‘Educators say the minimal level of improvement raised questions about whether the hugely controversial National Standards initiative has worked as intended.
“It bears out what the profession said at the time – that the standards wouldn’t be enough. They give us a broad look at where a child sits within an age group but don’t tell us what their strengths and weaknesses are or what to do next,” said long-time primary school principal Frances Nelson.
“It hasn’t become critical to teaching and learning. It hasn’t been the silver bullet. So why spend all that money on something we didn’t need?”
National Standards was an integral part of John Key’s 2008 election campaign, where he pledged to raise achievement by requiring schools to clearly set out expectations, and to report that clearly to parents.’
Priest says dozens living in cars, and Sallies report 9 per cent more families given food parcels.
More families are living in cars and asking for food parcels as a growing minority are missing out on basics that most New Zealanders take for granted.
Otara Catholic priest Father Brian Prendeville said his parish found people living in 40 cars at the Manukau Velodrome and around Otara recently after a girl went missing.
The Salvation Army said it gave food parcels to 9 per cent more families in the first three months of this year than it did in the same period last year, reversing a slight decline in the previous year.
In Auckland, the worsening hardship is driven by housing costs. Average rents for three-bedroom Otara houses rose from $382 a week in March 2014 to $466 this March, but subsidy caps have not changed since 2005. “Prices suddenly got ramped up for houses, but Housing NZ and Work and Income haven’t got ramped up,” Father Prendeville said.
Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett last month said 500 households had been moved out of state housing into private rentals since July 2014. But Father Prendeville said many could not afford the rents.
Many are living with relatives, with 99,030 people in officially overcrowded conditions in South Auckland in the 2013 Census. “We have a three-bedroom home with 21 people in it,” he said. “There are two old people, there’s one solo mum, and two couples, all with children. Five boys are sleeping in the living room.”
Wow, John Key’s attempts to minimise and “move on , nothing to see here, it’s those hippy Greens and nasty Labour…..,, blah,blah” just sounds like a drunk man trying to explain to the cops “it wasn’t me officer” when he’s caught with his pants down peeing in public….embarrassing.
This period in our political history will go down as one of the most shameful periods of governance, ever. Future generations will wonder why we tolerated having the village idiot as our PM.
The ponytail pulling white ribbon ambassador – admitting shower pissing – prison rape joking – ain’t bovvered – “galloping colonial clod” – tax haven promoting – lying – blaming fool has damaged us. Why is he still here?
Ooooops the other day I posted that a 1% Land tax would bring in $700m. In fact, as the latest Bernard Hickey article shows (web address below) it would bring in $6.7 billion. Not far out then. I may have to burn my accountancy qualification certificate. (To be fair my first number was based [cut and pasted] on an earlier Hickey article).
But this means, as I said before, that Labour should seriously look at putting a 1% Land tax in as policy with NO EXEMPTIONS otherwise it is a dog’s breakfast. It would take the heat out of the property market at a stroke. Provision could be made out of the $6.7b for a rise in pensions to partially compensate older people stuck in high land value homes and a reduction in the lower rates of tax (the higher rate should still go to 39%) .
The rest could be used on education, health (real food in Dunedin Hospital?), investing in/promoting high-value high-tech businesses, moving freight onto the railways, increasing the frozen budget of DOC and Radio NZ, cycleways, urban public transport (light rail?), debt repayment etc etc
It is a fascinating article showing that land value in NZ is about $700 billion and housing assets are worth over a trillion now (the graphs in the article are 7 months old).
Oops again, instead of “housing assets are worth over a trillion” it should be “financial assets worth over a trillion with housing assets at $862 billion (house and land)”.
Another way of helping out people who could be adversely impacted by such a tax is to have the first $500k of total value across all properties not be taxed. Then you are taxing people who own a lot of value in properties and not people for whom their single house represents most of their assets. You could increase the value of the tax to correspondingly ensure similar revenue.
Overall, that should discourage accumulation of large amounts of property.
That could work – not that much residential land (i.e. not including the house on it) is worth more than $500,000 so it would affect primarily wealthy people (which I guess is the aim).
