If you can get past his hokey spiritualism of the cleaned up junkie, Russell Brand has some really, really good conversations on his podcasts. I particularly recommend his discussion with Adam Curtis.
I remember around seven years ago seeing a tv news report on the issue that mentioned kauris were dying in the Waitakeres in remote areas miles from any walking track. Made me suspicious of claims that humans are responsible for the spread. “The bug is soil-borne, and left alone it spreads at a glacial pace. But picked up on on the boots of a tramper, or the hooves of a wild pig, it can be carried kilometres from the original source of an outbreak.” Are there still wild pigs in the Waitakeres? If so, why have they not been eliminated? Obviously they’d be more effective transporters of the pathogen than humans.
“New Zealand’s competitive research model – where individual teams of scientists beaver away inside separate Crown Research Institutes – is one of the major roadblocks we face in saving kauri. While CRI business managers protect their intellectual property, scientists are being gagged. She claims MPI asked her to review all kauri dieback science three years ago and then told her not to tell anyone the results. Without collaboration, says Black, how can scientists know what has already been proved? “We could all be working on the same things, and how would we know?””
The new government must command the public service to start collaborating on this problem immediately. Nothing wrong with using enterprise teams competitively to produce a selection of clever strategies. Everything wrong with failing to share institutional learning therefrom.
So they’ve let those pigs continue spreading the disease for an entire decade. Amazing, the incompetence that everyone assumes will continue forever here. A competent manager would have mapped all the affected trees to show how many cannot have been infected by trail-walkers. If as many were off-trail as alongside, that would prove that pigs are the problem, not humans. A relief map would show any downhill drift of contaminated soil infecting trees down-slope from a trail.
They are all mapped.
Great majority of infections alongside human tracks.
There’s a few areas with downhill infection but they are places like Otitori Bay Road which is also subdivided with humans, dogs, cars, landscaping etc.
First primary teachers strike for 24 years. You can see why they didn’t strike during Helen Clark’s government: Michael Cullen kept declaring a budget surplus. When government has plenty of money to spread around, that’s the wrong time to ask for some. Teacher logic.
You can see why they didn’t strike during John Key’s government: alpha male. Must demonstrate subservience.
So they finally waited until a young woman with a new baby is running the country. Attack now! Easy target…
Teachers are going on strike because things are really bad for them and has been for YEARS. Finally they have had enough, who can blame them after the last nine years.
It has NOTHING to do with who is the PM.
Calling the PM who quit (john key) an alpha male… I can’t stop laughing, so far from the truth.
Dennis, these were teachers down in ChCh over school closures. The strike didn’t go ahead. Instead there was a public rally
In 2010 under national, secondary teachers went on strike..
Prime Minister John Key said yesterday there was no new money to offer teachers a bigger pay increase unless they wanted to burden their students with a future of paying off national debt.
Mr Key said the Government was already borrowing $256 million a week.
Wait… what? keys government was borrowing how much a week?
Yes in 2010 the NZ Government had a budget deficit. John Key was entirely correct and it looked like it worked as the Teachers did not go on strike and did not get a big pay rise.
Nat’s are spinning that if Labour hadn’t of introduced a years free tertiary they would have the money for it.
What a crock, the money used for the first year free tertiary was ear marked by national for tax cuts.
But even more concerning is the national voters coming out to support teachers, after voting for anti education national for the last nine years. It really does my head in.
Thanks for the heads up Solkta, much appreciated. Have only joined in commenting on TS in recent years.
Nat bullshit is off the meter, the cannabis thing made me laugh hard. But not as hard as the school principal was laughing yesterday; when I told him that the nat’s had collected no info on class sizes during their tenure but were all of a sudden pushing for smaller class sizes.
Oh yes the class size thing. That might be the winner. Last time the Nats spoke about class sizes they said it didn’t matter and they wanted to increase them.
Teacher unions and education groups have welcomed Education Minister Hekia Parata’s backdown on class size increases, but it has come with a sting: a $174 million hole in the education budget which will now have to be filled from cuts elsewhere.
Ms Parata yesterday announced she was reversing plans in the Budget to increase class size ratios after two weeks of a strong public outcry from parents, teachers, principals and boards of trustees.
So Mr Gosman. Next time, instead of MPs voting themselves a pay rise, the money could be given to the Parliamentary cleaners. Better use of the money eh?
The pay rises are determined by the Renumeration Authority but don’t the MPs vote to accept?
“Oh well. I guess we deserve it, so OK give me few more thousands if you must.”
So when you criticised national for prioritising tax cuts over public spending, you didn’t mean quality public spending. just any old public spending.
Labour made a choice, spend the money earmarked for tax cuts on primary education teachers, whose ability to teach will define a childs learning pattern for life. Or they can spend the money on 18 – 19 year olds who desire to go on to earning a graduate then professional salary but won’t invest in it themselves.
Just for the record, one year of free tertiary education is open to all adults who haven’t undergone tertiary education before; not just 18-19yr olds as implied by ‘3cent biscuit’ above.
A friend of mine, 44yrs old has just started training to be a teacher, only because the first year free.
Re the current pay for primary school teachers….
Did you know that the teachers have been offered twice the pay rise that the prior national government offered?
So it’s a huge WTF moment that national are only now making a big song and dance about supporting education and teachers. All good, most can see through it, cause they got x-ray spec’s, for all those special effects. 🙂
“So government is recognising the fact that teacher pay increases haven’t been particularly generous in recent years,” Mr Hipkins said.”
Personally, I highly value education for ALL and I especially value our educators. If any government can improve the situation for teachers, it’s this one.
“A friend of mine, 44yrs old has just started training to be a teacher, only because the first year free.”
So are you implying that after the first year your friend will then exit his course? you know the ONLY reason he decided to upskill was that it was “free”.
This has given her the opportunity for a good start and I’m so happy for her to have such an opportunity, and such an opportunity will not be wasted on her.
Tuppence. That is rubbish. The first 3 years of a child’s life effects their learning patterns. Parents and family as first teachers.
When secondary education became free and mandatory girls became educated to higher levels regardless of parental or societal ideas. So did their families because of this.
We are again accepting that 3 years tertiary education is desirable, and that the poorer students (parents) should not have a handbrake hefty loan when wealthy students (parents) have friends who hire their children, or a business which hires them, to avoid loans.
The outcome? Poorer families do not build home deposits and banks won’t loan to them as they have a mortgage sized student debt already. Also poorer students who missed out may now take advantage to gain further education, as adults can apply.
The wealthy continue with family backing to grow their deposits and without a student loan they qualify for a bank loan. They become the property class.
In three years from now it will be a more even field.
More students from poorer families will be able to gain degrees or trades.
The wealthy students will have to work harder in a larger pool of students.
This is great policy for the ordinary family, far from pulling the ladder up, they have provided one.
Get use to it, your lot are in power now so need to solve all those easy problem they raged on about in opposition while also keeping the economy going to pay for it No point in feeling sorry for yourself and blaming the opposition for been ..,. The Opposition
Your conclusions are harsh and unfair – no one wants to strike and certainly not teachers – for too long the gnats have been given a free pass – they let things run down – don’t blame the workers for wanting to eat and live on an adequate income.
No, I’m not blaming them for that – just for waiting so long, and unfairly making governance hard for Jacinda! Like I suggested, the obvious time to do it was at least a decade ago.
Are you serious DF @ 3, or are you just being a little bit naughty and provocative? I hope it is the latter.
The teachers have chosen to strike for exactly the same reason as the nurses. They have reached the end of their tether. After nearly ten years being pushed and shoved around by National… having unnecessary extra ‘measuring devices’ forced on them which only made their job of actually teaching children ten times harder… being treated like second class citizens by an ignorant National-led government and subsequently now having extreme difficulty attracting the right young people to teaching… they have understandably had more than enough.
However, I hope they recognise the fact they can’t get everything immediately because there is not a bottomless pit of gold in the Govt’s coffers.
You’re right, Anne. There is no bottomless pit of gold in the Govt’s coffers. But Labour aren’t even spending up to their own self-imposed spending cap. Giving them around $6 billion more to play with.
The Chairman, Mico plasma bovis, kauri dieback, trade wars, poor public infrastructure, pay levels, hospital funding, meeting climate change costs, education costs, Winz.
I could go on…. glad they have money in case… I’m sure others could add things to the list. (I have not prioritised any one thing, as they are all huge)
The Government’s self-imposed spending cap is extremely conservative as it stands, thus allows plenty of headroom for any future unknowns.
And while there are many issues to currently overcome, the additional $6 billion will go a long way in further addressing them.
If we let matters fester, they will snowball. Thus, will become more difficult and far more expensive to correct going forward.
Businesses are concerned large public sector wage increases will spillover and drive up private sector wage demand. Hence, there’s speculation appeasing this concern is what is underpinning the Government’s hardball stance when it comes to public sector wage demands.
Alternatively, when it comes to the threat of Mycoplasma bovis (which poses no human health risk, thus as far as problems go it’s not that major) Robertson seems to have thrown out his fiscal concerns and has committed to throwing as much money as it takes at the problem.
Just as Winston seemed to have had no other fiscal concerns when announcing a billion dollars for foreign aid, yet when it came to patient safety and nurses wanting more, Winston was out there pointing at the need to balance the books.
National let matters fester, they have snowballed. Thus, it has become more difficult and far more expensive to correct going forward.
Lets be real and sheet home the current situation to the actual cause.
I still think MSM and to a degree the PR team for the current Govt are not doing their job at educating the general public regarding the sentence above. I also believe this is due mostly to MSM being bought/paid for by interests that are biased to Nats and their own personal gains.
No one is denying National’s governance got us into the state we are now in, but it’s now up to Labour to get on top of things before they snowball and become more difficult and more expensive to correct.
As reported, they have around another $6 billion to do so.
You seem to be standing up for Labour who in this instance seem to be putting business concerns (or other concerns such as Mycoplasma bovis) ahead of public sector workers and the overall public/national interests (i.e. investment in health and education).
The Primary sector have ridden on the coat tails of secondary teachers for years since gaining a parity agreement. This is the first time they have been first cab of the ramp with negotiations, secondary have always taken the industrial action, interestingly the reverse does not apply.
The primary teachers are up in arms as that is where the biggest demand is.
There is massive shortages of primary school teachers. They do an excellent job and should be paid well and supported!
When the powers set immigration policy with the rise in private and public foreign student drives under National, it was to gain a lot of 20 – 30 yo often with lower educational level or skills (chefs, low level IT support, health care worker were amongst the top 5 most “skilled’ groups) that created additional points for residency and extra points if they were younger, so based on that, 1 out of 5 foreign students studying in NZ were waived through into permanent residency even if the job was flipping burgers or working in a petrol station. As well as that if you “invested” in a business or house you also were waived through into permanent residency and did not have to have an English language test.
As usual nobody worked out this is prime child bearing age, so of course there should have been a big prediction of the additional children being born outside of the normal demographics by government so they should have started saving for more teachers and midwives and GP’s then, and not allowing it to become a crisis! Instead they just focused on giving it to construction and building more schools and classrooms and remedial work from all the leaky schools they had, rather than increasing the teachers and allowing enough and adequate funding for the additional children.
At the same time, the government got rid of many specialist schools for children with special needs and about 1 in 10 children have some sort of learning disability but apparently under the neoliberal rules it is practically impossible to get more help in the classroom to deal with special needs children.
Someone was saying they had an autistic child but with the ‘check tick system” failed on one obscure point so the school did not get funding for a teachers aid. Then the school asked the parents to pay for one instead. Clearly discrimination against the special needs children families has become rife on top of everything else!
Apparently a colossal amount of children have their teacher changed during the year now, that is much higher than the more publicised issue of people in insecure housing’s children having to change schools.
So modern NZ primary school kids are grappling with a lot of issues that are contributing to additional stress on them from the teachers shortages and turnover which is why the average parent is probably going to support the strike, as everyone knows that we need these qualified teachers badly!
This is from the Natz, but another issue for the Labour government to solve.
Yeah its interesting isn’t it, WP says that GB and nary a word of outrage from the msm but imagine if JK had said that to a Green or Labour MP, the outrage would have been deafening (and rightly so)
It was a shit thing of winston to say .i had been feeling positive about him even though I didn’t want msg in parliament. But the he proved what a silly old fool he can be.
Thanks Blazer and Anne. The behaviour of the Opposition was appalling. Both in the attacks and the response to the resignation. They scored a (doubtful) point but wanted the pound of flesh as well. Rats!
You can see why Winston Peters was sufficiently riled by the way they were treating Tracey Martin that he made the “fatty” statement. One thing I’ve noticed about Winston. He expects total loyalty from his parliamentary members and when he gets it, he returns it with equal measure.
Well you know PR, when people are angry about someone’s behaviour they often respond in like manner which may not be the right thing to do, but you can understand them doing it.
I can recall you getting riled up on this site and [maybe] ending up with a wee ban.
FFS @ PR! Give it up or I might have to relate a story about a pencil plane (I think they were called Metroliners) whereby the pilot had to ask most other passengers to switch sides before takeoff.
BTW – same held true for dear old Parakura.
Then there’s Gerry’s companion to deal with.
Give it up man!
And considering the number of times Bridges * is pulled up and warned by the Speaker for interjections (some of which are apparently extremely rude/derogatory from what I have heard from people actually there) it is a case of pot and kettle. One day, Mallard is going to send Bridges packing … LOL.
I suspect Winston may have been riled by consistent interjections from the Opposition.
