Good news about the selection of Claire Szabo as Labour party president. I think she is well qualified to do a great job. She has certainly done good things at Habitat for Humanity.
She was surely the no.1 choice by far given who she was up against.
I take it you don't approve of the appointment of Claire? I think she will handle things significantly better than the last unionist. The handling of the complaints weren't exactly handled well by the last unionist Nigel Haworth.
IMO, your whole comment @ 1.1.2.1 was a misinterpretation of Jimmy’s comment @ 1.1.2, in which he highlighted or opined rather that newly elected President will handle of “the complaints” [my bold] better than the previous President, who, of course lost his job for exactly that reason.
Somehow, you took this to mean that the “party presidents sole prerequisite to fill the role is the ability to handle complaints” [sic] and that Jimmy “expect[s] the position to be a glorified councillor role” [sic]. In other words, you were making it up.
On the lack of any other evidence that szabo was better than phillips in Jimmy’s eyes, I was demeaning of Jimmy's statement that Szabo was the far superior candidate. Apart from Szabo not being a unionist and being able to handle complaints better in Jimmy's eyes, I am yet to be convinced that Jimmy's statement is true
edit – or that selecting a CEO over a Unionist a year out from an election was a good thing for the party.
[Ok, it seems it is time to wear my Moderator hat.
Jimmy opined that she would handle complaints better. That is a strong argument because the previous President lost his job because of his poor handling of complaints. I suppose this assertion by Jimmy @ 1 got up your nose “[s]he was surely the no.1 choice by far given who she was up against.” You reacted to it with and based on your assumptions but did not ask Jimmy for his reasons nor did you give a counter-argument as to why the other candidate was a better choice in your opinion. You were not interested in a debate or a contest of opinions, just in lashing out at Jimmy. As you said, you were “demeaning” Jimmy’s statements and opinions. By extension, you were also demeaning the choice of the successful candidate. Do you think you know better than the LPNZ?
Jimmy did not make the comparison between CEO and Unionist. In fact, it was you who came up with it @ 1.1.
Lastly, whether or not “selecting a CEO over a Unionist a year out from an election was a good thing for the party” is your question, not Jimmy’s.
Please stop demeaning people’s opinions and agree to disagree if you cannot reach a compromise position. Please stop attributing words or meanings to other commenters and stick to what is said, i.e. don’t make up shit. As long as you stick to the simple and lenient rules of this site, you’re free to provide your opinion here – Incognito]
Hopefully there are no more skeletons to appear. I think she will be far better than the other candidates at helping them to get re-elected in 2020. She is quite a smart lady……but then…thats just my opinion.
She has a music degree from Auckland, an education degree from Trinity in Dublin, a degree in commerce and administration from Victoria, and a masters in public administration from Harvard.
At Habitat for Humanity, she oversaw the operations of 11 charities that delivered housing to low-income people in New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Nepal.
When was he a trade unionist? I thought he was a retired Professor from Auckland University. He was, about 12 years ago the President of the University Staff Association but that isn't normally anything like a a professional full-time union job
You are absolutely correct. However I really don't think my interpretation can be regarded as anything other than warranted.
On the other hand I think Sacha's very funny suggestion may be a little, but only a little, unlikely.
Perhaps he was a member of Oswald Moseley's lot from before WW 2? That had various names, starting with The British Union of Fascists in 1932 but always included the word Union.
Nuance and context are not your strong suits apparently.
Habitat for Humanity New Zealand is a not-for-profit organisation that works in partnership with people of goodwill and families in housing need, to eliminate sub-standard housing.
We were involved with H4H for a number of years. Like all things human they aren't perfect or above all criticism, but we were impressed at the very real results they could deliver.
A good organisation, with good people doing mostly good things. Claire's background with them is a positive sign.
The organisation might be an NGO, but blairite neo liberals worshipped NGO CEO's. The perfect meld of Private and Public apparently.
This is not a criticism of Szabo per se, it's more questioning why Labour would choose a CEO over a Trade Unionist, at a time when Labour is losing touch with largely blue collar working electorates who need the unions more and more to ensure job security.
Your framing is a little off, IMO. They chose the better candidate and I’d like to think the reasons and criteria for this decision were broader and more nuanced than your comparison of CEO vs. Trade Unionist.
I have no idea about who worships whom or what but you obviously know more about this and think this is relevant to the election of President of the LPNZ.
Not all NGOs are non-profit organisations but that nuance is also lost in your comments.
Did you notice the two organisations with which she was associated- English language learning for migrants, and Habitat for Humanty New Zealand. Who? Read this.
its not <I>shining</I> paragons I’m after. It’s just not ngo pseudo neo-liberals. Think the blairite third way is good for society? Support Szabo. I’m allowed to reserve judgement
"Ardern’s experience of the past two years may have changed her perception of the neoliberal status-quo. Like David Lange before her, the Prime Minister appears to have entered office with a belief that economists, like electricians, were apolitical technicians. If the lights no longer come on – call an electrician. If an economy no longer delivers for the poor and the marginalised – then order Treasury economists to fix it. Two years on, there are signs that Ardern is beginning to grasp why “political economy” has always been a clearer term than “economics”. The wisely cynical are forever reminding us that “you can’t keep politics out of politics”. Well, it’s even more impossible to keep it out of economics!"
I'm reminded of some matter that Labour brought forward before one election and John Key was dismissive and annoyed because 'they were turning it into a political matter.' The understanding that everything is political, has somehow been disregarded and has slipped away to be replaced by the understanding that economics and business is everything that the country exists for; which is now the agreed axiom.
"The understanding that everything is political, has somehow been disregarded and has slipped away to be replaced by the understanding that economics and business is everything that the country exists for; which is now the agreed axiom"
True. (Hence the Ministry for Everything). And you can't really blame anyone that's grown up knowing nothing else (Jacinda for example).
It'll take a while for it all to be dismantled but as Rache used to say ….. "It won't happen overnight, but it will happen" (in this space going forward)
The man is dead, but NZ authorities cannot even tell his widow who he was working for.
Ordinarily, in a country with a non-FITH opposition, Lees-Galloway would be comprehensively grilled about this failure, no doubt largely attributable to the previous administration but clearly not fixed.
Health and safety, ACC, minimum wage legislation, none of it will survive if this kind of black economy is allowed to.
"The house where Yu died is located in an upmarket new development. A "sold" sign is planted freshly out the front. It has a quotable value of almost $2 million.
The new owner didn't have any details about the previous work on the house and the agent who sold the property declined to comment."
None of that BS stymies an investigation….for a property to get a CCC there is a paper trail and for a mortgage a CCC is required …and the real estate agent may not comment to a journalist but he/she should have a harder time denying officials
Edit
NZ isn't short of driven workers with useful skills – train them up in prison, turn it into more like a Borstal with decent facilities and respectful treatment of them as humans who have bad tendencies which need to be watched carefully, but try to get them making things, working under better conditions than this poor dead worker, and give them suspended sentences so they can work for a trial period, say 90 days which the employers are so keen on.
