Stories of rampant Republican-initiated voter suppression in Georgia and Arizona. Voters thrown off the rolls, forced to cast a provisional ballot if they turn up, which then isn’t counted. Haven’t heard anything about how bad it might be in Texas, but It has to be a worry.
Standard practice for Republicans every cycle sadly. Interesting to see that there’s a narrative developing that Trump is already casting around for someone to blame if next weeks results prove disappointing for Republicans. And that someone looks to be outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan who is not seeking re-election.
Greg Palast (gregpalast.com) saying it is very aggressive this year. Seems that voter suppression is the reason behind discrepancies between polls (including exit polls) and actual results. Provisional ballots cast on the day by those purged from the rolls, are not counted. Will be interesting to watch.
A Federal Judge in Georgia has just ruled that the state must allow over 3 thousand naturalised US citizens to vote in a defeat for Republicans who had sought to suspend their voter registrations.
Mentioned it in yesterdays open mike but at 4ish in the morning…
Cellphones cause cancer.
I’ve known this many years and people just treated me like a loony so I dropped the subject and stopped quoting studies. But the studies continue, and they continue to PROVE cellphones cause cancer. The science was obvious before but still these large corporations lie and deceive – controversy… you know, like global warming, tobacco, and a housing crisis.
Take those stupid damn devices off your face and from your kids now. They make you stupider, reduce concentration span, have all sorts of psychological implications, are deliberately designed to addict…
I asked about corporations.
Like the fossil fuel , pharmaceuticals, animal agriculture, alcohol industries.
The corporate powerful interests that put profit over the people and the planet.
We are on the brink of climate catastrophe thanks to neoliberal capitalism and the actions of corporations.
Kinda of funny then that the biggest contributor to global warming is not capitalist countries, but the good old communist regime of China (over 23% of all global CO2 emissions). Blows your conspiracy theories right out of the water Ed.
“A closer look reveals the industry’s sleight of hand. When Henry Lai, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington, analysed 326 safety-related studies completed between 1990 and 2006, he discovered that 44% of them found no biological effect from mobile phone radiation and 56% did; scientists apparently were split. But when Lai recategorised the studies according to their funding sources, a different picture emerged: 67% of the independently funded studies found a biological effect, while a mere 28% of the industry-funded studies did. Lai’s findings were replicated by a 2007 analysis in Environmental Health Perspectives, which concluded that industry-funded studies were two and a half times less likely than independent studies to find health effects.”
Putting up links from a very right wing Israeli paper from the beginning of September when the dubious crusade against UK Labour was in full swing? And suggesting it’s current? Really!?
@James. What government don’t realise is that sort of behaviour is becoming a wider spread problem of why there is going to be increasing private rental shortages in particular at the affordable end.
The government are only focusing on landlord problems, there are also issues with anti social or mentally ill tenants impacting on housing, people who can’t afford rents or just fraudsters out there.
Even the government does not want to be a landlord anymore and is selling off the state houses and land for private sale and only wants to provide middle class options for middle, upper class tenants.
What happens to the others, a pretty large group of people, some of whom seem have major social issues along with the entitlement who even when given opportunities feel or (litigate) they are the victims.
“Even the government does not want to be a landlord anymore and is selling off the state houses and land for private sale and only wants to provide middle class options for middle, upper class tenants.”
That is untrue. Try having some honour and tell the truth.
Ok $120k – $180k is the income bracket for Kiwibuy is that the middle class? Let me know the ‘true’ answer in your eyes.
The government are selling approx 2/3 of the state house land… to fund new posh housing for a few select renters instead of repairing at much less cost the existing housing and developing the land better for RENTING. (The older housing would last longer anyway judging from modern building practices and standards which is another issue we will ‘find’ out in the next few decades if the new, posh housing fails).
“Even the government does not want to be a landlord anymore and is selling off the state houses and land for private sale and only wants to provide middle class options for middle, upper class tenants.”
you said that and it is not true – if it is put the links and evidence up please.