Tracey Martin appears t have accepted the spin from Bishop that this enquiry was about the appointee – it was about the process used for the appointment – a process developed and later amended by National, as she outlined in her reply. Clearly the reason for the enquiry is because it may not have discovered all relevant information, but that has nothing to do with the person appointed. Bishop was called on this on Radio NZ this morning but continued to claim it was an enquiry into the person appointed rather than government processes. Yes National have scurrilously attacked an individual for political purposes, but they also offended against parliament with their interjections. From what was heard in the clip at least one opposition MP should have been called on to apologise.
Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief says he thinks there is a chance some parents may not see kids again after being separated at the border. Instead the children of around 460 parents will simply be put in foster care or adopted out in the US.
Absolutely disgusting that they did nothing to track the children they took. To be honest hard to believe a country like the US could do that and be so negligent with children. There are many scandals however of profit from state children or incarceration of minors by officials owning parts of the facilities that house them and profit from it.
The children could be trafficked, abused and of course never be reunited with their parents. This has threads of Aboriginal and Argentinian babies being stolen.
I see Trump caved in and Putin’s visit has been postponed. A man with no balls whatsoever. His only asset now is his band of racist, mysogenistic, fanatically religious followers. Other than that, he’s just a smelly turd sitting in the White House, kept in power and controlled by the Republicans and corporate money. People slag of Hillary Clinton but at least she had a lot more balls than Trump. The good news about Trump having no balls is that even a successful dictator needs balls.
Goose-stepping? A retro move to demonstrate stylistic solidarity with North Korea? No, I know – it’ll be big guns. Trad male psychology (mine is bigger than yours)..
Best game in town; stir the anti-immigration pot and then fill your pockets.
But “victory” isn’t the word most Valley Park residents would use to describe the results of Kobach’s work. With his help, the town of 7,000 passed an ordinance in 2006 that punished employers for hiring illegal immigrants and landlords for renting to them. But after two years of litigation and nearly $300,000 in expenses, the ordinance was largely gutted. Now, it is illegal only to “knowingly” hire illegal immigrants there — something that was already illegal under federal law. The town’s attorney can’t recall a single case brought under the ordinance.
“Ambulance chasing” is how Grant Young, a former mayor of Valley Park, describes Kobach’s role. Young characterized Kobach’s attitude as, “Let’s find a town that’s got some issues or pretends to have some issues, let’s drum up an immigration problem and maybe I can advance my political position, my political thinking and maybe make some money at the same time.”
Kobach used his work in Valley Park to attract other clients, with sometimes disastrous effects on the municipalities. The towns — some with budgets in the single-digit-millions — ran up hefty legal costs after hiring him to defend similar ordinances. Farmers Branch, Texas, wound up owing $7 million in legal bills. Hazleton, Penn., took on debt to pay $1.4 million and eventually had to file for a state bailout. In Fremont, Neb., the city raised property taxes to pay for Kobach’s services. None of the towns are currently enforcing the laws he helped craft.
I think there is further discussion along those lines than what is presented, as the phrase does more than encompass working conditions.
Considering the fraught concerns about the use of the term ‘white’ – for the purposes of this discussion, it is useful to consider it in terms of those who for no other reasons other than how they appear, are treated in such way as to provide beneficial advantages that are denied to others that present differently.
In regards to “white working class” – I would think it would relate to the aspects of life additional to both class and employment. They may earn the same pay under the same conditions, but they may also be more likely to get their choice of rental, be treated differently in various industries, shops and institutional services. Even in recreational activities they are more likely to experience a positive welcome and inclusion. They and their children are less likely to be targeted by the police, be followed around a shop, or be questioned about what they are up to.
It doesn’t harm anyone to consider that there are differences even within a class system. In fact, it is more likely that acknowledging those differences allows for better solutions and processes to be designed and implemented.
Yes, categories are great for identifying power, inequalities & need in specific groups and your examples are good ones.
These categories or descriptors provide the probabilities of association can also be a negative influence on societal beliefs and interactions, especially where associating motivations, attitudes and behaviours with a particular group, with an absoluteness that doesn’t exist. These are used for negative stereotyping of the individual as well as the group. E.g. from police profiling and likelihood of arrest, to why people who are working class and white can’t climb the social ladder, even as to why people don’t access education and health services.
I feel that when category probability is interpreted by the general public as certainty, they are used to stigmatise with an air of authority (“the stats say…”, “the profiling shows that…” (See: opinion pieces, BoL comments ) and have become an perverse excuse for people with power and privilege to do nothing to invest in ensuring society is a little more equitable.
But that’s not to say I don’t agree with you that we need to identify where inequalities lie. Absolutely, we must, and the author is wrong to say “The only logical reason to differentiate within a class by skin colour is if you want to talk about the element that doesn’t like mixing with other ethnicities” – clearly there are other reasons, as you state.
It’s the context-free certainty that attitudes and behaviours belong to social groups (which the article focused on) that bothers me. Especially when I hear people in positions of power use this as an excuse to explain away, and do nothing about fixing, a problem that has been identified via those very same categories (example from a serve administrator: “Oh, that person doesn’t turn up because they are [choose group] and the research shows they can’t be bothered so we struck them off the list”).
I’m not sure why this posted twice. It disappeared completely the first time I posted it. If a moderator would like to delete this version, please feel free to do so. Ta.
Yes, categories are great for identifying power, inequalities & need in specific groups and your examples are good ones.
These categories or descriptors provide the probabilities of association can also be a negative influence on societal beliefs and interactions, especially where associating motivations, attitudes and behaviours with a particular group, with an absoluteness that doesn’t exist. These are used for negative stereotyping of the individual as well as the group. E.g. from police profiling and likelihood of arrest, to why people who are working class and white can’t climb the social ladder, even as to why people don’t access education and health services.
I feel that category probabilities are thrown around as certainties, and are used to stigmatise with an air of authority (“the stats say…”, “the profiling shows that…” (See: opinion pieces, BoL comments ) and have become an perverse excuse for people with power and privilege to do nothing to invest in ensuring society is a little more equitable.
But that’s not to say I don’t agree with you that we need to identify where inequalities lie. Absolutely, we must, and the author is wrong to say “The only logical reason to differentiate within a class by skin colour is if you want to talk about the element that doesn’t like mixing with other ethnicities” – clearly there are other reasons, as you state.
It’s the context-free certainty about attitudes and behaviours in social groups ascribed to people in descriptive categories (which the article focused on) that bothers me. Especially when I hear people in positions of power use this as an excuse to explain away, and do nothing about fixing, a problem that has been identified via those very same categories (example from a service administrator: “that person doesn’t turn up because they are [choose group] and the research shows they have an attitude problem so we struck them off the list”).
“It’s the context-free certainty about attitudes and behaviours in social groups ascribed to people in descriptive categories (which the article focused on) that bothers me. Especially when I hear people in positions of power use this as an excuse to explain away, and do nothing about fixing, a problem that has been identified via those very same categories (example from a service administrator: “that person doesn’t turn up because they are [choose group] and the research shows they have an attitude problem so we struck them off the list”).
I agree. However, it often shows how systematic bias is expressed in terms of individual interactions. I think how wearying it must be on the receiving end of this kind of un-thinking prejudice – all of the time.
‘As for the Greens, they’ve given up even a pretense of holding onto the moral high ground, and have been reduced to being just another political party.’
If you are a list MP you are there because voters wanted your parties policies, or, being cynical, liked the party publicity. Either way, you are in Parliament because of your party.
If you jump ship, then your position should go to the next on the party list.
The Greens should not die in the ditch, for something even the members don’t agree on.
I agree with all this. The thing must be progressed in the select committee yet, right? No reason to assume a suitable compromise can’t be reached. I suggested to the GP that we ought to allow a parliamentarian the right to declare intent to leave a party and tell the public why, while serving out their current term.
This means the actual leaving takes effect at the end of the term, yet politicians are able to take a moral stand when necessary (that forces them to decide to leave their current waka). That way the principle of freedom of speech in accord with conscience is balanced against the social contract entered into with electors.
Perhaps the Green Party caucus agreed with the bill – it is hard to disagree with a bill designed to prevent waka jumping – but did not wish to admit the same to to wider party.
I suspect the GP developed a policy on the original waka-jumping legislation long ago that was too one-sided. The unbalanced view expressed by Jeanette Fitzsimons and Keith Locke in recent times gives me this impression. Nowadays too many of us see the common interest context for that old opposition to survive.
They, and Shaw in particular, have said so many times that they would consider talking with National. But while spitting rhetoric all over the place National never did approach them. The Greens can work with National, all National have to do is change most of their key policies.
There has been a number of recent policy changes that Winston would obviously not be super happy about (and Jones must have had the shits). There is actually a lot of overlap between the policy of the three parties, between National and the Greens there is next to none.
If there was common ground then English would have actually phoned Shaw after the election rather than just have his proxies talk about him doing so. If there was common ground then the Greens probably wouldn’t have done the MOU with Labour.
I always thought the Greens were above such practices but then again I’ve also never spent time in a ministerial car either so i’m assuming they must be very comfortable
Yes coalitions are about compromise. Perhaps you could list what compromises you think the Greens would have had to make to make a government with National?
While it is distasteful that the Greens find the need to support this specific bill, yes it is good to have a change of government.
Since you can’t come up with anything constructive re coalition building, do you suggest that the Greens NEVER support a government and stay on the cross benches for ever? If so, how do you think this would implement more of their policies?
Being that you think that “all National have to do is change most of their key policies.” the first thing I’d suggest is the Greens come off their high horse (its probably a bit lower to the ground now) and actively try to find some common ground
Green co-leader Rod Donald reminded the House that “had this bill existed prior to the last [1999] election, we [Donald and Fitzsimons] would have been removed from this House and denied our opportunity to stay here for the full parliamentary term”.
From wikipedia: “Anderton decided to leave the Alliance and establish a new party. However, rules regarding changes of party allegiance meant that Anderton and his allies could not officially resign from the Alliance without also resigning from parliament, which they were unwilling to do. This led to the awkward situation of Anderton and his allies technically remaining part of the Alliance while actually operating outside of it. The conflict within the Alliance was one of the reasons cited by Helen Clark for her calling the election several months early in 2002.”
As far as I know, our electoral law hasn’t been changed to eliminate this problem. If I’m right, we have a structural flaw in MMP that suitable consensus-based rewriting of the proposed waka-jumping legislation could rectify.
The predator free thing is just all bullshit. It is typical National where they set a target call it sorted. There is no explanation as to how they would achieve this nor the willingness to throw anything like enough money at it.
In the second one National would act without consultation with Maori and that would be unacceptable to the Greens.
But lets day the Greens could talk National around on these, what dead rats would the greens have to swallow to achieve a coalition with National? How would these rats compare with supporting the waka jumping thing? What core policies would National be prepared to compromise on?
“The predator free thing is just all bullshit. It is typical National where they set a target call it sorted. There is no explanation as to how they would achieve this nor the willingness to throw anything like enough money at it.”
– Maybe but its an opportunity for the Greens to come in and see about making the policy better or at the very least a chance to discuss it
“In the second one National would act without consultation with Maori and that would be unacceptable to the Greens.”
– Again its an opportunity to talk, even if its simply to discuss what you’ve bought up
“But lets day the Greens could talk National around on these, what dead rats would the greens have to swallow to achieve a coalition with National?”
– For the Greens the simple act of just talking means that Labour couldn’t just take the Greens support for granted and then the Greens could negotiate a better deal for their policies, like NZFirst have done
“How would these rats compare with supporting the waka jumping thing?”
– Being that if this policy was in earlier then the Green party might not even exist you can draw your own conclusions
“What core policies would National be prepared to compromise on?”
– Who knows how far Simon Bridges would go to gain power but what I do know is that if you’re not even prepared to talk then the answer is absolutely nothing whereas talking costs nothing (well maybe not nothing but I’m sure you get my meaning)
The Greens have always been very clear that they will work with ANY party on individual policy. There was an mou on cycleways and insulation with the Key government when it first got in. But that government chose not to continue working with the Greens.
Anybody with half a brain can see that the Greens could not have formed a coalition with the Key National government. Bluffing that they could when that bluff is obvious would just be silly.
” Bluffing that they could when that bluff is obvious would just be silly.”
Being that Winston is/was suing various members of the National party its pretty clear he had no intention of working with National yet he manged to bull over a billion dollars to play with so no bluffing is not silly
It’s like talking with a primary school kid. NZF is a centrist party with fuck all if any environmental policy. They were part of the Bolger National led government and Winston was a minister in the Muldoon National government. Nobody knows if Winston did seriously consider going with National this time, but if it was just a bluff it had a strong basis.
I can’t believe how incredibly naive you are. The Greens are Labours doormat, the Greens have been shafted by Labour before and if Winston had enough votes then Labour would have shafted the Greens again
The Greens allow themselves to be shafted by Labour because they give away any power they have to Labour by stating they’ll only go with Labour which means Labour doesn’t have to negotiate with the Greens
When did i say that the Greens have not been shafted by Labour? You put words in my mouth and then call me naive. The naivety here is your knowledge of policy.
“When did i say that the Greens have not been shafted by Labour? ”
I didn’t say you had, I’m saying they get shafted because they can’t or won’t talk to National which means they have no bargaining power so they have to support whatever NZFirst wants, like the waka jumping bill
So we’re around the circle again. You have an example of one dead rat that the Greens need to swallow yet you are too ignorant of policy to understand that the Greens couldn’t have gone with National and presumably too stupid to see that bluffing that they could have would not have worked.
A mother discovers her son was part of a group of kids who were stealing items found on the outside of people’s homes. She reported him to the police and the police have now prosecuted him.