“A revolution is interesting insofar as it avoids like the plague the plague it promised to heal.”
The Rev. Daniel Berrigan
Just in case you missed it, the wonderful Rev. Daniel Berrigan passed away yesterday. The father of modern non-violence “One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible.” One of the movers and shakers to drag back Catholicism to the gospels, and towards non-violence.
Huge influence in New Zealand, and spiritual inspiration of the 2008 Ploughshares Aotearoa or Anzac Ploughshares to deflate the shield at Waihopai
So it turns out the people the Overseas Investment Office approved to buy Onetai station (you know, the ones with the lovely Panamanian money-laundering lawyers) weren’t just convicted polluters, but also money launderers:
Greenpeace is about to blow the lid off secret documents on the EU-US trade deal
Greenpeace on Sunday said it was in possession of leaked documents showing that a planned huge free trade deal between the United States and the European Union poses “major risks for climate, environment and consumer safety”.
Place environmental and public health regulatory regimes in the cross hairs. Pull everything down the most pro- (US) business lowest denominator. I thought everyone already knew all of that. Anyway. Greenpeace are, I guess, providing the details for the sake of anyone who harboured any doubts. And as we know, the exact same shit will be going on with regards the TTPA…because that is what the more powerful signatory to any (so-called) free trade deal will always do and has always done.
Meh – the problem Redbaiter has is the same problem many around here have – ‘the left’ gets conflated with parliamentary politics.
Beyond that, and I’m assuming he’s an advocate for capitalism, he’s kind of right enough that social democratic governments prevent capitalism. But it’s a huge stretch to call the shenanigans of social democratic governments socialist.
Too much rational understanding ascribed to voters in the piece too. People vote for social democratic governance because “that’s what we do”, y’know….”it’s always been this way”.
What interests me is why Redbaiter, in alluding to some market based freedom, apparently fails to understand that the market isn’t neutral (can never be neutral) and so represents just another form of crushing authoritarianism.
“DID YOU KNOW…That Ports Of Auckland occupies 77 hectares of prime waterfront land? That’s equivalent to 20% of our CBD…That Ports of Auckland pays ZERO rent to use this ratepayer-owned land?…That market rent for this ratepayer-owned land should be $50-100 million per year?…That the port uses tax losses from other Council-owned entities to reduce its tax bill?…That the port pays Council rates on the land based upon a valuation that is at least 70% below market?
Auckland ratepayers, how do you feel about subsidising the Ports of Auckland’s business?
Can you imagine the social, cultural, environmental and economic value that could be created if Auckland transformed this prime real estate into a globally iconic waterfront?”
Why in fuck’s name did I turn on “The Panel” with Mai? Chen and the Penguin. Thankfully a Mora wasn’t present and Jessie was in control? …. yes control – sort of.
The subject of interneshnool students came up. Thankfully – after several “yeo’s” from the Penguin, Mai Chen pointed out that English was actually part of the national language of Indian students.
Usually any problems arise from ‘idiom’, pronunciation, etc ….. but in my experience they usually YEOW have a better YEOW command YEOW of the English YEOW lengwich YEOW than does the Penguin.
YEOW, the Injun prezdint is here atm, and Dear Leader is busy trying to seize another tunety for a ‘free trade greemint’ (going forward).
International student enrolments have also dropped radically. The sages are busy trying to spin all this as it being due to tougher Inglish lengwich riquoimints.
I’d suggest that a big part of the Indian drop off is that they’ve become wise to the Joyce-driven-tertiary-factory-bullshit-qualfikashun bits of paper issued at huge cost (kaching, plus GST) the tertiary education sector (ESPECIALLY in the private sector) has become.
I’ll turn it off – just as Mai Chen is threatening to give Jessie a spanking.
