It’s a conspiracy by socialist elements in the press to sabotage the leadership prospects of the person best equipped to become National’s next leader after Key …
A toss pot blue nose national party member getting drunk and rude at Hamner Springs – how surprising. It is in fact the only thing these arseholes do well…… be an arsehole
The statement came after allegations emerged that Gilmore called a waiter at the Heritage Hanmer Springs who refused to serve him more wine a “dickhead”, handed over his business card and made a comment along the lines of, “Don’t you know who I am? I’m an important politician”.
Considering National’s fixation of who people are I’d say that that was perfectly accurate summation of what actually happened and what was said.
Hope this wont damage his plans to be PM, he’s got what it takes to lead National clearly, but like all their other losers, running a country would be a another disaster for the future.
Andrew Riches revealed that Gilmore, a National Party backbencher, not only made the comments reported to date, but also threatened to have Prime Minister John Key get the man fired.
Riches said he had been happy to let the matter lie, but had been incensed by Gilmore trying to “shift responsibility” for his poor conduct with a “half-hearted apology”.
Riches confirmed Gilmore make the comment to the Heritage Hanmer Springs hotel waiter along the lines of, “Do you know who I am. I’m an important politician”.
Riches revealed Gilmore also threatened to have the prime minister’s office intervene and end the waiter’s employment.
“By the time this incident occurred, the remainder of our party had left the restaurant and were not connected to these events in any way. I consider attributing blame to any other person to be completely unjustified,” he said.
John Key has received an apology from Gilmore and he says that’s the end of the matter.
Of course it is. Gilmore in his drunken state let a large cat out of the bag. That is, if someone crosses Key, he’s not beyond destroying the person’s career or getting them sacked! It certainly doesn’t surprise me!
Hey . . . c’mon, what’s the fuss? Its not like Gilmore is the National Ltd™ Associate Spokeshole for Health noisily getting pissed while enjoying the hospitality of the tobacco industry by blowing cigar smoke into the face of strangers at a rock concert before getting into a punch up. This guy’s an amateur . . . eh, Jonathan?
The sense of entitlement that some Nats have..
Sources close to the Heritage Hanmer Springs hotel said Gilmore called a waiter a “dickhead”, handed over his business card and made a comment along the lines of “Don’t you know who I am? I’m an important politician.”
“Important politician.” Now thats an Oxymoron. And judging from the reports then the Oxy should be dropped, and what do we have? Just some lowly back bench sprat politician, who is overinflated with his own sense of self importance, IE being a Moron.
I am sure there used to be a retreat for rehabilitation out there somewhere – was closed in 2003, though it would appear it should be considered for reopening…
Shameful behaviour from Radio New Zealand this a.m.
During the live interview discussing youth rates and collective bargaining involving the Supermarket duopoly in New Zealand, RNZ showed just how pathetic they have become.
All because facts were being broadcast to the people, the interview got shut down mid-syllable.
If RNZ are questioned on the behaviour, I predict they would say it was for the time share consideration of the next vital interview. What was the next vital interview? Horse trials at Badminton! An exceptionally crucial and relevant topic that undoubtedly affects the future of New Zealand and obviousy deserves more attention than the oppression of youth and non-unionised workers.
RNZ, fast becoming the Fox News of the South Pacific
It was a bit abrupt. Sounds like he was told to pull the plug when she started on a tangent about the benefits of unionism in general, rather than sticking to this particular example.
The really disturbing thing though is that it appears this employer, while not planning to use the youth rate, is looking to cut all existing wages down to the adult minimum.
and that is the precise moment when the host abruptly and unprofessionally cut the interview off.
All that had been mentioned was the two to three dollar difference between the wage levels in the collective contract and the isolated and increasingly vulnerable employees who work for the other hand on the pantry door.
really not a good look from our Public Broadcaster
Yeah I would have enjoyed hearing a much longer in depth discussion about the benefits of union membership and how it relates to this issue too. There are many, many discussions that could have been had on many topics related to this event.
However this is soundbite media.
You stray from the immediate topic at hand and it’s over because you can’t be easily slotted into the preordained narrative. Especially after 4 minutes of primtime.
Yes it’s dumb, yes it’s unhelpful, but it’s also very well understood. The union representative, as a professional, should have known better.
No, I’d prefer longer discussions in the media because it takes time to explore complex issues. In a soundbite format people are only really able to discuss things that are already widely understood.
That not only puts a great limitation on the range of subjects that can be discussed and linked together, but over time it also has a sort of negative exponential effect. How do you learn anything if you only get to hear people talk about things you already know?
That’s how people end up like you and burt and big bruv.
“In a soundbite format people are only really able to discuss things that are already widely understood.”
reminds me of the new improved google search, image search in particular
[we will show you a wide selection of results harvested from a diverse field of data which once we have done our bit will basically tell you what you have already looked at! Oh did you want to discover something you did not already know? Sorry, we don’t do that any more]
imagine your old fashioned card catalogue of your public library,
now imagine the percentage of total cards you may have once looked at,
now imagine that is all you are ever allowed to access ever again and you get the picture,
or not as the case may be
The government has already flouted two of the UN’s Human Rights.
.#12 the right to privacy
#20 the right to assemble.
What ‘s one more?
I wonder if we’ll hear the corporate media talk about ‘big brother state’after all that nonsense we had to listen about nanny state.
Well if they (unions) were banned then it’s “Herr Fuhrer” ShonKey Python. New Zealand would not stand for it. The result is obvious. A vast majority of New Zealanders would physically stand up in defiance of “Herr Fuhrer” and the security forces called in to put them down. It would be a constitutional assault justifying sharp fightback.
There is a class war going on. Fundamentally the warring parties are (1) an entitled, born to rule but not on account of breeding, and (2) the rest of us.
Pus eventually explodes outwards and dribbles away, giving relief. This will happen. There are all the signs. ShonKey Python Rules !
Llanthanide.
Then he shouldn’t have asked her a question so close to the end of her time. I thought he was thoroughly unprofessional. I would like to see her interviewed on Campbell Live.
Yes Lanthanide I am sure we are all aware of that which is obvious and well understood, but interviews are rarely cut off so abruptly, never mid syllable and never without an apology or such like from the host. What we heard this morning was kill switch journalism and it was wrong, unprofessional and a little worrying when we project to 2014.
I’ve heard them do it before on Morning Report, and also on Checkpoint in the afternoons. Not too often, but it does happen occasionally. In this case Geoff did say “thanks for speaking to us” (or similar) and she carried on anyway; most people are polite enough to stop talking at that point.
Seems it’s only a big deal when it’s a topic you care about, so clearly RNZ must be biased, when actually the most obvious answer is simply time constraints.
I really believe I am not being unjustly selective in my interpretation of what I heard.
It was kill switch journalism, it was rude and it was damned unncessary considering the snail like pace of the Badmintion event interview that followed it.
I didn’t hear that particular Radionz interview. But if they have booked someone to give a report on the Horse Trials where wer may be winners also, then they are bound to be fair to the respondent speaking about it. They won’t get co-operation or be able to present the range of topics planned if they go too long over time on one.
I don’t think that comparisons with Fox are justified.
“I don’t think that comparisons with Fox are justified.”
For dramatic effect I was applying an obvious exaggeration by comparison to illustrate the everdiminishing quality of news content that is being excreted from our Public Broadcaster.
Imagine another two to five years of government intervention and control of the Christchurch CBD….. Already the move back is sagging and build costs skyrocketing. People and businesses are saying right now “no thanks, we’ll stay put”. The only people and buildings in the CBD will be Council and government offices – not overly exciting.
On top of that of course the blueprint sought to “shore up” land values byt heavily restricting land use, so speculative land prices are through the roof.
Upshot of this interference equals slowing the rebuild to such an extent that it may not even happen. The donut ghost town.
the risk is as real as this morning’s dawn. don’t count on the sparkly new city folks
It’s been obvious that this was a slow motion train crash from the start.
The moment you let so much time elapse and let the insurance companies gait the tempo of activity, and allow businesses, jobs and families to wither on the vine and go away, you’re fucked. Declining population base, declining rates base, declining morale.
The people adding to Christchurch now don’t see Christchurch as a new home.
Yep. I wonder whether the earthquakes and subsequent demolition of pretty much the entire CBD has been too much. The whole act is too massive for a population to take. The job of rebuild too big. The timeframes too long. It may be that we have lost forever one of our cities (as the CBD and Chch were).
VTO – My contention has always been, and will remain, that there was NO intention to rebuild Christchurch, to any standard which would create a desireable *second city*.
I expect that agenda was set from the get go, and I don’t see Christchurch being allowed to have any remnants of the elected council, anytime soon either!
There have been many agendas. One notable one, which suspiciouns were raised about and confirmed recently with a talk with a senior banking person in the city…… the blueprint acted to shore up land values in the city so that owners and lenders on that property wouldn’t dip out financially. One clear agenda enacted. Fact.
And as long as the derivatives markets continue unabated, there is no end in sight to the schemes which will be dreamed up, to *shore up* markets, of all kinds. The potential losses, from all forms of speculative gambling, have to be propped up, by more conventional lines of business, until the time is right to collapse of course!
What this translates into, is suffering, misery and so on, for the overwhelming majority of people, regardless of where in the world they reside!
It isn’t just a case of ‘suspicions’ over the Frame and Anchor projects being designed to shore up land prices in the designated ‘retail precinct’ – it was admitted from the origins of the Blueprint.
Don Miskell, somewhat naively, seemed overjoyed that CERA’s economists not only approved of a ‘Frame’ but then proceeded to expand its proposed width markedly – and all in order to increase land values in the remainder of the city. Miskell saw it as ‘win-win’ (economic benefit in terms of land values and ‘environmental benefit’ in terms of the so-called ‘green frame’).
The argument was that only by reducing land supply artificially could the ‘critical mass’ of investment drive recovery. As you pointed out in another comment, reports now are that it’s had exactly the opposite effect – of course this was predictable, but, presumably deliberately, had been denied until now.
It was a remarkably bold, duplicitous, agenda-driven process from the get go. I’ve blogged several times about the process and am (over)due to do another.
On the broader question, I tend to the view that the government did indeed also see this as an opportunity to castrate Christchurch politically and disempower its population in order to ensure the ‘economic goldrush’ for the province’s resources (including but not restricted to water) would proceed and accelerate, only meeting ineffectual, unorganised opposition from stressed people being pulled in a hundred different directions and having few formal avenues to engage in the political decision making process.
Dismantling communities, destabilising locales, encouraging ‘sprawl’, importing transient labour and all of the other socially fragmenting features of this planned ‘recovery’ serve the political right – and, frankly, crony capitalism – extremely well.
The fewer natural opportunities and structures there are for people to form common interests the better, for the right. This is known instinctively by most right-wing politicians and, by many of them, it’s known quite explicitly (e.g., wedge politics, divide and conquer, etc.).
I presume you’re responding to vto but I think this link to the Central City Blueprint reveals that vto’s contention about the aim of increasing land values is no conspiracy theory. On page 35 it reads:
“The Frame in tandem with zoning provisions, reduces the extent of the central city commercial area so that the oversupply of land is addressed. It will help to increase the value of properties generally across the central city in a way that regulations to contain the central core, or new zoning decisions, could not. The Frame helps to deliver a more compact core while diversifying opportunities for investment and development. The Frame allows the Core to expand in the future if there is demand for housing or commercial development.
Is the central city blueprint a ‘quality link’? If not – and I understand why you might be wary of it given its glossy nature – here’s an article in which Don Miskell is interviewed about how the frame came to be.
“We looked at the map and thought, well, Latimer Square is 80m wide. Let’s lengthen that all the way up to the river.‘
Hesitantly they put their suggestion to the CCDU and were astounded by the response. “They said great idea. But no. Not nearly wide enough. And that was their investment guys!”
Miskell says this is where the advantage of having all the experts in the one place really showed. Cera’s economics team could see angles that Blueprint’s architects and urban planners could not imagine.]
The economists said a much fatter park strip – one a whole 220m, or an entire city block wide – would have the double benefit of creating green amenity in that part of town while also mopping up the excess land.”
Couple good posts there mr puddleglum. The “investment guys and the economists”, who effectively delivered that scenario to Christchurch (and how many of them maybe 3 or 4 or more?), have of course caused the current malaise.
It is the old story of outsiders thinking they know better. And Wellingtonians no doubt of course too. And the old story of having people who don’t pay the bills make the decisions – or rather having absolutely no input from the people who do pay the bills and live in the place. Example “having all the experts in the one place really showed. Cera’s economics team could see angles that Blueprint’s architects and urban planners could not imagine”
For fucks sake, the economics team, the architects, the urban planners…..
And now it continues – apparently tomorrow the Press has the 50 Power People in Chch and it is dominated by people from outside Christchurch (government through cera eqc and of course the ecan fuck).
The power should be resting with the people who live there, not elsewhere.
This is fundamental.
It was described immediately post-earthquake throughout the media as one of the most important components of a recovery.
It’s amazing how easily it can happen. The pattern seems to be that a core group (relatively small) have a very clear goal/agenda. They then package it in a way that they can entice and recruit to their project a penumbra of professional ‘gnomes’ who, for all sorts of reasons, commit to the process.
These ‘gnomes’ – ‘good’, professional people, technocrats, experts, etc. pursuing their own careers and limelight – can conjur in their minds all sorts of worthy reasons why what they are doing will, ultimately, benefit the masses, even if what they are doing so thoroughly excludes the masses.
I imagine they genuinely don’t think there is an agenda from the ‘core’ group that is at odds with the interests of the ‘masses’ – largely because it serves the ‘gnomic’ class’ interests to be in denial about any such agenda. To acknowledge such an agenda would cause unbearable cognitive dissonance and, potentially, exclude them from such an exciting – often career-enhancing – ‘Big Project’.
It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for many of these people. It must be quite intoxicating so far as the social status it offers to them and the sense of making an ‘impact’ on the world.
It all highlights what an amazing city central Christchurch was. Which should highlight to all other communities that what they have in the scape, the buildings, the people, the routes and byways, the lanes and streets, the bridges, intersections, schools, theatres, restrooms, garages, trees, old trees, shops and hotels, the acknowledgements and hellos and nods and handshakes all in a space borne from the natural growth of a population, is something to treasure. It is a life, a culture, a tradition and heritage, a haven, home, workplace, meeting place, it is all of these things done to a a state that only long time does…………….
Your comment makes no sense, TC. Perhaps you were trying (and failing) to be humorous?
Mosquitos are a delivery mechanism, not the cause. Malaria, and the others listed, are diseases of poverty, as I’m sure you actually know. Very few cases of TB in Remeura, as far as I can tell. So, in a time of austerity, it’s hardly a surprise that impoverished neighborhoods, cities and countries see a lift in cases of diseases related to pisspoor living conditions.
Rather than take the default right wing view of the poor, why don’t you try being contrarian?
