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
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...
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Image Credit: How To Start a Blog – Beginner’s Guide for 2019 I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. ...
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Today’s news from the Electoral Commission has provided the party with the clarity it was seeking around use of the word “Coalition” being used as the brand name of the party. ...
A recently released Otago University study has provided further evidence that low-quality housing is a significant problem in Aotearoa. This has prompted the Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ) Paul Evans to question “why ...
With the BNZ-Business NZ PMI signaling manufacturing is contracting , the Government needs to seriously consider tax relief, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called for an overhaul of the Public Services executive ranks as the Corrections debacle shows mis-management and incompetence at the highest level. Matthew Tukaki, Executive Director of the New Zealand Maori Council has said ...
Findings from the 2018 New Zealand Consumer Survey have been released and the results are in; 48 per cent of respondents consider their purchases based on how ethically employees are treated. ...
The responsibility for the fact that Westland Milk Products is now in the hands of an overseas conglomerate 25% owned by the Chinese government can be laid fair and square at our government's doorstep. ...
As Fonterra is projecting multi million dollar losses for the second year in a row, it is clear the writing is on the wall for dairy as more and more Kiwis turn to plant milks. 22nd August is International Plant Milk Day and there is now a different plant ...
The $65,000 granted to Interislander so it can install electric vehicle chargers on its ferries is the most absurd waste of money yet to be delivered by the “Low Emissions” vehicle fund, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...
Wellingtonians will have the chance to hear international child rights experts from Ireland, Scotland and Samoa speak at the Making Child Rights Real in Aotearoa New Zealand seminar to be held in the city on Wednesday 21 August. ...
Paul Evans, Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ), is advocating a balanced approach to the development of productive land. ...
CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) says that new research from the University of Otago provides a solid foundation for why the Government must not delay instating a comprehensive Warrant of Fitness for tenanted homes in Aotearoa-New Zealand, and ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer drove carelessly during a pursuit and that this was the primary cause of a collision with a motorcycle that injured the rider. ...
Responding to the Prime Minister’s commitment of $150 million in funding for climate change response in the Pacific, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “It is no secret that many Pacific nations lack serious oversight when it ...
AUT research not only shows an increase in political affiliation, but that candidates affiliated to a central political party are more likely to win seats in Auckland local government. ...
On the 23rd of August School Strike NZ will join Ollie Langridge in his 100th day of sitting outside of New Zealand Parliament calling for the government to declare a climate emergency. School Strike 4 Climate NZ also demand that Parliament acknowledge ...
You have stood up for what is fair, and I am sure you will speak for over 7 million people who have been muted and rendered voiceless in Indian occupied Kashmir for more than a 10 days now. I am writing to bring to your notice the plight of Kashmiri ...
In the last 10 months alone, 11 petitions have been delivered to Parliament calling for medicines to be funded by Pharmac. Today, another nine petitions have been launched by Patient Voice Aotearoa (PVA) members asking that life changing, saving and extending ...
When we were first working to get Miscanthus approved for import into New Zealand, the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) waived the fee for their work because they thought that having Miscanthus in New Zealand was so very much in the ...
PHARMAC’s recent decision to fund two additional drugs from December this year has been widely welcomed by patients and the general public alike. The drugs, Kadcyla and Ibrance, are used in the treatment of advanced lung and breast cancers and will ...
Animal rights organisation SAFE is urging the Government to include experts and advocates from outside the agriculture industry on its newly announced winter crop grazing taskforce. ...
The Government’s plans to prohibit housing on ‘productive’ farmland will serve as yet another regulatory tax on housing, and is a shameful breach of Jacinda Ardern’s promise to fix housing supply, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The latest round of the Ethnic Communities Development Fund opens today, supporting projects that grow the leadership and capability of ethnic groups, improve cultural understanding, and ensure our ethnic communities are a vibrant and celebrated part ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is warning of the dangers of hiking excise tax, in response to calls from a former Prime Minister for stronger action on alcohol harm. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It seems inevitable ...
LGNZ will be cautiously assessing the wider implications of the newly proposed National Position Statement on Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL), noting that that it traverses a number of highly complex policy areas including housing affordability and property ...
Horticulture New Zealand has welcomed the Government’s draft National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land, saying it will help ensure that New Zealand can grow its own vegetables and fruit. ...
Background documents for Budget 2019 are now available from on the Treasury website: https://treasury.govt.nz/publications/information-release/budget-2019-information-release ...
