I for one am a bit tired of 'feelings' being ascribed to the rule breakers from a middle class background…….Dr Bloomfield has said several times that he 'imagines', or words to that effect, that those who did not self isolate would be feeling remorseful.
'When asked about Case M – the 21-year old-MIT student who visited several locations while symptomatic – Dr Bloomfield said: "I imagine he is extremely remorseful".'
I have advocated 'someone' getting alongside the rule breakers to talk them through what happened and more importantly to find out their views on what can be done to prevent future breaches. Unless Dr Bloomfield knows, from personal conversation or through reading feedback from a health professional who has had a personal conversation that they are remorseful, he should refrain from commenting. The actions in breaking self isolation speak louder than ascribed feelings, right from the mothers' meeting to the tripping round by Case M.
The question is why, seemingly, did things like self isolation not matter in these particular families? Until we know we cannot do anything much to improve things.
In the meantime we cannot go round ascribing to others how they may be feeling.
On a personal level I am always willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt but ascribing feelings that are not borne out by actions is pushing hard against our willingness and to me is a bit of fakery.
did anybody else notice the irony of an old, stale, out of date, media telling us this message. in the battle to remain relevant, our media need to constantly keep reminding themselves, that, they need to be more pro-active when it comes to reaching a younger audience. however, after a year of covid, there is NO excuse for any ignorance over staying home when sick, and as for going to the gym after a covid test, words fail me as to the stupidity of some. Do gyms have the stay home if sick message on their walls? it comes down to personal responsibility, and thats why cretins like seymour are dancing on the head of a pin, while going on about extra gov bed checks, and more gov intervention.. the associates of this particular family that has caused so much harm, must be aware of the family, and are probably giving them the cold shoulder.(?)
the associates of this particular family that has caused so much harm, must be aware of the family, and are probably giving them the cold shoulder.(?)
I don't think we can be sure of this at all and you are right to question it. Messages are being missed or people don't care, why? We need to find out from the rule breakers themselves – are they being influenced to disobey by their churches, because they do not know how to access support, because the messages are from 'da man' or 'old whitey' and should be automatically disregarded? Or……, or……..
There are as many excuses as anybody can master, how on earth could people by now not know what it means to be infected? I mean this was just the major news over a year now.
If I understand this correctly, the spreaders were in Managed Isolation. I sure as hell hope they have paid their bill. And to say that they didn't understand …pleeeeeese pull another one.
Your comment is valid and I agree with it. However, when you say they [“the spreaders”, plural] “were” in MIQ, it has a completely different meaning compared to the correct and accurate fact that they [Case M, singular, neutral] “had been” in/through MIQ.
It was particularly amusing on RNZ this morning to hear Patrick Strange the Chair of Ports of Auckland complaining that the government has no post-Covid strategy.
Lat year his company rolled out one of the largest failed strategies we've seen in recent NZ commercial life, and its commercial damage is still being felt across New Zealand.
One of the few good things about the pandemic is how the business establishment (the talking heads, not the people actually doing the work) have discredited themselves. Rather than the thrusting, agile, innovative, brilliant, independent wealth-creators of popular myth, they look and sound like third-rate, intellectually and morally vacuous scroungers looking for an impossible 'certainty'. Once we are out of the pandemic, it will be important to sustain our disdain for them, and not let them creep back into positions of undue influence
The general populace can but be beholden to government in this crisis, because they are both regulated to do so by public health edict and because they are utterly subsidised. So we allow state dependence for the general population.
But we don't allow that same state dependence for business.
And yet business and the population are as dependent on the state as the other.
We haven't had a state as interventionist as this since 1934. People are beginning to notice that the Ardern government doesn't know what to do with that once the crisis lessens back to level 1 in a few days.
The reasonable question is: is this really all a Team Of Five Million can do together?
Casual contact, casual plus contact, close contact or close plus contact?
Had a family bubble happened at the casual plus contact level a positive case would be more likely to have been contained.
The settings for the contact classifications, the testing and isolation need to be relooked at especially when it comes to not having a family bubble at a casual plus contact stage.
I do believe people when they say my family member is a casual plus contact and I was told not to isolate.
I am sick and tired of the fake headlines and moaning in the media and it's stuffed shirt talking heads. That piece in Stuff basically just allows their ghastly white guilt to be assuaged by letting the Maori party grandstand on their identity politics of victimhood and quotes exact one teenager – a Maori kid in Hawera – who doesn't even say what the headline claims. So who is saying what the headline claims, beyond politcially partisan people with a whole shedload of resentment axes to grind?
Luke Malpass has another "analysis" piece today in Stuff which isn't worth shit. He is a neoliberal horse race analyst who is based in Wellington. He knows fuck all about Auckland and even less than that about South Auckland. He his literally reflecting the opinion of his typewriter and some sort of received wisdom in the press gallery. I get sick and tired of the pompous pronouncements of blowhard journalists masquerading as analysis.
I get it that the media thrive on conflict and rarking people up for conflict. Like everyone else I saw how the sausage gets made with their pathetic gotcha lines of questioning last year, and it made me want to puke. Dogged stupidity is still stupidity. They've learnt nothing because they are arrogant sons of bitches who hold the public in distain. They desperately want to want to get back to playing court banter politics as imagined viziers to the public. I just don't want anymore of their bullshit. I got sick of it last year and nothing has changed.
So, you’re blowing your lid because of some headline somewhere in Stuff? Wow!
Have a lie down and a cup of tea.
As for the other unlinked piece in Stuff by Malpass, you flipped your lid again but nobody has a clue what the piece is/was about nor on what grounds you disagree with Mr Malpass other than he has the ‘wrong’ bumper sticker.
Sanctuary has what some might interpret as an inflammatory style of writing, but the basis of his complaint is correct. I, too am getting sick and tired of reading or listening to bullshit from tabloid journos who misquote, misjudge, misinterpret and generally screw up facts simply because they can… and get away with it under the guise of a supposed nuanced analysis.
I started to read one of HDPA's diatribes the other day and it was so full of conspiratorial nonsense I gave up in disgust. But its not just her… there's an industry of knee-jerk journalism growing up around the pandemic responses in particular. By all means be critical if there are grounds for it, but going troppo at every twist and turn is not only annoying… it creates more confusion.
Yes, there is some excellent and accurate journalism around but unfortunately they are not the ones who get the most publicity. It's the shock jocks and its time they were reined in.
A note on newspapers/news sites: Those who write the article do not write the headline. Headlines, subheads and captions are all written by subeditors not the journalists. This is why they can be sensationalistic/inaccurate.
What gets me is the amount of unsubstantiated reckons that pass as news – RNZ did a terrible job this morning with some bozo reporter perched above a South Auckland motorway interchange which he has probably never visited at that time of day before in his life saying there was "more traffic" on the road – and therefore implying widespread ignoring of level three restrictions, which then fed a preconceived attack line on the minister who was interviewed next and was supposed to rebut unsubstantiated nonsense.
