Jeez, has John Tamihere been on the morning sauce? On RNZ right now he is just a mess of incoherent rambling, weird denunciations, barely concealed resentment, ridiculous hyperbole and moronic dissembling.
Wondered why Boag was supporting him till I heard he wanted to privatise Watercare. Maybe the end of Auckland residential property hyperinflation means that the leisured classes are casting their eyes around for alternative gold-plated investments?
Recycling tired Nat party stances on privatising public assets – doesn't count if you only privatise 49% says Johnny. As if Auckland's mayor has that power anyway. What a clown.
"The email itself was one in a chain between mid and lower ranking officials in Treasury and the Department of Labour (DoL) about the annual minimum wage report to Ministers. By that time the report had become a summary of suggestions from a list of organisations for a new minimum wage level, with well-known views and a cut-and-and-paste-from-last-year summary of arguments offered. DoL did an estimate of the potential unemployment impact for each level using a model so opaque that the estimates were best described as ‘some’, ‘some more’, ‘even more’, etc. The whole exercise was perfunctory."
"As a Treasury adviser on labour market and welfare issues I was asked to see if DoL could be encouraged to improve the report. I thought, naively as it turned out, that if I discussed evidence in bite-sized chunks some of it might sneak into the report. This was the content of my email."
"The DoL officials ignored my email and the subsequent meeting when writing their report. Described this way I imagine the eyes of most readers glazing over. “Conversation on academic evidence between unimportant people makes no difference” is not an attention grabber. But when released through the OIA, in the midst of an election campaign, the issue turned into “Mr Key ‘sat on’ the advice for 18 months and ‘tried to fool people’ by using only a later Labour Department review to back his argument”. This version became one of the issues in a television debate between the party leaders. A cursory glance at the emails would have made clear they were not sent to ministers. They did not include any reference to a Treasury report to ministers because there was no report."
"Treasury’s response, other than the occasional stern look directed at me from Treasury old timers, was a sentence in the ‘Briefing to the Incoming Minister’ to counter any impression it had supported minimum wage rises. But that was Treasury, and the Minister of Finance was Bill English, who actively encouraged Treasury to provide challenges based on evidence. If I had still been working for the Ministry of Social Development of the mid 2000s, where more than 50 communications staff were employed to control debate about the ministry, I might have lost my job."
"Public servants experience the OIA the way savannah animals experience crocodiles lurking under the surface of a river. The animals have to go to the river but do so aware that random attacks are a moment of inattention away. If this metaphor seems over the top, I invite the reader to look over the last few weeks of everything they wrote, typed or texted. Imagine someone had a legal right to publish any three consecutive words, without context or explanation, and with the potential that you might lose your job. Would that make you a little more guarded about what you wrote? Within the public service, versions of this thought experiment are called the “Dom Post test”. Unsurprisingly public servants take steps to avoid the crocodile. The OIA is meant to include verbal exchanges, but in practice that is hard to enforce. The result is the habit of minimising the written record if there is a risk of failing the Dom Post test. This habit is so endemic it is applied semi-consciously and only noticeable when someone, usually a junior official who has not been fully acculturated, needs to be reminded to “take the discussion off-line”."
"Of course there are many occasions when it is common sense to have a quick chat rather than to draft documents and set up meetings. (And anyone who has wasted time in pointless bureaucratic meetings will wish for more of this common sense.) However, extending this to replacing written comments is not in the spirit of the OIA."
"In as much as the OIA puts pressure on public servants to only write what they are personally prepared to defend in the full glare of the public they serve, it’s a good thing. The problem is that’s not the reality of how it is experienced, which means people do not just respond by improving what they write but by trying to avoid the lurking crocodile."
Thanks for the case study, Tony. Illuminating the coercive effects of the law on public servants is indeed a public service. Well done. [Tony Burton is a former deputy chief economic adviser at Treasury.]
Listening to Paul Goldsmith, my immediate impression was that robots had made much deeper inroads into the workplace than I had realised. The OS appeared to be somewhat dated though.
Though actually, robots could be good for the economy. It depends on who owns the technology and how they choose to use it. So yeah – the chances of it actually turning out well for most people are pretty minimal.
I did, your post has reassured me that I wasn't just imagining how hopeless he was with the usual blah, blah and jargon that is all that eminates from the National Party and is very visible. It was like Kermit the Frog without the hope and vision, I'm not surprised he has remained fairly invisible till now.
Yes, I heard and saw him on the AM Show arrogant prat, But then I thought he was hilarious and certainly made my day when he came out with what I would think this year’s best joke when he made the statement that “ The National Party was the natural home for Talent”
"Nikki Kaye's a feminist, Cameron Slater's a journalist, and John Key's son's a DJ!"
Almost as ludicrous a sight as poor Ben Shapiro trying to argue with intelligent people is the embarrassing spectacle of the untalented sons of "celebrities" posing as DJs. The poster child for this particular form of idiocy is the notorious Chet Haze, son of Tom Hanks. Down here, there was Maximus Key, son of John. We'll spare you the gruesome task of having to actually watch the young Key in action; this critique of him and his father's government is far more entertaining…
Aficionadoes of "wretchedness o'ercharged" may like to investigate Tom Hanks's rapper son….
In the first clip, the whole of the audience is laughing with the comedian/rapper called Tourettes, and laughing at John Key's obnoxious and untalented son. In the second clip, the people laughing at Tom Hanks's obnoxious and untalented son are Howard Stern and his long-standing producer, Robin Quivers.
The only obnoxious and untalented person is that fuckwit Tourettes and his paid friend with the forced laugh, comedian/rapper, only in his twisted bitter little mind.
George Soros and Charles Koch get together to launch an anti-interventionist think-tank. Nothing else seems to have broken the DC enthusiasm for wading into messy foreign entanglements the US really has no business being in, so hey, worth a shot.
As time goes by under this new government who is attempting to balance the books while fixing our crumbling infrustructure, watching our roads/rail/ city sewer services and all other essential services are failing as we speak.
Winston Peters spoke to the 230 folks who turned up to his last 'pep-talk' meeting prior to the last election and I was there it was a good talk he was right on the button there.
Winston touched on this issue of national spending nothing on our crumbling infrustructure during the last national Government's nine long years who always used the term "deferred maintainence" to justify cutting costs all over NZ to make their books look fine for the election.
Now we witness what national set the next Government up for; – and boy is showing us now with a sewer pipe collapsing into the taupo lake today, and the freight train de-railed in Wairarapa,
All happend in just one day.
Government needs to heed Winstons words he spoke that Gisborne night about our crumbling infrustructure as he said "we need to follow what Michael Joseph Savage did in 1935 to get NZ infrustructure back into operation after the 1931 depression by enacting the "Reserve Bank Act" and print the funds needed for restoring all NZ's essential services."
Otherwise we as a country NZ will fail, as another examle of what happend to Greece.
Many in the last National 'government' were all about achieving their brighter future though self service. Shudder to think what would be privatised by now if that lot were still in charge – Coleman was certainly lining up the health sector, and is now lining his pockets as CEO of Acurity Health Group, a leading provider of private hospital services.
If DHBs run by generic accountants can't make ends meet then better informed managers with hospital backgrounds need to be employed. They seem to be in a similar position to the old railways, government didn't want to do its job running them, and sold off bits to supposed more effective private interests. Both sides tried to do the job on the cheap, flushing out the supposed fat on a starvation budget.
Now the government is told it needs to provide more money for health. Much of it should be garnered from the comfortably-off-to-rich from more tax not less (as in Australia just announced!) and from wealth-offering immigrants adding to our bulk of population to be serviced, and the fees from poor ones spending their life savings to come here. Government needs to listen or they won't be able to congratualte themselves for being better than weasely National and we won't be able to flaunt ourselves as a top country overseas, that is if it can't be made to care about the expected services of a so-called developed country.
One man who is both medically knowledgable and with managerial skills said this after a survey into conditions in Hawke's Bay (Te-Mata-a-Maui). This is a report from Dr Kevin Snee from December 2014 when he was Chief Executive of Hawke's Bay DHB. (He has now gone to troubled Waikato DHB.)
The report brought up issues for Maori health. Presumably as times have got harder for them the smoking is increasingly a problem, and alcohol also plays its well-known destructive role. It makes this comment:
…• It is startling that three out of four Maori will be dead before their 75th birthday, compared to one in three European. And possibly even worse, one in four Maori will die before their 50th birthday compared to one in twenty European.
I find these statistics shocking and unacceptable.
Much of the work we do in health is focused on reducing inequity, trying to reduce the gap so everyone has the same opportunities for health. It’s part of our vision for the next five years through our Transform and Sustain programme. The 11 key areas of this programme all contain elements to make sure equity is addressed, when we determine how we spend our money.
Recognising and identifying the issues through this report will help us work to reduce the gap, but the health system alone cannot solve inequity….
Is John Key not aware of the Westminster convention that former PM's stay out of politics ?
The sight of the chair of the largest bank in Australasia making public comment on the affairs of a country without the checks and balances of an upper house should make all true democrats pause.
i have no problem if Key may be "cramping Simon's style", unless it makes Simon look less of an idiot. LOL.
I certainly agree with the rest of your comment, but this is not new for Key. During his time in Parliament he never really recognised, or rather adhered to, Westminister convention etc. or the reasons to keep a distance between his and others' roles as a representative of the people as opposed to their connection to and representation of the business sector, including the finance sector.
Mind you,, Key is nowhere in the league of Trump and his favourite daughter, Ivanka and their performance at the G20 meeting in Japan a few days ago!
fire on a russian nuclear submarine boat ' aka a science vessel' kills fourteen but we are assured by the russians that there are no nuclear leaks. No siree, non what so ever……
“Fourteen submariners have died of poisoning by fumes from the fire,” Shoigu told Putin during a televised meeting. “The fire was extinguished thanks to the crew’s resolute action.”
