First he illuminates the political psychology that drives Winston:
I’m writing about the long list of this government’s initiatives which New Zealand First has vetoed or stymied over the past three years, many of which were campaign promises made by Labour or the Greens, some of which were in the coalition agreement signed by New Zealand First.
But here’s the thing. I think Winston Peters wants people like me to write that piece. Not only that: I suspect the only reason Peters keeps scuttling policies of a government that he is Deputy! Prime! Minister! of! is to generate media about it. And this is because Peters knows the voters most available to him are the most socially conservative people in the country.
He knows his competitor for those votes is the National Party. So he’s attempting to demonstrate his value to those voters by showing them that he can, if he wishes, prevent Labour and the Greens from doing anything meaningful in government. Which, full credit to him, he can. He’s the most powerful deputy prime minister we’ve ever seen.
Then he lists 9 election promises from 2017 that Winston hasn't delivered on – then he lists 8 things he stopped Labour & the Greens doing. Then the tactical analysis:
say nothing throughout the policy development process, not even indicating he’ll vote for something right up until the last minute, just before the public announcement, and then gleefully letting it be known that he’s withdrawn his support. It is a chaotic, anarchic way to conduct coalition politics and it wastes a huge amount of money and time that could be spent governing the country. But it wins him the most media attention.
It's a persuasive critique. Winston seemed to be operating in the right spirit the first couple of years, but his credibility has become increasingly nebulous.
the most socially conservative people in the country.
ie the most backward, unthoughtful, cosseted people in the country, apart from well-off farmers who always have the edge of weather events and changing commodity prices to prick at them. They tend to vote for National.
Winston has become a male version of Paula Bennett, having gone through rigorous self-awareness and makeover programs for body and clothing, to catch the eye of the various groups they pander to.
One of O’Rourke’s most memorable lines was: “First we got all the money. Then we got all the votes. Now we’ve got all the power!” Bennett’s celebration boogie, in anticipation of Muller’s failure to win O’Rourke’s electoral trifecta, has about it the same bracing honesty. Speaking of her hardcore National colleagues, she once told a startled journalist: “We didn’t come to Wellington to fuck spiders!” And wasn’t that the truth?
Um, dunno. Could be. Ask Gosman. And the Nat leader apparently can't think or write for himself, nor do pr without help.
National’s new boss has Janet Wilson handling his media and Matthew Hooton writing his speeches. Both are highly professional political and public relations specialists, and Muller is lucky to have them.
when a traditional Catholic talks about “applied Christianity” – what, exactly, does he mean?
Re-launching the Inquisition, obviously. He's a traditionalist. But best not to actually announce any such trad catholic methodology. Wokeists would get even more shrill.
Then there's the spectre of radical conservatism. Looming? Lamely, limply.
With some justification, they see identity politics as intrinsically hostile to the unequal distribution of power and wealth under patriarchal capitalism. Take patriarchy out of the capitalist equation and, in the view of the radical conservatives, it will fall.
No worries. The residual patriarchy is well-entrenched. Not a cloud on their horizon. Doesn't really matter how many hallucinations the rabble gets off on.
Indeed, it was to forestall such a radical-conservative deviation into Trumpland that the coup against Simon Bridges was mounted. That it succeeded only because the erratic Judith Collins anticipated taking more satisfaction from shafting Bridges and Bennett than from saving them, merely reinforces the scale of the dysfunction currently besetting the National Party.
JC mastermind, not a new thesis. JC superstar? Never. Not even close.
I'd be really interested in seeing the group of hard line christian conservatives that he mentions being given a lot more publicity for their views with names mentioned. Much like I'd like to know what church our police commissioner is apparently so fond of – the christian bit much mentioned but source not named.
The atheist’s favourite blood sport: demonising Christians or any religion for that matter. You can you recognise them miles away by the strong smell of garlic on their breath and their ‘arguments’ that are ironically outlandish.
Hey, if you meant me I've never been an atheist. I did acknowledge my lifelong belief in a universal spirit in response to something Adam posted a couple of months back.
I don't call it god because that might create the impression that I believe in the genocidal schizoprenic one encounters in the bible.
And christians spent most of the past two millennia acting like demons in a concerted attempt to persuade everyone else that they actually were, so no really need for anyone to demonise them. They already did it to themselves!
People who project much tend to take things (too) personal, in my experience. If you feel ‘harassed’ by my comment then I’ll apologise; you seem very defensive.
You appear to have a habit of broad generalisations and stereotypes. Just saying.
I'll out myself, I think theism (Jewish, Christian or Moslem) sucks.
While I am no atheist, it's just so obvious that those who stole the authority to declare God are just outright frauds and their followers really believe in them and the cult others then organised around their fraud.
Er Incog. The very conservative christians in the USA have been very active (supreme court appointments) in trying to skew institutions so that their views of what is socially correct are inflicted upon other's choices. Its not the religion as such but the lengths that are gone to by some of the cohort. Unfortunately these groups are usually called fundamental or conservative with the religion name (not necessarily christian) as the second part. Perhaps we need to habitually rename them. Bigot springs to mind. And where these very strong views are held they can influence the secular choices if they hold power in a secular organisation.
Fisheries, still no cameras on boats – well no surprise there really. Why would anyone want to be watched trawling and trenching the seabed right to its last dying breath. And shall we call out the perpetrators refusing cameras?
NZ Super entitlement for Residence holders gone through the first reading of changing to 20 years. Absolutely right on the money – pun intended.
I wondered if the super entitlement should be more nuanced. Is it 20 years before 65 or just 20 years which for some could mean 5 years of work, 10 years of self support then bingo? Also perhaps more of a sliding scale, the 20 year block then pro rata entitlement for the next 20 years?
I was thinking of no income tax for them but they still have to pay GST. It would also be a maximum five year visa though and none of this permanence. At the end of the 5 years they'd have the option to become a citizen (if they met all criteria).
I paid $500 to become a resident back in '99, so lived here for more than 20 years. Worked, paid taxes, never had any trouble with the law apart from being pinged going 65 in a 60 zone, had a citizen child, bought a house out of earned wages and not imported foreign cash the same as every other kiwi usually does. You can fuck off telling me I can’t vote or take a pension.
I should be granted citizenship, without paying for it now after all this time. What they gonna do? Use the fee to test for good character?
The problem with permanent residences is that it allows control of NZ politics by other countries once they've got enough of their agents here – and it really doesn't take a lot to alter an election.
In other words, allowing permanent residence is an open attack route.
And, yes, altering it now would mean giving those who meet the criteria their citizenship. Of course, for many that would mean having to drop the citizenship of their home country if they accepted it.
Somebody should study the impact of our immigration policy on the make-up of the populations and voting behaviour of those recent immigrants when they’re NZ citizens. Some countries allow for dual citizenship. I don’t think it is easy to alleviate your concerns about permanent residents.
For it to be free or a nominal amount for long time permanent residents with good character. I don't have objections to getting it, but then I'm still okay with things as they are, as long as there's no fascist dictate that discriminates against me in the works.
Great to see the UK government offering citizenship to 3 million people oppressed by the Chinese government within Hong Kong. A total political gift to Boris Johnson.
If that 3 million were to accept the offer, yes the tories would probably encounter some kind of housing challenge. Perhaps it's only that wide open so they can out-flank Labour and become the pro-immigrant party? Pardon my cynicism.
Likely those who flee HK will be the militants that the commo regime wants to capture. All others in HK will not be intitial targets. In that respect the plan seems clever: it tests the credibility of the pro-regime leader who declared that only the militants will be dealt with via the new law.
The miracle is that this is exactly counter to the Conservative Party anti-immigration rhetoric that has won them so many elections over two decades.
And of course I'm not going to presume to write a re-settlement policy, but you can guarantee that it will be done gradually.
There's about 350,000 UK passport holders in Hong Kong. You would expect a chunk of those will be thinking hard about returning soon.
There's a further 2.6 million other eligible – and they would need to commit to the UK for six years before they can apply for citizenship. That's a pretty graduated approach.
British National Overseas Passport holders in Hong Kong were granted special status in the 1980s but currently have restricted rights and are only entitled to visa-free access to the UK for six months.