We regard ourselves as a practical nation rather than an intellectual one, but I fear we have fooled ourselves on the practical, and reject the intellectual. (Citizens who have skills and experience could do as well if they could choose their mix of advisers, not all bureaucrats.)
There is a better future for these young fellers if someone has the wit to guide and control them along the right path. Try giving them similar training to those given to puppies, who people in general seem to care more about than immature humans needing guidance. These prisoners showed initiative to get to their home-made home brew; puppies will do a lot for treats. Try that psychological approach; set small goal, reward for achievement, then another, same or extra coaching, discussion about why,
Chief custodial officer Neil Beales said they were found climbing in and out of a skip on 29 October.
They were drunk on home-brew, which can be made from fermenting fruit and sugar.
All five prisoners were sacked from the workshop and three were moved to the Otago Corrections Facility.
"This is clearly unacceptable. Prisoners who take part in employment activities and industry training are expected to take this privilege and responsibility seriously," Mr Beales said.
Seriously?? They are dying for some fun, and after a long period of not having any, overdid it. They are immature and need to learn control and with the right training program would go from being puppies to mature dogs with a healthy attitude, keeping themselves and their aggressive urges under control.
Agreed – shouldn't be a big deal – bit of a swim in summer is hardly sociopathy – we had water fights pretty much every day when I started fishing – no-one got hurt.
If it's rehabilitation they should be learning home brewing – and moderate as opposed to binge drinking culture – they'll want those skills outside.
Part of it though, is systematic prejudice against employing NZers. The liquor store owner knows no kiwi will accept no or short pay, much less paying their boss for an employment history for immigration purposes. The hort labour contractors know no kiwi will pay them up to ten grand for a job. But the government has fallen down on the job, allowing these rorts to become not merely feasible, but standard.
So, never mind telling us about all the new cops – how about a few dozen extra immigration and labour inspectors.
This shit is rampant. Half the construction sites out in the Eastern Suburbs were populated by imported Chinese labourers (scaffolding in particular), everyone's being paid under the table, there's no discernible chain of command, minimal paperwork, safety is a hilarious joke and whenever an inspector shows up they scatter like cockroaches when someone turns the lights on. My step-son was out there and he said the number of shady operators was jaw-dropping.
Aussie is the same and their buildings are falling apart.
Still, these are workers and should have workers rights, ACC cover, and everything else applicable. The story really annoyed me because I see a scumbag employer flouting NZ law at every turn and getting away with it, while the victim's family suffers and has no recourse unless they have Triad connections. At the very least both ACC and IRD should hammer these guys with ongoing audits, penalties etc and council should do everything it can to ensure the workers are legit and the buildings will not be a threat to life in the future.
I'm guessing the employer will continue on unimpeded.
If coming down hard on it I wonder if the govt are fearful of generating ammunition for contrary lobbyists. The build rate would slow right down and we might see headlines like 'The coalition oversees a build rate of negative 20 houses.'
I do agree with contributors above and if a slowing build rate is the price of cleaning up the black economy we should pay it. Officials should walk onto random sites and ask to be directed to the boss, shoulder tap him and advise him he has been selected for an IRD, ACC and employee status audit. I think news of such a program would spread through the black economy operators like an Aussie bushfire and the fines, tax due etc imposed would go a long way to financing such a program.
There is an LBPs name and number tied to the site and that LBP is tied to a company and he/she responsible for subbies re control….there are areas of control and pressure that can be applied IF the will is there.
someone gets injuries on a major site all hell is released. A little housing site, nothing. Someone died here and from my reading the inaction is at the highest level of concern. And we now have a Labour led govt. 🤢
what we close our eyes to, we ACCEPT
Tinkering and 'failed' restructures ain't going to cut it either. I'm not sure I L-G is to blame totally either, other than it's taking a while to realise where the problems lay. I'll not be surprised if he's dropped in the muck again before too long.
I was amused to look at MBIE's website yesterday (after seeing that link, and knowing the work Anu Kaloti and others have been doing for years now) where they're encouraging people to either ring an 0800 number or Crimestoppers where they see examples of exploitation. It's only recently MBIE have been taking the problem seriously – past couple of years – but unfortunately they can't seem to walk and chew gum at the same time.
(Calls to Crimestoppers often result in nothing happening, and everything to do with INZ and the Labour Inspectorate is now regarded with such cynicism that if it wasn't so serious, it'd be a joke)
It might actually take a few more cases of Ministers being embarrassed before anything substantial happens.
ILG is to blame in principle, more than in fact. But having inherited a box of bastards – the kind of mess that takes a lot of unraveling – is it too much to ask for clear evidence that the matter is being addressed? We the people pay him pretty well to shoulder that responsibility.
/Agree. I'm trying to be as charitable as possible on account of his apparently being a nice guy – or so I'm told. (Probably too nice)
On another thread somewhere, I think Weka and others were referring to 'low hanging fruit' that could have been picked instead of being left on the tree to burn the coalition's political capital. Things like this are low hanging fruit.
There are a few things that should've been made very clear from the outset (via channels of course) ….. such as
Any public servant that thinks it OK to employ the likes of T&C to spy on people isn't suited to the public service.
Likewise, any public servant that worked alongside the likes of a James Casson and said nothing isn't fit to be a public servant.
I could go on. But also any politician that thinks the sort of behaviour and pushback we've seen from some in the senior ranks and does nothing about it probably deserves to lose an election
Do you mean he is not to blame for "In total, these changes are estimated to reduce net migration by 20,000-30,000. Without these changes there would be up to 10,000 more houses needed and up to 20,000 more vehicles on our roads annually. Our immigration system will be regularly reviewed to ensure it is functioning well." . Given that the last years net increase was larger than before Labour came into govt.
If you cannot keep a promise DON'T make one. Thanks to this govt. for being the problem AND not the solution.
What I do recall of Labour's immigration policy (as opposed to what has been implemented as a coalition), was a third tranche to its policy directed at bolstering the regions.
I remember making a submission at the time that immigration policy was going to be the bull in the China shop, and when Labour and Greens were formulating policy, and that the system and administrative structure as it stood was not good for purpose – reliant on sustained growth for an economic benefit (and all its associated ticket clippers), rather than sustainable growth for a healthy society.
We have this "According to MBIE, a total of 475,920 people were in this country on work, residence or student visas at the end of October, almost 10% of the total population and up 3.6% compared to the same time last year.
That included 202,917 people on work visas,187,164 on residence visas and 85,839 on student visas."
As someone earlier here said NZ imports cheap labour to allow marginal business to thrive, and undercut/suppress local wages. So we have business using govt. welfare to allow an increasing large portion of the pop. to only marginally exist/survive.