It reminds me of a similar incident involving my brother when he was around 9 or 10 years old. In the 1950s he and a mate pinched stuff from shops in Queen St., Auckland. The stolen goods were stashed away under our home. Unfortunately for them a visiting 4 year old discovered the cache and raced upstairs with a bran new cricket bat and pads. All was revealed.
Said brother was made to sit down and write a letter of apology addressed to the manager of each store and then both parents marched him into Queen St. where he had to deliver each letter in person and offer a verbal apology as well. It was then up to the managers whether they wanted to take the matter further. None of them did.
Brother has often said since it taught him the lesson of his life and our parents could not have handled it in a better way.
My son did similar to my 8 year-old grandson a few months ago – he had stolen lollies from the local dairy – the lesson was well learnt!
He had been told by an older child that it was ok because it wasn’t stealing from a person! We had a long discussion about what people do to earn money to provide for their families – it was quite an eye-opener for him.
Yep. I did the same around the same age only my crime was to steal three brightly coloured translucent plastic pencil sharpeners (shocking pink, emerald green and yellow) from a Woolworths counter. On finding them hidden in a drawer, my mother dragged me along to the local policeman – are genial middle aged gentleman – who proceeded to explain to me the evils of theft. I was mightily relieved I wasn’t going to be sent to prison.
My son was put on diversion by the police, for stealing a CD. He had to pay for it, and hand it back I think. And was given time to find some community thing to do for 20 hours or so. He and a friend got up to it together. I am glad to say it was the only crime involved in.
But at school my other son had the Nike shoes that I had managed to buy at sale price pinched from his locker which left me with a bad taste. I hadn’t marked them with an identifier and just let it go. I believe that some children just steal in circles, one loses something so steals from another, and it passes round. I didn’t want to join in that behaviour, so lost out on my shoes. It crossed my mind that you could never have anything if the neighbours just took anything they felt the want for.
Posted this the other day, it didn’t get much attention, so here it is again.
Government seeks public input on well-being indicators
“Our nation’s well-being is not a number on a GDP chart, and our government, this government, recognises that,” Mr Shaw said. “The economy is obviously important but GDP is not the be all, end all.”
Mr Shaw said this was about understanding the real picture of success and well-being that went beyond just productivity and turnover and throughput.
“Most people will tell you that the security of their job, the health of their kids and their ability to pay the power bill is more important to them.”
These are real people living just,. on little Pentecost Island. They and others need our help. I think the firefighters dropped tools and organised immediately to help the urgent need in usa. Let’s do he same for PENTECOST.
Incidentally there was a warning tag of the unpleasant results that present day efficiency thinking leads to. Someone said that it would seem unnecessary to keep trained USA firefighters in readiness for on-call situations that occurred over a few months of the year! The idea of that big country having to run on such a lean, mean budget that they were unable to envisage a system to have sufficient firefighters from all 50+ states which are supposed to be ‘united’ is amazing. They could have dedicated firefighters contracted to keep in a trained and
(program helpfully wipes out whole line) – think I said
that the contracted firefighters would be in a state of readiness, and have jobs for the rest of time that would allow them to be released when needed. It’s not rocket science.
But no, the commenter seemed to think it was quite reasonable to call on other countries with their own problems. ‘You’ll come and help us because you are our friends won’t you. If you want to receive friendly treatment from us, you have to come when we call you.’ There is a name for that behaviour.
Looks like the Solomons Government has drop the ball on this one and I’m a little bit surprised they haven’t requested help from NZ or Australia governments for aid.
I think the HMNZS Canterbury is on her way back from attending RIMPAC and since the Endi has been retired the Navy has no ship available atm for HADR Tasks. Thanks to the short sightedness of the first Labour Coalition IRT Project Protector the OPV’s are about as useful as having a fistful of fifties a pub with no beer IRT HADR role which is very limited in what the OPV’s can achieve.
Are OPVs those runabouts with thicker steel than usual. I always wondered
about Labour buying a lot more than needed. I think they dropped some fighter aircraft that would have put us in line for war work about that time.
I wondered if someone said well you can cancel that order only if you buy these that are available and that is the deal take it or leave it. Don’t know, just a thought. But that might be an explanation.
Yes the OPV’s had an ice belt added to give the OPV’s a 1C classification to operate in the Southern Ocean. Which has made the two ships between 200- 300 tones overweight, with CC effects the 1C classification is about as useless as tits on a bull atm also the length and beam are starting to an issue in the Southern Waters. Also they can’t embark the Seasprites down Sth either as they would be very useful for carrying boarding parties instead using the RIB’s which rated up to Sea State 4, but for WHS issues only do boarding at Sea State3.
The other major issue is the very limited mission support systems they have which effects how much information they can process/ transmit to and from the P3’s, Seasprites, and other ships within the Navy or Coalition assets.
As for HADR Missions they can carry 3 20ft TEU’s with 16 ton crane unless the OPV is alongside (which isn’t to badly damage)or the use of a lighter on a flat Sea it’s almost pointless to conduct HADR task as Seasprite has a load restrictions for Vertrep
To sum up the OPV’s are a one tick pony with a very compromised design that’s really not suit to the Southern Ocean, but take the ice belt off them they would be a lovely ship the Northern waters or use around NZ waters providing the mission and combat systems were up graded.
A nation needs to be able to respond to the emergencies that happen within its borders else the response may not be in time. We saw this with the Rena grounding. We should have been able to respond nearly instantly but instead it took weeks and several million dollars in damage both to the local environment and the economy.
Love this wee article on the stuff website about lawyers finding a 1947 Law IRT to mouldy rental homes. I hope these Landlords who are a bunch of tight asses get a good kicking up their freckle and put all other landlords on notice.
I think that landlords need to be aware of things in the present that might affect their homes when tenants are living in, and help in keeping mould and dampness down.
1 Is the home tightly sealed to prevent draughts and loss of heating.
It may need some grills put into the walls so that movement of air can occur.
There could be some advice on this so that a grill on the north or west side balances one on the south or east side so allowing a flow of warm, dry air to move towards the colder, damper side. If the house is closed up, then there is air movement and fresh air can enter.
2 Gutters can get full of leaves and water won;t flow away and can find its way down the inside of the weatherboards and through to the inner lining. The landlord should get a reliable person to check and clear these.
3 The home may be left tightly closed during the day while the tenants are out partly to prevent burglary. It would help to put security stays on one window in each of say three rooms. Also there is a window catch for aluminium windows that has two positions, one gives tight closure, the other enables a small air flow
4 The people may not be in the house for any lengthy period during the day on any day of the week when they could open the windows for fresh air and enabling sun and warm air into the room. People are having to work odd hours, irregular hours, and just trying to manage from week to week is stressful.
5 While climate change and energy conservation have rid houses of smoky fires and replaced them often with electricity, families may not be able to afford much time having the appliances on. The Labour Party has alleviated the problem for beneficiaries but what about the general population.?
I think that grills high up in the walls that could vent right through to the outer wall would help. Not many and left uncovered, would not be a problem to the tenants. Fan and heater installed in the bathroom and properly vented to the outside would help. Also separate button just for fan to ensure that it would be turned on to suck out the steam.
That’s a great example of laws simply being forgotten simply because, IMO, we have too much law and it never being enforced. The latter makes the law itself worthless.
Ms Rosie said foremost of the three elements that made health and safety effective were leadership.
“The leader at the top who thinks it’s all compliance, a waste of time and all about paperwork, then we know we will not get a change in health and safety performance.
That second sentence describes National to a ‘T’. They truly think that doing things well is a waste of time.
I waded into the brain-rotting waters of QAnon to compile a comprehensive field guide to their insane codenames, symbols, and theories for all of you. https://t.co/ManNDuBJVB— justin caffier (@JustinCaffier) 12 de juny de 2018
As of Thursday, humanity’s used more resources in 2018 than the Earth can produce in a whole year, according to environmentalists.
According to Global Footprint Network, this year’s ‘Earth Overshoot Day’ came earlier than ever before.
“Since the 1970s, when global ecological overshoot became a reality, we have been using more renewable natural resources than our planet can regenerate,” the international non-profit says.
We have the choice of maintaining our present unsustainable practices or becoming sustainable. All indications are that we’ll continue being unsustainable until we wipe ourselves and most of all other life out.
Good Morning Newshub We all ready produce enough food to feed all the tangata of Papatuanuku.
The beings that eat genitally modified food genetics can change thats not good.
The Big companys that have showen that we can not trust will own the patience to this food and control them thats reality they will drag as much money out of people that they can and lie when things go wrong with there prouducts..
IT.s not a business they have heaps of money and rich backers its a movement from the far right neo liberal Capitalist advertising campane so they get there bull—-views out to the world look at steve touring Europe .
Parenting is not as hard as some make out to be so long as you are organized.
The free fees will bring in more teachers and other skill’s that are in a big shortage in Aotearoa.. Duncan why are you not talking about Ka kite ano.
I say this story is trying to give reason to the bad way the hosptial treated me and my 11 year old mokopuna firstly she did not have a xray secondly the staff did not inform me or my daughter that they were going to pregnancy test my mokopunas urine we only found that fact out when we read the paper work they asked my granddaughter some question that were indicating that’s the angle they were looking at for my moko ailment I ignored this I was pissed but when We found what they did behind our backs this is my reaction so this link has no comparrision to the way they are treating me and my Whano. link below Ka kite ano https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/08/02/175905/hospital-questions-child-on-pregnancy-status
P.S I don’t support violence I support using the system’s against the foes this is the Honorable intelligent way that Eco Maori will win this BATTLE
This is what trump is doing to the EPA rolling back all the laws that were put in place to lower there carbon use .
trump is digging a deep hole one day its going to come crashing around his ears .
Link below.
One of trumps GO OIL Party members is saying that God would clean up there mess how low can you go is this truly how they think they have being brain washed and are brain washing the Common American people Ka kite ano link below
This is what Eco Maori see that companys are to blame for the plastic that’s poisoning Tangaroa and Papatuanukus and there beautiful creates that.s a fact and that companys need to change there whole way of manufacturing things link below ka kite ano
To all te good kiwis on Aotearoa Rangi is not going to fall on our heads because everyone learning the way tangata whenua have been treated as second class citizens like we do not have the capacity to work te whenua to make te mone so we should lose our land to Pakeha who are superior and will make te mone for NZ. Maori should lose Te whenua by hook or crook Its good for the country .
As one person put it we should be thankful on public holiday and voluntary wash his car.
You will learn the truth about what happened in the past and learn that we want to be treated as equals in our country we are not going to take your property. I have a link to help people understand te tangata whenua
Old certainties, old prejudices, old fears are losing their grip Ka kite ano
Good evening Newshub Its a win for people power with Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux having there venue cancelled at the last minute that’s what I saw Kia kaha te tangata mana ka pai .
Thats a good plan everyone keep there pet cats and dogs controlled to help our native species thrive in urban places and pokeko as pet’s
There you go human caused global warming its getting real hot in Europe we will have to resigned our city’s to cope with these heat waves . 9 months of red algae bloom in America
Paddy I don’t want to comment to much on glory vale what I have to say won’t be good.
That will be a great documentary that Cliff and co I missed the names of the other who made this great Mana Whine documentary great to be cellabrating te tangata whenua cultured tangata ka kite ano
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Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First spokesperson for Labour and Industrial Relations Unemployment and wage growth numbers released by Stats NZ today demonstrate a labour market in good shape with unemployment falling to 4.0%, the underutilisation rate falling to an 11 year low, and wage growth at a 10-year high ...
Hon. Ron Mark, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence Ron Mark, welcomes the official opening of Te Rau Aroha, a new museum at Waitangi Treaty Grounds as part of our Coalition Agreement. “It is a great honour to be part of an effective Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime MinisterGood morning,Let us start with important acknowledgements.First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service of our country.Second, special guest Robert ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand will look to build on its relationship with the United Kingdom and recommit to the European Union, after the country officially left the continental union recently. The Minister said New Zealand already cooperates closely with Britain on defence and security issues and has ...
New Zealanders are increasingly better off under this Government as wages rise and families have more disposable income, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as ...
All New Zealanders need to have their voices heard at work to ensure we have an inclusive and productive economy. Today we introduce a Bill to do this for workers in the New Zealand screen industry, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “The Screen Industry Workers Bill will ...
The Government has announced further help for the Southland and Otago regions to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. “I’ve approved Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG), making $500,000 available to help with the clean-up in Fiordland, Southland, and the Clutha district in Otago,” Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said. ...
Following the announcement that more than 340 schools will be funded to run events promoting vocational education, the Government has announced it will fund a further 257 events to be run by employers and industry. “These industry-run events will allow more than 30,000 students to connect with more than 2,000 ...
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...
A Government programme to wipe out pea weevil has achieved a world first, with Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor today announcing the successful eradication of the noxious pest from Wairarapa. This means the nearly four-year ban on pea plants and pea straw was lifted today. Commercial and home gardeners can again grow ...
Southland residents hit by flooding caused by heavy rainfall can now access help finding temporary accommodation with the Government activating the Temporary Accommodation Service, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare announced today. “The Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help ...
“Is that it?” That’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s response to Simon Bridges’ much-hyped economic speech today. “Simon Bridges just gave the most over-hyped and under-delivered speech that I can remember during my time in politics,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s not surprising. Simon Bridges literally said on the radio this morning ...
A trial deployment of the Police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch will test whether the aircraft would make a significant difference to crime prevention and community safety. “The Bell 429 helicopter will be based in Christchurch for five weeks, from 17 February to 20 March,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. “The ...
The Government has kept up the pace of its work to promote New Zealand’s trade interests and diversify our export markets, with visits to Fiji and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. Building momentum to bring the PACER Plus trade and development agreement ...
