Democrats going at each other will please orange45 no end.
Cuomos probably looking to distract from his own contribution to NY's covid outcome like his initial inaction and unpopular cuts to hospitals etc. He's no saint.
Gonna be interesting watching the fallout from police using tear gas and other force to drive clergy from church grounds so that the Lyin' King can posture in front of it for a photo op. What with the long history of churches holding a privileged status as sanctuaries from governmental action an'all.
The one in the the tweet talking about "ten minutes later" looks to me more like a Blackhawk than any of the other current US military helicopters. But sure, the images are fuzzy and I'm no expert, so maybe it's some other US military helicopter. In DC. Deployed against US citizens.
I never said that I agreed with military helicopters intimidating people.
It is shit.
But the top picture even has red cross badging so it is obviously checking out no one is hurt.
Even if it were a black hawk, which they aren't, it could just be Trump being an even bigger prick than normal as that is what he flies round in, I think. (may not be totally correct, as think it changes)
Well, the bit before "but" was pointless, and the remaining two comments were bullshit.
So yeah, I selected the funniest bit of your ~adjacent-apologia to quote.
Motherfuckers have deployed more resources to avoid changing police culture than they did while 105k died under their watch, and you're trying to spin this particular shit as either potus or medivac concern. If they didn't want people hurt, they wouldn't be firing "rubber" bullets.
No, you did more than point it out, you invented some motivation to the helicopter crew, after your intitial takeaway that the main point was whether it was a uh60 (medical or not).
Whereas the effects of the helicopter count more than its model number or its decal set. The effects included actual force and, yes, intimidation (which you disagree with while looking for any unlikely excuse for it to be causing those effects).
Unless the pilots go on camera to apologise and explain that they really were super concerned someone might have broken a fingernail and they were also completely unaware of the well documented effects of low level flight, I'll stick with occam's razor on their motives.
Then what are the two different types of helicopter shown in the various images and videos? Sure, the one in the image at the top of the article isn't a Blackhawk, it appears most likely to be a Lakota as McFlock says. But nobody claiming "it isn't a Blackhawk" has ponied up an alternative for the second type of helicopter as shown in the tweet in the original article and helpfully reproduced for you above in the response to lprent. That one sure as shit ain't a Lakota, and the landing gear wheels, window configuration, cabin shape, engine intakes, tapered tail boom etc all appear awfully similar to a Blackhawk and unlike any other helicopter in US military service (except Blackhawk derivatives).
So your article confirms that there was indeed a Blackhawk on the scene. But it doesn't appear to have any info from anybody that was actually at the event. Just someone speculating the Blackhawk might have been a bit higher, guessing from a brief video.
Here's from a second reporter on the actual scene:
As we noted, UH-60s have been conducting similar shows of force, as well. New York Times reporter Thomas Gibbons-Neff said that one of the Black Hawks had flown so low that it broke a large branch off a tree with its rotor wash, which fell, but thankfully didn't injure anyone on the ground below.
“To reinforce this message, the time has come for the armed forces command and Congress to prevent an expansion of the US military role in domestic crowd control roles. The institutional integrity at the core of democratic governance depends on it.”
Unfortunately, whatever military personnel still serving that might have the principle to refuse to carry out illegal orders are busy resigning in protest. To be replaced by suckups eager to carry out whatever Kim Jong Orange commands.
Nothing is going to go through Congress that puts any kind of leash on the stygian homunculus. Not while Mitch the Mean-age Mutant MAGA Turtle has a stranglehold on the Senate.
Buckle up, everybody. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. For just the next seven months if we're lucky, four and a half years if we're not.
It sickened me yesterday to see security personnel—including members of the National Guard—forcibly and violently clear a path through Lafayette Square to accommodate the president’s visit outside St. John’s Church. I have to date been reticent to speak out on issues surrounding President Trump’s leadership, but we are at an inflection point, and the events of the past few weeks have made it impossible to remain silent.
Whatever Trump’s goal in conducting his visit, he laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country, gave succor to the leaders of other countries who take comfort in our domestic strife, and risked further politicizing the men and women of our armed forces.
There was little good in the stunt.
While no one should ever condone the violence, vandalism, and looting that has exploded across our city streets, neither should anyone lose sight of the larger and deeper concerns about institutional racism that have ignited this rage.
As a white man, I cannot claim perfect understanding of the fear and anger that African Americans feel today. But as someone who has been around for a while, I know enough—and I’ve seen enough—to understand that those feelings are real and that they are all too painfully founded.
We must, as citizens, address head-on the issue of police brutality and sustained injustices against the African American community. We must, as citizens, support and defend the right—indeed, the solemn obligation—to peacefully assemble and to be heard. These are not mutually exclusive pursuits.
And neither of these pursuits will be made easier or safer by an overly aggressive use of our military, active duty or National Guard. The United States has a long and, to be fair, sometimes troubled history of using the armed forces to enforce domestic laws. The issue for us today is not whether this authority exists, but whether it will be wisely administered.
..,
Furthermore, I am deeply worried that as they execute their orders, the members of our military will be co-opted for political purposes.
Even in the midst of the carnage we are witnessing, we must endeavor to see American cities and towns as our homes and our neighborhoods. They are not “battle spaces” to be dominated, and must never become so.
We must ensure that African Americans—indeed, all Americans—are given the same rights under the Constitution, the same justice under the law, and the same consideration we give to members of our own family. Our fellow citizens are not the enemy, and must never become so.
Too many foreign and domestic policy choices have become militarized; too many military missions have become politicized.
The point being that Mullen is no longer anywhere in the chain of command and therefore has zero influence over whether illegal or just plain wrong orders get carried out or not.
It's pleasing to see that Admiral Mullen has at last started to show signs he has a heart and a conscience. Ten years ago he was one of the most callous, merciless liars one could find in any sphere of life.
I'm not into hero worship, but if ever there were politicians over my lifetime that are deserving of star status, they'd be the likes of JA, H1 (at least in the 1st and 2nd term) and Norman Kirk.