I've always believed that if the only way a business, ANY sort of business can survive is by underpaying people a livable wage, then it is NOT a viable business. And the system we've designed/copied/stolen and continue to operate is reliant on all that (including what's usually an enterage of needless ticket clippers) will eventually fail. In fact the longer it's allowed to go on, the probability of a more disruptive (even violent) outcome is possible.
You can look at any of them where exploitative practices have taken hold – whether its a Chorus outsourcing to outsourcers, or supermarkets, or restaurant chains, or what's going on in the building sector – the system we've designed/stolen/copied/opted for has been one that enables all that.
And now that people are beginning to wake up to it all (some politicians included), it's designers/plagiarists/adherents to the current economic orthodoxy are feeling a little uneasy – as they should be.
It'll have to run its course a little longer however. It's probably a little bit too late for Jacinda to get out her Mark Richardson index finger and wave it the directions where deserved. I just hope she gets another term so that a little more of her transformational ' and 'kind' vision' (Christ I hate that word) is progressed. (I just watched Q+A and the interview with Tame. I think she's got the message)
There's still quite a bit of that low hanging fruit across various portfolios she'd be able to fall back on, but she better be quick
Boris was possibly in the drama club when he was at uni. If not he still hankers to perform and clown in the footlights, though not as perceptively as Monty Python. Boris is a snake of a different order.
Something happening involving building – a step up, hooray! But the Marlborough Council had not been given a handout so they rubbish it. Could that be what is behind the obstacles put this Council put in the way of tiny houses? The Council might like developers with whom they have buddy relationships?
Anyone thinking of building or living in a relocatable home is strongly encouraged to get in touch with council to discuss their options.
Options = how the council can gouge everything possible from you. Next big issues in Marlborough will be unconsented treehouses and illegal rain water collections.
Building consent rules are there for very good reasons. This guy was a builder so is basically some kind of scam artist if he doesn't think the rules apply to whatever he was building.
Tiny houses can be great but there definately needs to be some law changes to allow for them without jeopardizing public health or the local communities that they will wind up going into. For example, any log burners should comply with fire safety (indeed the whole tiny house should) and be compliant with the most stringent air pollution standards in NZ (alternatively, compliant within the district or otherwise permanently removed).
Maybe only one THOW should be allowed on a property at any one time unless at a specified and consented site. Consent fees must be applied to all THOW to pay for oversight and compliance costs but perhaps at a reduced rate subsidised by government and the taxpayer to help get people into housing. Suitable financial or othet deterrents could be applied to deter breaches (e.g. dumping of sewerage or of rubbish, illegal water connections or electrical connections).
Not keen on the most stringent air pollution standards for logburners. It makes them incredibly expensive – not to construct, but for the manufacturer to recover their certification costs. And it's a nonsense, with road traffic contributing a huge proportion of the suspended particulate matter in city air. It's things like this which drive up cost without increasing value that need to justify themselves before being imposed with all the weight of local authority. Because of their small size tiny houses typically use the smallest logburners, and don't make excessive use of them – or the occupants would roast.
I agree that having the most stringent air pollution standards would probably make all current tiny log burners ineligible as it is so expensive to get certification. However, in some places (depending on local weather, geography and type and quantity of solid fuel burners) winter air pollution regularly exceeds the WHO maximums for PM 10 particulate sizes in addition to other sorts of air pollution. I think everybody should have some basic constraints on the pollution that they create – whether you live in a big house or a tiny house, similarly for car exhausts or agricultural or industrial or anything else.
I don't have any references for the above statements about PM10 but the info is easily found on regional council websites such as ECAN Environment Canterbury.
There are larger size very low emmision burners but no tiny ones yet that I know of in NZ. I don't know what the solution is to heating a tiny home is but if it was to be located in a city or town with winter pollution issues surely they could either go gas or electric heating.
This leads me back to my main concern – the complexity of regulating for this relatively new type of housing and the unintended problems caused by no or poor regulation.
It's certainly tough in places like Christchurch when there's a temperature inversion layer roofing over the smog in winter. But the vehicle particulates are as much tyre dust as exhausts. Both tiny houses, and larger roads, are better screened by vegetation. Breaks the wind, reduces noise, and soaks up a proportion of undesirable matter.
There certainly need to be rules about tiny houses but you sound too rigid. There needs to be an area where there are allocated places for them to go, perhaps a leased spot where there are services to hook up to.
Greywarshark – I was being a bit provocative but I do think there need to be some really well-thought out law changes – in my opinion people with tiny houses should bear some of the cost of compliance otherwise others (ratepayers and the rest of us) will have to bear the burden of any negative effects and the cost for the extra burden on infrastructure etc.
One of the great benefits of tiny houses is the flexibility of where they can be placed so some THOW "villages" would work and be useful but they could also be placed on private property.
One of my concerns is unintended consequences e.g. unscrupulous landlords set up multiple substandard THOWs on a property and rent them out at high prices.
I am actually really pro tiny houses and really want them to work for everybody including the communities that they turn up in.
Well I feel like you but just wanted to emphasise that the approach is too negative at present with some Councils needing to set up reasonable protocols for differing areas and types of scheme.
Edit:
This from Bowalley Road on P the drug to beat all drugs, that reaches parts of you that other drugs never found. Sounds like shit, but that word isn't strong enough to convey how bad it is.
For thinking people to read and be aware of. A different sort of setback from what we have encountered so far, which are legion. Those of us trying to keep an overview, can we be as positive as possible, while not ignoring the things going on, or we'll get too cast down; I will anyway.
Letter to – Grant Robertson Labour finance Minister.
Dear Grant, – Our NGO has represented the community since 2001 on issues of community environmental and residential public health and wellbeing; quote;
“In association with other Community Groups, NHTCF and all Government Agencies since 2001.
• Health and wellbeing.
• East Coast Transport Project”
Today 2nd December 2019,
the Labour Party has announced that a large infrastructure funding will get a big increase now.
All of the press in in a buzz over the reported infrastructure funding boost that will be made here.
Our east coast communities also now await the funding boost to our regional Gisborne/HB rail freight/passenger services that need to be made here.
National had decimated our regions rail services during their time and had left these regions without rail services for 7 long years since 2012.
end;
Abridged;
So Labour In the year of refection and in mirth we wish you a merry Xmas and a very successful shining 2020.
I usually are the holder of that cup, but we need to believe will get better as the human spirit claims we do or we become despondent disturbed and depressed but I hope this 2020 does become better for everyone.
And thank you kind Sir. And a Merry Christmas to you.
However I must apologise for the description of the rain. A friend who saw it has pointed out to me the other, rather unfortunate, meaning to "golden rain". I had completely overlooked it and I really didn't mean to wish that on you.
Still, I am a little cheered by the CB poll that has just come out. I now see why Grant was so keen to get out some "transformational" projects like doing up the toilet blocks or suchlike at the schools. He would have known from his parties own polls what was coming up on the CB poll and anything must look better than the last two years of failure when going into the summer break.
