractor drivers down for years but eventually it all catches up, just look at Chore-us
Shore-us up.
re: queenstown, there certainly were complaints, they sat on a middle managers computer in dunedin all that time, he was very promptly sacked (when the shit hit the fan of course).
also, theres certainly been a feeling of these bosses running the place into the ground, little by little, they took away delivery boxes a few years ago, which were mostly used by old ppl, who mostly use personal mail, & then shutting down post shops, the rumours of 3 day delivery slowed the mail right down as many ppl believe it is already happening, shifting the sorting to chch out of dunedin so now it can take 3-5+ days for mail to be sent from one dunedin to the other. its either deliberate or stupid.
“its either deliberate or stupid.”
Ae. A couple of years ago they changed the pricing of packages being sent by mail, and made it so f*cking complicated that no-one could understand how it worked. So you had to go into a Post Shop and stand in a queue and then the person behind the counter had to measure and weigh and calculate, just to get a price. Maybe NZP thought people would just hand over whatever, but in the age of Trade Me etc, people want to know beforehand how much something is going to cost to post. They don’t want to have to do a trip to town or wait ages on the phone and then be given the wrong information. I suspect that a while back someone in NZ post thought we would all switch to their own packaging and that that would make things simpler. Fat chance.
I sat at home and read the instructions, and looked on line, and I got a ruler to measure the thickness of books, and I took measurements of paperbacks to see which size group they went into. All to find out how you worked out costs on parcels. It was worthwhile even though it took time. And I am happy with the system and want to keep it like it is NZ Post.
Soon I could work out quickly how much to charge. And I could send things cheaply. And it worked well for me and all the book traders I bought from. And knew enough to know when the Post shop at the dairy was wrong. I never found out how to work out the nationwide parcels over a certain limit that go on volume and seem to require algebra. There is help on-line but even then you can be limited by not using the right term, or looking in the wrong classification.
One time I put something in a great big bag and thought it went on weight. But no it was going to cost $22 so helpful assistant folded in half, pulled the edges in and stuck them down and the price went down to $14 or so.
The staff at our Nelson main post shop are helpful, pleasant, I can’t bear to lose these important services. Computerisation is so dependent on electricity, on the flagfall of many dollars to first buy your machine, or take to a centre and pay for using theirs. It takes nous to keep this vulnerable thing going, and there is an expectation that everything will change within 5 years.
They have been sitting on their chuffs at NZ Post director and manager level. And we lose more people friendly stuff. And it is strange how it goes. When you use the alternative wonder-systems they provide, they don’t do the job as well. The designers leave out things that have been useful. They choose a style, appearance, that looks new modern sleek and the old one may have been the best, the most effective.
idlegus
re: queenstown, there certainly were complaints, they sat on a middle managers computer in dunedin all that time, he was very promptly sacked (when the shit hit the fan of course).
Just thinking. Was there a connection between middle manager and Queenstown postie?
Family, friend connection? So got job, knew good ol’ so and so at main office wouldn’t make trouble and just kept on (not) doing the business. That scenario would explain what to me is unexplainable. Is it known?
the contract owner (whatever the real term is) is the parent of the offender. the parents of the offender run queenstown posties, or have the contract to run it. sorry, im not sure what the proper terms are. the manager running it from dunedin had no association, it was someone that used to get shifted from post to post in the branch.
idlegus
What a bad idea contractors are. Obviously this ‘efficiency’ has resulted in a moral hazard. Instead of NZ Post keeping control over its business by running it with its own employees, this contracting system in effect places the brand and the public perception of its quality, in the hands of one or two people with a small interest limited to their own returns.
