I am getting fed up with the constant reference to the gun lobby as “gun owners” as in “gun owners are appalled by xyz”.
The gun lobby’s attempt to arrogate to itself all gun owners as some sort of monolithic block – aided by a lazy media looking to beat up another story out of the Christchurch terror attack – pisses me off.
I own a gun. I support this legislation because I can’t see why you need a full power semi-auto, with the potential to convert to a full auto with a full-sized magazine, to bag a deer or kill a dog worrying your sheep.
As former US vice president Joe Biden’s camp scrambles to contain any political damage over his past behaviour with women, house speaker Nancy Pelosi has some words of advice: Keep your distance.
“Join the straight-arm club,” Pelosi told a breakfast hour Washington event.
In other words, keep your handshakes at arms’ length and don’t be touchy-feely. “Just pretend you have a cold and I have a cold,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi told the event, which was sponsored by Politico, that Biden “has to understand that in the world we are in now people’s space is important to them and what’s important is how they receive it, not necessarily how you intended it.”
Remember the fuss when current VP MIke Pence said this?
“Unless his wife is there, he never eats alone with another woman or attends an event where alcohol is being served.”
At the time, and I think it was reflected on this blog, the reaction was.
“Some folks—mostly journalists and entertainers on Twitter—have reacted with surprise, anger, and sarcasm to the Pence family rule. Socially liberal or non-religious people may see Pence’s practice as misogynistic or bizarre.”
Did pence join the “ the straight-arm club,”? I hope so because mostly he comes across as disgusting to me. But then again I dont hate on people because of their sexuality or gender like him.
It can be quite confusing being a man as many women assume it is OK to hug and kiss you if they initiate it. I like to hug all my friends male and female but don’t really like strangers hugging or kissing me. Nothing wrong with a firm but gentle handshake with acquaintances.
if you don’t like getting hugged and kissed then you should have some understanding that others might equally not like it.
and if someone does not hug and kiss you back, stop it, they might not enjoy your hugs and kisses.
and strangers, workmates,business acquaintances should not be hugged nor kissed as they are strangers, workmates, business acquaintances who might not enjoy being hugged and kissed by strangers, workmates, business acquaintances.
And you should only hug your friends if they approve of hugging, if they don’t, you should abstain from it.
see how easy it is.
at some stage, life is not confusing anymore. You either can hold your hands to yourself or you can’t. Chances are the friends that don’t mind you hugging and kissing them are not the one who will complain about sexual harassment.
also, this might help you when you get to confused
Yeah, coz having a professional meeting over a meal with a woman and nobody else present is totes like getting all physical on someone else’s person. No difference at all, really.
Mind you, I’ve somehow get the impression that Pence performing his husbandly duties would be Monty Python material.
So when Ardern offers her hand and Morrison comes in for a hug ….
Interesting of course that in some countries men have been criticised for their reserve and men in other countires praised for their cultural habit to engage in the hug – with the observation that the people are socially better adjusted.
There is always the redux to hug segregation, whereby one only offers a hug to someone of the same cis gendered sex. Then there is offer and waiting for acceptance before making the move in, and noting the hand offered, rather than ignoring this – as per A and M.
DFA gives accurate commentary on what is happening in the property market. Here they are covering Sydney, but I highly recommend keeping an eye out for their NZ coverage.
They Pop up everyday on Radio New Zealand. They Pop up on TVNZ daily.
Their Commission is to mislead the ordinary people of New Zealand and lure them down the slippery highway of national grease and disease. Namely Poverty
Their aim is to continue to lead the majority of New Zealand’s youth and population into further Poverty. Although they practicised their violent fiscal measures from their inauguration as a Political Party, they were exceptionally good at it over the past nine years. During which they transferred the wealth of NZ into the pockets of their Caucus and to the Greedy National Extremists here and abroad.
I have left out Hosking. For he is a political dwarf and is followed soley by old Mrs Herald and Radio ZB rednecks. A Troll by any measure.
And so “Give it up” or spew it up for David Seymour who acts like a Puppet; supports extreme dumb education, and presents himself as the man who will fling any spanner into anything sensible.
I sincerely wish he would stop rattling on about Suicide. Because young people read it up on their Ipads and think it is just the Beez Knees. When in fact Suicide is a dreadful event for any family.
Does David have a Family? He appears to be insensitive. He seems to want reduce the number of Seniors too, by the Thousands. It’s not just the Kids in his sight.
Then there is the ambivalent Simon. Who wants to suck up to anything even small Business, lately. But Simon has only two Objectives: Money is National. Truth is Nonsense. Simon is everywhere. Day and Night.
Finally, John Key who gave himself a Nighthood, claims that we (NZ) should ignore Climate Change and continue to Wreck Aotearoa with OIl and Pollution until the end of Time. He predicted there will not be many electric cars. Too Expensive.
He said it again Yesterday 2/04/ 2019 whilst being interviewed by a dewy eyed Radio NZ Lady. No wonder the Youth think National are dumber than Sir John Key.
But, note: Key is playing into the love cycle of some of his hugely wealthy Business friends.
Key denied that a CGT did any good anywhere. He led listeners to believe that Western Nations do not profitably use Capital Gains Tax. Which is to say, he swore that making wealth fair within the nation is wrong.
What a useless, hopeless, hapless scoundrel John Key is. He insinuates himself daily.
I was thinking a couple of days ago when listening to Soimon on RNZ that I didn’t hate this guy; I don’t like him or support his ideas/policies, but I don’t hate him.
That’s because Key was a duplicitous schemer who spent most of his time convincing people he wasn’t, whereas Soimon is more a bumbling oaf who comes across as a bumbling oaf. He does his best but he’s just not naturally Machiavellian. I suspect he cries himself to sleep at night thinking about it.
I can’t bear seeing keys face pop up in the media. It’s seems to have been around a bit lately and I can’t help but wonder if in light of jacindas enhanced profile, particularly on the international stage it isn’t a ploy to “remind” people of brand national
A Stuff columnist: “Many New Zealanders are rightly offended by the term Crusaders for a rugby team, but have no problem with our soldiers assisting US “crusades” in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Probably because it was sold to them as peacekeeping, do you think? Perhaps the southerners could rename their team the Peaceniks? The old two-finger salute is probably due for revival, flower power could transform the ethos of the hinterland, the skinheads would get so pissed off they’d relocate to Auckland Island and everyone would live happily forever after…
“Why not take the message of peace and tolerance that our politicians, our Muslim community and most New Zealanders have delivered over the last few weeks and extend it to our foreign policy?”
Yeah, he gets it. The problem with peaceful coexistence is that the arms industry can’t sell product. Creation of enemies is essential to capitalism, so must keep the spectre of WWIII in the cultural ambience. When I was a kid it was usually said the only survivors of WWIII would be cockroaches. That morphed in the new millennium into `the only survivors of WWIII will be cockroaches, Keith Richards, and Goldman Sachs’. But our foreign policy has long been to prevent that outcome via UN-led peace-making, which has worked so far, so do we need to switch focus?
I suspect we do. Tolerance of endemic warfare via a posture of fake peace-keeping threatens to embed ad nauseum. General reluctance to address the causes of local and regional wars is the problem. Transcending capitalism via a more intelligent form of socialism seems the best way forward globally. Market forces can be steered via intelligent stakeholder design. Leaving it to regulators doesn’t work.
100% correct Sabine & KJT ….. Years ago I was at a dance party event with a head full of either ecstacy or Lsd … and this guy said ‘ hiya , how ya going ‘, in an American accent ….
My initial thought was ‘ oh no a fucking yank wants to talk to me’ …. but even in my muddled state it took me about 1 second to realise the shameful stereotyping I had almost fallen into …. It would be like if I were overseas and people blamed me for Keys National Govts warmongering / Islamphobia etc.
So I was friendly …. did not mention politics or anything contentious …. He was a nice guy from Hawaii … we talked fishing and I taught him about NZ King Fish, as a friend of mine had caught one just a couple of days earlier …. he was impressed.
The motto …. people everywhere are much the same … it’s our leaders /Govts which are over represented with the criminals among every society.
Here in NZ we can not do much about the Eliot Abrhams / Trumps and all the other usa war criminals …… but we can call out the Judith Collins / Wayne Mapps and others …. who jump to align themselves …. and us ….. with the very worst people in the world .
“The number of children living in poor households had been decreasing since 2015, but rose in the year to June 2018, latest figures from Statistics NZ show.”
The National-led government under John Key enjoyed the impact of the previous Labour-led government’s social policies and the number of “poor households” decreased.
Now the Labour-led government under Jacinda Ardern is faced with the reverse impact of the previous National-led government’s social policies and the number of “poor households” have increased.
That is amazing Anne.
You really seem to believe that anything a Government does has no effect at all for nine years, and then the results kick in and last for the next nine years.
The Key/English Governments were in office for 9 years. However everything good that happened during those 9 years was due to the actions of the previous, what’s her name, Government of the previous 9 years.
I shall have to remember your theory.
I shall assume therefore that anything good that happens under this Government is due to the actions of the Key/English Governments and has nothing at all to do with the CoL.
This Government is irrelevant fellas. Nothing they do has anything to do with what happens. Actually that makes a certain amount of sense. I doubt if they really want to take responsibility for the shambles that is KiwiBuild.
So it took from 2008 until 2015 for the “previous Labour-led government’s social policies” to have any impact? 7 years after Labour were dumped their policies actually started working? Is that what you’re trying to say?
The impact lasted for ‘several years’ before the inevitable increase started to kick in again… due to the gradual slashing of schemes set up to assist the lowest income groups by the previous government – and in particular Paula Bennett.
The Nats don’t care about the low socio-economic groups because they don’t vote for them. They justify their lack of consideration by claiming the poor are bludgers or they’re too lazy to get themselves a job. They are too one-eyed, greedy and selfish to acknowledge the underlying problems which lead to most of the poverty stricken situations.
I’m so glad we now have a caring government who are improving the plight of the poorest in society. It is not something that can be done overnight, but they should be making big inroads by the time they hit their second term.
The lifting of the minimum wage to $17.70 from 1st April is a very good start.
You completely misread Indiana’s post. His reference said that “The number of children living in poor households had been decreasing since 2015, but rose in the year to June 2018, latest figures from Statistics NZ show.” Decreasing since 2015. Not 2008, when Labour last had their hands on the levers of power. How can the impact have lasted “for ‘several years’” when there isn’t several years between 2015 and 2018?
I don’t give a toss what Indiana said. He/she has a reputation for misrepresentation. The impact of the Clark government’s policies would have had a beneficial affect on social outcomes for some years afterward… just as the impact of National’s social policy has been shown to be detrimental. This government is in the process of picking up the pieces but it will take a few years to banish poverty altogether.
Oh and iirc, the last National government changed the criteria for assessing welfare related figures – including unemployment – so that they would look better than they actually were.
You replied to his comment, Anne. So clearly you do give a toss.
“The impact of the Clark government’s policies would have had a beneficial affect on social outcomes for some years afterwards”
…but didn’t begin until 7 years after they left office? Rubbish.
The main reason the cost of living has increased leading children living in poor households is….
The cost of housing, which is due to the housing crisis created under nationals watch.
I’ve notice the out of touch narrative swooping all over twitter, children in poverty have increased the right wingers say….. they neglect to say, it’s because of the high cost of housing due to the prior government.
• Low income after housing costs (50 per cent median, fixed line) – 23 per cent of children, or 254,000 children
The ‘housing crisis’ did not begin under National’s watch, there was already a ‘housing crisis’ when national were elected in 2008. The reality is they took far too long to act on it, but when they finally did, the measures they took are the reason house prices are stabilising (at least in Auckland) now.
If national knew about the crisis why did they spend 9 years saying there wasn’t one?? Because they are shit heads. . That’s why.
I’ll cut this Gov miles of slack for standing and being honest.
Who’s the bigger fuckwit – the fuckwit who sets a course that might run the ship aground, or the fuckwit who pointed out the rocks on the map before he came on shift, but then accelerated to “all ahead flank” for half his shift before driving directly onto the rocks.
Shadrach. I rented out a property in Auckland from 2004 till 2014. Up till 2008 I was never bombarded with people wanting to rent my property. (inner city low maintenance, good parking. At one stage I had to wait a number of weeks to find a tenant and reduce the moderate rent I charged. It was a good place to live as I had lived their myself for 10 years. Then steadily around 2009 renting out the property became an absolute bun fight, with many wanting to live there and even strangers, somehow getting my email and asking me if I could consider them when the house next became available……………….I was told when I finally stopped renting it that I could have been charging an extra $100.00 rent. So I call absolute bullshit on what you are saying…………………..
So your single experience trumps the affordability stats? Nah. And BTW I was a landlord in the same period and could see the problem well before 2008. Maybe your property wasn’t up to much??
Shadrach taking a swipe at the property I owned in Auckland which had been my home, is pathetic. Said home doubled, yes that’s right doubled in value between 2004 and 2014
Radio New Zealand
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NEW ZEALAND ENVIRONMENT
12 Nov 2018
Battle against Dome Valley dump plan gears up
8:51 am on 12 November 2018
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But when the Chinese Government bought our NZ country wide rubbish company we hope when National allowed it to be bought, that they would have put in a safety clause not to bury the rubbish here at all, – especially not even nearby our waterways????
My suspicion was that friendly John Key nodded and didn’t care when he agreed to the Chinese Government taking over our rubbish collection as then they had an agreement to ship the rubbish offshore to China?
I don’t see any safeguards here for our environment in this article in 2014 (when national allowed Chinese government to buy us out)
The NZ Herald reported today that Beijing Capital, a Chinese state-owned-enterprise, says it is committed to buy new assets, develop capacity, and introduce new anaerobic digestion technology at the Redvale Landfill in Dairy Flat, north of Auckland.
First. We are the polluters in the first instance.
Second. We create to much rubbish.
Third. We don’t recycle enough.
Fourth. We create to much rubbish daily, and don’t much care about it in the larger scheme of things.
as for John Key caring? Who cares. For the Chinese Government to care? Who cares.
If we want to keep our nature clean, we – the people of this lovely land – have to actually start caring enough to a. reduce our rubbish, b. stop consuming, c. by made to last preferably here in NZ, d. recycle, e. upcycle, and literally buy as much shit as we can if we need to buy shit in second hand stores.
when we do all that we can to protect our environment we can start pointing the finger at others.