Where I live the traffic was way down to almost level 4 amounts on St. Lukes road at times today – I could just as easily get on air and spout a bullshit reckon based on my unscientific, localised anecdotal observations and marvel at how strong Aucklanders are. Now, if that RNZ Bozo had traffic data or some facts to back up his view that people are disobeying the lockdown then please, please tell us. This the media has decided the narrative crap is downright fake news.
We have daily a 9am meeting for everyone in the team to briefly say what they are doing that day. In the office it takes 10 minutes to work around the team.
On Teams it takes twice as long, as you have to remind most people that they are on mute, someone drops out with a bad connection at home, or people talk over each other so you can hear anyone.
Unbiased and fair reporting from BBC, Reuters? Looking into these leaks (which unsurprisingly are receiving NO coverage from western MSM whatsoever ) it becomes apparent that both of those news organizations are toughly compromised and cannot be trusted with any news or reporting on Russia..which of course makes everything else they report suspect, as this has obviously put a big question mark around their journalistic integrity generally.
Both BBC and Reuters along with Bellingcat were actually bidding for lucrative contracts with the British UK FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) to conduct covert programs of disinformation and also train Russian journalists in the art of spreading discontent inside Russia, the leaked documents reveal.
Interesting how after five years of investigation by the most well-funded investigators in the world come up with so little proof that Russia was involved in a large scale programme to undermine the US elections in 2016 that MSM won’t even allow a counter narrative EVER for fear of having their flimsy allegations fall apart live on air…yet here we are, presented with actual proof of that very thing happening against another country…wonder if there will be a flood of media outrage that two of their own have been proved to be so shamefully compromised?
Someone's done a Bellingcat type open source on Navalny
Turns out he was holidaying in Switzerland , working on the US funded Putin's Palace in the Black Forest , and according to a German report, holidaying in the Canary Islands .
All this while "recovering " or "in a coma"and thus unable to present in Russia in accordance with his suspended sentence
He just couldn't resist posting those Instagram photos
Bellingcat is open source, unlike the RT efforts, you can check yourself whether what they produce is real. You can even collect data for them.
RT has a massive hatefest on for Bellingcat after they proved Russia shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 over the Ukraine, even discovering the Russian unit and operators responsible.
Russian journalism has had to contend with being obliged to print outright fabrications since the revolution. Under Putin the practice has been revived, and with the advent of the internet, extended.
I think its about the age of 3 to 5 that kids understand other people have an independent consciousness. So I have no idea what you heard on RT at the time of the Skripal poisoning.
Not to mention the airliner shot down over the Ukraine and the "satellite photos" suggesting it was aircraft that did it. But then RT also asserted numerous other explanations for how an airliner blew up in midair.
The objective of Maskrovka is to muddy the waters, not provide a plausible denial.
"circulating and repeating these carefully crafted pieces of disinformation is a public disservice on a par with repeating the broadcasts of Tokyo Rose or Lord Hawhaw"
You guys really have no problem getting into bed with all the enemies of the Left and their organizations to pursue your cold war Russian narrative… the FBI, the CIA, the most despicable US war hawks, war criminals ….and keep in mind I am not and have never defended Putin or his govt, no, I am just questioning the motives and truths that lay behind what is quite obviously a western elite power play against one particular segment of the Russian power structure over another (the 'other' it seems is more open to western participation in Russia)…something that maybe you guys might want to think about doing sometime.
The Bellingcat research collective: War propaganda masquerading as “citizen journalism”
"The Bellingcat “research collective” is a web site established in July 2014 by Eliot Higgins. Originally from Leicester in the UK, Higgins is, as of February, a senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab and Future Europe Initiative."
The Ukrainian oligarch run Burisma Holdings donated $100,000 per year for three years to the Atlantic Council starting in 2016. The full list of financial sponsors includes many military, financial, and corporate concerns. The leading donors in 2018 were Facebook and the British government.
Yes, that would be the Belling-shat that appears to weigh in on all sorts of highly contentious, highly political, geopolitical events for the public good?? Can anyone say Syria chemical attack?
I guess they have no shame in using any source they can to prove Russia is bad…
You really have bought the whole bill of goods, haven't you?
Bellingcat are a perfectly ordinary and truthful, organisation. As such they are an existential threat to chronic liars and disinformation peddlers like the Putin kleptocracy.
People less susceptible to fake news, like the air accident inspectors that investigated MH17, found that Bellingcat had been entirely truthful. The same could not be said of Russian sources, who went so far as to produce and present fake video of an attacking Ukrainian fighter as their official explanation. As the investigator noted, the wreckage of an airliner shot down by a fighter would be full of bullet holes, which the wreckage lacked.
I wonder at your motivations, frankly, for constantly trying to make Putin's lies the leading narrative.
Pootsie has already killed him via personally injecting novichok into his toothpaste , or was it the elastic of his underpants , or was it the airport cup of tea, or hang on , it was the evening cocktail, Navalny said it did taste funny, no, thats right ,it was the water bottle
There's been a big coverup, and RT is just pretending he's been sent to a penal colony
Also, China is refusing to let the 737-max become operational in its airspace again. Such things are often diplomatic petulance – mate of mine who works logistics has stories about the US turning away produce imports on the basis of stickers being slightly out of alignment for "safety" grounds (read "import protections in a supposedly low-protection relationship") – but in this case, toss a coin. It might be that the problems have been fixed and the plane is good to go, like the "Comet" was after the fatigue problem was sorted. But equally, the software fix for the 737-max is a bodge to fix the bodge to fix the original fundamental design problem.
Or China recognises the perils of bean counters running the engineering.
The Long-Forgotten Flight That Sent Boeing Off Course
A company once driven by engineers became driven by finance.
[…]
The isolation was deliberate. “When the headquarters is located in proximity to a principal business—as ours was in Seattle—the corporate center is inevitably drawn into day-to-day business operations,” Condit explained at the time. And that statement, more than anything, captures a cardinal truth about the aerospace giant. The present 737 Max disaster can be traced back two decades—to the moment Boeing’s leadership decided to divorce itself from the firm’s own culture.
For about 80 years, Boeing basically functioned as an association of engineers. Its executives held patents, designed wings, spoke the language of engineering and safety as a mother tongue. Finance wasn’t a primary language. Even Boeing’s bean counters didn’t act the part. As late as the mid-’90s, the company’s chief financial officer had minimal contact with Wall Street and answered colleagues’ requests for basic financial data with a curt “Tell them not to worry.”
It's no wonder they're called pigs because that's what they've been for decades.
We need good people in the police, and the only way that can happen is to have extremely tight recruitment rules. Anyone with even a sniff of a jock mentality are told no. Only the truly wholesome should be let in.
It's pretty weird to realise that in no alternative universe can I imagine either our Prime Minister or Minister of Finance coming out so explicitly about the necessity of union membership and fighting against corporations as Biden does here.
All mainstream media, and the AFL-CIO, and all the business journals fully get what Biden just did. In reality that collected perspective is more valid than what you posted.