We can certainly point to all the other times Britain refused entry to people under massive duress. Granted.
Nothing naive about the UK Muttonbird. When you look at their history, it seems they are often quantum dealers at the political level, being in two different positions at the same time.
Wow. A politically astonishing move, and one that complements a number of things that are moving very quickly right now.
Now link that with the CANZUK proposal I've referenced below @8.0 and you can see how Aus/NZ would fit together with this.
A Hong Kong daispora of that scale would have fascinating potential. The CCP's oppression of 20% of the human race is not a stable arrangement, I believe it will crumble within a decade; we need to be thinking of what may come after.
Sadly, instead and standing up as a principled nation with more international political capital to spend than we have had in decades, we get to just talk up a big game.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has expressed the New Zealand Government’s deep disappointment at the passage by China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee of a national security law for Hong Kong.
“New Zealand has consistently emphasised its serious concern about the imposition of this legislation on Hong Kong without inclusive consultation or the proper involvement of all of Hong Kong’s institutions,” said Mr Peters.
“We share the international community’s stake in preserving the high degree of autonomy and freedom available to Hong Kong and its people under the ‘one country, two systems’ framework.
"It is this autonomy and freedom, together with open governance, judicial independence, and consensus on the rule of law that has been fundamental to Hong Kong's growth as a global financial and economic hub since 1997.
“As a strong supporter of the rule of law, we firmly believe that the maintenance of security in Hong Kong must be pursued in accordance with the obligations enshrined in Hong Kong’s Basic Law, the United Nations’ human rights covenants incorporated within it, and the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.”
“This is a critical moment for fundamental human rights and freedoms protected in Hong Kong for generations. New Zealand will be studying the legislation carefully, and closely monitoring its implementation and impact on the people of Hong Kong, with whom we share close links,” said Mr Peters.
I mean, laudable words from the Foreign Minister, but the inability to make so much as a token gesture to practically help these people shows that a lot of Ardern's strong international standing remains due to luck and youth.
You believe the CCP's oppression will crumble within a decade? They'd better get in line – political stability is another dwindling resource on finite planet Earth.
I wonder what else you believe will “crumble” within a decade?
Human-assisted crumbling of ‘our‘ natural environments is real – no belief required.
China is an empire and one under increasing internal and external pressure.
Unfortunately, like all dictators Xi will seek war as a means of promoting nationalism.
We see that on the India China LOAC, the South China Sea, the cyber attack on Australia, the incursion into Taiwan and Japanese airspace with fighters, the sinking of a Vietnamese and a Philipino fishing boat, and so on.
Make no mistake, there will be a war within the next 10 years (unless Xi is forced out by the Li faction, which is possible as there is a clear split in the politburo) and one that China will lose. Nei Mongolia, Xinjiang, Xizang/Tibet will be nations 20 years from now.
"He studied at the University of Avignon, but was forced to leave after just over a year when the university closed due to an outbreak of the plague." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostradamus
If only he'd been around to give Australasian Unis advanced warning of Covid-19. Those institutions are really missing their Chinese (and Indian) takeaways right now.
Yes. If Xi continues to make mistakes and miscalculations there will be real pressure to oust him from with the party factions. That would certainly remove a lot of immediate pressure for the rest of the world, but would only kick the can down the road on the CCP's many other structural problems.
If Xi continues to make mistakes and miscalculations there will be real pressure to oust him from with the party factions. That would certainly remove a lot of immediate pressure for the rest of the world
Or, more likely, it could be the trigger that pushes Xi to actually start a war. Nothing like a war to keep people in line.
From a humanitarian perspective that may well be the case francesa. However culturally they are a Turkic people, and perhaps a case could be made for Turkey in particular, or Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan to step up first.
Then of course there is the question of why they should be forced into becoming refugees in the first place, and the onus for that lies firmly with the CCP.
If the Uighurs are culturally a Turkic people, aren't the Hong Konger's a Chinese people which NZers for the most part aren't .
I'm not sure why you think the wealthy of Hong Kong , one of the most unequal cities in the world are a good fit for the sort of society we would like to see in NZ(hopefully)
I think the wealthy are more interested in protecting their wealth(which they will most definitely lose as Hong Kong becomes more integrated with China) than any notions of democracy you ascribe to them
Hong Konger's a Chinese people which NZers for the most part aren't.
I think that's the point I made elsewhere, it's a mistake to see the people of China as a single monolithic culture, when on closer examination they really are not. In particular the Hong Kongers have a very long cosmopolitan history of being an outward looking trading people, quite different to the much more insular, nationalistic mainlanders to the north of them.
South China is a wild mess of hills and mountains extending south from the same ranges that so constrain the Yangtze. Such rugged topography has a similar impact on cultural and political unity— and wealth— as the rough terrain of say Mexico or the Balkans. Very few coherent large powers have ever arisen in the south.
The climate is far more subtropical than the northern temperate zones of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, was always physically isolated, and historically the area has always been much easier for maritime outsiders to reach than it was for the northern mainlanders.
The lack of large river plains to grow food has meant these cities have always imported a large fraction of their food supply, and their large deep water ports made this relatively easy, compared to the northern coast which is flat, choked off by sandbars and offering few decent ports. These people have always traded, just to survive.
Southern China is also the remaining stronghold of most of the ethnic minorities, further reinforcing their sense of regional uniqueness. Combine all these factors and secessionist impulses have run deep among Hong Kongers much longer than the current crisis. Put them anywhere in the world, and they adapt quickly, it's part of their cultural DNA.
I doubt if Boris would win kudos from the millions of Brits who voted for the Tories in the last general election on a platform of reducing immigration. Why on Earth would 3 million Hong Kongers want to flee to blighted Blighty anyway?
Because they value freedom. Because they despise the evil Chinese Empire as much as most of the rest of the world does. And the UK, far from being blighted, is still a much sought after residency.
And Brexit was not so much about anti immigration, but rather the mass undermining of western society by Merkels ludicrous no borders stance.
Because they despise the evil Chinese Empire as much as most of the rest of the world does.
I draw a clear line between the vast mass of the Chinese people and the CCP. It's the regime I find objectionable, not the people.
You only have to look at Hong Kong and Taiwan to see what the mainland could and should have looked like if it hadn't been run by a pack of power mad thugs for 50 years.
Agree Red, but 70 years of a mix of an almost totally closed state and, from the early 90s, semi closed, have created a mindset that leaves many in mainland China effectively brainwashed.
The older generations of mainland Chinese are just plain racist, which is not surprising. Even the younger Chinese, many of whom travel and study overseas are still seriously blinkered about just how superior their country is.
Remember, even in China today, the Chinese are still taught that they are the only pure race on earth (Han Tzu), and the oldest continuous civilisation. With indoctrination like that from a young age, reinforced by a state directed and controlled media all their lives, scarce wonder that even the ordinary mainland Chinese still supports their government, no matter what.
You only have to look at Hong Kong and Taiwan to see what the mainland could and should have looked like if it hadn't been run by a pack of power mad thugs for 50 years.
Taiwan was run by a bunch of power mad thugs for decades after the previous Chinese dynasty moved themselves there. They did calm down a bit but it must still be remembered that they were, and are, an invasion of Taiwan.
Lost amid all the military conflicts and great-power tussles of the 20th century, however, is the voice and history of Taiwan’s indigenous people, who today number over 500,000, or 2% of the country’s population. Like indigenous peoples in other countries in the world, they’ve experienced hundreds of years of exploitation and colonization from a series of conquerors. “We… have witnessed the deeds and words of those who came to this island, including the Spanish, the Dutch, the Koxinga Kingdom, the Qing Kingdom, the Japanese, and the Republic of China,” the letter says. Koxinga refers to the Japanese-born Chinese conqueror who fled Ming dynasty China to establish a government in Taiwan in 1661, then under Dutch control. Koxinga himself is claimed as a national hero (paywall) by Japan, Taiwan, and China, underscoring the complex history and notions of identity in that part of the world.
Maybe to avoid the coming persecution at the hands of the ccp. I wonder how many Uighurs would take a blue passport now? Or Tibetans? Or christians?