I’m just thinking here of the hot air balloon tragedy. One guy runs his part in a manner satisfactory to him to a low level of responsibility, getting high in a way that a responsible operator would not have. Voluntary, self-regulation, self-enforcement, I spit on it. His crash, the deaths caused, have caused untold anguish and others have gone out of the business – 8 operators now 4. So individuals cannot be trusted to follow their own standards, there is far more to be lost than the immediate within the reach of the physical damage and the firm’s recompense to the damaged and payment of creditors.
yep, certainly seems a way to avoid liability, yet the whole nz post got smeared by this queenstown thing (but as i said, it was a nz post employee who was supposed to be responding to the complaints, he was a manager & well paid etc…but infamous for being useless within the branch.)
i have been away from work back tomorrow, talked to my team leader on the phone & all the changes were news to him, he had no idea baout the sorting being contracted out, & his job is to look after a team of sorters, & god knows how they going to walk some of these routes, some of these streets are long & flat & straight, theres a reason bicycles delivered them, walking is so inefficient! but ours not to reason why, the guys in the offices in suits in their high buildings know betterer!!
but like national its hard to actually know their ultimate motives, if it is to drive these companies into bankruptcies & massive job losses then they are doing bloody well. the original restructuring we were told with the 3 day week thing most of us could live with, but just delivering (& not sorting) means a loss of 3-4 hours of work a day, & considering the big branches (most urban centers) get paid by volume, thats gonna suck. its already hard to make the hours without killing oneself, the rounds are upto 20kms, 25-40 for bikes, theres only so much walking with that weight anyone can handle.
probably find out more tomorrow, but again our team leaders & regional managers seem to be in the dark too.
Key referring to the decision to allow Doug Graham to retain his knighthood -“a third reason being that his conviction was not in an area related to his knighthood” (treaty negotiations). Are they not both concerning theft and fraud.
NZ Oil and Gas will not be paying the District Court judgement of $3.5M reparation to the families of lost miners as
-they are “only” 29% shareholders in Pike River
-they invested approx a total of $20M following the explosion- salaries, contractors etc- some paid out by insurers, while the mine remained viable…
-the Royal Commission didn’t find them a “responsible party”
BUT
most importantly- “our shareholders have said ‘NO, we’ve done enough!'”
Yep!
So I get that if you don’t carry out duties correctly you can keep your knighthood, wonder how other knighted people feel about that, how it makes them look, their potential value in having them on the board. Wonder what other companies have a knight or a dame on the board. Is Key decision merited? Time will tell if companies with Sir this and Sir that are less trustworthy because everyone knows the Sir might not do due diligence, etc. Now if Key had polled those who have been honour and said as much, point out this wasnt just his decision. Look I get intent was not proven, but Key is also running around suggest balance of probabilities in other cases, and how matters have to be serious to get to a court, a fairly good case much have been present.
Now for a company whose pickup a fire sale, do they have a responsibility to the wrongs of the previous company, would you buying a car be liable for the fines on that car? But of course they were a partial shareholder. what does it say about businesses if their employees die, and the costs of securing the viability of the business soak up the compensation that would have flowed to the rightly bereaved families. And given how much this all has to do with a government policy to deregulate, and how the value of the mine was been protected by the spending of that money for the good of the west coast, seems to me that was a political decision. What does it say, that a heap of coal, already sold off but sitting on the mine property, has continued funding to send to the ‘owners’, yet that money maybe now said to have ‘gone’.
I think the government should pay a proportion as it was its policy that played so much a part, I think any shareholder should be paying up a share depending on their collective wins and losses because the dead should be the first in line, unless we are to believe that the workers in someway caused their own demise? we hear about suicide by police, suicidal murders, etc. It seems to me that those responsible aren’t be held responsible, and where nobody comes to the party, government should step in (and then maybe would not be so gunhoe about deregulation mines oversight).
While Roger Douglass holds a knighthood after destroying our country, they’re meaningless anyway.
The next step to the incremental gutting of the NZ education system –
Parata: New Zealand Teachers Council to be replaced
I have commented on the message that came from the Min of Education that the Christchurch disaster was an opportunity to try out a new system of education for the schools affected by the earhquake. Experiment with the pigeons! Who really just want to stay home.
I heard something chilling about plans for Christchurch hospital that is going to be set in place,
something new. I have forgotten just what but it was fairly recently so keep an eye out.
And I have just been writing about NZ Post and noted that new things provided on the internet , can be disappointing and provide less service than previously.
FYI
Press Release: Penny Bright “Doug Graham should be stripped of his knighthood – John Banks and Don Brash should have been charged with the same ‘strict liability’ offence re: Huljich Wealth Management NZ Ltd.”
