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.
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
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.
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?
“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.”
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.
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.
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?
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.
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)
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
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.
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.
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.”
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…
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 🙂
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.
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.
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.
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.
….. 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.
“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
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.
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.
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.
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 🙁
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.
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.”
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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Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
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 ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
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. ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
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, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
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Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11758774
The selling off of nz gathers pace.
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.
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
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.
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
Stuart Nash and David Shearer.
The National party is a much better fit.
But James says Nash is sexist and comments inappropriately about women.
Oh wait, National is a much better fit.
He didn’t have his brain engaged in that situation, looks like a smart enough guy to learn from that and not do it again.
Have you read James’ posts? He’s not smart and is unlikely to learn much at all.
he will think it just not say it – yep the rightie way of learning lol
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?
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.
Misa Fia Turner is representing the National Party. Next you’ll be saying it’s out of their hands who gets selected.
According to the National party rule book If you have more than 600 members the region or the party HQ cannot get involved.
If the Mangere national party group has over 600 members than they can pick whoever they want.
You are more naive than I thought.
That’s what Slater says and he’d have a fairly good idea how things are done within National.
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2016/11/michelle-boag-spinning-todd-barclay/
Yep he sure has! Take the carpet bagging of Coromandel for instance..
wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more, say no more…
good to know where you get your info bm – thought you only went there to look at the pictures?
You do realise that the average number of National Party members per electorate is about 150 don’t you?
TurgidFascinating stuff BM. How do they make policy? At Cabinet Club? No?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.
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.
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?
Percentages, I would have thought that was obvious.
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?
Just promise them “Bullshit and Jellybeans”.
Or penis lollies 🙂
“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
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Yes I’m sure the local delegates were convinced Wayne. 🙂 So convenient how the then incumbent, resigned at the time.
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)
So. What happened in Northland? Wayne.
Ask David Kirk about it
Yep. 23% shows they are finished for sure
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
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.
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
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.
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…
Jeepers, even i think golliwogs are a bit much
Have you contacted that tribe and asked them?
read up about this subject before you start – it may help you – may.
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 🙂
More people join Pike River protest including a Dame.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/dame-fiona-kidman-joins-pike-river-protest/
Andrew Little should be there.
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.
Looks like the ninth floor had a word with police…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11759041
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.
This post deserves an article on mass hypnosis, great stuff James T!
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.
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.
….. 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
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/
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
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.
Great moments in stenography. NOT.
Any of Messr Breen’s postings on this fine blog.
Ouch.
http://rs991.pbsrc.com/albums/af32/TheValiantSoul/Thatreallyhurt.jpg~c200
Women of Harry Potter: Evil in Authority
Sounds remarkably like the National Party as they bash down beneficiaries and the poor while helping the rich exploit the rest of society.
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.
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.
Agree – from another somewhat despondent and disillusioned leftie
“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.
A couple of updates on the panama papers. In the interest of internationalism, not globalisation.
https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/12/01/20502/journalists-hang-tough-face-backlash-against-panama-papers-reporting?
https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/12/01/20500/panama-papers-have-had-historic-global-effects-and-impacts-keep-coming?
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
something up with my email just seeing if the standard still knows this is my address.
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.