Open Mike 02/12/2016

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 2nd, 2016 - 70 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

70 comments on “Open Mike 02/12/2016 ”

    • Leftie 1.1

      That makes me feel physically sick. Foreigners buying up what they can now in anticipation that National may not get re-elected next year? Time to change the sell out National government, before there is nothing left in NZ’s hands anymore.

    • tc 1.2

      Flogging state houses should be collated with an OIA request about how much property soe’s and govt departments have flogged such as police houses in the regions etc

  1. gsays 2

    So I hear on the tranny the over sight of fishing boats is to be further eroded.
    The crux of this is lobbyists.

    When (if) a new regime comes into power, the lobbyists remain.
    Like a cancer, their hold gets stronger, the longer, they remain uninterrupted.

    To the best of my knowledge, lobbyists only serve their masters.

    How refreshing it would be to hear a leader of a major party, pledge to rid the lobbyists access to MPs, at least to the level that individuals have.

  2. James 3

    I personally think he is having a bit of fun and stirring – but if it was true I wonder who national would target from labour ??

    http://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/national-poaching-labour-mps-2016120113

    • BM 3.1

      Stuart Nash and David Shearer.
      The National party is a much better fit.

      • Muttonbird 3.1.1

        But James says Nash is sexist and comments inappropriately about women.

        Oh wait, National is a much better fit.

    • Muttonbird 3.2

      Key says they take all comers, and proof off that is in the position Misa Fia Turner finds herself in.

      Odd that National can’t find decent candidates on their own though. Perhaps the end is near?

      • BM 3.2.1

        She must have been the choice of the local members.

        Unlike Labour where head office overrides the local members and decides who runs in an electorate.

        National the democratic party.

        • Muttonbird 3.2.1.1

          Misa Fia Turner is representing the National Party. Next you’ll be saying it’s out of their hands who gets selected.

        • lprent 3.2.1.2

          Ah. I can just see that happening in Mt Roskill.

          The good National party members picked someone who lives in and who has just set up her office in a East Auckland.yeah she is a great local candidate for a West Auckland seat.

          Whereas the Labour party head office overrode the local Labour party members to appoint a candidate who I was working with as beiing crucial to the campaign in Mt Roskill in the 2005 election, and who was living there then. And he was an old hand in Roskill then.

          /sarc

          FFS it would been nice if you actually thought about reality more. The losing national candidate in Roskill with her faux concern about local issues is losing to the local preferred by the Mt Roskill Labour members.

          • BM 3.2.1.2.1

            Do you think it will be close or do you expect Wood to win by a mile like Phil Goff?

            It was 10,000 to 18,000 in 2014 be interesting to see how much of that 8000 vote difference was due to Goff.

            • Muttonbird 3.2.1.2.1.1

              Are you claiming anything lower than an 8000 margin of victory for Wood is a win for National?

              You don’t seriously believe the turnout will be as high as 2014, do you?

          • alwyn 3.2.1.2.2

            Does Mr Wood really live in Mt Roskill and is to be voted for because he is a “local candidate”.
            It will make a change, both for him and for the electorate then, won’t it?

            What did Mr Wood say when he ran in Botany?
            What did Mr Wood say when he ran in Epsom?
            What did Mr Wood say when he ran in Pakuranga?
            Or wherever else he has tried to get a nomination.

            Is he the parliamentary equivalent of Shadbolt? “I don’t care where as long as I’m Mayor”. Mind you he will be a lucky man if he lasts as long as Tim has.
            Just promise them “Bullshit and Jellybeans”.

            Did Phil Goff, or you for that matter, suggest people not vote for him because he lived as far away from Mt Roskill as he could and yet still be in the general Auckland area for the 35 years he spent in Parliament? If not why not?

            • chris73 3.2.1.2.2.1

              Just promise them “Bullshit and Jellybeans”.

              Or penis lollies 🙂

            • Leftie 3.2.1.2.2.2

              “Wood: I’m standing in the right electorate because Mt Roskill is my home, and it has been for the past 13 years. I’ve served in the community, been on the local board for the past six years.”