But for what its worth, i have yet to meet a NZ politician that cares about our water, and in saying that, many of our fellow citizens don’t care about it much either.
The best way to keep our landfills from polluting our environment is to keep the landfills empty.
The rubbish is there Sabine. It needs to be dealt with AND action to reduce to near Zero Waste. There are people in ZW working on doing that.
In the meantime: Waste Management managing director Tom Nickels said more landfills were needed for the city’s growing population.
The Dome Valley site fitted the bill because it was close to a state highway, not heavily populated and had the right geographical features, he said.
The landfill would bring up to 80 jobs and provide work for local businesses.
Modern dumps were very safe, he said.
“They fully lined with a five or six layer engineered lining that means nothing leaches into the substrate.”
The company is due to lodge resource consents with Auckland Council next month.
The bit about lining being layered and engineered reminds me of what would be required of a nuclear power site. It could be that dumps like this will become as toxic in time. Having signed up for TPPA plus lots of other letters had probably set us up to be asset-stripped to infinity.
To protect what is left it is ‘Struggle Without End’ as in the title of Dr Ranginui Walker’s book about Maori and colonisation. Isn’t it rich that we are experiencing similar at this stage, and hadn’t learned much from the Maori original experience, and now they are going through it again. It is a good thing that Labour agreed to some reparation of their losses from confiscations and finagling or they would be very awangawanga.
Note that jobs and local businesses are always mentioned. Doing what though?
A blue-eyed pakeha sings to us about our flair for mucking things up.
i find it stupid to complain about ‘the chinese’ when it is ‘the chinese government’. Nothing is done in China without the government ticking it off. Firstly.
Secondly, the rubbish is ours. So its not the ‘chinese’ polluting us, we did that in the first place.
Third, as you say we need more landfills. Why? because we produce rubbish like there is no tomorrow.
fourth, i have yet to meet Kiwis that care so much about water that they would actually do more then just whinge.
so maybe, before we complain about the shit that others do we stop changing our behavior? Or would that infringe on the whinging?
‘disclaimer’ i worked a bit for a chemical company here in nz in waste water treatment, so i have my own ideas of certain things. And one of the things that i have learned working at that company, visiting waste water facilites and water catchment areas and water dams is that Kiwis don’t much care where they water comes from, so as long as it comes, is clean and hopefully its cheap or at no charge.
‘British Columbia’s carbon tax has been largely heralded as a success.’ Since introduction in 2008, emissions are down 15%, consumer choice is changing, and the province has led the national economy.
Four more Canadian provinces have been introduced to the scheme as of Monday.
This is not so much a tax as a redistribution of wealth favoring non polluters.
“”Let me be very clear, the government of Canada will return all of the money collected through pricing pollution back to Canadians,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said when the carbon tax was unveiled.”
BC has achieved that success with a pathetically low tax. Imagine what might happen with a tax rate getting up closer to the actual damage done by the emissions.
Beginning April 1, 2018, B.C.’s carbon tax rate is $35 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. The tax rate will increase each year by $5 per tonne until it reaches $50 per tonne in 2021.
New revenues generated from increasing the carbon tax will be used to
Provide carbon tax relief and protect affordability
Maintain industry competitiveness
Encourage new green initiatives
To improve affordability, government is increasing the Climate Action Tax Credit to $135 per adult and $40 per child for 2018. Government also offers several carbon tax programs for businesses and local governments.
Good for Justin Trudeau, as he needs to mend the fences of ‘discontent’ as I often saw his father ‘Pierre Elliott’ had to do while I lived in Toronto in 1969 through during his prime-ministership..
Canada was very serious then about pollution and climate change as then we were seeing the weather patterns changing slowly then.
If I lived in Canada, and were thinking about climate change, I’d be deeply concerned about migrations from the southern border…
As Mexicans displace Texans who displace Okies who displace Kansans? who displaces Nebraskanites thus displacing South Dakotese into North Dakota and North Dakotese into Canada.
The Canadish people should build a wall. A wall of hempcrete to keep out the Americanese refugees.
As we ‘often’ crossed the border and drove to Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee 6 times every year, – and the only times we got hassled at the US/Can border was going south, not north to Canada again.
https://omny.fm/shows/magic/david-seymour-calls-out-sean-plunket-on-euthanasia I found this interview really interesting and wonder who the major act backer who strongly supports euthanasia is. It seems that this bill is in the interest of the rich and powerful. I’m not saying that individual choice is not a good thing but there are a lot of disadvantaged groups, such ad the disabled who are really worried about it
Is there anyone reading this who lives in Christchurch who can comment on this question?
Are the Police there still carrying sidearms at all times?
When they started to do so, back in February it was claimed that it would just be a temporary measure and would only last for a short period. If they are still carrying them it would appear that they have no intention of giving them up. https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/383618/christchurch-police-to-carry-firearms-until-further-notice
Are they currently armed though?
That is today. After all the nut who shall not be named has been in custody for 20 days and there is, apparently, no one else involved.
They shouldn’t need arming now.
Greg O’Connor will be pleased.
When he was head of the Police union he was always rabbiting on about how the Police should carry arms at all times.
I suspect they will just continue to keep them slung around their waists.
They will no doubt puff their chests out and pretend they are all Clint Eastwood in a Dirty Harry movie.
Far to good a chance to claim that they are “necessary” to our safety. I doubt they will go back in the boot of the car now.
I don’t mind the pistols and rifles in their cars. I really don’t trust them when they are right to hand at all times.
Nah, that’s the good thing about bureaucracy is that the arming is a procedure resulting from the high threat level. Level goes down, cops stop routine carrying.
I think the whole country is still on high alert. I have seen coppers with side arms and long guns in my neighbourhood in Christchurch 3 times … each was at a police scene or prior to an arrest.
The story on TV that I saw said that there was no evidence of any connection between them, although the Russian chap apparently had similar views about people of the faith.
I think it is pushing it a bit to say that he was involved in the actual affair.
While much of the article is amazed at the depletion of the Saudi oil production capacity in its largest field, it’s still collectively able to pump up to 12 million barrels of oil per day.
Clouds began to form early Sunday over Jabal Al-Lawz in Tabuk Province and by sunset, snow covered all the area turning the ground into a white blanket https://t.co/IXNUvagVNG
Yes, my heart bleeds for them too. Must be tough eh.
On the other hand the family really do need the money. There are about 15,000 members of the House of Saud, and they all live off the State. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Saud
I’ve never worked there myself but I knew a number of people who did. That was back prior to 1988 when the old US run Aramco was still running things.
The first thing you did when you got there was set up a still. Out of sight of course but you still had one.
Then you had to get a driver for your wife to get around.
Firstly the oranges of this stem from his view about his father. Seems he has a very different view of him compared to the historical record. Can’t fault a son for adoring and thinking the best of his father really. Yet his factvoid compounds his deliberate message of distrust of anything, unless he says it, to his followers. That’s always a worry.
Yes marty; – if only Donald had’ve put Hillary Clinton in the dock for ‘obstruction of justice” after she got caught burning her 33000 government owned emails while she was ‘Secretary of State’ after being requested by the FBI to hand them over?
Who really knows what she was up to then as now we found that today the documents where just released that she accepted $3.4 Million from convinced Billionaire George Soros to make a phoney dossier case against Trump.
“convinced Billionaire George Soros”.
I presume you were trying to say “convicted” rather than “convinced”.
After all, I imagine that almost anyone who knows anything about him would be “convinced”, as no doubt he is, that he is a Billionaire.
Meanwhile, if you do mean “convicted” can you please enlighten us about where and when did such a conviction occur and what was it for?
Or are you like Shane Jones and you don’t answer questions?
If you don’t keep up with the web checking for Soros convictions, I cant help you Alwyn sorry.
Soros Is Found Guilty in France On Charges of Insider … https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/21/business/soros-is-found-guilty…
After a 14-year investigation, a French court today convicted the American financier George Soros of insider trading and fined him 2.2 million euros ($2.3 …
George Soros Has Been Convicted of Insider Trading in France https://davidharrisjr.com/politics/george-soros-has-been-convicted…
Justice works slowly in France, but at least it does work. After 14 years, French prosecutors were finally able to convict George Soros on insider trading. Apparently …
Soros Loses Challenge to Insider Trading Conviction – The … https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/soros-loses-challenge-to…
A European court rules that France’s insider trading laws were sufficiently clear to hold George Soros criminally responsible for buying and selling …
George Soros convicted of Insider Trading in France https://www.theguardian.com/business/2002/dec/20/france…
A French court today convicted US billionaire investor George Soros of insider trading and fined him 2.2m euros.
George Soros Found ‘Guilty’ Of Criminal Insider Trading In … https://newspunch.com/george-soros-guilty-insider-trading-france
Globalist billionaire George Soros has been found guilty of illegal insider trading in France, and has been issued a hefty $2.3 million fine.
Is george soros a convicted felon – answers.com https://www.answers.com/Q/Is_george_soros_a_convicted_felon
Yes. George Soros was convicted of the crime of insider trading in France. He was fined 2.3 million dollars.
Soros Loses Case Against French Insider-Trading Conviction https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-10-06/soros-loses…
Billionaire investor George Soros lost a … Soros, 81, was convicted in 2002 of … general” and said Soros was the first in France to be …
George Soros – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soros
George Soros , Hon FBA (born … as alternatives to prison for persons convicted of non … Soros said that removing President George W. Bush from office was the …
Prison? George Soros Found Guilty On Charges of Insider … https://joeforamerica.com/2018/12/prison-george-soros-found-guilty…
After a 14-year investigation, a court has convicted the financier George Soros of insider trading. In the US, … Soros was convicted in France.
Breaking: Democrat Financier GEORGE SOROS Found Guilty in … https://thepatrioticpost.com/us-politics/democrat-financier-george…
It’s been quite a week for Democrat financier George Soros. … convicted the American financier George Soros of … GEORGE SOROS Found Guilty in France for …
George Soros Fails To Clear His Name Of Insider Trading In … https://www.businessinsider.com/george-soros-insider-trading…
George Soros Fails To … Soros lost his battle against today a 2002 insider trading conviction in France in the … Soros was convicted of insider trading in …
9 Things You Need To Know About George Soros | Daily Wire https://www.dailywire.com/news/8427/9-things-you-need-know-about…
9 Things You Need To Know About George Soros. … Soros is a convicted felon. Soros was convicted of insider trading in France in 2002, …
You do have something.
Mind you I had a great deal of trouble finding what it was from your links.
Do you realise that of those 12 links you put in 7 of them return a “Page not found” response when you try and link to them? Those 7 include all the sources that I would regard as reliable. The others tend to fall into the borderline crackpot category.
As far as I can see Soros bought and sold shares in 1988. The French finally brought a case in 2002. He was found guilty of Insider Trading although the evidence would seem to show that the information he relied on was public knowledge at the time.
He has been appealing the verdict ever since and it still seems to be going on.
I don’t see that he is going to be serving any time for his supposed “felony”.
REMINDER: Trump himself also claimed, wrongly, to be of Swedish heritage — he wrote in The Art of the Deal that his grandfather had come to the U.S. from Sweden. https://t.co/RmuNix0fdKhttps://t.co/cfWMAbLH6x
I'd be sincerely interested in what Trump would say if he was told he's wrong about this. Would he say he was told by family that his father was born in Germany and just believed it? Because that's what Warren said about her claim of Native ancestry. https://t.co/K8eIN0HaLB
Yourself and waghorn are delusional if you believe there is any confusion in my comments, or hypocrisy in my positions taken on either issue…
Go ahead…point it out…
And post those vaccine certs for your boys…you said you were having them vaccinated two weeks ago…and attempted to transfer your parental decision making responsibility to an anonymous blog commentator…
You made it my handles business through your comments offloading your decisions to me…so go right ahead…
Or are you just an anonymous blog commentator mouthing off…again…
Radio New Zealand
1 Apr 2019
Alarming trends continue in latest UN climate report
4:36 pm on 1 April 2019
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Photo: AFP
The latest state of the climate report by the World Meteorological Organisation said the effects of climate change were accelerating to dangerous levels, and were being felt in the Pacific.
The report, with contributions from dozens of scientists, UN agencies and national weather authorities including Fiji, Australia and New Zealand, also said greenhouse gas emissions had risen to unprecedented levels.
It showed sea levels were on the rise, and the water was warmer and increasingly acidic, which threatened to destabilise whole ecosystems.
And there were no signs the warming trend, which began at the start of this century, will ease.
The UN body’s report comes ahead of a summit in September that’s been billed as a last-chance opportunity for leaders to tackle climate change.
Kia ora The AM Show.
Gumboot Friday is absolutely good cause. Rasing money for tamariki mental health Counciling.
Come on guys you know that the mess that the mental health and health sector is to layed at ational party feet.
That’s a cool vaccine that cuts cervical cancer by 50 % in Britain its available in NZ but is it published and available to ALL THE TANGATA.
Dag thanks for the years of loyalty to OUR All Blacks.
Good to hear your story Sue Climate change is going to be a huge challenge I Back what you say NZ can be used as policy test bed for mitigating climate change. NZ can lead the world to combat climate changes sea level rising ect. I was complaining last year national being a climate change denier that government has left a lot of people at risk to climate change they didn’t take precautions to combat there risk to climate change.
I say John Kerwin has done a excellent job of promoting mental health and incouring people to get help.
Ka kite ano P.S Mokopuna duties
Eco Maori knows what being treat in a discriminating by the Corrupt System
“All – maybe not all, but most Māori I know, and pretty much every single one of them here in Whanganui, just sit on the benefit and use our tax money for drugs and alcohol.” A literal thing that a woman said to me only to be followed up with “Oh, not you though Ka kite ano links below.
I know what I said to one of my Whanau members when I went up te tairwhiti to my whare whenua has been spun out of CONTEXT I Condem the way the CROWN is using USEs to suppress OUR TANGATA whenua and you don’t even get it. I can not Condem YOUs as most of YOU are my WHANAU and no not what you do .
YOU WOULD be pissed off with the amount of your m8s that they have had following me around trying to INTIMIDAT ME KIA KAHA BROs don’t let them turn YOU against Me because in the end its Eco Maori who ultimately has yours and your Mokopuna best futures at HART Ka kite ano P.S we are all on this WAKA together
Kia ora Newshub.