Gawd – she’s just so bloody adult, voice of reason, TRP, crapola artist ain’t she (darling).
lol…I cant stand know- it- alls…especially when they try to tell you how to run your life and country…Americans used to be like this…and we know how wrong they were/are
just because you come from a bigger country doesn’t make you a better person
VIC CRONE AND PENNY BRIGHT BOTH BREAK THE LAW
by Cameron Slater on May 2, 2016 at 11:00am
”
And they don’t give a toss. To be honest, why should they? Not a single political candidate has ever suffered financially, or by being disqualified after the fact, for breaking election by-laws. They know it is open season.
….”
Really Cameron?
What exact ‘law’ have I broken by giving Minister of Transport Simon Bridges notice of my intention to petition him to ‘disallow’ Auckland Transport’s “Election Signage ByLaw 2013”
Again, Cameron Slater, you have made a highly defamatory accusation.
Under s.25 of the NZ Defamation Act 1992, please publicly retract and apologise FORTHWITH.
“Hundreds of thousands of disabled people in Britain are forced to live in destitution and are unable to afford basic requirements such as food, shelter and clothing, the UK’s first study examining extreme poverty suggests.
The report, which was commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), was published earlier this week. Amid growing concern that extreme poverty is on the rise in Britain, the UK-based group pushed for academics to investigate the matter…
What about how we treat those with mental illness?
I think New Zealand has been one of the pioneers of neo-liberalism- we’re not just fast followers of the U.K. and US.
Look at the way Key and Grosser pimped for the TPPA.
Maybe not as bad as England. However, Scotland is way more politically active and progressive than Middle Earth. The Hobbits are a lot sleepier than the Scotsmat present.
Compare Nicola Sturgeon to Key.
“Jim Mora talks to the Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Adelaide, whose research interests include population dynamics, extinction theory, invasion biology, and climate change impacts and mitigation.”
don’t think so…certainly not in that interview…i am no fan of Mora but it was a good interview …he was not intrusive, asked very good questions and Wilkins is clearly an expert in his field… on probably the most important issue of our times…OVER- POPULATION by the human race
imo …countries which have overpopulated and are exceeding their ecological bounds…should be held to account within their own borders…
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
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Jump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
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TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
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The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
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The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
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Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
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Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
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Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
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Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
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Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
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Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference. “In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed ...
The failure of National Standards.
‘Educators say the minimal level of improvement raised questions about whether the hugely controversial National Standards initiative has worked as intended.
“It bears out what the profession said at the time – that the standards wouldn’t be enough. They give us a broad look at where a child sits within an age group but don’t tell us what their strengths and weaknesses are or what to do next,” said long-time primary school principal Frances Nelson.
“It hasn’t become critical to teaching and learning. It hasn’t been the silver bullet. So why spend all that money on something we didn’t need?”
National Standards was an integral part of John Key’s 2008 election campaign, where he pledged to raise achievement by requiring schools to clearly set out expectations, and to report that clearly to parents.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11631749
Uber.
A rogue company that does not pay its taxes or treat its workers with respect.
But it’s cheap…..and it makes someone a billionaire even richer.
Like Bunnings
And Talleys….
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11631866
To understand how it is all connected, listen to George Monbiot talking about neo-liberalism in Edinburgh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Tc8Yv92Mk
Great stuff – and required listening for all left wing politicians!!!
About 35-38 minutes into his talk, George speaks about the rise of a new philosophical famework which will combat neoliberalism.
Perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel afterall?
Families in need on the rise
Priest says dozens living in cars, and Sallies report 9 per cent more families given food parcels.
More families are living in cars and asking for food parcels as a growing minority are missing out on basics that most New Zealanders take for granted.
Otara Catholic priest Father Brian Prendeville said his parish found people living in 40 cars at the Manukau Velodrome and around Otara recently after a girl went missing.
The Salvation Army said it gave food parcels to 9 per cent more families in the first three months of this year than it did in the same period last year, reversing a slight decline in the previous year.
In Auckland, the worsening hardship is driven by housing costs. Average rents for three-bedroom Otara houses rose from $382 a week in March 2014 to $466 this March, but subsidy caps have not changed since 2005. “Prices suddenly got ramped up for houses, but Housing NZ and Work and Income haven’t got ramped up,” Father Prendeville said.
Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett last month said 500 households had been moved out of state housing into private rentals since July 2014. But Father Prendeville said many could not afford the rents.
Many are living with relatives, with 99,030 people in officially overcrowded conditions in South Auckland in the 2013 Census. “We have a three-bedroom home with 21 people in it,” he said. “There are two old people, there’s one solo mum, and two couples, all with children. Five boys are sleeping in the living room.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11631899
To understand how it is all connected, listen to George Monbiot talking about neo-liberalism in Edinburgh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Tc8Yv92Mk
At 43:49 minutes up to 46 min in excellent video above, George Monbiot talks about Trade Treaties..
Our local food bank is now issuing twice the number of food parcels than it did last year.
Wow, John Key’s attempts to minimise and “move on , nothing to see here, it’s those hippy Greens and nasty Labour…..,, blah,blah” just sounds like a drunk man trying to explain to the cops “it wasn’t me officer” when he’s caught with his pants down peeing in public….embarrassing.
Exactly. There’s really no other way to put it.
This period in our political history will go down as one of the most shameful periods of governance, ever. Future generations will wonder why we tolerated having the village idiot as our PM.
The ponytail pulling white ribbon ambassador – admitting shower pissing – prison rape joking – ain’t bovvered – “galloping colonial clod” – tax haven promoting – lying – blaming fool has damaged us. Why is he still here?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/79411482/mayor-suggests-no-election-for-opotiki-bay-of-plenty
Well hes only saying what most local body politicians are thinking but geez what a thing to say
ECANZ and SDHB ring a bell?
Ooooops the other day I posted that a 1% Land tax would bring in $700m. In fact, as the latest Bernard Hickey article shows (web address below) it would bring in $6.7 billion. Not far out then. I may have to burn my accountancy qualification certificate. (To be fair my first number was based [cut and pasted] on an earlier Hickey article).
But this means, as I said before, that Labour should seriously look at putting a 1% Land tax in as policy with NO EXEMPTIONS otherwise it is a dog’s breakfast. It would take the heat out of the property market at a stroke. Provision could be made out of the $6.7b for a rise in pensions to partially compensate older people stuck in high land value homes and a reduction in the lower rates of tax (the higher rate should still go to 39%) .
The rest could be used on education, health (real food in Dunedin Hospital?), investing in/promoting high-value high-tech businesses, moving freight onto the railways, increasing the frozen budget of DOC and Radio NZ, cycleways, urban public transport (light rail?), debt repayment etc etc
It is a fascinating article showing that land value in NZ is about $700 billion and housing assets are worth over a trillion now (the graphs in the article are 7 months old).
http://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/81296/bernard-hickey-points-out-1-land-tax-all-property-owners-would-now-allow-55-cut
Oops again, instead of “housing assets are worth over a trillion” it should be “financial assets worth over a trillion with housing assets at $862 billion (house and land)”.
Another way of helping out people who could be adversely impacted by such a tax is to have the first $500k of total value across all properties not be taxed. Then you are taxing people who own a lot of value in properties and not people for whom their single house represents most of their assets. You could increase the value of the tax to correspondingly ensure similar revenue.
Overall, that should discourage accumulation of large amounts of property.
That could work – not that much residential land (i.e. not including the house on it) is worth more than $500,000 so it would affect primarily wealthy people (which I guess is the aim).
“A revolution is interesting insofar as it avoids like the plague the plague it promised to heal.”
The Rev. Daniel Berrigan
Just in case you missed it, the wonderful Rev. Daniel Berrigan passed away yesterday. The father of modern non-violence “One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible.” One of the movers and shakers to drag back Catholicism to the gospels, and towards non-violence.
Huge influence in New Zealand, and spiritual inspiration of the 2008 Ploughshares Aotearoa or Anzac Ploughshares to deflate the shield at Waihopai
And lets not forget poet.
He will be missed. A very nice piece from Hufffington post for more reading. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-dear/the-life-and-death-of-dan_b_9815148.html
I’ll leave you with one of my favourite quotes from him.