However while I still support Labour, I'm hoping people don't get complacent because there are a few things that could go very wrong over the next 3 months, and I'm hoping I won't have to feel so bad about not giving them my vote next election unless they get their shit together over a few things.
Bernard Hickey expresses one (actually more than one) of those things very well:
The more things evolve, the more I'm inclined to the belief that JA is carrying a bit of dead wood in some Ministerial portfolios, AND that she's inclined to believe some of her civil servants without question, whilst what they're telling her is not necessarily what's going on in the real world.
Given Helen Clark also said the other day that the civil service doesn't have the capacity it once had, and that its operated in a neo-lib, managerialist nirvana – JA would be wise to get a new model of bullshit detector (H1 or H2 might do).
Alternatively she could start putting as much weight on advice she receives from people at the coal face and from academia as she does from some of her ‘officials’
Ministers responsible for MBIE MPI NZTA and even MSD have been fed a lot of shit over time.
Perhaps my biggest disappointment is I L-G. One of my hero-worshiping siblings tells me he's a really 'nice guy'. I'm sure that's true enough but being a nice guy doesn't always make for being a good or competent minister and it seems to me that's often a trap people fall into. No question though that any one of them is a better bet when put beside the current crop of gNats.
Lately, I've had cause to remember what my father-in-law (a staunch Labour supporter) said when he ditched them during the 80s – to the effect that the likes of Prebble, Douglas and Co didn't have the guts to start their own party – instead hijacking Labour. That stench seems to have 'trickled down to parts of our public service.
I L-G is one minister that rumour in the hood has it was grappling with his department. Remember that furore about the czech? migrant that was put through his office and blew up in the media? Sending H2 down to Mobie to start breaking it up might not be a bad call. And immigration is tricky
"Grappling with his department". I've been saying that for nigh on 4 years now. It's not just rumour. But its a good example of the state of our ps (at least the senior ranks). The person/people/responsible for that 'demographic profiling' are still there. Why the high turnover in some areas also? And ANYone that thought it OK to use T&C to spy on people should not be in ps roles.
Under MBIE, its 'the business of people', with their families treated as though they are a COST of doing that business – baggage. Any social considerations are secondary.
As far as I can make out a reasonable chunk of our upper civil servants are wedded to the more market less government approach so there won't be an argument from me about repurposing them.
And yes heads never seem to roll – not in Mobie, Police, Defence no matter how much their dodgy deeds cost us taxpayers. Same with a lot of the state appointed boards.
Labour may have struggled to clear this pre covid but a reset is badly overdue so that we can appreciate our good public servants.
If we fail to vote for Labour and Greens, and allow National to squeak in, those prats in civil service you're talking about will have their methods entrenched.
We have to remember all the good things done and put in place while meeting huge problems, of ongoing obstacles, all of which have been dealt with incredibly well.
The National Party dirty tricks brigade would have us believe that Jacinda Grant and Winston are the only Ministers doing their roles well. Bollocks. That is designed to make Jacinda out to be a power hungry control freak
They can feck off. She is inclusive well informed and able to take advice. She has shown she won't accept bullying, but will use her discretion where ministers make errors of judgement.
In her own words, "Be a good human, be kind and support each other" She will live by those words and look for her Ministers and staff to do the same.
This same story about the few cans of beans for a family of seven migrants has been amplified. She said that was not good enough and asked for more information. 30 million was given to meet those types of need. Granted a month later half this fund has been spent.
When these people arrive they agree to support themselves if they become ill. This Government has supported them through this pandemic with shelter and food after their employers who brought them here dropped them off their workers lists.
The paucity of airfares and the cancellation of flights has added to their woes.
Bryce Edwards has always been a closet National supporter in my view, often taking parts of other stories to support a biased angle of the story, and seldom presents an overview.
He drips his bias steadily trying to build his already decided hypothesis. He is too obvious. Unfortunately, many forget how Winston's views are really quite conservative, and he could agree with Muller's take on things.
This could eat into Labour's new polling margin, though a factor may be that Winston sees Muller as "Like Jim Bolger" Stubborn intractable and rather slow and inflexible, Muller having worked for Jim Bolger who has similar traits.
After working with Jacinda Ardern I can't see him doing that except for political survival. But pundits like Bryce Edwards will muddy the waters happily.
How do you rock a good leader’s boat? By implying her other ministers are poor managers, purposefully magnifying their erros.
Rest assured @ Patricia, I'll be voting either Green or Labour depending on the promises they make between now and the election – most likely Green.
In the meantime, I'm sure MoBIE has 'several pieces of work underway in that space to ensure some joined up services might be wrapped around the unfortunate"
“Ultimately”, it might even come down to the amount of neo-liberal speak I hear from Labour in the meantime, or whether they propose getting off their chuffs and doing something about the state of media
Personally I was a bit disappointed with Bernard's story ( immigration visa's ) as there are some real issues there but it's difficult to get a handle on the actual scope of them which he did not really address and how widespread they are – lots, some , a few?
Again this is a issue inherited from National who used excessive visa's like crack cocaine for employers to disrupt the local employment markets. Labour by lifting salaries etc had tried to wind it back gently but the process was far from complete.
Still any broad brush local solutions ( untying work permits , providing welfare) are expensive. Either way we could be potentially adding 200,000 to 300,000 to our welfare role costing about a $1 billion every 6 weeks either as a direct welfare recipient or because they have displaced a local in a job. While a lot of visa holders may see this as an opportunity to attain a situation that they might otherwise not have gained I suspect there is little local appetite for that. Also don't forget that there is a least some evidence that the benefits of the visa's have been heavily oversold by some offshore agents – presumably for a large fee.
And it is an area where we need good stop gap policy plus a great deal better long term settings. Take the student work visa – there are some 65,000 apparently and according to the education institutes (dying to get their fee payers back to support the bloated salaries at the top) around a third stay on for the work visa's. Our birth cohort leaving education every year is around 50,000 to 60,000. We are suddenly adding another 25%-30%(22,000) to that number of people looking for entry level jobs. No wonder we have such a large number of NEET,s in that age group. They really don't need that level of competition.