I’m always puzzled as to why people seem so easily buoyed or depressed by poll results, particularly CB polls of all things. Seems to me they have a problem. I often wonder whether they also believe horoscopes or read them with slight smile, just in case there’s a kernel of truth in there somewhere 😉
I couldn’t find it in the Companies Register of the NZ Companies Office although they clearly claim to be an NGO and a company. I’m probably looking in the wrong place.
It doesn’t let them off the astroturfing hook; this has been alleged here previously and I think there is an element of truth in it. Apparently, it is just one person and his family, not a genuine community group. All I’m after is evidence to the contrary.
Some people state (in error more usually) that they are an NGO when they actually mean to state that they are a non-registered NFP (not for profit) which as Weka, pointed out, could be anyone or anybody.
You allude (justifiably) to the expectation by the wider public along with social media contributors and readers that when identifying as an NGO, he/she/it holds him/her/itself out as being an identifiable, non government organisation.
Indeed, most limited liability companies are NGO's too.
The issue you raise is quite valid. I just wish that representatives of/from various communities would get their acronyms sorted.
As pointed out by Weka, it appears to be a legitimate New Zealand Incorporated Society and where incorporated societies are allowed to be part of (say a shareholder or stakeholder of) another entity such as a company.
This is sometimes where the NGO expression can be misinterpreted whereby they wish to assert that they are not connected to government (central, regional or local) but that they may still derive some benefit from a commercial operation not being associated with government.
Most usually, in New Zealand they will simply state themselves to be INC or INCP to avoid confusion. Sometimes the term; “incorporated group” will suffice.
I'm ok with a single person and their family running a community group, but I agree I wouldn't call it an NGO (which has a more formal status).
However, CEAC is as a registered Incorporated Society, and that means there are rules around members and such. I'm not going to link, but on the face of it, it seems legit to me.
Got an message from a mate in China saying that pretty much every banks in his city is having what we would call a BANK RUN. Traffic is stalled, while people madly trying to get their cash out of their banks. It's been happening for days on end, and now police and military are standing outside the banks. His bank accounts have been frozen and he's been told he can not take any money out of China.
Triggers are going to be somthing for historians weka. Could have been the the fact other banks have collapsed or been taken over by the state. Or it could be as simple as a rumour. We going to have to wait to learn what triggered this.
Blowback from the Social Credit program is a possibility too. I've been told by people who are there that your bank card not working is often the first sign your rating has taken a hit, or your public transport card.
thanks adam, I wasn't sure how that worked. Is the reason for it less like to be known because it's China, or would this happen elsewhere too? (a run starts and the cause isn't necessarily known).
I didn't have time to read it but put the links and dates. There has been uncertainty since March this year. So what triggered it at that time is relevant too.
Yeah he been told he can't take any money out. This is different from the daily cap, he glad he was being paid in US dollars into a account in Japan.
How wide spread, not sure, another mate said he hadn't seen any runs, he is living in a major city. But another mate in a rural area says the Runs have been going off and on for about a month now.
So I wonder what future alternatives for the People's Republic of China banking system?
Maybe it will be the first really significant major economic nation to move away from cash entirely, except at very low (village type) level, more at small value barter alternative than anything else.
How about their centrally managed financial institutions (that is, those banks and other financial service institutions aligned to the Central Party) announcing the widespread launch of their own crypto-currency system backed by the thousands and thousands of tonnes of gold reserves (real gold, that is) which they apparently have squirreled away?
Not sure if it's connected but here, Northern Thailand ,there were more that what's seems usual Chinese changing many big bricks of Chinese notes for baht.
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Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
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Wow …has everyone slept in today?
Good news about the selection of Claire Szabo as Labour party president. I think she is well qualified to do a great job. She has certainly done good things at Habitat for Humanity.
She was surely the no.1 choice by far given who she was up against.
Labour’s neo-liberaliam shone through with the election of a CEO over a unionist
So, business as usual. No surprises.
I take it you don't approve of the appointment of Claire? I think she will handle things significantly better than the last unionist. The handling of the complaints weren't exactly handled well by the last unionist Nigel Haworth.
So a party presidents sole prerequisite to fill the role is the ability to handle complaints?
Either the Labour Party is expecting loads of skeletons to come out of the closet or you expect the position to be a glorified councillor role
Either your reading comprehension is severely lacking, because that’s not what Jimmy said or implied, or you’re simply trolling.
Jimmy's only recommendations in favour of Claire so far are
1) not a unionist and,
2) should supposedly handle complaints better than haworth.
can you show me something else i'm supposed to have read in Jimmy's comment that wasn't there?
IMO, your whole comment @ 1.1.2.1 was a misinterpretation of Jimmy’s comment @ 1.1.2, in which he highlighted or opined rather that newly elected President will handle of “the complaints” [my bold] better than the previous President, who, of course lost his job for exactly that reason.
Somehow, you took this to mean that the “party presidents sole prerequisite to fill the role is the ability to handle complaints” [sic] and that Jimmy “expect[s] the position to be a glorified councillor role” [sic]. In other words, you were making it up.
On the lack of any other evidence that szabo was better than phillips in Jimmy’s eyes, I was demeaning of Jimmy's statement that Szabo was the far superior candidate. Apart from Szabo not being a unionist and being able to handle complaints better in Jimmy's eyes, I am yet to be convinced that Jimmy's statement is true
edit – or that selecting a CEO over a Unionist a year out from an election was a good thing for the party.
[Ok, it seems it is time to wear my Moderator hat.
Jimmy opined that she would handle complaints better. That is a strong argument because the previous President lost his job because of his poor handling of complaints. I suppose this assertion by Jimmy @ 1 got up your nose “[s]he was surely the no.1 choice by far given who she was up against.” You reacted to it with and based on your assumptions but did not ask Jimmy for his reasons nor did you give a counter-argument as to why the other candidate was a better choice in your opinion. You were not interested in a debate or a contest of opinions, just in lashing out at Jimmy. As you said, you were “demeaning” Jimmy’s statements and opinions. By extension, you were also demeaning the choice of the successful candidate. Do you think you know better than the LPNZ?
Jimmy did not make the comparison between CEO and Unionist. In fact, it was you who came up with it @ 1.1.
Lastly, whether or not “selecting a CEO over a Unionist a year out from an election was a good thing for the party” is your question, not Jimmy’s.
Please stop demeaning people’s opinions and agree to disagree if you cannot reach a compromise position. Please stop attributing words or meanings to other commenters and stick to what is said, i.e. don’t make up shit. As long as you stick to the simple and lenient rules of this site, you’re free to provide your opinion here – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 2:40 PM.
Good one incognito,
Some are very upset at labour shinning again.
Hopefully there are no more skeletons to appear. I think she will be far better than the other candidates at helping them to get re-elected in 2020. She is quite a smart lady……but then…thats just my opinion.
She is quite a smart lady.