“It’s not going to be easy to change things.”
Interesting pice in DOMPOST re state house sales. They have raised 300 mil.
The one that caught my eye was
6 Akeake Gr, Elsdon, Porirua:
SOLD for $8000
The capital Value of the property is $240,000
Land Value $109,000
(From the pcc database)
THAT was a bargain!!!!
A steal!!
Daylight robbery.
its not robbery when the sale is legitamate which of course the nats are rushing through to ensure the backers are kept sweet.
Didn’t they pay someone 1.6 million for the sale of the houses!!!
Seeing as it’s directed by Oliver Stone, this might just be good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlSAiI3xMh4
Shit hits the fan for Mark Weldon today: http://thespinoff.co.nz/01-05-2016/coup-on-at-mediaworks/
Some good news then.
I liked this,
http://thespinoff.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/3News_12x3_Billboard_example-copy1.jpg
And the reality of foreign ownership just gets worse and worse
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2016/05/good-character.html
I hope this is correct!
Place environmental and public health regulatory regimes in the cross hairs. Pull everything down the most pro- (US) business lowest denominator. I thought everyone already knew all of that. Anyway. Greenpeace are, I guess, providing the details for the sake of anyone who harboured any doubts. And as we know, the exact same shit will be going on with regards the TTPA…because that is what the more powerful signatory to any (so-called) free trade deal will always do and has always done.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/01/leaked-ttip-documents-cast-doubt-on-eu-us-trade-deal
My latest post is up.
Read it if you want to understand why you can’t lay a glove on John Key.
There are two main strategies that have kept him relatively unscathed and you need to build your own strategies to counter them.
The real reason the left can’t lay a glove on John Key
Why am I giving you this valuable information?
Because believe it or not, I want Key gone as much as you do. For different reasons though.
Interesting read, no one on here will take any notice of it which is a shame
Thank you indeed.
Magnanimity is a virtue seldom witnessed these bitter days.
Meh – the problem Redbaiter has is the same problem many around here have – ‘the left’ gets conflated with parliamentary politics.
Beyond that, and I’m assuming he’s an advocate for capitalism, he’s kind of right enough that social democratic governments prevent capitalism. But it’s a huge stretch to call the shenanigans of social democratic governments socialist.
Too much rational understanding ascribed to voters in the piece too. People vote for social democratic governance because “that’s what we do”, y’know….”it’s always been this way”.
What interests me is why Redbaiter, in alluding to some market based freedom, apparently fails to understand that the market isn’t neutral (can never be neutral) and so represents just another form of crushing authoritarianism.
How about market rents for quasi corporates???
“DID YOU KNOW…That Ports Of Auckland occupies 77 hectares of prime waterfront land? That’s equivalent to 20% of our CBD…That Ports of Auckland pays ZERO rent to use this ratepayer-owned land?…That market rent for this ratepayer-owned land should be $50-100 million per year?…That the port uses tax losses from other Council-owned entities to reduce its tax bill?…That the port pays Council rates on the land based upon a valuation that is at least 70% below market?
Auckland ratepayers, how do you feel about subsidising the Ports of Auckland’s business?
Can you imagine the social, cultural, environmental and economic value that could be created if Auckland transformed this prime real estate into a globally iconic waterfront?”
from stop stealing our harbour.
Why in fuck’s name did I turn on “The Panel” with Mai? Chen and the Penguin. Thankfully a Mora wasn’t present and Jessie was in control? …. yes control – sort of.
The subject of interneshnool students came up. Thankfully – after several “yeo’s” from the Penguin, Mai Chen pointed out that English was actually part of the national language of Indian students.
Usually any problems arise from ‘idiom’, pronunciation, etc ….. but in my experience they usually YEOW have a better YEOW command YEOW of the English YEOW lengwich YEOW than does the Penguin.
YEOW, the Injun prezdint is here atm, and Dear Leader is busy trying to seize another tunety for a ‘free trade greemint’ (going forward).
International student enrolments have also dropped radically. The sages are busy trying to spin all this as it being due to tougher Inglish lengwich riquoimints.