Well, I’ve got my money on the changing environment causing malaria borne mosquitos to expand their territory and growing antibiotic resistance to be causing the spread of Malaria as opposed to austerity measures.
You’ll note I only mentioned malaria and didn’t mention TB or the other listed diseases as well as the fact I haven’t taken any view of the poor, left or right, so I’d say your comment is a bit of a strawman.
Well, austerity could plausibly (meaning clearly pulling this out of my arse) result in decreased public health funding for projects such as education campaigns about standing water, delayed treatment and neglected prophylactic treatment, and localised pest eradication schemes.
So there is actually a reasonable theoretical link between austerity and malaria, regardless of the actual vector of the organism.
“The harms we have found include HIV and malaria outbreaks, shortages of essential medicines, lost healthcare access, and an avoidable epidemic of alcohol abuse, depression and suicide,” he said in a statement. “Austerity is having a devastating effect.”
It apparently data mines an array of historical case studies from a range of countries to come to the conclusion that, from a public health perspective, people’s circumstances, wellbeing and health can improve even in economic downturns so long as austerity is not used as a policy tool. When it is, public health takes a big hit.
The British commenter this morning I think Matthew Parish, said that Ed Milliband came poorly out of a recent interview. He said that Labour would alter VAT I think he said that they would drop it for a year. When asked where he would get the Billions of pounds that would be foregone he dodged the question, and couldn’t come up with a definite plan to manage the Budget. It doesn’t look good for British Labour.
Labour all around the world are timid about making a simple statement that the allocation of wealth in society needs to change from the top end to the middle.
The trouble was that his timidity seemed to stem from a lack of any plan to meet the gap between receiving present income from VAT and the sudden loss of it.
There’s a hole in the bucket dear Liza dear Liza – Henry has to fix it with a straw. Is that the strawman that gets mentioned on this site quite often? I’m trying to keep amused with anything that comes to mind as the ship appears to be steadily sinking and most people are reacting by being sadder or madder or both. Let the musicians play diverting songs!
Its madness…there is a massive thieving under taxed financial centre in London…that and reversing the Tories income tax cuts…plus UNCUT UK have quite a few ideas too…I mean this stuff is not rocket science.
City of London, can only be considered *under taxed*, if it is part of the jurisdiction which HMRC lords over!
Should City of London, or more accurately the corporations/institutions which a registered there, be outside the jurisdiction of HMRC, then whatever taxation is paid, can only be deemed, appropriate!
That will be the same Matthew Parish who recently told Kathryn Ryan that Margaret Thatcher was the most important post-war British Prime Minister and he would know since the highlight of his career as a Tory MP was being her loyal letter opener.
Gawd, coming back to civilisation every now and then leaves moi dumbfounded at manwomankind and its perverted ways. For something to take you back to the raw beauty of nature and its brutal honesty check this http://www.surf.co.nz/tv/977 I posted it here some time ago but it has reared its head as a repeat on this other site. Go wide screen and lose yourself lest you get lost in the wrong world…..
And to think when the World becomes absent of people, the ocean will still be surging and tumbling and foaming away according to its own agenda. Magnificent joe.
Press Release: Sue Henry Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby
“Say NO to democracy for salivating property developers.”
“There will never be positive advancements for the public majority of the Auckland region as long as we have political party ticket monopolies sitting in the Council Chamber,” says Sue Henry Spokesperson, for the Housing Lobby
“The faces may change ever three years while both party tickets play ‘pass the parcel’ and bulldoze through the failed ideology of housing intensification from the 2004 ‘Central Sector Agreement’ and former ARC ‘Regional Policy Statement’ .
“It is scandalous the way both tickets have extended this housing intensification proposal deep into the heart of well-established residential areas, ignoring vigorous community opposition,” she continues.
“We need a fresh approach away from slums and leaky chilly-bin houses.
Whose interests are being served?
The public majority or salivating property developers?”
Well, if we go the way that National wants – the land bankers, the banks and the oil companies and a few others that will benefit from the inflated costs that come with sprawl but not the people of Auckland.
If we go the other way, which we really don’t have a choice about, the people of Auckland and not the land bankers, the banks and the oil companies. Actually, the banks will win no matter what happens because they get to print money.
By 9 May 2013 – I should get my Privacy Act reply as to whether or not I am one of the 88 New Zealanders who has been unlawfully spied upon by the GCSB.
For those who are interested in our country being clever and getting business and enterprise going and getting jobs and lots of working people getting wages to a reassonable standard instead of seeing NZs being represented cows’ sweet faces (the Jersey ones I mean with long eyelashes) in large advertisements all around the place, well…
There was an interesting interview on Radio NZ this morning with a woman who has spent about ten years in New York and come back here to live and she has looked at how the ORs (Overseas Residents) are treated back here. 24,000 come back each year, recently anyway. And are their ideas, their expertise etc being welcomed, embraced and utilised?
For more exciting details try Radionz 9 to Noon this Thursday the 2nd, if you can get on to the Radionz site, and once there on to the details of the interview. I couldn’t and I don’t have all day to get the full information.
But this woman has good stuff that needs to be beard.
Maori TV have posted the film on their site and have the rights to show it 5 more times — we will at some point, release the film on DVD as it has strong educational potential. However, if I can eke out the time! we intend to edit a feature version for the NZ International Film Festival (about 70 mins). As always making documentary, one always has heaps of footage left on the cutting room floor and it would be good to incorporate more aspects of the story, and let it breathe a little more. TV tends to clip along at the faster pace while cinema can take its time.
Thanks for all the support.
John Lancashire (see last para) giving comments about our dire biosecurity lack-of-system in Radio NZ Rural News today Thursday 2/5. Midday Rural News for 2 May 2013 News from the rural and farming sectors. (7′40″) http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ruralnews
He was excoriating about it (good word – we should be using it a lot with political degenerates as we have now). He also seems to be talking factually and his judgment seems sound. Apparently the latest money-saving conflation of government work and responsibility is to bring together Biosecurity and Biodiversity. Both of which he thinks are vitally important and need separate monitoring and understandings.
We are so full of shit in this country. It seems to become more obvious daily from what we hear coming from people who have wormed their way into positions of power and supposed interest in serving the country and the citizens. I don’t know if the rough measure so often used of 80/20% applies but it seems to me that the reliable and thoughtful people are down to the smallest minority. We need to change so much – get responsible people in power – how?
Serious weaknesses identified in NZ’s biosecurity system
from Nine To Noon on Friday 1 March 2013
John Lancashire, immediate past president of New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science; and Rob Thode, a Te Puke kiwifruit grower whose orchard was infected with PSA.
Duration: 21′30″ Play (Windows) Play (Other) Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3
It’s getting vomit inducing having to listen to these self-interest groups explaining how unfair it is that their income stream plans are being disrupted. It’s as if God has told them it’s their right to fleece electricity users ffs.
There’s plenty of other ‘shares’ to gamble on, and there are even casinos around too.
Vomit inducing is right. It’s more than a little disheartening that basically nobody in the MSM is calling them on their BS. The whole thing has really underscored how economically-far-right NZ has become. On a positive note, I suspect that it won’t matter what National etc say, most people get this issue and realise that National is only concerned for shareholders and no-one else.
Delivery days probably should be cut as more and more mail becomes electronic but, in saying, there are still people (elderly for example) who might require a full service.
And burt, being the idiot and economic ignoramus that he is, fails to understand the problem. The problem being that the decline in physical mail has brought about the fact that the volume can no longer support the legal requirements of 6 delivery days per week.
He also failed to read the article – it seems that the bank is doing fine but it would do better with the government investing more in it. It seems that burt is so stupid that he doesn’t realise that a successful business requires ongoing investment.
Hey Draco, did you know it is possible to point out misunderstandings or incorrect statements without saying things like “burt is so stupid” and “eing the idiot and economic ignoramus that he is”.
TheContrarian, in fact you may not be seeing the whole picture. Conservatives often lack the cognitive ability to understand logical challenges to their opinions. In such cases, emotional approaches may yield better results.
Take the mass of resources available to schools for combating that archetypal wingnut philosophy, racism, for example:
…videos and films that are realistic and present authentic characters can be effective tools. Students are drawn to characters who experience real feelings about the impact of intolerance. “Heroic” characters represent role models whose positive attitudes or behavioral changes can be emulated by students. These tools should be used with the intent to have students identify and empathize with such characters and facilitated discussions and debriefings can reinforce the negative effects of prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination. In many instances the most effective media tools are those that were not explicitly designed to “teach about prejudice and discrimination”.
The study then presented participants with a real-world choice: With a fixed amount of money in their wallet, respondents had to “buy” either an old-school lightbulb or an efficient compact florescent bulb (CFL), the same kind Bachmann railed against. Both bulbs were labeled with basic hard data on their energy use, but without a translation of that into climate pros and cons. When the bulbs cost the same, and even when the CFL cost more, conservatives and liberals were equally likely to buy the efficient bulb. But slap a message on the CFL’s packaging that says “Protect the Environment,” and “we saw a significant drop-off in more politically moderates and conservatives choosing that option,” said study author Dena Gromet, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
This is basically where burt is at. As far as he’s concerned anything state owned is bad and so he will treat as such even if doing so hurts him.
He also failed to read the article – it seems that the bank is doing fine but it would do better with the government investing more in it.
Yes… lets extract some more tax payers funds to prop up a business that’s having trouble in a competitive market… Better still – lets kill off all competition and mandate state control over the sector… Seems to be the right approach for electricity – why not banking ?
Question: Has there ever been a year when KiwiBank didn’t require capital to stay operational and fund all that TV advertising?
Advertising that it’s NZ owned and looking after the best interests of NZ by sucking up tax payer dollars in some grand charade that it’s competitive and making a difference to the behaviour of the “big banks” that just keep recording massive profits while “our bank” needs capital from tax payers ?
Those apologies came after one of his dining companions, Christchurch lawyer Andrew Riches confirmed he’d left a note at the hotel the following morning apologising for Mr Gilmore’s behaviour.
Mr Gilmore allegedly called the waiter a “dickhead” when he refused him more wine and gave him his business card saying something like “Don’t you know who I am? I’m an important politician”, The Press reported today.
It has also been suggested this morning that Mr Gilmore told the waiter he would tell the Prime Minister’s office about the waiter’s behaviour and have him sacked.
Mr Riches this afternoon confirmed to the Herald he’d heard Mr Gilmore use words to that effect to the waiter.
Mr Riches also said he was disappointed that Mr Gilmore had apologised for his group’s behaviour when it was “absolutely” his own behaviour that was in question.
“It’s a shame because I thought this could just lie, he could apologise and that would be the end of it, but to sort of blame everyone else!”
He told the Herald that two of the four in Mr Gilmore’s group had left by the time of the incident.
“It was because most of the group had already left, he was cut off service, he did the old, “do you know who I am, I’m an MP”.
If you read the article carefully. he’s not really taking responsibility…
“As a group of diners our behaviour was at times boisterous, and I sincerely apologise for any offence this may have caused to staff and/or patrons”.
No individual apology for his own specific actions, which have been outlined in some detail.
Just a general apology on the part of the group.
If he does not apologise fully, this story will keep running.
He hasn’t even apologised for them either. “I apologise for any offence caused” is a Clayton’s apology. If he means it he’ll apologise for his own behaviour not what he imagines to be someone else’s state of mind.
PS: The same apology, in fact, that Little and Mallard offered Collins; a gesture of contempt 🙂
Yup. A letter has been sent to Duncan Garner from Andrew Riches, one of the Hanmer group.
And Garner makes a suggestion to John Key to get rid of him.
It’s not a good look.
While “some inappropriate comments might seem to have been made”, they had been apologised for, he said. – Herald
Yes but not by him. Must have caught that infection from his Leader?
The Chartered Financial Analyst Institute yesterday told the Herald Mr Gilmore was not a member, although he listed membership as part of his list of educational and professional qualifications on his parliamentary web page.
And yeah, that’s a Clayton’s apology. Two strikes, I’m sure there’s a third in there somewhere.
Do you notice how Matthew Hooton always uses the term the Green/Labour axis?
He is clearly trying to control language and introduce new slogans for the right?
1. The use of axis, which has negative connotations because this was the term given to the German alliance in World War 2.
2. By using Green before Labour, he is trying to wind up Labour supporters.
Forget Hooton, – he is nothing more than tool in the box of the estabishment, as soon as there is no more use for him, he will be on the scapheap.
Does that make me feel good, no , not really, Hooton is a human being too, but has chosen sides, and now has to see it through to the inevitable conclusion.
Use of the word axis, is as you point out, Paul, and Draco, also!
looks like the MP’s aren’t the only drunks
This has to be the worst edited articles ever in the Herald, or was it simply unproofed.
It is just a long string of variants of the same handful of sentences.
Looks like it mickysavage. It suggests the swinging voters are swinging more wildly than ever. Not a good sign. They’re ripe for NAct manipulation and we’re seeing this happen with increasing frequency. Eg.. the far left wolf-whistle.
To my knowledge no senior Labour politician has seriously addressed this load of crap. They ignore it at their peril.
What polling needs to be written off? The polling where a 4 point bump for labour still takes them only half way down to their previous election result?
But that’s part of it – Will labour be in government next year, with shearer as pm?
I think the chances are pretty good. And really, unless shearer’s campaign is akin to Brash or Banks, I’m not sure Cunliffe (assuming that was your ABC reference) would make the slightest difference
There’s always secret challenges brewing. It’s politics after all.
“Will labour be in government next year, with shearer as pm?”
Nope.
“unless shearer’s campaign is akin to Brash or Banks”
And you think he’s better, how? Don’t bother, I’ll just photoshop an extra plank into his head shots and we’ll all agree he’s bad, but not in a good way.
“I’m not sure Cunliffe (assuming that was your ABC reference) would make the slightest difference”
Them who made the decision must take the blame, and abc will know this, hopefully sooner rather than later. Fuck judgement day, that’s so last week. I’m waiting for consequence day.
You remind me of fundies expecting armageddon to happen on date XXXX.
Every time things go badly, it’s a portent of imminent doom.
Every time things improve, it’s a blip and armageddon has been rescheduled for the morrow.
I’m not “lowering expectations”. My expectation is a labour/green government.
There is nothing in RM, colmar brunton, or Reid Research (TV3) trends to indicate that this is not a likely outcome in 2014.
No matter how desperate you are for labour to fail or the world to end.
Well I can imagine that on a billboard – “Not as bad as Brash or Banks”. The irony will surely capture that vital hipster demographic. Maybe Shearer and Robertson should start growing handlebar moustaches, wear enormous spectacle frames, skinny trousers and and drink Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
Actually, this could go really well: “I’m David Shearer, you’ve probably never heard of me.”
the Nats PR clobbering machine is just warming up over NZ Power, and Labour counter punches have been light weight. I’m with Al1en, this ride is going to be rough. Go Greens, go Mana.