You'll probably be able to point to another President that has explicitly supported the right of workers to unionise. You have to go a fair way back.
In the US political context this is the left's equivalent of Trump telling the racists to "stand back and stand by".
We have made great strides toward the objectives of the National Industrial Recovery Act, for not only have several millions of our unemployed been restored to work, but industry is organizing itself with a greater understanding that reasonable profits can be earned while at the same time protection can be assured to guarantee to labor adequate pay and proper conditions of work. Child labor is abolished. Uniform standards of hours and wages apply today to 95 percent of industrial employment within the field of the National Industrial Recovery Act. We seek the definite end of preventing combinations in furtherance of monopoly and in restraint of trade, while at the same time we seek to prevent ruinous rivalries within industrial groups which in many cases resemble the gang wars of the underworld and in which the real victim in every case is the public itself.
Under the authority of this Congress, we have brought the component parts of each industry together around a common table, just as we have brought problems affecting labor to a common meeting ground. Though the machinery, hurriedly devised, may need readjustment from time to time, nevertheless I think you will agree with me that we have created a permanent feature of our modernized industrial structure and that it will continue under the supervision but not the arbitrary dictation of Government itself.
The protection of the right of workers to organize into unions and to bargain collectively is the firm and permanent policy of the Eisenhower Administration. In 1954, 1955 and again in 1956, President Eisenhower recommended constructive amendments to this Act.
Joe Biden’s comments were more than I expected when taken in context of Presidents that were either openly anti union (ex union member Reagan), or pretty much silent on US workers organising i.e. most of the rest that I can recall, there was an approving speech on Union membership one time from DW. Eisenhower also.
But then, there are unions, and there are bent unions in the USA. So it pays not to generalise too much. The AFL-CIO has a mixed record too. But a member led unionised site within Amazon would be a mighty advance for workers everywhere regardless of all that. Logistics workers serving the online economy in supposedly liberal Europe get a hard time too, and have to battle for basic rights like breaks these days.
Amazon workers will be voting till the end of March and need 6000 YES votes. They had to fight and appeal even to be able to use postal voting too!–in the middle of a pandemic. The company sent out letters advising each employee to vote NO and do it now! A UPS mail box had mysteriously appeared on site at the Bessemer Alabama giant warehouse.
So yes, Biden’s remarks were not red hot, but they will be clearly understood by other employers too, and might just help tip the balance and start an Amazon wide union drive.
Yeah, Bidens all about the workers and their struggles…seriously though…the pro union headlines are a great way to distract from what is actually happening to workers in America ..and unfortunately some of the Unions are more interested in being self serving than helping the American worker.
Twitter (and Facebook/YouTube) become more and more an unaccountable censors of public discourse….silence from our media.
Glenn Greenwald: It took [twitter] only two years to go from disappearing Milo and Alex Jones to banning content said to "amplify narratives that undermine faith in NATO." Imagine where the line will be two years from now.
The narratives that were being artificially amplified had an objective of "undermining faith in NATO", but it was the amplifying that incurred the ban, not the objective:
You can’t artificially amplify or disrupt conversations through the use of multiple accounts or by coordinating with others to violate the Twitter Rules. This includes:
overlapping accounts – operating multiple accounts with overlapping use cases, such as identical or similar personas or substantially similar content;
mutually interacting accounts – operating multiple accounts that interact with one another in order to inflate or manipulate the prominence of specific Tweets or accounts; and
coordination – creating multiple accounts to post duplicative content or create fake engagement, including:
posting identical or substantially similar Tweets or hashtags from multiple accounts you operate;
engaging (Retweets, Likes, mentions, Twitter Poll votes) repeatedly with the same Tweets or accounts from multiple accounts that you operate;
coordinating with or compensating others to engage in artificial engagement or amplification, even if the people involved use only one account; and
coordinating with others to engage in or promote violations of the Twitter Rules, including violations of our abusive behavior policy.
Going down the link hole from the original comment:
“The 373 associated accounts across the four networks were permanently suspended from Twitter for violations of our platform manipulation policies,” the company said in a blog post.
"We could undo the global economic arrangements that systematically and intentionally funnel wealth to some countries while intensifying poverty in others."
Which country has poverty intensified as a result of wealth being funneled to another country?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
NZ's terms of trade has generally been positive and our current account balance has been relatively consistent for much of our recent history. Outside the issues with housing affordability poverty has been static or even falling for the past 25 years.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Sam Stubbs, founder of KiwiSaver provider Simplicity, said banks were taking advantage of their dominant market position to extract unreasonable profits.
"The ANZ will make more profit this year than Fonterra, Spark, Fletcher Building, Warehouse, Air NZ and all the supermarkets combined did last year. It's one bank, yet its profits are almost twice that of the top seven power companies combined. And it all goes back to Aussie."
Following your logic NZ is poorer today than it was in 1840. Please explain how that is possible?
The fact is it is not poorer. It is very much richer. The reason is because the capital that these foreign owned banks brought in to the county enabled many people to develop profitable businesses that would not have been possible otherwise.
And Offshore banks have only been in the domestic market for less than 40 years.
False – offshore banks started operating in NZ not long after european settlers arrived. The Bank of New South Wales was effectively NZ's central bank by the 1860's.
Strictly speaking not….the offshore financial institutions (not necessarily retail banks) had a very small proportion of NZs market pre 1980s reforms
"Prior to the rapid deregulation in the mid-1980s, the variety of different types of financial institutions largely reflected the restrictions placed by statute or regulation on the types of business each institution could undertake. These constraints and protected niches all quickly disappeared, and over the next few years savings banks and building societies were progressively absorbed into or taken over by big commercial banks. As a result, many institutions were purchased by foreign entities. ANZ purchased the privatised Postbank. Commonwealth Bank of Australia purchased ASB Bank (one of the trustee savings banks). More recently, WestpacTrust took over Trustbank, formed from all the other trustee savings banks (with the exception of TSB Bank, which remains an independent entity). Private savings banks, which had previously been set up by parents to undertake certain types of lending, were wound back into the parent. The BNZ itself was fully privatised and sold to National Australia Bank in the early 1990s and Countrywide Bank, formed from several building societies, was taken over by National Bank later in the decade. It was during this time that the share of foreignowned banks began to increase to the high levels seen today"
"The government’s ownership of the BNZ, and use of it as its banker, allowed it to become the largest trading bank. It was fully nationalised in 1945.
An 1865 law which established the Post Office Savings Bank also curbed the rights of other savings banks and enabled it to absorb competitors. By the mid-1950s the Post Office Savings Bank controlled around 80% of the personal savings market."
Interesting data point in your link (which is from 2017):
…handled by the Banking Ombudsman, which dealt with 2704 cases and complaints. About 77 percent of those cases related to the Australian banks.
Australian-owned banks make up roughly 85% of the banking market. That means they're actually a bit better at resolving issues and not driving customers into the complaint process as often as the (mostly NZ-owned) other banks.
Most of the satisfaction with NZ owned banks is perception not reality. Most people will say they prefer NZ owned banks even if the service provided is of a lower quality.