I agree with the Prime Minister that NZ can lead the way to a better future and social media policy’s .
With the Ethiopia plane crash and the other one could have been prevented my other concerns is if the plane crashes were in a European domanate country there would have been a huge OUT CRY FOR JUSTICE and people companies being hurled over the hot coals of a COURT HOUSE.
Papatuanukue is yearning for Ranginui in Te tairawhiti wow.
I will stay out of the American politics for the minute.
There you go Mike alcohol is bad for one’s health and mind.
The start of the final season of Game of Throne is on the 15/04/2019 it’s one of my favourite movies series. Ka kite ano P.S thanks
If you want to study propagandist techniques, you are typically told to study Dictatorships. Not unfair, but what’s always been more interesting to me is so-called “democratic” countries and their broader information systems.Why? Because people opt for it, even as they decry “totalitarian regimes!”.. It’s quite an eye ...
Introducing legislation which shits on the public's right to know seems to have become a daily occurrence for this government. Today's example is the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Bill. The bill establishes a framework for the establishment of "special purpose vehicles" (SPVs) to hide debt from local government balance sheets ...
Below is the longlist of words and phrases generated in the korero phase of Public Address Word of the Year 2019, with some editorial moderation. Now it's time to vote. As you'll doubtless be able to see, you get three ranked choices. Use your power wisely. Or frivolously, whatever.As usual, ...
The University of Waikato and New Zealand Law Foundation have released a report today on the law around encryption in New Zealand. There's stuff in there about principles and values, and how proposed government policies to provide for "lawful access" by creating backdoors would destroy the trust which makes encryption ...
A ballot for two Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance (Prompt Settlement of Claims for Uninhabitable Residential Property) Bill (Stuart Smith) Social Security (Exemption for Ex Gratia and Compensation Payments) Amendment Bill (Willow-Jean Prime) Neither bill seems likely to be particularly controversial. This is ...
Earlier in the month, Bougainvilleans went to the polls in a landmark referendum to decide on whether they would remain part of Papua New Guinea or become independent. Yesterday, the results came in, with over 97% support for independence. The referendum wasn't binding - instead it means negotiations with the ...
by Daphna Whitmore This week 800 unionised bus drivers in Auckland were suspended from work after they refused to collect fares as part of a campaign of industrial action. Drivers working for Auckland’s largest bus company NZ Bus are asking for more pay and better working conditions after being offered ...
As details emerge about what unfolded on Whakaari / White Island two days ago, my thoughts go out to all the families affected by this terrible event. My thoughts are also with the first responders who worked in perilous circumstances to assist and protect those affected. Both local and ...
BMG research have unleashed their final poll of the 2019 campaign:Westminster voting intention: CON: 41% (-)LAB: 32% (-)LDEM: 14% (-)GRN: 4% (-)BREX: 3% (-1)via @BMGResearch , 06 - 11 Dec Chgs. w/ 06 Dec That's a bit of a "Dunno why we bothered" sort of poll. "Phillip, I'm afraid I've been a ...
Grant Keeps On Trucking: Out of the $12 billion Robertson has announced for infrastructure investment, $8 billion will be allocated to specific projects, with the balance of $4 billion held in reserve. What does it say about this Government's "transformational" ambitions that 85 percent of that $8 billion is to ...
I am not making this up.First few lines of the Dail Mail write up:Boris Johnson's exasperated media minder swore on live TV today as the PM refused to speak to Good Morning Britain before trotting into a fridge as he started an early milkround in Yorkshire. Piers Morgan was visibly ...
In previous elections pollsters have bemoaned the 'shy Tory' - the respondent who is so fearful of being judged as a cruel and heartless bastard by an anonymous pollster, or their spouses, workmates and friends, that they lie about their intention of voting Conservative, skewing the poll figures in Labour's ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzI was in Switzerland recently and discovered that they haven’t ...
So, You Gov's MRP poll - the weird one that tries to reflect what will happen at a constituency level and which pretty much nailed the hung parliament in 2017 - is not looking too good for Labour:
We've known about climate change for over forty years now,and it has been a major political issue for twenty. And yet fossil fuel companies have kept polluting with impunity, while government have looked the other way and twiddled their thumbs and refused to do anything because "the economy", or just ...
Sheer Loopiness: Many of those expressing bemusement at the antics of these #turnardern effacers, were convinced that they were yet another expression of the National Party’s increasingly spiteful anti-government propaganda campaign. They marvelled at the oddness of the perpetrators’ mindset and questioned the common-sense of allowing the rest of New Zealand ...
Brad Scott, GNS Science VolcanologistThis post was originally published by GeoNet.Following the 9 December devastating eruption at Whakaari/White Island we have put together some information about the island. New Zealand’s most active volcano Whakaari/White Island is currently New Zealand’s most active volcano, it has been since an eruptive episode ...
The Justice Committee has reported back on its Inquiry into the 2017 General Election and 2016 Local Elections, with a host of recommendations about how to improve our electoral systems. Some of their recommendations are already incorporate din the Electoral Amendment Bill currently before Parliament, but there's also a recommendation ...
Back in 2017, in order to make themselves "electable" in the eyes of rich people who oppose everything they stand for, the Greens signed up for NeoLiberalism, adopting a restrictive set of "Budget Responsibility Rules" which basicly prevented them from using government to make things better. Now, they're finally abandoning ...
Since invading in 2001, the US has consistently claimed that their war in Afghanistan has been going well, even when it continued year after year after year. Of course, they were lying, and thanks to the Washington Post and the US Freedom of Information Act, we get to see just ...
How should we think about artificial intelligence and the implications that it has for our work and leisure? There are many articles on artificial intelligence and its potential impacts on jobs, and the ethics of applications. These are important topics, but I want to focus on some less discussed aspects, ...
I love data. It’s amazing the sort of “discoveries” I can make given a data set and computer statistical package. It’s just so easy to search for relationships and test their statistical significance. Maybe relationships which ...
The other big story concerning Leeds Hospital is Boris Johnson's bizzare behaviour at Leeds Hospital, where he was confronted by a journalist and challenged about a four year old boy with suspected pneumonia who was left sleeping on the floor, rather than getting abed like a sick kid would in ...
So, for a brief period of history, it was alleged that a protester had punched Matt Hancock's SPAD (not a euphemism; special adviser) when Hancock visited Leeds Hospital.This was reported by the likes of Robert Peston and Laura Keunssberg, as well as the less credible Guido Fawkes. It also quickly ...
by Daphna Whitmore Last week France passed a law that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. It is based on a definition of anti-Semitism that includes criticism of Israel such as: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist ...
Over the past year we've seen major bus problems in Hamilton and Wellington, as drivers have sought better wages and an end to the bullshit of split shifts, which basicly see them "married to the job". And now its Auckland's turn. When NZBus's drivers planned low-level strike action of not ...
The government has been congratulating itself over the passage of the Zero Carbon Act, which sets out long-term emissions targets. But those targets are insufficient. Meanwhile, Denmark is showing us how its done:Denmark’s parliament adopted a new climate law on Friday, committing to reach 70% below its 1990 emissions in ...
Another day, another piece of legislation with a secrecy clause. This time its the innocuous-seeming Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill, which (after establishing a new body and making it subject to the OIA in three different ways) includes the rapidly-becoming-standard clauses enabling it to request information from other public ...
The state of the United Kingdom is fractured, torn up, shredded. The Empire is gone, it died a long time ago. And yet, the country is still tracking with a lead in favour of the ones who play to the ingrained, class-bound division for political gain. It is a disgrace ...
On 27 September, Greta Thunberg addressed a crowd of 500,000 at the School Strike for Climate in Montreal, saying: “You are a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And Sweden is also a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And in both cases, it means absolutely nothing. Because ...
It should be obvious by now but let’s be clear: The same folk who regularly traffic in disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” are also those who most strongly claim that their freedom of expression rights are being violated when moves are made to curb hate speech (as opposed to protected ...
Michael SchulsonWhen Shane Burcaw flies on an airplane, he brings along a customized gel cushion, a car seat, and about 10 pieces of memory foam. The whole arsenal costs around $1,000, but for Burcaw it’s a necessity. The 27-year-old author and speaker — who, alongside his fiancée, Hannah ...
We are very pleased to publish this submission is from Lucinda Stoan. She is a social justice activist, mother, and educator, based in Washington State in the US. This detailed and comprehensive source-linked overview of trans issues and what is at stake will be useful for many people, especially in ...
New Zealand's Underarm Banker: It bears recalling that the “independence” of the Reserve Bank Governor was for decades held up by neoliberal capitalists as the most compelling justification for passing the Reserve Bank Act. Interesting, is it not, how the ruling class’s support for the Bank’s independence lasted no longer than ...
Rubbish In, Rubbish Out: Put all this together, and it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that anyone who responds positively to a pollster’s request to “answer a few questions” is just ever-so-slightly weird. Desperately lonely? Some sort of psephological train-spotter? Political party member primed to skew the poll for or against ...
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. A long and bitter court feud between former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Jordan Williams has been settled, with an apology and compensation from Williams. On Tuesday, Craig sent out ...
Samuel Becher, Victoria University of Wellington and Jessica C Lai, Victoria University of WellingtonEarlier this year, the New Zealand-based pizza chain Hell Pizza offered a limited-edition “Burger Pizza”. Its customers weren’t told that the “meat” was plant-based. Some customers complained to the Commerce Commission, which enforces consumer law in ...
Some people seem to want to close down any critical discussion of the current research into the relationship between water fluoride and child IQ. They appear to argue that claims made by researchers should not be open to critical review and that the claims be accepted without proper consideration ...
The government has been congratulating itself over the passage of the Zero Carbon Act, which sets out long-term emissions targets. Meanwhile, Climate Action Tracker has the shameful reality: those targets are insufficient:While New Zealand is showing leadership by having passed the world’s second-ever Zero Carbon Act in November 2019, under ...
The government introduced a Racing Industry Bill today. As an urban who horse racing as pointless-to-cruel, and gambling as a tax on stupidity and/or hope, this isn't normally a bill which would interest me in the slightest, beyond grumpiness at more government money for a dying industry. But there is ...
Check. Check. One, two, three, four. Is this thing ON? Hello readers, I logged in last night (yeah, it’s been a while) to mark THE END of the landmark legal case, Jordan Williams v Colin Craig, which (gulp) reached The Supreme Court, in which New Zealand’s most-defamed man was suing the politician he ...
Before The Birth: Israel’s most fervent supporters set their clocks ticking in Biblical times. They cite the kingdoms of David and Solomon as proof that, in the words of the Exodus movie’s theme-song: “This land is mine.” The majority of Israel’s backers, however, start their clocks in 1933 – the year Adolf ...
In an unreliable, strange and confusing world, Public Address is proud to present a measure of comfort and stability by annually asking everyone what words or phrases sum up the year that's been – and then giving some of them consumer goods as prizes for being clever or simply lucky.Well, ...
Both my parents are pretty handy – and they seem to have the right tools for most jobs in the garage and they know how to fix practically anything. A similar story could be told about their generation’s experience in the workforce – being a generalist was not unusual and ...
When it was revealed that NZ First had tried to enrich itself from public office via the Provoncial Growth Fund, the Prime Minister assured us that everything was OK as Shane Jones, the Minister responsible for the fund, had recused himself. Except it seems that that recusal came very late ...
Today is a Member's Day, and probably the last one of the year. After the marathon of the End of Life Choice Act, most of the bills up for debate today are uncontentious. First up is the second reading of Chlöe Swarbrick's Election Access Fund Bill. This will be followed ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has reported back on the government's odious and tyrannical control orders bill. As expected, the fraudulent select committee process has made no significant changes (partly because they couldn't agree, but mostly because it was a stitch-up from the start, with no intention of ...
Yesterday, the government released its draft Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, which will be put to a non-binding referendum at the next election. I'm not a drug policy expert, but Russell Brown is, and he thinks its pretty good. And pretty obviously, it will be a massive improvement on the ...
As you're probably aware, the draft bill outlining the proposed legal cannabis regime to be put to a referendum late next year was published yesterday, and has already attracted a flurry of comment. It's notable that a good deal of the comment is about proposals that aren't actually new.A minimum ...
One of the big problems in New Zealand climate change policy is the government working at cross-purposes with itself. It wants to reduce fossil fuel use, but encourages oil and gas exploration. It wants to reduce transport emissions, but then builds enormous new roads. The problem could be avoided if ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzAccording to the United Nations, food shortages are a threat ...
Last year, the government announced it was ending offshore oil exploration by no longer issuing new permits. The idea was that the industry would then die off as permits expired. Except almost immediately the government revealed its bad faith, by saying they would extend permits and alter conditions to keep ...
The government introduced the Education and Training Bill to Parliament yesterday. Its a massive bill, which replaces both existing Education Acts, as well as various other bits of legislation (including some which are still proceeding through the House). I'll leave the serious analysis to teachers and people who actually know ...
Amelia SharmanThere’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to micro-credentials, those bits of bite-sized learning that can help workers stay on top of technological change. What’s a micro-credential? While definitions vary, micro-credentials can be understood as short courses that allow people to learn new skills or have an existing competency recognised. ...
All Smiles Now: Claire Szabo is taking up her presidential role after serving as the CEO of Habitat For Humanity. Which is absolutely perfect! After KiwiBuild was so comprehensively mismanaged by Phil Twyford, the party has not only elected a new president from a thoroughly respectable not-for-profit, but one who ...
While much of the NZ left has transitioned to postmodern and identity politics in relation to transgender ideology, there are some very good articles about that deploy Marxist methodology in relation to this subject. The one below is from the British marxist group Counterfire and appeared on their site here ...
by Daphna Whitmore At Golden Oaks, a luxurious country retreat in the Hudson Valley, pregnant women have the best care money can buy. From the organic food, personalised exercise programmes, private yoga instruction and daily massages Golden Oaks looks like a country lodge for the upper class. Set some time ...
When Labour was running for election in 2017, it felt it needed to demonstrate "fiscal responsibility" and signed itself up to masochistic "budget responsibility rules". It was a fool's errand: the sorts of voters who demand fiscal responsibility are also the sorts of voters who believe that labour can never ...