And it's quite probable the British would accept any British National Overseas Passport holding Hong Kong immigrants with much open arms than they ever did the Poles and other east Europeans who would work under the table for less than minimum wage, and those who would immediately sign on for benefits paid for by UK tax payers, and send child support payments back 'home'.
Certainly not all 3m would likely leave for the UK, but it would give a fair fraction of them an option they do not have right now.
And if as I suggested above that the UK became part of a CANZUK agreement that included freedom of travel to Canada, Australian and NZ, well such an offer would immediately become a lot more valuable.
Lose your nana often enough at the people telling you things you really need to hear but don't want to, then they learn to de-emphasise it. Which then comes back around to bite you even harder at a later date.
I do not think the phrase "puff piece" means what you think it means.
Unless you are trying to suggest that piece was excessively complimentary to the Dotard of Doltistan by hinting there might be some sort of functioning cognition inside that echoing cranial cavity, rather than just simple random impulses towards self-gratification.
A freedom of travel agreement would be the next major step if and when COVID is brought under control.
Personally I can see it working, but the major assumption it is based on is freedom of navigation, the ability to safely ship goods around the planet, without risk of interference. We've more or less taken this as a given since the end of WW2, thanks to the default security put in place by the US Navy, but that is going away very soon. The US will continue to control the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic. If Aus/NZ/France can provide cover to the mid Pacific, then getting goods to Canada, transhipping by rail, then across the Atlantic to the UK would in principle provide a reasonable conduit for the CANZUK deal to work.
I still prefer a SE Asian alliance as the geography favours it. Plus you have to say that after watching the Brexit debacle, no-one wants to let the Brits be in charge of anything ever again. But there is no special reason why we have to pick one lane or the other, and a post-COVID, post-BREXIT CANZUK configuration looks to be a thing.
Seems a nicely imaginative scheme on first impression. "CANZUK International is a non-profit advocacy organization headquartered in Toronto, Canada." Unless someone is quick to spot a downside, I reckon it would operate as a helpful complement to any regional alliance, as you suggest.
I note the sort of people that manage to claw (these days, bluff and jibe) their way to the top positions in a trading partner as giving some ideas of what can be expected from that place/country.
Toronto Canada is where they elected as Mayor someone with the same proclivities as Trump, and when he died they elected – his brother, I think.
However it may be a case of choosing the best offering from a lot that is a bad job. If that's what's offering at the auction house at this time, maybe we should consider it on the basis that something is better than nothing, and it's unlikely there are going to be better paths towards something more like our ideal. Are there any better choices? Perhaps have to settle for pragmatism?
I think you'll find Indonesia and Australia only tolerate one another, the "Boat People" illegal migrants leaving Indonesian shores for Aus created an issue for Indonesia as the Australian Navy was turning boats around and returning them to Indonesia, the Navy bought old life boats and loaded the boat people into them, scuttling the vessel at sea, the life boats were GPS controlled with the engine area locked, the life boat would just land at one of the beaches in Indonesia.
A percieved problem that the Australian Govt used it as a political foot ball to denegrade asylum seekers, more than 85% were found to be legitimate refugees, but that didn't stop them from locking them up for 6 yrs on a remote island in the middle of nowhere at a cost of $2.5B a year
Adam Adams. She like Simon Bridges and Judith Collins trained as a lawyer. She like those others has demonstrated that the concept of 'justice' is beyond her.
She demonstrated that with the Pora case. She had a title at the time – the Minister of 'Justice.'
Why was Adams so out and then so in? She wasn't getting her own way with the Bridges regime. She was just like another 8 or 9 year old girl playing 'clubs' and making up huts. She wasn't Queen Bee so decided to take her dolls home. She could see the writing on the electoral wall and didn't want to be a loser and not be in Government.
The environment changed and the new 'in crowd' was where she could be 'in' and the breath of fresh air with the changes would see them governing.
One of the being pleasures about National losing the election would be seeing Adams po faced after September 19.
Todd Muller has just been asked (at press conference) about National's attack ads.
He said he hasn't seen them. He is the leader.
A Prime Minister has vastly more work to do and issues to address than any leader of the opposition. But Todd can't even spare the time to see the ads put out by his party, under his name.
(obviously he's lying, but if we pretend he isn't – it's worse!).
Pleading ignorance is NOT an acceptable excuse, it shows up the lack of Leadership that he continually displays, one of the biggest issues for me is that belief of self entitlement, you know, we don't have to justify our actions, we should be running the country not the group that was democratically elected.
Muller reminds of Bolger, less aggressive than most Nat MPs, but he didn't last long and then we entered the Ruthinasia era, which took the country backwards, fast.
Muller is a temporary leader, the one to take the fall at the election and then be replaced with the next John Key choice, Luxon
Gone because of substantive actions (and remember he was penalised for the quarantine travel) or because of media harassment and beat ups over fixable issues?
I think the media need to be very careful about overstating any "crime" and blowing it out of proportion because when there is a actually a serious issue it gets tossed into the same basket and the perpetrator can feel free to ignore the backlash and stay in the job.
This helps contribute to political instability but no doubt the media are enjoying the results of their tantrums. Shows who’s really in control after being shown as lightweight.
Gone because of prolonged incompetence. This is a Health Minister who went for a 20km drive to the beach, took a bike ride, then moved house, all during the lockdown. Who went MIA during a global pandemic. Who pubicly threw the DG of Health under the bus. This is the same MoH who the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists ED decribed as having “rambling, confused or nonsensical” leadership, and who called his political leadership "fiscally irresponsible" and without vision (https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12253092).
So blame the media all you like, but this guy gave them ammunition in spades.
But you don't care that Bridges drove weekly more than 900k weekly each way for a committee that was specifically set up to be run ONLINE, he didn't resign, no, he was overthrown by his mates, replaced with a human being.
Clark achieved more for the Health system in the time he was there than the previous Govt did in a decade.
I've seen it. Most, if not all, are government initiatives. Any minister of health could have 'achieved' those. But only David Clark could have driven to a beach, moved house and gone moungtain biking during a health crisis lock down. Or mismanaged opening the borders so badly. Gone MIA during the lockdown. I could go on, but I'm almost feeling sorry for the guy.
Maybe David Clark resigning is to remove a distraction and National will claim it as their work ably helped by media. Good on him for stepping down but the denigration was not justified in my opinion.
Not the 'only major obstacle'. Twyford is still there, despite the fiasco of Auckland Light Rail and Kiwi Build. This will come back to haunt Labour during the election campaign.
Only difference between Clark and Twyford is that Twyford knows no shame. Ardern is weak (in this area) and should have had him quietly put to sleep for the good of the party, and of NZ.
Ardern will get Labour re-elected in spite of itself. She has a team with such a shallow talent pool she has had to hand the Health portfolio (albeit temporarily) to the Minster of Education. And that's just a week or so after calling in Megan Woods to sort out Twyfords balls ups in housing and Clark's screwing up the quarantine. Thank goodness for the handful of highly competent people around the PM. The rest are f'wits.
Agreed, our internationally respected PM does have some highly competent people around her. IMHO Judith Collins is currently the greatest political 'talent' the Nats have, with the possible exceptions of Drs Smith and Yang.
Technology + sewer. Just watched pipe experts unroll a plastic pipe which looked like a limp silver snakeskin, and insert it into a dodgy sewer pipe. Heat is pumped into the pipe to inflate it and then it sets hard. A new sewer pipe. Minimal digging up of road.
The sewers in most towns have limited life but whoever invented this dramatic cost effective solution deserves recognition.
It has been said for years in the USA that Brooklyn Bridge is falling down. Perhaps they pioneered the repair system over there; and then moved to sewers.
The sewers in all big cities are needing cleaning out – 'fat bergs' etc. They are a solid reflection of what goes along them below ground, and an analogy? for above-ground communication and actions. It illustrates civilisation stuck in its own excrement, literally and physically. But maybe we can shine our little candle in the world, after cleaning up a bit using this technology
It's a technology that's been getting press in the composites industry for decades. Pretty sure I was reading about it as far back as the 90s. So it seems fairly well proven by now.