I’d suggest that a big part of the Indian drop off is that they’ve become wise to the Joyce-driven-tertiary-factory-bullshit-qualfikashun bits of paper issued at huge cost (kaching, plus GST) the tertiary education sector (ESPECIALLY in the private sector) has become.
I’ll turn it off – just as Mai Chen is threatening to give Jessie a spanking.
Gawd – she’s just so bloody adult, voice of reason, TRP, crapola artist ain’t she (darling).
lol…I cant stand know- it- alls…especially when they try to tell you how to run your life and country…Americans used to be like this…and we know how wrong they were/are
just because you come from a bigger country doesn’t make you a better person
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/302860/pharmac-accused-ofdownplayingkeytruda
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/302846/questions-over-compass'-tax-payments
Lying and tax dodging seems to be normal now days.
(Just keeping folks up to speed with the latest, in my view, defamatory attack by Cameron Slater?)
ATTENTION CAMERON SLATER!
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2016/05/vic-crone-and-penny-bright-both-break-the-law/
VIC CRONE AND PENNY BRIGHT BOTH BREAK THE LAW
by Cameron Slater on May 2, 2016 at 11:00am
”
And they don’t give a toss. To be honest, why should they? Not a single political candidate has ever suffered financially, or by being disqualified after the fact, for breaking election by-laws. They know it is open season.
….”
Really Cameron?
What exact ‘law’ have I broken by giving Minister of Transport Simon Bridges notice of my intention to petition him to ‘disallow’ Auckland Transport’s “Election Signage ByLaw 2013”
Again, Cameron Slater, you have made a highly defamatory accusation.
Under s.25 of the NZ Defamation Act 1992, please publicly retract and apologise FORTHWITH.
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
the sad neolib state of the UK…NOT something we should be emulating…but which jonkey nactional would like to emulate
‘Hundreds of thousands of disabled people in Britain destitute – report’
https://www.rt.com/uk/341358-destitute-poverty-thousands-uk-disabilities/
“Hundreds of thousands of disabled people in Britain are forced to live in destitution and are unable to afford basic requirements such as food, shelter and clothing, the UK’s first study examining extreme poverty suggests.
The report, which was commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), was published earlier this week. Amid growing concern that extreme poverty is on the rise in Britain, the UK-based group pushed for academics to investigate the matter…
We are emulating England.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/302810/more-kiwis-going-hungry-sallies
sadly yes…but we have yet to throw the disabled out on the street….although jonkey nact and Bill English are they are working towards it
What about how we treat those with mental illness?
I think New Zealand has been one of the pioneers of neo-liberalism- we’re not just fast followers of the U.K. and US.
Look at the way Key and Grosser pimped for the TPPA.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/begging-symptom-wider-issues-ban-wellington-beggars-suggested
yes …still don’t think it is as bad yet as the UK
Maybe not as bad as England. However, Scotland is way more politically active and progressive than Middle Earth. The Hobbits are a lot sleepier than the Scotsmat present.
Compare Nicola Sturgeon to Key.
This is well worth listening to…a grim future for us all…where countries have and are still overpopulating:
‘Corey Bradshaw: Population Limits’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/201798980/corey-bradshaw-population-limits
“Jim Mora talks to the Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Adelaide, whose research interests include population dynamics, extinction theory, invasion biology, and climate change impacts and mitigation.”
Isn’t Mora a climate denier?
don’t think so…certainly not in that interview…i am no fan of Mora but it was a good interview …he was not intrusive, asked very good questions and Wilkins is clearly an expert in his field… on probably the most important issue of our times…OVER- POPULATION by the human race
imo …countries which have overpopulated and are exceeding their ecological bounds…should be held to account within their own borders…
Thanks. Will listen.
Seen this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOykY2SMbZ0&ebc=ANyPxKoEr4yRaDy4gdcINsBlMm54LaPQxBbZP7TMd20korCbn4IcDR2rvhPQWCYN5Mr1zo3jkcyQyt9eQzse7LM3nECjNgxYaw