Lastly the farmers. Could the news media give their employer sob stories a harder frame? The various audits in the last couple of years showed that the bulk of them where non compliant with any employment and wage law. Yes they may have an employee stuck overseas but employees can be suddenly unavailable for any number of reasons so get over yourself and hire another one either temporarily or permanently.
Demanding a government fly them back in again is the height of over entitlement.
However for whatever reason – whether that 'lack of capacity' H1 talked about, Euro-centric and racist mindset others have talked about (with good reason and incidentally examples – from inside the tent), or incompetence, there are a few basic things that could have been done and should be done now.
– (Haven't checked their website in a while), but MBIE were encouraging all and sundry to become immigration advisors – so they got what they asked for: complete charlatans mixed in with highly competent and experienced ones. So you'd get someone running say a security firm, or a PTE, or Labour Hire Company providing immigration advice on the side. Hopefully you can see a problem right there!
– Then you had/have a load of closures and presence in key 'markets'. Note the word MARKETS which even Mr Nice Guy seems perfectly comfortable with.
– And in those 'markets' where the charlatans and scamsters operate – places that contribute to that $5b export education sector for example, NOT even the slightest attempt to warn people of the dangers.
– Then you have a Labour Inspectorate which we were assured by an official just before the election had enough inspectors, and who now seems to have changed his tune. An Inspectorate that made excuses when cases of exploitation were reported to them. For some reason, unwilling to involve the Police – probably because they were intent on building their own little police force.
– Then you have the practice of tying visas to a specific employer, rather than sector, and expecting nothing to go wrong in terms of exploitation and contributing to the trend of driving down wages, AND wondering why employers prefer immigrant labour over Kiwis. Money to be made doncha know and its "best practice"
I'll leave it at that for now although I could go on. But if I L-G is and was "grappling" with his department, then (provided all the purchase agreements and KPIs and shit are in order), then the State Services Commissioner should have been called in (as in say a James Casson, or a demographic spreadsheeting) – repeatedly called in if necessary and told (asked very nicely) that performance isn't satisfactory. He could probably even be remiinded that we're a sovereign Pacific Nayshun that punches above its weight, albeit under HRH Madge.
I think the fuckup that is the Ministry for Everything that started out with largesse and designed by a couple of shithouse rats whose intentions should now be obvious has been allowed to contiinue is going to be on this government – even though it's probably quite a convenient entity for them to deal with.
Some really good discussion there, I hope that it is read and absorbed by some whose hearts are still beating in Labour or HM (High Management) or HR (Hyperbole Recherche').
Insomniac as I am @ Grey, you'd probably appreciate my last night.
It was a dream – call it a nightmare really in which Julie Christie was Jacinda's producer in Julie's latest reality TV show. I L-G was at home up the road in Tinakori with Clark (with an e) arguing over Neve who should be giving whom media training – while Neve was howling her eyes out.
I can see now why it happened after all I encountered yesterday (and believe me, I'm totally drugless other than the standard statins, beta blockers and aspirin) – although I sometimes wonder whether or not a puff or two of the ganga (incidentally – not exactly foreign to that hero worshiping sibling I mentioned above) would be preferable.
Thankfully, I woke up PDQ thinking today is the day I finally get to see the emergency dentist (which as it transpired, didn't go well due to a 3 month Cov19 happenstance) – Shit happens, but not half as much as it has for most of our recent immigrants. I could even get to wear a set of pearly white bleached teeth yet, at a cost of thousands, false though they may be – or not (hopefully)
Look fixing those basics ASAP would be excellent . And reining in the dodgy education sector stuff. I too find it a bit worrying that there have been few policy announcements in this area even quite basic ones so that we don' t have anyone who may be overseas looking to get a new work visa having false expectations.
“Take the student work visa – there are some 65,000 apparently and according to the education institutes (dying to get their fee payers back to support the bloated salaries at the top) around a third stay on for the work visa's.”
They do not need to come back and the institutes can keep their staff at the top on their bloated salaries and we can shut the back door visa entry which was never put to New Zealanders before being implemented. The NZ Auckland university students have been doing their studies and are continuing to do their studies and the tests from home , online , until the end of this term, So yes the overseas students can do the same – study at NZ universities online at home, in whatever that country happens to be.
And the likes of Guilford are desperate to get it all going again.
Here in lil 'ole NuZull that punches above its weight, you too can provide your child with a year (or less) of tertiary education for the mere cost of a modest house. Your chiid can recover the cost of this investment in your family and child's future through our generous 20 hour-per-week work allowance that will enable them to recover your investment in double-quick time and more!
Invest now! Don't Delay! Places are vanishing fast.
We'll even teach them the fundamentals of how to suck eggs; of the basic laws of supply and demand that are already second nature to them; or even how they can use 'apps' and proprietry products to develop and set up a web site.
Book now! Places are limited and going fast! Contact your nearest immigration specialist. This is YOUR child's future and an investment for the familiy's future
We've been in level 4 too long, move to level 3 now
We should be moving from level 3 to level 2 now
It's confusing, we should go from level 2 to level 1 now
1,2 and 3 – Simon Bridges, 4 – Todd Muller. So what's changed with the leadership spill? Looks like not much. The same cavalier attitude to public health and the instinctive privileging of business interests above everything else. It's what led to the collapse in their support over the lock-down period and it's still there.
Well, this sort of racist dog-whistling hasn't changed. Mind you, short of welcoming his application, there's very little else Muller could say. And of course, Muller couldn't bring himself to do that.
Maybe this leadership change isn't going to bring the nats' numbers up, and they won't be able to salvage even a moderate loss after all? The next poll's going to be pretty telling.
I heard a news item this morning about a group of local academics that are pushing for a relaxation of alert levels.
When asked about Sweden's approach, a position I assume the group had favoured earlier in the crisis, we are told to refer to the website.
That is the thing with the opposition, various industry spokesfolk, and your local diehard tory, their reckons don't amount to much, they bear no responsibility, and do not credit the position we are in now to the PTB.