Yip, in my example Housing Corp wouldn’t even consider “middle class options”:
Reader said residents questioned Housing New Zealand vigorously at the meeting and suggested alternatives such as buy back of houses, and affordable or retirement housing options but alleged Housing New Zealand would not consider these.
The Northern Advocate asked Housing New Zealand if it would consider affordable or retirement housing as alternatives to state housing alongside questions about the meeting and the status of the sale.
In response, Housing New Zealand asset development group general manager Patrick Dougherty provided this statement:
“Housing New Zealand appreciated the opportunity to talk to people on Saturday and explain what the next steps would be following settlement [yesterday] and confirmation that we are now the legal owner of this piece of Crown land.
“We’re now looking forward to getting on and planning what state housing we could put on the land and sharing these details with both the people in the Maunu community and the broader Whangārei community as soon as possible. “
They are taking part of an area used as a public park and owned by Ministry of Education.
Bit of a double standard as in Auckland where the land is so expensive and they need the affordable housing much more due to population growth they have created, they are worried about slums so do not want to put social housing all in one location, hence Kiwibuy, but apparently outside Auckland, no problem?
Housing corp/their private build partners must consider the Whangerei state houses are unlikely to end up as the Auckland slums they worry about as they are treating the cheaper land locations somewhat differently? Sarcasm.
Don’t think you read what i wrote in my first link below:
“Manau is one of Whangarei’s whitest and wealthiest suburbs.”
There are currently no state houses there. That is what is upsetting the nimbies so much. So same policy as in Auckland.
And we DO have a serious problem with homelessness up here now with population increase as cashed up Aucklanders move north. Great work being done on our new day centre for the homeless:
Well, if you don’t think SaveNZ is mistaken to see the private sales component of KiwiBuild as being aimed at the middle class, then how’s about you engage meaningfully with them over that point in lieu of accusatory finger pointing that only encourages boring ‘yes it is’/ ‘no it isn’t’ type exchanges that go nowhere and offer nothing?
I have asked for proof – I know there isn’t any because it is made up. You can’t provide any proof either so how about YOU put some truth up and not just your subjective and bias opinion. When we don’t have made up thinks we can engage meaningfully.
You may like unverified attack lines against labour but I don’t. There is no proof that labour have said the following … “and only wants to provide middle class options for middle, upper class tenants.”
That is an attack line and not true. You may like it or even believe it but I’m not discussing with someone who deliberately muddies the waters before the discussion has even begun.
The truth is imo you are just pissed off with me and are looking for a way to try and ban me. Own your stuff bill.
This is in open mike and not in your thing about Kiwibuild. This discussion started with James linking to an article about a bad tenant. SaveNZ responded by saying that “even the government does not want to be a landlord anymore” which is clearly false as the government is increasing state housing stock. When Marty challenged this false assertion SaveNZ came back with Kiwbuild but Kiwibuild is aimed at people who would not qualify for state housing and so would never be state tenants.
All Marty has done is ask for proof of what is clearly a false assertion. My understanding of the rules here is that making assertions “you are unable to substantiate with some proof” is not tolerated.
SaveNZ didn’t claim NZ Labour had said and only wants to provide middle class options for middle, upper class tenants
That aside, your apparent noble and tribal defense of NZ Labour against any perceived criticism is noted. I’m more in line with Rosemary, Sioban and others on that front. But hey…
I don’t want to ban you marty, and would hardly hae to “search” for a reason to do so – that’s just you projecting (again) and wrongly second guessing my thoughts and/or intentions – which is getting damned tedious if truth be told.
SaveNZ voicing their opinion is legitimate and (get this!) what the standard is intended for.
Attacking a person for expressing an opinion is not what the standard is for.
But this infantile level of exchange does my head in, so instead of trying to steer things in a healthier direction (it’s striking me as a lost cause) I’m outta here in the hope that Rosemary, Carolyn_Nth, Molly and others who make worthwhile contributions to discussion have had something to say in the meantime.