The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry has welcomed a move by Crown agencies to lift confidentiality obligations on survivors of abuse in State care arising from settlement agreements with the Crown. ...
An evaluation of New Zealand’s first sexual violence court has confirmed that the approach taken in the judge-led pilot considerably reduces the time that cases take to reach trial. ...
The National Party is pleased to announce the appointment of Paula Bennett as our Campaign Chair for the 2020 General Election, President Peter Goodfellow says. ...
14 August 2019 – 18 senior business leaders and employment experts have been appointed as judges for New Zealand’s sixth annual Equal Pay Awards reflecting the breadth of companies who have entered. The Awards added three new categories in 2018: Innovation, ...
Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “This is more proof that bureaucrats do not make good tech tycoons, no matter how much taxpayer money they throw at geeks in Silicon Valley.” ...
August marks five years of the Community Finance initiative. In addition to its well established Financial Mentoring service, The Salvation Army has held more than 5800 financial conversations with Community Finance clients. The loan program helps ...
Today 14/8/19 on news hub AM show Duncan Garner asked National Party leader Simon Bridges ‘what would he do to combat climate change and improve the economy again if he is the next PM”. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/08/simon-bridges-says-most-kiwis-believe-system-gamed-at-last-election.html ...
DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is urging the Government to work with agricultural groups to drive real behaviour change on farm, instead of imposing a broad-based tax. Sector organisations have put forward an alternative Primary Sector Climate ...
Iwi forging closer relationship with Stats NZ over Māori data solutions The Data Iwi Leaders Group supports the findings of an independent review into the 2018 New Zealand Census – but says its failings provide a unique opportunity to co-design ...
“Any justification for paying exorbitant salaries to senior managers in business has just been buried in the Fonterra debacle” said Peter Malcolm spokesperson for Income Equality Aotearoa New Zealand Inc---“Closing the Gap” ...
Good on their own, even better with cheese – these crisp, moreish crackers are destined to become your new go-to savoury snack.These crackers have been on high rotation in our household – they’ve filled lunchboxes, accompanied fine cheeses on evening platters and been eaten by the fistful straight from the jar. ...
Lists are good and so are Sundays. We combine both those things in a new Spinoff feature. This week: Headlines from the past six months about the the Reserve Bank governor, Adrian OrrRBNZ prepares to stick its Orr inASB, March 29Banks Orr-struck yet againThe Australian, April 10Big banks brace for ...
Over 300 hours of interviews condensed into five episodes that cover the entirety of New Zealand’s comedy history – how do you even start to approach that? Sam Brooks interviews Paul Horan, the documentarian behind the show.It’s one of those projects that sounds utterly futile – how does one cover ...
Judgement prevents understanding, which in itself is a barrier to preventing unsafe behaviour. Are different approaches to harm reduction in the Rainbow community needed? Sex. Drugs. Carly Rae Jepsen. This is the iconography that tends to be massaged into mainstream conceptions of gay culture. Depictions in TV/film see us railing lines ...
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...
Things I Learned at Art School is a new series featuring artists discussing how they do what they do and know what they know. In the second instalment, Megan Dunn talks to Berlin-based New Zealander Simon Denny about Michael Parekowhai, teaching and technology, and an idea involving the online shoe ...
With the acquisition of global rugby streaming leader RugbyPass, Sky might have just secured its future, writes Trevor McKewen.For several months now, the war between Sky and Spark Sport for the peerless prize of All Blacks and New Zealand rugby rights from 2021 onwards has been escalating. Every week, one ...
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Jamie Cashmore, co-founder of Auckland-based edible packaging company Twiice. First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Twiice.Twiice is a company making edible coffee cups with plans to progress into other areas ...
The recent discovery of a fossil parrot the size of a human toddler is even more reason for Foulden Maar to be protected, writes the chairperson of Save Foulden Maar, Kimberley Collins.Last week, scientists discovered a new species of extinct parrot in the St Bathans Fauna. Weighing in at seven ...
Could a new hybrid of all the government’s major media holdings solve multiple media and government problems? Duncan Greive assesses the case.The media industry, despite what some of us might like to believe, really doesn’t matter all that much economically. Doesn’t employ all that many people. Relatively low wage. ...
The three governing parties are turning their attention to next year’s general election. RNZ‘s Jo Moir surveys the field.The night New Zealand First formed a government with Labour and the Greens, its leader Winston Peters quoted the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.Almost two years later all three ...