2) They do not believe they are accountable to Congress, which is why they have no issues lying to them even while under oath. They believe they are only accountable to the President and even then, only to presidents like Trump.
3) Border Patrol believes it is not required to answer to local police, FBI, CIA or any other law enforcement agency. They claim to be to “premiere” law enforcement agency, superior to all others. They say they will become a “national police force.” To be used by a president
The Drug Enforcement Administration has been granted sweeping new authority to “conduct covert surveillance” and collect intelligence on people participating in protests over the police killing of George Floyd, according to a two-page memorandum obtained by BuzzFeed News.
[…]
“In order for DEA to assist to the maximum extent possible in the federal law enforcement response to protests which devolve into violations of federal law, DEA requests that it be designated to enforce any federal crime committed as a result of protests over the death of George Floyd,” Shea wrote in the memo. “DEA requests this authority on a nationwide basis for a period of fourteen days.”
Yes it was. There have been some good signs in recent times. For example, I think the police handling of the Covid 19 requirements has been excellent. The Public Service has needed a clean up for the past 30 years and there's hope that too is now in progress.
Amazing, really. They should have had an easy win. Of course the level 1/2 inconsistency is a problem. Of course PM and deputy PM disagreeing is a bad look.
Audrey Young pointed to the PM V DPM difference but…:
“The differences between Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Peters, her deputy, does not affect the stability of the coalition between Labour and New Zealand First.
makes sense, but given the problems with the MoH, isn't it the Minister's job (and behind them, govt caucus) to sort those problems out by setting expectations and direction?
Say your wish was granted, I doubt he would fit Labour, as its likely ideas such as setting health targets, centralising health boards, providing services by need not ethnicity may be pushed to provide better outcomes for National Health.
… providing services by need not ethnicity may be pushed to provide better outcomes for National Health.
False dichotomy. There are many and major health disparities that are caused by ethnicity. The same can be said about education and crime stats, for example. The approach and philosophy that you seem to be advocating will never overcome these engrained inequalities and will therefore never provide better outcomes at a national level but rather further reinforce the current situation.
Why do some people say such incredibly stupid things?
"One option that's been discussed is bumping Māori and Pacific patients up a priority band in certain instances, the Weekend Herald understands. Another might be making Māori and Pacific ethnicity a factor when working out a priority rating score."
All NZ-trained health professionals are acutely aware and have a good understanding of the health inequalities in this country. The same is true of biomedical researchers trained and/or working here.
I’d put it to you that ignorance, denial, normalised racism, and poor leadership and management are just some of the factors why we have seen little improvement on this issue.
I agree with what you have put to me. That's why I doubt Bloomfield would be a good fit for Labour if it is was proposed that he should replace the current Minister of Health.
"The PM should avoid the public at all costs" is a novel attack line from the opposition.
Her bodyguards didn't push people out of the way when they got too close? It's a disgrace! Use tear gas like Trump does, that'll ensure appropriate distancing.
Don't often visit that toxic site, but it was worth it today when I saw their adjusted curia poll published on it.
National 28.9% Hehehe that will be hurting the tories, a lovely reminder for them on every page.
Back to the topic, maybe the difference is, the nat mp had to ask for someone to take his photo, and that's why the tories are upset…. just a thought 🙂
Read the comments under Farrar and was horrified SPC. I hope that when Farrar supporters read the Standard would they be as horrified with what is written here?
I don’t think it indicates that at all. But clearly NZFirst lacks relevance in the current polling scenario. They’re just trying to even up the playing field and deal themselves back in. Frankly Ardern only has herself to blame for this latest incident.
Heh, my tween daughter just showed me her KPop stars have hijacked the MAGA tag and are bombarding it with fan videos, cute anime, dance and songs. And there's 1000s of them.
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Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
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Useless vs. Useless
https://abc7ny.com/cuomo-criticizes-de-blasio-nypd-on-nyc-looting/6226962/
Democrats going at each other will please orange45 no end.
Cuomos probably looking to distract from his own contribution to NY's covid outcome like his initial inaction and unpopular cuts to hospitals etc. He's no saint.
Gonna be interesting watching the fallout from police using tear gas and other force to drive clergy from church grounds so that the Lyin' King can posture in front of it for a photo op. What with the long history of churches holding a privileged status as sanctuaries from governmental action an'all.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/clergy-st-johns-church-trump_n_5ed6403ac5b6f9c2444b5851
Blackhawks deployed against Americans in DC.
https://www.salon.com/2020/06/02/army-helicopter-uses-counterinsurgency-tactics-after-protesters-tear-gassed-for-trumps-photo-op/
Funny looking "Blackhawk" Fan the flames Andre, let them burn
[I’ve looked at your comment history and unless you lift your game, you’ll be swooped up in the Pre-Election Clear-Out and Clean-Up – Incognito]
The one in the the tweet talking about "ten minutes later" looks to me more like a Blackhawk than any of the other current US military helicopters. But sure, the images are fuzzy and I'm no expert, so maybe it's some other US military helicopter. In DC. Deployed against US citizens.
See my Moderation note @ 8:27 AM.
tRump gets his Mubarak on.
https://twitter.com/AircraftSpots/status/1266595054644125696
https://twitter.com/AircraftSpots/status/1267647483271720962
Complete bullshit – that isn’t a blackhawk. Twin vertical tail for a starter.
This is a blackhawk…
The one shown in this tweet further down the article, not the one at the top, what do you reckon it is?
https://twitter.com/KannoYoungs/status/1267638120389980173
edit: plenty of news organisations are reporting at least one Blackhawk being used, such as here:
https://www.newsweek.com/low-flying-military-helicopters-used-disperse-george-floyd-protesters-washington-dc-1508013
Top one appears to be a UH-72 Lakota, but the actual make of the military helicopter is less pertinent than the fact it is a military helicopter..
Um. That isn't a Blackhawk
Maybe if it had hovered even lower the type ID would have been more accurate /sarc
I never said that I agreed with military helicopters intimidating people.
It is shit.
But the top picture even has red cross badging so it is obviously checking out no one is hurt.