Writing in Stuff, Joel MacManus looks at what we need to do to meet the Zero Carbon Act's targets. The core of it:1. Convert 85 per cent of vehicles on the road to electric. 2. Eliminate fossil fuels from all industrial heating up to 300 degrees Celsius. 3. Double our ...
Professors Janet Hoek and Richard Edwards, Emeritus Professor Phil Gendall, Jude Ball, Dr Judith McCool, Anaru Waa, Dr Becky FreemanRecent media reports have presented conflicting evidence on youth vaping in NZ. While some NZ school principals report concerns about increasing vaping on school grounds and confiscating vapes, ASH Year ...
“America the Beautiful!”, staunch defender of democracy, freedom and… a whole lot of despotic tyrants that play nice with what is called “the Washington Consensus.” America is indeed capable of immense good, but like any Nation, and most assuredly any aspirant to the mantle of Empire, great, immense evil. All ...
Image credit:The beginner’s guide to blogging I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is ...
1080 is used to control pests in NZ. Its use is contested by a noisy few. A new report claims high levels of 1080 in rats washed up on a beach. Flora and Fauna of Aotearoa (F&F) won’t name the laboratory that did their testing. It has sparked a hunt ...
What Kind Of Empire? The thing for Kiwis to decide is what kind of empire they want to belong to. The kind that, while offering its own citizens democratic rights, demands absolute obedience from its “friends”? Or, the kind that, while authoritarian at home, takes a relaxed attitude to the ...
It hasn't been a good week for the Conservatives, pollwise. All major recent polls are showing their lead shrinking.Comparing each pollster's current (between 29/11 and 22/11) and previous most recent poll.Com Res - Conservative lead down 3 points.You Gov - Conservative lead down 1 point.Kantar - Conservative lead down 4 ...
Within quick succession, Countdown maths wizard and twitterer Rachel Riley, alleged comedian David Baddiel and prominent lawyer Andrew Julius have all expressed very similar opinions / ideas:
These #3billboards are going round London today, organised by ex-Labour people, horrified by what their party has become. Their principles haven’t changed, they’re ...
So, there have been a bunch of bad polls out for Labour, and even the Leftie's friend, Survation, have recently given the Conservatives a rip-snorting 11% lead. You Gov's much vaunted MRP poll - which pretty much nailed the result in 2015 - is currently predicting a comfortable majority for ...
The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to declare a climate emergency:The European parliament has declared a global “climate and environmental emergency” as it urged all EU countries to commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The vote came as scientists warned that the world may have already crossed ...
Pure Fear: Worse than Heroin, this drug’s addictive power was terrifying. People under its influence didn’t drift off to Elysium. Nor did it persuade inadequate individuals that they could conquer the world. No, this drug – pure crystal methamphetamine, “P” for short – unlocked the gates of Hell itself. It ...
As the rate of measles infection, and of deaths, continues to climb in Samoa, antivaccination activists infectious disease proponents seem intent on doubling down on their claims about vaccination. (Check pretty much any news-media FB post about measles & you’ll see exactly what I mean.) Unfortunately, some of them have ...
New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball’s bill introducing a six-month minimum sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its first reading in Parliament. Mr Ball said the new offence of "injuring a first responder or prison officer with intent" would target people who attacked paramedics, police, firefighters, and corrections ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters gave his final interview for 2019 on The Country to tell farmers they have never had it better under the current coalition Government. “Here you've got these record returns [for farmers]. These returns would be nothing like a record if the currency under the ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said that New Zealand's Cook Islands High Commissioner, Tessa Temata, has died over the weekend. Ms Temata, 52, died in Palmerston North and had returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. She was the first New Zealand High Commissioner to the Cook Islands of Cook Island ...
A new defence report has mapped out how New Zealand's soldiers will navigate rising seas, and a year after the Defence Force announced its need to prepare for climate change. In the “Responding to the Climate Crisis” report, the Force restates its operational plan and sets goals to tackle climate ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, has called for awareness to be raised and more stringent biosecurity checks to be put in place for African Swine Fever (ASF), a widespread virus that is uncontrolled in most of Asia and a serious ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Human Rights A critical step has been taken to end gender based violence against women and girls in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Human Rights Jenny Marcroft MP has welcomed the passing of the first reading of the Crimes (Definition of Female ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says it's time to recognise market forces haven't led to the expected reduction in Māori smoking rates and try a new approach. The Party had recently invoked the agree to disagree clause in their Coalition Agreement with the Labour Party, and will not support ...
Live from the Whanganui Opera House, on the final day of the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Jacinda Ardern announced the largest investment in school property in 25 years. ...
The Coalition Government will be banning foreign donations to political parties and candidates, ahead of next year’s general elections. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament and passed under urgency – emphasising the need for such restrictions to safeguard our democracy. The bill introduces a new requirement that party secretaries and ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones opened Taipā's $19 million bridge recently, improving transport infrastructure in the Northland region. The two-lane bridge is 107m long with a 2.5m-wide shared walking and cycling path, and will reduce the congestion that the old one-lane bridge was notorious for. The project had also included ...
The Overseas Investment Office have rejected the application of Mercury Agriculture LP, which is 92 per cent controlled by Canadian interests, to purchase more than 2000 hectares of South Canterbury and Otago land. Mercury wanted to buy 2000ha at Rangitata, 1494ha near Ashburton, 816ha near Cromwell and 212ha near Temuka. ...
This weekend was Labour's 103rd Party Conference! We welcomed over 500 of our Labour whānau in red to Whanganui, where we reflected on the last two years in Government, and looked ahead to 2020 and beyond. We know the long-term challenges facing New Zealand won't be tackled overnight, but we're making ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced that the Provincial Growth Fund will invest $9.6 million to seal the final unsealed section of State Highway 43 from Stratford to Taumarunui. The Minister said sealing the 12-kilometre gravel section of the highway – also called the “Forgotten World Highway” - through ...
Former Finance Minister and former chair of the Tax Working Group, Sir Michael Cullen, has voiced his support for New Zealand First’s decision to oppose the planned increase in tobacco excise tax. In an interview with The Weekend Collective, he said that increasing the price was no longer effective in ...
Māori are natural storytellers. On the marae we use stories to tell our history, to teach the next generation life lessons and to let people know, in our most creative of ways, who we are and where we have come from. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First has invoked the ‘Agree to Disagree’ provisions of the Coalition Agreement because it cannot support the announced 11.46 percent increase in the tobacco excise from 1 January 2020. “Studies show that the automatic tobacco excise increases are having less effect ...
Taupō-based company Geo40 has made a breakthrough in extracting near battery-grade lithium from geothermal fluid which its says could be a gamechanger. Its chief executive John Worth said the earth mineral was highly prized, with battery-grade lithium selling for US$10,000 (NZ$15,600) a tonne. Geo40 was founded in 2010 to find ...
Crown research institute AgResearch Ltd, as part of its Future Footprint plan, had intended to relocate top scientists and support staff — particularly those focused on sheep genetics and genomics — from Invermay to Lincoln. However, those plans seem to have been shelved at the request of the Coalition Government. ...
Ten engineering firms in Southland are receiving a total of $2.13 million in Provincial Growth Fund funding to lift productivity and create new jobs. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced in Invercargill that the 10 engineering and manufacturing firms would receive funding to assist them with buying equipment that ...
The number of new residents to New Zealand is the lowest it has been in nearly two decades and it has earned the ire of the immigration industry. The industry alleges that 'Trump-style extreme vetting' is being put in place aimed at keeping a lid on immigration numbers. June Ranson, ...
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is one step closer to modernising its fleet after the United States State Department recently approved the sale of five new C-130J Hercules aircraft to New Zealand. Arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, in Fort Worth, Texas, will provide the aircraft, but as a "foreign military ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of DefenceTērā te haeata takiri ana mai i runga o Pukaha!Ara tai uru, whai uru, whai uru!Ara whai ato, whai ato, whai ato!Ara rā tini, ara rā tini, ara ri!The rays of the morning sun strike a new dawn upon Pukaha ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced today the appointment of diplomat Sarah Lee as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to South Africa. She will be the first female Head of Mission to represent New Zealand in Africa. “New Zealand’s relationship with South ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones wants to create a log barging facility at Hicks Bay and turn the area into a Special Economic Zone. The move would be part of protecting New Zealand's forests from being depleted by India and China, he said. It follows his announcement last week to strengthen ...
New Zealand First supports the changes recommended by the Winter Grazing Taskforce to improve animal welfare outcomes through the winter months, and the establishment of a pan-sector action group to implement them. New Zealand First Primary Industries Spokesperson Mark Patterson says the report highlights areas of concern about the animal ...
Former prime ministers Helen Clark and Sir John Key, formerly from the Labour and National parties respectively, have joined forces in support of New Zealand First’s plan to relocate Auckland's port to Whangārei. While Ms Clark and Sir John spent their political careers on opposite sides of the political divide, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is in Japan for the Foreign Ministers' meeting of the G20 grouping of countries as one of nine "invited" countries. He has used the opportunity to cast a spotlight on the plight of Pacific countries, calling out countries which still offered subsidies or Government assistance to ...
The days of vulnerable consumers falling victim to loan sharks, truck shops and other predatory lenders are numbered, following the Credit Contracts Legislation Amendment Bill passing its third reading tonight. “Too many Kiwis are being given loans that are unaffordable and unsuitable, trapping them in debt and leaving their families ...
A Bill that prevents terrorism and supports the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas has passed its third reading, Justice Minister Andrew Little says. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill is a carefully targeted response to manage the risk posed by a small number of New Zealanders who have ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio will travel to Samoa on Friday, where New Zealand medical teams are helping Samoa respond to an outbreak of measles. “New Zealand has been working closely with the Government of Samoa and offering our assistance from the ...
The Government has changed the law to improve student safety and welfare in university halls of residence and other student accommodation. The Education (Pastoral Care) Amendment Bill passed its third reading this afternoon and details of an interim Code of Practice setting out the Government’s expectations of tertiary providers have also been released. ...
A new tool to help councils fund and finance infrastructure could mean some housing developments happen a decade earlier than currently planned, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford said today. “This new tool, developed by the Government in partnership with industry and high-growth councils, will allow councils to access private debt ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has welcomed the release of a bold new vision for the country’s vital food and fibre sector. “I’m delighted that New Zealand’s major farmer and grower organisations are today supporting the Primary Sector Council’s vision – Fit for a Better World,” he said. “The international consumers ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has congratulated the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville Government for completing a well-conducted referendum on the future political status of Bougainville. “New Zealand supported the referendum process by providing technical advice through the New Zealand Electoral Commission and leading a Regional Police ...
In light of Cabinet’s position that freight operations on prime land in downtown Auckland are no longer viable, the Government will now embark on a short work programme to enable decision-making in the first half of next year, Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones says. Minister Jones is today releasing the ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter has received the report back from a surgical mesh restorative justice process undertaken by Victoria University. The process heard stories, either in person or online submission, from more than 600 people affected by surgical mesh. “The report made for heart-breaking and confronting reading,” says ...
The Water Services Regulator Bill – Taumata Arowai , introduced to Parliament today, is a milestone for drinking water safety in New Zealand and will help improve environmental outcomes for urban waterways, rivers and lakes. “This is a breakthrough for New Zealanders in terms of providing safe drinking water throughout ...
Kia ora koutouE ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā matā wakaTēnā koutou katoaHaere ngā, moe maiKoutou ma ngā Rangatira Ko Anaru ahauKo au te Minita mo ngā TureHe Honore tino nui kei roto I ahau No reira tena koutou katoa Today, we are releasing two reports that are the ...
The Government is looking to turn around the long-term challenges of criminal justice by taking a new approach to break the cycle of offending to ensure there are fewer victims of crime. Justice Minister Andrew Little released two reports today, Turuki! Turuki! from Te Uepū Hāpai I te Ora, and ...
New Zealand firms expanding beyond the start-up phase are set for more support after today’s passage of the Venture Capital Fund Bill, Associate Finance Minister David Parker said. The Bill, which establishes a $300 million Venture Capital Fund, puts in place a key initiative of the Wellbeing Budget’s economic package. ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira mā. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Señora Presidenta, Excellencies, Delegates. International action A common thread that runs through the Paris Agreement is the commitment we have made to each other to do what we can to ...
The Government is lifting capital investment to the highest level in more than 20 years as it takes the next step to future-proof New Zealand. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced $12 billion of new investment, with $8 billion for specific capital projects and $4 billion to be added to ...
The Government is forecast to run $12 billion worth of surpluses across the four years to 2023/24 as the economy continues to grow. The surpluses will help fund day-to-day capital requirements each year. These include fixing leaky hospitals, building new classrooms to cover population growth and take pressure off class ...
Budget 2020 will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also investing to future-proof the economy. When the Government took office in 2017 it was left with crumbling infrastructure, severe underinvestment in public services, degraded rivers and lakes, a housing crisis and rising ...
The Minister responsible for the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 (te Takutai Moana Act 2011), Andrew Little has welcomed the launch of an online geospatial tool that provides data-rich, dynamic coastline maps that will significantly boost research and evidence-gathering under the Act. Te Kete Kōrero a Te ...
The Chief Victims Advisor to Government Dr Kim McGregor, QSO, has been reappointed in her role for a further two years. Dr McGregor has held the role since it was established in November 2015. She provides independent advice to government on how to improve the criminal justice system for victims. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Civil Defence Minister Peeni Henare have today announced the deployment of a network of DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) buoys. “New Zealand and the Pacific region are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. It is vital we have adequate warning systems in place,” ...
DART Buoys Announcement Aotea Wharf, 9.30am 11 December 2019 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements to Minister for Civil Defence Hon Peeni Henare also here today. White Island It is with regret that this event shadows the tragic natural disaster two days ago. The volcanic eruptions on White Island have claimed 5 lives, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the first reading of the Racing Industry Bill in parliament today. This is the second of two Bills that have been introduced this year to revitalise New Zealand’s racing industry. “Our domestic racing industry has been in serious decline. The Government is committed to ...
Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni, is pleased to announce that $291,321 is to be awarded to national and local community initiatives to maintain and promote the use of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). “New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world where Sign Language is an ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has announced today the Coalition Government’s initial response to work completed by the independent statutory body, the Veterans’ Advisory Board. “When Professor Ron Paterson completed his review of the Veterans’ Support Act in 2018, he made a number of recommendations, including one which I referred ...
The Government will fund the bulk of the cost of a rural water supply for the Ohakea community affected by PFAS contamination, Environment Minister David Parker announced today at a meeting of local residents. This new water scheme will provide a reliable and clean source of drinking water to the ...
I have had the opportunity to be briefed on the details of the volcanic eruption of Whakaari/White Island, off the coast of Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty. The eruption happened at 2.11pm today. It continues to be an evolving situation. We know that there were a number of tourists ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare have today confirmed initial Government support of $100,000 for communities affected by the severe weather that swept across the South Island and lower North Island over the weekend. The contribution will be made to Mayoral relief funds across the ...
New Zealand's High Commissioner to the Cook Islands, Tessa Temata, died in Palmerston North over the weekend, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said today. Ms Temata, 52, had recently returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. "On behalf of the Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, we extend ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today announced construction is underway on Wellington commuter rail upgrades which will mean more frequent services and fewer breakdowns. The upgrades include converting the Trentham to Upper Hutt single track section to a double track, with a new signalling system, upgraded stations and level crossings, and ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark and Minister for Climate Change James Shaw have announced the release of a Defence Climate Change Implementation Work Plan, titled Responding to the Climate Crisis: An Implementation Plan. The plan sets out a series of recommendations based on the 2018 New Zealand Defence Assessment, The ...
A medium-scale adverse event has been declared for the South Canterbury district, which will see up to $50,000 in funding made available to support farming communities which have been significantly affected by recent heavy rain and flooding in the area, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Two weeks of solid rain ...
Thank you Professor Juliet Gerrard and your team for the comprehensive and extremely helpful report and recommendations. Thank you too to all the stakeholders and interested parties who have contributed ideas and thinking to it. “Making best practice, standard practice” is a great framework for change and the action plan ...
The Government will phase out more single-use plastics following the success of its single-use plastic bag ban earlier this year and the release today of a pivotal report for dealing with waste. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed the Rethinking Plastics in Aotearoa New Zealandreport, released by her Chief Science Advisor ...
International education continues to thrive as the Government focuses on quality over quantity, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. The tuition revenue from international education increased to $1.16 billion last year with the average tuition fee per student increasing by $960. The total number of international students enrolled in New Zealand ...
I want to talk about one of the most pressing issues in our national life: the housing crisis and the poor performance of our cities. The argument I want to make to you is that generations of urban land use policy have lacked a decent grounding in economics. The consequences ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says new appointments to DHBs represent a significant changing of the guard, with 13 new chairs including four Māori chairs. Today 76 appointments have been announced to complement elected board members, as well as eight elected members appointed as either chair or deputy chair. Four ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Fletcher Tabuteau, is travelling to Germany, Poland, Austria, and Spain next week to bolster New Zealand’s political and trade relationships in Europe. While in Spain, Mr Tabuteau will represent New Zealand at the 14th Asia-Europe (ASEM) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Madrid. “New Zealand strongly supports ...
“I’ve spoken to Minister Faafoi, who has apologised for his poor handling of this issue,” Jacinda Ardern said. “I have confidence in Kris as a hardworking and effective Minister, but this should have been dealt with in a much clearer manner, and I’ve made my views on that very clear ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters met with Tongan Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa in Wellington today. The pair signed a Statement of Partnership setting out joint priorities for cooperation out to 2023. “We welcomed Prime Minister Tu'i'onetoa on his first visit to New Zealand as Prime Minister. Tonga ...
The Minister of Police Stuart Nash says his sympathies are with the family of a man who died after being shot by Police in Kurow. “Initial reports are that Police were called by a family member to help the man who was threatening to harm himself,” Mr Nash says. “However ...
The foreign affairs minister Winston Peters will be travelling to Samoa tomorrow to visit hospitals and medical teams dealing with the ongoing measles outbreak. ...
Andrew Little says the justice system is “taking wrecked lives and wrecking them just a little bit more”, but will the Govt cough up with what's needed for transformative change? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lidia Morawska, Professor, Science and Engineering Faculty; Director, International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health (WHO CC for Air Quality and Health); Director – Australia, Australia – China Centre for Air Quality Science and Management (ACC-AQSM), Queensland University of Technology Bushfire smoke ...
Winston Peters is bemoaning how long a decision on Northport is taking, saying if you're faced with inevitability, you should act. But Cabinet ministers have put off making a call until next year. ...
A review of the ANZ Bank New Zealand's missteps over the past year has found complacency at the most senior level, leading to the departure of its long serving chief executive. ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.In his big-spending infrastructure announcement yesterday, Grant Robertson reinforced what many political commentators say about him – he’s electorally smart, but way too conservative to be a genuine leftwing minister of finance. Robertson does what is right for winning votes, but not necessarily what is in the ...
Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) says the announcement today of three changes to the Arms Bill should be the start of a large-scale rewrite, or even eventual abandonment. ...
The failure of high-growth councils to supply enough infrastructure to support housing development has led to some serious social and economic problems, the NZ Productivity Commission states in a local government funding and financing report released today. ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says that while the Budget Policy Statement 2020 promises to extend Budget 2019’s 'Wellbeing' framework and states "reducing child poverty and improving child wellbeing" as a priority, spending plans don’t ...
The National Party's new health platform includes $50 million a year for cancer drugs, a boost to Pharmac funding and the reintroduction of National Health Targets. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is lamenting the lack of courage shown in the Productivity Commission’s Local Government Funding Report, saying that while it makes many worthy recommendations, its play-it-safe-approach relegates the report ...
Wellington 12 December 2019: The Government’s announcement to future-proof New Zealand with a $12billion investment in infrastructure is a positive sign for the country’s future. ...
19-year-old Benee’s track ‘Glitter’ is climbing international charts thanks to being given a TikTok dance. How does that work? Josie Adams explains what a TikTok dance is, and how this social media app is the new MTV.Who is Benee?Benee has had a huge 2019, with the Aucklander riding sparkling pop ...
Newsroom has asked the district court to end a defamation action by business site NBR over a news story discussing NBR and ex National MP Steven Joyce. ...
Today, at a meeting of Auckland Council’s Governing Body, councillors voted unanimously for a series of resolutions that will require greater direct involvement in resolving the ongoing dispute between unions and NZ Bus from Auckland Transport and the Minister ...
“Important policy and legislative developments have landed today which could enable a bolder, more streamlined way of delivering new infrastructure for the benefit all New Zealanders,” says Infrastructure New Zealand CEO Paul Blair. ...
The Public Service Association welcomes the announcement of a new strategic direction for the justice system, but says union members want to be properly included in designing the system they will eventually implement. ...
The success stories of people with extra struggles may not get awards and trophies, but they’re worth celebrating all the same, says Jai Breitnauer.It’s the time of year for awards assemblies and prize-givings, for clubs and teams handing out certificates and trophies. It’s traditional, as we approach Christmas and the ...
Millions of dollars worth of New Zealand fruit and grapes were at risk of rotting on the branch due to a shortage of local pickers. So a visionary group of Central Otago growers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Gibney, NHMRC early career fellow, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity The pacific island nation of Samoa has been making headlines over the past month due to a significant measles outbreak. At last count, 4,995 measles cases had been ...
Two newspaper reports illustrate the contrasting involvements of science and spiritual beliefs in the aftermath of the White Island eruption. Meanwhile several iwi have placed rāhui over their customary coastal areas. This effectively represents a customary prohibition on all maritime activities for the whole of the Eastern Bay of Plenty ...
From Middle Earth to outer space, New Zealand business has covered a lot of ground in the last 10 years. Business editor Maria Slade looks back.As the world emerged blinking from the chaos of the 2008/2009 global financial crisis, New Zealand began the 2010s in relatively good shape. We’d recovered ...
The Spinoff’s cartoonist Toby Morris chats and draws with New Zealand’s doodlers in the webseries Two Sketches. This episode, Toby is the guest of Sir Michael Hill… Jeweller.To close out the season, and potentially the series, Toby boards the super yacht of jeweller, entrepreneur, rich lister and, now, cartoonist, Michael ...
Today's release of Turuki Turuki will be welcome news for people in prison and all those working in the criminal justice system. But its most important message is that all sides need to come together. Turuki Turuki is a call for political ...
The New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the coalition Government agrees RNZ and TVNZ need protecting at a time when media industry is in dire straights. ...
When Barbara Cox joined a football team in 1973, she was one of the first women in the country to do so. She’s still fighting for women in the sport to get the respect they deserve. Auckland women didn’t play football in 1972. Auckland women cooked and cleaned and looked after ...
Richard MacManus meets Aimee – the digital assistant with a human touch. For years we’ve been worried about robots taking our jobs, but in fact it’s “digital humans” that are increasingly joining the workforce. At least, that seems to be the case in customer service. Southern Cross Health Society, New Zealand’s ...
Election rallies ain’t what they used to be. Boris’s election eve shindig was an invitation-only event for party faithful. The location (at a smallish venue in the London Olympic park) was disclosed to attendees only on the day (presumably to head off the risk of protest).The set-up is for ...
New Zealanders waiting for hip and knee surgery and other medical procedures, and families struggling to put food on the table will be funding increased profits for banks and corporate investors following Finance Minister Grant Robertson's $12 billion ...
Business is Boring is a podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Campbell Ellison from Callaghan Innovation and Alexandra Allan, CEO of Food Bowl.One of the ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has published the 2019 ‘Public Sector CEO Rich List’ at www.taxpayers.org.nz/ceo_rich_list Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “This year taxpayers will pay $62 million in salaries for just 140 people. ...
The first step in making things fairer, for those that have experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth, got closer with the passing of the first reading of Labour MP Ginny Anderson’s Holidays Act (Bereavement Leave for Miscarriage) Amendment Bill on Tuesday. ...
All over the world, driver error and risk-taking is a leading cause of road crashes [1]. For many employees, driving is the riskiest activity they undertake at work. Organisations looking to encourage and manage safe driving behaviours will benefit ...
The greatest show to ever air on New Zealand TV screens, and arguably any screens ever, had a tenure of just three tragically short years.It was on air from March 1997 to September 1999. It had an ensemble of impossibly jazzy New Zealand children and a live studio audience. It ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Government infrastructure spending, fiscal policy Chris Trotter: Grant Robertson Spends Up Large – On The Establishment Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Politics and economics ...
Thursday, 12 December: Great South has today released a profile of Southland’s emission sources for the 2018 calendar year. It shows that agricultural-related emissions were identified to be the largest emission source for Southland, representing 69% ...
Britain votes today in an election brought on by the ongoing failure of the House of Commons to approve any of the Brexit deals put before it over the last couple of years by successive Prime Ministers, Theresa May and now Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson ...
The case for a complete relocation of Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour freight port is far from established. Nevertheless, Auckland will grow over the long term, and the freight operations need to move away from the area close to the downtown Ferry Terminal. This area should become like Sydney’s Circular Quay. The ...
Climate change crisis; - “transport emissions are a major culprit causing horrendous weather events.” At CEAC; we will watch with interest of how the transport funds will be used to improve our transport infrastructure and lower our climate change ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson unveiled a $12 billion infrastructure spending boost that was at the top end of most short-term political expectations. ...
From unpaid teachers to match fixing to sex in a toilet, these are the news stories that outraged New Zealand in the 2010s.Paul HenryThe decade in NZ scandal started out strong thanks to TV and radio host Paul Henry (for the edification of younger readers, he was like Mike Hosking, ...
The Minister for the Environment, Hon David Parker, has this evening launched EDS’s final report on its Resource Management Law Reform Project at a function in Wellington. The project took a first-principles look at how New Zealand’s resource management ...
The power of government to order users and companies to decrypt encrypted data and devices needs stronger privacy protections and additional safeguards, according to a study published by researchers at the University of Waikato. ...
The final Cabinet meeting of the year is on Monday, but an announcement on the future of public broadcasting may not be made until next year given there's only be two of after that. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Manwaring, Senior Lecturer, Politics and Public Policy, Flinders University The cost of running the 2017 UK general election was estimated at £140 million (A$270 million). It’s likely to be higher this time. In 2017, the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats ...
National Leader Simon Bridges is accusing the Government of "screwing up the economy," after new Treasury figures revealed the books would be going into deficit next year. ...
Government unveils $12b infrastructure boost, much of it focused on roads and rail; and much awaited report on combatting foreign interference in elections delivered. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Brumm, ARC Future Fellow, Griffith University Our team has discovered a cave painting in Indonesia that is at least 44,000 years old and which may cast new light on the beginnings of modern religious culture. This ancient painting from the island ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Sweller, Emeritus Professor, UNSW This is the first of two essays exploring key theories – cognitive load theory and constructivism – underlying teaching methods used today. Explicit guidance and feedback from teachers is more effective in teaching students new content and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Hartley, Research Fellow (Housing and Homelessness) at the Centre for Social Impact, UNSW A private member’s bill, moved by Labor MP Josh Burns, recently called on the Australian government “to help build more affordable homes” in response to the growing homelessness ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Salvatore Ferraro, PhD candidate, RMIT University The board of Australia’s second-biggest bank is in for some stick at its annual general meeting today, as Westpac shareholders vent their displeasure at the scandal involving breaches of anti-money-laundering rules. But though it will be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ayesha Scott, Senior Lecturer – Finance, Auckland University of Technology In the 12 years since New Zealand introduced the retirement fund KiwiSaver, nearly three million New Zealanders have enrolled and 30 KiwiSaver providers are now collectively managing NZ$57 billion in investments. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tanya Dalziell, Associate Professor, English and Literary Studies, University of Western Australia Nick Broomfield’s latest documentary, Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love tells the story of the fabled relationship between Leonard Cohen and Marianne Ihlen, which unfolded after they met on the ...
Two more victims of the Whakaari-White Island eruption have died overnight, taking the death toll to eight, with eight others believed dead on the island. ...
Two new reports both recommend fresh approaches to the way criminal justice is approached. Today, changes to the system will come into effect immediately. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Capacity constraints loom large in spending stimulus, pilot speaks out about slow Whakaari recovery efforts, and carbon monoxide levels are high.The fundamentally conservative approach of finance minister Grant Robertson has continued, even as he has moved to loosen the purse ...