The Coalition Government’s investment in a strong border and disrupting transnational organised crime produced record results for stopping drugs in 2019, says Minister of Customs Jenny Salesa. The illegal drugs were seized at the New Zealand border by Customs, and overseas by Customs’ international border partners before the drugs could ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off construction of a separated cycleway alongside Tamaki Drive. A two-way separated cycleway will be built along the northern side of Tamaki Drive, between the Quay Street Cycleway extension and Ngapipi Road. There will be a separate walking path alongside. Phil Twyford said giving ...
Owner-occupiers of unit and apartments living in earthquake-prone buildings will have certainty about the financial support they’ll be eligible for with the release of criteria for an upcoming assistance scheme, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. The Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme will help unit owners facing ...
Temporary restrictions on travel from China will remain in place as a precautionary measure to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The restrictions which prevent foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China from entering New Zealand have been extended for a further 8 days. This position ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today that Tairāwhiti rangatahi will benefit from an investment made by the Government’s He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) scheme. The funding will go to the Tautua Village, Kauneke programme and the Matapuna Supported Employment Programme which will fund 120 rangatahi over two years. “Both programmes work ...
All parents and caregivers need to ensure that their children go to school unless they are sick, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin said today. “The school attendance results for 2019 show, across the board, a drop in the number of students going to school regularly,” the Minister says. “Apart from ...
A Deed of Settlement agreeing redress for historical Treaty claims has been signed by the Crown and Moriori at Kōpinga Marae on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) today, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Moriori have a tradition of peace that extends back over 600 years. This settlement ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today with Māori King Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII officially opened the country’s newest road, the $384 million Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway. The 15km four-lane highway with side and central safety barriers takes State Highway 1 east of Huntly town, across lowlands and streams ...
The rapid uptake of life-saving new hepatitis C medicine Maviret since it was funded by PHARMAC a year ago means the elimination of the deadly disease from this country is a realistic goal, Health Minister David Clark says. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus which attacks the liver, proving fatal ...
Kaupapa Māori will underpin the Government’s new plan to deal with homelessness announced by the Prime Minister in Auckland this morning. “Māori are massively overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness, so, to achieve different outcomes for Māori, we have to do things very differently,” says the Minister of Māori Development ...
1000 new transitional housing places delivered by end of year to reduce demand for emergency motel accommodation. Introduce 25% of income payment, after 7 days, for those in emergency motel accommodation to bring in line with other forms of accommodation support. Over $70m extra to programmes that prevents those at ...
Clear requirements for ensuring customers are treated fairly by banks, insurers and other financial service providers are included in new financial conduct legislation that passed its first reading today. “The recent reviews, by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and Reserve Bank of New Zealand, into the conduct of banks and ...
Applications are now open for the fifth round of the Regional Culture and Heritage Fund Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Grant Robertson announced today. “I am delighted to open this year’s fund which has some $7 million available to support performing arts venues, galleries, museums and whare ...
The Minister of Māori Development, Hon Nanaia Mahuta today congratulated Associate Professor Amokura Kawharu on her appointment as the next President of the Law Commission. “Amokura Kawharu will be a standout in her new role, leading in an innovative and forward looking approach to the law reform process. She will ...
Auckland University legal academic Amokura Kawharu has been appointed as the next President of the Law Commission, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Associate Professor Kawharu will take up her new appointment on 11 May 2020. “I would like to congratulate Associate Professor Kawharu on her appointment,” Andrew ...
A programme for employers to help them engage effectively with younger employees was launched today by Minister of Employment, Willie Jackson. The Youth Ready Employer Programme contains a range of on-line templates that employers can easily access to help with employing and retaining young people in their businesses. The programme ...
Budget 2020 will be delivered on Thursday 14 May, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “This year’s Budget will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also preparing the economy for the future. “Those challenges and opportunities cannot be resolved in one budget, ...
I move, That this House place on record its appreciation and thanks for the devoted and distinguished service to New Zealand by the late Rt Hon Michael Kenneth Moore, member of the Order of New Zealand, a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, an Honorary Member of the ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has today classified the drought conditions in Northland as an adverse event for the primary sector, unlocking $80,000 in Government support. “This is recognition that the extreme and prolonged nature of this dry spell is taking its toll on our farmers and growers and additional support ...
The Minister of Police says an operation to smash a trans national drug smuggling ring today will make a significant impact on the methamphetamine trade fuelling harm in our communities. Police have announced 10 arrests and the seizure of up to five million dollars’ worth of illicit drugs after an ...
The Government’s books are in a strong position to withstand global headwinds, with the accounts in surplus and expenses close to forecast, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown accounts for the six months to December. The operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL) was above ...
Race courses can improve safety with this year’s second round of funding from the Racing Safety Development Fund. Minister for Racing Winston Peters has announced the second funding round of 2019/20 is open with $347,875 available for distribution. “The racing industry is integral to the economic and social fabric of ...
The Government is committing $300,000 to fund research to update behavioural information to make sure HIV and STI prevention services are targeted appropriately in New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson made the announcement at today’s Big Gay Out in Auckland. “There is much talk about ...
The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media has announced work will begin on a business case to assess the viability of forming a new public media entity. “The Government must ensure New Zealanders have a strong independent public media service for decades to come, which means ensuring public ...
Minister of Civil Defence Hon Peeni Henare announced today that the Government will contribute $100,000 to the Southland regional Mayoral Relief Fund, to support communities impacted by the recent flooding in Southland. Mr Henare says this week’s flooding has caused significant disruption to communities in the lower South Island. ...
Heritage buildings throughout New Zealand will benefit from the $1.1 million in Heritage EQUIP funding grants announced today. “These grants for seismic strengthening projects help private building owners get the advice they need to start building work or to get the work completed,” Grant Robertson says. “Timaru’s Grosvenor Hotel has ...
A new survey has found New Zealand’s game development sector has grown beyond expectations and is on track to becoming a billion dollar industry in 2025, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford says. “New Zealand’s interactive media sector grew by 42 per cent in last financial year to $203.4 million, according ...
Te Tii, the lower marae at Waitangi, is among more than 70 marae now connected to broadband internet thanks to the Provincial Growth Fund’s marae connectivity scheme, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said today. In February 2019, the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) allocated $21 million to connect rural towns ...
The West Coast has had a funding injection of over $1.2 million from the Provincial Growth Fund, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika today. The PGF projects announced are: $800,000 to Development West Coast for a Grey District Regional Digital Hub ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has declared an adverse event for the Southland and Otago regions, unlocking Government support for farmers and growers. “Widespread flooding has resulted in severe disruption, with many people evacuated from their homes and many farms being affected by flood waters. It’s putting pressure on our farmers, ...
Alex Casey delivers her seventh power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where a group of intruders have herniated the competition’s intestines forever. Click here for previous instalments. Welcome back to The Bachelorette NZ, where everything is made up and every man is suddenly named Mike. Intruders! Five of them! A whole ...
By Felipe F. Salvosa II in Manila Solicitor-General Jose Calida asked the Supreme Court today to issue a gag order against ABS-CBN, claiming the Philippines’ largest television network was engaging in “propaganda” to sway the justices in the quo warranto case seeking to void its franchise. Calida filed the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karen R Fisher, Professor, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW Access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for young children with disability is not equal across Australia. Where you live can hinder access to information about disability support, assistance to apply for ...
The New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations applauds the changes to the Residential Tenancies Act released by the government yesterday but does not believe that they go far enough to improving the rights of renters. The power imbalance in the current ...
The Prime Minister will take no action against Deputy Prime Minister and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, after confirmation of a Serious Fraud Office investigation. ...
Eamonn Marra’s debut novel makes a study of the mundane: sanding a fence, heating baked beans, three pizzas for $29.99 delivered. Alie Benge reckons it belongs somewhere between Sally Rooney and Elena Ferrante. It was about page three of 2000ft Above Worry Level. A feeling burst inside me: the joy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzie Gibson, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Charles Sturt University The gothic developed as a European architectural phenomenon in 12th-century France, where awe-inspiring cathedrals reflected a world drenched in religious piety and superstition. Its veneration was revisited in 18th-century English literature, when ...
Financial services company Heartland Bank has reported a solid lift in its first-half profit driven by increased lending despite a squeeze on margins and rising costs. ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, e-bikes are now just a tap away! Josie Adams reviews the latest disruption in transport culture.When Lime launched in 2018, New Zealand’s transport culture got the electric shock it needed. For too long we’d ...
Ministers love to bray about the seizing of illegal drugs. Customs statistics on seizures last year – albeit “preliminary” statistics – therefore were irresistible to Customs Minister Jenny Salesa. They gave her a platform to remind us of her existence as a Minister while acknowledging the work of her officials. ...
The rise of ‘plant-based’ diets seems like a win for those who decry eating meat. But some vegan groups claim the halfway step of vegetarianism is ineffectual if you really care about animal cruelty, climate change, or your own personal health.An article in the Guardian last year asked “Why do ...
FIRST Union General Secretary Dennis Maga says that this morning’s comments from National Party Finance spokesperson Paul Goldsmith that the party would consider scrapping the Government’s proposed minimum wage increases if elected ...
The State Housing Action Network (SHAN) is deeply disappointed that the Government’s recently announced Aotearoa Homelessness Action Plan fails to provide for increases in the state housing stock which are essential for addressing the homelessness crisis. ...
Electricity retailers will no longer be able to entice former customers with steep and exclusive discounts, the Electricity Authority has announced. ...
The National Party leader Simon Bridges says it came as a surprise to him that the Serious Fraud Office prosecution relates to two $100,000 donations to the party. ...
National Party leader Simon Bridges says it came as a surprise to him that a Serious Fraud Office prosecution relates to two $100,000 donations to the party. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne The federal court’s rejection of the ABC case against the Australian Federal Police raid on its Sydney headquarters in June 2019 reveals two issues of great importance to ...
Zero waste campaigners are petitioning the Government to take a more active stance in tackling Aotearoa New Zealand’s waste crisis, with a comprehensive ban on single-use disposable plastic food and drink serviceware, and a phasing in of accessible, reusable ...
“Callaghan Innovation’s $440,000 grant for an electric ferry design is pure corporate welfare,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “If EV Maritime’s ferries present such good value, then why didn’t it get private ...
President Rodrigo Duterte takes legal action to shut down the biggest broadcaster in the Philippines in what is being described as the most severe attack on media freedom in the country. Video: Al JazeeraPacific Media Watch More than 500 journalists have gathered to protest threats to the survival ...
Pacific Media Centre Papua New Guinea’s Minister for State Enterprises Sasindran Muthuvel has reassured the nation that Air Niugini is taking all necessary steps to protect the country against the spread of coronavirus, reports EMTV News. “The airline has instituted a wide range of measures to minimise the risk ...
Our writers celebrate the best performances you can watch right now on NEON. Basically? They’re iconic.We all love a good story, and a great plot twist can turn a mediocre TV show into addictive weekly viewing. But what really keeps us coming back are the characters, and seeing actors at ...
National finance spokesperson Paul Goldsmith has refused to give details on the party's planned tax cut policy announced in a speech by leader Simon Bridges yesterday. ...
The owners of three properties in Twizel will have to sell-up after they failed to seek consent from the Overseas Investment Office (OIO). Vanessa Horne, Group Manager for the OIO, says a group of overseas investors bought the three properties, which ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentNZ First donations scandal Guyon Espiner and Kate Newton (RNZ): NZ First Foundation trustee was lobbying for donor Bryce ...
A Southland school has been criticised for requiring girls to see a counsellor before opting to wear shorts as their uniform. It’s merely a symptom of a bigger problem, Madeleine Chapman writes.On Sunday, Stuff reported that James Hargest College in Southland would soon allow girls to wear shorts or pants ...
The Manawatu Tenants’ Union’ (MTU) celebrates yesterday’s release of the Residential Tenancies Act Reform Bill, but challenges the Minister to stil go further to improving tenancy rights. The Bill would remove the ability for landlords to terminate a tenancy ...
The Government is putting together an $11 million package to offset the fallout from coronavirus and attract tourists from countries other than China. ...
Friends of Sherwood are asking that the following question be put to all voters: “ Should New Zealand stop using all cruel and inhumane poisons, such as 1080, brodifacoum, and PAPP, to kill wildlife because these toxic substances inflict intense and prolonged, ...
Organise Aotearoa will be joining rallies for abortion law reform, scheduled today in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin. The National Day of Action is hosted by Fem Force - Feminist Action Aotearoa. “Nobody should be pressured to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By S. Anna Florin, PhD candidate, The University of Queensland Australia’s first people ate a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts and other plant foods, many of which would have taken considerable time and knowledge to prepare, according to our analysis of charred ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Biddle, Associate Professor, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University Last month, the Australian National University contracted with the Social Research Centre (SRC) to survey more than 3,000 Australian adults about their experiences and attitudes related to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan Davis, Professor of Law, UNSW In his Closing the Gap speech to parliament last week, the prime minister injected some order and transparency back into the constitutional recognition process. The PM anchored his government’s work on the co-design of a Voice ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Woods, Professor of Health Economics, University of Technology Sydney Heavily subsidised aged care services used to be seen as a right and entitlement for all older Australians. But as aged care demand grows and costs rise, it’s becoming increasingly clear the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carla Liuzzo, Sessional Lecturer, School of Business, Queensland University of Technology As a parent, I find it so frustrating to take my children shopping, reusable bags in hand, only to be offered plastic toys at the checkout. It’s an incredibly confusing message ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology The jingle used to tell us we loved “football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars”. These days we love Japanese utes and small Toyotas, Hyundais and Mazdas more. Monday’s announcement ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donna Mazza, Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts, Edith Cowan University Warning: this piece features frequent coarse language that may offend some readers. Since Adam Mansbuch’s 2011 bestseller, Go the Fuck to Sleep, book titles have been swearing profusely to grab audience attention. ...