Putin ordered Shoigu to fly to the Arctic port of Severomorsk, the main base for Russia’s Northern Fleet where the vessel was brought, to oversee the investigation and report back to him personally.
“It’s a huge loss for the navy,” Putin said. “I offer my sincere condolences to the families of the victims.”
He added that the vessel had a special mission and an elite crew.
Here is a good post debate piece from FAIR looking at the US MSM freaking out over the Bernie induced sharp pivot to the Left by 80% of the Democratic runners..it warms my heart.
Warning to Progressive Dems: You’re Leaving Corporate Media’s Comfort Zone
Those of us still around in 20 years will look back at the Sanders candidacy as a lost opportunity of historic proportions. Maybe not so much 'lost' as 'denied' – because he won't be allowed to win if it looks like he actually might. All the problems he talked about will be so much worse by then.
An $11 million, fully immersive dark sky experience is now open in Tekapo combining Māori astronomy and science.
Dark Sky Project, formerly Earth and Sky, opened the doors to its new 1140sqm building on the Tekapo lakefront on Monday and is a joint venture between Ngāi Tahu Tourism and co-founders Graeme Murray and Hide Ozawa.
Mana whenua from Arowhenua, Waihao and Moeraki rūnanga blessed the building named Rehua on Monday while Governor-General of New Zealand, Dame Patsy Reddy, opened the new experience.
…
The centre will tell the stories of local iwi and runanga's relationship with the night sky, and how it has developed.
It is located at the heart of the Aoraki/Mt Cook Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve – the largest dark sky reserve in the world and the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Kaiwhakahaere Lisa Tumahai said the $3m in government funding provided by the Tourism Growth Partnership fund in 2016 was the kick-start the $11 million development needed.
"It will further enhance the Ngāi Tahu contribution to regional development and job creation – mō tātou, ā, mō ka uri ā muri ake nei. I truly commend mana whenua and all involved in the creation of an authentic experience that will see our ancestors' stories told to the world."
As an aside I got the telescope out the other night and showed my son Jupiter and some of his moons – he said it was cool and that made me feel pretty good. Saturn also looked amazing with the rings and stuff.
The observatory at Mt John is awesome, as is Tekapo and the Dark Sky Park. I have been twice and it is one of the best things I have experienced in my life – the night sky is something most of us in the "first world" have lost. I'll be visiting this new centre for sure.
Great to see the contracting system still working despite… Previous research had said there should be a commissioner and it should be separate from ACC, he said, but the corporation and the government decided to go with a contractor relationship.
In the meantime, those with impairments who are not under ACC await word from the Current Mob as to the plan to make Funded Family Care Fairer.
Cabinet has agreed to consider changes to Funded Family Care, with options and timeframes for changes to be presented to Cabinet later this year.
“The Government intends to repeal Part 4A of the Act that was introduced by the previous National Government,” Minister of Health Dr David Clark says.
“There have been consistent calls for Part 4A to be repealed because it is discriminatory. In particular, Part 4A has been inconsistent with human rights legislation because it denies families the right to complain about breaches of their human rights relating to family care policies,” Acting Associate Health Minister James Shaw says.
“The previous Government’s Funded Family Care policy has been a nightmare for the families involved. Today’s announcement is the first step towards a kinder and fairer agreement with carers.
“Over the next couple of months the Government will run targeted consultation with affected families and stakeholders on the key issues within Funded Family Care. Consultation will cover issues of eligibility, pay rates for carers, the employment relationship, and the type of care covered,” says James Shaw.
The puckish part of me was going to send him a pair of boxing gloves and a spine. Anyone taking on the task of undoing over two decades of sociopathic mismanagement of Health in general and disability in particular will need both. However its not much point if the heart's not in it, and the government is not committed.
It struck me right from the beginning of his tenure that he had already acquired the possum in the headlights look displayed by both Ryall and Coleman. Almost as if they'd had a quick shufti inside the inner sanctum of the Ministry of Health executive and decided it was a beast best left to its own devices.
Auckland officials want to fast-track moves to take more water from the Waikato River, to stave off the threat of a regional water shortage.
Residents are being urged to take shorter showers as reservoir levels drop after unseasonably warm conditions and six months of below-average rainfall.
Despite the belated arrival of winter rain, total storage is sitting at almost 60 per cent of capacity. The historic average for June is 84 per cent.
Seeing as Tracey Martin and Jacinda haven't viewed the recent uplift video, perhaps they can find the time to read this harrowing account of another family's treatment by Oranga Tamariki
How many hours of the day do you believe ministers and the Prime Minister should devote to perusing fine details of disputes between individuals and government departments, and how do you propose prioritising which disputes should be reviewed? It could hit 24 hours a day without breaking a sweat, so some rationing system would be essential, not to mention some means of measuring the opportunity cost to the country of their spending their time on that.
How many hours of the day they should devote to perusing fine details of disputes between individuals and government departments is up to them. Nevertheless, the more informed a misister is the more effective they are likely to be.
However, most would expect them to at least be aware (and to have read/seen) the top ones that make the news, especially when it's to do with matters relating to their own ministerial portfolio.
Actually, no on both counts. Or at least not necessarily.
An abundance of operational information can masquerade as knowledge of strategic issues. The issue here isn't how a particular baby was taken, rather the issue is the overrespresentation of Māori children being taken and the equity, appropriatness, and justice questions this raises. You don't need to see the video to understand this.
Unless the issue is the behaviour of the people taking that specific baby (e.g. the US border concentration camps), the video might be emotive but it adds little to deciding how the system should be improved.
I didn't state necessarily. I said the more effective they are likely to be.
An abundance of operational information is part of being informed.
The issue here is how a particular baby was taken and how systemic that process is. Along with the over representation of Māori children being taken, the equity, appropriateness, and justice questions this raises.
Viewing the video uplift first hand is a little more insightful than merely reading about it. And in this case, the behaviour of the people taking that specific baby was/is of issue.
Yeah your weasel words of concern are always vague, but the fact remains that an abundance of operational information often or even usually gets in the way of strategic decision making.
If the issue is how the baby was taken, that's an operational matter that the minister should leave to the employment personnel. But the issue is one of systemic bias, which is a strategic matter, so what specifically does the video add to aid decision-making for that issue?
Yeah your weasel words of concern are always vague…
Resorting to taking potshots so soon. You really try to appeal to the mugs on here, don't you.
An abundance of operational information is part of the knowledge one requires to make strategic decisions. At the end of the day, the two are often interrelated. Alignment of strategic priorities and integration of operations etc. But you can continue to dance on the head of that pin if you like.
One of the issues is how the baby was taken. Moreover, the harrowing behaviour of Oranga Tamariki staff has been reported as being systemic. Therefore, while it's an operational matter it is one the minister ultimately oversees and at the end of the day is accountable for. The buck stops at the top.
The video could be used as an example in future staff training of what not to do.
what specifically does the video add to aid decision-making for that issue?
How would it help the minister to watch the video?
Material for training courses doesn't cut it. If the behaviour is "harrowing" that requires training, that's an operational/HR matter involving a bad job that's being done badly. The bad job needn't be done at all but the system requires it, so that's a systemic issue for the minister and how the job is done is irrelevant because the role of the minister is to stop it being done in the first place.
How would it help the minister to watch the video?
First off, they (the PM and the Minister) would have avoided the outrage not viewing it has caused.
Secondly, just as the bias is systemic so are the operational flaws. thus strategic goals have to integrate with operational strategy to formulate on the ground. The video is a good example of this failure, thus can be learned from. Helping the Minister to come up with solutions going forward.
How the job is done is far from irrelevant. Outcomes largely rely on how the job is being done. And when the job is being done poorly and it's systemic, the oversight extends to the Minister in charge.
As for the Minister being able to completely stop it, she doesn't have the capacity in her role alone. Lifting benefits would go a long way in reducing the frictions that lead to family violence, child abuse etc.
Again, there is no outrage because the pm didn't watch a video. You're just pretending there is to suit your nat agenda narrative.
Money isn't the be all and end all to any solution for bad parenting, violent abuse of children or neglect. Millionaires can be shit parents, too, though they might be able to afford better lawyers. An extra $50 a week to a selfish parent doesn't benefit a child at all, not in the sense of protecting them from selfish parents that is.
Once again you've taken a swing and a miss. Next nat talking point, please.
Still no outrage, not at the pm any way. The system, perhaps, but that's relative.. Each case on it's merits and all that.
Of course I'm aware of friction from having no money, I'm fucking poor after all, so out of touch I certainly am not, but whatever the deal, no matter how much cash I haven't had, I've always fed my babies and never once taken out my anger and frustration upon them. Main reason is personal pride, to look after ones younglings, secondary is not to be my old man and screw it up. I certainly don't blame the pm or her ministers like you do.
When I knew I couldn't afford to do it all, I stopped smoking, drinking, eating fast food, just like most people do in the same situation. Extra money for me would have eased financial pressures, but made no difference to the emotional and physical well being of my spawn. They were, and are, already well sorted.
Of course I'm aware of friction from having no money,
Then you would know how this friction can quickly turn ugly in some family environments, leading to mental stress and causing some to snap too easily. Albeit, it hasn't happen to adult you, but perhaps (by the sound of it) you may have been victim to it as a lad. Perhaps helping you from going down that same path as a dad.
Poverty has many adverse effects and in many ways is a driver of many of our social ills.
Firstly, I had a quick look to stuff for any expression of "outrage" that Ardern and Martin haven't watched the video. Seems to have disappeared from their political section already (although the issue of "uplifts" has not). There is an article posted on Newsroom on Tuesday, onenews doesn't seem to rate the waves of outrage as newsworthy, RNZ News seems to have missed the barricades in the streets that the hopi polloi have raised because the PM and minister didn't watch the video, so really the main source of "outrage" seems to be you. Even Newsroom only said "shocked". But I'm sure people will take to the streets tomorrow unless the PM watches the video. /sarc
Secondly, "operational flaws" operating a policy that itself needs drastic changes are not really a priority. You can't have a bad attitude while taking newborns if you're not taking newborns in the first place.