She is indeed:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12289804
When was he a trade unionist? I thought he was a retired Professor from Auckland University. He was, about 12 years ago the President of the University Staff Association but that isn't normally anything like a a professional full-time union job
Thanks Alwyn, for pointing that out. FWIW, nobody mentioned trade unionist.
True. Could have been an Irish unionist. #quals
Or the International Democrat Union (IDU).
Maybe even a taxpayers unionist..
You are absolutely correct. However I really don't think my interpretation can be regarded as anything other than warranted.
On the other hand I think Sacha's very funny suggestion may be a little, but only a little, unlikely.
Perhaps he was a member of Oswald Moseley's lot from before WW 2? That had various names, starting with The British Union of Fascists in 1932 but always included the word Union.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Union_of_Fascists
Nuance and context are not your strong suits apparently.
Habitat for Humanity New Zealand is a not-for-profit organisation that works in partnership with people of goodwill and families in housing need, to eliminate sub-standard housing.
Charities Registration: CC28026
https://habitat.org.nz/
We were involved with H4H for a number of years. Like all things human they aren't perfect or above all criticism, but we were impressed at the very real results they could deliver.
A good organisation, with good people doing mostly good things. Claire's background with them is a positive sign.
She was also involved with Language Partners – another very positive non-profit – the folk who got me into ELT back in the day.
The organisation might be an NGO, but blairite neo liberals worshipped NGO CEO's. The perfect meld of Private and Public apparently.
This is not a criticism of Szabo per se, it's more questioning why Labour would choose a CEO over a Trade Unionist, at a time when Labour is losing touch with largely blue collar working electorates who need the unions more and more to ensure job security.
Your framing is a little off, IMO. They chose the better candidate and I’d like to think the reasons and criteria for this decision were broader and more nuanced than your comparison of CEO vs. Trade Unionist.
I have no idea about who worships whom or what but you obviously know more about this and think this is relevant to the election of President of the LPNZ.
Not all NGOs are non-profit organisations but that nuance is also lost in your comments.
Did you notice the two organisations with which she was associated- English language learning for migrants, and Habitat for Humanty New Zealand. Who? Read this.
https://habitat.org.nz/about/
She was a CEO and will therefore have top management experience- a good qualification for a party president.
But somehow, Climaction, to then accuse her election as a shining example of neo-liberalism is a logical jump that you might need to explain more.
Especially if you are choosing to criticise somewhat egregiously someone with a management report like this.
https://management.co.nz/article/young-executive-year-claire-szabó-change-leader
Pronounced shinning according to clean green.
its not <I>shining</I> paragons I’m after. It’s just not ngo pseudo neo-liberals. Think the blairite third way is good for society? Support Szabo. I’m allowed to reserve judgement
Szabo was mentioned at Te Standard two days ago – were you asleep? 🙂
Just having the weekend off!
"Ardern’s experience of the past two years may have changed her perception of the neoliberal status-quo. Like David Lange before her, the Prime Minister appears to have entered office with a belief that economists, like electricians, were apolitical technicians. If the lights no longer come on – call an electrician. If an economy no longer delivers for the poor and the marginalised – then order Treasury economists to fix it. Two years on, there are signs that Ardern is beginning to grasp why “political economy” has always been a clearer term than “economics”. The wisely cynical are forever reminding us that “you can’t keep politics out of politics”. Well, it’s even more impossible to keep it out of economics!"
https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/102826/chris-trotter-argues-jacinda-arderns-year-delivery-was-naivety-very-particular-kind
They have proven to be slow learners but let us hope that learn they have
I'm reminded of some matter that Labour brought forward before one election and John Key was dismissive and annoyed because 'they were turning it into a political matter.' The understanding that everything is political, has somehow been disregarded and has slipped away to be replaced by the understanding that economics and business is everything that the country exists for; which is now the agreed axiom.
"The understanding that everything is political, has somehow been disregarded and has slipped away to be replaced by the understanding that economics and business is everything that the country exists for; which is now the agreed axiom"
True. (Hence the Ministry for Everything). And you can't really blame anyone that's grown up knowing nothing else (Jacinda for example).
It'll take a while for it all to be dismantled but as Rache used to say ….. "It won't happen overnight, but it will happen" (in this space going forward)
The recent death of a black economy construction worker in Auckland highlights how completely out of control our erstwhile immigration policy is.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/117551892/death-of-a-migrant-under-the-table-workers-building-aucklands-multimillion-dollar-homes
The man is dead, but NZ authorities cannot even tell his widow who he was working for.
Ordinarily, in a country with a non-FITH opposition, Lees-Galloway would be comprehensively grilled about this failure, no doubt largely attributable to the previous administration but clearly not fixed.
Health and safety, ACC, minimum wage legislation, none of it will survive if this kind of black economy is allowed to.
Find it difficult to believe that an investigation couldnt identify the individuals involved in the construction of any building if the will was there
Aye, there's the rub.
You can imagine the home owner who decided to hire shonky builders may suddenly become uncommunicative..
you can…and then you can imagine the lack of a CCC
Yet the article says this one has been sold with nary a mention of missing paperwork.
"The house where Yu died is located in an upmarket new development. A "sold" sign is planted freshly out the front. It has a quotable value of almost $2 million.
The new owner didn't have any details about the previous work on the house and the agent who sold the property declined to comment."
None of that BS stymies an investigation….for a property to get a CCC there is a paper trail and for a mortgage a CCC is required …and the real estate agent may not comment to a journalist but he/she should have a harder time denying officials
Can you sell a house without one?
only for cash,,,and theres still a paper trail
Edit
NZ isn't short of driven workers with useful skills – train them up in prison, turn it into more like a Borstal with decent facilities and respectful treatment of them as humans who have bad tendencies which need to be watched carefully, but try to get them making things, working under better conditions than this poor dead worker, and give them suspended sentences so they can work for a trial period, say 90 days which the employers are so keen on.
We regard ourselves as a practical nation rather than an intellectual one, but I fear we have fooled ourselves on the practical, and reject the intellectual. (Citizens who have skills and experience could do as well if they could choose their mix of advisers, not all bureaucrats.)
There is a better future for these young fellers if someone has the wit to guide and control them along the right path. Try giving them similar training to those given to puppies, who people in general seem to care more about than immature humans needing guidance. These prisoners showed initiative to get to their home-made home brew; puppies will do a lot for treats. Try that psychological approach; set small goal, reward for achievement, then another, same or extra coaching, discussion about why,
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/404562/drunk-prisoners-swim-in-skip-attack-guard
The inmates were meant to be working in the engineering workshop at Christchurch Men’s Prison, where their tasks included filling skips with water to check for holes.
Chief custodial officer Neil Beales said they were found climbing in and out of a skip on 29 October.
They were drunk on home-brew, which can be made from fermenting fruit and sugar.
All five prisoners were sacked from the workshop and three were moved to the Otago Corrections Facility.