Simon Bridges says National would cut taxes and invest much more than Labour in infrastructure, and with less waste. But he's holding back the detail, and got a key figure wrong. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Creative accounting around the ETS explored, Ardern goes to ground on Peters, and ACT criticised for keeping donation from extremist.Often when reporting on technical and thorny pieces of legislation, it helps to have a specialist reporter looking into it. Stuff’s Charlie Mitchell ...
Planners and hazard experts talk to Newsroom’s Eloise Gibson about how climate change will impact Auckland, and how good planning can help the city adapt. ...
No matter how you measure it, science remains systematically biased against women – and ethnically diverse women even more so, writes Dr Hinemoa Elder.Women and girls in science, this is a public health announcement. You are entering unfriendly territory.Kia mataara, be vigilant. Keep your wits about you.There is irrefutable data ...
When it signed onto the Paris Climate Agreement, New Zealand pledged to increase its net greenhouse gas emissions by 10% across the 25 years to 2030. The latest government report shows with current policy settings it is on track to increase them by more than 20%. The challenge is acute ...
How are the children and grandchildren of Asian immigrants treading the line between immersion in a kiwi culture, and holding on to family traditions? ...
The $11 million tourism package announced after today’s Cabinet is a positive response. Auckland Business Chamber head Michael Barnett said possibly more important in the Prime Minister’s announcement was that further support was possible, as ...
By Joenner Paulo L. Enriquez and Ma. Alena O. Castillo in Manila Thomasian Jesuit priests Fr Albert Alejo and Fr Flaviano Villanueva have posted P10,000 (NZ$310) bail each after a judge issued a warrant of arrest in connection with their sedition case. “Nag-piyansa na kami Fr Flavie at sumama ...
Labour and NZ First are delaying a painful call on either lifting or cutting the annual residency visa limit, while the Greens want the limits removed completely. ...
Tame Impala’s new album The Slow Rush dropped over the weekend to universal acclaim. Jordan Hamel talked to the band’s frontman, Kevin Parker, about the five year gap between albums, and where the band fits into riock music in 2020.Kevin Parker’s musical baby Tame Impala steadily rose to indie prominence in the ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.NZ First is facing the boot at this year’s election, especially as it’s now embroiled in an unfolding donations scandal, which comes on top of low poll ratings. But what effect will the scandal have on NZ First’s government coalition colleagues? And is Labour and the Greens’ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Jones, Climate Scientist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology After the intensely dry conditions of 2019, January and February have brought much-needed rain. Dams in many cities and towns were replenished and some farmers may be able to grow a crop for the ...
New Zealand’s trusted service for ageing well, Age Concern New Zealand, is receiving a New Year boost after inking an agreement with Perpetual Guardian to have the nation’s largest and most dominant trustee services company as the platinum sponsor of Age ...
The boundaries of free speech were at issue in two recent court cases, one in Britain, the other in New Zealand. In the British case, a judge ruled that the police response to an ex-officer’s tweets (allegedly transphobic) was a “disproportionate interference” with his right to freedom of expression. The ...
Open Mike 02/08/2018 
The Herald reported over the weekend that an Auckland business owner is being targeted with asset forfeiture laws over a workplace death:A workplace fatality has seen police use a law usually associated with drugs and organised crime to seize millions of dollars in assets from a business owner because of ...9 hours ago
Nobody thinks about the next century anymore. That at least is Sci-Fi writer William Gibson’s observation (in this BBC 4 short interview, starting at 1:43:50 ). He calls it “Futures Fatigue”, but isn’t judgemental about it. Gibson notes that in the 20th century speculation about the 21st (and beyond) was common. Now ...13 hours ago
So the Serious Fraud Office has another secret $100,050 National Party donation before the Courts in a major scandal that looks set to quash any chances Simon Bridges had of winning the 2020 election.Yesterday, Newsroom reported:The Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves ...20 hours ago
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...1 day ago
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...2 days ago
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre. (Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...4 days ago
by Philip Ferguson Last month B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, reported: “In 2019, Israeli security forces killed 133 Palestinians, including 28 minors. Of the casualties, 104 were killed in the Gaza Strip, 26 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and three within ...6 days ago
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Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian has penned a column which chastises the left wing of the Labour party for daring to retain principles and ideals, qualities - it seems - that should be jettisoned in pursuit of power.Never mind that Freedland was an ardent Remainer, that is to say, one ...2 weeks ago
We are confronted with the spectre of Simon Bridges making clear he cannot, will not, trust Winston Peters – the oft-cited “King Maker” in New Zealand politics. Supporters are lauding it as a master stroke, naturally, because in their eyes, it prevents him being the tail that wags the dog. ...2 weeks ago
Inaccuracies are very common in scientific paper abstracts. Image credit: Science in the Abstract: Don’t Judge a Study by its Cover I have come to accept anti-fluoride campaigners will never stop cherry-picking research and findings ... 2 weeks ago
“The scene is set, the players met…”. And what players they are in this farce of an Election coming up in the United States this year. There is a multi-faceted anger in the broader situation the world finds itself in, in which the false promises of so-called “moderates” find themselves ...2 weeks ago
Unhappy with the demonisation of Iran in Western media, I was fortunate to have the Australian Institute of International Affairs invite me to write an alternative analysis for their on-line journal Australian Outlook. I did, and they serialised it into two parts. The essays are short, so I did not ...2 weeks ago
New Zealand was the first country to decriminalise prostitution and it was promoted as a progressive move. Yet survivors of the sex trade say that pimps and johns are emboldened operating within the law, and that the women are treated more like a piece of property to be used and ...2 weeks ago
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...9 hours ago
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...4 days ago
New Zealanders are increasingly better off under this Government as wages rise and families have more disposable income, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as ...10 hours ago
Alex Casey delivers her seventh power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where a group of intruders have herniated the competition’s intestines forever. Click here for previous instalments. Welcome back to The Bachelorette NZ, where everything is made up and every man is suddenly named Mike. Intruders! Five of them! A whole ...5 hours ago
By Felipe F. Salvosa II in Manila Solicitor-General Jose Calida asked the Supreme Court today to issue a gag order against ABS-CBN, claiming the Philippines’ largest television network was engaging in “propaganda” to sway the justices in the quo warranto case seeking to void its franchise. Calida filed the ...5 hours ago
Drought combined with the Covid-19 coronavirus might knock economic growth enough to cause a modest recession, a leading economist says. ...9 hours ago
The New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations applauds the changes to the Residential Tenancies Act released by the government yesterday but does not believe that they go far enough to improving the rights of renters. The power imbalance in the current ...9 hours ago
The Prime Minister will take no action against Deputy Prime Minister and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, after confirmation of a Serious Fraud Office investigation. ...9 hours ago
Financial services company Heartland Bank has reported a solid lift in its first-half profit driven by increased lending despite a squeeze on margins and rising costs. ...10 hours ago
Ministers love to bray about the seizing of illegal drugs. Customs statistics on seizures last year – albeit “preliminary” statistics – therefore were irresistible to Customs Minister Jenny Salesa. They gave her a platform to remind us of her existence as a Minister while acknowledging the work of her officials. ...11 hours ago
Electricity retailers will no longer be able to entice former customers with steep and exclusive discounts, the Electricity Authority has announced. ...12 hours ago
The National Party leader Simon Bridges says it came as a surprise to him that the Serious Fraud Office prosecution relates to two $100,000 donations to the party. ...13 hours ago
The Serious Fraud Office takes up police referral over question of political donations. ...13 hours ago
It's a familiar tale of small town New Zealand versus a government rulebook, and both of them refusing to blink. And all for a bit of raw milk. ...14 hours ago
Housing markets across New Zealand have had their busiest January in four years, pushing REINZ's house price index to a record high. ...15 hours ago
Court documents show the Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves two donations of $100,000. ...17 hours ago
The Government is putting together an $11 million package to offset the fallout from coronavirus and attract tourists from countries other than China. ...17 hours ago
Immigration deadlock: 'Endless waiting has destroyed all my dreams'; and 'Beyond the pale': Councils respond to Kāinga Ora powers. ...17 hours ago
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If you can get past his hokey spiritualism of the cleaned up junkie, Russell Brand has some really, really good conversations on his podcasts. I particularly recommend his discussion with Adam Curtis.
https://www.russellbrand.com/podcasts/
Agreed.
Not his greatest moment.
I miss the Trews. His commentary on media articles was cutting glory.
Russell Brand has a great podcast with Sir Brian Cox, the physicist- they really have a great discussion about the universe etc
Forest & Bird is now closing its kauri reserves. Alison Mau did a good in-depth report on the current situation a month ago: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/105302459/kauri-dieback-the-battle-against-the-biological-bulldozer?rm=m
I remember around seven years ago seeing a tv news report on the issue that mentioned kauris were dying in the Waitakeres in remote areas miles from any walking track. Made me suspicious of claims that humans are responsible for the spread. “The bug is soil-borne, and left alone it spreads at a glacial pace. But picked up on on the boots of a tramper, or the hooves of a wild pig, it can be carried kilometres from the original source of an outbreak.” Are there still wild pigs in the Waitakeres? If so, why have they not been eliminated? Obviously they’d be more effective transporters of the pathogen than humans.
“New Zealand’s competitive research model – where individual teams of scientists beaver away inside separate Crown Research Institutes – is one of the major roadblocks we face in saving kauri. While CRI business managers protect their intellectual property, scientists are being gagged. She claims MPI asked her to review all kauri dieback science three years ago and then told her not to tell anyone the results. Without collaboration, says Black, how can scientists know what has already been proved? “We could all be working on the same things, and how would we know?””
The new government must command the public service to start collaborating on this problem immediately. Nothing wrong with using enterprise teams competitively to produce a selection of clever strategies. Everything wrong with failing to share institutional learning therefrom.
NZPI sound like they deliberately obstruct.
It’s humans, but also pigs. There’s a few left in the Waitakeres.
Both central and local government were too slow to act.
Forest and Bird Waitakere branch are discussing it at their next branch meeting.
Pretty devastating for all of us in the forest who have been working to keep the forest.
So they’ve let those pigs continue spreading the disease for an entire decade. Amazing, the incompetence that everyone assumes will continue forever here. A competent manager would have mapped all the affected trees to show how many cannot have been infected by trail-walkers. If as many were off-trail as alongside, that would prove that pigs are the problem, not humans. A relief map would show any downhill drift of contaminated soil infecting trees down-slope from a trail.
They are all mapped.
Great majority of infections alongside human tracks.
There’s a few areas with downhill infection but they are places like Otitori Bay Road which is also subdivided with humans, dogs, cars, landscaping etc.
First primary teachers strike for 24 years. You can see why they didn’t strike during Helen Clark’s government: Michael Cullen kept declaring a budget surplus. When government has plenty of money to spread around, that’s the wrong time to ask for some. Teacher logic.
You can see why they didn’t strike during John Key’s government: alpha male. Must demonstrate subservience.
So they finally waited until a young woman with a new baby is running the country. Attack now! Easy target…
Teachers are going on strike because things are really bad for them and has been for YEARS. Finally they have had enough, who can blame them after the last nine years.
It has NOTHING to do with who is the PM.
Calling the PM who quit (john key) an alpha male… I can’t stop laughing, so far from the truth.
2013 – Under john key…
Primary school teachers in Christchurch will strike on 19 February, a day after Education Minister Hekia Parata is scheduled to make an announcement on the future of schools in the region.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/126452/school-teachers-to-go-on-strike
Did they actually do so though? The media has been reporting that it’s the first time for 24 years. Journos wrong??
Dennis, these were teachers down in ChCh over school closures. The strike didn’t go ahead. Instead there was a public rally
In 2010 under national, secondary teachers went on strike..
Prime Minister John Key said yesterday there was no new money to offer teachers a bigger pay increase unless they wanted to burden their students with a future of paying off national debt.
Mr Key said the Government was already borrowing $256 million a week.
Wait… what? keys government was borrowing how much a week?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4255743/Teachers-on-strike-again
Yes in 2010 the NZ Government had a budget deficit. John Key was entirely correct and it looked like it worked as the Teachers did not go on strike and did not get a big pay rise.
Self inflicted deficit, with tax cuts and corporate welfare.
What century do you live in?
Solkta, have you heard the latest narrative……
Nat’s are spinning that if Labour hadn’t of introduced a years free tertiary they would have the money for it.
What a crock, the money used for the first year free tertiary was ear marked by national for tax cuts.
But even more concerning is the national voters coming out to support teachers, after voting for anti education national for the last nine years. It really does my head in.
My reply was to Dennis, he still lives in a gendered structure that most on this site left long ago or are too young to really know.
Agree though that the Nat bullshit is off the meter. The medical cannabis thing tops the lot.
Thanks for the heads up Solkta, much appreciated. Have only joined in commenting on TS in recent years.
Nat bullshit is off the meter, the cannabis thing made me laugh hard. But not as hard as the school principal was laughing yesterday; when I told him that the nat’s had collected no info on class sizes during their tenure but were all of a sudden pushing for smaller class sizes.
Oh yes the class size thing. That might be the winner. Last time the Nats spoke about class sizes they said it didn’t matter and they wanted to increase them.
Teacher unions and education groups have welcomed Education Minister Hekia Parata’s backdown on class size increases, but it has come with a sting: a $174 million hole in the education budget which will now have to be filled from cuts elsewhere.
Ms Parata yesterday announced she was reversing plans in the Budget to increase class size ratios after two weeks of a strong public outcry from parents, teachers, principals and boards of trustees.