Well it does suggest the tv3 poll was a better reflection of the sentiment than tv1. Guess well have to wait for the next round from them. Of course if labor was doing well post power policy, maybe they could tell us their numbers. Who polls for them these days anyway now umr is gone (assuming they are?).
Actually it doesn’t suggest anything of the sort. TV3 claimed that National would be able to govern alone on their last poll results. Gary Morgan makes the point that even with this bounce in the Roy Morgan, Labour and its coalition partners would be more likely to form government than National.
Colin Craig’s Clint moment? Bomber just asked him on Citizen A, about Auckland’s Transport funding issues, “What would Jesus do?” Craig collapses with a snorty giggle – no idea.
You seem to be asking questions based on the premise that these boards and their directors wish to build strong ongoing businesses. And yes, some do.
But with many others, it helps to view their activities from the standpoint of conducting a bank heist in progress. Then you’ll find that their activities make far more sense.
I think it’s a good thing that John Minto is standing as an Auckland Mayoral candidate – he will be able to promote Mana policies which will help focus on the most vulnerable of the 99%.
That will also help to raise the profile of Mana, and their policies before the 2014 General Election.
As I did in 2010 as an Auckland Mayoral candidate – I will be focusing on how the $upercity has been a corrupt corporate coup – and how to take back the Auckland region from the control of the 1%.
I tried to warn you folks as an Auckland Mayoral candidate in 2010 – that the Auckland $upercity would be a SUPER RIPOFF – a super public trough, for fewer but bigger private snouts.
Where was I wrong?
Have YOUR rates gone UP or DOWN?
______________________________________________________________________________
Why I stood as an Auckland Mayoral candidate in 2010:
Proven track record, as a successful Occupy Auckland Appellant (in my own name) in fighting the corporate 1% who run the Auckland region, ‘like a business – for business’:
EVIDENCE in the following High Court document – exposing the role of the unelected Committee for Auckland, of which the CEO for Auckland Council, Doug McKay is a member.
(So – whose interests is he serving?
The majority of citizens and ratepayers – or his corporate mates?)
PS: My defended hearing in the above-mentioned Court case on the charge of ‘willful trespass’ for occupying John Banks electoral office on 18 June 2013 – has been adjourned until 27 September 2013 🙂
A panel, chaired by Key’s scientific adviser Sir Peter Gluckman, advises of the impact climate change could have on the Antarctic, and thus on NZ and it’s economy.
The panel recognised that of all the various potential risks New Zealand faced, a dramatic change in Southern Ocean currents driven by changes in the Antarctic ice sheet, “would have far more dramatic influence on our economy, through changes in the climate and rainfall patterns, than any of us had realised”.
“Therefore, given that we are uniquely committed and associated with Antarctic research, and given our leadership in that area, it was self-evident that to protect our future as a country, we need to understand what’s going to happen in the Southern Ocean far better than we do now,” Sir Peter said.
Despite concerns about the issue, it attracted relatively little funding in the current financial year.
A cabinet paper by Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce calculated that only $4.1 million was spent on research areas connected with the deep south challenge in 2012/13, out of the $523 million provided through contestable funding and crown research institutes. Those figures did not include research funded through the tertiary education sector and other government agencies.
“A young unskilled person is disadvantaged in competing against more experienced and trained people in the labour market. Starting wages help young people gain experience and better equip them to be able to compete on stronger terms.”
So where does the more experienced and trained person go ? And wait a few months/year and see these organisations that are currently commenting that they will still continue to pay min wage will be?
‘Young’ is a superfluous word. E.g. an any, particularly and older, unskilled, inexperienced pak’n’save stacker is easily as disadvantaged as young unskilled, inexperienced pak’n’save stacker when competing against more experienced and trained people. That’s why there are pay grades.
Why do we let these people making excuses that lead to lower wages based on age get away with this?
One of the challenges of working on illegal wildlife markets, is you don’t really have scope to talk about your research into illegal wildlife markets. There is some stuff though that willbe coming out on Asiatic black bears in China, and before Covid19, I was delving more into rhinos. Which ...
Some are surprised at this sudden brain implosion on the part of both Michelle Boag, former National Party President, and the National Party in general, in exposing the private, confidential details of COVID patients. Others…? Let’s be blunt: not so much. Too many of that Party have long operated with ...
Michelle Boag - Former National Party PresidentWhen Todd Muller decided not to discipline Hamish Walker for his horribly racist press release last week, you had to wonder if his lack of proper leadership had something to do with a shared belief system? After all, the whiteness of the blue “team” ...
On Twitter today, lawyer Felix Geiringer asked a good question: why are MP's exempt from the Privacy Act? The Act imposes its obligations on "agencies", and s8 of the 2020 Act states that this term does not include... a member of Parliament in their official capacity The 1993 Act, ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhat was the climate and sea level like at times ...
So now we know, beyond all doubt. The National party has no interest in joining the “team of five million” in our fight against the pandemic but its priority is to take every opportunity it can to damage the government. The cynicism is breathtaking. It was prepared to leak the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters The massive dust storm that formed over the Sahara Desert in mid-June invaded the southeastern U.S. June 25-28, bringing dangerous levels of air pollution, low visibility, and colorful sunsets. The air pollution event over parts of Texas and the Gulf ...
In 1987, as a British Labour MP, I was elected to the Shadow Cabinet by my colleagues and was asked by the party leader to direct Labour’s campaign in the general election of that year. The election was to take place at the height of Mrs Thatcher’s dominance and we ...
National MP Nicola WillisHousing, which I would argue is a fundamental human right, has long been a problem in New Zealand. Not only do we have some of the most overpriced houses in the entire world, much of the housing stock is substandard and therefore affects not just people’s health ...
If the government has not lined up behind a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum the way some reformers would have liked, one entirely laudable thing it did do was commission some science around the public's choice.That science landed today, in the form of the report from an expert ...
Associate Professor Sara WaltonAt the heart of the discussion on opening up our borders is the dichotomy of health and the economy – both of which are actually intertwined, like many things with our economy, as this epidemic has shown.If we think about our country as a system, ...
This is a re-post from Carbon Brief by Josh Gabbatiss This year will see the largest ever drop globally in both investment and consumer spending on energy as the coronavirus pandemic hits every major sector, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The crisis is accelerating the shutdown of older fossil-fuelled ...
A short opinion piece – Friday 26th June 2020 Whilst our Government has treated many financial victims of the current Covid-19 virus with appropriate generosity, the same cannot be said for those of the two earlier “epidemics” in NZ. The “Covid-84” virus (also called “Rogernomics”) spread systemic greed, with the ...
Everyone deserves a a decent life. We know this is possible with a fairer approach to income support and tax Read the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Poverty Action Plan here ...
After a long break, the government is back inserting secrecy clauses in legislation. This time its the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (No 3), which in its clause allowing Ministers to exempt purchasers of farm land from the usual rules also allows them to exempt an exemption from the publication requirement: ...
Over the past two years the government has repeatedly delayed a scheme to put cameras on boats to monitor Mew Zealand's pervasively criminal fishing industry. But it turns out that the industry actually wants cameras: Three of the country's biggest seafood companies have broken ranks with the rest of the ...
Louise Delany (public health lawyer)Health and emergency laws have played a critical role in this country’s successful elimination of community transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic. This blog details key aspects of the legislation and comments on issues around testing, payments by incoming travellers for quarantine costs, and mask use. ...
I like Andrew Curry’s succinct and insightful futures blog The Next Wave. His most recent post is about social change. In particular, the decadal-long periods usually required for changes in values. He highlights a 2016 paper by Inglehart and Norris, who examined whether economic insecurity or a “cultural backlash” ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Stop making sense: why it's time to get emotional about climate changeThe science has been settled to the highest degree, so now ...
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I think we can all agree that the mainstream media in New Zealand has a very different set of rules for the right wing compared to the left. While Labour and Green Party politicians don’t seem to be able to fart without it becoming a sackable offence, National and Act ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, June 28 through Sat, July 4, 2020Editor's Choice'2040': A funny, entertaining, upbeat climate documentaryA timely Australian documentary takes a 'solutions' approach, with the filmmaker inspired by visions of ...
Racist National MP Hamish WalkerEven before Todd Muller's coup ousted Simon Bridges by a single vote, it was patently obvious that the National Party promotes and stands for white privilege. In fact they’ve always worked to ensure the discriminatory status quo in New Zealand doesn’t change.So it’s no surprise that ...
Dave HeatleyZero community transmission. Just a handful of active cases, all in quarantine. New Zealand is in an attractive situation, at least compared to much of the world. The situation could be robust and enduring – or it might be fragile, just one border incursion away from a “second ...
Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people? When in doubt, centralise‘ has been a persistent theme in New Zealand public policy throughout our history. The current government is no exception. Here are some examples. - The regional polytechs have been ...
I wrote earlier in the week about the Scientology front organisations Drug Free World and Drug Free Ambassadors and their quite prominent role in anti-cannabis reform "coalition" assembled by Family First and a newloca branch of the American prohibitionist organisation SAM.It turns out Family First aren't the only ones helping ...
Nik GreenMuch of the public debate about the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has focused on the extent to which government regulations have restricted personal and business activity.Oxford University Blavatnik School of Government Here in New Zealand, the question of when to change Alert Levels dominated the ...
James Higham, University of OtagoUnprecedented border closures and the domestic lockdown have paralysed New Zealand’s $40.9 billion a year tourism industry. In the process, the vulnerability of the sector to external shocks and the tenuous nature of tourism employment have been exposed. While New Zealand’s handling of the pandemic ...
Raising The Bar: Would that the Prime Minister and her colleagues would listen as intently to what the people – as opposed to the power elites – are saying as the Greens. Were they so disposed, the popular clamour for a transformational post-Covid reset would be loud in their ears. ...
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A bit like a letter home. I have now been full-time at the University of Melbourne since 2019. Before that, I was 20 years at the University of Otago, Wellington. Indeed, I set up this very Public Health Expert Blog with Nick Wilson ten years ago. Now I am your ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections House Democrats have released a comprehensive report showing how – if they control the White House and both the Senate and the House of Representatives – they might move forward on climate change. Their “Climate Crisis Action Plan,” released June 30 by the ...
A ballot for three Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Electoral (Integrity Repeal) Amendment Bill (David Carter) Harmful Digital Communications (Unauthorised Posting of Intimate Visual Recording) Amendment Bill (Louisa wall) Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Bill (Judith ...
Not Ready: Todd Muller’s lack-lustre and self-contradictory performances offer conclusive proof that a political leader cannot be managed into competence. National’s new boss has Janet Wilson handling his media and Matthew Hooton writing his speeches. Both are highly professional political and public relations specialists, and Muller is lucky to have ...
Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, I have landed in hospital so am not able to do a current update on the NZ blog statistics. Let’s hope I can get back to this in good time. ...
It started as a family story, about a step-father who went out one night to break into an embassy in Wadestown, Wellington. John Daniell wanted to understand what his family had been part of when his mother and then step-father work for New Zealand’s Security Intelligence. He wanted to know ...
The Greens have shaken up the election campaign with the announcement of their radical poverty and action plan to reform welfare provision and introduce a new wealth tax for millionaires. It’s a big-thinking, controversial policy and has generated a lot of disagreement over how radical it is, whether it could ...
My house is currently supplied electricity by Meridian. As soon as I can change I will because Meridian spilled water to hike electricity prices. They got consumers to spend an extra $80 million on power unnecessarily. Clever them. The Electricity Authority has called their behaviour an “undesirable trading situation”, or ...
When Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly became the Labour Party leader shortly before the 2017 general election, she promised to lead a government of transformation. After nearly three years occupying the Treasury benches, health professionals working in public hospitals have been keenly waiting for transformational progress, including in the capacity and quality ...
Last night, One News ran a follow-up story to its Colmar Brunton poll results on the cannabis referendum, headed here as Government accuses big American anti-cannabis group of interfering in NZ politics.In truth it wasn't just the government: Justice minister Andrew Little, National's Shane Reti and the Greens' Chloe Swarbrick ...
When the government refused to put cameras on fishing boats to ensure fishers obeyed the law, Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash claimed that coalition partner NZ First (which has received large donations from the fishing industry) was not responsible for the decision. He has repeated that claim repeatedly since then. But ...
Heroic Evasions: Labour needs to be unequivocal in its communications with the electorate. Either it has a plan to prevent their fellow New Zealanders from falling off the economic cliff, or it doesn’t. Either it has a fiscal policy equal to the task of funding that plan, or it hasn’t. ...
Prof John Potter*Elimination has been an effective strategy for New Zealand in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic virus (SARS-CoV-2). Most other countries have not pursued this goal and are ignoring the opportunity even now. SARS-CoV-2 is not manageable by the influenza playbook; its longer incubation period makes tracing ...
This is a re-post from Weather Underground by Bob HensonAbove: This rainbow appears unusually low in the sky because it has formed early in the afternoon, rather than toward sunset. For a rainbow to form, water droplets must be present in the air in front of an observer ...
On Monday, Todd Muller gave an important speech to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, He spoke firmly about his belief in the need for foreign investment, for the public sector to partner with the private sector rather than boss it around and, crucially, demanded the government deliver a clear strategy ...
Todd Muller's first act on become party leader was to appoint an all-white front bench. This understandably raised eyebrows, so he is now apparently reconsidering caucus and list rankings. Which is obviously necessary, but there's still the underlying problem: National doesn't have a lot of Māori MP's. And the reason ...
Meridian energy has been caught manipulating the electricity market for fun and profit: Meridian Energy pushed up power prices by unnecessary spilling water from its south dams in December that could have been used for generation, the Electricity Authority has ruled in a preliminary decision. The authority said the ...
When the Christchurch murderer pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder and a number of other violent assault charges a few months ago, he effectively closed the door on what the public will know about the lead up to and commission of the event. His plea means that no evidence ...
Daphna Whitmore The Philippines is enduring one of the longest lockdowns in the world. For President Duterte the lockdown provides an opportunity to garner more powers and to push through a brazen assault on human rights. A new law called the Anti-Terror Bill has been passed under urgency and it ...
Hearing the Prime Minister castigate the Warehouse for laying off 1,000 workers after receiving $52 million in wage subsidies reminds me of the fabled frog who agreed to carry a scorpion across a river. The scorpion stings the frog halfway across, dooming both to drown. The frog cries “Why on ...
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It’s June 30th, marked as Asteroid Day by many people of an astronomical bent around the globe. On this date in 1908, early in the morning in a remote part of central Siberia, the sky fell in. Well, not literally. What happened is a substantially-sized lump of cosmic detritus ...
There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...
Don Franks Poverty, inequality – really – aren’t politicians paid to sort that stuff ? Why can’t they just get it together and come up with something fair and sensible? A cold rainy 2020 morning, a headline showed promise. “Green Party’s $8b plan would guarantee an income of $325 a ...