Analysis: The botched census brings down a chief executive, there's another wave of speculation about Christopher Luxon standing for National and NZ First could sink an attempt to reverse the ban on prisoner voting. ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Wording has played a crucial role in a reportedly “fierce” Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu with Australia allegedly managing to alter documental terms to downplay its commitment to climate change mitigation. According to RNZ Pacific, a communiqué and separate statement on climate change was released ...
Australia’s coal policy and its use of carry over credits to fulfill its obligations under the Paris Agreement have come under fire and been major points of contention at this year’s 50th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Meeting in Funafuti, Tuvalu. READ MORE: ‘We should have done more for our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael O’Keefe, Head of Department, Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University The Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Tuvalu this week has ended in open division over climate change. Australia ensured its official communique watered down commitments to respond to climate change, gaining ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xanthe Mallett, Forensic Criminologist, University of Newcastle Even in death, the voice of Carl Williams is louder than that of his victims. Intimate prison letters written by the convicted murderer and drug trafficker to his ex-wife, Roberta – herself arrested this month ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brianna Chesser, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Justice, RMIT University In September 2018, a prominent Melbourne surgeon and academic was charged with rape and sexual assault for alleged offences committed a year earlier against a male doctor. The surgeon and doctor had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Dearnaley, Associate Professor, University of Southern Queensland The blotched butterfly orchid (Sarcochilus weinthalii) looks fairly unremarkable when it’s not flowering, generally resembling the far more common orange blossom orchid. But when it flowers, it is exquisite. Dark purple blotches stand out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Cropper, Senior Lecturer, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne Almost every person throughout the existence of humankind has looked up at the night sky and seen more than just a random scattering of light. Constellations of stars have helped ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Desbrow, Associate Professor, Nutrition and Dietetics, Griffith University A recent study published in the journal Depression and Anxiety has attracted widespread media attention. Media reports said eating chocolate, in particular, dark chocolate, was linked to reduced symptoms of depression. Unfortunately, we ...
He’s the artist who launched a million memes and over a billion streams. Sam Brooks picks out Bazzi’s best moments so far, from his career-making breakthrough to his mature new mixtape Soulsearching.1. ‘Mine’“You’re so fuckin’ precious when you smile.”It’s the line that didn’t just launch a million memes, it’s the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University Since President Trump tweeted about imposing new tariffs on China, global equity markets have gone into a tailspin. Trump’s more recent announcement that the new tariffs would be delayed has not calmed the markets, with recent days ...
A new poem by Waikato poet Loren Thomas.to convince myself we’re dreamingwe were walking through suburbia houses kissing front lawns copied one after anotheryou tasted like mint leaves and chlorophyll that’s been pissed on by catsI held your hand and we walked towards the ocean dodging planks from dead train ...
The ancient Australian shock-jock yesterday targeted Jacinda Ardern, urging Australia’s PM to ‘shove a sock down her throat’. It’s all in keeping with a substantial history of being an arse.The plucky nation of Australia excels in a range of endeavours, but nowhere more than the angry, anguished howls of bloated, ...
Today, TVNZ released its latest findings on who is watching what on TVNZ OnDemand. Sam Brooks analyses the results.Today, TVNZ released the 2019 figures for who is watching TVNZ OnDemand, what they’re watching and in what kind of numbers. The big numbers are hopeful – over 1.4 million people reached ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jock Collins, Professor of Social Economics, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney The federal government wants to boost the number of migrants moving to regional areas in Australia to fill job vacancies and reduce the pressure on our cities. That’s why ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Associate Professor, Criminology and Justice Studies, RMIT University There can be no doubt violence against women is a national crisis. On average in Australia, one woman every week is killed. A 2016 survey found one in four women experienced violence ...
One dignified resignation was a bouquet in a sea of brickbats this week as low levels of accountability had eyes rolling. James Elliott has the news of the week. ...
Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein on the band’s ninth studio album, working with St Vincent, and the departure of bandmate and drummer, Janet Weiss.It’s been almost five years since Sleater-Kinney broke their decade-long hiatus with an album that received almost near-universal praise. It was “raw”, “bristling”, “emotive”, “taut” – all adjectives you’d ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Colleen Murrell, Associate Professor, Journalism, Swinburne University of Technology When news of the stabbings in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon came through, one of the first tweets about the incident came from Sky News reporter Laura Jayes. Immediately it got retweeted and sent ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $23)Sally Rooney Sally Rooney Sally Rooney Sally Rooney2 An ...