I feel i have as much skin in this game as you. Many of SaveNZ’s posts are false assertions about Labour and the Greens. I hate that, even when it is directed at Nact. I can see that there is a pattern between you and Bill but hey will i be next?
@ bill. Yeah I’m sick of you too especially for bullshit like this, “That aside, your apparent noble and tribal defense of NZ Labour against any perceived criticism is noted”
Always love the big threats you do eh bill – little man big stick syndrome imo but thanks for the LOLs.
[ 🙄 It’s your behaviour I’m finding tedious marty. Not you. Hell, I don’t know you from a bar of soap and could walk past you in the street or even pass time with you over a beer and be none the wiser. But that aside, since you’re obviously not paying any heed to what’s being written and seem determined to carry on on the same track that involves submitting comments that are just excuses for snide or direct ad homs, I’m now assuming you’re angling for self martyrdom. Which is fine. Any more comments coming from you that appear to be just wrappings for pointless abuse, or that appear to have been constructed solely or mostly as a platform from which to launch personal abuse, and I’ll help you honour that 8 week ban you said you were imposing on yourself a week or two back.] – B.
SaveNZ certainly implied intent by the government, but whether the current performance of kiwibuild is by intent or not, the perception is that kiwibuild is not reaching those genuinely in need. The couple proudly paraded by Phil Twyford and Jacinda Ardern as the first owners of a KiwiBuild home are not examples of people who need government assistance into housing. They are classic examples of middle class welfare, and given the Michael Joseph Savage imagery, Labour have to own that.
“About the only people who aren’t happy are those who believe that publicly funded social interventions on the scale of KiwiBuild should be directed first to those most in need. Tragically, however, the Coalition Government is selling the poor a pup.”
It’s interesting, shadrach, that Twyford’s response was pretty much that the poor wouldn’t be able to afford home ownsership anyway so what’s their problem.
While I agree with some concerns re building codes/building smarter, this debate has elements of ridiculous left wing identity politics.
Lower and upper middle class… more categories to divide folks up. And somehow, now, a middle class person buying a house is the ‘private sector’ like they’ve taken the form of some corporate entity upon receiving their keys. They’re people moving into their first homes, not villains.
Hey bill yesterday you challenged me re KiwiBuild homes not being fit for purpose, warm, dry, last well. I re-read your post but could find no link. Can you let me know the source of your information? Cheers
edit – okay, I think I found the comment you made. If you go through the link that was used as the source for the IEA quote, you’ll see under the heading “2. The New Zealand Building Code” further quotes from other studies pointing to the fact that NZ building codes are wanting in relation to other richer countries.
Both the OECD and the IEA point to the necessity of retrofitting in the future should NZ continue to build houses to current standards.
Beyond that, it’s just taken for granted that in a world experiencing warming, houses need (for example) to have enough thermal mass to reduce the amount of energy used for heating and cooling – we can’t construct energy supply networks fast enough to get zero carbon energy in time to avoid shooting through 2 degrees. That means we have to simultaneously reduce demand through efficiences while at the same time expanding energy supply to cater for a whole pile of stuff that’s going to have to shift from fossil and bio to non-carbon and electric.
Beyond the energy side of things, buildings that aren’t built to deal with prolonged heat waves are buildings that people will be dying in. If last year’s northern summer is an indicator of things to come, then we’re probably not looking at decades down the track – more in terms of mere years.
You might find the following of interest in relation to the current NZ building standards being behind those of other countries and maybe with an eye to the comparatively poor standard of insulation in NZ – and expected heat events.
Will read soon. I don’t doubt that our building standards are rubbish, but read (for what it’s worth, and it’s probably not worth much) that KiwiBuild would be warm dry homes… but you may be referring to other needs as our planet warms. The honest truth is that I am so pleased National aren’t in power anymore, that I tend to think well this is better, so much better than what National would have done. Appreciate people such as yourself to critique labour more rigorously.