Should the people assessing benefit rates also watch the video? Or need it only be an intructional tool for administrators of policy, as well as the ministers who determine the policy, but not the administrators of policy determination? Can you answer that, or would that be one for the people who determine the administration of the determination of policy, and their administrators?
Secondly, "operational flaws" operating a policy that itself needs drastic changes are not really a priority.
In this case the operational flaws are so embedded and systemic they can't be left to be overlooked as they are a large part of the problem that will negatively impact on any new policy change.
As for the outrage out there, it was reported on. I've already posted a link to it. But here it is again.
Moreover, there is "a tide of unrest in Maoridom" over the large number of child uplifts and Jacinda not viewing the clip was seen by many as a slap in the face.
Again, operational flaws in a flawed policy can be eliminated by eliminating the flawed policy.
Also, ain't it interesting how newsroom are the only outlet noticing the tide? And even that was a couple of days ago?
Oh, and you, of course. But you're very adept at spotting tides of outrage against this government. Especially tides that are undetected by anyone else.
… most would expect them to at least be aware (and to have read/seen) the top ones that make the news….
How do you know they were not already aware of these circumstances TC?
How do you know they had not already seen… and been told of similar stories?
In fact, according to Jacinda Ardern she has recently seen and heard about similar stories and I'm sure Tracey Martin will have too. So they didn't need to spend precious time perusing another one which is no doubt the reason why they chose to so promptly set up an inquiry to find out what is going on.
Your constant tendency to jump on the critical band-wagon before all the facts are at your disposal belies your claim you are to the left of centre. I’ll go further and say you are a right wing troll who comes here to disrupt the flow of rational dialogue.
How do you know they were not already aware of these circumstances TC?
I didn't claim they were unaware of the circumstances in this instance, Anne. I pointed out how they are being publicly slammed for not viewing the video.
Moreover, I didn't claim they had not already seen and have been told of similar stories.
And on that point, Jacinda got an easy ride on the Nation the other day. She should have been asked what are these other similar events she has claimed to have seen? Moreover, if they have known for so long as Jacinda has claimed (on the Nation) why haven't they acted with more pace?
Spending the short time to view the clip would have given them a good insight into the staff behaviour and operational flaws taking place under their watch.
Moreover, have you not seen the backlash from this (their not viewing it)? They have offended many in Maoridom. All that could have been avoided if they merely took the short time to view the clip.
I’m not a right wing troll, I’m a lefty constantly disappointed by Labour’s poor performance. So deal with it, because I’m far from the only one.
Relentlessly soggy ("constantly disappointed"), and as transparent as a transparent thing ("Labour’s poor performance").
The Chairman is a self-proclaimed "lefty" who is "more left than most", yet has a strong aversion to complimenting Labour and/or Green MPs, in government or in opposition.
The Chairman is also extremely reluctant to turn their withering gaze on the behaviour and policies of National party MPs, in government or in opposition.
The Chairman's protestations of 'lefty' credentials are bogus (as is the identity), but that's just my opinion – others can judge for themselves.
I reckon he’s got two left hemispheres and he’s so left that the right one’s gone. It just left, out of his right ear it went and kept going till it was lost, forever. That’s how it got there, the right hemisphere, and how it’s left.
It's my view that politics is like a simple circle and when standing at the top of the circle the lefties will swing clockwise and the righties swing anti-clockwise. They will inevitably meet at the bottom and become one and the same. Eg. Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union.
And as I just said to Anne above (reposted below).
And on that point, Jacinda got an easy ride on the Nation the other day. She should have been asked what are these other similar events she has claimed to have seen? Moreover, if they have known for so long as Jacinda has claimed (on the Nation) why haven't they acted with more pace?
Nevertheless, the more informed a misister is the more effective they are likely to be.
However, most would expect them to at least be aware (and to have read/seen) the top ones that make the news, especially when it's to do with matters relating to their own ministerial portfolio.
So the PM is fully aware of the situation, and your smear attack in 20.1.1 has been busted wide open by her very quote in the link you provided as a weapon to beat her with.
Clearly, I was speaking generally in the quote you used there. Nevertheless, while they were aware in this specific case, they both admitted to not viewing the actual clip.
Evidently, with both failing to see how bad that was going to look, especially to Maroidom.
So? I didn't watch game of thrones but I knew all about it, who was in it, how it played out.
You're reaching, as usual, and making a drama where none exists to push an anti government agenda.
Most people realise kids aren't taken away from families unless there's a good reason. The general statistic, where maori are concerned, is a worry, but that's not Jacinda's fault, nor does her not watching a video make her guilty of any crime, percieved or otherwise.
“So? I didn't watch game of thrones but I knew all about it, who was in it, how it played out.”
Knowing about it and watching it are not one in the same.
Nevertheless, and more importantly, you aren't the PM, nor was the high profile clip a mere TV show.
I'm not reaching, you are evidently out of touch with the outrage this has caused, just as the PM failed to see it coming. This lot have become arrogant real fast.
Out of interest, what do you believe are the drivers behind the reasons children are having to be taken?
How many hours of the day they should devote to perusing fine details of disputes between individuals and government departments is up to them.
And yet, here you are concern-trolling them for not devoting the time to it that you'd prefer they did.
Nevertheless, the more informed a misister is the more effective they are likely to be.
Sure, who could argue with that? The question is, informed about what? Informed in great detail about one individual's dispute with a government department isn't necessarily helpful to a minister's work, and leads us straight back to the issues of the time needed to gain that irrelevant state of informed-ness and how to prioritise which individuals to become so deeply informed about.
However, most would expect them to at least be aware (and to have read/seen) the top ones that make the news…
And they are aware of them. Thank you for your heartfelt concern.
If Chairman, running true to form, still protests innocence after blowing his cover for multi-multiple times, I have an offer of 49% of shares in a state-owned bridge in which he may be interested…
First off, I'm not concern trolling. Evidently, you are blind to the outrage out there and how offending and arrogant this is looking. Secondly, as I said, how much time they want to devote to these things is up to them, but considering it's high profile, this is one short clip many were surprised, shocked and offended Jacinda couldn't find the time to see.
The question is, informed about what? Informed in great detail about one individual's dispute with a government department isn't necessarily helpful to a minister's work…
The thing is the staff behaviour and operational flaws taking place in the video and written piece linked to are said to be systemic (thus not just one individual being negatively impacted) giving the Minister a very good insight into how things are playing out on the ground in real life (and not merely what has been internally fed to them). Thus one would expect they would find it extremely helpful seeing it from both sides when coming up with solutions.
I respect many a genuine "lefty", particularly those that are "more left than most" – so what is it about The Chairman's "relentessly soggy" criticism of left-leaning political parties and MPs that is so distasteful and deceitful?
Surely The Chairman is not blind to the impression such criticism creates. If I described Bridges/National in such terms, and then claimed to be a 'more right than most' conservative, how credible would I be?
"publicly slammed"
"Jacinda got an easy ride" x2
"as Jacinda has claimed" x2
"the PM failed to see it coming"
"This lot have become arrogant real fast."
"blind to the outrage"
"offending and arrogant" surprisedJacinda couldn't find the time shockedJacinda couldn't find the time offendedJacinda couldn't find the time
The Chairman's relentlessly soggy critique of Labour/Ardern/Greens et al. is not helpful, but then it's not intended to be, is it.
Please do continue (this is a genuine request) – you (The Chairman) serve as an object lesson in right-wing duplicity, not that another lesson is needed!
And please, could The Chairman show a little respect for our Prime Minister by using her family name – that's another little tell you might want to work on, BTW
Surely The Chairman is not blind to the impression such criticism creates.
Good old Labour scared of the impression being criticised creates.
Tell you what, if they don't like being criticised, play a better game.
Moreover, if a party can't hold its own against criticism, then their problems are far bigger than me having a go at them.
This isn't China, yet and political criticism isn't hate speech. So as much as they want to shutdown freedom of speech, they will find it will only turn against them.
So instead of you highlighting my many criticisms, try defending against them if you can. I'm not saying anything that isn't true.
"Good old Labour scared of the impression being criticised creates." – penned by The Chairman, a self-proclaimed "lefty" who is, in their own words, "more left than most".
Just for info, I'm a little left of current Labour party's policies – why The Chairman (on this site) repeatedly and pointedly puts the boot into Green party policies and MPs is beyond me. For example, three months after the 2017 election, here's The Chairman suggesting that Gareth Hughes would be an improvement on Shaw as Green party (co-)leader. https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-26-12-2017/#comment-1430363
No doubt The Chair had their reasons, but a friend of the left, really?
The current coalition government is making a genuine effort to reverse the damage done by NINE LONG YEARS of National party "brighter future" policies, damage on which The "lefty" Chairman has been strangely silent. I'm so relieved than NZ had a change of government in 2017; another three year of 'governance' by the simply awful collection of self-serving no-hoper National MPs would have been the last straw. Does The "more left than most" Chairman agree?
Politics may be a game to The Chairman [“play a better game“], but I respectfully decline their 'invitation' to lay off highlighting their constantstream of comments undermining left-leaning parties and politicians, now numbering in the thousands on this site.
Others can judge whether I'm saying anything that isn't true.
…this is one short clip many were surprised, shocked and offended Jacinda couldn't find the time to see.
Unless she happens to be a close personal friend of yours and you'd like to humble-brag about it on this thread, she's "Ardern," "Jacinda Ardern" or "the Prime Minister" to you. Otherwise, calling her by informal or pet names is a right-wing tactic to reinforce their "silly little girl" meme.
Also: "many" at this point seems to equate to you, Martyn Bradbury and right-wing commentators with a propaganda agenda.
The thing is the staff behaviour and operational flaws taking place in the video and written piece linked to are said to be systemic…
The "alleged" flaws are "claimed" to be systemic – by you, at least. Still not seeing why the Minister and the Prime Minister need to be devoting time to minor operational details.