What National is stating is if you cancel the tax cut then perhaps the better use of the money is not on Tertiary students but on Teacher’s.
So Mr Gosman. Next time, instead of MPs voting themselves a pay rise, the money could be given to the Parliamentary cleaners. Better use of the money eh?
MP’s don’t vote themselves pay rises anymore. Have you not been keeping up with developments on that front over the past decade or so?
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/parliamentary-rules/directions-determinations/mps-salary-and-allowances/
Oh yes. “They have no influence whatsowever”.
Flight of pigs observed over Wellington.
The pay rises are determined by the Renumeration Authority but don’t the MPs vote to accept?
“Oh well. I guess we deserve it, so OK give me few more thousands if you must.”
So when you criticised national for prioritising tax cuts over public spending, you didn’t mean quality public spending. just any old public spending.
Labour made a choice, spend the money earmarked for tax cuts on primary education teachers, whose ability to teach will define a childs learning pattern for life. Or they can spend the money on 18 – 19 year olds who desire to go on to earning a graduate then professional salary but won’t invest in it themselves.
Talk about pulling the ladder up behind you
Just for the record, one year of free tertiary education is open to all adults who haven’t undergone tertiary education before; not just 18-19yr olds as implied by ‘3cent biscuit’ above.
A friend of mine, 44yrs old has just started training to be a teacher, only because the first year free.
Re the current pay for primary school teachers….
Did you know that the teachers have been offered twice the pay rise that the prior national government offered?
So it’s a huge WTF moment that national are only now making a big song and dance about supporting education and teachers. All good, most can see through it, cause they got x-ray spec’s, for all those special effects. 🙂
“Mr Hipkins said over the last eight years, teachers pay had increased by an average of 1.2 percent a year and the current offer from the ministry was double that.
“So government is recognising the fact that teacher pay increases haven’t been particularly generous in recent years,” Mr Hipkins said.”
Personally, I highly value education for ALL and I especially value our educators. If any government can improve the situation for teachers, it’s this one.
“A friend of mine, 44yrs old has just started training to be a teacher, only because the first year free.”
So are you implying that after the first year your friend will then exit his course? you know the ONLY reason he decided to upskill was that it was “free”.
No, not at all, but it seems like you are.
This has given her the opportunity for a good start and I’m so happy for her to have such an opportunity, and such an opportunity will not be wasted on her.
Cup half full around here.
Tuppence. That is rubbish. The first 3 years of a child’s life effects their learning patterns. Parents and family as first teachers.
When secondary education became free and mandatory girls became educated to higher levels regardless of parental or societal ideas. So did their families because of this.
We are again accepting that 3 years tertiary education is desirable, and that the poorer students (parents) should not have a handbrake hefty loan when wealthy students (parents) have friends who hire their children, or a business which hires them, to avoid loans.
The outcome? Poorer families do not build home deposits and banks won’t loan to them as they have a mortgage sized student debt already. Also poorer students who missed out may now take advantage to gain further education, as adults can apply.
The wealthy continue with family backing to grow their deposits and without a student loan they qualify for a bank loan. They become the property class.
In three years from now it will be a more even field.
More students from poorer families will be able to gain degrees or trades.
The wealthy students will have to work harder in a larger pool of students.
This is great policy for the ordinary family, far from pulling the ladder up, they have provided one.
Get use to it, your lot are in power now so need to solve all those easy problem they raged on about in opposition while also keeping the economy going to pay for it No point in feeling sorry for yourself and blaming the opposition for been ..,. The Opposition
Your conclusions are harsh and unfair – no one wants to strike and certainly not teachers – for too long the gnats have been given a free pass – they let things run down – don’t blame the workers for wanting to eat and live on an adequate income.
No, I’m not blaming them for that – just for waiting so long, and unfairly making governance hard for Jacinda! Like I suggested, the obvious time to do it was at least a decade ago.
So teachers should not try and get the pay and conditions that they deserve because you have prejudice against women?
Are you serious DF @ 3, or are you just being a little bit naughty and provocative? I hope it is the latter.
The teachers have chosen to strike for exactly the same reason as the nurses. They have reached the end of their tether. After nearly ten years being pushed and shoved around by National… having unnecessary extra ‘measuring devices’ forced on them which only made their job of actually teaching children ten times harder… being treated like second class citizens by an ignorant National-led government and subsequently now having extreme difficulty attracting the right young people to teaching… they have understandably had more than enough.
However, I hope they recognise the fact they can’t get everything immediately because there is not a bottomless pit of gold in the Govt’s coffers.
You’re right, Anne. There is no bottomless pit of gold in the Govt’s coffers. But Labour aren’t even spending up to their own self-imposed spending cap. Giving them around $6 billion more to play with.
I just realised I read your comments in the voice of hal from 2001 a Space Odyssey – ha, weird.
The Chairman, Mico plasma bovis, kauri dieback, trade wars, poor public infrastructure, pay levels, hospital funding, meeting climate change costs, education costs, Winz.
I could go on…. glad they have money in case… I’m sure others could add things to the list. (I have not prioritised any one thing, as they are all huge)
The Government’s self-imposed spending cap is extremely conservative as it stands, thus allows plenty of headroom for any future unknowns.
And while there are many issues to currently overcome, the additional $6 billion will go a long way in further addressing them.
If we let matters fester, they will snowball. Thus, will become more difficult and far more expensive to correct going forward.
Businesses are concerned large public sector wage increases will spillover and drive up private sector wage demand. Hence, there’s speculation appeasing this concern is what is underpinning the Government’s hardball stance when it comes to public sector wage demands.
Alternatively, when it comes to the threat of Mycoplasma bovis (which poses no human health risk, thus as far as problems go it’s not that major) Robertson seems to have thrown out his fiscal concerns and has committed to throwing as much money as it takes at the problem.
Just as Winston seemed to have had no other fiscal concerns when announcing a billion dollars for foreign aid, yet when it came to patient safety and nurses wanting more, Winston was out there pointing at the need to balance the books.
Chairfella…….. FIFY
National let matters fester, they have snowballed. Thus, it has become more difficult and far more expensive to correct going forward.
Lets be real and sheet home the current situation to the actual cause.
I still think MSM and to a degree the PR team for the current Govt are not doing their job at educating the general public regarding the sentence above. I also believe this is due mostly to MSM being bought/paid for by interests that are biased to Nats and their own personal gains.
No one is denying National’s governance got us into the state we are now in, but it’s now up to Labour to get on top of things before they snowball and become more difficult and more expensive to correct.
As reported, they have around another $6 billion to do so.
You seem to be standing up for Labour who in this instance seem to be putting business concerns (or other concerns such as Mycoplasma bovis) ahead of public sector workers and the overall public/national interests (i.e. investment in health and education).
The Primary sector have ridden on the coat tails of secondary teachers for years since gaining a parity agreement. This is the first time they have been first cab of the ramp with negotiations, secondary have always taken the industrial action, interestingly the reverse does not apply.
The primary teachers are up in arms as that is where the biggest demand is.
There is massive shortages of primary school teachers. They do an excellent job and should be paid well and supported!
When the powers set immigration policy with the rise in private and public foreign student drives under National, it was to gain a lot of 20 – 30 yo often with lower educational level or skills (chefs, low level IT support, health care worker were amongst the top 5 most “skilled’ groups) that created additional points for residency and extra points if they were younger, so based on that, 1 out of 5 foreign students studying in NZ were waived through into permanent residency even if the job was flipping burgers or working in a petrol station. As well as that if you “invested” in a business or house you also were waived through into permanent residency and did not have to have an English language test.
As usual nobody worked out this is prime child bearing age, so of course there should have been a big prediction of the additional children being born outside of the normal demographics by government so they should have started saving for more teachers and midwives and GP’s then, and not allowing it to become a crisis! Instead they just focused on giving it to construction and building more schools and classrooms and remedial work from all the leaky schools they had, rather than increasing the teachers and allowing enough and adequate funding for the additional children.
At the same time, the government got rid of many specialist schools for children with special needs and about 1 in 10 children have some sort of learning disability but apparently under the neoliberal rules it is practically impossible to get more help in the classroom to deal with special needs children.
Someone was saying they had an autistic child but with the ‘check tick system” failed on one obscure point so the school did not get funding for a teachers aid. Then the school asked the parents to pay for one instead. Clearly discrimination against the special needs children families has become rife on top of everything else!
Apparently a colossal amount of children have their teacher changed during the year now, that is much higher than the more publicised issue of people in insecure housing’s children having to change schools.
So modern NZ primary school kids are grappling with a lot of issues that are contributing to additional stress on them from the teachers shortages and turnover which is why the average parent is probably going to support the strike, as everyone knows that we need these qualified teachers badly!
This is from the Natz, but another issue for the Labour government to solve.
SaveNZ, well said.
Winston’s ‘kick fatty out’ has now trumped Paula’s ‘zip it sweetie’ as the most profound comment in Parliament for a decade.
Yeah its interesting isn’t it, WP says that GB and nary a word of outrage from the msm but imagine if JK had said that to a Green or Labour MP, the outrage would have been deafening (and rightly so)
The most prominent reporting on the incident is from the UK Guardian paper.
Its almost as if there are different standards applied…
It was a shit thing of winston to say .i had been feeling positive about him even though I didn’t want msg in parliament. But the he proved what a silly old fool he can be.
Missed that Blazer. What happened?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/105944663/throw-fatty-out-says-acting-pm-winston-peters
Thanks Blazer and Anne. The behaviour of the Opposition was appalling. Both in the attacks and the response to the resignation. They scored a (doubtful) point but wanted the pound of flesh as well. Rats!
Here’s the full video ianmac:
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=201761
You can see why Winston Peters was sufficiently riled by the way they were treating Tracey Martin that he made the “fatty” statement. One thing I’ve noticed about Winston. He expects total loyalty from his parliamentary members and when he gets it, he returns it with equal measure.
“Fatty” Yeah that’ll show Brownlie
Well you know PR, when people are angry about someone’s behaviour they often respond in like manner which may not be the right thing to do, but you can understand them doing it.
I can recall you getting riled up on this site and [maybe] ending up with a wee ban.
Thats true but then I’m also not the acting PM on a couple of hundred thou a year and I’m also not expected to maintain higher standards than normal
FFS @ PR! Give it up or I might have to relate a story about a pencil plane (I think they were called Metroliners) whereby the pilot had to ask most other passengers to switch sides before takeoff.
BTW – same held true for dear old Parakura.
Then there’s Gerry’s companion to deal with.
Give it up man!
+1111 Anne.
And considering the number of times Bridges * is pulled up and warned by the Speaker for interjections (some of which are apparently extremely rude/derogatory from what I have heard from people actually there) it is a case of pot and kettle. One day, Mallard is going to send Bridges packing … LOL.
* also Bennett.
I suspect Winston may have been riled by consistent interjections from the Opposition.
Tracey Martin appears t have accepted the spin from Bishop that this enquiry was about the appointee – it was about the process used for the appointment – a process developed and later amended by National, as she outlined in her reply. Clearly the reason for the enquiry is because it may not have discovered all relevant information, but that has nothing to do with the person appointed. Bishop was called on this on Radio NZ this morning but continued to claim it was an enquiry into the person appointed rather than government processes. Yes National have scurrilously attacked an individual for political purposes, but they also offended against parliament with their interjections. From what was heard in the clip at least one opposition MP should have been called on to apologise.
“One thing I’ve noticed about Winston. He expects total loyalty from his parliamentary members”
Spot on there Anne. Hence his waka jumping bill. It gives him the ability for total control of any dissenting MP’s in his party.
Well Gerry did accuse Winston of being drunk the day before.
Fact checks:
Was Winston drunk? Possibly.
Is Gerry a fatty? Yes.
Is Jacinda a sweetie? Yes.
Fireblade – I like your style.
Brownlee smarmed his way through his “Winston” smear then collected one for himself – he more than deserved it.
Mike Treen arrives back in NZ today.
Be there to greet him at Auckland Airport International arrivals 12.00 pm.
Click on the Link for full detalls;
https://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/
Domestic Flights only, affected.
“Fog at Auckland Airport, cancels more than 20 domestic flights”
Daniel Client – Thursday, August 2, Last updated 7:31 am
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/105943959/fog-at-auckland-airport-delays-and-cancellations-expected
Mike’s International flight should be OK.
to many a pointless trip barring virtue signalling points for Mike
The “many” to which you refer being those comfortable with the IDF shooting children.
Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief says he thinks there is a chance some parents may not see kids again after being separated at the border. Instead the children of around 460 parents will simply be put in foster care or adopted out in the US.
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/07/26/john-sandweg-ice-family-reunification-deadline-sot-vpx.cnn
Absolutely disgusting that they did nothing to track the children they took. To be honest hard to believe a country like the US could do that and be so negligent with children. There are many scandals however of profit from state children or incarceration of minors by officials owning parts of the facilities that house them and profit from it.
The children could be trafficked, abused and of course never be reunited with their parents. This has threads of Aboriginal and Argentinian babies being stolen.
I see Trump caved in and Putin’s visit has been postponed. A man with no balls whatsoever. His only asset now is his band of racist, mysogenistic, fanatically religious followers. Other than that, he’s just a smelly turd sitting in the White House, kept in power and controlled by the Republicans and corporate money. People slag of Hillary Clinton but at least she had a lot more balls than Trump. The good news about Trump having no balls is that even a successful dictator needs balls.
Decreases the Dem surge damage at the mid-terms. A little.
Putin will still come, just when the political air is clearer.
Trump should go full Man In The High Castle and do a military parade for him.
