Open mike 03/09/2023
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AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...5 days ago - Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut
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- Thank You
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...7 days ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #50
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Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...1 week ago - Chris Penk’s Hate Parade
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All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...1 week ago
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National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...2 days ago - Release: Minister’s plan for tertiary sector a backwards step
Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...2 days ago
- Release: National buries 1019 planned homes
It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...3 days ago
- Release: Rule-Czar bill a right-wing power grab
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...3 days ago
- Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is running away from problems of his own creation, with his decision not to go to Waitangi. ...3 days ago
- Govt’s ‘free speech’ legislation stokes fear, not freedom
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...3 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...3 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...4 days ago
- ECE no place to cut corners
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...4 days ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...4 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...5 days ago
- Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...5 days ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...5 days ago
- Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...5 days ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...5 days ago
- Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...5 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...5 days ago
- Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...5 days ago
- Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...6 days ago
- Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...6 days ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...1 week ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...1 week ago
- Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...1 week ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
- Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
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"Immigration officers say they’ve been told to ignore criminal convictions and investigations, not to read supporting documents on visa applications, and not to check work visas at the border in a “light touch” drive to grant more visas faster."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/immigration/132853434/shambles-of-our-visa-regime-immigration-staff-reveal-their-truth
NZs only growth lever.
Unbelievable isn't it!
The consequences of immigration policy is an indictment on all govts of the last 2 decades.
I see NZ First want to limit it to 15,000.Possibly one extreme to the…other.
This is bloody annoying. In Marlborough there is a French young French woman who stayed on over covid and has now tried to get residency, she is highly skilled both in wineries and vineyards, can operate bottling and labeling machines and many other complex and much needed skills in this 2.5 billion dollar export earner industry that is desparatley short of skilled staff. But her qualifications at masters level are not in viticulture or oeneology therefore she does not qualify as she is historically a couple of grand short of the target income and works for different companies on a contract basis. But hey, look over there thats what we need , a fucking barista with bugger all English speaking skills and a phalanx of relatives waiting in the wings for a family reuniting visa. Is there under the table corruption involved here?
Pretty difficult for a barista to qualify for skilled residence in the normal scheme of things.
So how come there are so many of them, anecdotally, getting in?
Not sure, you would have to ask them.
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/documents/statistics/statistics-occupation-region-for-resident-principla-applicants.pdf has numbers of skilled migrant residence visas granted by occupation (among other things) for the past 10 years, and there are no baristas at all.
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/documents/statistics/statistics-work-applications-approved-by-occupation.pdf has the same numbers but for work visas and there are a few of those granted to baristas. The figure show a steady increase up to a plateau of around 130-140/yr but dropped to 50 last fiscal year (1 July 2022-30 June 2023).
In terms of other residence pathways besides skilled migrant residence in their own right, they may have qualified as partners of NZers or skilled residents (skilled migrant residence applications can include partners and children) or the 2021 Resident Visa.
Movie projectionist was one ….so barrista would'nt surprise … also from memory Petrol Station attendant …
Checking the links provided here for visas granted by occupation in the last 10 years: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-03-09-2023/#comment-1966812
Motion picture projectionist = 0 skilled migrant resident visas, 1 work visa (in 2013/14).
Service Station Attendant = 0 skilled migrant resident visas, approx. 20-40 work visas per year in the 2010s, but only 2 in 2020/21 and 1 in 2022/23.
As in that link, looks like they got resident visas through other categories e.g. partnership or 2021 resident visa.
Its on the table corruption. Hundreds of "workers" that can't speak english with visas for labor hire companies . The first requisite would be to understand english or how can they understand instruction for the day.
The problem is not the immigrants….its the blind eye exploitation for a supposed political benefit…something both wings of politics engage in.
They are all a disgrace
Sounds interesting:
The Food Crisis: The urgent, timely documentary every Kiwi voter should watch
Only one quote from the linked site:
No competition. Total Duopoly control. I just got my minimum "supermarket" food. Two supermarkets nearly opposite each other. The new one Countdown…All gonna be rebranded as Woolworths (rebranding they are spending $400 Million ! Just an insult.)
My trolley…fark all in it…expensive as. And the specials? A joke. Where is the competition?
We can ask the same question of fish. In an modern developed island nation, it shouldn't be a rare luxury.
I look at docos on different countries, recently Peru was featured and its bustling fish market in Lima. Folk without much were eating fish regularly.
Oh that we too could have the current that brings cold, nutrient-dense water to the surface, and the <0.1% of the world's ocean surface that produces about 10% of the world's fish catch, on our door step.
Although tbf it's not all anchovies and skittles in Peru.
https://www.intrafish.com/fisheries/peru-cancels-all-important-first-anchovy-fishing-season/2-1-1464552
It's not a lack of fish (that may have changed recently) that has prices so high here. The whole system- selling quotas to the big boys who then sub-contract to foreign ships and crews- that is keeping fish out of our diets.