              <a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1611/S00261/the-nation-michael-wood-and-parmjeet-parmar.htm

              • alwyn

                Very good. And yes I was aware of his current claim.
                However what did he say to the residents of Botany when he stood there?
                What did he say to the residents of Epsom when he stood there?
                What did he say to the residents of Pakuranga when he stood there?
                Did he tell them he was a carpetbagger, which he NOW seems to think is a valid objection to someone who doesn’t live in an electorate they choose to stand in?

                Does he tell them how privileged they are to have someone who lives there rather than a person like their previous MP who lived an hours drive away?

                Like hell he does, even though it is all true.
                Now personally I don’t see why an MP should live within the actual boundary of the electorate. Wood however seems to think he can complain about his opponent doing exactly what he did so many times.

                I wonder how he will explain these views to his leader? After all Little left New Plymouth when he was a teenager but still, in his 50s I suppose, tried to get elected there.

                • Leftie

                  He doesn’t need to explain, and he certainly doesn’t need to explain YOUR VIEWS to his leader. Did you read the transcript?

                  Your question was “Does Mr Wood really live in Mt Roskill and is to be voted for because he is a “local candidate”

                  The answer to your questions is yes and yes and I have provided the information in the link.

          • Ad 3.2.1.2.3

            Hey Lyn, life would be a whole bunch easier for Labour activists if Labour’s leaders stopped trying to parachute in unpopular carpet-baggers into electorates with strong LEC’s.

            I’m sure everyone’s got their own war stories of have a strong local candidate, well supported and known, only to have some numpty pop up and truck busloads of otherwise unknown union delegates into the selection meeting, or the Selection Committee gets stacked for some dork, and Hey Presto the local choice gets steamrollered flat.
            And then they wonder why fresh talent doesn’t find Labour candidacy attractive, and caucus looks stale.

            And then as a result most of the LEC ups and leaves or is totally pissed off. Sure, these things need to be renewed, and in reality what difference does and LEC do but form a fawning little glee club to plump up the MP’s ego, and actually don’t always a huge amount of difference to actual vote turnout.

            But, people are not meant to be burnt off needlessly in life or in politics. It doesn’t need to happen.

            The Labour Party should support its own renewal, without parachuting.

        • Macro 3.2.1.3

          Unlike Labour where head office overrides the local members and decides who runs in an electorate.
          LOL
          yeah – like Scott Simpson for Coromandel!
          Just one example – but I could list dozens.
          Ever heard of John Key for Helensville?

          • Wayne 3.2.1.3.1

            Macro,
            You clearly do not how local selections in National work. I can assure you that if the local party (membership above the qualifying threshold) has control they well and truly exercise it.

            In fact being pushed too heavily by the leadership is likely to backfire.

            The people you have to convince are the local delegates. If you can’t you won’t get selected.

            • Macro 3.2.1.3.1.1

              Yes I’m sure the local delegates were convinced Wayne. 🙂 So convenient how the then incumbent, resigned at the time.

            • DoublePlusGood 3.2.1.3.1.2

              Clutha-Southland must have some pretty gullible National party members then. (Though, arguably no more gullible than the rest of the locals, given the vote counts)

            • KJT 3.2.1.3.1.3

              So. What happened in Northland? Wayne.

          • chris73 3.2.1.3.2

            Ask David Kirk about it

      • Lev Davidovich 3.2.2

        Yep. 23% shows they are finished for sure

  3. John up North 4

    Soooo……… after the big test period where gear was checked so as to being up to the job and the net result is the independent company which produces footage of all sorts of illegal activity loses out to the company which is balls deep in corrupt practices of self interest.

    Then…….. you remove the human observers and replace with surveillance equipment supplied by said corrupt company.

    And 3 months later it turns out up to 80% of the gear is not up to the job and there has been very little if any actually monitoring of an industry which officials have previously admitted would fold if forced to follow the rules.

    WTF?? So are we actually going to pay these compromised cowboys for a shite job?