You're probably right Phil – nevertheless from time-to-time NZ Consumer and other organisations survey bank customers, and NZ-owned banks always top the customer satisfaction rankings.
But then I’ve been a happy TSB customer for some 20 years (after ditching Westpac), so of course I would say that.
from time-to-time NZ Consumer and other organisations survey bank customers, and NZ-owned banks always top the customer satisfaction rankings.
Yeah, I don't dispute that the NZ banks produce higher customer satisfaction ratings in those surveys, but the glaringly obvious fact is that the revealed preference of the vast majority of NZ'ers (85-ish percent of us) is that we're entirely comfortable banking with one or more of the aussie owned big-4.
Yeah, I don't dispute that the majority of NZers bank with Aussie-owned banks. Just not sure if "entirely comfortable" accurately captures the feelings of all NZ customers of Aussie-owned banks. But if it does, then presumably (based on customer satisfaction surveys), it would be fair to describe customers of NZ-owned banks as being 'more than entirely comfortable' with the service(s) provided.
Personally, after 20 years as a satisfied TSB customer, I can't imagine what might cause me to switch back to Westpac.
The issue is greater than that….consider the similarity and interconnectivity of the NZ and Australian economies….we are almost a single market that is exposed to the same threats, if their banks fall over so do ours and vice versa
Perhaps a better way to put it would be that the vast majority of New Zealanders are sufficiently satisfied with their Aus-owned banks that they don't feel a need to shift to a different institution. 🙂
Banking with Aussie-owned banks is unquestionably the most popular choice for New Zealanders, just as it's crystal clear that customers of NZ-owned banks are on average more satisfied with bank service(s).
It would be interesting to tease out why banking with a NZ-owned bank not a popular choice in NZ, given that their customers apparently enjoy a greater degree of satisfaction.
Perhaps there's a perception that switching banks is a hassle, particularly if you've got a mortgage or other debt.
Switching banks is safe, easy and fast. Your new bank can take care of everything in five working days. It’s the fastest switching in the world.
This process also links recurring payments, such as direct debits and automatic payments, to your new bank account number. Your new bank can do all that for you, through a single form.
Kiwibank does not have the infrastructure in place to support business banking in any meaningful way. Their IT systems are limiting their growth and they have failed a number of times to upgrade them.
The ANZ will make more profit this year than Fonterra, Spark, Fletcher Building, Warehouse, Air NZ and all the supermarkets combined did last year. It's one bank, yet its profits are almost twice that of the top seven power companies combined.
ANZ's NZ balance sheet is $179 billion dollars. Fonterra's is, conveniently for this analysis, $17.9b, so ANZ is 10 times as large as Fonterra.
In 2020 ANZ made just under $1.4b in profit, while Fonterra made $830m.
Ten times larger, but only making (slightly less than) twice the profits. Huh, it's almost like people will take every opportunity to bash the Australian owned banks without putting in any thought or effort.
Either amount, the profit still leaves the local economy, this is funneling wealth to out of the country leaving us poorer, which was the point. That it is not as much in 2020 compared to 2018 is irrelevant.
I’m not sure this counts as ‘bashing’ but I’m sure ANZ are glad you’re here to support them.
Some of the profit MAY leave the economy. Not all of it does. Regardless the capital that ANZ provides to the NZ economy provides the basis for investments in the productive areas of the economy which leads to economic growth.
You were asking about wealth funnelling and you think that this has something to do with our current account balance!? Are you for real? They are completely different things. You’re so ignorant that there is clearly no point discussing this with you.
Oh, yes, besides that pesky little housing ‘crisis’ all is well in Aotearoa.
You’re simply trolling here and you’ve already been moved to OM, twice. I think you should go for the trifecta.
Well as you are a known stanch defender of the Liberal Free Market status quo, obviously not you….but people who advocate for actual progressive change around the world will be getting very concerned.
there are a few billion people on this planet that don't have twitter, don't go on twitter, and could not be bothered.
As for GG, has he mentioned Reality Winner lately? Or is that unpolite. I hear she was cancelled, err locked up for leaking information to he Intercept and will be uncancelled in Nov 21 after 5 years in the slammer.
Oh that is not a cancellation that is important. Or maybe GG just has nothing to say about that cause it ain't sexy or something?
I dont' care about the liberal market any more then you do, but GG is a wanker and "twitter" is a private business that can do as it pleases. Anyone else can just abstain and not validate it.
Same as with FB, Gab, Parler, and any of the other social medias.
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
If you have had a covid test and are waiting on the result, surely you do not go out to the gym or the shops etc! How simpler can the message be?
Covid-19: Young people to Government – 'your message is too old, too stale and way too long' | Stuff.co.nz
Apparently it was the walk by adults which was the trigger. This journalist is being selective with his facts to support his political narrative.
I for one am a bit tired of 'feelings' being ascribed to the rule breakers from a middle class background…….Dr Bloomfield has said several times that he 'imagines', or words to that effect, that those who did not self isolate would be feeling remorseful.
'When asked about Case M – the 21-year old-MIT student who visited several locations while symptomatic – Dr Bloomfield said: "I imagine he is extremely remorseful".'
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/03/covid-19-live-updates-latest-on-auckland-community-outbreak-tuesday-march-2.html
I have advocated 'someone' getting alongside the rule breakers to talk them through what happened and more importantly to find out their views on what can be done to prevent future breaches. Unless Dr Bloomfield knows, from personal conversation or through reading feedback from a health professional who has had a personal conversation that they are remorseful, he should refrain from commenting. The actions in breaking self isolation speak louder than ascribed feelings, right from the mothers' meeting to the tripping round by Case M.
The question is why, seemingly, did things like self isolation not matter in these particular families? Until we know we cannot do anything much to improve things.
In the meantime we cannot go round ascribing to others how they may be feeling.
On a personal level I am always willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt but ascribing feelings that are not borne out by actions is pushing hard against our willingness and to me is a bit of fakery.
did anybody else notice the irony of an old, stale, out of date, media telling us this message. in the battle to remain relevant, our media need to constantly keep reminding themselves, that, they need to be more pro-active when it comes to reaching a younger audience. however, after a year of covid, there is NO excuse for any ignorance over staying home when sick, and as for going to the gym after a covid test, words fail me as to the stupidity of some. Do gyms have the stay home if sick message on their walls? it comes down to personal responsibility, and thats why cretins like seymour are dancing on the head of a pin, while going on about extra gov bed checks, and more gov intervention.. the associates of this particular family that has caused so much harm, must be aware of the family, and are probably giving them the cold shoulder.(?)
I don't think we can be sure of this at all and you are right to question it. Messages are being missed or people don't care, why? We need to find out from the rule breakers themselves – are they being influenced to disobey by their churches, because they do not know how to access support, because the messages are from 'da man' or 'old whitey' and should be automatically disregarded? Or……, or……..
How about the simple message that the cost of a lockdown, if caused by you will be $250million. How soon would you be able to pay off the debt?