Regional councils will decide for themselves how to account for water, leading to difficulties in comparing water quality and use. Australia has a far better nationwide system. ...
Open mike 03/04/2019 
If you want to study propagandist techniques, you are typically told to study Dictatorships. Not unfair, but what’s always been more interesting to me is so-called “democratic” countries and their broader information systems. Why? Because people opt for it, even as they decry “totalitarian regimes!”.. It’s quite an eye ...5 hours ago
Introducing legislation which shits on the public's right to know seems to have become a daily occurrence for this government. Today's example is the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Bill. The bill establishes a framework for the establishment of "special purpose vehicles" (SPVs) to hide debt from local government balance sheets ...7 hours ago
Below is the longlist of words and phrases generated in the korero phase of Public Address Word of the Year 2019, with some editorial moderation. Now it's time to vote. As you'll doubtless be able to see, you get three ranked choices. Use your power wisely. Or frivolously, whatever.As usual, ...7 hours ago
by Daphna Whitmore This week 800 unionised bus drivers in Auckland were suspended from work after they refused to collect fares as part of a campaign of industrial action. Drivers working for Auckland’s largest bus company NZ Bus are asking for more pay and better working conditions after being offered ...12 hours ago
As details emerge about what unfolded on Whakaari / White Island two days ago, my thoughts go out to all the families affected by this terrible event. My thoughts are also with the first responders who worked in perilous circumstances to assist and protect those affected. Both local and ...12 hours ago
BMG research have unleashed their final poll of the 2019 campaign:Westminster voting intention: CON: 41% (-)LAB: 32% (-)LDEM: 14% (-)GRN: 4% (-)BREX: 3% (-1)via @BMGResearch , 06 - 11 Dec Chgs. w/ 06 Dec That's a bit of a "Dunno why we bothered" sort of poll. "Phillip, I'm afraid I've been a ...13 hours ago
Grant Keeps On Trucking: Out of the $12 billion Robertson has announced for infrastructure investment, $8 billion will be allocated to specific projects, with the balance of $4 billion held in reserve. What does it say about this Government's "transformational" ambitions that 85 percent of that $8 billion is to ...15 hours ago
I love data. It’s amazing the sort of “discoveries” I can make given a data set and computer statistical package. It’s just so easy to search for relationships and test their statistical significance. Maybe relationships which ... 2 days ago
The state of the United Kingdom is fractured, torn up, shredded. The Empire is gone, it died a long time ago. And yet, the country is still tracking with a lead in favour of the ones who play to the ingrained, class-bound division for political gain. It is a disgrace ...5 days ago
It should be obvious by now but let’s be clear: The same folk who regularly traffic in disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” are also those who most strongly claim that their freedom of expression rights are being violated when moves are made to curb hate speech (as opposed to protected ...5 days ago
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. A long and bitter court feud between former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Jordan Williams has been settled, with an apology and compensation from Williams. On Tuesday, Craig sent out ...1 week ago
While much of the NZ left has transitioned to postmodern and identity politics in relation to transgender ideology, there are some very good articles about that deploy Marxist methodology in relation to this subject. The one below is from the British marxist group Counterfire and appeared on their site here ...1 week ago
“America the Beautiful!”, staunch defender of democracy, freedom and… a whole lot of despotic tyrants that play nice with what is called “the Washington Consensus.” America is indeed capable of immense good, but like any Nation, and most assuredly any aspirant to the mantle of Empire, great, immense evil. All ...2 weeks ago
Image credit: The beginner’s guide to blogging I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is ... 2 weeks ago
New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball’s bill introducing a six-month minimum sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its first reading in Parliament. Mr Ball said the new offence of "injuring a first responder or prison officer with intent" would target people who attacked paramedics, police, firefighters, and corrections ...1 day ago
Live from the Whanganui Opera House, on the final day of the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Jacinda Ardern announced the largest investment in school property in 25 years. ...1 week ago
The days of vulnerable consumers falling victim to loan sharks, truck shops and other predatory lenders are numbered, following the Credit Contracts Legislation Amendment Bill passing its third reading tonight. “Too many Kiwis are being given loans that are unaffordable and unsuitable, trapping them in debt and leaving their families ...4 hours ago
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters is travelling to Samoa tomorrow to visit hospitals and medical teams dealing with the measles outbreak. ...31 mins ago
Andrew Little says the justice system is “taking wrecked lives and wrecking them just a little bit more”, but will the Govt cough up with what's needed for transformative change? ...1 hour ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lidia Morawska, Professor, Science and Engineering Faculty; Director, International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health (WHO CC for Air Quality and Health); Director – Australia, Australia – China Centre for Air Quality Science and Management (ACC-AQSM), Queensland University of Technology Bushfire smoke ...2 hours ago
Light rail along Dominion Rd is further behind than many might have thought. ...2 hours ago
The Environmental Defence Society has launched an insightful, bold and practical roadmap for reforming our resource management system. ...3 hours ago
A review of the ANZ Bank New Zealand's missteps over the past year has found complacency at the most senior level, leading to the departure of its long serving chief executive. ...4 hours ago
Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) says the announcement today of three changes to the Arms Bill should be the start of a large-scale rewrite, or even eventual abandonment. ...4 hours ago
The National Party's new health platform includes $50 million a year for cancer drugs, a boost to Pharmac funding and the reintroduction of National Health Targets. ...5 hours ago
Newsroom has asked the district court to end a defamation action by business site NBR over a news story discussing NBR and ex National MP Steven Joyce. ...6 hours ago
The success stories of people with extra struggles may not get awards and trophies, but they’re worth celebrating all the same, says Jai Breitnauer.It’s the time of year for awards assemblies and prize-givings, for clubs and teams handing out certificates and trophies. It’s traditional, as we approach Christmas and the ...7 hours ago
A building developer is asking the Christchurch City Council to cordon off his defective multi-storey block in the main shopping zone. ...7 hours ago
Millions of dollars worth of New Zealand fruit and grapes were at risk of rotting on the branch due to a shortage of local pickers. So a visionary group of Central Otago growers. ...7 hours ago
Two newspaper reports illustrate the contrasting involvements of science and spiritual beliefs in the aftermath of the White Island eruption. Meanwhile several iwi have placed rāhui over their customary coastal areas. This effectively represents a customary prohibition on all maritime activities for the whole of the Eastern Bay of Plenty ...7 hours ago
The New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the coalition Government agrees RNZ and TVNZ need protecting at a time when media industry is in dire straights. ...9 hours ago
Election rallies ain’t what they used to be. Boris’s election eve shindig was an invitation-only event for party faithful. The location (at a smallish venue in the London Olympic park) was disclosed to attendees only on the day (presumably to head off the risk of protest). The set-up is for ...9 hours ago
NZ's media industry has found a surprising ally - of sorts - in the NZ First leader. ...11 hours ago
Finance Minister Grant Robertson unveiled a $12 billion infrastructure spending boost that was at the top end of most short-term political expectations. ...12 hours ago
The Finance Minister says reducing carbon emissions is one of the focus of a $12 billion boost to infrastructure. ...13 hours ago
National Leader Simon Bridges is accusing the Government of "screwing up the economy," after new Treasury figures revealed the books would be going into deficit next year. ...13 hours ago
Government unveils $12b infrastructure boost, much of it focused on roads and rail; and much awaited report on combatting foreign interference in elections delivered. ...13 hours ago
Two more victims of the Whakaari-White Island eruption have died overnight, taking the death toll to eight, with eight others believed dead on the island. ...14 hours ago
ReadingRoom literary editor Steve Braunias selects the 10 best New Zealand novels of 2019. ...16 hours ago
Regional councils will decide for themselves how to account for water, leading to difficulties in comparing water quality and use. Australia has a far better nationwide system. ...16 hours ago
I am getting fed up with the constant reference to the gun lobby as “gun owners” as in “gun owners are appalled by xyz”.
The gun lobby’s attempt to arrogate to itself all gun owners as some sort of monolithic block – aided by a lazy media looking to beat up another story out of the Christchurch terror attack – pisses me off.
I own a gun. I support this legislation because I can’t see why you need a full power semi-auto, with the potential to convert to a full auto with a full-sized magazine, to bag a deer or kill a dog worrying your sheep.
End of story.
Yip 100% agree . Fish and game do the same by claiming all fishing license holders as in full support of everything they say.
This is good advice for many men I think.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/111746319/nancy-pelosi-says-joe-biden-should-stop-being-touchyfeely-with-women
what’s important is how they receive it, not necessarily how you intended it
Remember the fuss when current VP MIke Pence said this?
“Unless his wife is there, he never eats alone with another woman or attends an event where alcohol is being served.”
At the time, and I think it was reflected on this blog, the reaction was.
“Some folks—mostly journalists and entertainers on Twitter—have reacted with surprise, anger, and sarcasm to the Pence family rule. Socially liberal or non-religious people may see Pence’s practice as misogynistic or bizarre.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/pence-wife-billy-graham-rule/521298/
Well maybe Mike is right and Joe should have followed his example.
Did pence join the “ the straight-arm club,”? I hope so because mostly he comes across as disgusting to me. But then again I dont hate on people because of their sexuality or gender like him.
“Did pence join the “ the straight-arm club”
One arm only, horizontal, palm facing down, fingers extended?
Lol yeah as soon as I put that in I wondered the same thing.
how about Men learn to just treat women as beings worthy of respect and if you don’t hug and kiss a man then don’t hug and kiss a women.
and please learn how to behave in private and in public at the earliest conevnient time.
signed, women who don’t hug and kiss men just because the men are teh hot or something
It can be quite confusing being a man as many women assume it is OK to hug and kiss you if they initiate it. I like to hug all my friends male and female but don’t really like strangers hugging or kissing me. Nothing wrong with a firm but gentle handshake with acquaintances.
iits no more confusing then being a women.
if you don’t like getting hugged and kissed then you should have some understanding that others might equally not like it.
and if someone does not hug and kiss you back, stop it, they might not enjoy your hugs and kisses.
and strangers, workmates,business acquaintances should not be hugged nor kissed as they are strangers, workmates, business acquaintances who might not enjoy being hugged and kissed by strangers, workmates, business acquaintances.
And you should only hug your friends if they approve of hugging, if they don’t, you should abstain from it.
see how easy it is.
at some stage, life is not confusing anymore. You either can hold your hands to yourself or you can’t. Chances are the friends that don’t mind you hugging and kissing them are not the one who will complain about sexual harassment.
also, this might help you when you get to confused
Yeah, coz having a professional meeting over a meal with a woman and nobody else present is totes like getting all physical on someone else’s person. No difference at all, really.
Mind you, I’ve somehow get the impression that Pence performing his husbandly duties would be Monty Python material.
Lol – ministry of silly walks or dead parrot sketch?
Well, the sketch that first came to mind was this one:
But my imagination is now working overtime on how the silly walks or dead parrot sketch might be a metaphor for the Pence sex life.
Lol alright !
So when Ardern offers her hand and Morrison comes in for a hug ….
Interesting of course that in some countries men have been criticised for their reserve and men in other countires praised for their cultural habit to engage in the hug – with the observation that the people are socially better adjusted.
There is always the redux to hug segregation, whereby one only offers a hug to someone of the same cis gendered sex. Then there is offer and waiting for acceptance before making the move in, and noting the hand offered, rather than ignoring this – as per A and M.
DFA gives accurate commentary on what is happening in the property market. Here they are covering Sydney, but I highly recommend keeping an eye out for their NZ coverage.
Only an accountant could write that title… 😀
i read somewhere yesterday that over 70% of US Americans can not afford to own a house.
its everywhere, innit? and i would guess it is by design.
That’s the only logical conclusion.
NZ coverage.
The Three Stooges
They Pop up everyday on Radio New Zealand. They Pop up on TVNZ daily.
Their Commission is to mislead the ordinary people of New Zealand and lure them down the slippery highway of national grease and disease. Namely Poverty
Their aim is to continue to lead the majority of New Zealand’s youth and population into further Poverty. Although they practicised their violent fiscal measures from their inauguration as a Political Party, they were exceptionally good at it over the past nine years. During which they transferred the wealth of NZ into the pockets of their Caucus and to the Greedy National Extremists here and abroad.
I have left out Hosking. For he is a political dwarf and is followed soley by old Mrs Herald and Radio ZB rednecks. A Troll by any measure.
And so “Give it up” or spew it up for David Seymour who acts like a Puppet; supports extreme dumb education, and presents himself as the man who will fling any spanner into anything sensible.
I sincerely wish he would stop rattling on about Suicide. Because young people read it up on their Ipads and think it is just the Beez Knees. When in fact Suicide is a dreadful event for any family.
Does David have a Family? He appears to be insensitive. He seems to want reduce the number of Seniors too, by the Thousands. It’s not just the Kids in his sight.
Then there is the ambivalent Simon. Who wants to suck up to anything even small Business, lately. But Simon has only two Objectives: Money is National. Truth is Nonsense. Simon is everywhere. Day and Night.
Finally, John Key who gave himself a Nighthood, claims that we (NZ) should ignore Climate Change and continue to Wreck Aotearoa with OIl and Pollution until the end of Time. He predicted there will not be many electric cars. Too Expensive.
He said it again Yesterday 2/04/ 2019 whilst being interviewed by a dewy eyed Radio NZ Lady. No wonder the Youth think National are dumber than Sir John Key.
But, note: Key is playing into the love cycle of some of his hugely wealthy Business friends.
Key denied that a CGT did any good anywhere. He led listeners to believe that Western Nations do not profitably use Capital Gains Tax. Which is to say, he swore that making wealth fair within the nation is wrong.
What a useless, hopeless, hapless scoundrel John Key is. He insinuates himself daily.
OT bang on there, just me seeing John Key’s face makes me sick.
His overgrown love of self has blinded him.
He needs to go loose himself in that $11.7 million dollar hole and take his scoundrel mate Steven Joyce with him.
I was thinking a couple of days ago when listening to Soimon on RNZ that I didn’t hate this guy; I don’t like him or support his ideas/policies, but I don’t hate him.
I hated JK.