    What happened to proving the equipment was up to task prior to deployment (shades of Novapay here)?

    Are we really surprised the corrupt fishing industry cant monitor its own practices?

    Typical Nats solution to a looming problem, mouth appropriate verbiage, slide a sycophantic, self interested body into management, control the media —> what problem? we’re on it, all solved.

    Meanwhile our declining moana gets pillaged even moar………….SNAFU

    • Pat 4.1

      you forgot that even if there is illegal activity captured on these cameras (blind spots known and reliability dubious) it is of insufficient quality as evidence……it is a Claytons monitoring regime and by design.

      • Macro 4.1.1

        Nah! The cameras are working fine now – they only seem to stop recording when there is fish dumping to be done.
        It’s all good!
        /sarc

  4. red face – indigenous rights activists continually fight against the ridicule and misappropriation of indigenous knowledge, imagery and artifacts. This happens all over the globe – and is especially poignant for Native Americans – so much of their culture has been mythologized, demonized, misappropriated and just stolen – including traditional costumes, headdress and so on.

    It is not good enough to say – tough cheese. We know black face is not right and red face is not right too.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redface
    http://apihtawikosisan.com/hall-of-shame/an-open-letter-to-non-natives-in-headdresses/

    So my message to the santa parade in christchurch (just think about that mashing up of myths, consumerism and exploitation in that sentence – whew!!!) is STOP! You do not have the right to steal other cultures items and (for whatever reason) say you are honoring them or respecting them – you aren’t. You are being colonisers of the mind and of the body. You are continuing the unthinking arrogant and obnoxious traits of racists and previous colonisers. STOP it.

    “Organisers of the Santa Parade in Christchurch will not pull a float featuring children dressed as First Nations and Native Americans this weekend, despite a complaint it is “essentially red face” and is “highly inappropriate and culturally insensitive”.

    The float has been part of the Santa Parade for many years and features local children dressed as people of the Ojibwe tribe, complete with face paint and headdresses.”

    “”But Santa Parade manager Pam Morris said she was “offended” by the request. If she had a good look at that float, some of it belongs to a tribe that I went to the reservation of in Buffalo. They know about this float and they gave me some headgear to use on this float.

    “We have the blessing of that tribe.”

    BULLSHIT

    because

    “Professor of Maori and indigenous studies at Massey University, Rawiri Taonui, said the costumes were only offensive if they mocked First Nations people.

    “It is OK if they are dressing up in costume as a way of learning about that culture in a respectful way.

    “If that is the intent we should support it. It depends on the intent.”

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/87072747/santa-parade-defiant-over-red-face-claims

    Is that what they are doing? NO – it is simple entertainment.

    • In our town two people dress up as golliwogs for the Santa parade. Nothing’s said.

      • marty mars 5.1.1

        I wonder how they’d feel if someone went out of their way to find their tender spots and dressed up to poke those spots – probably laugh – after it is is just jolly fun eh.

        It could be done easily too – pity I’m not down to Waikawa till early next year…

      • chris73 5.1.2

        Jeepers, even i think golliwogs are a bit much

    • Draco T Bastard 5.2

      “We have the blessing of that tribe.”

      BULLSHIT

      Have you contacted that tribe and asked them?

      • marty mars 5.2.1

        read up about this subject before you start – it may help you – may.

      • marty mars 5.2.2

        I have sent an email with links to a respected senior person I know within the tribe – may take a day or so for an answer – and I know in my gut, and as a person who fights this often, what the answer will be – I’ll let you know draco seeing as how you appear to be interested 🙂

  5. millsy 7

    If the Right get their way and charter schools are allowed to grow like weeds in South Auckland we will get more Misa Fia Turners. For LGBT people, setting foot in South Auck would be like setting foot in Moscow. Day after day, thousands of schoolkids will have it drilled into them that magic created the earth and homosexuals are vermin to be exterminated by laypreachers like Tamaki.

  6. Muttonbird 8

    Looks like the ninth floor had a word with police…

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11759041

  7. James Thrace 9

    Posted this yesterday, but interested in further comments on it.