When Emily Writes reviewed a life-changing sex toy, the response from orgasm-starved women was huge. So why are so many having so few orgasms, and what can be done?For the last two years I’ve been running a pretty small – about 600-odd member – group for mostly New Zealand women ...
When Josie Adams broke her laptop last week, she knew she’d never find love like that again. Can the Asus Chromebook Flip C213SA offer a new kind of technological relationship? She reviews how it stands up to everyday use and the cosmic forces that seek to destroy her.Last Thursday I ...
Wine should be fun, not intimidating, all you need is a little knowledge. Yvonne Lorkin co-founder and chief tasting officer of WineFriend provides some simple tips to help you empower your palate. Even I can get scared by wine. I’m usually super-meek and a tad feeble at high-brow, ‘industry’ wine tastings. ...
Pacific Media Watch NewsdeskBy Makereta Komai in Funafuti, Tuvalu Tonga’s Prime Minister, ‘Akilisi Pohiva, has delivered a stinging attack against regionalism and the Pacific Islands Forum’s stance of leaving no one behind, for failing to amicably resolve the issue of West Papua. Pohiva admitted the issue has divided ...
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 content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Corrections, Christchurch mosque shootings Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Upholding The Accused’s Right To Write Mark Daalder ...
Open Mike 02/08/2018 
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...2 hours ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...6 hours ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...2 days ago
Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...2 days ago
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...2 days ago
2 days ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...2 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...4 days ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...4 days ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...4 days ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...4 days ago
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...4 days ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...4 days ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 4 days ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...5 days ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...6 days ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...1 week ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...1 week ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...2 weeks ago
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...2 weeks ago
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...2 weeks ago
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...2 weeks ago
I'm glad to see the Lib Dems won.I had a moment of terror yesterday thinking that the Conservatives might cling on, due to a combination of Johnson's elevation to the premiership, the apparent uselessness of the Lib Dem candidate (who had failed to be elected in other constituencies) and the ...2 weeks ago
. . Current Leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges gave the usual rah-rah speech to the Loyal & Faithful in Christchurch today (27 July). With National’s party polling and his own personal popularity sliding steadily in the polls, Mr Bridges has not much left to reverse his fortunes. ...2 weeks ago
Those concerned for Langridge’s wellbeing say they hope he’ll change his mind when he sees the ocean coming. The protester who has vowed to stand outside Parliament every day until the Government announces a climate emergency says he accepts that his quest will most likely end in drowning. Ollie Langridge, ...2 weeks ago
Image Credit: How To Start a Blog – Beginner’s Guide for 2019 I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. ... 2 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...1 week ago
Sunday, 18 August, 2019 - Environmental groups and well known New Zealanders are preparing to deliver a 55,000 strong petition to the steps of Parliament tomorrow, calling on the Government to protect the world’s smallest dolphin. ...2 hours ago
The government will spend $54 million on fresh initiatives aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness. ...3 hours ago
The debate over cancer drug funding us further complicated by lobby groups and opaque agenda. ...3 hours ago
Good on their own, even better with cheese – these crisp, moreish crackers are destined to become your new go-to savoury snack.These crackers have been on high rotation in our household – they’ve filled lunchboxes, accompanied fine cheeses on evening platters and been eaten by the fistful straight from the jar. ...8 hours ago
Over 300 hours of interviews condensed into five episodes that cover the entirety of New Zealand’s comedy history – how do you even start to approach that? Sam Brooks interviews Paul Horan, the documentarian behind the show.It’s one of those projects that sounds utterly futile – how does one cover ...12 hours ago
Judgement prevents understanding, which in itself is a barrier to preventing unsafe behaviour. Are different approaches to harm reduction in the Rainbow community needed? Sex. Drugs. Carly Rae Jepsen. This is the iconography that tends to be massaged into mainstream conceptions of gay culture. Depictions in TV/film see us railing lines ...12 hours ago
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...1 day ago
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...1 day ago
The three parties in the coalition have to negotiate compromises, concessions and conquests week after week. ...1 day ago
Things I Learned at Art School is a new series featuring artists discussing how they do what they do and know what they know. In the second instalment, Megan Dunn talks to Berlin-based New Zealander Simon Denny about Michael Parekowhai, teaching and technology, and an idea involving the online shoe ...1 day ago