UV curing seems preferable to heat curing – if the liner is inflated hard against the old pipe walls heat is conducted away quick enough that it takes an awful lot to get it up to high enough temp for long enough to get a good cure. Whereas to UV cure it you only need to send the robot with the UV light down it at a specific speed and you can be very confident of the quality and uniformity of cure.
Thanks Andre and others. Glad there might be a way to fix the thousands of Km of ageing sewers. The people up the road had clouds of steam issuing into a frosty morning so must have been using heat rather than UV light.
There has been relining of other sorts of pipes for a while. The gas companies used the existing pipes and threaded a new one through them. That resulted in a stoush with the IRD . Was it deductible repairs and maintenance or a depreciable capital asset
Yes and yes to 14. maybe we could get a couple of them back to do a lot of training in this area because there are a lot of pipes that need it . Happy to volunteer my sewer laterals for training purposes!
Could this be sent to the National caucus so they could seal their leaks? I'm sure they'd like the silver bit and then it's a matter of science, really.
I see Muller has just reinstated Bridges back into the "Team", he will take over the foreign affairs portfolio from Brownlee, that'll be handy for him, he'll be able to visit China for some financial support prior to the election, no doubt
And our latest group of "leaders" with zero flexibility and unable to create a new path. I'd have been so much more impressed if they had asked for a package to reskill teachers who had left the profession but wanted a short paid updating course to return, And another package to enable graduates to do some limited teaching while being supported to finish qualifications again with a suitable maybe part time wage. And more part time positions to keep some of the older teachers for a little longer?
Interesting, seems it was only a year ago that principles were saying they didn't want teachers from overseas as they didn't meet the NZ standards, most rejected for an accent.
I know of two currently active teachers who are in their 70s and loving teaching, even more so than 5 yrs ago
I had wondered if that might be the source. I saw a small mention here from the cops that they had been called to some of our facilities for parties and other guest to guest interactions. I'd be very surprised if there wasn't some FWB going on but apparently they review the security tapes too. Hopefully offsite so staff can't conceal their own misdemeanours.
Thank goodness that won't happen when thousands of students arrive in NZ, away from home for the first time in their lives, all in university accommodation together.
It is called socialising nowadays and Tinder is Social Media. People shouldn’t be so judgemental about what other people do in their own time. However, when guards are meant to be working, it is in the boss’ time, obviously. In which case they should be sacked for getting in the sack. The Taxpayer shouldn’t have to pay for free sex!
Umm, I think Observer was being tongue in cheek, not judgemental.
And yeah, Muller is big on the idea but leaves out the detail of actually how we would apply quarantine to all these new visitors, particularly as the numbers would be overwhelming.
Best we take things slowly, as this government is doing. Inevitably better ways of managing c19, whether by vaccine or antibody stimulation and supplementation is on the horizon.
Is Megan Woods going to go after Woodcock for his blatant lying. Until he fronts up with evidence of his claims he is a liar and should be held accountable..imho
The Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs at 17 on the list.
Not an important enough portfolio for Todd to take seriously. If he has, then if the best they can do is a former dreadfully bad leader, their ranks are thinner than we thought.
Maybe he thought Bridges had something to offer for the upcoming election, as we know, Bridges is big on procuring donations from donors and some of those donors probably come from overseas.
The plan B crowd also seem to have run out of countries who are doing it better.
Bunch of shitbirds the lot of 'em. NZ's response hasn't been perfect, but there aren't a lot of countries who did it better. And can you imagine Bridges or Muller being in charge? Fucking hell, we'd be as screwed as the UK.
True.. Sweden, Australia – suddenly the people who claimed they were doing it better have faded away.
By the time Election day comes, maybe nobody will be able to point to a country that has achieved better than NZ economically either. (That will ruin somebody's election campaign.. If so, I will enjoy the bathos.)
I remember having to point out to drug rehab residential manager that the person trying to get informed about addiction as part of necessary steps for change, couldn't handle it. He could read a page but at the end hadn't retained the points made from the print he read. So he was distressed and appeared to not be trying, getting negative feedback. They had not realised how long, long-term use could affect the brain.
So after that am I against marijuana? No. But it has to be managed carefully. I was disappointed to read that Fonterra was growing it. I would like some recovered people who were committed to responsible plantings with limited potency, to be able to handle some of the growing. Give them a chance to do something they know FGS. Fonterra to stick to its dairy addiction er skills.
I have a relation who is an alcoholic. He is lucky to be alive and it has got in the way of him being a reliable good man able to think things through, tough things out. Drinking was strong in the 1950-70's and lives were diminished by the culture of drinking to excess. No doubt still is. Restraint needed to be 'cultivated', and if marijuana had been cultivated, perhaps that would have been learned.
What has forbidding marijuana ever done for us? It has led us to drugs and crime being connected and brought lively lads and lasses into the police orbit when they would otherwise not have been. Mr Asia in Australia and here was mostly white by the way if you connect drugs and not being pakeha together.
Now it is time to bring mj out in the open, let people grow their own with some controls – a few plants, not commercially. Lighten up, let people out of the controls of might-be that scared NZs throw at every desire for change. See how it goes and if something is unsatisfactory after a three year run, and a review, then make changes. Just don't cop out and throw your hands up in the air. Making sensible decisions for the country is the job of a citizen in a democracy, not sitting back and applying moralistic strictures just because no-one you know ever uses it. That verges on theocracy.
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
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, ...
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. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
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First he illuminates the political psychology that drives Winston:
Then he lists 9 election promises from 2017 that Winston hasn't delivered on – then he lists 8 things he stopped Labour & the Greens doing. Then the tactical analysis:
It's a persuasive critique. Winston seemed to be operating in the right spirit the first couple of years, but his credibility has become increasingly nebulous.
"but his credibility has become increasingly nebulous."
His credibility was shot to shit a lot long ago than the current govt tbf.
"NO"
/sarc
ie the most backward, unthoughtful, cosseted people in the country, apart from well-off farmers who always have the edge of weather events and changing commodity prices to prick at them. They tend to vote for National.
Winston has become a male version of Paula Bennett, having gone through rigorous self-awareness and makeover programs for body and clothing, to catch the eye of the various groups they pander to.
Chris Trotter waxes lyrical this morn, seeing a Nat defeat in the electoral pipeline: https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/07/02/why-todd-muller-and-national-are-toast/
Um, dunno. Could be. Ask Gosman. And the Nat leader apparently can't think or write for himself, nor do pr without help.
Re-launching the Inquisition, obviously. He's a traditionalist. But best not to actually announce any such trad catholic methodology. Wokeists would get even more shrill.
Then there's the spectre of radical conservatism. Looming? Lamely, limply.
No worries. The residual patriarchy is well-entrenched. Not a cloud on their horizon. Doesn't really matter how many hallucinations the rabble gets off on.
JC mastermind, not a new thesis. JC superstar? Never. Not even close.
Oh lively summary DF. Interesting POV.
I'd be really interested in seeing the group of hard line christian conservatives that he mentions being given a lot more publicity for their views with names mentioned. Much like I'd like to know what church our police commissioner is apparently so fond of – the christian bit much mentioned but source not named.
Look what this small group has managed in the USA
The atheist’s favourite blood sport: demonising Christians or any religion for that matter. You can you recognise them miles away by the strong smell of garlic on their breath and their ‘arguments’ that are ironically outlandish.
Hey, if you meant me I've never been an atheist. I did acknowledge my lifelong belief in a universal spirit in response to something Adam posted a couple of months back.
I don't call it god because that might create the impression that I believe in the genocidal schizoprenic one encounters in the bible.
And christians spent most of the past two millennia acting like demons in a concerted attempt to persuade everyone else that they actually were, so no really need for anyone to demonise them. They already did it to themselves!
People who project much tend to take things (too) personal, in my experience. If you feel ‘harassed’ by my comment then I’ll apologise; you seem very defensive.
You appear to have a habit of broad generalisations and stereotypes. Just saying.
No need to apologise as I was merely seeking clarification. And yes, there do tend to be exceptions to generalisations. 🙄
If you feel you are one such, and were aggrieved at being filed into an historical category by means of conventional labels, welcome to human society…
Has it occurred to you that I might be in the same ‘category’ as you are?
Here is a generalisation for you: all individuals are unique and (yet) they have a lot in common with one another.