    At present, we are seeing the long con strategy being utilised by National. Merkel’s Germany has been doing it to good effect.

    How to do the long con.

    1) Soften up the electorate as much as you can whilst retaining as many of the core policy settings that enable society to function (even while cutting funding left right and centre). This means temporarily swallow the dead rats.

    2) Make the same soothing noises each time so as not to spook the horses.

    3) Utilise the lack of MMP understanding to your advantage knowing that by and large, most voters don’t really care about the ins and outs. It suits National for voters to just know the ‘high level’ overview which is “vote for this party, and vote for that person”.

    4) Incrementally, and surely, keep hammering home the same message of being “sound economic managers” and portraying the opposition as a bunch of inept muppets.

    5) Constantly belittle any brainfart or policy ideas that erupt from those quarters.

    6) Make any issues that crop up during your governing period anyone else’s fault but your own. Blame your support parties. Sheet home all responsibility to them (RMA delays = blame Maori party, Party Drug/Marijuana issues = blame Peter Dunne)

    Once achieved, and the same message has sunk in, it’s odds on proof that the electorate is softened up and all the ducks are in a row, so now you can go hard.

    Sell one message, and one message only.

    Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    Play to peoples wallets because 9 years of constant tax rises means people are poorer. Everyone is sick of hearing the same things – housing crisis, unclean water, mass sell offs of land etc.

    Tax cuts, tax cuts tax cuts.

    The majority do not care. The majority want more money to continue to obtain the things to buy to make their struggling, and probably miserable existence somewhat better. Consumerism has taught us all “feel down, buy junk, feel better.”

    Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    The majority listen, their ears perk up. More money say they! More money indeed say National.

    Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    9 years in power with constrained control under MMP, in order to keep selling yourself as the “long term” government is nothing. All people hear now are tax cuts. No one hears anything else. All talk of “30 new taxes since 2008” is ignored.

    Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    Overwhelmingly, the majority will vote for what’s good for their wallets. 9 long years of constantly struggling to get by and seeing more of your pay disappear each week means tax cuts will be a boon..

    Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    The opposition decries, “no, we can’t afford”. Shut up say the proletariat ‘You’re not the government, how do you know what we can afford. That John Key is such a nice guy’

    tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    The masses hunger. They want these tax cuts. Nothing will stop them now from getting them. The party offering the message, simply, must. WIN!

    Election day looms near. The repeated mantra of ‘tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts’ has assumed a soothing quality to the soma’d masses. No one wants to be a Delta, or an Epsilon. We all want to be Betas. Only the best can be Alphas. Being a Gamma wouldn’t be too bad, but a Beta is better.

    Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.

    Election day itself

    Party vote “tax cuts” say the masses. The dutiful tick goes to the party with the right message.

    After 9 long years of softening up the hoi polloi, the governing party is returned with an outright majority. Too late, the people awaken. The look of horror is abject. The next three years is a selloff. Too late, the damage is done, the plan is to be carried out. The bankers and merchant men took over the country.

    New Zealand. The greatest experimental country for neo-liberalism to mass transfer and consolidate wealth to the few, since, well, ever.

    • YNWA 9.1

      This post deserves an article on mass hypnosis, great stuff James T!

    • Ad 9.2

      All you are saying is that ‘tax cuts’ are superior political tactics to anything the left has produced.

      What news is that? No news.

      The left don’t seem to want to take notice of how they win elections getting fresh money into people’s pockets. They should. If they did they would be more likely to win elections.

      • James Thrace 9.2.1

        It’s no news, but it’s the news that makes people take notice.

        Unless labour can counter it with an effective appeal, it’s a vote winner.

        Big issue policies won’t win over the hearts and minds of the undefined “centre”.

        Hip pocket stuff wins the day.

        My pick would be to counter the tax cuts mantra with something equally as powerful. $1500 tax refund within 100 days.

        Then, when the inevitable bashing starts just say that it’s cheaper than Nationals tax cuts and people will get that $1500 right away instead of over 18 months under National.