So this mayor is hit with a disaster, and goes and spends up big on helicopter flights. Misused funds, isn't there a law against that. Any reasonable Mayor would first assess the damage, less the damage kept getting worse. Nets over the river, dig out the dump move to a new location..
…but seriously this guy hasn't resigned at least? Showing remorse.
Tracey Martin and Jacinda have been publicly slammed (see link below) for failing to view the recent uplift video. How do the Labour Party defenders on here feel about that?
I think those demanding Ardern and Martin should have watched that video should be given consultancy roles on the payroll for them. Their particular job would be to tell them all the stuff they should read, all the people they should talk to and what media things they should do.
They of course would make sure that the two be interviewed daily by Garner and Hosking.
Actually they should also tell Martin and Ardern what to think as well, it'll save of a lot of anguish and stuffing around.
No doubt after a committee meeting, and an inchoiry between Kiwirail, Metlink, Transdev, and a few contractors somewhere in a 'war room', there'll be a number of 'learnings going forward'.
(One of which might be, for example, why we couldn't have run trains from both Hutt and Kapiti lines to the Kaiwharawhara station and scheduled them outbound again from there. And yes!, I understand there might be overhead electrical supply problems, but fuckall that couldn't be temporarily adjusted).
Ekshully, whilst I await comment from all the sperts as to why it couldn't happen, I came across that tragedy of photo of Laidlaw that always appears in the media. Says a lot really.
I just have to ask myself when it was that imagination bypass surgery and community agency became trumped by the risk managers and the stifling of ingenuity. Can someone put a date on it for me please?
Let's hope we don't have another Wahine disaster because the loss of life is likely to be tenfold
Parents on drugs, Parents on Booze, Parents on Bashing their wives up, Parents who have put themselves in Jail, Parents who have not taught their children anything …The Parents who are merely wastrel Gang Mugs. Parents on Marijuana. Killing each other on the Road.
The spoon feeding has to stop. No amount of tattoos or money is going to fix anything. We have had a couple of centuries trying out that.
The sadness is, that the Population of New Zealand is less and less Maori. More and More English, More Asian and South American. European .Populations that do well.
Do we want Maori to Die off Like Kauri ? The answer to that is, make sure Parents live a decent Life.
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Lili Tokaduadua was only 15 when she left her family in Fiji to pursue her netball dream in New Zealand. She’d been playing the sport for 10 years and was offered a netball scholarship at Auckland’s Howick College. Now, in her first year out of high school, the 19-year-old defender ...
The beloved local grocers lost a legal challenge to stop a new cycleway outside their store. Joel MacManus reports. In the annals of New Zealand legal history, there are a few brave people who have dared to stand up to the powers that be, no matter how bleak the odds ...
How what we produce and what we eat connects us to the world beyond our shores, visualised. Walking around a supermarket or vege shop, it might be obvious that everything on the shelves came from somewhere. But you might ...
Professor Jemma Geoghegan, of the University of Otago, Otakou Whakaihu Waka, co-leads a Te Niwha project aimed at understanding how and where avian influenza could affect Aotearoa New Zealand, as the highly infectious H5N1 virus spreads globally. The virus has now spread to all continents except Oceania and was recently ...
Thirty years on from Rwanda’s genocide, is guilt over the atrocities is blinding the world to the true nature of its current leadership? The post The repressive underside of Rwanda’s regime appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: Last week, important recommendations for our criminal justice system were made by the international community. Every five years, each member of the United Nations has its human rights practices reviewed. This rolling event – the Universal Periodic Review – is the culmination of a government reporting on its human ...
Highly pathogenic avian influenza – H5N1, or bird flu – has been flying around the world since the late 1990s. New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands are so far free of it, but now it’s been discovered in mainland Antarctica and scientists say it’s only a matter of time ...
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The following interview with auto electrician and former caver Stu Berendt, 68, of Charleston on the West Coast, came about because he was part of the caving team that found the rare and amazing fossil remains of the giant Haast eagle, the subject of one of the year’s best books, ...
A $1.8b funding boost for Pharmac still won’t enable it to buy more drugs, raising questions about the Government’s approach to the agency The post Can Pharmac do more with the same pot of money? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eric Stokan, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County If you live in one of the most economically deprived neighborhoods in your city, you might think the government is directing a smaller share of public funds to your community. ...
Wansolwara The news media’s crucial role in climate change and environment journalism was the focus of The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme 2024 World Press Freedom Day celebrations. The European Union Ambassador to the Pacific, Barbara Plinkert, and Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna were the chief ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Adams, Professor of Corporate Law & Academic Director of UNE Sydney campus, University of New England Last August, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal proceedings against Qantas. The consumer watchdog accused the airline of selling thousands of tickets ...
This episode of A View From Afar was recorded LIVE on May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, May 5, 2024 at 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Taylor, Assistant Professor, Bond University Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures At the crux of the critical response to Luca Guadagnino’s new movie Challengers is one word: “sexy”. The film charts a love triangle between three up-and-coming tennis players: Tashi (Zendaya), ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Stewart, Professor of Public Policy, ADFA Canberra, UNSW Sydney For years, First Nations people have been telling governments they want to be listened to. In particular, they want more ownership of the programs and services that are supposed to help them. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Why do trees have bark? Julien, age 6, Melbourne. This is a great question, Julien. We are so familiar with bark on trees, that most of us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Nasser, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, University of Technology Sydney PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is an important ligament in the knee. It runs from the thigh bone (femur) to the shin bone (tibia) and helps stabilise ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne I covered the May 2 United Kingdom local government elections for The Poll Bludger. The Blackpool South parliamentary byelection was also held, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna Grant-Smith, Professor of Management, University of the Sunshine Coast The federal government has announced a “Commonwealth Prac Payment” to support selected groups of students doing mandatory work placements. Those who are studying to be a teacher, nurse, midwife or social ...
We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+. If you love a dark comedy: Bodkin (Netflix, May 9)An English podcaster, an Irish podcaster and American podcaster walk into a pub and…make a TV show? ...
By Eleisha Foon, RNZ Pacific senior journalist A Pacific regionalism academic has called out New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS and says the security deal “raises serious questions for the Pacific region”. Auckland University of Technology academic Dr Marco de Jong ...
How worried should we be about the cloud? This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. I currently have a few thousand unread emails languishing in my inbox, mostly old marketing newsletters and piles of unread science journal press releases. I have a similar number ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nuurrianti Jalli, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies College of Arts and Sciences Department of Languages, Literature, and Communication Studies, Northern State University Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Southeast Asian governments not only have to deal with the virus but also with the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Murakami Wood, Professor of Critical Surveillance and Securities Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa The skyline of Riyadh, the capital and largest city of the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia.(Shutterstock) There is a long history of planned city building by both governments ...
The LIVE Recording of A View from Afar podcast will begin today at 12:45pm May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment of ...
The Boil Up’s Lucinda Bennett considers the oyster – from freshness to pearls to the joy of shucking your own. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. In Carmen Maria Machado’s short story ‘Eight Bites’, a woman begins her last supper before bariatric surgery with “a cavalcade ...
Asia Pacific Report A group of 65 Auckland University academics have written an open letter to vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater criticising the institution’s stance over students protesting in solidarity with Palestine. They have called on her administration to “support” the students who were denied permission to establish an “overnight encampment” by ...
The Student Volunteer Army is on the march, generating approximately 1.6 million hours of volunteering from roughly 35,000 secondary school students in just five years. For Rebekah Brown, the pathway to volunteering started with her singing coach. With a passion for the arts, the suggestion to volunteer at Acting Antics, ...
Keeping up with online communication can be exhausting, so Fran Barclay enlisted the help of Meta’s new ‘intelligent assistant’ to respond to all her messages. Could her mates tell the difference? For centuries, technology has ruled the ways in which we communicate. From the dawn of written language, to the ...
Jamie Arbuckle, a councillor who has become an member of parliament, says he has settled into having two roles so comfortably he's going to keep both pay cheques. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong Fifty years ago, Australian feminist Anne Summers denounced “the ideology of sexism” governing over so many women’s lives. Unfortunately, sexism is as lethal today as it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez, Senior Researcher in Architecture, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images The COVID-19 pandemic and the hybrid work patterns it fostered have changed the way we think about office space, and central business districts in general. While fears ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dale Boccabella, Associate Professor of Taxation Law, UNSW Sydney There’s a good reason your local volunteer-run netball club doesn’t pay tax. In Australia, various nonprofit organisations are exempt from paying income tax, including those that do charitable work, such as churches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marina Deller, Casual Academic, Creative Writing and English Literature, Flinders University NetflixComedy is opening up spaces for silences to be broken and trauma stories to be told. In 2018, Hannah Gadsby started a revolution with Nanette, asking audiences to rethink ...
The workplace can be a minefield of bad comms and passive aggression. Kinksters can help you navigate it. A friend and colleague recently gave me a compliment I loved. They told me I’d always been good at emotional communication and making people feel comfortable. “But I feel like it’s really ...
Even if some students are now just texting on their laptops. Stewart Sowman-Lund writes in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Councils from Horowhenua, Kāpiti, Wairarapa, the Hutt Valley, Porirua and Wellington City will meet this Friday to work together on a plan for a Greater Wellington region water deal. ...
Renowned musician, advocate, and proud born and raised daughter of Tauranga, Ria Hall, is announcing her candidacy for Mayor of Tauranga and Pāpāmoa Ward for the upcoming election on July 20th. ...
The new Aotearoa histories curriculum is rich with potential. There’s still work to be done, but the education minister’s criticisms about ‘balance’ miss the mark, argues primary school teacher Jessie Moss. In 2015, Ōtorohanga College students presented to parliament a petition signed by more than 10,000 people calling for a ...