1 November 2013
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/sir-douglas-retain-knighthood-key-sf-147974
“… he was convicted of a strict liability offence, where dishonest or criminal intent wasn’t required for conviction…”
“At least Doug Graham was CHARGED for ‘for making false statements in a company prospectus’,” says anti-corruption campaigner Penny Bright.
“So – why weren’t John Banks and Don Brash equally charged, when, as Directors of Huljich Wealth Management NZ Ltd, they too signed the following registered prospectuses which contained false statements?
https://docs.google.com/file/d/1OfbKNxoyZgDs1gZtA1zJLTYAl7sqjYDZgKrIXdUU21S2WRG2D7quY_VyXOKA/edit?usp=drive_web&urp=http://www.pennybright4epsom.org.nz/&pli=1
https://docs.google.com/file/d/1VFcJz_lUp51NMOdoJKpTTKVY0hJHLxYwSytctgRZzKTEbCD726XkkIKkyEpj/edit?usp=drive_web ”
Only fellow former Director Peter Huljich was ever charged.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10754678
“It wasn’t for want of trying on my behalf, having formally requested that the Finance Markets Authority (FMA), the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), and Auckland Central Police, apply ‘one law for all’ and equally charge John Banks and Don Brash, under 58 (3) of the Securities Act 1978.”
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1978/0103/latest/DLM29406.html?search=ts_act_Securities+Act+1978_resel&p=1#DLM29406
58Criminal liability for misstatement in advertisement or registered prospectus
(1)Subject to subsection (2), where an advertisement that includes any untrue statement is distributed,—
(a)the issuer of the securities referred to in the advertisement, if an individual; or
(b)if the issuer of the securities is a body, every director thereof at the time the advertisement is distributed—
commits an offence.
(2)No person shall be convicted of an offence under subsection (1) if the person proves either that the statement was immaterial or that he or she had reasonable grounds to believe, and did, up to the time of the distribution of the advertisement, believe that the statement was true.
(3)Subject to subsection (4), where a registered prospectus that includes an untrue statement is distributed, every person who signed the prospectus, or on whose behalf the registered prospectus was signed for the purposes of section 41(1)(b), commits an offence.
(4)No person shall be convicted of an offence under subsection (3) if the person proves either that the statement was immaterial or that he or she had reasonable grounds to believe, and did, up to the time of the distribution of the prospectus, believe that the statement was true.
(5)Every person who commits an offence against this section is liable on conviction to—
(a)imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years; or
(b)a fine not exceeding $300,000 and, if the offence is a continuing one, to a further fine not exceeding $10,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence is continued.
__________________________________________________________________________
“I think it is a disgrace that neither the Finance Markets Authority (FMA), Serious Fraud Office (SFO), or NZ Police, chose to apply ‘one law for all’, to the former (and current) leaders of the NZ ACT Party, Don Brash, nor John Banks.”
“In my considered opinion, it is also a disgrace that the Commerce Committee of ‘Highest Court in the land – the NZ House of Parliament – chose not to “conduct an urgent inquiry into the decisions regarding prosecutions relating to the Huljich Kiwisaver Scheme registered prospectuses dated 22 August 2008 and 18 September 2009”, and has no matters to bring to the attention of the House. ”
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com/corruption/commerce-select-committee-report-on-banks/
“In my considered opinion, both John Banks and Don Brash should have been equally charged with the same ‘strict liability’ offence, and Doug Graham should be stripped of his knighthood”.
Penny Bright
Ph (09) 846 9825
021 211 4 127
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
http://www.pennybright4epsom.org.nz
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
Hi Penny,
I love your work and I voted for you. I’m likely to vote for you again if you stand. I disagree with you about Doug Graham giving up his knighthood. While I think all knighthoods should be banned, Doug Graham shouldn’t be vilified over any decision not to strip him of his knighthood or his refusal to give it up. The offence he was convicted of was not one that required him to actively and knowingly set out to do something that hurt others or that benefited himself. The offence he was found guilty of is pretty much about negligence only. We’ve just happened to have created within the criminal law a standard in relation to finance companies which is akin to negligence. This is because we place value on the need to ensure that in relation to finance companies dealing with people’s money, often life savings, we need to make sure the players do things correctly, and if they don’t then we’ve decided it’s a crime.