No, it hadn't. Are you? And that generalisation of yours does double duty (also being a truism).
I detected a potential lack of imagination but didn’t want to assume anything let alone jump to conclusions.
That generalisation is also a paradox.
I'll out myself, I think theism (Jewish, Christian or Moslem) sucks.
While I am no atheist, it's just so obvious that those who stole the authority to declare God are just outright frauds and their followers really believe in them and the cult others then organised around their fraud.
Er Incog. The very conservative christians in the USA have been very active (supreme court appointments) in trying to skew institutions so that their views of what is socially correct are inflicted upon other's choices. Its not the religion as such but the lengths that are gone to by some of the cohort. Unfortunately these groups are usually called fundamental or conservative with the religion name (not necessarily christian) as the second part. Perhaps we need to habitually rename them. Bigot springs to mind. And where these very strong views are held they can influence the secular choices if they hold power in a secular organisation.
2 issues stick out today:
Fisheries, still no cameras on boats – well no surprise there really. Why would anyone want to be watched trawling and trenching the seabed right to its last dying breath. And shall we call out the perpetrators refusing cameras?
NZ Super entitlement for Residence holders gone through the first reading of changing to 20 years. Absolutely right on the money – pun intended.
Perhaps we have been framing the cameras in boats the wrong way
in Alaska it is framed as a tv show Deadliest Catch – perhaps we tell the fishing companies that these are for NZ version of this 🤔
[Fixed typo in user name]
Missing the point are we?
That's a good idea – tv show. like the cop shows that are invasive of the desired privacy of land crims.
Horrodutus – sorry about typo – what's wrong with yours?
I wondered if the super entitlement should be more nuanced. Is it 20 years before 65 or just 20 years which for some could mean 5 years of work, 10 years of self support then bingo? Also perhaps more of a sliding scale, the 20 year block then pro rata entitlement for the next 20 years?
Permanent residence holders should not have the right to vote nor be entitled to Super Annuation.
In fact, we should do away with permanent residence. If they want all the benefits of being a citizen then they should become a citizen.
A special tax rate for foreigners living and working here?
It would have to be lower than for citizens if they're going to be denied representation and a state pension.
I was thinking of no income tax for them but they still have to pay GST. It would also be a maximum five year visa though and none of this permanence. At the end of the 5 years they'd have the option to become a citizen (if they met all criteria).
Ta
I paid $500 to become a resident back in '99, so lived here for more than 20 years. Worked, paid taxes, never had any trouble with the law apart from being pinged going 65 in a 60 zone, had a citizen child, bought a house out of earned wages and not imported foreign cash the same as every other kiwi usually does. You can fuck off telling me I can’t vote or take a pension.
I should be granted citizenship, without paying for it now after all this time. What they gonna do? Use the fee to test for good character?
The problem with permanent residences is that it allows control of NZ politics by other countries once they've got enough of their agents here – and it really doesn't take a lot to alter an election.
In other words, allowing permanent residence is an open attack route.
And, yes, altering it now would mean giving those who meet the criteria their citizenship. Of course, for many that would mean having to drop the citizenship of their home country if they accepted it.
Somebody should study the impact of our immigration policy on the make-up of the populations and voting behaviour of those recent immigrants when they’re NZ citizens. Some countries allow for dual citizenship. I don’t think it is easy to alleviate your concerns about permanent residents.
What has to happen for you to become a citizen?
For it to be free or a nominal amount for long time permanent residents with good character. I don't have objections to getting it, but then I'm still okay with things as they are, as long as there's no fascist dictate that discriminates against me in the works.
I'm confused about the Team NZ thing. I would have thought they would be selling TV rights, not paying for them. But then I am just an old lady.
I agree with you Janice.
Great to see the UK government offering citizenship to 3 million people oppressed by the Chinese government within Hong Kong. A total political gift to Boris Johnson.
https://time.com/5862191/uk-citizenship-hong-kong-china-law
But one of the last tiny lights of democracy within the Chinese realm just turned a near-invisible shade.
Taiwan could not have been given a clearer threat of what they will lose – and that we will all lose.
Interesting conversations taking place in Australia.
https://youtu.be/0oQExE1E_FM
How is Britain going to house 3 million Hong Kong Chinese when they have just Brexited in order to stop immigration?
This offer is as meaningless as the one country two systems document they naively signed with China.
If that 3 million were to accept the offer, yes the tories would probably encounter some kind of housing challenge. Perhaps it's only that wide open so they can out-flank Labour and become the pro-immigrant party? Pardon my cynicism.
Likely those who flee HK will be the militants that the commo regime wants to capture. All others in HK will not be intitial targets. In that respect the plan seems clever: it tests the credibility of the pro-regime leader who declared that only the militants will be dealt with via the new law.
Yep, Boris is probably betting no-one wants to come to his shit-hole country.
No, he'll be hoping that all the financial business that flows through HK will gravitate to the UK if all of HK's 'financial geniuses' move there.
The miracle is that this is exactly counter to the Conservative Party anti-immigration rhetoric that has won them so many elections over two decades.
And of course I'm not going to presume to write a re-settlement policy, but you can guarantee that it will be done gradually.
There's about 350,000 UK passport holders in Hong Kong. You would expect a chunk of those will be thinking hard about returning soon.
There's a further 2.6 million other eligible – and they would need to commit to the UK for six years before they can apply for citizenship. That's a pretty graduated approach.
British National Overseas Passport holders in Hong Kong were granted special status in the 1980s but currently have restricted rights and are only entitled to visa-free access to the UK for six months.
We can certainly point to all the other times Britain refused entry to people under massive duress. Granted.
But this is not one of them.
The oligarchs of Hong Kong should fit in with the ethos of the City of London at least as well as the Russian oligarchs
Nothing naive about the UK Muttonbird. When you look at their history, it seems they are often quantum dealers at the political level, being in two different positions at the same time.
Wow. A politically astonishing move, and one that complements a number of things that are moving very quickly right now.
Now link that with the CANZUK proposal I've referenced below @8.0 and you can see how Aus/NZ would fit together with this.
A Hong Kong daispora of that scale would have fascinating potential. The CCP's oppression of 20% of the human race is not a stable arrangement, I believe it will crumble within a decade; we need to be thinking of what may come after.
Sadly, instead and standing up as a principled nation with more international political capital to spend than we have had in decades, we get to just talk up a big game.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has expressed the New Zealand Government’s deep disappointment at the passage by China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee of a national security law for Hong Kong.
“New Zealand has consistently emphasised its serious concern about the imposition of this legislation on Hong Kong without inclusive consultation or the proper involvement of all of Hong Kong’s institutions,” said Mr Peters.
“We share the international community’s stake in preserving the high degree of autonomy and freedom available to Hong Kong and its people under the ‘one country, two systems’ framework.
"It is this autonomy and freedom, together with open governance, judicial independence, and consensus on the rule of law that has been fundamental to Hong Kong's growth as a global financial and economic hub since 1997.
“As a strong supporter of the rule of law, we firmly believe that the maintenance of security in Hong Kong must be pursued in accordance with the obligations enshrined in Hong Kong’s Basic Law, the United Nations’ human rights covenants incorporated within it, and the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.”
“This is a critical moment for fundamental human rights and freedoms protected in Hong Kong for generations. New Zealand will be studying the legislation carefully, and closely monitoring its implementation and impact on the people of Hong Kong, with whom we share close links,” said Mr Peters.
I mean, laudable words from the Foreign Minister, but the inability to make so much as a token gesture to practically help these people shows that a lot of Ardern's strong international standing remains due to luck and youth.
You believe the CCP's oppression will crumble within a decade? They'd better get in line – political stability is another dwindling resource on finite planet Earth.
I wonder what else you believe will “crumble” within a decade?
Human-assisted crumbling of ‘our‘ natural environments is real – no belief required.
“Species are becoming extinct 100 times faster than they would without human impacts.”
https://populationmatters.org/campaigns/anthropocene
The article you link obviously went for the conservative value:
Extinction Rates Soar to 1,000 Times Normal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction
Thanks for that DTB. The 'Population Matters' people might have thought it wise to use the more defendable and still scary estimate.