That’s because Key was a duplicitous schemer who spent most of his time convincing people he wasn’t, whereas Soimon is more a bumbling oaf who comes across as a bumbling oaf. He does his best but he’s just not naturally Machiavellian. I suspect he cries himself to sleep at night thinking about it.
I can’t bear seeing keys face pop up in the media. It’s seems to have been around a bit lately and I can’t help but wonder if in light of jacindas enhanced profile, particularly on the international stage it isn’t a ploy to “remind” people of brand national
….yes indeed, we should feed this conspiracy theory further! We can’t have Jacinda’s “enhanced profile” bashed by articles like this:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12218679
Indiana, not worth replying to
Perhaps Ardern should refrain from wearing a poppy this year too, because Turkey.
/
A Stuff columnist: “Many New Zealanders are rightly offended by the term Crusaders for a rugby team, but have no problem with our soldiers assisting US “crusades” in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Probably because it was sold to them as peacekeeping, do you think? Perhaps the southerners could rename their team the Peaceniks? The old two-finger salute is probably due for revival, flower power could transform the ethos of the hinterland, the skinheads would get so pissed off they’d relocate to Auckland Island and everyone would live happily forever after…
“Why not take the message of peace and tolerance that our politicians, our Muslim community and most New Zealanders have delivered over the last few weeks and extend it to our foreign policy?”
Yeah, he gets it. The problem with peaceful coexistence is that the arms industry can’t sell product. Creation of enemies is essential to capitalism, so must keep the spectre of WWIII in the cultural ambience. When I was a kid it was usually said the only survivors of WWIII would be cockroaches. That morphed in the new millennium into `the only survivors of WWIII will be cockroaches, Keith Richards, and Goldman Sachs’. But our foreign policy has long been to prevent that outcome via UN-led peace-making, which has worked so far, so do we need to switch focus?
I suspect we do. Tolerance of endemic warfare via a posture of fake peace-keeping threatens to embed ad nauseum. General reluctance to address the causes of local and regional wars is the problem. Transcending capitalism via a more intelligent form of socialism seems the best way forward globally. Market forces can be steered via intelligent stakeholder design. Leaving it to regulators doesn’t work.
You would need strong guts to partner up with this war criminal …,. Key would have ….. and Judith Collins has stated ‘ she’s in ‘
Is this one of the mates National would tell us to stand with and support ???
The guy who will carry out …. the Lynching / murder threat that Rubio has tweeted to his intended victim .
He has an impressive death squad / genocide CV
It’s disturbing that there are large numbers of people that still believe the USA is a benevolent force in the world.
the government of the US is not a benevolent force.
however not all Us Americans reflect their governments doing, nor like it.
is it not funny? We said the same here under John Key. He was elected by some, not all. And maybe we should remember that.
A lot of USA-ans are genuinely nice people, who really believe the USA, is the worlds misunderstood policeman, sowing peace and democracy.
They way the rest of the world sees them, has them puzzled. It doesn’t reflect what their media tell them.
They can be forgiven as, like New Zealanders being fed a daily diet of the Herald and Mike Hosking, they do not have much opportunity to see reality.
100% correct Sabine & KJT ….. Years ago I was at a dance party event with a head full of either ecstacy or Lsd … and this guy said ‘ hiya , how ya going ‘, in an American accent ….
My initial thought was ‘ oh no a fucking yank wants to talk to me’ …. but even in my muddled state it took me about 1 second to realise the shameful stereotyping I had almost fallen into …. It would be like if I were overseas and people blamed me for Keys National Govts warmongering / Islamphobia etc.
So I was friendly …. did not mention politics or anything contentious …. He was a nice guy from Hawaii … we talked fishing and I taught him about NZ King Fish, as a friend of mine had caught one just a couple of days earlier …. he was impressed.
The motto …. people everywhere are much the same … it’s our leaders /Govts which are over represented with the criminals among every society.
Here in NZ we can not do much about the Eliot Abrhams / Trumps and all the other usa war criminals …… but we can call out the Judith Collins / Wayne Mapps and others …. who jump to align themselves …. and us ….. with the very worst people in the world .
“The number of children living in poor households had been decreasing since 2015, but rose in the year to June 2018, latest figures from Statistics NZ show.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12218534
Life is better under a Labour led coalition…
The National-led government under John Key enjoyed the impact of the previous Labour-led government’s social policies and the number of “poor households” decreased.
Now the Labour-led government under Jacinda Ardern is faced with the reverse impact of the previous National-led government’s social policies and the number of “poor households” have increased.
True Anne 100%
That is amazing Anne.
You really seem to believe that anything a Government does has no effect at all for nine years, and then the results kick in and last for the next nine years.
The Key/English Governments were in office for 9 years. However everything good that happened during those 9 years was due to the actions of the previous, what’s her name, Government of the previous 9 years.
I shall have to remember your theory.
I shall assume therefore that anything good that happens under this Government is due to the actions of the Key/English Governments and has nothing at all to do with the CoL.
This Government is irrelevant fellas. Nothing they do has anything to do with what happens. Actually that makes a certain amount of sense. I doubt if they really want to take responsibility for the shambles that is KiwiBuild.
So it took from 2008 until 2015 for the “previous Labour-led government’s social policies” to have any impact? 7 years after Labour were dumped their policies actually started working? Is that what you’re trying to say?
The impact lasted for ‘several years’ before the inevitable increase started to kick in again… due to the gradual slashing of schemes set up to assist the lowest income groups by the previous government – and in particular Paula Bennett.
The Nats don’t care about the low socio-economic groups because they don’t vote for them. They justify their lack of consideration by claiming the poor are bludgers or they’re too lazy to get themselves a job. They are too one-eyed, greedy and selfish to acknowledge the underlying problems which lead to most of the poverty stricken situations.
I’m so glad we now have a caring government who are improving the plight of the poorest in society. It is not something that can be done overnight, but they should be making big inroads by the time they hit their second term.
The lifting of the minimum wage to $17.70 from 1st April is a very good start.
You completely misread Indiana’s post. His reference said that “The number of children living in poor households had been decreasing since 2015, but rose in the year to June 2018, latest figures from Statistics NZ show.” Decreasing since 2015. Not 2008, when Labour last had their hands on the levers of power. How can the impact have lasted “for ‘several years’” when there isn’t several years between 2015 and 2018?
I don’t give a toss what Indiana said. He/she has a reputation for misrepresentation. The impact of the Clark government’s policies would have had a beneficial affect on social outcomes for some years afterward… just as the impact of National’s social policy has been shown to be detrimental. This government is in the process of picking up the pieces but it will take a few years to banish poverty altogether.
Oh and iirc, the last National government changed the criteria for assessing welfare related figures – including unemployment – so that they would look better than they actually were.
You replied to his comment, Anne. So clearly you do give a toss.
“The impact of the Clark government’s policies would have had a beneficial affect on social outcomes for some years afterwards”
…but didn’t begin until 7 years after they left office? Rubbish.
Our Pension went up 2.4% also today.
Thanks labour/NZF we need every penny of it.
We are poor as church mice today.
The main reason the cost of living has increased leading children living in poor households is….
The cost of housing, which is due to the housing crisis created under nationals watch.
I’ve notice the out of touch narrative swooping all over twitter, children in poverty have increased the right wingers say….. they neglect to say, it’s because of the high cost of housing due to the prior government.
• Low income after housing costs (50 per cent median, fixed line) – 23 per cent of children, or 254,000 children
Bullshit.
The ‘housing crisis’ did not begin under National’s watch, there was already a ‘housing crisis’ when national were elected in 2008. The reality is they took far too long to act on it, but when they finally did, the measures they took are the reason house prices are stabilising (at least in Auckland) now.
Meanwhile – https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/04/it-s-a-fail-government-forced-to-buy-kiwibuild-houses-that-weren-t-selling.html.
Fwits, all of them.
If national knew about the crisis why did they spend 9 years saying there wasn’t one?? Because they are shit heads. . That’s why.
I’ll cut this Gov miles of slack for standing and being honest.
National knew perfectly well there was a housing crisis – Key promised to resolve it to get elected. Unfortunately he was a lying POS.
Didn’t you read my last line?
Maybe but I’d rather have these ones in charge
Who’s the bigger fuckwit – the fuckwit who sets a course that might run the ship aground, or the fuckwit who pointed out the rocks on the map before he came on shift, but then accelerated to “all ahead flank” for half his shift before driving directly onto the rocks.
Things that bad huh?
According to Key there was a housing crisis before the 2008 election. He spent nine years watching it get worse and worse.
So I reckon the analogy isn’t too far off.
Incompetence or inaction. You’re right, its not a great choice.
Incompetence is a big call when the hazard is only just emerging.
Driving onto the rocks you told people about is a special kind of stupid.
Incompetence is polite, given that the problem has been so evident for over a decade.
Well, you’d be the expert on incompetence.
That makes you the expert on stupid!
And there you are, still playing catch-up.
If I didn’t feed you lines to parrot, your smack talk would be as bad as your bullshit arguments.
Shadrach. I rented out a property in Auckland from 2004 till 2014. Up till 2008 I was never bombarded with people wanting to rent my property. (inner city low maintenance, good parking. At one stage I had to wait a number of weeks to find a tenant and reduce the moderate rent I charged. It was a good place to live as I had lived their myself for 10 years. Then steadily around 2009 renting out the property became an absolute bun fight, with many wanting to live there and even strangers, somehow getting my email and asking me if I could consider them when the house next became available……………….I was told when I finally stopped renting it that I could have been charging an extra $100.00 rent. So I call absolute bullshit on what you are saying…………………..
So your single experience trumps the affordability stats? Nah. And BTW I was a landlord in the same period and could see the problem well before 2008. Maybe your property wasn’t up to much??
Shadrach taking a swipe at the property I owned in Auckland which had been my home, is pathetic. Said home doubled, yes that’s right doubled in value between 2004 and 2014
…which included 4 years of a Labour government.
https://goo.gl/images/6Jzrjo
That link opens to a graph comparing new letting fees with annual average sale prices?
Counting is better indinana.
Are Chinese Government owned landfill sites being installed in your region in NZ near waterways too?
“Chinese Government are now using our own rubbish to destroy our water quality?
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/375694/battle-against-dome-valley-dump-plan-gears-up
Radio New Zealand
Skip to content
NEW ZEALAND ENVIRONMENT
12 Nov 2018
Battle against Dome Valley dump plan gears up
8:51 am on 12 November 2018
Share this
Maybe we should really think about reducing our waste in the first place thus depriving the chinese government of our waste to dump in our landfills?
Just asking?
Cause it is our waste, innit?
Yes sabine
But when the Chinese Government bought our NZ country wide rubbish company we hope when National allowed it to be bought, that they would have put in a safety clause not to bury the rubbish here at all, – especially not even nearby our waterways????
My suspicion was that friendly John Key nodded and didn’t care when he agreed to the Chinese Government taking over our rubbish collection as then they had an agreement to ship the rubbish offshore to China?
I don’t see any safeguards here for our environment in this article in 2014 (when national allowed Chinese government to buy us out)
https://transporttalk.co.nz/news/chinese-inject-98-million-waste-management
The NZ Herald reported today that Beijing Capital, a Chinese state-owned-enterprise, says it is committed to buy new assets, develop capacity, and introduce new anaerobic digestion technology at the Redvale Landfill in Dairy Flat, north of Auckland.
Trust, cleany, trust, xi says he finds your lack of trust disturbing, 10 brownie points of disturbing.
It actually does not matter.
First. We are the polluters in the first instance.
Second. We create to much rubbish.
Third. We don’t recycle enough.
Fourth. We create to much rubbish daily, and don’t much care about it in the larger scheme of things.
as for John Key caring? Who cares. For the Chinese Government to care? Who cares.
If we want to keep our nature clean, we – the people of this lovely land – have to actually start caring enough to a. reduce our rubbish, b. stop consuming, c. by made to last preferably here in NZ, d. recycle, e. upcycle, and literally buy as much shit as we can if we need to buy shit in second hand stores.
when we do all that we can to protect our environment we can start pointing the finger at others.
But for what its worth, i have yet to meet a NZ politician that cares about our water, and in saying that, many of our fellow citizens don’t care about it much either.
The best way to keep our landfills from polluting our environment is to keep the landfills empty.
Sabine .
You should be concerned to make our NZ Government accountable firstly to do the work they are paid by us to do!!
That means they should be making sure the foreign companies that do come here don’t damage our environment firstly.
That’s their job not ours.
Then we can get the use of plastics and other toxins banned as soon as.
We all agree on that but put the horse before the cart firstly please as the mountains of garbage are all stacking up there as we speak.
The rubbish is there Sabine. It needs to be dealt with AND action to reduce to near Zero Waste. There are people in ZW working on doing that.
In the meantime:
Waste Management managing director Tom Nickels said more landfills were needed for the city’s growing population.
The Dome Valley site fitted the bill because it was close to a state highway, not heavily populated and had the right geographical features, he said.
The landfill would bring up to 80 jobs and provide work for local businesses.
Modern dumps were very safe, he said.
“They fully lined with a five or six layer engineered lining that means nothing leaches into the substrate.”
The company is due to lodge resource consents with Auckland Council next month.
The bit about lining being layered and engineered reminds me of what would be required of a nuclear power site. It could be that dumps like this will become as toxic in time. Having signed up for TPPA plus lots of other letters had probably set us up to be asset-stripped to infinity.
To protect what is left it is ‘Struggle Without End’ as in the title of Dr Ranginui Walker’s book about Maori and colonisation. Isn’t it rich that we are experiencing similar at this stage, and hadn’t learned much from the Maori original experience, and now they are going through it again. It is a good thing that Labour agreed to some reparation of their losses from confiscations and finagling or they would be very awangawanga.
Note that jobs and local businesses are always mentioned. Doing what though?
A blue-eyed pakeha sings to us about our flair for mucking things up.
Where are the Clowns?
however that is not the point i make.
i find it stupid to complain about ‘the chinese’ when it is ‘the chinese government’. Nothing is done in China without the government ticking it off. Firstly.
Secondly, the rubbish is ours. So its not the ‘chinese’ polluting us, we did that in the first place.
Third, as you say we need more landfills. Why? because we produce rubbish like there is no tomorrow.
fourth, i have yet to meet Kiwis that care so much about water that they would actually do more then just whinge.
so maybe, before we complain about the shit that others do we stop changing our behavior? Or would that infringe on the whinging?