Even if it were a black hawk, which they aren't, it could just be Trump being an even bigger prick than normal as that is what he flies round in, I think. (may not be totally correct, as think it changes)
Gotcha. It was concern rotorwash. Just to make sure the rubber bullets weren't hurting anyone. Fucksake.
Fantastic
Selective quoting of a post rules the waves
Well, the bit before "but" was pointless, and the remaining two comments were bullshit.
So yeah, I selected the funniest bit of your ~adjacent-apologia to quote.
Motherfuckers have deployed more resources to avoid changing police culture than they did while 105k died under their watch, and you're trying to spin this particular shit as either potus or medivac concern. If they didn't want people hurt, they wouldn't be firing "rubber" bullets.
No. I just pointed out it was a medical helicopter. Which is kind of fucking obvious, if you look at the photo.
And the bit before the "but" might be pointless to you, but I disagree with the use of helicopters to intimidate people.
This might not fit your obviously bad opinion of me, but I don't really give a shit.
No, you did more than point it out, you invented some motivation to the helicopter crew, after your intitial takeaway that the main point was whether it was a uh60 (medical or not).
Whereas the effects of the helicopter count more than its model number or its decal set. The effects included actual force and, yes, intimidation (which you disagree with while looking for any unlikely excuse for it to be causing those effects).
Unless the pilots go on camera to apologise and explain that they really were super concerned someone might have broken a fingernail and they were also completely unaware of the well documented effects of low level flight, I'll stick with occam's razor on their motives.
Whatever
You are the man of the people, and I to you am apparently an arsehole who loves helicopters terrorising people.
All is good for you.
I wouldn't go that far, but you certainly found the model of the helicopter to be a more pressing point than what it was actually doing.
??
Andre did.
I was just replying to him talking about the model ffs
Talk about taking something out of context.
2.1: "Blackhawks deployed against Americans in DC."
Obviously the most important part of that line was "blackhawks", rather than the rest of the sentence. /sarc
Then what are the two different types of helicopter shown in the various images and videos? Sure, the one in the image at the top of the article isn't a Blackhawk, it appears most likely to be a Lakota as McFlock says. But nobody claiming "it isn't a Blackhawk" has ponied up an alternative for the second type of helicopter as shown in the tweet in the original article and helpfully reproduced for you above in the response to lprent. That one sure as shit ain't a Lakota, and the landing gear wheels, window configuration, cabin shape, engine intakes, tapered tail boom etc all appear awfully similar to a Blackhawk and unlike any other helicopter in US military service (except Blackhawk derivatives).
Rather than twittser or mainstream media, I find it is better to go with the geeks who are more into the facts than the hype.
Apparently the helicopter geeks, say there was a Black Hawk, But higher up and in a different place.
https://www.verticalmag.com/news/low-flying-national-guard-helicopters-disperse-protests-washington-dc/
So your article confirms that there was indeed a Blackhawk on the scene. But it doesn't appear to have any info from anybody that was actually at the event. Just someone speculating the Blackhawk might have been a bit higher, guessing from a brief video.
Here's from a second reporter on the actual scene:
Think I will wait till a credible link of the bloke actually saying that, but if true, not good.
http://www.kiwipolitico.com/2020/06/for-us-civil-military-relations-a-slippery-slope/
“To reinforce this message, the time has come for the armed forces command and Congress to prevent an expansion of the US military role in domestic crowd control roles. The institutional integrity at the core of democratic governance depends on it.”
Unfortunately, whatever military personnel still serving that might have the principle to refuse to carry out illegal orders are busy resigning in protest. To be replaced by suckups eager to carry out whatever Kim Jong Orange commands.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/world/i-wish-you-the-best-us-military-adviser-resigns-after-trumps-controversial-photo-op-at-church/ar-BB14WhpK?li=BBqdg4K
Nothing is going to go through Congress that puts any kind of leash on the stygian homunculus. Not while Mitch the Mean-age Mutant MAGA Turtle has a stranglehold on the Senate.
Buckle up, everybody. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. For just the next seven months if we're lucky, four and a half years if we're not.
Admiral Mike Mullen speaks out:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/american-cities-are-not-battlespaces/612553/
my bold
Retired Admiral Mike Mullen.
No he retains his rank on reaching retiring age for rank, as we do here in NZ.
Correctly he is Admiral M Mullen USN (Rtd.)
As I am Lt Cdr RNZN (Rtd).
As acting Director Officer Postings (Navy) it was my task to Gazette these things 🙂
The point being that Mullen is no longer anywhere in the chain of command and therefore has zero influence over whether illegal or just plain wrong orders get carried out or not.
It's pleasing to see that Admiral Mullen has at last started to show signs he has a heart and a conscience. Ten years ago he was one of the most callous, merciless liars one could find in any sphere of life.
https://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/07/29/wikileaks.mullen.gates/index.html
I'm not into hero worship, but if ever there were politicians over my lifetime that are deserving of star status, they'd be the likes of JA, H1 (at least in the 1st and 2nd term) and Norman Kirk.
However while I still support Labour, I'm hoping people don't get complacent because there are a few things that could go very wrong over the next 3 months, and I'm hoping I won't have to feel so bad about not giving them my vote next election unless they get their shit together over a few things.
Bernard Hickey expresses one (actually more than one) of those things very well:
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/pro/2020/06/02/1215973/our-compassionate-pms-mean-policies (no on PRO)
The more things evolve, the more I'm inclined to the belief that JA is carrying a bit of dead wood in some Ministerial portfolios, AND that she's inclined to believe some of her civil servants without question, whilst what they're telling her is not necessarily what's going on in the real world.
Given Helen Clark also said the other day that the civil service doesn't have the capacity it once had, and that its operated in a neo-lib, managerialist nirvana – JA would be wise to get a new model of bullshit detector (H1 or H2 might do).
Alternatively she could start putting as much weight on advice she receives from people at the coal face and from academia as she does from some of her ‘officials’
which portfolios do you see as the worst for that?
Ministers responsible for MBIE MPI NZTA and even MSD have been fed a lot of shit over time.