China is an empire and one under increasing internal and external pressure.
Unfortunately, like all dictators Xi will seek war as a means of promoting nationalism.
We see that on the India China LOAC, the South China Sea, the cyber attack on Australia, the incursion into Taiwan and Japanese airspace with fighters, the sinking of a Vietnamese and a Philipino fishing boat, and so on.
Make no mistake, there will be a war within the next 10 years (unless Xi is forced out by the Li faction, which is possible as there is a clear split in the politburo) and one that China will lose. Nei Mongolia, Xinjiang, Xizang/Tibet will be nations 20 years from now.
Channelling Nostradamus?
If only he'd been around to give Australasian Unis advanced warning of Covid-19. Those institutions are really missing their Chinese (and Indian) takeaways right now.
Yes. If Xi continues to make mistakes and miscalculations there will be real pressure to oust him from with the party factions. That would certainly remove a lot of immediate pressure for the rest of the world, but would only kick the can down the road on the CCP's many other structural problems.
Or, more likely, it could be the trigger that pushes Xi to actually start a war. Nothing like a war to keep people in line.
How about the Uighurs Red, wouldn't they be more worthy.?
They could come straight to us from Idlib,Syria.
https://cgpolicy.org/articles/uighur-jihadists-in-syria/
From a humanitarian perspective that may well be the case francesa. However culturally they are a Turkic people, and perhaps a case could be made for Turkey in particular, or Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan to step up first.
Then of course there is the question of why they should be forced into becoming refugees in the first place, and the onus for that lies firmly with the CCP.
If the Uighurs are culturally a Turkic people, aren't the Hong Konger's a Chinese people which NZers for the most part aren't .
I'm not sure why you think the wealthy of Hong Kong , one of the most unequal cities in the world are a good fit for the sort of society we would like to see in NZ(hopefully)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-15/how-hong-kong-s-taxes-spawned-billionaires-and-bred-inequality
I think the wealthy are more interested in protecting their wealth(which they will most definitely lose as Hong Kong becomes more integrated with China) than any notions of democracy you ascribe to them
Hong Konger's a Chinese people which NZers for the most part aren't.
I think that's the point I made elsewhere, it's a mistake to see the people of China as a single monolithic culture, when on closer examination they really are not. In particular the Hong Kongers have a very long cosmopolitan history of being an outward looking trading people, quite different to the much more insular, nationalistic mainlanders to the north of them.
South China is a wild mess of hills and mountains extending south from the same ranges that so constrain the Yangtze. Such rugged topography has a similar impact on cultural and political unity— and wealth— as the rough terrain of say Mexico or the Balkans. Very few coherent large powers have ever arisen in the south.
The climate is far more subtropical than the northern temperate zones of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, was always physically isolated, and historically the area has always been much easier for maritime outsiders to reach than it was for the northern mainlanders.
The lack of large river plains to grow food has meant these cities have always imported a large fraction of their food supply, and their large deep water ports made this relatively easy, compared to the northern coast which is flat, choked off by sandbars and offering few decent ports. These people have always traded, just to survive.
Southern China is also the remaining stronghold of most of the ethnic minorities, further reinforcing their sense of regional uniqueness. Combine all these factors and secessionist impulses have run deep among Hong Kongers much longer than the current crisis. Put them anywhere in the world, and they adapt quickly, it's part of their cultural DNA.
I doubt if Boris would win kudos from the millions of Brits who voted for the Tories in the last general election on a platform of reducing immigration. Why on Earth would 3 million Hong Kongers want to flee to blighted Blighty anyway?
Because they value freedom. Because they despise the evil Chinese Empire as much as most of the rest of the world does. And the UK, far from being blighted, is still a much sought after residency.
And Brexit was not so much about anti immigration, but rather the mass undermining of western society by Merkels ludicrous no borders stance.
Because they despise the evil Chinese Empire as much as most of the rest of the world does.
I draw a clear line between the vast mass of the Chinese people and the CCP. It's the regime I find objectionable, not the people.
You only have to look at Hong Kong and Taiwan to see what the mainland could and should have looked like if it hadn't been run by a pack of power mad thugs for 50 years.
Agree Red, but 70 years of a mix of an almost totally closed state and, from the early 90s, semi closed, have created a mindset that leaves many in mainland China effectively brainwashed.
The older generations of mainland Chinese are just plain racist, which is not surprising. Even the younger Chinese, many of whom travel and study overseas are still seriously blinkered about just how superior their country is.
Remember, even in China today, the Chinese are still taught that they are the only pure race on earth (Han Tzu), and the oldest continuous civilisation. With indoctrination like that from a young age, reinforced by a state directed and controlled media all their lives, scarce wonder that even the ordinary mainland Chinese still supports their government, no matter what.
Taiwan was run by a bunch of power mad thugs for decades after the previous Chinese dynasty moved themselves there. They did calm down a bit but it must still be remembered that they were, and are, an invasion of Taiwan.
Maybe to avoid the coming persecution at the hands of the ccp. I wonder how many Uighurs would take a blue passport now? Or Tibetans? Or christians?
And it's quite probable the British would accept any British National Overseas Passport holding Hong Kong immigrants with much open arms than they ever did the Poles and other east Europeans who would work under the table for less than minimum wage, and those who would immediately sign on for benefits paid for by UK tax payers, and send child support payments back 'home'.
Certainly not all 3m would likely leave for the UK, but it would give a fair fraction of them an option they do not have right now.
And if as I suggested above that the UK became part of a CANZUK agreement that included freedom of travel to Canada, Australian and NZ, well such an offer would immediately become a lot more valuable.
I really shouldn't troll our local Pavlov's dogs by posting this – but hey, cheap laughs.
Guarantee they will do one on China, closer to polling.
Saudi Arabia. North Korea. Syrian Kurds. Soooo so many targets.
He is partial to some dictator.
Lose your nana often enough at the people telling you things you really need to hear but don't want to, then they learn to de-emphasise it. Which then comes back around to bite you even harder at a later date.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/01/politics/trump-intel-briefings-russia/index.html
Jesus Andre
I can't believe you are fooled by that puff piece.
I do not think the phrase "puff piece" means what you think it means.
Unless you are trying to suggest that piece was excessively complimentary to the Dotard of Doltistan by hinting there might be some sort of functioning cognition inside that echoing cranial cavity, rather than just simple random impulses towards self-gratification.
Thanks for that endorsement of Russia's soft power Andre .They can swing things to their favour on the smell of an oily rag! Kudos!
Roll over Crosby /Textor you has beens.Roll over Cambridge Analytica you expensive failures with the Toff backers
Pootee can do it for a fraction of the outlay
Guess he just must be smarter.
Us Rooskie trollers got to troll
Perhaps Andre has just been duped by the fake promise of a Amazon Prime card… I know.. it hurts.
Hilarious!
While I still maintain a strong SE Asia alliance is the natural geographic configuration NZ should be looking to, there is a Plan B that works to our cultural strengths … CANZUK.
Right now it looks like the four governments are on board with this and are quietly working towards a free trade agreement. Already Morrison, Ardern and Peters have initiated talks.
A freedom of travel agreement would be the next major step if and when COVID is brought under control.
Personally I can see it working, but the major assumption it is based on is freedom of navigation, the ability to safely ship goods around the planet, without risk of interference. We've more or less taken this as a given since the end of WW2, thanks to the default security put in place by the US Navy, but that is going away very soon. The US will continue to control the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic. If Aus/NZ/France can provide cover to the mid Pacific, then getting goods to Canada, transhipping by rail, then across the Atlantic to the UK would in principle provide a reasonable conduit for the CANZUK deal to work.
I still prefer a SE Asian alliance as the geography favours it. Plus you have to say that after watching the Brexit debacle, no-one wants to let the Brits be in charge of anything ever again. But there is no special reason why we have to pick one lane or the other, and a post-COVID, post-BREXIT CANZUK configuration looks to be a thing.
Seems a nicely imaginative scheme on first impression. "CANZUK International is a non-profit advocacy organization headquartered in Toronto, Canada." Unless someone is quick to spot a downside, I reckon it would operate as a helpful complement to any regional alliance, as you suggest.