With the acquisition of global rugby streaming leader RugbyPass, Sky might have just secured its future, writes Trevor McKewen.For several months now, the war between Sky and Spark Sport for the peerless prize of All Blacks and New Zealand rugby rights from 2021 onwards has been escalating. Every week, one ...1 day ago
Today, a short story from the late 1920s, published in a posthumous new collection by Marlborough writer Eileen Duggan. Photo by Peter Black. ...1 day ago
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Jamie Cashmore, co-founder of Auckland-based edible packaging company Twiice. First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Twiice.Twiice is a company making edible coffee cups with plans to progress into other areas ...1 day ago
Black Fern Aleisha-Pearl Nelson was told by doctors, twice, that her rugby days were over - after serious horse-riding accidents. ...1 day ago
The recent discovery of a fossil parrot the size of a human toddler is even more reason for Foulden Maar to be protected, writes the chairperson of Save Foulden Maar, Kimberley Collins.Last week, scientists discovered a new species of extinct parrot in the St Bathans Fauna. Weighing in at seven ...2 days ago
The three governing parties are turning their attention to next year’s general election. RNZ‘s Jo Moir surveys the field.The night New Zealand First formed a government with Labour and the Greens, its leader Winston Peters quoted the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.Almost two years later all three ...2 days ago
Protests in Hong Kong have attracted worldwide attention - but are we ignoring a more serious situation across the sea? ...2 days ago
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Wording has played a crucial role in a reportedly “fierce” Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu with Australia allegedly managing to alter documental terms to downplay its commitment to climate change mitigation. According to RNZ Pacific, a communiqué and separate statement on climate change was released ...2 days ago
Australia’s coal policy and its use of carry over credits to fulfill its obligations under the Paris Agreement have come under fire and been major points of contention at this year’s 50th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Meeting in Funafuti, Tuvalu. READ MORE: ‘We should have done more for our ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael O’Keefe, Head of Department, Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University The Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Tuvalu this week has ended in open division over climate change. Australia ensured its official communique watered down commitments to respond to climate change, gaining ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xanthe Mallett, Forensic Criminologist, University of Newcastle Even in death, the voice of Carl Williams is louder than that of his victims. Intimate prison letters written by the convicted murderer and drug trafficker to his ex-wife, Roberta – herself arrested this month ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brianna Chesser, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Justice, RMIT University In September 2018, a prominent Melbourne surgeon and academic was charged with rape and sexual assault for alleged offences committed a year earlier against a male doctor. The surgeon and doctor had ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Dearnaley, Associate Professor, University of Southern Queensland The blotched butterfly orchid (Sarcochilus weinthalii) looks fairly unremarkable when it’s not flowering, generally resembling the far more common orange blossom orchid. But when it flowers, it is exquisite. Dark purple blotches stand out ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Cropper, Senior Lecturer, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne Almost every person throughout the existence of humankind has looked up at the night sky and seen more than just a random scattering of light. Constellations of stars have helped ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Desbrow, Associate Professor, Nutrition and Dietetics, Griffith University A recent study published in the journal Depression and Anxiety has attracted widespread media attention. Media reports said eating chocolate, in particular, dark chocolate, was linked to reduced symptoms of depression. Unfortunately, we ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University Since President Trump tweeted about imposing new tariffs on China, global equity markets have gone into a tailspin. Trump’s more recent announcement that the new tariffs would be delayed has not calmed the markets, with recent days ...2 days ago
Today, TVNZ released its latest findings on who is watching what on TVNZ OnDemand. Sam Brooks analyses the results.Today, TVNZ released the 2019 figures for who is watching TVNZ OnDemand, what they’re watching and in what kind of numbers. The big numbers are hopeful – over 1.4 million people reached ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jock Collins, Professor of Social Economics, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney The federal government wants to boost the number of migrants moving to regional areas in Australia to fill job vacancies and reduce the pressure on our cities. That’s why ...2 days ago
One dignified resignation was a bouquet in a sea of brickbats this week as low levels of accountability had eyes rolling. James Elliott has the news of the week. ...2 days ago
Corrections has referred a letter written by the alleged Christchurch terrorist to police for further investigation. ...2 days ago
Sky Television is purchasing online rugby streaming service RugbyPass for $US40 million ($NZ62m). ...2 days ago
Jewellery retailer Michael Hill International has reported a lift in profit but is feeling the pinch of lower sales and squeezed margins. ...2 days 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