"This is clearly unacceptable. Prisoners who take part in employment activities and industry training are expected to take this privilege and responsibility seriously," Mr Beales said.
Seriously?? They are dying for some fun, and after a long period of not having any, overdid it. They are immature and need to learn control and with the right training program would go from being puppies to mature dogs with a healthy attitude, keeping themselves and their aggressive urges under control.
Agreed – shouldn't be a big deal – bit of a swim in summer is hardly sociopathy – we had water fights pretty much every day when I started fishing – no-one got hurt.
If it's rehabilitation they should be learning home brewing – and moderate as opposed to binge drinking culture – they'll want those skills outside.
Part of it though, is systematic prejudice against employing NZers. The liquor store owner knows no kiwi will accept no or short pay, much less paying their boss for an employment history for immigration purposes. The hort labour contractors know no kiwi will pay them up to ten grand for a job. But the government has fallen down on the job, allowing these rorts to become not merely feasible, but standard.
So, never mind telling us about all the new cops – how about a few dozen extra immigration and labour inspectors.
This shit is rampant. Half the construction sites out in the Eastern Suburbs were populated by imported Chinese labourers (scaffolding in particular), everyone's being paid under the table, there's no discernible chain of command, minimal paperwork, safety is a hilarious joke and whenever an inspector shows up they scatter like cockroaches when someone turns the lights on. My step-son was out there and he said the number of shady operators was jaw-dropping.
Aussie is the same and their buildings are falling apart.
Still, these are workers and should have workers rights, ACC cover, and everything else applicable. The story really annoyed me because I see a scumbag employer flouting NZ law at every turn and getting away with it, while the victim's family suffers and has no recourse unless they have Triad connections. At the very least both ACC and IRD should hammer these guys with ongoing audits, penalties etc and council should do everything it can to ensure the workers are legit and the buildings will not be a threat to life in the future.
I'm guessing the employer will continue on unimpeded.
Paying labourers on $500 a week says to me there is not a labour shortage, just a shortage of labour that is happy to be exploited.
If coming down hard on it I wonder if the govt are fearful of generating ammunition for contrary lobbyists. The build rate would slow right down and we might see headlines like 'The coalition oversees a build rate of negative 20 houses.'
I do agree with contributors above and if a slowing build rate is the price of cleaning up the black economy we should pay it. Officials should walk onto random sites and ask to be directed to the boss, shoulder tap him and advise him he has been selected for an IRD, ACC and employee status audit. I think news of such a program would spread through the black economy operators like an Aussie bushfire and the fines, tax due etc imposed would go a long way to financing such a program.
Great idea David Mac. Psychology is a subtle weapon.
You'd think. Wonder how often they do.
There is an LBPs name and number tied to the site and that LBP is tied to a company and he/she responsible for subbies re control….there are areas of control and pressure that can be applied IF the will is there.
Nailed in one “ If there is a will”
someone gets injuries on a major site all hell is released. A little housing site, nothing. Someone died here and from my reading the inaction is at the highest level of concern. And we now have a Labour led govt. 🤢
what we close our eyes to, we ACCEPT
Se 2.1.1 above Stuart.
Tinkering and 'failed' restructures ain't going to cut it either. I'm not sure I L-G is to blame totally either, other than it's taking a while to realise where the problems lay. I'll not be surprised if he's dropped in the muck again before too long.
I was amused to look at MBIE's website yesterday (after seeing that link, and knowing the work Anu Kaloti and others have been doing for years now) where they're encouraging people to either ring an 0800 number or Crimestoppers where they see examples of exploitation. It's only recently MBIE have been taking the problem seriously – past couple of years – but unfortunately they can't seem to walk and chew gum at the same time.
(Calls to Crimestoppers often result in nothing happening, and everything to do with INZ and the Labour Inspectorate is now regarded with such cynicism that if it wasn't so serious, it'd be a joke)
It might actually take a few more cases of Ministers being embarrassed before anything substantial happens.
ILG is to blame in principle, more than in fact. But having inherited a box of bastards – the kind of mess that takes a lot of unraveling – is it too much to ask for clear evidence that the matter is being addressed? We the people pay him pretty well to shoulder that responsibility.
/Agree. I'm trying to be as charitable as possible on account of his apparently being a nice guy – or so I'm told. (Probably too nice)
On another thread somewhere, I think Weka and others were referring to 'low hanging fruit' that could have been picked instead of being left on the tree to burn the coalition's political capital. Things like this are low hanging fruit.
There are a few things that should've been made very clear from the outset (via channels of course) ….. such as
Any public servant that thinks it OK to employ the likes of T&C to spy on people isn't suited to the public service.
Likewise, any public servant that worked alongside the likes of a James Casson and said nothing isn't fit to be a public servant.
I could go on. But also any politician that thinks the sort of behaviour and pushback we've seen from some in the senior ranks and does nothing about it probably deserves to lose an election
It must be hard to concentrate on doing a good job when your staff are helping run crap like the Sroubeck affair to embarrass you.
Do you mean he is not to blame for "In total, these changes are estimated to reduce net migration by 20,000-30,000. Without these changes there would be up to 10,000 more houses needed and up to 20,000 more vehicles on our roads annually. Our immigration system will be regularly reviewed to ensure it is functioning well." . Given that the last years net increase was larger than before Labour came into govt.
If you cannot keep a promise DON'T make one. Thanks to this govt. for being the problem AND not the solution.
https://www.labour.org.nz/immigration
What I do recall of Labour's immigration policy (as opposed to what has been implemented as a coalition), was a third tranche to its policy directed at bolstering the regions.
I remember making a submission at the time that immigration policy was going to be the bull in the China shop, and when Labour and Greens were formulating policy, and that the system and administrative structure as it stood was not good for purpose – reliant on sustained growth for an economic benefit (and all its associated ticket clippers), rather than sustainable growth for a healthy society.
You decide which has come to pass
We have this "According to MBIE, a total of 475,920 people were in this country on work, residence or student visas at the end of October, almost 10% of the total population and up 3.6% compared to the same time last year.
That included 202,917 people on work visas,187,164 on residence visas and 85,839 on student visas."
As someone earlier here said NZ imports cheap labour to allow marginal business to thrive, and undercut/suppress local wages. So we have business using govt. welfare to allow an increasing large portion of the pop. to only marginally exist/survive.
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/102752/work-visa-approvals-9-year-ago-residence-visa-approvals-128
I've always believed that if the only way a business, ANY sort of business can survive is by underpaying people a livable wage, then it is NOT a viable business. And the system we've designed/copied/stolen and continue to operate is reliant on all that (including what's usually an enterage of needless ticket clippers) will eventually fail. In fact the longer it's allowed to go on, the probability of a more disruptive (even violent) outcome is possible.
You can look at any of them where exploitative practices have taken hold – whether its a Chorus outsourcing to outsourcers, or supermarkets, or restaurant chains, or what's going on in the building sector – the system we've designed/stolen/copied/opted for has been one that enables all that.