        Fight a lack of policy costings with just the same vigor. “We will show you our figures when National does”. Easy. Drives home the fact National have no plan.

        How to pay for it? Easy. A new tax bracket for 500k+ of 45%. Sure as eggs are eggs, labour will win then.

      • reason 9.2.2

        ….. or target those with the most who are cheating the rest of us ……

        Its a worldwide problem

        “All over the world governments are struggling to provide decent public services. Ordinary people pay ever-increasing taxes but get worse public services. Rather than paying their fair share of taxes, major corporations and wealthy individuals escape their social obligations by locating in offshore tax havens. Companies such as Enron, Newscorp, Elan, Exxon, Northern & Shell Group, Portland Investment, Microsoft, General Motors and others have used tax havens to shave their tax bills.

        By plugging the leakage of tax revenues to tax havens, the UK government could raise up to £85 billion extra in tax revenues, large enough to fund schools, hospitals, pensions, public transport and social infrastructure.” http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/No_accounting_for_tax_havens_FEB-02.pdf

        “A significant fraction of global private financial wealth — by our estimates, at least $21 to $32 trillion as of 2010 — has been invested virtually tax-free through the world’s still expanding black hole of more than 80 “offshore”secrecy jurisdictions. We believe this range to be conservative, for reasons discussed below. Remember: this is just financial wealth. A big share of the real estate, yachts, racehorses, gold bricks — and many other things that count as non-financial wealth –are also owned via offshore structures where it is impossible to identify the owners. These are outside the scope of this report. http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/The_Price_of_Offshore_Revisited_Presser_120722.pdf

        And a who’s who ………. http://ctj.org/pdf/offshoreshellgames2016.pdf

        Bank of America Corp. Number of Tax Haven Subsidiaries: 109

        Location of Tax Haven Subsidiaries : Bahamas (2), Bermuda (4), Cayman Islands (18), Channel Islands (13), Costa Rica (1), Gibraltar (4), Hong Kong (3), Ireland (8), Luxembourg (13), Mauritius (6), Netherlands (25), Netherlands Antilles (1), Singapore (8), Switzerland (3

  8. save nz 10

    Good idea – The Community Fridge: Reducing food waste and feeding those in need

    https://lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz/the-community-fridge-reducing-food-waste-and-feeding-the-hungry/

  9. save nz 11

    Through the US Export-Import Bank, Barack Obama’s administration has spent nearly $34bn supporting 70 fossil fuel projects around the world, work by Columbia Journalism School’s Energy and Environment Reporting Project and the Guardian has revealed.

    This unprecedented backing of oil, coal and gas projects is an unexpected footnote to Obama’s own climate change legacy. The president has called global warming “terrifying” and helped broker the world’s first proper agreement to tackle it, yet his administration has poured money into developments that will push the planet even closer to climate disaster.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/01/obama-fossil-fuels-us-export-import-bank-energy-projects

  10. Morrissey 12

    Great Moments in Broadcasting. NOT.
    No. 1: Pippa Wetzell grovels and simpers before a slimeball….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbTCAbWTN2E

    Great Moments in Broadcasting. NOT is an occasional series highlighting some of the worst moments in our pretty shameful history of broadcasting mediocrity and downright failure.

  11. Draco T Bastard 13

    Women of Harry Potter: Evil in Authority

    Dolores Umbridge has surely never thought of herself as evil. Evil people never do. They think of themselves as working for the betterment of the world they live in. Dolores Umbridge lives in a world that is populated by all sorts of people—werewolves and merpeople and muggles and wizards.

    And she knows in her heart that it would be a better world if some of those people—the lesser people, the less important people—served people like her. Or died. Either one will do. Either way, they must be broken.

    It would be a better world, she tells herself, for everyone.

    Sounds remarkably like the National Party as they bash down beneficiaries and the poor while helping the rich exploit the rest of society.