I do support the idea of young first home buyers getting access to buying their own home though. But clearly more needs to be done for the poor. They are doing stuff eg porirua announcement but I hope they are getting the message to increase their efforts here+++++
I’ll start off with this example where “the government” is moving ahead with a state housing development in the face of strong local opposition. Manau is one of Whangarei’s whitest and wealthiest suburbs.
That is land. No houses built there just ‘paper plans’. Unlike the Kiwibuy which has already got the houses built and middle class tenants moved in there. In contrast the state house tenants have not got houses, but plans and have been evicted and in temporary housing.
And if antisocial tenants and gangs move into Whangarei, when it eventually gets built, how nice will that be for the rest of the residents living there?
And if antisocial tenants and gangs move into Whangarei, when it eventually gets built, how nice will that be for the rest of the residents living there?
You say you want to look after the most vulnerable but don’t want the wealthy to be burdened with having them in ‘their’ neighborhood. I live in a mixed neighborhood and have five direct housing corp neighbors and have never had an issue. All nice people.
“The Government will invest $100 million into tackling homelessness in this month’s Budget.
Of that total, $37m will go into providing 1500 shorter-term houses, which should be in place by the end of winter.
The other $63m will be used to significantly ramp up the Housing First Programme, which is a longer-term solution and targets the most vulnerable families in the country.
Housing First is based on the idea that people should be placed straight into permanent housing, rather than emergency shelters, before any other issues such as addiction or mental health are addressed.
There are no conditions attached for tenants, such as a requirement to be alcohol or drug-free when they come into the progtramme.
The new money will expand the programme to another 550 households outside the main centres, at a cost of $42.9m. The remainder of the $63 million will be used to sustain and expand Housing First services – such as mental health treatment.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Housing Minister Phil Twyford made the announcement at Te Puea Marae in Mangere, which took on large numbers of homeless in recent years as the problem worsened.
Speaking at the marae, Ardern said there should be no homelessness in a country like New Zealand.
“Images of children growing up in cars sits well with no one,” she said.
She said the government would be also seeking out help from other maraes and social services, who have land or the ability to offer services to homeless people.
She acknowledged the funding package would not be enough to end homelessness and said her government aimed to deliver more funding to build permanent housing in coming announcements.
Putting chronically homeless people into emergency housing did not provide them with long-term stability, she said.
“[But] this is us trying to meet the immediate need.”
Twyford said most of the new 1500-odd homes were already available for homeless people to move into.
He said the public housing waiting list in New Zealand was now over 9000 and heading for 10,000.
The minister appealed to the public to assist with finding homes and land which could be used for emergency housing.
“We can’t do this alone … If you know of properties that might be available over winter, such as seasonal worker accommodation or private rental homes, we’d like to hear about those.
“We’d also like to identify small land options suitable for temporary housing with power and water connections ready to go, such as marae and private land.”
The $37m for MSD came from underspend under the previous Government. The $63m was new money and was on top of the $300m committed by the National Government in 2016.”
Hi Marty. Managing HNZ tenants is a massive ongoing challenge with lots of potential to paint the government ugly.
eg: As per your link, providing long term chronic alcoholics with a permanent place to call home is great, the best option I feel. But geez, I wouldn’t want to be fielding the endless streams of complaints from disgruntled neighbours.
I agree Marty, these initiatives do represent movement in the right direction and most certainly is the hard way. Our previous government’s solution to the problem was to try and drop the lot into the lap of The Salvation Army.
They wisely said “No thanks Mr Key, we don’t want your 1000’s of free houses”.
Also you say “The new money will expand the programme to another 550 households outside the main centres, at a cost of $42.9m”
So that seems a ratio of $78,000 per household, per year if yearly or is that amount over how much time?
Cos $650,000 for a house for 50 years adds up to $13,000 per year and if the house lasts 100 years it’s $6,500 per year per household if the state owns the house.
Then they get state house rent from the tenant etc to cover expenses, interest etc.
Long term that’s a significant amount of money to find aka $42.9m and it might be easier just to can Kiwibuy and just pop the homeless in the Kiwibuild houses and save a shit load of tax payer money.