Just bring in the pest known as Lion fish. Native to the Great Barrier Reef, it breeds like crazy. With our oceans warming it might take off here, like it has in Florida.
You can eat it if you remove the toxic spines and it is said to be tasty.
Mind you, it eats many other species so the range of fish for NZers to eat would decline markedly.
Some recent discussion on The Standard re median/mean wage NZ. And, as I and others have said …And IMO… the few at the top skew it UP due to their Lotto like pay..This article is paywalled..but the video of them plays.
Number 10..ie the "lowest" and above $3 Million….
How many others?
Has any Standardista seen other reports? I found this..(Its a small PDF..if dont want…but its got a lot of info)
Also Dr Helen Roberts, Otago, had done a lot of research on…has anyone heard of latest info?
They should have become politicians instead of running a business.
As far as I can determine the basic salary of a Minister in the New Zealand Government in 2000 was $149,200 and in 2020 was $296,007.
Any Minister therefore was paid 98.4% more in 2020 than 2000.
That certainly is a great deal more than your quoted figure for CEO's isn't it? Why do we pay the. generally incompetent Ministers of today such inflated salaries?
See page 25 of
https://oag.parliament.nz/2001/salaries/docs/salaries.pdf
and
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2020/0327/latest/LMS438252.html
Erm… no. The figures for CEO pay rates are inflation-adjusted, and expressed in '2020 dollars', according to the data linked by PsyclingLeft Always. A quick look at the RBNZ inflation calculator says that the purchasing power of $149,200 in 2001 would have been somewhere between about $216,500 and about $223,000 in 2020, depending on exactly when in each year one takes. Additionally, the figure you give for 2020 is for a cabinet minister, whereas the figure for 2001 is simply for a 'minister'. The figure for a minister outside cabinet in 2020 is $249,839, so the actual increase on an apples-with-apples basis may very well be as little as from around $223,000 to $250,000, or around 12%.
Then there is the fact that the ministerial salaries are very much comparable with the bottom end of where the salaries for CEOs are, so why CEOs in general would be envious of the lot of a minister in terms of remuneration is well beyond me.
So I think that's a fairly comprehensive fail for your analysis there.
Yes, a comprehensive fail – still, no doubt alwyn is comfortable with his figures.
You are quite right about the inflation adjustment that I hadn't allowed for.
On the other hand your comparison with the rates for Ministers "not in cabinet" isn't. There was apparently no difference back in 2000.
For convenience therefore I have looked at the one person who could be classed as the CEO. That is the Prime Minister. In 2000 she got $244k. In 2020 it was 471k. The RBNZ inflation figure was about 1.45.
Therefore the increase, inflation adjusted was about 32%. Nice but not as good as the sample of CEOs were supposed to have got. Well spotted.
Well it's election season and I see the right wing parties have sprung into action
No longer an unending litany of complaints and whining
Now it's election mode – So far we have seen
1/ Punching down – National wants to harm Beneficiaries and ACT wants to harm Superannuatants
2/ Magical thinking – proposed taxes with insanely dubious forecasts of the $ gatherable.
3/Magical thinking – National wants to cut Government expenditure but because they are the National Party their Magic is that they can do the same with less
4/Punching down – Public transport charges to increase – Prescription charges back – The spirit of the "Paper Boy" tax lives on.
5/ TAX CUTS $2.1 Billion for Landlords and one third of a burger for pensioners
.
6/ Roads they love tarseal
I usually find election time with the real and implied threats from right wing parties to be really difficult and find that my problems with anxiety and depression worsen. This election I feel safer due to turning 65 a couple of months after it.I believe the right wing parties cause a lot of harm to the vulnerable in New Zealand and that they don't give a shit that they harm people
Yep. I feel the looming threat of the NAct "punch down" as a very real worry.
I'm at the lower end…and one of the "working poor". I feel much empathy for ALL at this end.
IMO NAct will take NZ…to the cleaners…for the benefit (! )..of the rich and nasty.
Fight back. !
I reckon if you hired the last national government to run your farm for 9 years they would have sold a couple of best paddocks, stopped putting fertilizer on to make the books look good, built a shiny new drive way so you feel good when you drive in , while the fences out the back fell down, .
Can't see this lot being any different.
Agree.
Don't forget the light touch regulations so not only have the fences fallen down but what stock there is have access to the waterways and wallow in knee deep mud during winter.
, while the fences out the back fell down, .
Being the National Party they would have sold the fences, arranged a lease back at too high a rate, secured the promise of a directorship in the fencing company post wrecking the farm and then the fences out the back fell down, .