There are as many excuses as anybody can master, how on earth could people by now not know what it means to be infected? I mean this was just the major news over a year now.
If I understand this correctly, the spreaders were in Managed Isolation. I sure as hell hope they have paid their bill. And to say that they didn't understand …pleeeeeese pull another one.
When it comes to being infected it seems to be about the contact classifications falling into risk categories.
Low risk at casual contact level does not mean no risk.
Your comment is valid and I agree with it. However, when you say they [“the spreaders”, plural] “were” in MIQ, it has a completely different meaning compared to the correct and accurate fact that they [Case M, singular, neutral] “had been” in/through MIQ.
no, it means that they KNOW what to do, and what NOT to do. running around, splitting hairs to make a point is a sideshow.
Sigh
Yes, we know and I agreed. How many times do you want it repeated here and agreed upon? Do you want to be a parrot in an echo chamber?
After all that running around I had to have a cup of tea and a lie down but I’m good now, thanks.
What was the “point” I was making, according to you?
It was particularly amusing on RNZ this morning to hear Patrick Strange the Chair of Ports of Auckland complaining that the government has no post-Covid strategy.
Lat year his company rolled out one of the largest failed strategies we've seen in recent NZ commercial life, and its commercial damage is still being felt across New Zealand.
He should shut up.
Hah! I thought the same thing. Pompous ass.
Did he say when post covid starts?
One of the few good things about the pandemic is how the business establishment (the talking heads, not the people actually doing the work) have discredited themselves. Rather than the thrusting, agile, innovative, brilliant, independent wealth-creators of popular myth, they look and sound like third-rate, intellectually and morally vacuous scroungers looking for an impossible 'certainty'. Once we are out of the pandemic, it will be important to sustain our disdain for them, and not let them creep back into positions of undue influence
It's a bad double moment.
The general populace can but be beholden to government in this crisis, because they are both regulated to do so by public health edict and because they are utterly subsidised. So we allow state dependence for the general population.
But we don't allow that same state dependence for business.
And yet business and the population are as dependent on the state as the other.
We haven't had a state as interventionist as this since 1934. People are beginning to notice that the Ardern government doesn't know what to do with that once the crisis lessens back to level 1 in a few days.
The reasonable question is: is this really all a Team Of Five Million can do together?
So, you don’t like what he’s saying and/or him personally?
Work your way down the list and knock yourself out.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300242228/business-leaders-ask-whats-the-longterm-covid-strategy
At what point should a family bubble begin?
Casual contact, casual plus contact, close contact or close plus contact?
Had a family bubble happened at the casual plus contact level a positive case would be more likely to have been contained.
The settings for the contact classifications, the testing and isolation need to be relooked at especially when it comes to not having a family bubble at a casual plus contact stage.
I do believe people when they say my family member is a casual plus contact and I was told not to isolate.
https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/pages/guidance-for-casual-plus-contacts-25feb21.pdf
I am sick and tired of the fake headlines and moaning in the media and it's stuffed shirt talking heads. That piece in Stuff basically just allows their ghastly white guilt to be assuaged by letting the Maori party grandstand on their identity politics of victimhood and quotes exact one teenager – a Maori kid in Hawera – who doesn't even say what the headline claims. So who is saying what the headline claims, beyond politcially partisan people with a whole shedload of resentment axes to grind?
Luke Malpass has another "analysis" piece today in Stuff which isn't worth shit. He is a neoliberal horse race analyst who is based in Wellington. He knows fuck all about Auckland and even less than that about South Auckland. He his literally reflecting the opinion of his typewriter and some sort of received wisdom in the press gallery. I get sick and tired of the pompous pronouncements of blowhard journalists masquerading as analysis.
I get it that the media thrive on conflict and rarking people up for conflict. Like everyone else I saw how the sausage gets made with their pathetic gotcha lines of questioning last year, and it made me want to puke. Dogged stupidity is still stupidity. They've learnt nothing because they are arrogant sons of bitches who hold the public in distain. They desperately want to want to get back to playing court banter politics as imagined viziers to the public. I just don't want anymore of their bullshit. I got sick of it last year and nothing has changed.
So, you’re blowing your lid because of some headline somewhere in Stuff? Wow!
Have a lie down and a cup of tea.
As for the other unlinked piece in Stuff by Malpass, you flipped your lid again but nobody has a clue what the piece is/was about nor on what grounds you disagree with Mr Malpass other than he has the ‘wrong’ bumper sticker.
Have a lie down and a cup of tea.
Sanctuary has what some might interpret as an inflammatory style of writing, but the basis of his complaint is correct. I, too am getting sick and tired of reading or listening to bullshit from tabloid journos who misquote, misjudge, misinterpret and generally screw up facts simply because they can… and get away with it under the guise of a supposed nuanced analysis.
I started to read one of HDPA's diatribes the other day and it was so full of conspiratorial nonsense I gave up in disgust. But its not just her… there's an industry of knee-jerk journalism growing up around the pandemic responses in particular. By all means be critical if there are grounds for it, but going troppo at every twist and turn is not only annoying… it creates more confusion.
Yes, there is some excellent and accurate journalism around but unfortunately they are not the ones who get the most publicity. It's the shock jocks and its time they were reined in.
A note on newspapers/news sites: Those who write the article do not write the headline. Headlines, subheads and captions are all written by subeditors not the journalists. This is why they can be sensationalistic/inaccurate.
Yes that is true, but its the substance I'm talking about not the headlines.
Oh and btw Incognito, I’ve already had three cups of tea in the last hour. 😉
So we can take then that most subeditors are fully paid up members of the National Party then. Just a thought.
Outrage is a powerful motivator to click. Just saying.
+100 sanctuary
On average we write better posts than they do.
We could easily just replace the entire sports section of TV news with Social Impact news that's a whole bunch more penetrating than 7 Sharp.
In fact a daily scorecard of most popular non-MSM posts would be more useful than sports team scores.
What gets me is the amount of unsubstantiated reckons that pass as news – RNZ did a terrible job this morning with some bozo reporter perched above a South Auckland motorway interchange which he has probably never visited at that time of day before in his life saying there was "more traffic" on the road – and therefore implying widespread ignoring of level three restrictions, which then fed a preconceived attack line on the minister who was interviewed next and was supposed to rebut unsubstantiated nonsense.
Where I live the traffic was way down to almost level 4 amounts on St. Lukes road at times today – I could just as easily get on air and spout a bullshit reckon based on my unscientific, localised anecdotal observations and marvel at how strong Aucklanders are. Now, if that RNZ Bozo had traffic data or some facts to back up his view that people are disobeying the lockdown then please, please tell us. This the media has decided the narrative crap is downright fake news.
It's not like ANZ doesn't publish their truckometer data.
Y'all forget, the purpose of the 'news hour and a half' is to sell advertising.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Is anyone yet prepared to admit that we are far more efficient in meetings on Teams at home than we are at work in offices?
Absolutely not!
No way.