A guest repost by Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (CSLDF) staff attorney Augusta Wilson. Fundraising is not the objective of this article but readers may wish to know that CSLDF is currently conducting a summer fundraiser to support defense of research scientists and research integrity from anti-science interference by politicians and industrial interests. The COVID-19 pandemic ...
Helloy… My name is Todd Muller and I am the leader of the National Party of New Zealand. Many people come up to me on the street and ask me who I am. I’m often walking through Tauranga, or in a mall in suburban Auckland, or maybe even a farmers’ ...
The US state of Mississippi has finally voted to remove the Confederate emblem from its state flag. Good. Its appalling that it was put there in the first place, but even more appalling that it took so long to remove it. Its basicly as if a German Länder still had ...
No one could have predicted when David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill was passed by Parliament last November that the referendum required to bring the legislation into force would be held against the backdrop of a deadly global pandemic. Since then, the mounting tally of casualties around the world ...
Paul GoldsmithYou can often tell just how effective a progressive policy proposal will be by how much the right wing criticise it. The more socially beneficial, the more vitriolic and unhinged they seem to become.That was the case when the Green Party announced their Poverty Action Plan yesterday. The response ...
Back at the beginning of April, when we had much else on our minds, I wrote this post urging some caution in interpreting the results of the latest Horizon poll, conducted in February, on voting intentions in this year's cannabis referendum, which was paid for by Helius Therapeutics.I wrote that ...
Over the weekend the Greens made their first election policy announcement, and promised transformational change: a more progressive tax system, with new rates applying to incomes of $100,000 and $150,000; a new wealth tax on net wealth over $1 million; and a guaranteed minimum income to eliminate poverty. Its bold, ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industry New Zealand First is supporting calls by hunters and the New Zealand Tahr Foundation (NZTF) to halt a large scale cull of Himalayan Tahr by the Department of Conservation in National Parks. The calls are supported by a 40,000 strong petition and the ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First leader Winston Peters today scoffed at suggestions that a team of six political operatives have been dispatched to New Zealand to assist his campaign. ‘As President Ronald Reagan once said, ‘there they go again.’ ‘The clickbait journos can’t ...
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The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...
Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson is calling for the introduction of a Guaranteed Minimum Income to lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty and prevent more families entering into further debt with the Ministry of Social Development. ...
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Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP New Zealand First’s Fair Residency for Superannuation Bill passed its First Reading in Parliament today. The Bill makes a significant change to NZ Super by raising the minimum residency requirement from 10 to 20 years, after age 20. “Currently, a migrant of ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order A New Zealand First member’s bill in the name of Darroch Ball introducing a six-month minimum prison sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its second reading in Parliament. The new offence of "injuring a first responder or corrections officer with ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Deputy Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the launch of the new Criminal Cases Review Commission, gifted with the name from Waikato-Tainui - Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, announced in Hamilton today by Justice Minister Andrew Little. “New Zealand First has long believed in and ...
The Green Party is celebrating over $800m in new funding for green projects, which will get people into jobs while solving New Zealand’s long-term challenges. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is appalled that Meridian seems to have been unnecessarily spilling water from its dams to drive up its profits."While New Zealanders have been coming together in some of our darkest hours, we don’t expect power gentailers to waste water and ...
We wrapped up the first half of 2020 with a busy month, taking additional steps to support New Zealanders as we continue with our economic recovery. We rolled out targeted packages to support key industries like tourism and construction, helped create jobs in the environmental and agriculture sectors, and set ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has welcomed the appointment of Maurice Davis and his deep infrastructure and construction experience to the board of the Infrastructure Commission. Mr Davis (Ngāti Maniapoto), is the seventh and final appointment to the board led by former Reserve Bank Governor ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand’s click bait journalism is taking a turn for the worse, with yet another example of sensationalist, wilful-misrepresentation of the facts. “New Zealand First has worked constructively with its Coalition partner on hundreds of pieces of legislation and policy, and ...
The Green Party is today unveiling its Poverty Action Plan, which includes a Guaranteed Minimum Income to ensure people have enough to live with dignity. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Rotorua Museum redevelopment and Whakarewarewa and Tokorangi Forest projects will be accelerated thanks to a $2.09 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) boost, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
This week, we rolled out the next steps of our recovery plan, with new infrastructure investment, extra support for tourism operators, and a new programme to get Kiwis into agriculture careers. The global economic consequences of COVID-19 will continue to be a challenge, but we have a detailed plan to ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its final reading in Parliament today fulfilling a coalition agreement commitment. “This is an important step in saving the lives of New Zealanders and delivers a key coalition commitment ...
Whakatāne has been given a $2.5 million boost to speed up previously funded projects and create more than 450 jobs in the next decade. Of those, the equivalent of 160 full-time jobs could be delivered in the next six weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is in town to make ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $2.5 million to accelerate three infrastructure projects in Whakatāne, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This package is about ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is throwing his weight behind a bid by the Auckland Council to fast-track the more than doubling of the city's water allowance from the Waikato River. And he's coming out strongly against anyone who plans on getting in the way of this campaign. "It is my ...
The Green Party is thrilled to see changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that mean consents for large projects can be declined if they will have significant climate change implications that are inconsistent with the Zero Carbon Act and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Paris Agreement obligations. ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence The Royal New Zealand Navy’s new ship, Aotearoa, set sail for New Zealand on 10 June from the Republic of Korea, and is due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, announced Minister of Defence Ron Mark. “Aotearoa is the Royal New Zealand Navy’s new fleet ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters has today welcomed the Racing Industry Bill passing its third reading, creating the legislative framework for revitalising the racing industry while limiting the need for future government intervention. “For too long our domestic racing industry has ...
The Green Party has today put forward an amendment to the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill to ensure all people in prisons can vote in general elections. ...
The Green Party welcomes the decision to not proceed with Public Public Investment (PPI) delivery of Auckland’s light rail project and to instead run the process through the public service. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First List MP Hon Ron Mark welcomes the announcement of Provincial Growth Funding investment of $1.4 million to help secure the Wairarapa’s water supply. The funding boost will allow the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), and ...
New Zealand First list MP Mark Patterson has been selected to represent the party in the newly formed Taieri electorate at the upcoming election. Mr Patterson, his wife Jude and two daughters farm sheep and beef at Lawrence and Waitahuna. He previously stood in the Clutha-Southland electorate however boundary changes ...
Hon Shane Jones, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises A new ‘super depot’ to be built for NZ Post in Wellington will create around 350 jobs during construction, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises Shane Jones says. Shane Jones today attended a ground-breaking and blessing ceremony for the parcel-processing depot ...
Our strong economic management prior to COVID-19 - with surpluses, low debt and near-record-low unemployment - put us in a good position to weather the impact of the virus and start to rebuild our economy much earlier than many other countries.Now we're putting our plan to recover and rebuild ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Law and Order Recently released Police fleeing driver statistics have shown yet another increase in incidents with another record-high in the latest quarter. “This new quarterly record-high is the latest in a string of record-high numbers since 2014. The data shows incidents ...
New Zealand First MP Fletcher Tabuteau is pleased to be confirmed today as the party’s candidate for the Rotorua electorate. Speaking at the Rotorua AGM for New Zealand First, Mr Tabuteau said this is an election that is incredibly important for the people of Rotorua. “The founding principles of New ...
The Human Rights Commission’s PRISM report on the issues impacting people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) provides an excellent programme of work for future governments to follow, say the Greens. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the trans-Tasman bubble had not been jeopardised after aborder botch-upresulted in New Zealand having two active cases of COVID-19. On Friday, Mr Peters told RNZ's Morning Report he had heard from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison that borders for trans-Tasman travel would open by ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said today he was pleased the army was now running the quarantine and isolation process - up until now it has been the Ministry of Health. Peters told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that the army knew how to introduce and follow protocols and instil discipline. ...
The Coalition Government has approved the purchase of a fleet of Bushmaster vehicles to replace the New Zealand Army’s armoured Pinzgauers, Defence Minister Ron Mark has announced today. The new fleet of 43 Australian-designed and built Bushmaster NZ5.5 will provide better protection for personnel and improved carrying capacity. “The age ...
The Government’s three prevention frameworks to reduce family violence in Aotearoa were launched this week by Associate Minister for Social Development Poto Williams. The frameworks were developed in partnership with communities around New Zealand, and build on the work the Government has already begun with its new family violence prevention ...
The Government is pleased to confirm funding for improvements to radiology and surgical services at Hawke's Bay DHB, Health Minister Chris Hipkins says. "The Minister of Finance the Hon Grant Robertson and former Health Minister Dr David Clark approved funding for Hawke's Bay DHB’s redevelopment of their radiology facilities ...
• New funding for four beds at Napier’s Springhill Residential Addiction Centre • A new managed withdrawal home and community service, and peer support before and after residential care at Tairāwhiti DHB • A co-ordinated network of withdrawal management services throughout the South Island • Peer support in Rotorua and ...
Introduction, seafarers and POAL Good morning everyone, I am delighted to be online with you all today. Before I begin, I have to acknowledge that COVID-19 has disrupted the maritime sector on an unprecedented scale. The work of seafarers and the maritime industry is keeping many economies around the world ...
A $13 million investment from Government will create jobs and improve the resilience of the rail connection between Christchurch and the West Coast, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones and Regional Economic Development Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau say. The funding comes from the tagged contingency set aside in Budget 2020 for infrastructure projects ...
The Government is investing $761 million to assist local government upgrade under-pressure water services across the country, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. The announcement was made at the site of the water bore that was found to be the source of the fatal ...
Recognised Seasonal Employers and migrant seasonal workers stranded in New Zealand will be able to continue working and supporting themselves with more flexible hours and roles, says Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. The time-limited visa changes are: Stranded RSE workers will be able to work part-time (a minimum of 15 hours ...
The Government is making immediate short-term changes to visa settings to support temporary migrants already onshore in New Zealand and their employers, while also ensuring New Zealanders needing work are prioritised, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. We are: Extending temporary work visas due to expire by the end of 2020 ...
Professor Peter Skelton CNZM has been appointed as Chief Freshwater Commissioner and Alternate Environment Court Judge Craig James Thompson as Deputy Chief Freshwater Commissioner for the newly established Freshwater Planning Process (FPP). Environment Minister David Parker today also announced the appointment of Chief Environment Court Judge Laurie Newhook as the ...
Auckland Queen’s Counsel Neil Campbell has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Campbell graduated with a BCom and LLB (Hons) from the University of Auckland in 1992. He spent two years with Bell Gully Buddle Weir in Auckland before travelling to the United ...
The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to better enable the development and operation of commercial film and video facilities in Christchurch. The Proposal, developed by Regenerate Christchurch in response to a request from Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section ...
The Government has launched a bold plan to boost primary sector export earnings by $44 billion over the next decade, while protecting the environment and growing jobs. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today released Fit for a Better World – Accelerating our Economic Potential, a 10-year roadmap to unlock greater value ...
A new approach to prevent family harm that encourages greater collaboration across government and community groups is being celebrated at the opening of a new facility in Auckland. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today opened the Multi-Disciplinary Family Harm Prevention Hub Te Taanga Manawa in Lambie Road in Manukau. The facility ...
The Government has released a major new report on the options for relocating the Port of Auckland’s freight operations while deferring any decision on the issue. “That decision needs to be informed by policy analysis that is still to be completed. As a result it will be up to a ...
The history of Rāpaki is being restored through the inclusion of te reo in thirteen official place names on Te Pātaka-o-Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula and around Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō, the Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage, announced today. “I am pleased to approve the proposals from Te Hapū o Ngāti ...
Bookings for seats on Air New Zealand flights into New Zealand will be managed in the short term to ensure the Government is able to safely place New Zealanders arriving home into a managed isolation or quarantine facility, says Housing Minister Megan Woods. “Last week Air Commodore Darryn Webb and I ...
Grant Robertson has today announced the first major release of funding from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced at Budget 2020. “Today we’re setting out how $80 million will be invested, with $54 million of that over the 2020/2021 financial year for organisations from community level through to elite ...
The Government is maintaining current levy rates for the next 2 years, as part of a set of changes to help ease the financial pressures of COVID-19 providing certainty for businesses and New Zealanders, ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “New Zealanders and businesses are facing unprecedented financial pressures as a ...
Small businesses are getting greater certainty about access to finance with an extension to the interest-free cashflow loan scheme to the end of the year. The Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme has already been extended once, to 24 July. Revenue and Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says it will be ...
A package of 23 projects across the country will clean up waterways and deliver over 2000 jobs Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Environment Minister David Parker announced today. The $162 million dollar package will see 22 water clean-up projects put forward by local councils receiving $62 million and the Kaipara ...
Tena koutou katoa Nga tangata whenua o tenei rohe o Pōneke, tena koutou Nau mai, haere mai ki te hui a tau mo te roopu reipa Ko tatou! Ko to tatou mana! Ko to tatou kaupapa kei te kokiri whakamua Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa Welcome. I ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $1.5 million to ensure QE Health in Rotorua can proceed with its world class health service and save 75 existing jobs, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development, Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. The PGF funding announced today is in addition to the $8 million ...
A new programme, which sets a firm course for the Building and Construction sector to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has been announced by the Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa. “A significant amount of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from the building and construction sector. If we’re serious ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing more than $7.5 million in Northland ventures to combat the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment is going to the Northern Adventure Experience and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced significant funding for Auckland’s Northcote College as part of the first wave of a new nationwide school redevelopment programme to upgrade schools over the next 10 years. The $48.5 million project brings the total investment in Northcote College to ...
The Government has opened an urgent response fund to support schools and early learning services to get children and young people back on track after the Covid-19 lockdown. “While we are seeing improvements in attendance under Alert Level 1 Ministry of Education data shows that attendance rates in our schools ...
The law to boost the economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19 by speeding up resource consenting on selected projects has passed its second and third readings in the House today. “Accelerating nationwide projects and activities by government, iwi and the private sector will help deliver faster economic recovery and ...
Five port-related projects in Whanganui will receive a $26.75 million Provincial Growth Fund investment to support local economic recovery and create new opportunities for growth, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This is a significant investment that will support the redevelopment of the Whanganui Port, a project governed ...
Whanganui’s Sarjeant Gallery will receive an investment of up to $12 million administered by the Provincial Growth Fund to support its redevelopment, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The project is included in a $3 billion infrastructure pipeline announced by Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Shane Jones yesterday. ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing nearly $2.5 million into three Te Ara Mahi programmes to support Manawatū-Whanganui jobseekers and employees to quickly train and upskill, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Up to 154 local people will be supported into employment within the first year by these ...
This morning I have formally tendered my resignation as Minister of Health, which was accepted by the Prime Minister. Serving as Minister of Health has been an absolute privilege – particularly through these extraordinary last few months. It’s no secret that Health is a challenging portfolio. I have given ...