Agree with all of the above . Barfly, I am so pleased you are entering a space with more money and dignity, but you are right about Nact causing extreme anxiety, PLA you are clearly a caring person who wants what is good for others, and can see the damaging agenda of the right, and bwaghorn, that is the best description of organised neglect, but you forgot to mention their bulging back pockets and business & banking buddies.
but I see you have explained the money go round.
Yeah but they may not have endangered back country lives and wrecked biodiversity by allowing the hut-burning that the current vandals HAVE allowed.
I feel for you Barfly and others. The anxiety is horrible, I remember it. Often it is worse then the reality, so please try to take some solace from that.
I'm fortunate enough to have transcended worrying about money now. I had a massive life-and-death health scare which, as often happens, gave me a new perspective. Nothing really matters in the Grand grand scheme, and worrying doesn't fix anything.
I now just worry about those who do it tough. Struggle dawn to dusk and still can't get by. I wish I could help but I don't have the wealth. If only I was Allah or something I could solve all the problems. Start with eliminating all the parasite billionaires.
Confirmation from WRP National Secretary Jill Ovens that the Women's Rights Party has been registered.
https://www.facebook.com/jill.ovens.5/posts/pfbid0rwnxMzG5TYzrjMkLf344ACcBmBV1ihnMxqTZiGuN83Gw8TD7hYCu9KCh6NW3ceMzl
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-womens-rights-party/
weka.
next time you get a dumb question on rights – make them watch this video – first minute and a bit are truly worth it.
Heres a question for…you-what's the relevance of that video to womens rights?
And another,- what rights are women missing out on these days?
The rights to name their bodies, the rights to organise as a sex class without the presence of men, the rights for lesbians to be same sex attracted, the right to female sports, changing rooms, shelters, rape crisis shelters etc, free from the presence of men. I could go on.
And here we are in "Blue September" – and I bet we will get through it without a single man being referred to as a Penis Person, a Prostate Owner, a Testicle Bearer or and Ejaculator.
Not one of the things you have stated is prevented by law as far as I can see.
Please do not ..go on…absolute drivel imo.
Blazer, that's true: the right to be single sex places – without male transgender present – is not prevented by law, BUT and here is the but:
it depends on the individual organisation, council facilities, to do exactly that.
e.g. Christchurch women only swimming session is open to any men who claims to be/feel like a women. (reason why Muslim women don’t use the ChCh pool).
NZ sport is in a similar train of thought
according to the law:
‘Women-only facilities that exclude trans-identifying males would not be unlawfully discriminating against trans-identifying males on the basis of sex, and would not be in breach of the Human Rights Act.'
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Please provide a link for your quote, which sounds like a legal opinion, but by/from who?
Incognito – according to Section 44 of the Human Rights Act 1993 covers the provision of goods and services.
These are some of the exceptions- BUT its up to the providers
45. Exception in relation to courses and counselling
Nothing in section 44 shall prevent the holding of courses, or the provision of counselling, restricted to persons of a particular sex, race, ethnic or national origin, or sexual orientation where highly personal matters, such as sexual matters or the prevention of violence, are involved.
46. Exception in relation to public decency or safety
Section 44 shall not apply to the maintenance or provision of separate facilities or services for each sex on the ground of public decency or public safety.
https://www.speakupforwomen.nz/post/know-your-rights-sex-self-id-in-new-zealand
Russell Howard, proper comedy. Weka's right, it is worth it. He even negates the trans discussion pretty well.
Navigates, not negates
Liar for big tobacco salivates at the prospect of people losing their jobs.
/
When asked if there will be job losses at the agency, he said: “Hope so”.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/132860241/nationals-chris-bishop-promises-change-around-kinga-ora
10 years or so ago I was sitting beside a Canterbury farmer on a flight to Christchurch. Chatting away, he mentioned Auckland corporates had bought adjacent farms. But the corporates refused to contribute to the boundary fencing upkeep, leaving it to him to pay the cost of this. Not good neighbours.
It's that a point in favour of Nats or against?
National's campaign launch seemed like a wall to wall doofus overload to me. Probably what happens when you have too much money dropped into your pockets – wasteful spending. At least the embarrassment was spread more generally, not just confined to Luxon. So that’s a positive I suppose.
It looked on the telly more like a funeral parade… all blues and blacks. The audience came across as unnatural – unlike the genuine exuberance of the Labour audience.
I also noted that far from attempting to ruin the Nat. campaign opening, the Free-dumb crowd stood reasonably quietly at a distance. Made me think they are hoping for a Nat. win so their Free-dumb candidates will get in on the coat-tails of ACT and NZ First.
Looked like Luxon Inc wanted to be seen as the most presidential hence the very American style presentation. There were plenty of empty blue seats evident though………
I would imagine a massive amount of security and vetting can be bought with all those donated millions in the Nat war chest.
Anyone else having trouble with http://archive.is/ today?