Goose-stepping? A retro move to demonstrate stylistic solidarity with North Korea? No, I know – it’ll be big guns. Trad male psychology (mine is bigger than yours)..
I just wouldn’t want to see Trump parade shirtless on a horse.
Best game in town; stir the anti-immigration pot and then fill your pockets.
But “victory” isn’t the word most Valley Park residents would use to describe the results of Kobach’s work. With his help, the town of 7,000 passed an ordinance in 2006 that punished employers for hiring illegal immigrants and landlords for renting to them. But after two years of litigation and nearly $300,000 in expenses, the ordinance was largely gutted. Now, it is illegal only to “knowingly” hire illegal immigrants there — something that was already illegal under federal law. The town’s attorney can’t recall a single case brought under the ordinance.
“Ambulance chasing” is how Grant Young, a former mayor of Valley Park, describes Kobach’s role. Young characterized Kobach’s attitude as, “Let’s find a town that’s got some issues or pretends to have some issues, let’s drum up an immigration problem and maybe I can advance my political position, my political thinking and maybe make some money at the same time.”
Kobach used his work in Valley Park to attract other clients, with sometimes disastrous effects on the municipalities. The towns — some with budgets in the single-digit-millions — ran up hefty legal costs after hiring him to defend similar ordinances. Farmers Branch, Texas, wound up owing $7 million in legal bills. Hazleton, Penn., took on debt to pay $1.4 million and eventually had to file for a state bailout. In Fremont, Neb., the city raised property taxes to pay for Kobach’s services. None of the towns are currently enforcing the laws he helped craft.
https://www.propublica.org/article/kris-kobachs-lucrative-trail-of-courtroom-defeats
Wherever there are dogs there will be fleas. Anonymous
My partner reckons I’m like a stuck record about the way people are categorised and labeled, and stereotyped based on those categories and labels.
I like this addition to the debate about the label “white working class”
I think there is further discussion along those lines than what is presented, as the phrase does more than encompass working conditions.
Considering the fraught concerns about the use of the term ‘white’ – for the purposes of this discussion, it is useful to consider it in terms of those who for no other reasons other than how they appear, are treated in such way as to provide beneficial advantages that are denied to others that present differently.
In regards to “white working class” – I would think it would relate to the aspects of life additional to both class and employment. They may earn the same pay under the same conditions, but they may also be more likely to get their choice of rental, be treated differently in various industries, shops and institutional services. Even in recreational activities they are more likely to experience a positive welcome and inclusion. They and their children are less likely to be targeted by the police, be followed around a shop, or be questioned about what they are up to.
It doesn’t harm anyone to consider that there are differences even within a class system. In fact, it is more likely that acknowledging those differences allows for better solutions and processes to be designed and implemented.
Yes, categories are great for identifying power, inequalities & need in specific groups and your examples are good ones.
These categories or descriptors provide the probabilities of association can also be a negative influence on societal beliefs and interactions, especially where associating motivations, attitudes and behaviours with a particular group, with an absoluteness that doesn’t exist. These are used for negative stereotyping of the individual as well as the group. E.g. from police profiling and likelihood of arrest, to why people who are working class and white can’t climb the social ladder, even as to why people don’t access education and health services.
I feel that when category probability is interpreted by the general public as certainty, they are used to stigmatise with an air of authority (“the stats say…”, “the profiling shows that…” (See: opinion pieces, BoL comments ) and have become an perverse excuse for people with power and privilege to do nothing to invest in ensuring society is a little more equitable.
But that’s not to say I don’t agree with you that we need to identify where inequalities lie. Absolutely, we must, and the author is wrong to say “The only logical reason to differentiate within a class by skin colour is if you want to talk about the element that doesn’t like mixing with other ethnicities” – clearly there are other reasons, as you state.
It’s the context-free certainty that attitudes and behaviours belong to social groups (which the article focused on) that bothers me. Especially when I hear people in positions of power use this as an excuse to explain away, and do nothing about fixing, a problem that has been identified via those very same categories (example from a serve administrator: “Oh, that person doesn’t turn up because they are [choose group] and the research shows they can’t be bothered so we struck them off the list”).
I’m not sure why this posted twice. It disappeared completely the first time I posted it. If a moderator would like to delete this version, please feel free to do so. Ta.
Yes, categories are great for identifying power, inequalities & need in specific groups and your examples are good ones.
These categories or descriptors provide the probabilities of association can also be a negative influence on societal beliefs and interactions, especially where associating motivations, attitudes and behaviours with a particular group, with an absoluteness that doesn’t exist. These are used for negative stereotyping of the individual as well as the group. E.g. from police profiling and likelihood of arrest, to why people who are working class and white can’t climb the social ladder, even as to why people don’t access education and health services.
I feel that category probabilities are thrown around as certainties, and are used to stigmatise with an air of authority (“the stats say…”, “the profiling shows that…” (See: opinion pieces, BoL comments ) and have become an perverse excuse for people with power and privilege to do nothing to invest in ensuring society is a little more equitable.
But that’s not to say I don’t agree with you that we need to identify where inequalities lie. Absolutely, we must, and the author is wrong to say “The only logical reason to differentiate within a class by skin colour is if you want to talk about the element that doesn’t like mixing with other ethnicities” – clearly there are other reasons, as you state.
It’s the context-free certainty about attitudes and behaviours in social groups ascribed to people in descriptive categories (which the article focused on) that bothers me. Especially when I hear people in positions of power use this as an excuse to explain away, and do nothing about fixing, a problem that has been identified via those very same categories (example from a service administrator: “that person doesn’t turn up because they are [choose group] and the research shows they have an attitude problem so we struck them off the list”).
“It’s the context-free certainty about attitudes and behaviours in social groups ascribed to people in descriptive categories (which the article focused on) that bothers me. Especially when I hear people in positions of power use this as an excuse to explain away, and do nothing about fixing, a problem that has been identified via those very same categories (example from a service administrator: “that person doesn’t turn up because they are [choose group] and the research shows they have an attitude problem so we struck them off the list”).
I agree. However, it often shows how systematic bias is expressed in terms of individual interactions. I think how wearying it must be on the receiving end of this kind of un-thinking prejudice – all of the time.
https://pro.newsroom.co.nz/articles/3760-bryce-edwards-the-process-of-the-waka-jumping-bill-shows-why-we-shouldn-t-trust-politicians
‘As for the Greens, they’ve given up even a pretense of holding onto the moral high ground, and have been reduced to being just another political party.’
Actually. I support the Waka jumping bill.
If you are a list MP you are there because voters wanted your parties policies, or, being cynical, liked the party publicity. Either way, you are in Parliament because of your party.
If you jump ship, then your position should go to the next on the party list.
The Greens should not die in the ditch, for something even the members don’t agree on.
I agree with all this. The thing must be progressed in the select committee yet, right? No reason to assume a suitable compromise can’t be reached. I suggested to the GP that we ought to allow a parliamentarian the right to declare intent to leave a party and tell the public why, while serving out their current term.
This means the actual leaving takes effect at the end of the term, yet politicians are able to take a moral stand when necessary (that forces them to decide to leave their current waka). That way the principle of freedom of speech in accord with conscience is balanced against the social contract entered into with electors.
Perhaps the Green Party caucus agreed with the bill – it is hard to disagree with a bill designed to prevent waka jumping – but did not wish to admit the same to to wider party.
I was going to link to former Green MPs against this but then we all know there are many against it so I won’t bother
I suspect the GP developed a policy on the original waka-jumping legislation long ago that was too one-sided. The unbalanced view expressed by Jeanette Fitzsimons and Keith Locke in recent times gives me this impression. Nowadays too many of us see the common interest context for that old opposition to survive.
The Greens are so invisible they may as well not exist.
You hope.
Its all right though, because they wouldn’t even consider talking with National it means they still have their morals, apparently
They, and Shaw in particular, have said so many times that they would consider talking with National. But while spitting rhetoric all over the place National never did approach them. The Greens can work with National, all National have to do is change most of their key policies.
“The Greens can work with National, all National have to do is change most of their key policies.”
Whereas all the Greens have to do to work with NZFirst is to do exactly what Winston says, yeah good deal that
There has been a number of recent policy changes that Winston would obviously not be super happy about (and Jones must have had the shits). There is actually a lot of overlap between the policy of the three parties, between National and the Greens there is next to none.
If there was common ground then English would have actually phoned Shaw after the election rather than just have his proxies talk about him doing so. If there was common ground then the Greens probably wouldn’t have done the MOU with Labour.
Yes we all know how it works:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/98910081/horse-trading-between-labour-and-greens-to-get-nz-firsts-waka-jumping-bill-across-the-line
I always thought the Greens were above such practices but then again I’ve also never spent time in a ministerial car either so i’m assuming they must be very comfortable
Yes coalitions are about compromise. Perhaps you could list what compromises you think the Greens would have had to make to make a government with National?
Horse trading, compromise , potato, potahto
Its all good right
While it is distasteful that the Greens find the need to support this specific bill, yes it is good to have a change of government.
Since you can’t come up with anything constructive re coalition building, do you suggest that the Greens NEVER support a government and stay on the cross benches for ever? If so, how do you think this would implement more of their policies?
Being that you think that “all National have to do is change most of their key policies.” the first thing I’d suggest is the Greens come off their high horse (its probably a bit lower to the ground now) and actively try to find some common ground
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11971853
Green co-leader Rod Donald reminded the House that “had this bill existed prior to the last [1999] election, we [Donald and Fitzsimons] would have been removed from this House and denied our opportunity to stay here for the full parliamentary term”.
From wikipedia: “Anderton decided to leave the Alliance and establish a new party. However, rules regarding changes of party allegiance meant that Anderton and his allies could not officially resign from the Alliance without also resigning from parliament, which they were unwilling to do. This led to the awkward situation of Anderton and his allies technically remaining part of the Alliance while actually operating outside of it. The conflict within the Alliance was one of the reasons cited by Helen Clark for her calling the election several months early in 2002.”
As far as I know, our electoral law hasn’t been changed to eliminate this problem. If I’m right, we have a structural flaw in MMP that suitable consensus-based rewriting of the proposed waka-jumping legislation could rectify.
@pukish
Wow, you found ONE thing. Now how about you look at National’s key policies and tell us where the common ground is there.
“Wow, you found ONE thing. Now how about you look at National’s key policies and tell us where the common ground is there.”
Here’s two
https://www.national.org.nz/strong_support_for_kermadec_ocean_sanctuary
https://www.national.org.nz/powering_up_predator_free_2050
The predator free thing is just all bullshit. It is typical National where they set a target call it sorted. There is no explanation as to how they would achieve this nor the willingness to throw anything like enough money at it.
In the second one National would act without consultation with Maori and that would be unacceptable to the Greens.
But lets day the Greens could talk National around on these, what dead rats would the greens have to swallow to achieve a coalition with National? How would these rats compare with supporting the waka jumping thing? What core policies would National be prepared to compromise on?
“The predator free thing is just all bullshit. It is typical National where they set a target call it sorted. There is no explanation as to how they would achieve this nor the willingness to throw anything like enough money at it.”
– Maybe but its an opportunity for the Greens to come in and see about making the policy better or at the very least a chance to discuss it
“In the second one National would act without consultation with Maori and that would be unacceptable to the Greens.”
– Again its an opportunity to talk, even if its simply to discuss what you’ve bought up
“But lets day the Greens could talk National around on these, what dead rats would the greens have to swallow to achieve a coalition with National?”
– For the Greens the simple act of just talking means that Labour couldn’t just take the Greens support for granted and then the Greens could negotiate a better deal for their policies, like NZFirst have done
“How would these rats compare with supporting the waka jumping thing?”
– Being that if this policy was in earlier then the Green party might not even exist you can draw your own conclusions
“What core policies would National be prepared to compromise on?”
– Who knows how far Simon Bridges would go to gain power but what I do know is that if you’re not even prepared to talk then the answer is absolutely nothing whereas talking costs nothing (well maybe not nothing but I’m sure you get my meaning)
The Greens have always been very clear that they will work with ANY party on individual policy. There was an mou on cycleways and insulation with the Key government when it first got in. But that government chose not to continue working with the Greens.
Anybody with half a brain can see that the Greens could not have formed a coalition with the Key National government. Bluffing that they could when that bluff is obvious would just be silly.
” Bluffing that they could when that bluff is obvious would just be silly.”
Being that Winston is/was suing various members of the National party its pretty clear he had no intention of working with National yet he manged to bull over a billion dollars to play with so no bluffing is not silly
It’s like talking with a primary school kid. NZF is a centrist party with fuck all if any environmental policy. They were part of the Bolger National led government and Winston was a minister in the Muldoon National government. Nobody knows if Winston did seriously consider going with National this time, but if it was just a bluff it had a strong basis.
I can’t believe how incredibly naive you are. The Greens are Labours doormat, the Greens have been shafted by Labour before and if Winston had enough votes then Labour would have shafted the Greens again
The Greens allow themselves to be shafted by Labour because they give away any power they have to Labour by stating they’ll only go with Labour which means Labour doesn’t have to negotiate with the Greens
When did i say that the Greens have not been shafted by Labour? You put words in my mouth and then call me naive. The naivety here is your knowledge of policy.
“When did i say that the Greens have not been shafted by Labour? ”
I didn’t say you had, I’m saying they get shafted because they can’t or won’t talk to National which means they have no bargaining power so they have to support whatever NZFirst wants, like the waka jumping bill
So we’re around the circle again. You have an example of one dead rat that the Greens need to swallow yet you are too ignorant of policy to understand that the Greens couldn’t have gone with National and presumably too stupid to see that bluffing that they could have would not have worked.