We have daily a 9am meeting for everyone in the team to briefly say what they are doing that day. In the office it takes 10 minutes to work around the team.
On Teams it takes twice as long, as you have to remind most people that they are on mute, someone drops out with a bad connection at home, or people talk over each other so you can hear anyone.
The office wins everytime for me.
Depends on what the meeting is for, but mostly yes as long as the attendees can observe Teams etiquette.
Unbiased and fair reporting from BBC, Reuters? Looking into these leaks (which unsurprisingly are receiving NO coverage from western MSM whatsoever ) it becomes apparent that both of those news organizations are toughly compromised and cannot be trusted with any news or reporting on Russia..which of course makes everything else they report suspect, as this has obviously put a big question mark around their journalistic integrity generally.
Both BBC and Reuters along with Bellingcat were actually bidding for lucrative contracts with the British UK FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) to conduct covert programs of disinformation and also train Russian journalists in the art of spreading discontent inside Russia, the leaked documents reveal.
Interesting how after five years of investigation by the most well-funded investigators in the world come up with so little proof that Russia was involved in a large scale programme to undermine the US elections in 2016 that MSM won’t even allow a counter narrative EVER for fear of having their flimsy allegations fall apart live on air…yet here we are, presented with actual proof of that very thing happening against another country…wonder if there will be a flood of media outrage that two of their own have been proved to be so shamefully compromised?
Leaked Docs Reveal UK Funded Reuters, BBC, Bellingcat For Covert Regime Change In Russia To Topple Putin
https://greatgameindia.com/bbc-regime-change-russia/
Reuters, BBC participated in UK FCO's project to weaken Russia: report
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-02-25/Reuters-BBC-participated-in-UK-FCO-s-project-to-weaken-Russia-report-Ya0X5PBHTq/index.html
Reuters, BBC, and Bellingcat participated in covert UK Foreign Office-funded programs to “weaken Russia,” leaked docs reveal
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/20/reuters-bbc-uk-foreign-office-russian-media/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ8mycEVgGQ
Someone's done a Bellingcat type open source on Navalny
Turns out he was holidaying in Switzerland , working on the US funded Putin's Palace in the Black Forest , and according to a German report, holidaying in the Canary Islands .
All this while "recovering " or "in a coma"and thus unable to present in Russia in accordance with his suspended sentence
He just couldn't resist posting those Instagram photos
http://johnhelmer.net/alexei-navalnys-waldeinsamkeit-thats-german-for-spiritual-forest-walking-surrounded-by-100-german-secret-service-agents/#more-45946
done a Bellingcat
You really have swallowed the RT line without chewing haven't you.
So what is it Bellingcat does, if its not putting these kinds of reports together and releasing them, then?
Bellingcat is open source, unlike the RT efforts, you can check yourself whether what they produce is real. You can even collect data for them.
RT has a massive hatefest on for Bellingcat after they proved Russia shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 over the Ukraine, even discovering the Russian unit and operators responsible.
Russian journalism has had to contend with being obliged to print outright fabrications since the revolution. Under Putin the practice has been revived, and with the advent of the internet, extended.
You can find some explanation here: Active Measures — inside the history of disinformation | Financial Times (ft.com) Of course, circulating and repeating these carefully crafted pieces of disinformation is a public disservice on a par with repeating the broadcasts of Tokyo Rose or Lord Hawhaw.
By gum your absolutely right, RT doesn't do anything like that.
Cast your mind back to their reporting of the Skripal poisonings.
None of RT's allegations or explanations have been borne out – they simply lied.
For they are Russian state media. "There's no truth in The News and no news in The Truth."
I think its about the age of 3 to 5 that kids understand other people have an independent consciousness. So I have no idea what you heard on RT at the time of the Skripal poisoning.
Salisbury novichok suspects say they were only visiting cathedral | UK news | The Guardian
for a start
Now hang on there, now your posting a Guardian article relaying that story second hand from RT. Just how deep does this disinformation network go?
Not to mention the airliner shot down over the Ukraine and the "satellite photos" suggesting it was aircraft that did it. But then RT also asserted numerous other explanations for how an airliner blew up in midair.
The objective of Maskrovka is to muddy the waters, not provide a plausible denial.
"Bellingcat is open source"
"circulating and repeating these carefully crafted pieces of disinformation is a public disservice on a par with repeating the broadcasts of Tokyo Rose or Lord Hawhaw"
fify
Poor child – you're too broken to fix anything.
You guys really have no problem getting into bed with all the enemies of the Left and their organizations to pursue your cold war Russian narrative… the FBI, the CIA, the most despicable US war hawks, war criminals ….and keep in mind I am not and have never defended Putin or his govt, no, I am just questioning the motives and truths that lay behind what is quite obviously a western elite power play against one particular segment of the Russian power structure over another (the 'other' it seems is more open to western participation in Russia)…something that maybe you guys might want to think about doing sometime.
The Bellingcat research collective: War propaganda masquerading as “citizen journalism”
"The Bellingcat “research collective” is a web site established in July 2014 by Eliot Higgins. Originally from Leicester in the UK, Higgins is, as of February, a senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab and Future Europe Initiative."
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/10/13/bell-o13.html
Atlantic Council
The Ukrainian oligarch run Burisma Holdings donated $100,000 per year for three years to the Atlantic Council starting in 2016. The full list of financial sponsors includes many military, financial, and corporate concerns. The leading donors in 2018 were Facebook and the British government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Council#:~:text=The%20Ukrainian%20oligarch%20run%20Burisma,Facebook%20and%20the%20British%20govern
Think Tank Watch
http://www.thinktankwatch.com/2015/11/the-donors-of-atlantic-council.html
Yes, that would be the Belling-shat that appears to weigh in on all sorts of highly contentious, highly political, geopolitical events for the public good?? Can anyone say Syria chemical attack?
I guess they have no shame in using any source they can to prove Russia is bad…
https://mronline.org/2020/09/28/war-propaganda-firm-bellingcat-continues-lying-about-syria/
You really have bought the whole bill of goods, haven't you?
Bellingcat are a perfectly ordinary and truthful, organisation. As such they are an existential threat to chronic liars and disinformation peddlers like the Putin kleptocracy.
People less susceptible to fake news, like the air accident inspectors that investigated MH17, found that Bellingcat had been entirely truthful. The same could not be said of Russian sources, who went so far as to produce and present fake video of an attacking Ukrainian fighter as their official explanation. As the investigator noted, the wreckage of an airliner shot down by a fighter would be full of bullet holes, which the wreckage lacked.
I wonder at your motivations, frankly, for constantly trying to make Putin's lies the leading narrative.
well its all good tho, he is off to the work camp to atone for his sins.
Thats what you think Sabine
Pootsie has already killed him via personally injecting novichok into his toothpaste , or was it the elastic of his underpants , or was it the airport cup of tea, or hang on , it was the evening cocktail, Navalny said it did taste funny, no, thats right ,it was the water bottle
There's been a big coverup, and RT is just pretending he's been sent to a penal colony
Couple of items I found interesting on Stuff:
NZ cops have a bullying problem to the degree that even senior officers are afraid to speak up. Including the old faithful of officers not providing backup when requested. Be part of the "blue wall" or you're on your own out there is the lesson for anyone who doesn't like the police culture.