Scholarships for 57 early-career agricultural emissions scientists from 20 developing countries is another example of New Zealand’s international leadership in primary sector sustainability, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. Mr O’Connor, announcing the scholarships today, says hundreds of applications were received for this fourth round of the CLIFF-GRADS programme (Climate, Food ...
A project to help rejuvenate the Horowhenua town of Foxton will receive a Provincial Growth Fund investment of $3.86 million, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This funding for the Foxton Regeneration project will be used to make the well-known holiday town even more attractive for visitors and ...
Moa bones and other sub-fossil remains of extinct species are set to have improved protection with proposals to prevent the trade in extinct species announced the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today. “We have lost too many of our native species, but these lost species, such as moa, remain an ...
The Government’s free and healthy school lunches programme moves south for the first time creating jobs for around 30 people in Otago and Southland. “Eighteen schools with 3000 students are joining the programme – 11 have already begun serving lunches, and seven are preparing to start during Term 3. This is ...
Thousands of Kiwi jobs and investment in New Zealand productions will be protected through a screen sector support package announced today by Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford and Minister for Broadcasting Kris Faafoi. The package also includes investment in broadcasting ...
The Government has established a new $10 million fund for the domestic events sector to help save jobs and protect incomes as it recovers from the impacts of COVID-19, Minister of Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. This funding from Budget 2020 follows talks with the event sector designed to ...
The Government has taken another step in its commitment to making sure New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump with the introduction of legislation to improve competition in the retail fuel market, says Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods. “The fuel market study that this Government ordered ...
New Zealand has joined a global initiative that aims to enable all countries to access a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced today. The COVAX Facility was recently launched by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The Alliance includes the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank ...
The US Supreme Court’s recent decision on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has been discussed mainly in terms of its impact on the Trump administration’s immigration policy. It’s a demonstration of the importance of the court’s role in America’s separation-of-powers regime. And it says something about the current relationship ...
A man in an Auckland managed-isolation facility decided he’d like to slip through the hotel fence and get some groceries. Justin Giovannetti on what we know about his ill-advised adventure.He’d been back in New Zealand for four days and staying in the heart of Auckland, with the roar of Albert ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison will take a proposal to Friday’s national cabinet to slow the influx of Australians returning from overseas. Morrison’s proposal followed this week’s request from Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan that international flights be ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua has created an action station petition to oppose the application for the proposed Dome Valley Landfill. Find the petition here: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/protect-our-kaipara-moana The Petition asks that the Mayor of Auckland, Auckland Council and the Minister for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Kaine, Associate Professor UTS Centre for Business and Social Innovation, University of Technology Sydney In late March, the Victorian government put private security firms in charge of hotel quarantine in Melbourne. This happened without a formal tender process. It was a ...
By RNZ News Health Minister Chris Hipkins says New Zealand’s latest case of covid-19 will be charged for breaching isolation and visiting a central Auckland supermarket last night. Hipkins said the 32-year-old man, who arrived from India on July 3, left his managed isolation last night to go to the ...
Claire from McLeod’s Daughters died in 2003 and Tara Ward is still not over it. The unexpected death of Claire McLeod is the most tragic event you’ll see on television. It was a miserable day when that white Brumby bolted across the road and made Claire drive off a cliff, ...
Luckily for Labour, Jacinda Ardern's leadership in the Covid-19 crisis is a much more powerful political weapon than bread-and-butter issues about the country’s future. ...
IrrigationNZ believes Government investment in the water sector is a step in the right direction – but calls for a broader strategy to encompass all water infrastructure, including storage and policy development. ...
The race relations commissioner, Meng Foon, has just sent the following letter to leaders of New Zealand political parties.Tēnā koe, Talofa, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Kia orana, 你好, Namaste.My role as Race Relations Commissioner is to promote and enhance harmonious communities in our diverse nation. As the leader of a political ...
National MP Hamish Walker's unconscionable privacy breach has already ended his career and that of a party stalwart - but his caucus colleagues may also be cursing his terrible judgment come September 19, Sam Sachdeva writes A young, promising politician gifted one of the safest seats in the country and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato The leak of the confidential personal information of COVID-19 patients by Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker and influential party figure Michelle Boag has been highly embarrassing for the National Party. In less than 24 hours ...
An extract from The Quick and the Dead, the new memoir by Palmerston North pathologist Cynric Temple-Camp.Books editor Catherine Woulfe writes: Strong recommend for this medical memoir, the second by the most excellently-named Cynric Temple-Camp after his 2017 bestseller The Cause of Death.Ostensibly a collection of yarns and case studies, after ...
National Party leader Todd Muller has spoken about the controversy around Hamish Walker at a roading announcement this afternoon, saying the National MP's exit from politics was "the only option". ...
National Party leader Todd Muller has made another roading announcement this afternoon, as the controversy around the National MP who leaked Covid-19 patient details continues to unfold. ...
"Linking funding to commitment from councils to reform the investment, planning and delivery of their water assets is a welcome move," says Infracom (New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga) Chief Executive Ross Copland, in response ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dani Larkin, Associate Lecturer in Law, University of Newcastle Gunnai-Kurnai and Gunditjmara woman Lidia Thorpe was recently elected by Greens party members to replace the former party leader, Richard Di Natale, as senator for Victoria. Thorpe is the first Indigenous woman to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charlene Zietsma, Associate professor, Pennsylvania State University In May this year, we were convening a dream conference: 140 like-minded academics on a Greek island for three-and-a-half days to work on a topic we cared about – organising sustainably. We recognised the contradiction ...
“The Government’s long-awaited funding boost and water reform agenda is New Zealand’s best chance to create a high performing water sector for New Zealanders,” says Infrastructure NZ CEO Paul Blair. “The Government has today announced it will ...
Yesterday evening I received a letter from Leader Todd Muller, asking the National Party Board of Directors to urgently meet and consider some very serious, publicly reported, issues concerning Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker. The Board met at midday ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua is working with Marae, hapū, Post Settlement Governance Entities (Te Uri o Hau, Ngā Maunga Whakahī, and Ōrākei) and Fight the Tip to lead a hikoi in Tāmaki Mākaurau (Auckland) on Friday 17 July 2020. It is the position ...
The country's latest case of Covid-19 will be charged for visiting an Auckland supermarket last night, Health Minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed. Hipkins said the 32-year-old man, who arrived from India on July 3, left his managed isolation last night to go to the Countdown supermarket on Victoria Street in central ...
The Government has formally confirmed that it will not use any of the current or future serology tests to assess how widespread the Covid19 disease has been in New Zealand. In answer to an Official Information Request by the Covid Plan B group, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marina Yue Zhang, Associate Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Swinburne University of Technology Only 40% of students in China who previously intended to study overseas still plan to, while just under 50% of those who had studied overseas plan to return to ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) welcomes the announcement of $761 million for Tranche One funding as part of the Government’s three waters reform programme, saying it provides a measure of financial assistance to councils as they consider ...
Latest from the Beehive The government’s economic engineers were hard at work yesterday. One minister was set on establishing a base for film production in Christchurch while – much more critically for the wellbeing of the nation – a cluster of others led by the PM were unveiling their grand ...
Recent shocks to our economy have shown that when it comes to knowing how to manage our money, New Zealand still has a long way to go. Having now moved on from my first illustrious job as a graduate tax accountant, a lot of what I learnt about tax in my ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the proposed removal of water services from local councils , but says that the new ‘Rolls Royce’ drinking quality standards risk lumping communities with the enormous costs of engineers' gold plating. Union ...
Auckland Action Against Poverty is launching a campaign to build commitment from Members of Parliament seeking to be part of Government to increase incomes across the board to liveable levels. The campaign launch will be held tomorrow, Thursday ...
As the settler government did in the late 1800s, it’s high time we erected a bunch of new monuments to the great people of this country (and maybe take some of the stink ones down). Ātea editor Leonie Hayden has some suggestions. Hundreds of heroic and revered ancestors proudly adorn walls, ...
New research from Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) reveals New Zealand women are significantly more concerned than their male counterparts about the impact of COVID-19, according to the new 2020 Unisys Security Index™. ...
“The Zero Waste Network Aotearoa is extremely pleased to announce that we will host a free, international online zero waste conference in December this year. The conference is called Our Zero Waste World Digital Summit . It will highlight zero ...
The High-profile former National Party president has resigned from her campaign and electorate roles for Auckland Central MP and National deputy leader Nikki Kaye. ...
Murray Chong has been selected as the New Conservative candidate for New Plymouth for the 2020 General Election. “I’m delighted to be the New Conservative candidate for the 2020 election. Having stood for another party in 2017, only to be let down ...
Michelle Boag has stood down as Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye's campaign chair for the upcoming election and no longer has any role with the party. ...
How did the bizarre story of Hamish Walker trying to leak confidential Covid details to media all play out? Radio NZ’s Jo Moir was one of the journalists contacted by the MP, and wrote this timeline. In an extraordinary move National Party leader Todd Muller has had one of his own ...
By RNZ News The opposition National Party leader says he has written to the party’s board asking them to remove MP Hamish Walker from the party after it was revealed he leaked private health information to New Zealand media. It was revealed yesterday that former National Party president Michelle Boag ...
COMMENT:By Nasya Bahfen in Melbourne Australia’s Victorian state government told returned travellers to quarantine for two weeks. Some broke the rules. It then paid for them to stay in hotels with security guards. Some of the guards couldn’t keep their dicks in their pants. Some of the returned travellers ...
Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas on ministerial resignations in the recent and middle-distant past, a new book from Judith Collins, and the reinvention of Simon Bridges.This episode was recorded on Tuesday morning, before news broke that Hamish Walker and Michelle Boag were behind the Covid-19 data leak.The Gone ...
Fonterra will be greeted by drums, cow costumes, placards and a pile of coal on Thursday morning, 9 July, as Extinction Rebellion Ōtautahi ask the question, ‘Why are Fonterra still using coal in a climate emergency?’ The group will be gathering ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bjorn Sturmberg, Research Leader, Battery Storage & Grid Integration Program, Australian National University Electric vehicles can help keep the air clean in our cities – as we’ve seen recently with the reduction of traffic through COVID-19 lockdowns – but they face two ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.Today’s contentNational Party revealed as source of Covid-19 privacy leak Audrey Young (Herald): National’s failures on patient leak from top to bottom (paywalled) Luke Malpass (Stuff): National leader Todd Muller ...
Troy Mihaka , local Wellington Conservation Volunteer, Arts Manager and LGBTQ+ Advocate announces candidacy in the 2020 General Election. Standing in the Electorate of Rongotai , Mihaka will be representing the Integrity Party of Aotearoa New Zealand . A political ...
As universities around the world slash jobs and courses in response to the pandemic, Victoria University of Wellington is signalling its intention to introduce sweeping austerity measures, a group of concerned tutors write. A response from Victoria University of Wellington is at the end of this column.So far, 2020 has ...
New Conservative is appalled by the lack of consultation provided by DOC to stakeholders in the management of the New Zealand Tahr herd by not following protocol and not allowing all stakeholders to consult on the plan proposed. DOC released its new Tahr ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Haskell-Dowland, Associate Dean (Computing and Security), Edith Cowan University In an age of isolation, video sharing platform TikTok has emerged as a bonding force for many. But recent headlines allege the service, owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance, is feeding users’ data ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kingsley Dixon, John Curtin Distinguished Professor, Curtin University This article is a preview from Flora, Fauna, Fire, a multimedia project launching on Monday July 13. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Sign ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Shulmeister, Professor, University of Canterbury CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dallas Rogers, Associate Dean, School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney A target of 70% private and 30% public dwellings is an accepted standard for public housing renewal projects in several Australian states. This level of private ownership is said ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Lacey, Senior Lecturer in International Trade, University of Adelaide When the United Kingdom completed its telecom supply chain review last year it gave a green light to Huawei by concluding that nationality-based bans did nothing to improve network security and could ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison M Joubert, Lecturer in Marketing, The University of Queensland Cancel culture — withdrawing support for public figures when they do or say something offensive — has become so widespread it was Macquarie Dictionary’s 2019 word of the year. A practice where ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Fastnedge, Lecturer in Advertising Creativity, Auckland University of Technology When the New Zealand government wanted a campaign to keep kids safe online, naturally it turned to a couple of naked porn actors to get the message across. Actually the government turned ...
A grassroots campaign has launched this week calling on political party leaders to support the implementation of a gender-balanced Cabinet with 50 percent women and 50 percent men in this year’s election. The many vital issues discussed each ...
Air NZ shares fall as quarantine capacity stops it from selling new international tickets for at least three weeks and as Melbourne goes into complete lockdown ...
A flood of Kiwis returning home from Australia has overwhelmed quarantine capacity. Bernard Hickey reports the Government is looking at bringing in cruise ships to expand supply and a quarantine booking system to further restrict demand. Meanwhile, there is now no space for new guest workers, tourists or students for the foreseeable future. ...
The National Party leader says he has written to the party's board asking them to remove MP Hamish Walker from the party after it was revealed he leaked private health information to media. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Scandal for MP after leaking confidential Covid data, new bookings for return to country put on hold, and Islamic Women’s Council release evidence of being ignored.We now know exactly how the leak of private information of all active Covid-19 patients happened. National ...
Opinion: While the investigation into the security of patient data may still find the Government wanting, a rookie National MP’s spectacular own goal has put the opposition in the firing line, writes Laura Walters Political gameplay 101: If you're trying to highlight that another political party shouldn't be trusted with ...
A new survey supports fundamental changes to the country's criminal justice system, but a parallel study shows many still believe in a punitive system, Laura Walters reports A new survey suggests strong support amongst Kiwis for fundamental changes in the resourcing and funding of the criminal justice system, as well as a ...
The Covid-19 lockdown has only confirmed how vital New Zealand’s early childhood sector is to the future of this country. Now is the time to bed in a systemic policy infrastructure to support resilient children, write three experts. The Early Learning Action Plan (ELAP), released in December 2019, was barely ...
Picked as a star by one of the great women golfers of all time, Wellington teenager Darae Chung is preparing herself mentally and physically to play overseas again. When 16-year-old Darae Chung travels around the country – and eventually around the globe again – playing golf, she will have the ...
He has been in the job less than a week, but new Health Minister Chris Hipkins is already making his presence felt on some critical Covid-19 issues, Sam Sachdeva writes When it was revealed Chris Hipkins would replace David Clark as Health Minister, some observers wondered whether the role may stretch him ...
Matteo Di Maio takes a look at New Zealand’s most expensive rare books. Anah Dunsheath from Rare Books in Auckland knows how you ought to take an old book off the shelf, and how you ought not to. Novices will just pull the book out by the top of its ...
The incoming government needs to wake up and have a critical look at the child protection monster that is Oranga Tamariki, writes Dr Ian Hyslop There is always risk of a chronic disconnect between the policy and operational arms of public service organisations. This risk is particularly acute in excessively ...