For too long our so-called national bird has maintained its stranglehold on the economy of regional New Zealand. Thanks to the fast track legislation, we will have our revenge. Theories abound on what ails New Zealand’s economy. National leader Chris Luxon has posited that we’re negative, wet, whiny, and inward-looking; ...
Comment: The debate over the future relationship between news and social media is bringing us closer to a long-overdue reckoning. Social media isn’t trying to kill journalism, because social media has never really cared about journalism. Social media is resolutely in the attention business. News propels some attention — perhaps ...
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For the past 12 years, Georgia-Rose Brown has balanced on the brink of making an Olympic Games – but always landed gracefully on the wrong side. Reaching the Olympics is a dream the gymnast has harboured since she was a six-year-old; a dream that would dwindle every four years, yet ...
Late one afternoon in March 1860 a man in a thin green velveteen jacket and a wide-awake hat arrived on foot at a sheep station named Glenmark, about 65 kilometres north of Christchurch. The man was in his mid-fifties but he looked older. Several people who met him that day ...
If building one of Auckland’s possible waterfront stadiums was funded privately, it would need to hold a sold-out Ed Sherran concert every weekday for 25 years. That’s Rob Hamlin’s finding – he’s a senior marketing lecturer at the University of Otago. “It’s not going to happen; forget about it,” he ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A new Commonwealth Prac Payment will provide students with $319.50 a week when they are on clinical and professional placements. The payment will be means tested and start from July 1 next year, which ...
Asia Pacific Report About 500 people honoured Palestinian journalists in the heart of the New Zealand city of Auckland today for their brave coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza, now in its seventh month with almost 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children. Marking the annual May 3 World Press ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
Jeez, has John Tamihere been on the morning sauce? On RNZ right now he is just a mess of incoherent rambling, weird denunciations, barely concealed resentment, ridiculous hyperbole and moronic dissembling.
Wondered why Boag was supporting him till I heard he wanted to privatise Watercare. Maybe the end of Auckland residential property hyperinflation means that the leisured classes are casting their eyes around for alternative gold-plated investments?
Recycling tired Nat party stances on privatising public assets – doesn't count if you only privatise 49% says Johnny. As if Auckland's mayor has that power anyway. What a clown.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018702406/tamihere-proposes-selling-half-of-watercare
Whereas Goff was on RNZ earlier sounding entirely coherent. Tamihere is toast.
So thats just normal for tamihere
Strangly the standard has returned to full functionality on my tablet
Has there been a reversion?
Tony Burton provides an insight into the govt/media/politics nexus based on his personal experience in the public service. He sent an email & it caused controversy when obtained via OIA & used out of context. https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/01-07-2019/crocodile-in-the-river-how-public-servants-avoid-being-eaten-by-the-oia/
"The email itself was one in a chain between mid and lower ranking officials in Treasury and the Department of Labour (DoL) about the annual minimum wage report to Ministers. By that time the report had become a summary of suggestions from a list of organisations for a new minimum wage level, with well-known views and a cut-and-and-paste-from-last-year summary of arguments offered. DoL did an estimate of the potential unemployment impact for each level using a model so opaque that the estimates were best described as ‘some’, ‘some more’, ‘even more’, etc. The whole exercise was perfunctory."
"As a Treasury adviser on labour market and welfare issues I was asked to see if DoL could be encouraged to improve the report. I thought, naively as it turned out, that if I discussed evidence in bite-sized chunks some of it might sneak into the report. This was the content of my email."
"The DoL officials ignored my email and the subsequent meeting when writing their report. Described this way I imagine the eyes of most readers glazing over. “Conversation on academic evidence between unimportant people makes no difference” is not an attention grabber. But when released through the OIA, in the midst of an election campaign, the issue turned into “Mr Key ‘sat on’ the advice for 18 months and ‘tried to fool people’ by using only a later Labour Department review to back his argument”. This version became one of the issues in a television debate between the party leaders. A cursory glance at the emails would have made clear they were not sent to ministers. They did not include any reference to a Treasury report to ministers because there was no report."
"Treasury’s response, other than the occasional stern look directed at me from Treasury old timers, was a sentence in the ‘Briefing to the Incoming Minister’ to counter any impression it had supported minimum wage rises. But that was Treasury, and the Minister of Finance was Bill English, who actively encouraged Treasury to provide challenges based on evidence. If I had still been working for the Ministry of Social Development of the mid 2000s, where more than 50 communications staff were employed to control debate about the ministry, I might have lost my job."
"Public servants experience the OIA the way savannah animals experience crocodiles lurking under the surface of a river. The animals have to go to the river but do so aware that random attacks are a moment of inattention away. If this metaphor seems over the top, I invite the reader to look over the last few weeks of everything they wrote, typed or texted. Imagine someone had a legal right to publish any three consecutive words, without context or explanation, and with the potential that you might lose your job. Would that make you a little more guarded about what you wrote? Within the public service, versions of this thought experiment are called the “Dom Post test”. Unsurprisingly public servants take steps to avoid the crocodile. The OIA is meant to include verbal exchanges, but in practice that is hard to enforce. The result is the habit of minimising the written record if there is a risk of failing the Dom Post test. This habit is so endemic it is applied semi-consciously and only noticeable when someone, usually a junior official who has not been fully acculturated, needs to be reminded to “take the discussion off-line”."
"Of course there are many occasions when it is common sense to have a quick chat rather than to draft documents and set up meetings. (And anyone who has wasted time in pointless bureaucratic meetings will wish for more of this common sense.) However, extending this to replacing written comments is not in the spirit of the OIA."
"In as much as the OIA puts pressure on public servants to only write what they are personally prepared to defend in the full glare of the public they serve, it’s a good thing. The problem is that’s not the reality of how it is experienced, which means people do not just respond by improving what they write but by trying to avoid the lurking crocodile."
Thanks for the case study, Tony. Illuminating the coercive effects of the law on public servants is indeed a public service. Well done. [Tony Burton is a former deputy chief economic adviser at Treasury.]
Did anyone else hear Paul Goldsmith on the radio this morning?
My first thought was the 1990s called and wanted their neoliberal technocrat back.
What an utterly colourless Don Brash mini-me.
No wonder he got made finance spokesman, no threat to Simon there.
Yes I heard slimy little Paul Goldsmith lying again on RNZ saying 'Robots are good for our economy,' – but I wondered about us?????
Goldsmiths world is one without us humans it appears.
I turned radio NZ off afterthat rubbish.
Listening to Paul Goldsmith, my immediate impression was that robots had made much deeper inroads into the workplace than I had realised. The OS appeared to be somewhat dated though.
Though actually, robots could be good for the economy. It depends on who owns the technology and how they choose to use it. So yeah – the chances of it actually turning out well for most people are pretty minimal.
"The OS appeared to be somewhat dated though."
Yep, that selfish old Windows Me
I've watched him asking questions in Parliament over a period and thought, "This guy's actually written books?!"
I did, your post has reassured me that I wasn't just imagining how hopeless he was with the usual blah, blah and jargon that is all that eminates from the National Party and is very visible. It was like Kermit the Frog without the hope and vision, I'm not surprised he has remained fairly invisible till now.
Yes, I heard and saw him on the AM Show arrogant prat, But then I thought he was hilarious and certainly made my day when he came out with what I would think this year’s best joke when he made the statement that “ The National Party was the natural home for Talent”
'Gifted' offspring of privilege have input into design of special school….
….plans emerge for ivy- covered aviary channeling the Flintstones.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/113918033/auckland-couple-reveal-10m-building-plans-for-boutique-age-school
"Nikki Kaye's a feminist, Cameron Slater's a journalist, and John Key's son's a DJ!"
Almost as ludicrous a sight as poor Ben Shapiro trying to argue with intelligent people is the embarrassing spectacle of the untalented sons of "celebrities" posing as DJs. The poster child for this particular form of idiocy is the notorious Chet Haze, son of Tom Hanks. Down here, there was Maximus Key, son of John. We'll spare you the gruesome task of having to actually watch the young Key in action; this critique of him and his father's government is far more entertaining…
Aficionadoes of "wretchedness o'ercharged" may like to investigate Tom Hanks's rapper son….
That first video is just embarrassing
I am guessing the one person who seems to be laughing is the blokes sister or mother?
In the first clip, the whole of the audience is laughing with the comedian/rapper called Tourettes, and laughing at John Key's obnoxious and untalented son. In the second clip, the people laughing at Tom Hanks's obnoxious and untalented son are Howard Stern and his long-standing producer, Robin Quivers.
The prof cough's up another fur ball.
The only obnoxious and untalented person is that fuckwit Tourettes and his paid friend with the forced laugh, comedian/rapper, only in his twisted bitter little mind.
The prof cough’s [sic] up another fur ball… [snip angry ranting]
Yeah right. John Key's no-hoper son is a DJ. Goddit.
Strange times. Strange bedfellows.
George Soros and Charles Koch get together to launch an anti-interventionist think-tank. Nothing else seems to have broken the DC enthusiasm for wading into messy foreign entanglements the US really has no business being in, so hey, worth a shot.
https://www.vox.com/2019/7/1/20677441/soros-koch-end-interventionist-wars-military
Good on them. For once, one of the Koch brothers is doing something worthy.
As time goes by under this new government who is attempting to balance the books while fixing our crumbling infrustructure, watching our roads/rail/ city sewer services and all other essential services are failing as we speak.
Winston Peters spoke to the 230 folks who turned up to his last 'pep-talk' meeting prior to the last election and I was there it was a good talk he was right on the button there.
Winston touched on this issue of national spending nothing on our crumbling infrustructure during the last national Government's nine long years who always used the term "deferred maintainence" to justify cutting costs all over NZ to make their books look fine for the election.
Now we witness what national set the next Government up for; – and boy is showing us now with a sewer pipe collapsing into the taupo lake today, and the freight train de-railed in Wairarapa,
All happend in just one day.