I note the sort of people that manage to claw (these days, bluff and jibe) their way to the top positions in a trading partner as giving some ideas of what can be expected from that place/country.
Toronto Canada is where they elected as Mayor someone with the same proclivities as Trump, and when he died they elected – his brother, I think.
Here is something about the deceased Mayor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Rob_Ford_video_scandal
However it may be a case of choosing the best offering from a lot that is a bad job. If that's what's offering at the auction house at this time, maybe we should consider it on the basis that something is better than nothing, and it's unlikely there are going to be better paths towards something more like our ideal. Are there any better choices? Perhaps have to settle for pragmatism?
Australia and Indonesia need to form a real defence alliance treaty.
It would not be hard to expand ANZUS to include Indonesia and Singapore.
Everyone can figure out what that nine-dashed line is doing.
I think you'll find Indonesia and Australia only tolerate one another, the "Boat People" illegal migrants leaving Indonesian shores for Aus created an issue for Indonesia as the Australian Navy was turning boats around and returning them to Indonesia, the Navy bought old life boats and loaded the boat people into them, scuttling the vessel at sea, the life boats were GPS controlled with the engine area locked, the life boat would just land at one of the beaches in Indonesia.
Agree with the history.
The larger common threat must unify them.
Indonesia's blind eye being turned to people smugglers and trafficking (and the money and crime involved) also caused a problem for Australia.
A percieved problem that the Australian Govt used it as a political foot ball to denegrade asylum seekers, more than 85% were found to be legitimate refugees, but that didn't stop them from locking them up for 6 yrs on a remote island in the middle of nowhere at a cost of $2.5B a year
On paper that's a good idea Ad, but as others have said there is a fair legacy of distrust that would make it a tough ask to achieve.
But with the right leaders in place I could see it happening if the CCP's expansionary rhetoric and punking turns into something serious.
So as well as Bennett and Collins switcheroo, why was Amy Adams so out and then so in? She certainly had little sympathy for Teina Pora.
Adam Adams. She like Simon Bridges and Judith Collins trained as a lawyer. She like those others has demonstrated that the concept of 'justice' is beyond her.
She demonstrated that with the Pora case. She had a title at the time – the Minister of 'Justice.'
Why was Adams so out and then so in? She wasn't getting her own way with the Bridges regime. She was just like another 8 or 9 year old girl playing 'clubs' and making up huts. She wasn't Queen Bee so decided to take her dolls home. She could see the writing on the electoral wall and didn't want to be a loser and not be in Government.
The environment changed and the new 'in crowd' was where she could be 'in' and the breath of fresh air with the changes would see them governing.
One of the being pleasures about National losing the election would be seeing Adams po faced after September 19.
Masterly summation.
Todd Muller has just been asked (at press conference) about National's attack ads.
He said he hasn't seen them. He is the leader.
A Prime Minister has vastly more work to do and issues to address than any leader of the opposition. But Todd can't even spare the time to see the ads put out by his party, under his name.
(obviously he's lying, but if we pretend he isn't – it's worse!).
Pleading ignorance is NOT an acceptable excuse, it shows up the lack of Leadership that he continually displays, one of the biggest issues for me is that belief of self entitlement, you know, we don't have to justify our actions, we should be running the country not the group that was democratically elected.
Muller reminds of Bolger, less aggressive than most Nat MPs, but he didn't last long and then we entered the Ruthinasia era, which took the country backwards, fast.
Muller is a temporary leader, the one to take the fall at the election and then be replaced with the next John Key choice, Luxon
No, I think he is trying to ape John Key, who told obvious fibs, but got admiration for it from his fans. But no admiration coming this time.
Minister Clark has resigned.
Whew!
Gone.
And good riddance.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12344904
Totally agree. Clark was a cowardly incompetent weasel with a history of avoiding responsibility.
Now we just need to get rid of that other embarrassment, Twyford, and maybe Labour will sail into a second term.
'Unhelpful distraction': Health Minister David Clark resigns'
It would be helpful to put heading of any Herald articles as they don't give anything away in their link.
Oh to be you. Righteous pillock. To Peter ch h.
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one" – Mr Spock.
Total contrast between Labour (take one for the team) and National (team? what team?).
Ardern can be ruthless. Muller is toothless.
Ardern ruthless? I could give her many compliments, but that isn't one of them. In the end, this incompetent idiot had to sack himself.
Gone because of substantive actions (and remember he was penalised for the quarantine travel) or because of media harassment and beat ups over fixable issues?
I think the media need to be very careful about overstating any "crime" and blowing it out of proportion because when there is a actually a serious issue it gets tossed into the same basket and the perpetrator can feel free to ignore the backlash and stay in the job.
This helps contribute to political instability but no doubt the media are enjoying the results of their tantrums. Shows who’s really in control after being shown as lightweight.
Gone because of prolonged incompetence. This is a Health Minister who went for a 20km drive to the beach, took a bike ride, then moved house, all during the lockdown. Who went MIA during a global pandemic. Who pubicly threw the DG of Health under the bus. This is the same MoH who the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists ED decribed as having “rambling, confused or nonsensical” leadership, and who called his political leadership "fiscally irresponsible" and without vision (https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12253092).
So blame the media all you like, but this guy gave them ammunition in spades.
But you don't care that Bridges drove weekly more than 900k weekly each way for a committee that was specifically set up to be run ONLINE, he didn't resign, no, he was overthrown by his mates, replaced with a human being.
Clark achieved more for the Health system in the time he was there than the previous Govt did in a decade.
Clark achieved very little as it happens. Labour was always going to put more money into Health, even if Donald Trump had been the Minister.
I'd say you need to look at some facts, Clark did far more in Health in 2.5 years than the previous Govt did in 9.
There's a good post in the David Clark resigns Topic outlining the achievments he was responsible for, it's actually quite an impressive list.
I've seen it. Most, if not all, are government initiatives. Any minister of health could have 'achieved' those. But only David Clark could have driven to a beach, moved house and gone moungtain biking during a health crisis lock down. Or mismanaged opening the borders so badly. Gone MIA during the lockdown. I could go on, but I'm almost feeling sorry for the guy.
Maybe David Clark resigning is to remove a distraction and National will claim it as their work ably helped by media. Good on him for stepping down but the denigration was not justified in my opinion.
They can claim it, but a resignation always kills a story. They wanted to shout "Resign" for weeks more.
Public opinion has been clear (it may not be fair, but politics rarely is). The only major obstacle to Ardern's re-election has removed himself.
Now only Twyford and Lees-Galloway to go?
Clark's domain was health. For that in 2020 read Covid-19. How'd that go?
What are (were) Twyford and Lees-Galloway's areas? How are they going?
There is no evidence at all that they are obstacles to Labour's vote (as in polling of the wider public, not reckons on political blogs).
Clark was – in effect – up against Ashley Bloomfield. There is no comparison in other portfolios.
QFT
Nah – labour should go for a civil service restructure to get some better performance out of some entrenched nests.
Not the 'only major obstacle'. Twyford is still there, despite the fiasco of Auckland Light Rail and Kiwi Build. This will come back to haunt Labour during the election campaign.
Only difference between Clark and Twyford is that Twyford knows no shame. Ardern is weak (in this area) and should have had him quietly put to sleep for the good of the party, and of NZ.
Ardern will get Labour re-elected in spite of itself. She has a team with such a shallow talent pool she has had to hand the Health portfolio (albeit temporarily) to the Minster of Education. And that's just a week or so after calling in Megan Woods to sort out Twyfords balls ups in housing and Clark's screwing up the quarantine. Thank goodness for the handful of highly competent people around the PM. The rest are f'wits.
Agreed, our internationally respected PM does have some highly competent people around her. IMHO Judith Collins is currently the greatest political 'talent' the Nats have, with the possible exceptions of Drs Smith and Yang.
No argument from me. Except I'd change the "some" to "a few".
Of course you would.
Not my opine, they've given National and the media a scalp. They will now both
1. target other ministers instead.
2. pose the lack of a permanent replacement as indicative of a lack of depth and use it for campaign advantage.
Because it's all they have apart from their common gated community upper 50% middle class interest.