Compare what Graham did, with cars backing over toddlers in driveways. There’s no specific offence for killing a toddler by backing over them in a driveway. Unless there are other factors it’s regarded as an accident. Look at what Graham was convicted of. Take the offence away and all that’s left was a mistake – not an intentional act designed to harm anyone. I don’t think an offence for making the mistake of driving over a toddler in a driveway should be created. But it doesn’t follow that because there happens to be a criminal offence attached to doing something negligently all of a sudden that person should be seen as somehow unworthy or so bereft of integrity that we need to punish them further.
So if doug had beaten his wife wld he still be a sir cos its not in the area of his expertise.
So if doug had beaten his wife wld he still be a sir cos its not in the area of his expertise.
have a look at the wikileaks NZ page
??
This was the inside news that was going around my Nat-voting brother’s social circles in Auckland.
It was about a well known National figure [name suppressed by the Court] being, let’s say, not very nice to his wife.
richard’s comment can be solved quite easily. Type the following into Google search:
site:wikileaks.org zealand wife national
Btw, John Key talks about people phoning in with stories and he writes them on a piece of paper and files them away in his top drawer as part of his dirt file.
Well, he is just as keen, if not more so, about his own MPs and keeps a file on them for when it might be convenient to use. And the Nat ones have really salacious stories.
Fuck what’s with all the trade stands at the Labour conference ?
zzzz
Best you get the narcolepsy looked at.
Wouldn’t often recommend a whaleoil post, but here. you. go:
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2012/06/how-many-national-party-members-will-still-be-alive-in-2022/#axzz2jMZotUOQ
the rest is pretty much touting for business for the WhaleLusk School for How to do Politics Wrong, but that bit is funny.
LOL
Chris73 must be…
And from that piece “there really has to be more to membership than a little blue card and two begging letters a year from the President” …
That is quite ok considering the President can be a bit preoccupied with other matters, sometimes.
A combination membership drive and constitutional reform of the party, driven by Whaleoil readers, for the win. What could possibly go wrong, except for the global depletion of all available popping-corn supplies.
I wonder how the nats stack up against NZ1, demographically? After key’s snide comments at the mad hatter’s tea party, it seems his cognitive dissonance was well-entrenched.
Sounds like a pitch for Slater and his Young-Nat-affiliated mates like Wewege to get paid big wads of cash for recruitment services.
Does indeed. And he wants more power for the members too. Good. national has been a wingnut farm for too long. It’s time for the animals to shine.
Fukushima : The Ongoing Reality
Fukushima : The Ongoing Reality .
The fact that Douglas Graham can keep his Knighthood should serve as a reminder of this Frédéric Bastiat Quote:
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.”Frédéric Bastiat, Economic sophisms, 2nd series (1848), ch. 1 Physiology of plunder.
seen this talk on Fukushima above ev?
Well its a good start by Hekia I guess:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/9352077/Government-replaces-Teachers-Council
who has backed down from challenging the illegality findings of her conduct over Phillipstown School 😀 Have A Nice Day
Yes, but she’s cottoned on to simply going back and doing things again, probably with the view of doing things properly this time but still reaching the same result. Parata’s making the mistake, however, of only going back to do the bits the High Court said they did wrong. Mai Chen called her out by pointing to the fact that doing this ignores the changes that have happened in relation to the other areas the High Court didn’t say were handled wrongly. This still leaves it open to argue later that the further consultation was flawed because it wouldn’t be a completely accurate picture of circumstances now, only in parts, because it would assume nothing had changed since the first consultation, and would essentially mean that the second consultation was not proper consultation at all. Just like last time.
Lots in fact has changed, including pupil numbers going through the roof. If Parata had half a brain she’d see this as an opportunity to make political capital by accepting that “the people have spoken and this National government listens to people. We’ve listened to the people of Phillipstown and we believe that they need their school. We have been convinced by their unfaltering loyalty to their community and that this is the right decision to make. This is an example of democracy in action, and this National government is about democracy. We listen to the people!”
There’s everything for Parata and the government to lose by retaining her bullying approach to all of this. At the same time there’s everything to gain, politically, by backing away from the original stance citing consultation and the democratic process. If the government did this it would of course be a total PR sham because this government does not believe in democracy. But if it were smart it would do this. It’s probably the prudent thing to do now anyway now that student numbers have increased by so many – another reason Parata can point to for allowing Phillipstown to keep its school, that “the situation has now changed in a way that government had not envisaged at the time of the original decision.”