Government needs to heed Winstons words he spoke that Gisborne night about our crumbling infrustructure as he said "we need to follow what Michael Joseph Savage did in 1935 to get NZ infrustructure back into operation after the 1931 depression by enacting the "Reserve Bank Act" and print the funds needed for restoring all NZ's essential services."
Otherwise we as a country NZ will fail, as another examle of what happend to Greece.
Good comment.
Many in the last National 'government' were all about achieving their brighter future though self service. Shudder to think what would be privatised by now if that lot were still in charge – Coleman was certainly lining up the health sector, and is now lining his pockets as CEO of Acurity Health Group, a leading provider of private hospital services.
If you read the Grauniad uncritically, you are no better than a Fox News true believer.
The Guardian..the guard dog of the status quo.
uncritically is a very good word – only the pitiful don't read everything and anything with a critical eye.
True, marty, very true.
Are those fellows Guardian readers Morsissey?
Latest report on DHBs from 2.7.2019. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/393457/dhbs-report-shows-funding-population-woes-senior-doctors-union-head
If DHBs run by generic accountants can't make ends meet then better informed managers with hospital backgrounds need to be employed. They seem to be in a similar position to the old railways, government didn't want to do its job running them, and sold off bits to supposed more effective private interests. Both sides tried to do the job on the cheap, flushing out the supposed fat on a starvation budget.
Now the government is told it needs to provide more money for health. Much of it should be garnered from the comfortably-off-to-rich from more tax not less (as in Australia just announced!) and from wealth-offering immigrants adding to our bulk of population to be serviced, and the fees from poor ones spending their life savings to come here. Government needs to listen or they won't be able to congratualte themselves for being better than weasely National and we won't be able to flaunt ourselves as a top country overseas, that is if it can't be made to care about the expected services of a so-called developed country.
One man who is both medically knowledgable and with managerial skills said this after a survey into conditions in Hawke's Bay (Te-Mata-a-Maui). This is a report from Dr Kevin Snee from December 2014 when he was Chief Executive of Hawke's Bay DHB. (He has now gone to troubled Waikato DHB.)
https://www.baybuzz.co.nz/2014/12/08/health-inequity/
The report brought up issues for Maori health. Presumably as times have got harder for them the smoking is increasingly a problem, and alcohol also plays its well-known destructive role. It makes this comment:
…• It is startling that three out of four Maori will be dead before their 75th birthday, compared to one in three European. And possibly even worse, one in four Maori will die before their 50th birthday compared to one in twenty European.
I find these statistics shocking and unacceptable.
Much of the work we do in health is focused on reducing inequity, trying to reduce the gap so everyone has the same opportunities for health. It’s part of our vision for the next five years through our Transform and Sustain programme. The 11 key areas of this programme all contain elements to make sure equity is addressed, when we determine how we spend our money.
Recognising and identifying the issues through this report will help us work to reduce the gap, but the health system alone cannot solve inequity….
Is John Key not aware of the Westminster convention that former PM's stay out of politics ?
The sight of the chair of the largest bank in Australasia making public comment on the affairs of a country without the checks and balances of an upper house should make all true democrats pause.
John may be cramping Simon's style
i have no problem if Key may be "cramping Simon's style", unless it makes Simon look less of an idiot. LOL.
I certainly agree with the rest of your comment, but this is not new for Key. During his time in Parliament he never really recognised, or rather adhered to, Westminister convention etc. or the reasons to keep a distance between his and others' roles as a representative of the people as opposed to their connection to and representation of the business sector, including the finance sector.
Mind you,, Key is nowhere in the league of Trump and his favourite daughter, Ivanka and their performance at the G20 meeting in Japan a few days ago!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/01/donald-trump-ivanka-g20-north-korea-nepotism
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/07/02/the-point-ivanka-trump-g20-diplomat-chris-cillizza-pkg.cnn
Plenty more choices if the above are frowned on media sources to some – just google “Ivanka Trump G20” .
[As an aside, loving the “Where is Wally/Ivanka?” pictures used on the Daily Review posts the last few nights – is that your work, mickysavage? LOL.]
nothing to worry, this is all normal, yeah, right you heard me….normal!!!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/14-killed-in-fire-on-russian-navy-submersible/2019/07/02/551bc79c-9cd0-11e9-83e3-45fded8e8d2e_story.html?utm_term=.6ac8062f1fdf
fire on a russian nuclear submarine boat ' aka a science vessel' kills fourteen but we are assured by the russians that there are no nuclear leaks. No siree, non what so ever……
https://twitter.com/ErgezerO/status/1146109022225031168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1146109022225031168&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2019%2F7%2F2%2F1868625%2F-The-Arctic-will-not-survive-Russia-s-second-wave-of-industrialization-nuclear-submarine-in-flames
Fucking lying Norwegians eh?
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-submersible-norway/norway-says-not-detecting-high-radiation-after-russia-submarine-fire-idUSKCN1TX2E3
so you mean 14 russian sailors did not die in an accident on a nuclear submarine in the artic?
Fucking lying russians. Must be some of that fake news?
Wonder if Russia will resort to drugging a distraught family member on live TV, again.
You'll be the first to know
Here is a good post debate piece from FAIR looking at the US MSM freaking out over the Bernie induced sharp pivot to the Left by 80% of the Democratic runners..it warms my heart.
Warning to Progressive Dems: You’re Leaving Corporate Media’s Comfort Zone
https://fair.org/home/warning-to-progressive-dems-youre-leaving-corporate-medias-comfort-zone/?awt_l=CnT3e&awt_m=gKmvrE3mJIR._TQ
This clip nicely covers some of the smears against Sanders, Jill Stein, and Jeremy Corbyn….
Those of us still around in 20 years will look back at the Sanders candidacy as a lost opportunity of historic proportions. Maybe not so much 'lost' as 'denied' – because he won't be allowed to win if it looks like he actually might. All the problems he talked about will be so much worse by then.
So good.
As an aside I got the telescope out the other night and showed my son Jupiter and some of his moons – he said it was cool and that made me feel pretty good. Saturn also looked amazing with the rings and stuff.
Can't wait to head south to this observatory.
Sounds amazing.
The sand flies down Tekapo way will also love it
The observatory at Mt John is awesome, as is Tekapo and the Dark Sky Park. I have been twice and it is one of the best things I have experienced in my life – the night sky is something most of us in the "first world" have lost. I'll be visiting this new centre for sure.
Another ACC Disputes Resolution service launched with former critic now Director of Contracted Provider of said disputes resolution service.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/393531/new-acc-mediation-service-aims-to-settle-disputes-faster
Great to see the contracting system still working despite… Previous research had said there should be a commissioner and it should be separate from ACC, he said, but the corporation and the government decided to go with a contractor relationship.
In the meantime, those with impairments who are not under ACC await word from the Current Mob as to the plan to make Funded Family Care Fairer.
Back in September there was a Beehive Release…https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/making-funded-family-care-fairer… which promised …
Cabinet has agreed to consider changes to Funded Family Care, with options and timeframes for changes to be presented to Cabinet later this year.
“The Government intends to repeal Part 4A of the Act that was introduced by the previous National Government,” Minister of Health Dr David Clark says.
“There have been consistent calls for Part 4A to be repealed because it is discriminatory. In particular, Part 4A has been inconsistent with human rights legislation because it denies families the right to complain about breaches of their human rights relating to family care policies,” Acting Associate Health Minister James Shaw says.
“The previous Government’s Funded Family Care policy has been a nightmare for the families involved. Today’s announcement is the first step towards a kinder and fairer agreement with carers.
“Over the next couple of months the Government will run targeted consultation with affected families and stakeholders on the key issues within Funded Family Care. Consultation will cover issues of eligibility, pay rates for carers, the employment relationship, and the type of care covered,” says James Shaw.
Well, we've done the Targeted Engagement thing….https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/targeted_engagement_on_funded_family_care_and_paid_family_care_20_november_2018.pdf
…and we've read the many, many articles in the media about this topic…https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/lifestyle/2019/05/the-billions-of-dollars-worth-of-work-carers-do-revealed-in-new-report.html
Yet, nothing. Not a sausage, nary a crumb.
Apart from the shitty little back down on a much begged for more flexible respite care funding system….https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/392858/service-for-choosing-respite-care-shelved-after-ministry-wouldn-t-stump-up-10m
I was going to write, yet again, to The Powers That Be and respectfully ask what stage they're at keeping their promises of last September…
But I've got no respect left for them.
SSDD.
Would be interesting to see the basis for that decision OIAed.
Wouldn't it just? They'd probably claim 'commercial sensitivity' or sumsuch.
I had hopes that Forster was going to really challenge the status quo….he got an award and everything…https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11957047
…and he even called into question the ethics of having a review service in a contractual relationship with ACC.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/lawyer-queries-legality-accs-relationship-firm
Oh. Dear.
Dr. David Clark is a complete and utter waste of space.
The puckish part of me was going to send him a pair of boxing gloves and a spine. Anyone taking on the task of undoing over two decades of sociopathic mismanagement of Health in general and disability in particular will need both. However its not much point if the heart's not in it, and the government is not committed.
It struck me right from the beginning of his tenure that he had already acquired the possum in the headlights look displayed by both Ryall and Coleman. Almost as if they'd had a quick shufti inside the inner sanctum of the Ministry of Health executive and decided it was a beast best left to its own devices.
Coleman, certainly. Smug waste of space. However Ryall was far from afeared, to his cost.
water shortage? drought?
not here, surely not!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12245978
Strength of the old and the new
a Europa
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/eu-leaders-agree-choices-top-jobs-days-disputes-190702184823275.html
Commandeering the commons to run an event paid for by the public to raise funds for the ruling party.
Corrupt AF.
https://twitter.com/DanEggenWPost/status/1146142381533802503
Commandeering nearby public resources to prop up your private school? Sweet as! https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/113918033/auckland-couple-reveal-10m-building-plans-for-boutique-age-school
Ah, but is JFK jr. going to put in an appearance as the deputy principal…
https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1143610700864131073
Nixon in 2020. Tanned, rested, and ready.