Technology + sewer. Just watched pipe experts unroll a plastic pipe which looked like a limp silver snakeskin, and insert it into a dodgy sewer pipe. Heat is pumped into the pipe to inflate it and then it sets hard. A new sewer pipe. Minimal digging up of road.
The sewers in most towns have limited life but whoever invented this dramatic cost effective solution deserves recognition.
Did anyone else know about this?
I think some engineers were flown in from Germany to do just this in Wellington in April/May – special exemption but had to quarantine.
It has been said for years in the USA that Brooklyn Bridge is falling down. Perhaps they pioneered the repair system over there; and then moved to sewers.
The sewers in all big cities are needing cleaning out – 'fat bergs' etc. They are a solid reflection of what goes along them below ground, and an analogy? for above-ground communication and actions. It illustrates civilisation stuck in its own excrement, literally and physically. But maybe we can shine our little candle in the world, after cleaning up a bit using this technology
It's a technology that's been getting press in the composites industry for decades. Pretty sure I was reading about it as far back as the 90s. So it seems fairly well proven by now.
UV curing seems preferable to heat curing – if the liner is inflated hard against the old pipe walls heat is conducted away quick enough that it takes an awful lot to get it up to high enough temp for long enough to get a good cure. Whereas to UV cure it you only need to send the robot with the UV light down it at a specific speed and you can be very confident of the quality and uniformity of cure.
Thanks Andre and others. Glad there might be a way to fix the thousands of Km of ageing sewers. The people up the road had clouds of steam issuing into a frosty morning so must have been using heat rather than UV light.
There has been relining of other sorts of pipes for a while. The gas companies used the existing pipes and threaded a new one through them. That resulted in a stoush with the IRD . Was it deductible repairs and maintenance or a depreciable capital asset
Yes and yes to 14. maybe we could get a couple of them back to do a lot of training in this area because there are a lot of pipes that need it . Happy to volunteer my sewer laterals for training purposes!
[Fixed error in e-mail address]
Could this be sent to the National caucus so they could seal their leaks? I'm sure they'd like the silver bit and then it's a matter of science, really.
I see Muller has just reinstated Bridges back into the "Team", he will take over the foreign affairs portfolio from Brownlee, that'll be handy for him, he'll be able to visit China for some financial support prior to the election, no doubt
Jian Yang and Xi Jinping will be pleased.
Undoubtedly.
They need all the campaign funds they can muster.
And our latest group of "leaders" with zero flexibility and unable to create a new path. I'd have been so much more impressed if they had asked for a package to reskill teachers who had left the profession but wanted a short paid updating course to return, And another package to enable graduates to do some limited teaching while being supported to finish qualifications again with a suitable maybe part time wage. And more part time positions to keep some of the older teachers for a little longer?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/300047135/principals-want-foreign-teachers-exempted-from-border-restrictions
RBCV +100
Further thought – schools could even interview returnees first and offer the job subject to successful completion of the refresher course
Interesting, seems it was only a year ago that principles were saying they didn't want teachers from overseas as they didn't meet the NZ standards, most rejected for an accent.
I know of two currently active teachers who are in their 70s and loving teaching, even more so than 5 yrs ago
People thought NZ quarantine was a shambles but we ain’t got nothing on Victoria
A report in the Herald Sun claims that guards also had sex with quarantine guests who may have been infected with COVID-19.
I had wondered if that might be the source. I saw a small mention here from the cops that they had been called to some of our facilities for parties and other guest to guest interactions. I'd be very surprised if there wasn't some FWB going on but apparently they review the security tapes too. Hopefully offsite so staff can't conceal their own misdemeanours.
People are having sex?
Thank goodness that won't happen when thousands of students arrive in NZ, away from home for the first time in their lives, all in university accommodation together.
(actual National party policy …)
It is called socialising nowadays and Tinder is Social Media. People shouldn’t be so judgemental about what other people do in their own time. However, when guards are meant to be working, it is in the boss’ time, obviously. In which case they should be sacked for getting in the sack. The Taxpayer shouldn’t have to pay for free sex!
Umm, I think Observer was being tongue in cheek, not judgemental.
And yeah, Muller is big on the idea but leaves out the detail of actually how we would apply quarantine to all these new visitors, particularly as the numbers would be overwhelming.
Best we take things slowly, as this government is doing. Inevitably better ways of managing c19, whether by vaccine or antibody stimulation and supplementation is on the horizon.
Yes, I got that and so was I (i.e. thong in cheek); I thought that was obvious but maybe not.
Can't say I agree that Nash should have apologised…he's only made NZF look stronger.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300046795/stuart-nash-apologises-to-winston-peters-and-shane-jones-over-fisheries-comments
Is Megan Woods going to go after Woodcock for his blatant lying. Until he fronts up with evidence of his claims he is a liar and should be held accountable..imho
The Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs at 17 on the list.
Not an important enough portfolio for Todd to take seriously. If he has, then if the best they can do is a former dreadfully bad leader, their ranks are thinner than we thought.
Colonel Comrade looks after the foreign stuff.
Maybe he thought Bridges had something to offer for the upcoming election, as we know, Bridges is big on procuring donations from donors and some of those donors probably come from overseas.
If Russiagate was an actual rather than a metaphorical dog, it would have been shot as rabid long ago.
Just caught up with the recent stats on Covid19 for Australia, 81 new cases today and 807 active cases, NZ has 2 new cases and 18 active cases.
I'd say It'll be a while before we have a travel bubble given the Federal Govt controls the border.
I think NZ has achieved an excellent outcome thus far, something every NZer should be proud of
Apparently quarantine security guards were having sex with returnees in Melbourne facilities.
Kind of puts our case of the two Covid-Karens in perspective.
7 billion people think NZ has handled Covid superbly….Muller thinks it has been a shambles.
And Mike Hosking kept shouting that Australia was doing it better! (He seems to have gone all quiet on that point…)
The plan B crowd also seem to have run out of countries who are doing it better.
Bunch of shitbirds the lot of 'em. NZ's response hasn't been perfect, but there aren't a lot of countries who did it better. And can you imagine Bridges or Muller being in charge? Fucking hell, we'd be as screwed as the UK.
True.. Sweden, Australia – suddenly the people who claimed they were doing it better have faded away.
By the time Election day comes, maybe nobody will be able to point to a country that has achieved better than NZ economically either. (That will ruin somebody's election campaign.. If so, I will enjoy the bathos.)
I remember having to point out to drug rehab residential manager that the person trying to get informed about addiction as part of necessary steps for change, couldn't handle it. He could read a page but at the end hadn't retained the points made from the print he read. So he was distressed and appeared to not be trying, getting negative feedback. They had not realised how long, long-term use could affect the brain.
So after that am I against marijuana? No. But it has to be managed carefully. I was disappointed to read that Fonterra was growing it. I would like some recovered people who were committed to responsible plantings with limited potency, to be able to handle some of the growing. Give them a chance to do something they know FGS. Fonterra to stick to its dairy addiction er skills.
I have a relation who is an alcoholic. He is lucky to be alive and it has got in the way of him being a reliable good man able to think things through, tough things out. Drinking was strong in the 1950-70's and lives were diminished by the culture of drinking to excess. No doubt still is. Restraint needed to be 'cultivated', and if marijuana had been cultivated, perhaps that would have been learned.
What has forbidding marijuana ever done for us? It has led us to drugs and crime being connected and brought lively lads and lasses into the police orbit when they would otherwise not have been. Mr Asia in Australia and here was mostly white by the way if you connect drugs and not being pakeha together.
Now it is time to bring mj out in the open, let people grow their own with some controls – a few plants, not commercially. Lighten up, let people out of the controls of might-be that scared NZs throw at every desire for change. See how it goes and if something is unsatisfactory after a three year run, and a review, then make changes. Just don't cop out and throw your hands up in the air. Making sensible decisions for the country is the job of a citizen in a democracy, not sitting back and applying moralistic strictures just because no-one you know ever uses it. That verges on theocracy.
And it's not like NZs a leader in Marijuana reform, many countries and states have made change, many of them a decade ago.
There's an old saying
Everything is good for you in moderation, well nearly everything
7 billion people think NZ has handled Covid superbly….Muller thinks it has been a shambles.