I'll be interested to see if anything changes.
Also, China is refusing to let the 737-max become operational in its airspace again. Such things are often diplomatic petulance – mate of mine who works logistics has stories about the US turning away produce imports on the basis of stickers being slightly out of alignment for "safety" grounds (read "import protections in a supposedly low-protection relationship") – but in this case, toss a coin. It might be that the problems have been fixed and the plane is good to go, like the "Comet" was after the fatigue problem was sorted. But equally, the software fix for the 737-max is a bodge to fix the bodge to fix the original fundamental design problem.
Or China recognises the perils of bean counters running the engineering.
The Long-Forgotten Flight That Sent Boeing Off Course
A company once driven by engineers became driven by finance.
[…]
The isolation was deliberate. “When the headquarters is located in proximity to a principal business—as ours was in Seattle—the corporate center is inevitably drawn into day-to-day business operations,” Condit explained at the time. And that statement, more than anything, captures a cardinal truth about the aerospace giant. The present 737 Max disaster can be traced back two decades—to the moment Boeing’s leadership decided to divorce itself from the firm’s own culture.
For about 80 years, Boeing basically functioned as an association of engineers. Its executives held patents, designed wings, spoke the language of engineering and safety as a mother tongue. Finance wasn’t a primary language. Even Boeing’s bean counters didn’t act the part. As late as the mid-’90s, the company’s chief financial officer had minimal contact with Wall Street and answered colleagues’ requests for basic financial data with a curt “Tell them not to worry.”
https://archive.li/8ks2w (The Atlantic)
It's no wonder they're called pigs because that's what they've been for decades.
We need good people in the police, and the only way that can happen is to have extremely tight recruitment rules. Anyone with even a sniff of a jock mentality are told no. Only the truly wholesome should be let in.
Etna's have a moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4xzQ1Oa9KY&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2p8ynY3yTA&feature=youtu.be
Joe Biden goes strong for unions, and against Amazon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-KApLDOY2U
It's pretty weird to realise that in no alternative universe can I imagine either our Prime Minister or Minister of Finance coming out so explicitly about the necessity of union membership and fighting against corporations as Biden does here.
Or seen from another perspective….
Biden Issues LUKEWARM Support For Amazon Union Workers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY03pqDuTUc
All mainstream media, and the AFL-CIO, and all the business journals fully get what Biden just did. In reality that collected perspective is more valid than what you posted.
You'll probably be able to point to another President that has explicitly supported the right of workers to unionise. You have to go a fair way back.
In the US political context this is the left's equivalent of Trump telling the racists to "stand back and stand by".
Yup!
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1934
Eisenhower, too.
The protection of the right of workers to organize into unions and to bargain collectively is the firm and permanent policy of the Eisenhower Administration. In 1954, 1955 and again in 1956, President Eisenhower recommended constructive amendments to this Act.
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/republican-party-platform-1956
So only 65 years as opposed to 87, haha. Still a fair way back.
Kennedy, LBJ and Nixon.
https://www.flra.gov/50th_Anniversary_EO10988
Joe and Arkie; exactly. 90+ and 70+ years respectively.
Joe Biden’s comments were more than I expected when taken in context of Presidents that were either openly anti union (ex union member Reagan), or pretty much silent on US workers organising i.e. most of the rest that I can recall, there was an approving speech on Union membership one time from DW. Eisenhower also.
But then, there are unions, and there are bent unions in the USA. So it pays not to generalise too much. The AFL-CIO has a mixed record too. But a member led unionised site within Amazon would be a mighty advance for workers everywhere regardless of all that. Logistics workers serving the online economy in supposedly liberal Europe get a hard time too, and have to battle for basic rights like breaks these days.
Amazon workers will be voting till the end of March and need 6000 YES votes. They had to fight and appeal even to be able to use postal voting too!–in the middle of a pandemic. The company sent out letters advising each employee to vote NO and do it now! A UPS mail box had mysteriously appeared on site at the Bessemer Alabama giant warehouse.
So yes, Biden’s remarks were not red hot, but they will be clearly understood by other employers too, and might just help tip the balance and start an Amazon wide union drive.
Yeah, Bidens all about the workers and their struggles…seriously though…the pro union headlines are a great way to distract from what is actually happening to workers in America ..and unfortunately some of the Unions are more interested in being self serving than helping the American worker.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/01/joe-biden-minimum-wage-democrats
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/02/joe-biden-is-no-friend-of-unions
That LBJ Medicare comparison is very apt.
Twitter (and Facebook/YouTube) become more and more an unaccountable censors of public discourse….silence from our media.
Glenn Greenwald: It took [twitter] only two years to go from disappearing Milo and Alex Jones to banning content said to "amplify narratives that undermine faith in NATO." Imagine where the line will be two years from now.
https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidpol/comments/lrjfce/glenn_greenwald_it_took_twitter_only_two_years_to/
Twitter bans state accounts for “undermining faith in NATO” and targeted the US and EU
https://reclaimthenet.org/twitter-bans-state-accounts-for-undermining-faith-in-nato-and-targeted-the-us-and-eu/
poor thing.
who cares?
It's even more boring than that.
The narratives that were being artificially amplified had an objective of "undermining faith in NATO", but it was the amplifying that incurred the ban, not the objective:
Going down the link hole from the original comment:
"We could undo the global economic arrangements that systematically and intentionally funnel wealth to some countries while intensifying poverty in others."
Which country has poverty intensified as a result of wealth being funneled to another country?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
It is a tiny second-world country you probably have never heard of: Aotearoa.
NZ's terms of trade has generally been positive and our current account balance has been relatively consistent for much of our recent history. Outside the issues with housing affordability poverty has been static or even falling for the past 25 years.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/108241472/anz-makes-almost-2b-from-new-zealand-banking
How is a single largely overseas owned organisation's profit impacting our wealth and increasing poverty?
You don't care, you're here to derail.
No. I'm here to burst your self reinforcing confirmation bubble by asking difficult questions.
NZ's economy was built on foreign capital imported by foreign banks. The NZ Banking sector has been dominated by overseas owned entities since 1840.
And since then the profits (see wealth) leaves the local economy leaving us poorer (see poverty/growing inequality)
You aren't actually asking difficult questions, you're doing your usual JAQing off and changing your arguement with every 'question'.
It's bad faith, and not interesting.
Following your logic NZ is poorer today than it was in 1840. Please explain how that is possible?
The fact is it is not poorer. It is very much richer. The reason is because the capital that these foreign owned banks brought in to the county enabled many people to develop profitable businesses that would not have been possible otherwise.
Is NZ richer?…the water is poorer, the soil is poorer, our timber stocks are poorer in both quality and quantity….the list is long.
And Offshore banks have only been in the domestic market for less than 40 years.