The genetic secrets of New Zealand’s predatory 'lion' have been revealed with the mapping of the stoat genome, and there's hope better, kinder ways of getting rid of the introduced killing machines might be found A stoat’s spleen, liquid nitrogen, supercomputers, and 18 months of international effort has led to the mapping ...
Auckland 'move the port' studies have averaged out to at least two per year over the last decade with almost every one of them throwing out a different option or result. ...
Open mike 02/05/2013 
One of the challenges of working on illegal wildlife markets, is you don’t really have scope to talk about your research into illegal wildlife markets. There is some stuff though that willbe coming out on Asiatic black bears in China, and before Covid19, I was delving more into rhinos. Which ...5 hours ago
79 Articles Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Six hundred years of South American tree rings reveal an increase in severe hydroclimatic events since mid-20th century (open access) Late summer temperature variability for the Southern Rocky Mountains (USA) since 1735 CE: applying blue light intensity to low-latitude ...5 hours ago
Some are surprised at this sudden brain implosion on the part of both Michelle Boag, former National Party President, and the National Party in general, in exposing the private, confidential details of COVID patients. Others…? Let’s be blunt: not so much. Too many of that Party have long operated with ...8 hours ago
Michelle Boag - Former National Party PresidentWhen Todd Muller decided not to discipline Hamish Walker for his horribly racist press release last week, you had to wonder if his lack of proper leadership had something to do with a shared belief system? After all, the whiteness of the blue “team” ...9 hours ago
On Twitter today, lawyer Felix Geiringer asked a good question: why are MP's exempt from the Privacy Act? The Act imposes its obligations on "agencies", and s8 of the 2020 Act states that this term does not include... a member of Parliament in their official capacity The 1993 Act, ...10 hours ago
So now we know, beyond all doubt. The National party has no interest in joining the “team of five million” in our fight against the pandemic but its priority is to take every opportunity it can to damage the government. The cynicism is breathtaking. It was prepared to leak the ...12 hours ago
Today’s content National Party revealed as source of Covid-19 privacy leak Audrey Young (Herald): National’s failures on patient leak from top to bottom (paywalled) Luke Malpass (Stuff): National leader Todd Muller found wanting in first real test of moral leadership Jo Moir (RNZ): How the Hamish Walker Covid-19 patient detail leak played out Mark ...14 hours ago
If the government has not lined up behind a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum the way some reformers would have liked, one entirely laudable thing it did do was commission some science around the public's choice.That science landed today, in the form of the report from an expert ...1 day ago
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Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people? When in doubt, centralise‘ has been a persistent theme in New Zealand public policy throughout our history. The current government is no exception. Here are some examples. - The regional polytechs have been ...5 days ago
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Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, I have landed in hospital so am not able to do a current update on the NZ blog statistics. Let’s hope I can get back to this in good time. ...6 days ago
When the Christchurch murderer pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder and a number of other violent assault charges a few months ago, he effectively closed the door on what the public will know about the lead up to and commission of the event. His plea means that no evidence ...1 week ago
Daphna Whitmore The Philippines is enduring one of the longest lockdowns in the world. For President Duterte the lockdown provides an opportunity to garner more powers and to push through a brazen assault on human rights. A new law called the Anti-Terror Bill has been passed under urgency and it ...1 week ago
There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...1 week ago
Helloy… My name is Todd Muller and I am the leader of the National Party of New Zealand. Many people come up to me on the street and ask me who I am. I’m often walking through Tauranga, or in a mall in suburban Auckland, or maybe even a farmers’ ...1 week ago
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industry New Zealand First is supporting calls by hunters and the New Zealand Tahr Foundation (NZTF) to halt a large scale cull of Himalayan Tahr by the Department of Conservation in National Parks. The calls are supported by a 40,000 strong petition and the ...1 day ago
New Zealanders deserve healthy rivers and lakes that are safe to swim in - but they have been getting worse for decades. That's why, with our latest announcement, we're investing in projects that will help clean up our rivers and lakes and restore them to health, within a generation. ...3 days ago
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...6 days ago
The Coalition Government has approved the purchase of a fleet of Bushmaster vehicles to replace the New Zealand Army’s armoured Pinzgauers, Defence Minister Ron Mark has announced today. The new fleet of 43 Australian-designed and built Bushmaster NZ5.5 will provide better protection for personnel and improved carrying capacity. “The age ...1 hour ago
The US Supreme Court’s recent decision on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has been discussed mainly in terms of its impact on the Trump administration’s immigration policy. It’s a demonstration of the importance of the court’s role in America’s separation-of-powers regime. And it says something about the current relationship ...50 mins ago
Residents in disgraced National MP Hamish Walker's electorate are shocked he's behind the leak of Covid-19 patient details to media. ...2 hours ago
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Nooooooo …
It’s a conspiracy by socialist elements in the press to sabotage the leadership prospects of the person best equipped to become National’s next leader after Key …
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8621657/Apology-over-MPs-flare-up-in-restaurant
Sure it wasn’t Reece Witherspoon in disguise?
Or a GCSB agent gone rogue?
The last I heard, they were all “rogue”
A toss pot blue nose national party member getting drunk and rude at Hamner Springs – how surprising. It is in fact the only thing these arseholes do well…… be an arsehole
I like how Aaron had a bottle and a half which leaves about half a bottle each for everyone else.
Still, he’s pretty sure it was one of the others being a drunk fool and not him. Sort of anyway, can’t really remember.
Yes, did the wine maths too and wondered. I imagine Aaron’s spent hours thinking how to come up with that pack of cover up lies. Pathetic.
He apparently feels some connection with Christchurch East. Drunk in a restaurant in Hanmer is about as close as he gets to there.
Imperator fish seems to have inside knowledge …
http://www.imperatorfish.com/2013/05/a-day-in-life-of-aaron-gilmore-mp.html
Considering National’s fixation of who people are I’d say that that was perfectly accurate summation of what actually happened and what was said.
Hope this wont damage his plans to be PM, he’s got what it takes to lead National clearly, but like all their other losers, running a country would be a another disaster for the future.
And it gets worse.
What a dick. Typical born to rule tory.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8621657/Lawyer-unfairly-tarnished-by-Gilmore
John Key has received an apology from Gilmore and he says that’s the end of the matter.
Of course it is. Gilmore in his drunken state let a large cat out of the bag. That is, if someone crosses Key, he’s not beyond destroying the person’s career or getting them sacked! It certainly doesn’t surprise me!
‘
Hey . . . c’mon, what’s the fuss? Its not like Gilmore is the National Ltd™ Associate Spokeshole for Health noisily getting pissed while enjoying the hospitality of the tobacco industry by blowing cigar smoke into the face of strangers at a rock concert before getting into a punch up. This guy’s an amateur . . . eh, Jonathan?
The sense of entitlement that some Nats have..
Sources close to the Heritage Hanmer Springs hotel said Gilmore called a waiter a “dickhead”, handed over his business card and made a comment along the lines of “Don’t you know who I am? I’m an important politician.”
A politician sure. Important? Best laugh of the morning.
Yes, the oxymoron is moronic. More importantly it demonstrates the out of touch Wellington beltway self centred mindset and ego of some MPs.
Of the people, for the people? Gotta be dreaming.
Gilmore ranks 54 within the National party… He will be gone at the next election.
He might not be ranked so low on the 2014 list.
Flattery through imitation, I think
Perhaps. On the other hand, it looks like it might be time to check who is next on the current list.
Ten percent ox, ninety percent moron
Nah Allen……..you missed out the 20% rhymes with ox starts with p.
“Important politician.” Now thats an Oxymoron. And judging from the reports then the Oxy should be dropped, and what do we have? Just some lowly back bench sprat politician, who is overinflated with his own sense of self importance, IE being a Moron.
Hanmer Springs
I am sure there used to be a retreat for rehabilitation out there somewhere – was closed in 2003, though it would appear it should be considered for reopening…
(Should be) fatally clanging ! That it should be at Hanmer Springs of all places ?
Was last in that spot 49 years ago. Hot pools etc. Great for kids.
You know what ? In the whole five days I took the waters there I never met a single drunken , entitled, prat.
Plenty of former drinkers taking therapy at the rehab that used to be there.
But not one entitled prat !
Shameful behaviour from Radio New Zealand this a.m.
During the live interview discussing youth rates and collective bargaining involving the Supermarket duopoly in New Zealand, RNZ showed just how pathetic they have become.
All because facts were being broadcast to the people, the interview got shut down mid-syllable.
If RNZ are questioned on the behaviour, I predict they would say it was for the time share consideration of the next vital interview. What was the next vital interview? Horse trials at Badminton! An exceptionally crucial and relevant topic that undoubtedly affects the future of New Zealand and obviousy deserves more attention than the oppression of youth and non-unionised workers.
RNZ, fast becoming the Fox News of the South Pacific
+1
It was a bit abrupt. Sounds like he was told to pull the plug when she started on a tangent about the benefits of unionism in general, rather than sticking to this particular example.
The really disturbing thing though is that it appears this employer, while not planning to use the youth rate, is looking to cut all existing wages down to the adult minimum.
and that is the precise moment when the host abruptly and unprofessionally cut the interview off.
All that had been mentioned was the two to three dollar difference between the wage levels in the collective contract and the isolated and increasingly vulnerable employees who work for the other hand on the pantry door.
really not a good look from our Public Broadcaster
Yeah I would have enjoyed hearing a much longer in depth discussion about the benefits of union membership and how it relates to this issue too. There are many, many discussions that could have been had on many topics related to this event.
However this is soundbite media.
You stray from the immediate topic at hand and it’s over because you can’t be easily slotted into the preordained narrative. Especially after 4 minutes of primtime.
Yes it’s dumb, yes it’s unhelpful, but it’s also very well understood. The union representative, as a professional, should have known better.
Is the reason you wanted to hear more about the benefits of union membership because you are currently unsure that it has any value?
No, I’d prefer longer discussions in the media because it takes time to explore complex issues. In a soundbite format people are only really able to discuss things that are already widely understood.
That not only puts a great limitation on the range of subjects that can be discussed and linked together, but over time it also has a sort of negative exponential effect. How do you learn anything if you only get to hear people talk about things you already know?
That’s how people end up like you and burt and big bruv.
So you were disappointed that Nat radio couldn’t be used as a machine of propaganda…got it.
Beautifully illustrated, thanks.
“In a soundbite format people are only really able to discuss things that are already widely understood.”
reminds me of the new improved google search, image search in particular
[we will show you a wide selection of results harvested from a diverse field of data which once we have done our bit will basically tell you what you have already looked at! Oh did you want to discover something you did not already know? Sorry, we don’t do that any more]
imagine your old fashioned card catalogue of your public library,
now imagine the percentage of total cards you may have once looked at,
now imagine that is all you are ever allowed to access ever again and you get the picture,
or not as the case may be
I hate people like you who want to outlaw trade unions and collective bargaining.
Its just around the corner folks, soon unions will be banned. I have been saying this since 2004.
Not sure unions can be banned.
Bill of Rights guarantees the freedom of association so you’d have to get around that first.
that one would want to is what is called a tell
The government has already flouted two of the UN’s Human Rights.
.#12 the right to privacy
#20 the right to assemble.
What ‘s one more?
I wonder if we’ll hear the corporate media talk about ‘big brother state’after all that nonsense we had to listen about nanny state.
Well if they (unions) were banned then it’s “Herr Fuhrer” ShonKey Python. New Zealand would not stand for it. The result is obvious. A vast majority of New Zealanders would physically stand up in defiance of “Herr Fuhrer” and the security forces called in to put them down. It would be a constitutional assault justifying sharp fightback.
There is a class war going on. Fundamentally the warring parties are (1) an entitled, born to rule but not on account of breeding, and (2) the rest of us.
Pus eventually explodes outwards and dribbles away, giving relief. This will happen. There are all the signs. ShonKey Python Rules !
Ignore that ConKing Response.
That woman Maxine Gay pretty much got her point across and was also attractively ardent in doing that.
Actually the radio does run on a schedule with allotted times for each story. She used her time up.
Llanthanide.
Then he shouldn’t have asked her a question so close to the end of her time. I thought he was thoroughly unprofessional. I would like to see her interviewed on Campbell Live.
Yes and no.
She was cut because the time was up, but she was cut mid syllable because she was about to embark on a tangential voyage.
Yes Lanthanide I am sure we are all aware of that which is obvious and well understood, but interviews are rarely cut off so abruptly, never mid syllable and never without an apology or such like from the host. What we heard this morning was kill switch journalism and it was wrong, unprofessional and a little worrying when we project to 2014.
I’ve heard them do it before on Morning Report, and also on Checkpoint in the afternoons. Not too often, but it does happen occasionally. In this case Geoff did say “thanks for speaking to us” (or similar) and she carried on anyway; most people are polite enough to stop talking at that point.
Seems it’s only a big deal when it’s a topic you care about, so clearly RNZ must be biased, when actually the most obvious answer is simply time constraints.
I really believe I am not being unjustly selective in my interpretation of what I heard.
It was kill switch journalism, it was rude and it was damned unncessary considering the snail like pace of the Badmintion event interview that followed it.
I didn’t hear that particular Radionz interview. But if they have booked someone to give a report on the Horse Trials where wer may be winners also, then they are bound to be fair to the respondent speaking about it. They won’t get co-operation or be able to present the range of topics planned if they go too long over time on one.
I don’t think that comparisons with Fox are justified.
“I don’t think that comparisons with Fox are justified.”
For dramatic effect I was applying an obvious exaggeration by comparison to illustrate the everdiminishing quality of news content that is being excreted from our Public Broadcaster.
-there is no smiley for that 🙂
Imagine another two to five years of government intervention and control of the Christchurch CBD….. Already the move back is sagging and build costs skyrocketing. People and businesses are saying right now “no thanks, we’ll stay put”. The only people and buildings in the CBD will be Council and government offices – not overly exciting.
On top of that of course the blueprint sought to “shore up” land values byt heavily restricting land use, so speculative land prices are through the roof.
Upshot of this interference equals slowing the rebuild to such an extent that it may not even happen. The donut ghost town.
the risk is as real as this morning’s dawn. don’t count on the sparkly new city folks
It’s been obvious that this was a slow motion train crash from the start.
The moment you let so much time elapse and let the insurance companies gait the tempo of activity, and allow businesses, jobs and families to wither on the vine and go away, you’re fucked. Declining population base, declining rates base, declining morale.
The people adding to Christchurch now don’t see Christchurch as a new home.
It’s just the next gold rush.
Yep. I wonder whether the earthquakes and subsequent demolition of pretty much the entire CBD has been too much. The whole act is too massive for a population to take. The job of rebuild too big. The timeframes too long. It may be that we have lost forever one of our cities (as the CBD and Chch were).
It has been too much.