Perhaps my biggest disappointment is I L-G. One of my hero-worshiping siblings tells me he's a really 'nice guy'. I'm sure that's true enough but being a nice guy doesn't always make for being a good or competent minister and it seems to me that's often a trap people fall into. No question though that any one of them is a better bet when put beside the current crop of gNats.
Lately, I've had cause to remember what my father-in-law (a staunch Labour supporter) said when he ditched them during the 80s – to the effect that the likes of Prebble, Douglas and Co didn't have the guts to start their own party – instead hijacking Labour. That stench seems to have 'trickled down to parts of our public service.
I L-G is one minister that rumour in the hood has it was grappling with his department. Remember that furore about the czech? migrant that was put through his office and blew up in the media? Sending H2 down to Mobie to start breaking it up might not be a bad call. And immigration is tricky
"Grappling with his department". I've been saying that for nigh on 4 years now. It's not just rumour. But its a good example of the state of our ps (at least the senior ranks). The person/people/responsible for that 'demographic profiling' are still there. Why the high turnover in some areas also? And ANYone that thought it OK to use T&C to spy on people should not be in ps roles.
Under MBIE, its 'the business of people', with their families treated as though they are a COST of doing that business – baggage. Any social considerations are secondary.
But…..gotta go, back later
As far as I can make out a reasonable chunk of our upper civil servants are wedded to the more market less government approach so there won't be an argument from me about repurposing them.
And yes heads never seem to roll – not in Mobie, Police, Defence no matter how much their dodgy deeds cost us taxpayers. Same with a lot of the state appointed boards.
Labour may have struggled to clear this pre covid but a reset is badly overdue so that we can appreciate our good public servants.
If we fail to vote for Labour and Greens, and allow National to squeak in, those prats in civil service you're talking about will have their methods entrenched.
We have to remember all the good things done and put in place while meeting huge problems, of ongoing obstacles, all of which have been dealt with incredibly well.
The National Party dirty tricks brigade would have us believe that Jacinda Grant and Winston are the only Ministers doing their roles well. Bollocks. That is designed to make Jacinda out to be a power hungry control freak
They can feck off. She is inclusive well informed and able to take advice. She has shown she won't accept bullying, but will use her discretion where ministers make errors of judgement.
In her own words, "Be a good human, be kind and support each other" She will live by those words and look for her Ministers and staff to do the same.
This same story about the few cans of beans for a family of seven migrants has been amplified. She said that was not good enough and asked for more information. 30 million was given to meet those types of need. Granted a month later half this fund has been spent.
When these people arrive they agree to support themselves if they become ill. This Government has supported them through this pandemic with shelter and food after their employers who brought them here dropped them off their workers lists.
The paucity of airfares and the cancellation of flights has added to their woes.
Bryce Edwards has always been a closet National supporter in my view, often taking parts of other stories to support a biased angle of the story, and seldom presents an overview.
He drips his bias steadily trying to build his already decided hypothesis. He is too obvious. Unfortunately, many forget how Winston's views are really quite conservative, and he could agree with Muller's take on things.
This could eat into Labour's new polling margin, though a factor may be that Winston sees Muller as "Like Jim Bolger" Stubborn intractable and rather slow and inflexible, Muller having worked for Jim Bolger who has similar traits.
After working with Jacinda Ardern I can't see him doing that except for political survival. But pundits like Bryce Edwards will muddy the waters happily.
How do you rock a good leader’s boat? By implying her other ministers are poor managers, purposefully magnifying their erros.
Rest assured @ Patricia, I'll be voting either Green or Labour depending on the promises they make between now and the election – most likely Green.
In the meantime, I'm sure MoBIE has 'several pieces of work underway in that space to ensure some joined up services might be wrapped around the unfortunate"
“Ultimately”, it might even come down to the amount of neo-liberal speak I hear from Labour in the meantime, or whether they propose getting off their chuffs and doing something about the state of media
Personally I was a bit disappointed with Bernard's story ( immigration visa's ) as there are some real issues there but it's difficult to get a handle on the actual scope of them which he did not really address and how widespread they are – lots, some , a few?
Again this is a issue inherited from National who used excessive visa's like crack cocaine for employers to disrupt the local employment markets. Labour by lifting salaries etc had tried to wind it back gently but the process was far from complete.
Still any broad brush local solutions ( untying work permits , providing welfare) are expensive. Either way we could be potentially adding 200,000 to 300,000 to our welfare role costing about a $1 billion every 6 weeks either as a direct welfare recipient or because they have displaced a local in a job. While a lot of visa holders may see this as an opportunity to attain a situation that they might otherwise not have gained I suspect there is little local appetite for that. Also don't forget that there is a least some evidence that the benefits of the visa's have been heavily oversold by some offshore agents – presumably for a large fee.
And it is an area where we need good stop gap policy plus a great deal better long term settings. Take the student work visa – there are some 65,000 apparently and according to the education institutes (dying to get their fee payers back to support the bloated salaries at the top) around a third stay on for the work visa's. Our birth cohort leaving education every year is around 50,000 to 60,000. We are suddenly adding another 25%-30%(22,000) to that number of people looking for entry level jobs. No wonder we have such a large number of NEET,s in that age group. They really don't need that level of competition.
Lastly the farmers. Could the news media give their employer sob stories a harder frame? The various audits in the last couple of years showed that the bulk of them where non compliant with any employment and wage law. Yes they may have an employee stuck overseas but employees can be suddenly unavailable for any number of reasons so get over yourself and hire another one either temporarily or permanently.
Demanding a government fly them back in again is the height of over entitlement.
100%
Pure
I agree it is a very complex issue.
However for whatever reason – whether that 'lack of capacity' H1 talked about, Euro-centric and racist mindset others have talked about (with good reason and incidentally examples – from inside the tent), or incompetence, there are a few basic things that could have been done and should be done now.
– (Haven't checked their website in a while), but MBIE were encouraging all and sundry to become immigration advisors – so they got what they asked for: complete charlatans mixed in with highly competent and experienced ones. So you'd get someone running say a security firm, or a PTE, or Labour Hire Company providing immigration advice on the side. Hopefully you can see a problem right there!