Yeah it is. If you want to pretend NZ was wealthier in 1840 I can't help you.
I guess it depends on how you define wealth….is a stranded asset wealth? printed plastic? numbers on a screen?
And Offshore banks have only been in the domestic market for less than 40 years.
False – offshore banks started operating in NZ not long after european settlers arrived. The Bank of New South Wales was effectively NZ's central bank by the 1860's.
Strictly speaking not….the offshore financial institutions (not necessarily retail banks) had a very small proportion of NZs market pre 1980s reforms
"Prior to the rapid deregulation in the mid-1980s, the variety of different types of financial institutions largely reflected the restrictions placed by statute or regulation on the types of business each institution could undertake. These constraints and protected niches all quickly disappeared, and over the next few years savings banks and building societies were progressively absorbed into or taken over by big commercial banks. As a result, many institutions were purchased by foreign entities. ANZ purchased the privatised Postbank. Commonwealth Bank of Australia purchased ASB Bank (one of the trustee savings banks). More recently, WestpacTrust took over Trustbank, formed from all the other trustee savings banks (with the exception of TSB Bank, which remains an independent entity). Private savings banks, which had previously been set up by parents to undertake certain types of lending, were wound back into the parent. The BNZ itself was fully privatised and sold to National Australia Bank in the early 1990s and Countrywide Bank, formed from several building societies, was taken over by National Bank later in the decade. It was during this time that the share of foreignowned banks began to increase to the high levels seen today"
https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/-/media/ReserveBank/Files/Publications/Discussion%20papers/2002/dp02-05.pdf?revision=6da1b297-321d-4e54-8644-443bafc281bd
"The government’s ownership of the BNZ, and use of it as its banker, allowed it to become the largest trading bank. It was fully nationalised in 1945.
An 1865 law which established the Post Office Savings Bank also curbed the rights of other savings banks and enabled it to absorb competitors. By the mid-1950s the Post Office Savings Bank controlled around 80% of the personal savings market."
https://teara.govt.nz/en/banking-and-finance/page-1
Nothing in what you said was related to the post. Stop derailing.
Wouldn't use an Aussie-owned bank if you paid me – there are NZ alternatives.
Interesting data point in your link (which is from 2017):
…handled by the Banking Ombudsman, which dealt with 2704 cases and complaints. About 77 percent of those cases related to the Australian banks.
Australian-owned banks make up roughly 85% of the banking market. That means they're actually a bit better at resolving issues and not driving customers into the complaint process as often as the (mostly NZ-owned) other banks.
Most of the satisfaction with NZ owned banks is perception not reality. Most people will say they prefer NZ owned banks even if the service provided is of a lower quality.
You're probably right Phil – nevertheless from time-to-time NZ Consumer and other organisations survey bank customers, and NZ-owned banks always top the customer satisfaction rankings.
But then I’ve been a happy TSB customer for some 20 years (after ditching Westpac), so of course I would say that.
https://www.canstar.co.nz/banking-satisfaction/
https://www.canstar.co.nz/star-rating-reports/msc-home-loans-provider-award/
from time-to-time NZ Consumer and other organisations survey bank customers, and NZ-owned banks always top the customer satisfaction rankings.
Yeah, I don't dispute that the NZ banks produce higher customer satisfaction ratings in those surveys, but the glaringly obvious fact is that the revealed preference of the vast majority of NZ'ers (85-ish percent of us) is that we're entirely comfortable banking with one or more of the aussie owned big-4.
Yeah, I don't dispute that the majority of NZers bank with Aussie-owned banks. Just not sure if "entirely comfortable" accurately captures the feelings of all NZ customers of Aussie-owned banks. But if it does, then presumably (based on customer satisfaction surveys), it would be fair to describe customers of NZ-owned banks as being 'more than entirely comfortable' with the service(s) provided.
Personally, after 20 years as a satisfied TSB customer, I can't imagine what might cause me to switch back to Westpac.
The issue is greater than that….consider the similarity and interconnectivity of the NZ and Australian economies….we are almost a single market that is exposed to the same threats, if their banks fall over so do ours and vice versa
Perhaps a better way to put it would be that the vast majority of New Zealanders are sufficiently satisfied with their Aus-owned banks that they don't feel a need to shift to a different institution. 🙂
Banking with Aussie-owned banks is unquestionably the most popular choice for New Zealanders, just as it's crystal clear that customers of NZ-owned banks are on average more satisfied with bank service(s).
It would be interesting to tease out why banking with a NZ-owned bank not a popular choice in NZ, given that their customers apparently enjoy a greater degree of satisfaction.
Perhaps there's a perception that switching banks is a hassle, particularly if you've got a mortgage or other debt.
Kiwibank does not have the infrastructure in place to support business banking in any meaningful way. Their IT systems are limiting their growth and they have failed a number of times to upgrade them.
Re: your 2018 link
The ANZ will make more profit this year than Fonterra, Spark, Fletcher Building, Warehouse, Air NZ and all the supermarkets combined did last year. It's one bank, yet its profits are almost twice that of the top seven power companies combined.
ANZ's NZ balance sheet is $179 billion dollars. Fonterra's is, conveniently for this analysis, $17.9b, so ANZ is 10 times as large as Fonterra.
In 2020 ANZ made just under $1.4b in profit, while Fonterra made $830m.
Ten times larger, but only making (slightly less than) twice the profits. Huh, it's almost like people will take every opportunity to bash the Australian owned banks without putting in any thought or effort.
Either amount, the profit still leaves the local economy, this is funneling wealth to out of the country leaving us poorer, which was the point. That it is not as much in 2020 compared to 2018 is irrelevant.
I’m not sure this counts as ‘bashing’ but I’m sure ANZ are glad you’re here to support them.
Some of the profit MAY leave the economy. Not all of it does. Regardless the capital that ANZ provides to the NZ economy provides the basis for investments in the productive areas of the economy which leads to economic growth.
You were asking about wealth funnelling and you think that this has something to do with our current account balance!? Are you for real? They are completely different things. You’re so ignorant that there is clearly no point discussing this with you.
Oh, yes, besides that pesky little housing ‘crisis’ all is well in Aotearoa.
You’re simply trolling here and you’ve already been moved to OM, twice. I think you should go for the trifecta.
Well as you are a known stanch defender of the Liberal Free Market status quo, obviously not you….but people who advocate for actual progressive change around the world will be getting very concerned.
there are a few billion people on this planet that don't have twitter, don't go on twitter, and could not be bothered.
As for GG, has he mentioned Reality Winner lately? Or is that unpolite. I hear she was cancelled, err locked up for leaking information to he Intercept and will be uncancelled in Nov 21 after 5 years in the slammer.
Oh that is not a cancellation that is important. Or maybe GG just has nothing to say about that cause it ain't sexy or something?
I dont' care about the liberal market any more then you do, but GG is a wanker and "twitter" is a private business that can do as it pleases. Anyone else can just abstain and not validate it.
Same as with FB, Gab, Parler, and any of the other social medias.