Naomi Klein “Disaster Capitalism.” New Orleans
http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/resources/part7/chapter20
VTO – My contention has always been, and will remain, that there was NO intention to rebuild Christchurch, to any standard which would create a desireable *second city*.
I expect that agenda was set from the get go, and I don’t see Christchurch being allowed to have any remnants of the elected council, anytime soon either!
There have been many agendas. One notable one, which suspiciouns were raised about and confirmed recently with a talk with a senior banking person in the city…… the blueprint acted to shore up land values in the city so that owners and lenders on that property wouldn’t dip out financially. One clear agenda enacted. Fact.
And as long as the derivatives markets continue unabated, there is no end in sight to the schemes which will be dreamed up, to *shore up* markets, of all kinds. The potential losses, from all forms of speculative gambling, have to be propped up, by more conventional lines of business, until the time is right to collapse of course!
What this translates into, is suffering, misery and so on, for the overwhelming majority of people, regardless of where in the world they reside!
It isn’t just a case of ‘suspicions’ over the Frame and Anchor projects being designed to shore up land prices in the designated ‘retail precinct’ – it was admitted from the origins of the Blueprint.
Don Miskell, somewhat naively, seemed overjoyed that CERA’s economists not only approved of a ‘Frame’ but then proceeded to expand its proposed width markedly – and all in order to increase land values in the remainder of the city. Miskell saw it as ‘win-win’ (economic benefit in terms of land values and ‘environmental benefit’ in terms of the so-called ‘green frame’).
The argument was that only by reducing land supply artificially could the ‘critical mass’ of investment drive recovery. As you pointed out in another comment, reports now are that it’s had exactly the opposite effect – of course this was predictable, but, presumably deliberately, had been denied until now.
It was a remarkably bold, duplicitous, agenda-driven process from the get go. I’ve blogged several times about the process and am (over)due to do another.
On the broader question, I tend to the view that the government did indeed also see this as an opportunity to castrate Christchurch politically and disempower its population in order to ensure the ‘economic goldrush’ for the province’s resources (including but not restricted to water) would proceed and accelerate, only meeting ineffectual, unorganised opposition from stressed people being pulled in a hundred different directions and having few formal avenues to engage in the political decision making process.
Dismantling communities, destabilising locales, encouraging ‘sprawl’, importing transient labour and all of the other socially fragmenting features of this planned ‘recovery’ serve the political right – and, frankly, crony capitalism – extremely well.
The fewer natural opportunities and structures there are for people to form common interests the better, for the right. This is known instinctively by most right-wing politicians and, by many of them, it’s known quite explicitly (e.g., wedge politics, divide and conquer, etc.).
Fact eh! Lets see the citation and or quality links then.
Hi dumrse,
I presume you’re responding to vto but I think this link to the Central City Blueprint reveals that vto’s contention about the aim of increasing land values is no conspiracy theory. On page 35 it reads:
“The Frame in tandem with zoning provisions, reduces the extent of the central city commercial area so that the oversupply of land is addressed. It will help to increase the value of properties generally across the central city in a way that regulations to contain the central core, or new zoning decisions, could not. The Frame helps to deliver a more compact core while diversifying opportunities for investment and development. The Frame allows the Core to expand in the future if there is demand for housing or commercial development.
Is the central city blueprint a ‘quality link’? If not – and I understand why you might be wary of it given its glossy nature – here’s an article in which Don Miskell is interviewed about how the frame came to be.
“We looked at the map and thought, well, Latimer Square is 80m wide. Let’s lengthen that all the way up to the river.‘
Hesitantly they put their suggestion to the CCDU and were astounded by the response. “They said great idea. But no. Not nearly wide enough. And that was their investment guys!”
Miskell says this is where the advantage of having all the experts in the one place really showed. Cera’s economics team could see angles that Blueprint’s architects and urban planners could not imagine.]
The economists said a much fatter park strip – one a whole 220m, or an entire city block wide – would have the double benefit of creating green amenity in that part of town while also mopping up the excess land.”
Couple good posts there mr puddleglum. The “investment guys and the economists”, who effectively delivered that scenario to Christchurch (and how many of them maybe 3 or 4 or more?), have of course caused the current malaise.
It is the old story of outsiders thinking they know better. And Wellingtonians no doubt of course too. And the old story of having people who don’t pay the bills make the decisions – or rather having absolutely no input from the people who do pay the bills and live in the place. Example “having all the experts in the one place really showed. Cera’s economics team could see angles that Blueprint’s architects and urban planners could not imagine”
For fucks sake, the economics team, the architects, the urban planners…..
And now it continues – apparently tomorrow the Press has the 50 Power People in Chch and it is dominated by people from outside Christchurch (government through cera eqc and of course the ecan fuck).
The power should be resting with the people who live there, not elsewhere.
This is fundamental.
It was described immediately post-earthquake throughout the media as one of the most important components of a recovery.
The opposite has happened, as these things show.
It is very bad.
sad.
Yes it is sad.
It’s amazing how easily it can happen. The pattern seems to be that a core group (relatively small) have a very clear goal/agenda. They then package it in a way that they can entice and recruit to their project a penumbra of professional ‘gnomes’ who, for all sorts of reasons, commit to the process.
These ‘gnomes’ – ‘good’, professional people, technocrats, experts, etc. pursuing their own careers and limelight – can conjur in their minds all sorts of worthy reasons why what they are doing will, ultimately, benefit the masses, even if what they are doing so thoroughly excludes the masses.
I imagine they genuinely don’t think there is an agenda from the ‘core’ group that is at odds with the interests of the ‘masses’ – largely because it serves the ‘gnomic’ class’ interests to be in denial about any such agenda. To acknowledge such an agenda would cause unbearable cognitive dissonance and, potentially, exclude them from such an exciting – often career-enhancing – ‘Big Project’.
It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for many of these people. It must be quite intoxicating so far as the social status it offers to them and the sense of making an ‘impact’ on the world.
It all highlights what an amazing city central Christchurch was. Which should highlight to all other communities that what they have in the scape, the buildings, the people, the routes and byways, the lanes and streets, the bridges, intersections, schools, theatres, restrooms, garages, trees, old trees, shops and hotels, the acknowledgements and hellos and nods and handshakes all in a space borne from the natural growth of a population, is something to treasure. It is a life, a culture, a tradition and heritage, a haven, home, workplace, meeting place, it is all of these things done to a a state that only long time does…………….
Austerity economics causes suicides, depression, disease
HIV, malaria, TB returning.
Thanks right wing prick politicians, central and investment banksters.
Whilst continuing to engage in idiotic left wing spending like there is no problem always turns out well.
Commonly known as the “smoke yourself free of lung cancer method”.
Hi King Kong
You do talk utter rubbish, you know? Of course you wouldn’t would you…..?
More sensible than the “cut money and spending from communities business recovery method”
Austerity causes Malaria? I could have sworn it was mosquito borne
Your comment makes no sense, TC. Perhaps you were trying (and failing) to be humorous?
Mosquitos are a delivery mechanism, not the cause. Malaria, and the others listed, are diseases of poverty, as I’m sure you actually know. Very few cases of TB in Remeura, as far as I can tell. So, in a time of austerity, it’s hardly a surprise that impoverished neighborhoods, cities and countries see a lift in cases of diseases related to pisspoor living conditions.
Rather than take the default right wing view of the poor, why don’t you try being contrarian?
Well, I’ve got my money on the changing environment causing malaria borne mosquitos to expand their territory and growing antibiotic resistance to be causing the spread of Malaria as opposed to austerity measures.
You’ll note I only mentioned malaria and didn’t mention TB or the other listed diseases as well as the fact I haven’t taken any view of the poor, left or right, so I’d say your comment is a bit of a strawman.
Well, austerity could plausibly (meaning clearly pulling this out of my arse) result in decreased public health funding for projects such as education campaigns about standing water, delayed treatment and neglected prophylactic treatment, and localised pest eradication schemes.
So there is actually a reasonable theoretical link between austerity and malaria, regardless of the actual vector of the organism.
I’d still put my money climate change and antobiotic resistance.
Nobody’s said that those aren’t factors.
Just that the resources that a government uses in response to a public health threat also has an effect.
Hi TheContrarian,
This link shows the point about the effect on malaria – Greece had its first outbreak in some time because of, you guessed it, reductions in malarial spraying programmes.
Further,
“The harms we have found include HIV and malaria outbreaks, shortages of essential medicines, lost healthcare access, and an avoidable epidemic of alcohol abuse, depression and suicide,” he said in a statement. “Austerity is having a devastating effect.”
This is the book – yet to come out.
It apparently data mines an array of historical case studies from a range of countries to come to the conclusion that, from a public health perspective, people’s circumstances, wellbeing and health can improve even in economic downturns so long as austerity is not used as a policy tool. When it is, public health takes a big hit.
The British commenter this morning I think Matthew Parish, said that Ed Milliband came poorly out of a recent interview. He said that Labour would alter VAT I think he said that they would drop it for a year. When asked where he would get the Billions of pounds that would be foregone he dodged the question, and couldn’t come up with a definite plan to manage the Budget. It doesn’t look good for British Labour.
Labour all around the world are timid about making a simple statement that the allocation of wealth in society needs to change from the top end to the middle.
The trouble was that his timidity seemed to stem from a lack of any plan to meet the gap between receiving present income from VAT and the sudden loss of it.
There’s a hole in the bucket dear Liza dear Liza – Henry has to fix it with a straw. Is that the strawman that gets mentioned on this site quite often? I’m trying to keep amused with anything that comes to mind as the ship appears to be steadily sinking and most people are reacting by being sadder or madder or both. Let the musicians play diverting songs!
Its madness…there is a massive thieving under taxed financial centre in London…that and reversing the Tories income tax cuts…plus UNCUT UK have quite a few ideas too…I mean this stuff is not rocket science.
City of London, can only be considered *under taxed*, if it is part of the jurisdiction which HMRC lords over!
Should City of London, or more accurately the corporations/institutions which a registered there, be outside the jurisdiction of HMRC, then whatever taxation is paid, can only be deemed, appropriate!
Same can be said of the FSA et al!
That will be the same Matthew Parish who recently told Kathryn Ryan that Margaret Thatcher was the most important post-war British Prime Minister and he would know since the highlight of his career as a Tory MP was being her loyal letter opener.
Gawd, coming back to civilisation every now and then leaves moi dumbfounded at manwomankind and its perverted ways. For something to take you back to the raw beauty of nature and its brutal honesty check this http://www.surf.co.nz/tv/977 I posted it here some time ago but it has reared its head as a repeat on this other site. Go wide screen and lose yourself lest you get lost in the wrong world…..
Spectacular.
I have never used “awesome” but today, that was awesome vto!
And to think when the World becomes absent of people, the ocean will still be surging and tumbling and foaming away according to its own agenda. Magnificent joe.
Seen this?
__________________________________________________________________________
2 May 2013
Press Release: Sue Henry Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby
“Say NO to democracy for salivating property developers.”
“There will never be positive advancements for the public majority of the Auckland region as long as we have political party ticket monopolies sitting in the Council Chamber,” says Sue Henry Spokesperson, for the Housing Lobby
“The faces may change ever three years while both party tickets play ‘pass the parcel’ and bulldoze through the failed ideology of housing intensification from the 2004 ‘Central Sector Agreement’ and former ARC ‘Regional Policy Statement’ .
“It is scandalous the way both tickets have extended this housing intensification proposal deep into the heart of well-established residential areas, ignoring vigorous community opposition,” she continues.
“We need a fresh approach away from slums and leaky chilly-bin houses.
Whose interests are being served?
The public majority or salivating property developers?”
Sue Henry
Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby
Well, if we go the way that National wants – the land bankers, the banks and the oil companies and a few others that will benefit from the inflated costs that come with sprawl but not the people of Auckland.
If we go the other way, which we really don’t have a choice about, the people of Auckland and not the land bankers, the banks and the oil companies. Actually, the banks will win no matter what happens because they get to print money.
Did you ever find out if you were one of the people being spied on?
Last time I was here I saw a comment that you were going to find out soon.
By 9 May 2013 – I should get my Privacy Act reply as to whether or not I am one of the 88 New Zealanders who has been unlawfully spied upon by the GCSB.
Penny Bright
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
For those who are interested in our country being clever and getting business and enterprise going and getting jobs and lots of working people getting wages to a reassonable standard instead of seeing NZs being represented cows’ sweet faces (the Jersey ones I mean with long eyelashes) in large advertisements all around the place, well…
There was an interesting interview on Radio NZ this morning with a woman who has spent about ten years in New York and come back here to live and she has looked at how the ORs (Overseas Residents) are treated back here. 24,000 come back each year, recently anyway. And are their ideas, their expertise etc being welcomed, embraced and utilised?
For more exciting details try Radionz 9 to Noon this Thursday the 2nd, if you can get on to the Radionz site, and once there on to the details of the interview. I couldn’t and I don’t have all day to get the full information.
But this woman has good stuff that needs to be beard.
The documentary He Toki Huna: New Zealand seems to be longer available on Maori TVs website. Does anyone know where it can be bought?
http://www.maoritelevision.com/tv/shows/anzac-2013/episode/he-toki-huna-new-zealand-afghanistan
There’s a longer version coming out soon for the doco circuit I think. Probably available after that I guess.
This was posted under my post on the doco. Posted by Annie:
John Lancashire (see last para) giving comments about our dire biosecurity lack-of-system in Radio NZ Rural News today Thursday 2/5. Midday Rural News for 2 May 2013 News from the rural and farming sectors. (7′40″) http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ruralnews
He was excoriating about it (good word – we should be using it a lot with political degenerates as we have now). He also seems to be talking factually and his judgment seems sound. Apparently the latest money-saving conflation of government work and responsibility is to bring together Biosecurity and Biodiversity. Both of which he thinks are vitally important and need separate monitoring and understandings.
We are so full of shit in this country. It seems to become more obvious daily from what we hear coming from people who have wormed their way into positions of power and supposed interest in serving the country and the citizens. I don’t know if the rough measure so often used of 80/20% applies but it seems to me that the reliable and thoughtful people are down to the smallest minority. We need to change so much – get responsible people in power – how?
Serious weaknesses identified in NZ’s biosecurity system
from Nine To Noon on Friday 1 March 2013
John Lancashire, immediate past president of New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science; and Rob Thode, a Te Puke kiwifruit grower whose orchard was infected with PSA.
Duration: 21′30″ Play (Windows) Play (Other) Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3
here’s the latest from the right re: NZ Power
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/134117/labour-and-greens-urged-to-abandon-electricity-policy
It’s getting vomit inducing having to listen to these self-interest groups explaining how unfair it is that their income stream plans are being disrupted. It’s as if God has told them it’s their right to fleece electricity users ffs.
There’s plenty of other ‘shares’ to gamble on, and there are even casinos around too.
Vomit inducing is right. It’s more than a little disheartening that basically nobody in the MSM is calling them on their BS. The whole thing has really underscored how economically-far-right NZ has become. On a positive note, I suspect that it won’t matter what National etc say, most people get this issue and realise that National is only concerned for shareholders and no-one else.