– Then you had/have a load of closures and presence in key 'markets'. Note the word MARKETS which even Mr Nice Guy seems perfectly comfortable with.
– And in those 'markets' where the charlatans and scamsters operate – places that contribute to that $5b export education sector for example, NOT even the slightest attempt to warn people of the dangers.
– Then you have a Labour Inspectorate which we were assured by an official just before the election had enough inspectors, and who now seems to have changed his tune. An Inspectorate that made excuses when cases of exploitation were reported to them. For some reason, unwilling to involve the Police – probably because they were intent on building their own little police force.
– Then you have the practice of tying visas to a specific employer, rather than sector, and expecting nothing to go wrong in terms of exploitation and contributing to the trend of driving down wages, AND wondering why employers prefer immigrant labour over Kiwis. Money to be made doncha know and its "best practice"
I'll leave it at that for now although I could go on. But if I L-G is and was "grappling" with his department, then (provided all the purchase agreements and KPIs and shit are in order), then the State Services Commissioner should have been called in (as in say a James Casson, or a demographic spreadsheeting) – repeatedly called in if necessary and told (asked very nicely) that performance isn't satisfactory. He could probably even be remiinded that we're a sovereign Pacific Nayshun that punches above its weight, albeit under HRH Madge.
I think the fuckup that is the Ministry for Everything that started out with largesse and designed by a couple of shithouse rats whose intentions should now be obvious has been allowed to contiinue is going to be on this government – even though it's probably quite a convenient entity for them to deal with.
Off.Chuff.On.Get.With
Some really good discussion there, I hope that it is read and absorbed by some whose hearts are still beating in Labour or HM (High Management) or HR (Hyperbole Recherche').
Insomniac as I am @ Grey, you'd probably appreciate my last night.
It was a dream – call it a nightmare really in which Julie Christie was Jacinda's producer in Julie's latest reality TV show. I L-G was at home up the road in Tinakori with Clark (with an e) arguing over Neve who should be giving whom media training – while Neve was howling her eyes out.
I can see now why it happened after all I encountered yesterday (and believe me, I'm totally drugless other than the standard statins, beta blockers and aspirin) – although I sometimes wonder whether or not a puff or two of the ganga (incidentally – not exactly foreign to that hero worshiping sibling I mentioned above) would be preferable.
Thankfully, I woke up PDQ thinking today is the day I finally get to see the emergency dentist (which as it transpired, didn't go well due to a 3 month Cov19 happenstance) – Shit happens, but not half as much as it has for most of our recent immigrants. I could even get to wear a set of pearly white bleached teeth yet, at a cost of thousands, false though they may be – or not (hopefully)
Look fixing those basics ASAP would be excellent . And reining in the dodgy education sector stuff. I too find it a bit worrying that there have been few policy announcements in this area even quite basic ones so that we don' t have anyone who may be overseas looking to get a new work visa having false expectations.
“Take the student work visa – there are some 65,000 apparently and according to the education institutes (dying to get their fee payers back to support the bloated salaries at the top) around a third stay on for the work visa's.”
They do not need to come back and the institutes can keep their staff at the top on their bloated salaries and we can shut the back door visa entry which was never put to New Zealanders before being implemented. The NZ Auckland university students have been doing their studies and are continuing to do their studies and the tests from home , online , until the end of this term, So yes the overseas students can do the same – study at NZ universities online at home, in whatever that country happens to be.
Won't work.
The overseas students come here for the residency carrot, not education, for most of them.
The “bums on seats” business model for education, is not good enough to compete with really good distance learning on offer from elsewhere.
+100
And the likes of Guilford are desperate to get it all going again.
Here in lil 'ole NuZull that punches above its weight, you too can provide your child with a year (or less) of tertiary education for the mere cost of a modest house. Your chiid can recover the cost of this investment in your family and child's future through our generous 20 hour-per-week work allowance that will enable them to recover your investment in double-quick time and more!
Invest now! Don't Delay! Places are vanishing fast.
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Hey, chisellers gotta chisel.
https://twitter.com/esaagar/status/1154401730727161857
When English is a 2nd language.
https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1267605046012915713
1,2 and 3 – Simon Bridges, 4 – Todd Muller. So what's changed with the leadership spill? Looks like not much. The same cavalier attitude to public health and the instinctive privileging of business interests above everything else. It's what led to the collapse in their support over the lock-down period and it's still there.
Well, this sort of racist dog-whistling hasn't changed. Mind you, short of welcoming his application, there's very little else Muller could say. And of course, Muller couldn't bring himself to do that.
Maybe this leadership change isn't going to bring the nats' numbers up, and they won't be able to salvage even a moderate loss after all? The next poll's going to be pretty telling.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300026388/national-party-deeply-suspicious-of-refugee-behrouz-boochanis-visa
I heard a news item this morning about a group of local academics that are pushing for a relaxation of alert levels.
When asked about Sweden's approach, a position I assume the group had favoured earlier in the crisis, we are told to refer to the website.
That is the thing with the opposition, various industry spokesfolk, and your local diehard tory, their reckons don't amount to much, they bear no responsibility, and do not credit the position we are in now to the PTB.
Thank goodness a woman was in charge !
tRump's Praetorian Guard.
https://twitter.com/alexisgoldstein/status/1267928963072000002
18 February 2020 at 10:48 pm
Deploying their military surveillance drones over Minneapolis. More than 500km from any border where they might have any legitimate reason to operate.
https://www.salon.com/2020/06/02/police-are-using-protests-as-an-excuse-to-unleash-new-surveillance-tech/
They're about to find out how Iraqis felt.
https://twitter.com/dfriedman33/status/1267936203522932738
https://twitter.com/JimLaPorta/status/1267926498629074947
https://twitter.com/AircraftSpots/status/1267674928729358336
Fascists do like a party.
https://twitter.com/thetomzone/status/1267923323993894912
The Drug Enforcement Administration has been granted sweeping new authority to “conduct covert surveillance” and collect intelligence on people participating in protests over the police killing of George Floyd, according to a two-page memorandum obtained by BuzzFeed News.