Seeing as Tracey Martin and Jacinda haven't viewed the recent uplift video, perhaps they can find the time to read this harrowing account of another family's treatment by Oranga Tamariki
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@taken-by-the-state/2019/06/27/655406/dealing-with-the-agency-from-hell
How many hours of the day do you believe ministers and the Prime Minister should devote to perusing fine details of disputes between individuals and government departments, and how do you propose prioritising which disputes should be reviewed? It could hit 24 hours a day without breaking a sweat, so some rationing system would be essential, not to mention some means of measuring the opportunity cost to the country of their spending their time on that.
How many hours of the day they should devote to perusing fine details of disputes between individuals and government departments is up to them. Nevertheless, the more informed a misister is the more effective they are likely to be.
However, most would expect them to at least be aware (and to have read/seen) the top ones that make the news, especially when it's to do with matters relating to their own ministerial portfolio.
Actually, no on both counts. Or at least not necessarily.
An abundance of operational information can masquerade as knowledge of strategic issues. The issue here isn't how a particular baby was taken, rather the issue is the overrespresentation of Māori children being taken and the equity, appropriatness, and justice questions this raises. You don't need to see the video to understand this.
Unless the issue is the behaviour of the people taking that specific baby (e.g. the US border concentration camps), the video might be emotive but it adds little to deciding how the system should be improved.
I didn't state necessarily. I said the more effective they are likely to be.
An abundance of operational information is part of being informed.
The issue here is how a particular baby was taken and how systemic that process is. Along with the over representation of Māori children being taken, the equity, appropriateness, and justice questions this raises.
Viewing the video uplift first hand is a little more insightful than merely reading about it. And in this case, the behaviour of the people taking that specific baby was/is of issue.
Yeah your weasel words of concern are always vague, but the fact remains that an abundance of operational information often or even usually gets in the way of strategic decision making.
If the issue is how the baby was taken, that's an operational matter that the minister should leave to the employment personnel. But the issue is one of systemic bias, which is a strategic matter, so what specifically does the video add to aid decision-making for that issue?
Resorting to taking potshots so soon. You really try to appeal to the mugs on here, don't you.
An abundance of operational information is part of the knowledge one requires to make strategic decisions. At the end of the day, the two are often interrelated. Alignment of strategic priorities and integration of operations etc. But you can continue to dance on the head of that pin if you like.
One of the issues is how the baby was taken. Moreover, the harrowing behaviour of Oranga Tamariki staff has been reported as being systemic. Therefore, while it's an operational matter it is one the minister ultimately oversees and at the end of the day is accountable for. The buck stops at the top.
The video could be used as an example in future staff training of what not to do.
Sorry, looks like you missed the last bit:
How would it help the minister to watch the video?
Material for training courses doesn't cut it. If the behaviour is "harrowing" that requires training, that's an operational/HR matter involving a bad job that's being done badly. The bad job needn't be done at all but the system requires it, so that's a systemic issue for the minister and how the job is done is irrelevant because the role of the minister is to stop it being done in the first place.
How would it help the minister to watch the video?
First off, they (the PM and the Minister) would have avoided the outrage not viewing it has caused.
Secondly, just as the bias is systemic so are the operational flaws. thus strategic goals have to integrate with operational strategy to formulate on the ground. The video is a good example of this failure, thus can be learned from. Helping the Minister to come up with solutions going forward.
How the job is done is far from irrelevant. Outcomes largely rely on how the job is being done. And when the job is being done poorly and it's systemic, the oversight extends to the Minister in charge.
As for the Minister being able to completely stop it, she doesn't have the capacity in her role alone. Lifting benefits would go a long way in reducing the frictions that lead to family violence, child abuse etc.
Again, there is no outrage because the pm didn't watch a video. You're just pretending there is to suit your nat agenda narrative.
Money isn't the be all and end all to any solution for bad parenting, violent abuse of children or neglect. Millionaires can be shit parents, too, though they might be able to afford better lawyers. An extra $50 a week to a selfish parent doesn't benefit a child at all, not in the sense of protecting them from selfish parents that is.
Once again you've taken a swing and a miss. Next nat talking point, please.
Lifting benefits going a long way in reducing the frictions that lead to family violence, child abuse etc, is a National Party talking point?
How did parents become so selfish in your opinion?
Are you not aware of the frictions being poor can create in the family environment and how ugly that can quickly become? Are you that out of touch?
As for the outrage out there, it has been reported that some are comparing this to the foreshore and seabed fallout.
Still no outrage, not at the pm any way. The system, perhaps, but that's relative.. Each case on it's merits and all that.
Of course I'm aware of friction from having no money, I'm fucking poor after all, so out of touch I certainly am not, but whatever the deal, no matter how much cash I haven't had, I've always fed my babies and never once taken out my anger and frustration upon them. Main reason is personal pride, to look after ones younglings, secondary is not to be my old man and screw it up. I certainly don't blame the pm or her ministers like you do.
When I knew I couldn't afford to do it all, I stopped smoking, drinking, eating fast food, just like most people do in the same situation. Extra money for me would have eased financial pressures, but made no difference to the emotional and physical well being of my spawn. They were, and are, already well sorted.
Thanks for your concern 🙄
Then you would know how this friction can quickly turn ugly in some family environments, leading to mental stress and causing some to snap too easily. Albeit, it hasn't happen to adult you, but perhaps (by the sound of it) you may have been victim to it as a lad. Perhaps helping you from going down that same path as a dad.
Poverty has many adverse effects and in many ways is a driver of many of our social ills.
Fuck off, you patronising twat.
PS, Mods, I'll take the ban, ta.
Firstly, I had a quick look to stuff for any expression of "outrage" that Ardern and Martin haven't watched the video. Seems to have disappeared from their political section already (although the issue of "uplifts" has not). There is an article posted on Newsroom on Tuesday, onenews doesn't seem to rate the waves of outrage as newsworthy, RNZ News seems to have missed the barricades in the streets that the hopi polloi have raised because the PM and minister didn't watch the video, so really the main source of "outrage" seems to be you. Even Newsroom only said "shocked". But I'm sure people will take to the streets tomorrow unless the PM watches the video. /sarc
Secondly, "operational flaws" operating a policy that itself needs drastic changes are not really a priority. You can't have a bad attitude while taking newborns if you're not taking newborns in the first place.
Should the people assessing benefit rates also watch the video? Or need it only be an intructional tool for administrators of policy, as well as the ministers who determine the policy, but not the administrators of policy determination? Can you answer that, or would that be one for the people who determine the administration of the determination of policy, and their administrators?
In this case the operational flaws are so embedded and systemic they can't be left to be overlooked as they are a large part of the problem that will negatively impact on any new policy change.
As for the outrage out there, it was reported on. I've already posted a link to it. But here it is again.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/07/midwives-involved-in-attempted-hawke-s-bay-baby-uplift-slam-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-for-not-watching-video.html
Moreover, there is "a tide of unrest in Maoridom" over the large number of child uplifts and Jacinda not viewing the clip was seen by many as a slap in the face.
Again, operational flaws in a flawed policy can be eliminated by eliminating the flawed policy.
Also, ain't it interesting how newsroom are the only outlet noticing the tide? And even that was a couple of days ago?
Oh, and you, of course. But you're very adept at spotting tides of outrage against this government. Especially tides that are undetected by anyone else.
…so really the main source of "outrage" seems to be you.
To be fair, DPF has also posted about it – no doubt he's as "concerned" as The Chairman is about Ardern's terrible failure to watch a video.
… most would expect them to at least be aware (and to have read/seen) the top ones that make the news….
How do you know they were not already aware of these circumstances TC?
How do you know they had not already seen… and been told of similar stories?
In fact, according to Jacinda Ardern she has recently seen and heard about similar stories and I'm sure Tracey Martin will have too. So they didn't need to spend precious time perusing another one which is no doubt the reason why they chose to so promptly set up an inquiry to find out what is going on.
Your constant tendency to jump on the critical band-wagon before all the facts are at your disposal belies your claim you are to the left of centre. I’ll go further and say you are a right wing troll who comes here to disrupt the flow of rational dialogue.
Having said that you're not the only one.
Hi Anne
I didn't claim they were unaware of the circumstances in this instance, Anne. I pointed out how they are being publicly slammed for not viewing the video.
Moreover, I didn't claim they had not already seen and have been told of similar stories.
And on that point, Jacinda got an easy ride on the Nation the other day. She should have been asked what are these other similar events she has claimed to have seen? Moreover, if they have known for so long as Jacinda has claimed (on the Nation) why haven't they acted with more pace?
Spending the short time to view the clip would have given them a good insight into the staff behaviour and operational flaws taking place under their watch.
Moreover, have you not seen the backlash from this (their not viewing it)? They have offended many in Maoridom. All that could have been avoided if they merely took the short time to view the clip.
I’m not a right wing troll, I’m a lefty constantly disappointed by Labour’s poor performance. So deal with it, because I’m far from the only one.
I pointed out how they are being publicly slammed for not viewing the video.
You participated in and contributed to the squawking about it, yes. To what purpose?
A highlighted it and have put forward reasoning why they were slammed for it. And there are a number of reasons for that.
One being, I wanted to hear what the Party defenders here had to say.
Relentlessly soggy ("constantly disappointed"), and as transparent as a transparent thing ("Labour’s poor performance").
The Chairman is a self-proclaimed "lefty" who is "more left than most", yet has a strong aversion to complimenting Labour and/or Green MPs, in government or in opposition.
The Chairman is also extremely reluctant to turn their withering gaze on the behaviour and policies of National party MPs, in government or in opposition.
The Chairman's protestations of 'lefty' credentials are bogus (as is the identity), but that's just my opinion – others can judge for themselves.
I reckon he’s got two left hemispheres and he’s so left that the right one’s gone. It just left, out of his right ear it went and kept going till it was lost, forever. That’s how it got there, the right hemisphere, and how it’s left.