And now that people are beginning to wake up to it all (some politicians included), it's designers/plagiarists/adherents to the current economic orthodoxy are feeling a little uneasy – as they should be.
It'll have to run its course a little longer however. It's probably a little bit too late for Jacinda to get out her Mark Richardson index finger and wave it the directions where deserved. I just hope she gets another term so that a little more of her transformational ' and 'kind' vision' (Christ I hate that word) is progressed. (I just watched Q+A and the interview with Tame. I think she's got the message)
There's still quite a bit of that low hanging fruit across various portfolios she'd be able to fall back on, but she better be quick
Brexit –
Boorish is sugaring the pill before the workers realise just how sick they will be after Brexit.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2019/nov/29/buy-british-boris-johnson-promises-more-state-aid-for-jobs-after-brexit-video
Boris was possibly in the drama club when he was at uni. If not he still hankers to perform and clown in the footlights, though not as perceptively as Monty Python. Boris is a snake of a different order.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2iHwcNj1wM
22/11 Report on meeting of Parties.
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2019-50525245 : General election 2019: Sturgeon says indyref2 needed because of Brexit
Something happening involving building – a step up, hooray! But the Marlborough Council had not been given a handout so they rubbish it. Could that be what is behind the obstacles put this Council put in the way of tiny houses? The Council might like developers with whom they have buddy relationships?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/404394/cavalier-builder-fined-over-five-unconsented-tiny-homes-in-backyard
Options = how the council can gouge everything possible from you. Next big issues in Marlborough will be unconsented treehouses and illegal rain water collections.
Building consent rules are there for very good reasons. This guy was a builder so is basically some kind of scam artist if he doesn't think the rules apply to whatever he was building.
Tiny houses can be great but there definately needs to be some law changes to allow for them without jeopardizing public health or the local communities that they will wind up going into. For example, any log burners should comply with fire safety (indeed the whole tiny house should) and be compliant with the most stringent air pollution standards in NZ (alternatively, compliant within the district or otherwise permanently removed).
Maybe only one THOW should be allowed on a property at any one time unless at a specified and consented site. Consent fees must be applied to all THOW to pay for oversight and compliance costs but perhaps at a reduced rate subsidised by government and the taxpayer to help get people into housing. Suitable financial or othet deterrents could be applied to deter breaches (e.g. dumping of sewerage or of rubbish, illegal water connections or electrical connections).
Not keen on the most stringent air pollution standards for logburners. It makes them incredibly expensive – not to construct, but for the manufacturer to recover their certification costs. And it's a nonsense, with road traffic contributing a huge proportion of the suspended particulate matter in city air. It's things like this which drive up cost without increasing value that need to justify themselves before being imposed with all the weight of local authority. Because of their small size tiny houses typically use the smallest logburners, and don't make excessive use of them – or the occupants would roast.
I agree that having the most stringent air pollution standards would probably make all current tiny log burners ineligible as it is so expensive to get certification. However, in some places (depending on local weather, geography and type and quantity of solid fuel burners) winter air pollution regularly exceeds the WHO maximums for PM 10 particulate sizes in addition to other sorts of air pollution. I think everybody should have some basic constraints on the pollution that they create – whether you live in a big house or a tiny house, similarly for car exhausts or agricultural or industrial or anything else.
I don't have any references for the above statements about PM10 but the info is easily found on regional council websites such as ECAN Environment Canterbury.
There are larger size very low emmision burners but no tiny ones yet that I know of in NZ. I don't know what the solution is to heating a tiny home is but if it was to be located in a city or town with winter pollution issues surely they could either go gas or electric heating.
This leads me back to my main concern – the complexity of regulating for this relatively new type of housing and the unintended problems caused by no or poor regulation.
It's certainly tough in places like Christchurch when there's a temperature inversion layer roofing over the smog in winter. But the vehicle particulates are as much tyre dust as exhausts. Both tiny houses, and larger roads, are better screened by vegetation. Breaks the wind, reduces noise, and soaks up a proportion of undesirable matter.
There certainly need to be rules about tiny houses but you sound too rigid. There needs to be an area where there are allocated places for them to go, perhaps a leased spot where there are services to hook up to.
Greywarshark – I was being a bit provocative but I do think there need to be some really well-thought out law changes – in my opinion people with tiny houses should bear some of the cost of compliance otherwise others (ratepayers and the rest of us) will have to bear the burden of any negative effects and the cost for the extra burden on infrastructure etc.
One of the great benefits of tiny houses is the flexibility of where they can be placed so some THOW "villages" would work and be useful but they could also be placed on private property.
One of my concerns is unintended consequences e.g. unscrupulous landlords set up multiple substandard THOWs on a property and rent them out at high prices.
I am actually really pro tiny houses and really want them to work for everybody including the communities that they turn up in.
Well I feel like you but just wanted to emphasise that the approach is too negative at present with some Councils needing to set up reasonable protocols for differing areas and types of scheme.
I BEE
T(h)e Earl of East Bluff.
Where the why meets the for sure.
Firstly, for my First One opinion on hot Mike of the day: Laws and Orders.
If you, ewes, me, myself and I ain't dun or said nuffin' wrong, we've got nuffin' to worry about.
Wha ?
Edit:
This from Bowalley Road on P the drug to beat all drugs, that reaches parts of you that other drugs never found. Sounds like shit, but that word isn't strong enough to convey how bad it is.
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2019/11/a-bi-partisan-commitment-to-x-ing-p.html
For thinking people to read and be aware of. A different sort of setback from what we have encountered so far, which are legion. Those of us trying to keep an overview, can we be as positive as possible, while not ignoring the things going on, or we'll get too cast down; I will anyway.
When I first read this comment I thought that you were replying to "whetherreport" at comment 6.
It seemed pretty appropriate to that comment somehow.
It could well have applied to me (and my intro post), but I don't know if this was what he (greywarshark) intended his post to highlight.
Besides, I'm can be a crazy writer without the use of such products, but by comparison you could liken it in a way.
You remind me of somebody…
He just can't stay away.
Well Greywarshark
here's our regional community wish-list for ‘father Grant Xmas’
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1912/S00005/ceac-wants-funding-for-rail-freightpassenger-services.htm
Letter to – Grant Robertson Labour finance Minister.
Dear Grant, – Our NGO has represented the community since 2001 on issues of community environmental and residential public health and wellbeing; quote;
“In association with other Community Groups, NHTCF and all Government Agencies since 2001.
• Health and wellbeing.
• East Coast Transport Project”
Today 2nd December 2019,
the Labour Party has announced that a large infrastructure funding will get a big increase now.
All of the press in in a buzz over the reported infrastructure funding boost that will be made here.
Our east coast communities also now await the funding boost to our regional Gisborne/HB rail freight/passenger services that need to be made here.