[…]
“In order for DEA to assist to the maximum extent possible in the federal law enforcement response to protests which devolve into violations of federal law, DEA requests that it be designated to enforce any federal crime committed as a result of protests over the death of George Floyd,” Shea wrote in the memo. “DEA requests this authority on a nationwide basis for a period of fourteen days.”
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/george-floyd-police-brutality-protests-government
Today Todd must get the award for the shortest QT question:
Q3 TODD MULLER to the Prime Minister:
“Why isn’t New Zealand already in alert level 1?”
8 words! Wow! And then he will ask the same question multiple times
Exquisite timing seeing two NZ cops charged with manslaughter for negligence while holding someone in the Hawea station.
More to come in the trial if they don't plead out.
Haven’t seen that yet – link?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300026518/three-police-officers-charged-with-manslaughter-after-alleged-gross-negligence-led-to-mans-death-in-cell
They called out the fire service to assist, sounds like there might have been some lifting required in a hurry.
That news rang out at me today.
I may be an etenral optimist, but I hope this may be a sign of culture change within the police. Perhaps to do with the new boss.
One of the, I assume, PM's appointments. If so, it could be one part of the Public Service being cleaned up.
Like I say, I am an eternal optimist.
Yes it was. There have been some good signs in recent times. For example, I think the police handling of the Covid 19 requirements has been excellent. The Public Service has needed a clean up for the past 30 years and there's hope that too is now in progress.
Thanks Jacinda and company.
Watching question time, makes me wonder how many bullets can fit into the oppositions feet?
Amazing, really. They should have had an easy win. Of course the level 1/2 inconsistency is a problem. Of course PM and deputy PM disagreeing is a bad look.
Yet somehow they stuff it up.
Audrey Young pointed to the PM V DPM difference but…:
“The differences between Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Peters, her deputy, does not affect the stability of the coalition between Labour and New Zealand First.
It does not affect the coalition relationship which has endured more damaging differences than this one. It has been an informally managed disagreement that both parties get something from.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=12336639
I believe Labour is looking for a competent minister of health. How about offering Sir Ashley Bloomfield a high list place?
We don't have a tradition here of seconding Ministers (or indeed from the private sector) to run political office. I think the UK does it.
We have a good few in the Labour caucus who have medical degrees, but a whole bunch of senior leadership or management experience.
We are wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy overdue for a proper reshuffle.
With the MoH Capital Committee, and DHBs, and Treasury, and the Covid Response team, I really can’t see what the Minister of Health does at all.
well they manage most of the disability funding, as well as funding the DHBs, and managing a range of contracts (govt and NGO).
Yes that's where Dodo ex-Ministers get put once they've been shuffled.
That would explain quite a lot.
That's the Ministry, not the Minister. Let's not waste Bloomfield on a less-essential role.
makes sense, but given the problems with the MoH, isn't it the Minister's job (and behind them, govt caucus) to sort those problems out by setting expectations and direction?
The salary won't enthuse him.
Say your wish was granted, I doubt he would fit Labour, as its likely ideas such as setting health targets, centralising health boards, providing services by need not ethnicity may be pushed to provide better outcomes for National Health.
False dichotomy. There are many and major health disparities that are caused by ethnicity. The same can be said about education and crime stats, for example. The approach and philosophy that you seem to be advocating will never overcome these engrained inequalities and will therefore never provide better outcomes at a national level but rather further reinforce the current situation.
Why do some people say such incredibly stupid things?
+100
Hence the proven need and delivery of Whanau Ora.
"One option that's been discussed is bumping Māori and Pacific patients up a priority band in certain instances, the Weekend Herald understands. Another might be making Māori and Pacific ethnicity a factor when working out a priority rating score."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12330248
These are the sorts of ideas I don't think Ashley Bloomfield would support, that's why he would not be a good bet for Labour.
All NZ-trained health professionals are acutely aware and have a good understanding of the health inequalities in this country. The same is true of biomedical researchers trained and/or working here.
I’d put it to you that ignorance, denial, normalised racism, and poor leadership and management are just some of the factors why we have seen little improvement on this issue.
I'd be interested to know what health inequalities people ascribe to racism in NZ be it via government, medical professionals or another group.
I’d think that you’re eminently qualified to take a first bite at this. Go for it!
I agree with what you have put to me. That's why I doubt Bloomfield would be a good fit for Labour if it is was proposed that he should replace the current Minister of Health.
I’d put it to you that you are waffling.
The National Party's intelligence unit at work. Trawling through social media …
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2020/06/do_as_we_say_not_as_we_do-2.html
"The PM should avoid the public at all costs" is a novel attack line from the opposition.
Her bodyguards didn't push people out of the way when they got too close? It's a disgrace! Use tear gas like Trump does, that'll ensure appropriate distancing.
Don't often visit that toxic site, but it was worth it today when I saw their adjusted curia poll published on it.
National 28.9% Hehehe that will be hurting the tories, a lovely reminder for them on every page.
Back to the topic, maybe the difference is, the nat mp had to ask for someone to take his photo, and that's why the tories are upset…. just a thought 🙂
Read the comments under Farrar and was horrified SPC. I hope that when Farrar supporters read the Standard would they be as horrified with what is written here?
If Winston has been leaking Cabinet papers to Todd Muller, that is a clear indication of where he intends to side come any post-election negotiations.
Hoping NZF gets buried this time around. They have been woeful in government.
I don’t think it indicates that at all. But clearly NZFirst lacks relevance in the current polling scenario. They’re just trying to even up the playing field and deal themselves back in. Frankly Ardern only has herself to blame for this latest incident.
The menu on the top of the “Leave a Comment Page” no longer there. Anyone else?
Starting to see the effects of QE on settlement balances.
https://i.imgur.com/ezbgKwl.png
Heh, my tween daughter just showed me her KPop stars have hijacked the MAGA tag and are bombarding it with fan videos, cute anime, dance and songs. And there's 1000s of them.