It's my view that politics is like a simple circle and when standing at the top of the circle the lefties will swing clockwise and the righties swing anti-clockwise. They will inevitably meet at the bottom and become one and the same. Eg. Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union.
The PM from the text in the 3news link provided.
"The actual footage of the removal, no, but I have seen other incidents like that in the past," she said.
"I've been the spokesperson for children for Labour for a number of years, and this has been an issue that has been debated for a number of years.
"I certainly know the circumstances. I know the case; I know the issues around it, and I know the theme that’s being raised here".
Exactly, The Al1en.
And as I just said to Anne above (reposted below).
And on that point, Jacinda got an easy ride on the Nation the other day. She should have been asked what are these other similar events she has claimed to have seen? Moreover, if they have known for so long as Jacinda has claimed (on the Nation) why haven't they acted with more pace?
So the PM is fully aware of the situation, and your smear attack in 20.1.1 has been busted wide open by her very quote in the link you provided as a weapon to beat her with.
Exactly! All right.
Clearly, I was speaking generally in the quote you used there. Nevertheless, while they were aware in this specific case, they both admitted to not viewing the actual clip.
Evidently, with both failing to see how bad that was going to look, especially to Maroidom.
So? I didn't watch game of thrones but I knew all about it, who was in it, how it played out.
You're reaching, as usual, and making a drama where none exists to push an anti government agenda.
Most people realise kids aren't taken away from families unless there's a good reason. The general statistic, where maori are concerned, is a worry, but that's not Jacinda's fault, nor does her not watching a video make her guilty of any crime, percieved or otherwise.
“So? I didn't watch game of thrones but I knew all about it, who was in it, how it played out.”
Knowing about it and watching it are not one in the same.
Nevertheless, and more importantly, you aren't the PM, nor was the high profile clip a mere TV show.
I'm not reaching, you are evidently out of touch with the outrage this has caused, just as the PM failed to see it coming. This lot have become arrogant real fast.
Out of interest, what do you believe are the drivers behind the reasons children are having to be taken?
The pm said she was informed of the situation, and I believe her over your anti propaganda, any time.
How many hours of the day they should devote to perusing fine details of disputes between individuals and government departments is up to them.
And yet, here you are concern-trolling them for not devoting the time to it that you'd prefer they did.
Nevertheless, the more informed a misister is the more effective they are likely to be.
Sure, who could argue with that? The question is, informed about what? Informed in great detail about one individual's dispute with a government department isn't necessarily helpful to a minister's work, and leads us straight back to the issues of the time needed to gain that irrelevant state of informed-ness and how to prioritise which individuals to become so deeply informed about.
However, most would expect them to at least be aware (and to have read/seen) the top ones that make the news…
And they are aware of them. Thank you for your heartfelt concern.
If Chairman, running true to form, still protests innocence after blowing his cover for multi-multiple times, I have an offer of 49% of shares in a state-owned bridge in which he may be interested…
First off, I'm not concern trolling. Evidently, you are blind to the outrage out there and how offending and arrogant this is looking. Secondly, as I said, how much time they want to devote to these things is up to them, but considering it's high profile, this is one short clip many were surprised, shocked and offended Jacinda couldn't find the time to see.
The thing is the staff behaviour and operational flaws taking place in the video and written piece linked to are said to be systemic (thus not just one individual being negatively impacted) giving the Minister a very good insight into how things are playing out on the ground in real life (and not merely what has been internally fed to them). Thus one would expect they would find it extremely helpful seeing it from both sides when coming up with solutions.
I respect many a genuine "lefty", particularly those that are "more left than most" – so what is it about The Chairman's "relentessly soggy" criticism of left-leaning political parties and MPs that is so distasteful and deceitful?
Surely The Chairman is not blind to the impression such criticism creates. If I described Bridges/National in such terms, and then claimed to be a 'more right than most' conservative, how credible would I be?
The Chairman's relentlessly soggy critique of Labour/Ardern/Greens et al. is not helpful, but then it's not intended to be, is it.
Please do continue (this is a genuine request) – you (The Chairman) serve as an object lesson in right-wing duplicity, not that another lesson is needed!
And please, could The Chairman show a little respect for our Prime Minister by using her family name – that's another little tell you might want to work on, BTW
Good old Labour scared of the impression being criticised creates.
Tell you what, if they don't like being criticised, play a better game.
Moreover, if a party can't hold its own against criticism, then their problems are far bigger than me having a go at them.
This isn't China, yet and political criticism isn't hate speech. So as much as they want to shutdown freedom of speech, they will find it will only turn against them.
So instead of you highlighting my many criticisms, try defending against them if you can. I'm not saying anything that isn't true.
"Good old Labour scared of the impression being criticised creates." – penned by The Chairman, a self-proclaimed "lefty" who is, in their own words, "more left than most".
Just for info, I'm a little left of current Labour party's policies – why The Chairman (on this site) repeatedly and pointedly puts the boot into Green party policies and MPs is beyond me. For example, three months after the 2017 election, here's The Chairman suggesting that Gareth Hughes would be an improvement on Shaw as Green party (co-)leader. https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-26-12-2017/#comment-1430363
No doubt The Chair had their reasons, but a friend of the left, really?
The current coalition government is making a genuine effort to reverse the damage done by NINE LONG YEARS of National party "brighter future" policies, damage on which The "lefty" Chairman has been strangely silent. I'm so relieved than NZ had a change of government in 2017; another three year of 'governance' by the simply awful collection of self-serving no-hoper National MPs would have been the last straw. Does The "more left than most" Chairman agree?
Politics may be a game to The Chairman [“play a better game“], but I respectfully decline their 'invitation' to lay off highlighting their constant stream of comments undermining left-leaning parties and politicians, now numbering in the thousands on this site.
Others can judge whether I'm saying anything that isn't true.
…this is one short clip many were surprised, shocked and offended Jacinda couldn't find the time to see.
Unless she happens to be a close personal friend of yours and you'd like to humble-brag about it on this thread, she's "Ardern," "Jacinda Ardern" or "the Prime Minister" to you. Otherwise, calling her by informal or pet names is a right-wing tactic to reinforce their "silly little girl" meme.
Also: "many" at this point seems to equate to you, Martyn Bradbury and right-wing commentators with a propaganda agenda.
The thing is the staff behaviour and operational flaws taking place in the video and written piece linked to are said to be systemic…
The "alleged" flaws are "claimed" to be systemic – by you, at least. Still not seeing why the Minister and the Prime Minister need to be devoting time to minor operational details.
So this mayor is hit with a disaster, and goes and spends up big on helicopter flights. Misused funds, isn't there a law against that. Any reasonable Mayor would first assess the damage, less the damage kept getting worse. Nets over the river, dig out the dump move to a new location..
…but seriously this guy hasn't resigned at least? Showing remorse.
Tracey Martin and Jacinda have been publicly slammed (see link below) for failing to view the recent uplift video. How do the Labour Party defenders on here feel about that?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/07/midwives-involved-in-attempted-hawke-s-bay-baby-uplift-slam-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-for-not-watching-video.html
Related additional info: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/07/02/663254/sorry-minister-youre-wrong
Why haven't you watched the video and written a report chemmy?
I've seen it, Gabby. But I'm not a reporter.
Anyone looking for Labour's defenders see those commenting on my post at 20.
"How do the Labour Party defenders on here feel about that?"
Isn't that what you claim to be, chair?
A Labour Party defender, I'm not. As you know, I'm one of their largest critics.
Nothing to say on the topic, Robert? Just distraction talking about me I see.
Just letting off a little steam, Chairman. Your comments don't interest me at all, outside of their entertainment value.
I think those demanding Ardern and Martin should have watched that video should be given consultancy roles on the payroll for them. Their particular job would be to tell them all the stuff they should read, all the people they should talk to and what media things they should do.
They of course would make sure that the two be interviewed daily by Garner and Hosking.
Actually they should also tell Martin and Ardern what to think as well, it'll save of a lot of anguish and stuffing around.
Which is just what you wanted. Mission accomplished. 🙄
Far from it, The Al1en. Talking about me is not my goal or “mission”.
And on that point, care to comment on the topic?
“Far from it”
You sure aren’t.
A train derailment
No doubt after a committee meeting, and an inchoiry between Kiwirail, Metlink, Transdev, and a few contractors somewhere in a 'war room', there'll be a number of 'learnings going forward'.
(One of which might be, for example, why we couldn't have run trains from both Hutt and Kapiti lines to the Kaiwharawhara station and scheduled them outbound again from there. And yes!, I understand there might be overhead electrical supply problems, but fuckall that couldn't be temporarily adjusted).
Strewth maate! What if we have a real disaster?
Ekshully, whilst I await comment from all the sperts as to why it couldn't happen, I came across that tragedy of photo of Laidlaw that always appears in the media. Says a lot really.
I just have to ask myself when it was that imagination bypass surgery and community agency became trumped by the risk managers and the stifling of ingenuity. Can someone put a date on it for me please?
Let's hope we don't have another Wahine disaster because the loss of life is likely to be tenfold
You want a photo of Chris Laidlaw? Here's one from 49 years ago….
I was thinking of a more recent tragedy @ Moz. But at least he has a highly paid legacy of memories and relevance
Going Backwards
It would have to be said sooner or later, that
Parents on drugs, Parents on Booze, Parents on Bashing their wives up, Parents who have put themselves in Jail, Parents who have not taught their children anything … The Parents who are merely wastrel Gang Mugs. Parents on Marijuana. Killing each other on the Road.
The spoon feeding has to stop. No amount of tattoos or money is going to fix anything. We have had a couple of centuries trying out that.
The sadness is, that the Population of New Zealand is less and less Maori. More and More English, More Asian and South American. European .Populations that do well.
Do we want Maori to Die off Like Kauri ? The answer to that is, make sure Parents live a decent Life.