National had decimated our regions rail services during their time and had left these regions without rail services for 7 long years since 2012.
end;
Abridged;
So Labour In the year of refection and in mirth we wish you a merry Xmas and a very successful shining 2020.
" a very successful shining 2020.".
And I'm sure he wishes you the same thing. May any rain that falls on you be golden.
I’m afraid that any shining that goes on next year will be, for most people like the film of that name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shining_(film)
Gee Alwyn it's not like you to be so negative.
I usually are the holder of that cup, but we need to believe will get better as the human spirit claims we do or we become despondent disturbed and depressed but I hope this 2020 does become better for everyone.
Merry Xmas to you too.
And thank you kind Sir. And a Merry Christmas to you.
However I must apologise for the description of the rain. A friend who saw it has pointed out to me the other, rather unfortunate, meaning to "golden rain". I had completely overlooked it and I really didn't mean to wish that on you.
Still, I am a little cheered by the CB poll that has just come out. I now see why Grant was so keen to get out some "transformational" projects like doing up the toilet blocks or suchlike at the schools. He would have known from his parties own polls what was coming up on the CB poll and anything must look better than the last two years of failure when going into the summer break.
I’m always puzzled as to why people seem so easily buoyed or depressed by poll results, particularly CB polls of all things. Seems to me they have a problem. I often wonder whether they also believe horoscopes or read them with slight smile, just in case there’s a kernel of truth in there somewhere 😉
The "why" has never bothered me so much as the "how". The rollercoaster can't be healthy.
There we go again 🙁
Where is that NGO of yours registered and what is the name/URL of its website?
Do you know that that astroturfing gets banned here on TS? If you don’t know what astroturfing is I’d suggest you look it up.
This? https://www.bizdb.co.nz/company/9429043063611/
Although lots of community groups aren't registered anywhere (which is valid).
Ta
I couldn’t find it in the Companies Register of the NZ Companies Office although they clearly claim to be an NGO and a company. I’m probably looking in the wrong place.
It doesn’t let them off the astroturfing hook; this has been alleged here previously and I think there is an element of truth in it. Apparently, it is just one person and his family, not a genuine community group. All I’m after is evidence to the contrary.
Some people state (in error more usually) that they are an NGO when they actually mean to state that they are a non-registered NFP (not for profit) which as Weka, pointed out, could be anyone or anybody.
You allude (justifiably) to the expectation by the wider public along with social media contributors and readers that when identifying as an NGO, he/she/it holds him/her/itself out as being an identifiable, non government organisation.
Indeed, most limited liability companies are NGO's too.
The issue you raise is quite valid. I just wish that representatives of/from various communities would get their acronyms sorted.
Thank you.
The link that Weka provided suggests that they are indeed registered but I could not confirm that!?
What you describe is a deceitful online behaviour AKA astroturfing. Politicians are not the only ones who should be held to a high(er) standard.
I'll give you the details in the back end.
As pointed out by Weka, it appears to be a legitimate New Zealand Incorporated Society and where incorporated societies are allowed to be part of (say a shareholder or stakeholder of) another entity such as a company.
This is sometimes where the NGO expression can be misinterpreted whereby they wish to assert that they are not connected to government (central, regional or local) but that they may still derive some benefit from a commercial operation not being associated with government.
Most usually, in New Zealand they will simply state themselves to be INC or INCP to avoid confusion. Sometimes the term; “incorporated group” will suffice.
I'm ok with a single person and their family running a community group, but I agree I wouldn't call it an NGO (which has a more formal status).
However, CEAC is as a registered Incorporated Society, and that means there are rules around members and such. I'm not going to link, but on the face of it, it seems legit to me.
Got an message from a mate in China saying that pretty much every banks in his city is having what we would call a BANK RUN. Traffic is stalled, while people madly trying to get their cash out of their banks. It's been happening for days on end, and now police and military are standing outside the banks. His bank accounts have been frozen and he's been told he can not take any money out of China.
https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3039563/guo-shuqing-watchdog-chinas-us40-trillion-banking-and
do you know what triggered that?
Nov 14 2019 Australian Financial Review https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/china-regulators-move-to-defuse-jitters-after-two-bank-runs-20191114-p53aju
Nov 14 2019 https://www.caixinglobal.com/2019-11-14/cx-daily-chinas-bank-regulators-try-to-defuse-bank-run-jitters-101483162.html
This from June 2019 from reuters – https://www.reuters.com/article/china-market-banks/china-introduces-risk-hedging-tool-for-bank-debt-amid-market-jitters-about-smaller-lenders-idUSL4N23H271
This from March 2019 – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-20/chinese-banks-record-fundraising-signals-industry-jitters
what triggered it?
Triggers are going to be somthing for historians weka. Could have been the the fact other banks have collapsed or been taken over by the state. Or it could be as simple as a rumour. We going to have to wait to learn what triggered this.
Blowback from the Social Credit program is a possibility too. I've been told by people who are there that your bank card not working is often the first sign your rating has taken a hit, or your public transport card.
thanks adam, I wasn't sure how that worked. Is the reason for it less like to be known because it's China, or would this happen elsewhere too? (a run starts and the cause isn't necessarily known).
I didn't have time to read it but put the links and dates. There has been uncertainty since March this year. So what triggered it at that time is relevant too.
That's concerning, did they say how wide spread it is? Military outside banks and frozen accounts…..whats going on.
Edit: Would it be because of the new daily cap when withdrawing offshore? https://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2126252/china-puts-us1500-daily-personal-cap-overseas-bank-card
Cheers for the link. Interesting reading, $40 trillion is a massive financial sector, the exploitation potential would be enormous.
And what up with the recent news about having to register ones phone with facial id…
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-50587098
Yeah he been told he can't take any money out. This is different from the daily cap, he glad he was being paid in US dollars into a account in Japan.
How wide spread, not sure, another mate said he hadn't seen any runs, he is living in a major city. But another mate in a rural area says the Runs have been going off and on for about a month now.
So I wonder what future alternatives for the People's Republic of China banking system?
Maybe it will be the first really significant major economic nation to move away from cash entirely, except at very low (village type) level, more at small value barter alternative than anything else.
How about their centrally managed financial institutions (that is, those banks and other financial service institutions aligned to the Central Party) announcing the widespread launch of their own crypto-currency system backed by the thousands and thousands of tonnes of gold reserves (real gold, that is) which they apparently have squirreled away?
Not sure if it's connected but here, Northern Thailand ,there were more that what's seems usual Chinese changing many big bricks of Chinese notes for baht.
been happening for a month or more apparently.
https://news.bitcoin.com/another-bank-run-highlights-chinas-brewing-financial-crisis/
one positive is the chinese banking system is isolated…but they are our biggest customer
I have been looking into what is being done with recycled plastics now. In the North Island. good for fence posts.
For instance: https://www.recycling.kiwi.nz/solutions/soft-plastics/products
https://www.futurepost.co.nz/