“You have an example of one dead rat that the Greens need to swallow”
No, no, no, no, no, a thousand times no. How many times do I have to say no.
Stop deciding what I’m saying and read what I’m saying.
I’m not saying the Greens have to swallow any dead rats, they’re doing well enough on that on their own.
I’m saying they just have to talk. Thats all. Just. Talk. Don’t have to agree with anything. Just talk. Talk.
You get it now?
Just. Talk.
Talk.
No promises. Just talk.
No agreements. Talk.
No signing anything. Just Talk.
Talk.
There will always be dead rats in coalition governments. Labour and NZF have swallowed a few.
As i say above, it is National that have chosen not to talk with the Greens and work with them on common goals.
“As i say above, it is National that have chosen not to talk with the Greens and work with them on common goals.”
So what, Nationals on 40+%, the Greens are struggling to get above 5% but even then it doesn’t matter
The Greens have a lot more to gain than National do by simply talking, it is in the Greens best interests to talk.
As i say above, it is National that have chosen not to talk with the Greens and work with them on common goals.
Quiet, considered and well behaved.! Not like you Ad.
A mother discovers her son was part of a group of kids who were stealing items found on the outside of people’s homes. She reported him to the police and the police have now prosecuted him.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12099562
It reminds me of a similar incident involving my brother when he was around 9 or 10 years old. In the 1950s he and a mate pinched stuff from shops in Queen St., Auckland. The stolen goods were stashed away under our home. Unfortunately for them a visiting 4 year old discovered the cache and raced upstairs with a bran new cricket bat and pads. All was revealed.
Said brother was made to sit down and write a letter of apology addressed to the manager of each store and then both parents marched him into Queen St. where he had to deliver each letter in person and offer a verbal apology as well. It was then up to the managers whether they wanted to take the matter further. None of them did.
Brother has often said since it taught him the lesson of his life and our parents could not have handled it in a better way.
My son did similar to my 8 year-old grandson a few months ago – he had stolen lollies from the local dairy – the lesson was well learnt!
He had been told by an older child that it was ok because it wasn’t stealing from a person! We had a long discussion about what people do to earn money to provide for their families – it was quite an eye-opener for him.
Yep. I did the same around the same age only my crime was to steal three brightly coloured translucent plastic pencil sharpeners (shocking pink, emerald green and yellow) from a Woolworths counter. On finding them hidden in a drawer, my mother dragged me along to the local policeman – are genial middle aged gentleman – who proceeded to explain to me the evils of theft. I was mightily relieved I wasn’t going to be sent to prison.
My son was put on diversion by the police, for stealing a CD. He had to pay for it, and hand it back I think. And was given time to find some community thing to do for 20 hours or so. He and a friend got up to it together. I am glad to say it was the only crime involved in.
But at school my other son had the Nike shoes that I had managed to buy at sale price pinched from his locker which left me with a bad taste. I hadn’t marked them with an identifier and just let it go. I believe that some children just steal in circles, one loses something so steals from another, and it passes round. I didn’t want to join in that behaviour, so lost out on my shoes. It crossed my mind that you could never have anything if the neighbours just took anything they felt the want for.
Posted this the other day, it didn’t get much attention, so here it is again.
Government seeks public input on well-being indicators
“Our nation’s well-being is not a number on a GDP chart, and our government, this government, recognises that,” Mr Shaw said. “The economy is obviously important but GDP is not the be all, end all.”
Mr Shaw said this was about understanding the real picture of success and well-being that went beyond just productivity and turnover and throughput.
“Most people will tell you that the security of their job, the health of their kids and their ability to pay the power bill is more important to them.”
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/363044/government-seeks-public-input-on-well-being-indicators
On that note, lets start with taking count of the number of power bills that are missed annually.
The number of suicides.
The number of hardship grants.
The number of thefts/robberies, violent crime.
The number of Homelessness/Housing NZ waiting list.
The above are a number of measurable indicators to start things off.
What measurable indicators would you like to see used, thus added on to the list?
Millsy added housing costs exceeding 60% of household income.
oooh, are you feeling all neglected?
No. The Government’s call for input required further airing.
I made the point the other day how we get used by the USA to provide aid as in firefighting but we have responsibilities of our own to help our little Pacific neighbours.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/363187/people-on-vanuatu-s-pentecost-feel-neglected
These are real people living just,. on little Pentecost Island. They and others need our help. I think the firefighters dropped tools and organised immediately to help the urgent need in usa. Let’s do he same for PENTECOST.
Incidentally there was a warning tag of the unpleasant results that present day efficiency thinking leads to. Someone said that it would seem unnecessary to keep trained USA firefighters in readiness for on-call situations that occurred over a few months of the year! The idea of that big country having to run on such a lean, mean budget that they were unable to envisage a system to have sufficient firefighters from all 50+ states which are supposed to be ‘united’ is amazing. They could have dedicated firefighters contracted to keep in a trained and
(program helpfully wipes out whole line) – think I said
that the contracted firefighters would be in a state of readiness, and have jobs for the rest of time that would allow them to be released when needed. It’s not rocket science.
But no, the commenter seemed to think it was quite reasonable to call on other countries with their own problems. ‘You’ll come and help us because you are our friends won’t you. If you want to receive friendly treatment from us, you have to come when we call you.’ There is a name for that behaviour.
Looks like the Solomons Government has drop the ball on this one and I’m a little bit surprised they haven’t requested help from NZ or Australia governments for aid.
I think the HMNZS Canterbury is on her way back from attending RIMPAC and since the Endi has been retired the Navy has no ship available atm for HADR Tasks. Thanks to the short sightedness of the first Labour Coalition IRT Project Protector the OPV’s are about as useful as having a fistful of fifties a pub with no beer IRT HADR role which is very limited in what the OPV’s can achieve.
Are OPVs those runabouts with thicker steel than usual. I always wondered
about Labour buying a lot more than needed. I think they dropped some fighter aircraft that would have put us in line for war work about that time.
I wondered if someone said well you can cancel that order only if you buy these that are available and that is the deal take it or leave it. Don’t know, just a thought. But that might be an explanation.
Yes the OPV’s had an ice belt added to give the OPV’s a 1C classification to operate in the Southern Ocean. Which has made the two ships between 200- 300 tones overweight, with CC effects the 1C classification is about as useless as tits on a bull atm also the length and beam are starting to an issue in the Southern Waters. Also they can’t embark the Seasprites down Sth either as they would be very useful for carrying boarding parties instead using the RIB’s which rated up to Sea State 4, but for WHS issues only do boarding at Sea State3.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12084397
The other major issue is the very limited mission support systems they have which effects how much information they can process/ transmit to and from the P3’s, Seasprites, and other ships within the Navy or Coalition assets.
As for HADR Missions they can carry 3 20ft TEU’s with 16 ton crane unless the OPV is alongside (which isn’t to badly damage)or the use of a lighter on a flat Sea it’s almost pointless to conduct HADR task as Seasprite has a load restrictions for Vertrep
To sum up the OPV’s are a one tick pony with a very compromised design that’s really not suit to the Southern Ocean, but take the ice belt off them they would be a lovely ship the Northern waters or use around NZ waters providing the mission and combat systems were up graded.
A nation needs to be able to respond to the emergencies that happen within its borders else the response may not be in time. We saw this with the Rena grounding. We should have been able to respond nearly instantly but instead it took weeks and several million dollars in damage both to the local environment and the economy.
Love this wee article on the stuff website about lawyers finding a 1947 Law IRT to mouldy rental homes. I hope these Landlords who are a bunch of tight asses get a good kicking up their freckle and put all other landlords on notice.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/105917266/crackdown-on-mouldy-rental-homes-as-1947-law-shows-its-teeth
I think that landlords need to be aware of things in the present that might affect their homes when tenants are living in, and help in keeping mould and dampness down.
1 Is the home tightly sealed to prevent draughts and loss of heating.
It may need some grills put into the walls so that movement of air can occur.
There could be some advice on this so that a grill on the north or west side balances one on the south or east side so allowing a flow of warm, dry air to move towards the colder, damper side. If the house is closed up, then there is air movement and fresh air can enter.
2 Gutters can get full of leaves and water won;t flow away and can find its way down the inside of the weatherboards and through to the inner lining. The landlord should get a reliable person to check and clear these.
3 The home may be left tightly closed during the day while the tenants are out partly to prevent burglary. It would help to put security stays on one window in each of say three rooms. Also there is a window catch for aluminium windows that has two positions, one gives tight closure, the other enables a small air flow
4 The people may not be in the house for any lengthy period during the day on any day of the week when they could open the windows for fresh air and enabling sun and warm air into the room. People are having to work odd hours, irregular hours, and just trying to manage from week to week is stressful.
5 While climate change and energy conservation have rid houses of smoky fires and replaced them often with electricity, families may not be able to afford much time having the appliances on. The Labour Party has alleviated the problem for beneficiaries but what about the general population.?
I think that grills high up in the walls that could vent right through to the outer wall would help. Not many and left uncovered, would not be a problem to the tenants. Fan and heater installed in the bathroom and properly vented to the outside would help. Also separate button just for fan to ensure that it would be turned on to suck out the steam.
Red Logix would have thoughts on this.
That’s a great example of laws simply being forgotten simply because, IMO, we have too much law and it never being enforced. The latter makes the law itself worthless.
more failures.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/105963109/ruapehu-alpine-lifts-vehicles-off-road-after-fatal-crash-inspections
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/363193/harmful-substances-kill-workers-at-ten-times-the-rate-of-accidents
That second sentence describes National to a ‘T’. They truly think that doing things well is a waste of time.
Small business struggling in Christchurch. But do the burghers (bourgeois) care?
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/363117/bizarre-economic-climate-blamed-for-business-closures
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/363028/new-brighton-businesses-slam-city-leaders-lack-of-unity
Oh dear.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ywex8v/what-is-qanon-conspiracy-theory
‘Earth Overshoot Day’ arrives earlier than ever
We have the choice of maintaining our present unsustainable practices or becoming sustainable. All indications are that we’ll continue being unsustainable until we wipe ourselves and most of all other life out.
New leader same shit.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/08/01/political-caption-competition-720/#comment-434848
Good Morning Newshub We all ready produce enough food to feed all the tangata of Papatuanuku.
The beings that eat genitally modified food genetics can change thats not good.
The Big companys that have showen that we can not trust will own the patience to this food and control them thats reality they will drag as much money out of people that they can and lie when things go wrong with there prouducts..
IT.s not a business they have heaps of money and rich backers its a movement from the far right neo liberal Capitalist advertising campane so they get there bull—-views out to the world look at steve touring Europe .
Parenting is not as hard as some make out to be so long as you are organized.
The free fees will bring in more teachers and other skill’s that are in a big shortage in Aotearoa.. Duncan why are you not talking about Ka kite ano.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/105975362/law-society-superinjunction-overturned-allowing-disclosure-of-sexual-harassment-case this the warrant that they are using to suppress Eco Maori the 00.1 % OWN the laws of the whenua and make them work to protect there ASS ana to kai P.S my flute sing the sweet music to educate common person on how systems are made for the 00.1 %
I say this story is trying to give reason to the bad way the hosptial treated me and my 11 year old mokopuna firstly she did not have a xray secondly the staff did not inform me or my daughter that they were going to pregnancy test my mokopunas urine we only found that fact out when we read the paper work they asked my granddaughter some question that were indicating that’s the angle they were looking at for my moko ailment I ignored this I was pissed but when We found what they did behind our backs this is my reaction so this link has no comparrision to the way they are treating me and my Whano. link below Ka kite ano
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/08/02/175905/hospital-questions-child-on-pregnancy-status
P.S I don’t support violence I support using the system’s against the foes this is the Honorable intelligent way that Eco Maori will win this BATTLE
This is what trump is doing to the EPA rolling back all the laws that were put in place to lower there carbon use .
trump is digging a deep hole one day its going to come crashing around his ears .
Link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/02/epa-trump-vehicle-emissions-clean-car-rules
Ka kite ano
One of trumps GO OIL Party members is saying that God would clean up there mess how low can you go is this truly how they think they have being brain washed and are brain washing the Common American people Ka kite ano link below
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/31/california-wildfire-climate-change-carr-fire
This is what Eco Maori see that companys are to blame for the plastic that’s poisoning Tangaroa and Papatuanukus and there beautiful creates that.s a fact and that companys need to change there whole way of manufacturing things link below ka kite ano
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/more-recycling-wont-solve-plastic-pollution/
To all te good kiwis on Aotearoa Rangi is not going to fall on our heads because everyone learning the way tangata whenua have been treated as second class citizens like we do not have the capacity to work te whenua to make te mone so we should lose our land to Pakeha who are superior and will make te mone for NZ. Maori should lose Te whenua by hook or crook Its good for the country .
As one person put it we should be thankful on public holiday and voluntary wash his car.
You will learn the truth about what happened in the past and learn that we want to be treated as equals in our country we are not going to take your property. I have a link to help people understand te tangata whenua
Old certainties, old prejudices, old fears are losing their grip Ka kite ano
Good evening Newshub Its a win for people power with Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux having there venue cancelled at the last minute that’s what I saw Kia kaha te tangata mana ka pai .
Thats a good plan everyone keep there pet cats and dogs controlled to help our native species thrive in urban places and pokeko as pet’s
There you go human caused global warming its getting real hot in Europe we will have to resigned our city’s to cope with these heat waves . 9 months of red algae bloom in America
Paddy I don’t want to comment to much on glory vale what I have to say won’t be good.
That will be a great documentary that Cliff and co I missed the names of the other who made this great Mana Whine documentary great to be cellabrating te tangata whenua cultured tangata ka kite ano