Part of me wants Parata to try to steamroll over everything here so that it adds to the bag of ammunition that’s going to ensure the downfall of this hateful government. But that’s not good for Phillipstown. If Parata and the government knew what was good for them then they’d too make sure that Phillipstown kept their school.
And there you go again …
W. Oil posts, and 5 minutes later, you copy. We can set our watches to you.
Do you have an original thought in your head, Chris?
He’s just doing his job.
the tories do seem to have an awful lot of self-proclaimed pr experts… perhaps they should hire some competent policy analysts?
Parata is challenged by a question on Te Karere ( 4/11) on this issue of will a name change prevent CSA? You could see just a little flash of trepidation as she knows what’s coming ….
Councils, Boards, the best of experts, sorting machines cannot make any CSA- er openly declare on any form or in any interview say ” yeah, I’m a KF er.” .
Believing that this Council name and member change is really about stopping paedophiles …?
or is about the issue of child sex abuse?
KF-ers are not an homogenous group defined by any one variable, gender, ethnicity, age, sex, profession, look…stereotype. And unsafe for anyone to think otherwise (or suggest to others to think there is) when aiming to keep children safe.
CSA Perpetrators are not paedophiles because they are teachers, priests, nuns, politicians the ones that grab shock news headlines; they are perpetrators because they want to be KF-ers; male and female !!!
Parata is not a simpleton that she believes the new “Council” can sniff a child predator out. But she thinks the public simpletons will believe this line !
CSA is a timely excuse for her to implement an already pre-planned move for the States ‘new vision’, a distraction whereby she is shamelessly using the abuse of children and subversively deflecting blame this time on teachers [All of them?] to further exert control on education and educators. These moves have been underway since 2010 under Nacts watch.
Green papers, white papers, Parata toilet paper YET
coming VERY soon to a news channel near you……wait for it, the next lot of victims
Aha! I now get Al Jazeera English 24/7 on my Freeview TV! That’s something because it has some good docos. So now Freeview isn’t looking so bare, with Maori TV, a little sport, a little Choice, as Lindsay Shelton says….. pity we still don’t have TVNZ7 and that regional TV is being sidelined.
Referendum poll: 69.3% against partial state asset sales
Still around 70% oppose asset sales which means that Key and National are selling our assets solely at the behest of the minority.
And it nows appears that The Economist is waking up to the way that banks create money:
Just noticed this donation from the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal Trust.
Quake-funds-for-Hagley-Oval
and clicked on a few more links. Interesting.
It was the main fund to donate to Canterbury and donations could be either tagged or not. It has spent about $80m out of $100m so far.Of the $80m spent around $12m was tagged funds that could only be spent as the donor directed.
The spending is interesting.
Cricket and rugby have had $8m in total around 15% of the untagged funds spent.
Youth and education scored about $3m, lots of small grants that I hope made a real difference and $0.25m to rebuild a library which I would have thought was covered by the Council insurance.
Hardship Spiritual and Faith $9m. Again a lot of tagged funds to mostly mainstream charities doing on the ground work and rebuilding a couple of community centers -needed- but again why not the council? Did they not want to give a donation to the council in case it provoked too many questions so did a bit here, a bit there?
And a few items which looked like they should have been central govt funding – $0.23m to the retirement commissioner to fund legal advice to red zone residents. WTF
Now the legal advice surely was necessary but is this what the donors would have intended? Money to fend off the govt?
Heritage and culture $14.2m to rebuild the arts centre clock tower and grand hall
I dunno. I struggle to see why professional sport has managed to scoop so much of the untagged funds. I struggle to see why so many needed counsellors are funded by charity not central govt and why needed community centres didn’t come out of the council budgets. Is the Chch city council being directd by central govt to spend its funds on other things?
Good God. It’s official. As if any further proof that we abide in the twilight zone of utter and complete morono-tory domination of media was needed, they’re bringing back Paul Henry. Failed, rejected, talentless right-wing hack; revolting, repulsive, hatemongering filth of the most extreme order, paid zillions to further molest innocent sensibilities. Please, someone, find out who made this decision. Name and address please.