Is anyone else getting an odd display on the Feeds?
Just wondering if it is my browser cache or more general.
Ah – whatever it was cleared after shutting chrome and restarting
Surprise surprise….
NZ Post feeling squeeze
Wow… That bank … can’t stand on it’s own two feet !!!! How surprising ….
Delivery days probably should be cut as more and more mail becomes electronic but, in saying, there are still people (elderly for example) who might require a full service.
Perhaps you can elect to have three day service?
And burt, being the idiot and economic ignoramus that he is, fails to understand the problem. The problem being that the decline in physical mail has brought about the fact that the volume can no longer support the legal requirements of 6 delivery days per week.
He also failed to read the article – it seems that the bank is doing fine but it would do better with the government investing more in it. It seems that burt is so stupid that he doesn’t realise that a successful business requires ongoing investment.
Hey Draco, did you know it is possible to point out misunderstandings or incorrect statements without saying things like “burt is so stupid” and “eing the idiot and economic ignoramus that he is”.
You knew that, right?
Not sure it is possible in burt’s case…
+1
😈
TheContrarian, in fact you may not be seeing the whole picture. Conservatives often lack the cognitive ability to understand logical challenges to their opinions. In such cases, emotional approaches may yield better results.
Sure they will.
Take the mass of resources available to schools for combating that archetypal wingnut philosophy, racism, for example:
Note the emphasis on feelings.
Uh-huh.
Conservatives less likely to buy same lightbulbs if you tell them it will help the environment
This is basically where burt is at. As far as he’s concerned anything state owned is bad and so he will treat as such even if doing so hurts him.
And knowing this result, what are intellectually and academically capable lefties going to do differently in their political campaigns and messaging?
I suspect nothing.
Yes… lets extract some more tax payers funds to prop up a business that’s having trouble in a competitive market… Better still – lets kill off all competition and mandate state control over the sector… Seems to be the right approach for electricity – why not banking ?
Question: Has there ever been a year when KiwiBank didn’t require capital to stay operational and fund all that TV advertising?
Advertising that it’s NZ owned and looking after the best interests of NZ by sucking up tax payer dollars in some grand charade that it’s competitive and making a difference to the behaviour of the “big banks” that just keep recording massive profits while “our bank” needs capital from tax payers ?
It doesn’t require capital to continue operating – it requires it to grow faster.
oh man. Reckon he should of HeyClinted on this one:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10881044
Those apologies came after one of his dining companions, Christchurch lawyer Andrew Riches confirmed he’d left a note at the hotel the following morning apologising for Mr Gilmore’s behaviour.
Mr Gilmore allegedly called the waiter a “dickhead” when he refused him more wine and gave him his business card saying something like “Don’t you know who I am? I’m an important politician”, The Press reported today.
It has also been suggested this morning that Mr Gilmore told the waiter he would tell the Prime Minister’s office about the waiter’s behaviour and have him sacked.
Mr Riches this afternoon confirmed to the Herald he’d heard Mr Gilmore use words to that effect to the waiter.
Mr Riches also said he was disappointed that Mr Gilmore had apologised for his group’s behaviour when it was “absolutely” his own behaviour that was in question.
“It’s a shame because I thought this could just lie, he could apologise and that would be the end of it, but to sort of blame everyone else!”
He told the Herald that two of the four in Mr Gilmore’s group had left by the time of the incident.
“It was because most of the group had already left, he was cut off service, he did the old, “do you know who I am, I’m an MP”.
“I thought it was just disgusting.”
If you read the article carefully. he’s not really taking responsibility…
“As a group of diners our behaviour was at times boisterous, and I sincerely apologise for any offence this may have caused to staff and/or patrons”.
No individual apology for his own specific actions, which have been outlined in some detail.
Just a general apology on the part of the group.
If he does not apologise fully, this story will keep running.
He hasn’t even apologised for them either. “I apologise for any offence caused” is a Clayton’s apology. If he means it he’ll apologise for his own behaviour not what he imagines to be someone else’s state of mind.
PS: The same apology, in fact, that Little and Mallard offered Collins; a gesture of contempt 🙂
Yup. A letter has been sent to Duncan Garner from Andrew Riches, one of the Hanmer group.
And Garner makes a suggestion to John Key to get rid of him.
It’s not a good look.
While “some inappropriate comments might seem to have been made”, they had been apologised for, he said. – Herald
Yes but not by him. Must have caught that infection from his Leader?
This is the same Aaron Gilmore that claimed high level finance industry qualifications on his CV, right?
And yeah, that’s a Clayton’s apology. Two strikes, I’m sure there’s a third in there somewhere.
Do you notice how Matthew Hooton always uses the term the Green/Labour axis?
He is clearly trying to control language and introduce new slogans for the right?
1. The use of axis, which has negative connotations because this was the term given to the German alliance in World War 2.
2. By using Green before Labour, he is trying to wind up Labour supporters.
And don’t forget the Axis of Evil.
Forget Hooton, – he is nothing more than tool in the box of the estabishment, as soon as there is no more use for him, he will be on the scapheap.
Does that make me feel good, no , not really, Hooton is a human being too, but has chosen sides, and now has to see it through to the inevitable conclusion.
Use of the word axis, is as you point out, Paul, and Draco, also!
“By using Green before Labour, he is trying to wind up Labour supporters.”
He must have got that from me.
Opps – posted comment went in wrong OpenMike.
Annoying. A Jetpack upgrade (for wordpress) just broke the site http://wordpress.org/support/topic/updating-jetpack-breaks-wordpress
Cleared the plugin out and we’re back again.
Interesting, the whole site is noticeably faster without Jetpack. I’ll have to look and find out what they’re screwing up on.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10881044
looks like the MP’s aren’t the only drunks
This has to be the worst edited articles ever in the Herald, or was it simply unproofed.
It is just a long string of variants of the same handful of sentences.
sorry for double posting the article, missed pb’s above
Latest Roy Morgan is out …
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2013/4890/
All I can say is that there is no way that National support should have swung back like this and the polls are far too messy to be taken seriously.
makes more sense when you meet the author
Looks like it mickysavage. It suggests the swinging voters are swinging more wildly than ever. Not a good sign. They’re ripe for NAct manipulation and we’re seeing this happen with increasing frequency. Eg.. the far left wolf-whistle.
To my knowledge no senior Labour politician has seriously addressed this load of crap. They ignore it at their peril.
What’s the bet this one gets reported by The Herald?
lol
For goodness sake!! Morgan is all over he place, getting pretty silly!
It’s always been bouncy. National got abig bounce, and it’s a fifty/fifty call. Next bounce will be t’other way.
What, a rogue poll you say?
So what happens when we run out of months to write this polling off?
Abc, you rock :fucksticks:
What polling needs to be written off? The polling where a 4 point bump for labour still takes them only half way down to their previous election result?
Sure, you can concentrate on that 31.5 and try to spin it however you wish, even positively, but modesty and embarrassment would stop me.
How many months out will it be before you accept the inevitable and that I’m right, as usual? 😉
Abc :tardwanks:
about 18 months, if you make the same pledge 🙂
Do you really expect DS to be leader in 18 months?
I always put my money where my gob is… Like you didn’t know already 🙂
Unless you know of a secret challenge brewing.
But that’s part of it – Will labour be in government next year, with shearer as pm?
I think the chances are pretty good. And really, unless shearer’s campaign is akin to Brash or Banks, I’m not sure Cunliffe (assuming that was your ABC reference) would make the slightest difference
“Unless you know of a secret challenge brewing.”
There’s always secret challenges brewing. It’s politics after all.
“Will labour be in government next year, with shearer as pm?”
Nope.
“unless shearer’s campaign is akin to Brash or Banks”
And you think he’s better, how? Don’t bother, I’ll just photoshop an extra plank into his head shots and we’ll all agree he’s bad, but not in a good way.
“I’m not sure Cunliffe (assuming that was your ABC reference) would make the slightest difference”
Them who made the decision must take the blame, and abc will know this, hopefully sooner rather than later. Fuck judgement day, that’s so last week. I’m waiting for consequence day.
Enjoy your 31.5%
Actually, it’s much a much better day than the 27.95% day about 18 months back. That sucked.
And i really don’t think shearer is even remotely close to being as bad as banks or brash. Eye of the beholder, I guess. We’ll see.
“Actually, it’s much a much better day than the 27.95% day about 18 months back. That sucked.”
After the previous three years and shocking election campaign, marginally so.
“And i really don’t think shearer is even remotely close to being as bad as banks or brash. Eye of the beholder, I guess. We’ll see.”
It’s going to a rough ride. Strap in, mate.
Keep lowering expectations mate, it’s the only way to win this one.
you two always make me laugh
You remind me of fundies expecting armageddon to happen on date XXXX.
Every time things go badly, it’s a portent of imminent doom.
Every time things improve, it’s a blip and armageddon has been rescheduled for the morrow.
I’m not “lowering expectations”. My expectation is a labour/green government.
There is nothing in RM, colmar brunton, or Reid Research (TV3) trends to indicate that this is not a likely outcome in 2014.
No matter how desperate you are for labour to fail or the world to end.
“you two always make me laugh”
Then you need to up or lower your meds, depending 😆
“No matter how desperate you are for labour to fail”
That particular space ship has long since sailed, my friend.
McFlock, yes there’s every possibility that Labour will be able to form a government even with a 33% or 34% e-day result.
No need to set expectations higher than that mate, as that delivers the win you want.
Well I can imagine that on a billboard – “Not as bad as Brash or Banks”. The irony will surely capture that vital hipster demographic. Maybe Shearer and Robertson should start growing handlebar moustaches, wear enormous spectacle frames, skinny trousers and and drink Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
Actually, this could go really well: “I’m David Shearer, you’ve probably never heard of me.”
“Vote Labour: It could be a lot worse you know.”
NZFirst is down 10%.
Maori Party down 25%, CCCP up by the same.
ACT and UnitedPeterDunne holding steady.
The big winner though is Mana on the far left, up 100%!
Must be up by the margin of error then…
Fuck no, nowhere near that much.
the Nats PR clobbering machine is just warming up over NZ Power, and Labour counter punches have been light weight. I’m with Al1en, this ride is going to be rough. Go Greens, go Mana.
“I’m with Al1en”
That’s puts me ahead of uf and act in recent polling. 🙂
And with Brewster’s Millions, I’d out poll Craig and the loony c’s in a couple of months.
Well it does suggest the tv3 poll was a better reflection of the sentiment than tv1. Guess well have to wait for the next round from them. Of course if labor was doing well post power policy, maybe they could tell us their numbers. Who polls for them these days anyway now umr is gone (assuming they are?).
Actually it doesn’t suggest anything of the sort. TV3 claimed that National would be able to govern alone on their last poll results. Gary Morgan makes the point that even with this bounce in the Roy Morgan, Labour and its coalition partners would be more likely to form government than National.
Except hasn’t Winston made it clear he won’t go into any kind of coalition with the Greens?
Winston’s firm positions on the Greens, like all his firm positions, are (ahem) biodegradable.
And that was two (maybe 3?) elections ago. Before National cost him his Parliamentary gig. I’d say 60/40 he won’t go with the Nats.
I tend to agree with you but the Nats and their corporate mates are really really good with the trinkets.
Colin Craig’s Clint moment? Bomber just asked him on Citizen A, about Auckland’s Transport funding issues, “What would Jesus do?” Craig collapses with a snorty giggle – no idea.
How easy it is becoming for a board to improve their share market price and still maintain their earning power, if we downscale our workforce or outsource who will have the money to buy these coys products or services?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10881039
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10874446
Perhaps those here could make a wee (immoral) profit with air nz???
You seem to be asking questions based on the premise that these boards and their directors wish to build strong ongoing businesses. And yes, some do.
But with many others, it helps to view their activities from the standpoint of conducting a bank heist in progress. Then you’ll find that their activities make far more sense.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Protestors-Minto-Bright-to-run-for-mayoralty/tabid/1607/articleID/296315/Default.aspx
I think it’s a good thing that John Minto is standing as an Auckland Mayoral candidate – he will be able to promote Mana policies which will help focus on the most vulnerable of the 99%.
That will also help to raise the profile of Mana, and their policies before the 2014 General Election.
As I did in 2010 as an Auckland Mayoral candidate – I will be focusing on how the $upercity has been a corrupt corporate coup – and how to take back the Auckland region from the control of the 1%.
I tried to warn you folks as an Auckland Mayoral candidate in 2010 – that the Auckland $upercity would be a SUPER RIPOFF – a super public trough, for fewer but bigger private snouts.
Where was I wrong?
Have YOUR rates gone UP or DOWN?
______________________________________________________________________________
Why I stood as an Auckland Mayoral candidate in 2010:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10673942
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_objectid=10673942&gallery_id=113947
______________________________________________________________________________
AUCKLAND MAYORAL CAMPAIGN 2013:
ACTION PLAN against ‘white collar’ crime, corruption and ‘corporate welfare’
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com/action-plan-to-prevent-corruption/
Proven track record, as a successful Occupy Auckland Appellant (in my own name) in fighting the corporate 1% who run the Auckland region, ‘like a business – for business’:
EVIDENCE in the following High Court document – exposing the role of the unelected Committee for Auckland, of which the CEO for Auckland Council, Doug McKay is a member.
(So – whose interests is he serving?
The majority of citizens and ratepayers – or his corporate mates?)
There is more …………… LOTS more to come …………….
Cheers!
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation’ campaigner
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
PS: My defended hearing in the above-mentioned Court case on the charge of ‘willful trespass’ for occupying John Banks electoral office on 18 June 2013 – has been adjourned until 27 September 2013 🙂
A panel, chaired by Key’s scientific adviser Sir Peter Gluckman, advises of the impact climate change could have on the Antarctic, and thus on NZ and it’s economy.
Youth rates
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/133949/pm-defends-lower-youth-pay-rate
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/8617998/Protest-as-youth-rates-come-into-force
“A young unskilled person is disadvantaged in competing against more experienced and trained people in the labour market. Starting wages help young people gain experience and better equip them to be able to compete on stronger terms.”
So where does the more experienced and trained person go ? And wait a few months/year and see these organisations that are currently commenting that they will still continue to pay min wage will be?
‘Young’ is a superfluous word. E.g. an any, particularly and older, unskilled, inexperienced pak’n’save stacker is easily as disadvantaged as young unskilled, inexperienced pak’n’save stacker when competing against more experienced and trained people. That’s why there are pay grades.
Why do we let these people making excuses that lead to lower wages based on age get away with this?
Look at these filthy disgusting black-gloved thugs physically shoving law abiding citizens around in Queen St yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtjM_kFOp_s
Disgraceful. They should all be before the courts charged with aggravated assault.
Disgraceful. No one pushed back.