‘disclaimer’ i worked a bit for a chemical company here in nz in waste water treatment, so i have my own ideas of certain things. And one of the things that i have learned working at that company, visiting waste water facilites and water catchment areas and water dams is that Kiwis don’t much care where they water comes from, so as long as it comes, is clean and hopefully its cheap or at no charge.
Hoskins still being a A Hole on this morning’s Radio – nothings changed ?
Thanks for update. Did this add anything of value to this post? Crank you mind up a notch Weedy.
Before NZ has/doesn’t have a carbon tax, it is useful to understand some of the mechanics around it, and to look for examples.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/carbon-tax-explainer-1.5081006
‘British Columbia’s carbon tax has been largely heralded as a success.’ Since introduction in 2008, emissions are down 15%, consumer choice is changing, and the province has led the national economy.
Four more Canadian provinces have been introduced to the scheme as of Monday.
This is not so much a tax as a redistribution of wealth favoring non polluters.
“”Let me be very clear, the government of Canada will return all of the money collected through pricing pollution back to Canadians,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said when the carbon tax was unveiled.”
BC has achieved that success with a pathetically low tax. Imagine what might happen with a tax rate getting up closer to the actual damage done by the emissions.
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/climate-change/planning-and-action/carbon-tax
WTB,
Good for Justin Trudeau, as he needs to mend the fences of ‘discontent’ as I often saw his father ‘Pierre Elliott’ had to do while I lived in Toronto in 1969 through during his prime-ministership..
Canada was very serious then about pollution and climate change as then we were seeing the weather patterns changing slowly then.
If I lived in Canada, and were thinking about climate change, I’d be deeply concerned about migrations from the southern border…
As Mexicans displace Texans who displace Okies who displace Kansans? who displaces Nebraskanites thus displacing South Dakotese into North Dakota and North Dakotese into Canada.
The Canadish people should build a wall. A wall of hempcrete to keep out the Americanese refugees.
Yes WTB. Fair comment
As we ‘often’ crossed the border and drove to Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee 6 times every year, – and the only times we got hassled at the US/Can border was going south, not north to Canada again.
https://omny.fm/shows/magic/david-seymour-calls-out-sean-plunket-on-euthanasia I found this interview really interesting and wonder who the major act backer who strongly supports euthanasia is. It seems that this bill is in the interest of the rich and powerful. I’m not saying that individual choice is not a good thing but there are a lot of disadvantaged groups, such ad the disabled who are really worried about it
Is there anyone reading this who lives in Christchurch who can comment on this question?
Are the Police there still carrying sidearms at all times?
When they started to do so, back in February it was claimed that it would just be a temporary measure and would only last for a short period. If they are still carrying them it would appear that they have no intention of giving them up.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/383618/christchurch-police-to-carry-firearms-until-further-notice
The february thing was because of specific incidents in chch. The arming order was rescinded around 4 march after an arrest was made.
Then some other fucker turned up, and affected the security status for the country.
Are they currently armed though?
That is today. After all the nut who shall not be named has been in custody for 20 days and there is, apparently, no one else involved.
They shouldn’t need arming now.
They are still armed,on Sunday i saw the absurdity of armed police standing guard outside both the police station and courts.
“apparently” is a risky call.
As of last week, all officers around the country were armed. Given that as of today we are still on high alert that would still be the case.
The risk isn’t just the fuckwit himself – copycats are a problem sometimes.
Greg O’Connor will be pleased.
When he was head of the Police union he was always rabbiting on about how the Police should carry arms at all times.
I suspect they will just continue to keep them slung around their waists.
They will no doubt puff their chests out and pretend they are all Clint Eastwood in a Dirty Harry movie.
Far to good a chance to claim that they are “necessary” to our safety. I doubt they will go back in the boot of the car now.
I don’t mind the pistols and rifles in their cars. I really don’t trust them when they are right to hand at all times.
Nah, that’s the good thing about bureaucracy is that the arming is a procedure resulting from the high threat level. Level goes down, cops stop routine carrying.
Has a country ever been on high alert before something bad happens or us it always after the horse has bolted.
ISTR the US had a habit of going on high alert a few months before an election lol
I think the whole country is still on high alert. I have seen coppers with side arms and long guns in my neighbourhood in Christchurch 3 times … each was at a police scene or prior to an arrest.
… at least the helicopter has stopped buzzing about all day and half the night.
Alwyn, yes there appear to be others involved. The Russian guy who committed suicide apparently.
The story on TV that I saw said that there was no evidence of any connection between them, although the Russian chap apparently had similar views about people of the faith.
I think it is pushing it a bit to say that he was involved in the actual affair.
I drove past the mosque on Deans Ave @ 2:15PM.
There were 2 police officers with rifles, standing guard.
A both terrifying and inspiring doco around homelessness, crime and drugs in Seattle:
The face of despair.
https://www.youtube.com/user/invisiblepeopletv/featured
https://invisiblepeople.tv/
While much of the article is amazed at the depletion of the Saudi oil production capacity in its largest field, it’s still collectively able to pump up to 12 million barrels of oil per day.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/world/111752496/mysteries-of-the-worlds-largest-oil-field-revealed
It’s about the saddest thing I’ve read in quite a while.
Well they could diversify the economy.
Skiing could be an option.
Yes, my heart bleeds for them too. Must be tough eh.
On the other hand the family really do need the money. There are about 15,000 members of the House of Saud, and they all live off the State.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Saud
I’ve never worked there myself but I knew a number of people who did. That was back prior to 1988 when the old US run Aramco was still running things.
The first thing you did when you got there was set up a still. Out of sight of course but you still had one.
Then you had to get a driver for your wife to get around.
😆 The oranges of the Mueller investigation. Yup, there were indeed oranges. Specifically, one big one.
https://www.vox.com/2019/4/2/18292571/trump-nato-secretary-white-house-oranges
Firstly the oranges of this stem from his view about his father. Seems he has a very different view of him compared to the historical record. Can’t fault a son for adoring and thinking the best of his father really. Yet his factvoid compounds his deliberate message of distrust of anything, unless he says it, to his followers. That’s always a worry.
Yes marty; – if only Donald had’ve put Hillary Clinton in the dock for ‘obstruction of justice” after she got caught burning her 33000 government owned emails while she was ‘Secretary of State’ after being requested by the FBI to hand them over?
Who really knows what she was up to then as now we found that today the documents where just released that she accepted $3.4 Million from convinced Billionaire George Soros to make a phoney dossier case against Trump.
“convinced Billionaire George Soros”.
I presume you were trying to say “convicted” rather than “convinced”.
After all, I imagine that almost anyone who knows anything about him would be “convinced”, as no doubt he is, that he is a Billionaire.
Meanwhile, if you do mean “convicted” can you please enlighten us about where and when did such a conviction occur and what was it for?
Or are you like Shane Jones and you don’t answer questions?
If you don’t keep up with the web checking for Soros convictions, I cant help you Alwyn sorry.
Soros Is Found Guilty in France On Charges of Insider …
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/21/business/soros-is-found-guilty…
After a 14-year investigation, a French court today convicted the American financier George Soros of insider trading and fined him 2.2 million euros ($2.3 …
George Soros Has Been Convicted of Insider Trading in France
https://davidharrisjr.com/politics/george-soros-has-been-convicted…
Justice works slowly in France, but at least it does work. After 14 years, French prosecutors were finally able to convict George Soros on insider trading. Apparently …
Soros Loses Challenge to Insider Trading Conviction – The …
https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/soros-loses-challenge-to…
A European court rules that France’s insider trading laws were sufficiently clear to hold George Soros criminally responsible for buying and selling …
George Soros convicted of Insider Trading in France
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2002/dec/20/france…
A French court today convicted US billionaire investor George Soros of insider trading and fined him 2.2m euros.
George Soros Found ‘Guilty’ Of Criminal Insider Trading In …
https://newspunch.com/george-soros-guilty-insider-trading-france
Globalist billionaire George Soros has been found guilty of illegal insider trading in France, and has been issued a hefty $2.3 million fine.
Is george soros a convicted felon – answers.com
https://www.answers.com/Q/Is_george_soros_a_convicted_felon
Yes. George Soros was convicted of the crime of insider trading in France. He was fined 2.3 million dollars.
Soros Loses Case Against French Insider-Trading Conviction
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-10-06/soros-loses…
Billionaire investor George Soros lost a … Soros, 81, was convicted in 2002 of … general” and said Soros was the first in France to be …
George Soros – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soros
George Soros , Hon FBA (born … as alternatives to prison for persons convicted of non … Soros said that removing President George W. Bush from office was the …
Prison? George Soros Found Guilty On Charges of Insider …
https://joeforamerica.com/2018/12/prison-george-soros-found-guilty…
After a 14-year investigation, a court has convicted the financier George Soros of insider trading. In the US, … Soros was convicted in France.
Breaking: Democrat Financier GEORGE SOROS Found Guilty in …
https://thepatrioticpost.com/us-politics/democrat-financier-george…
It’s been quite a week for Democrat financier George Soros. … convicted the American financier George Soros of … GEORGE SOROS Found Guilty in France for …
George Soros Fails To Clear His Name Of Insider Trading In …
https://www.businessinsider.com/george-soros-insider-trading…
George Soros Fails To … Soros lost his battle against today a 2002 insider trading conviction in France in the … Soros was convicted of insider trading in …
9 Things You Need To Know About George Soros | Daily Wire
https://www.dailywire.com/news/8427/9-things-you-need-know-about…
9 Things You Need To Know About George Soros. … Soros is a convicted felon. Soros was convicted of insider trading in France in 2002, …
You do have something.
Mind you I had a great deal of trouble finding what it was from your links.
Do you realise that of those 12 links you put in 7 of them return a “Page not found” response when you try and link to them? Those 7 include all the sources that I would regard as reliable. The others tend to fall into the borderline crackpot category.
As far as I can see Soros bought and sold shares in 1988. The French finally brought a case in 2002. He was found guilty of Insider Trading although the evidence would seem to show that the information he relied on was public knowledge at the time.
He has been appealing the verdict ever since and it still seems to be going on.
I don’t see that he is going to be serving any time for his supposed “felony”.
Let Hillary go greenclean, its all over now – she didn’t get in – so the focus is on the lying orange turd now.
shot
chaser
Bernie takes on U.S Treasury secretary Mnuchin for lying about fixing Wall st.
marty mars
Yourself and waghorn are delusional if you believe there is any confusion in my comments, or hypocrisy in my positions taken on either issue…
Go ahead…point it out…
And post those vaccine certs for your boys…you said you were having them vaccinated two weeks ago…and attempted to transfer your parental decision making responsibility to an anonymous blog commentator…
You made it my handles business through your comments offloading your decisions to me…so go right ahead…
Or are you just an anonymous blog commentator mouthing off…again…
Your breaking up to much static in your transmission.
Can you unscramble and resend the message please.
Make it clear for us fickooos please.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/386063/alarming-trends-continue-in-latest-un-climate-report
Radio New Zealand
1 Apr 2019
Alarming trends continue in latest UN climate report
4:36 pm on 1 April 2019
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Photo: AFP
The latest state of the climate report by the World Meteorological Organisation said the effects of climate change were accelerating to dangerous levels, and were being felt in the Pacific.
The report, with contributions from dozens of scientists, UN agencies and national weather authorities including Fiji, Australia and New Zealand, also said greenhouse gas emissions had risen to unprecedented levels.
It showed sea levels were on the rise, and the water was warmer and increasingly acidic, which threatened to destabilise whole ecosystems.
And there were no signs the warming trend, which began at the start of this century, will ease.
The UN body’s report comes ahead of a summit in September that’s been billed as a last-chance opportunity for leaders to tackle climate change.
Kia ora The AM Show.
Gumboot Friday is absolutely good cause. Rasing money for tamariki mental health Counciling.
Come on guys you know that the mess that the mental health and health sector is to layed at ational party feet.
That’s a cool vaccine that cuts cervical cancer by 50 % in Britain its available in NZ but is it published and available to ALL THE TANGATA.
Dag thanks for the years of loyalty to OUR All Blacks.
Good to hear your story Sue Climate change is going to be a huge challenge I Back what you say NZ can be used as policy test bed for mitigating climate change. NZ can lead the world to combat climate changes sea level rising ect. I was complaining last year national being a climate change denier that government has left a lot of people at risk to climate change they didn’t take precautions to combat there risk to climate change.
I say John Kerwin has done a excellent job of promoting mental health and incouring people to get help.
Ka kite ano P.S Mokopuna duties
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
There should be a post about
Instertutional Racism so everyone can post their stories about the system discrimination against them
Eco Maori knows what being treat in a discriminating by the Corrupt System
“All – maybe not all, but most Māori I know, and pretty much every single one of them here in Whanganui, just sit on the benefit and use our tax money for drugs and alcohol.” A literal thing that a woman said to me only to be followed up with “Oh, not you though Ka kite ano links below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-shooting/111704971/casual-racism-in-nz-why-are-you-so-dirty-and-brown-dont-you-wash-yourself
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
I know what I said to one of my Whanau members when I went up te tairwhiti to my whare whenua has been spun out of CONTEXT I Condem the way the CROWN is using USEs to suppress OUR TANGATA whenua and you don’t even get it. I can not Condem YOUs as most of YOU are my WHANAU and no not what you do .
YOU WOULD be pissed off with the amount of your m8s that they have had following me around trying to INTIMIDAT ME KIA KAHA BROs don’t let them turn YOU against Me because in the end its Eco Maori who ultimately has yours and your Mokopuna best futures at HART Ka kite ano P.S we are all on this WAKA together
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
Kia ora Newshub.
I agree with the Prime Minister that NZ can lead the way to a better future and social media policy’s .
With the Ethiopia plane crash and the other one could have been prevented my other concerns is if the plane crashes were in a European domanate country there would have been a huge OUT CRY FOR JUSTICE and people companies being hurled over the hot coals of a COURT HOUSE.
Papatuanukue is yearning for Ranginui in Te tairawhiti wow.
I will stay out of the American politics for the minute.
There you go Mike alcohol is bad for one’s health and mind.
The start of the final season of Game of Throne is on the 15/04/2019 it’s one of my favourite movies series. Ka kite ano P.S thanks