  12. Feeling a bit disillusioned.

    firstly John Michael Greer – I have been an avid fan of his for years – I cannot agree with his trump analysis – I think he is wrong to suppose that trump will do anything. Feel sad about JMG’s opinion on all that – makes me want to not read him anymore – but his analysis on other topics is insightful so will probably keep reading him, but it isn’t the same now 🙁

    http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.nz/2016/11/the-end-of-american-century.html

    and Mana and The Māori Party – I’ve really tried but nah. Too far Hone, you have lost mana and don’t have the same pulling power mate. The Internet-Mana and dotcom stuff burnt too much political capital – we trusted you and we were let down. You can’t ask us to do it again – I’m not going to – I don’t trust The Māori Party – they have done too much against our people and they have supported the gnats too much.

    As a Māori indigenous rights left activist I am NOT supporting the Mana Movement joining with The Māori Party – and I am NOT supporting Hone Harawira. I want NEW leadership, I want a commitment to the kaupapa we originally signed up for not this additional new direction. Nah – I’m not compromising my values and what I believe about fighting inequality and fighting for indigenous rights and fighting for the underpriviledged, the forgotten, and discarded in our society (whose ranks are well overcrowded with Māori). Nah – this proposed marrigae is NOT the way – I’m NOT putting my patu down yet.

    A poem from a few years ago

    Beneath Te Papa

    My knee clicked loudly like an out of time fingersnapper
    as I entered Te Papa. A museum, as am I, both hoarding
    treasures deep on this day of my birth.

    I am 50 today as I descend below Te Papa, the oversized
    lift looming around us like an atrium, my socks slip
    on the floor. A slow motion ritual fall to our past.

    The doors weep quietly aside and I find them along walls.
    Taiaha stacked supine, appearing settled yet expectant,
    as poised as hungry white herons staring at faint flickers of fish.

    They watch as years slide by. Discarded weapons now relics,
    longing for a warm hand, the lightest touch of emotion, we were
    forged for our time, as useful as a steady pay packet, or an edge.

    A weapon-less warrior watching warrior-less weapons.
    Te Papa and I are the cave mouth open everyday, and they enter
    to see, to touch, to feel – the museum, but not the man.

    • Karen 14.1

      Kia kaha, Marty.

      The future certainly looks very bleak but it is the continuing activism by people like you that still gives me some hope.

    • Rosemary McDonald 14.2

      “Taiaha stacked supine, appearing settled yet expectant,
      as poised as hungry white herons staring at faint flickers of fish.

      They watch as years slide by. Discarded weapons now relics,
      longing for a warm hand, the lightest touch of emotion,…”

      The tide MUST turn soon, it must.

  13. The Other Mike 16

    JK played golf with logical person! “President Obama Says Marijuana Should Be Treated Like Alcohol

    In a just published “exit interview” with Rolling Stone Magazine, President Barack Obama opined that marijuana use should be treated as a public-health issue, not a criminal matter, and called the current patchwork of state and federal laws regarding the drug “untenable.”

    “Look, I’ve been very clear about my belief that we should try to discourage substance abuse,” Obama said. “And I am not somebody who believes that legalization is a panacea. But I do believe that treating this as a public-health issue, the same way we do with cigarettes or alcohol, is the much smarter way to deal with it.”

    He added, “It is untenable over the long term for the Justice Department or the DEA to be enforcing a patchwork of laws, where something that’s legal in one state could get you a 20-year prison sentence in another. So this is a debate that is now ripe, much in the same way that we ended up making progress on same-sex marriage.”

    Rolling Stone interview, which is excellent read:
    http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/obama-on-his-legacy-trumps-win-and-the-path-forward-w452527

  14. b waghorn 17

    something up with my email just seeing if the standard still knows this is my address.

  15. greywarshark 18

    This from Avaaz about the Syrian people and their self help group The White Helmets. Perhaps Buzz Aldrin would go and visit on a Peace Mission there and bring out a whole lot of the wounded and their families for the same price as getting out of Antarctica.

    73,530 lives in fact. That’s how many people they have saved, rushing to the scene of bombings to pull people from the rubble and carry them to safety.

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    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    7 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    8 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    11 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    12 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    12 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    12 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    13 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    14 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    16 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
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