Demand for State Houses is unlikely to be met for generations, if ever. Places like Sweden were building them before white fellas landed in NZ. Millions of us would stick our hand up if offered a home for a third of our available income.
Housing First is not a state agency. The government are giving significant amounts of money to third party providers who then use private housing (aka private landlords) for the housing and obviously there are overheads to having 5 separate organisations who all have their own paid members etc to run all these charities and organisations.
So the money is not going into state housing. It might be going into helping homelessness but it is not going into building the actual housing via groups like Housing First.
If you have a link to an actual NEW state house built with our tax payer money in first years this government has been in power and has permanent and secure tenancy in place, I’m keen to see it.
Grenfell is an example of how things can go wrong when you put overhead over overhead into social and state housing. The money can easily go in the wrong direction and the tenants are at the mercy of organisations that are profiting from the arrangement of them managing the money. Of course it’s all great when they first get the money and full of success stories, but 5, 10, 20, 100 years time, what is going to happen with this approach over just one generation and how much money gets siphoned off the system.
Housing First should only be considered a temporary solution because of the dysfunction caused by National party. Long term it is just siphoning off housing money using third party approaches rather than investing WISELY in the actual housing itself owned by the state specifically for state housing and making housing NZ functional again.
I’m pleased for those who have now got a stable home in GI state housing tenancy. But I doubt that all those who previously resided in GI managed to withstand the continual uncertainty and overt hostility to get keys to replacement houses.
But really, seven years to be relocated? Do you understand how disruptive that is to community, children’s education and general wellbeing?
The full history of what went on previous to the handing over of the keys is relevant, and missing from your link.
The right to buy: the housing crisis that Thatcher built
Now revived by David Cameron, the right to buy social housing was a key Conservative policy in the 80s: populist, profitable, and with its disastrous effects yet to come
My last comment – I appreciate that you are trying to look after the most vulnerable in our society. I don’t agree with many of the extrapolated conclusions you reach. I also want to look after the most vulnerable in our society.
The right to buy your state house was the norm in New Zealand throughout the 50s and 60s and was a successful policy. The only reason for this, though, is because it was regarded as merely one aspect of a wider housing policy of providing low interest home loans to either buy or build, secure low cost tenancies for those who continued to rent, and actively replacing stock that was sold to tenants. The only negative aspect of that era was the shortlived or not used enough approach of pepper-potting, the consequences of which we still see today. A housing policy that has all of these things, including pepper-potting and adding full insulation, is what we need right now.
“the government offered purchasers very generous terms: 5 percent deposit, a 3 percent mortgage rate, with a maximum purchase period of 40 years”
That is the State was the lender- Sate Advances Corporation.
Trading Banks of course didnt lend much to ordinary homeowners and most housing loans were from Savings Banks who required you to have a deposit saved with them. Investors were fairly rare.
In general National wanted renters to buy houses and didnt like building more, while labour was the opposite.
In the 1990s National moved to ‘market rates’ for all state houses and allowed those not normally eligible to rent expensive state houses , often so they could buy , especially in Auckland. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/we-call-it-home/the-state-steps-in-and-out
My concern is that when authority and management is diluted amongst three different entities, it is quite easy and often observed, that it is difficult to get anyone to take responsibility. I feel that is the perspective I share with saveNZ. I feel strongly that state housing should be administered, owned and maintained by the state. Council housing similarly.
The moves to override local government regulations in order to provide housing, would quite rightly be criticised on this forum, if it had been proposed by National. Aligned with PPP models, this is a complete disregard for considered planning, and will most likely result in long-term negative outcomes for those residing in resulting communities, and possibly for the neighbourhoods surrounding. Local government planning and regulations should be putting in place guidelines and rules to improve the wellbeing of residents and communities for years to come – and Phil Twyford is suggesting to ignore all that?
There is a register James. She targets soft touch private landlords who have decided to save 8% of the rent and manage their properties themselves. A landlord that hands over the keys before a tenancy agreement is signed or photo ID sighted deserves their fate. Miniscule savings that can easily cost much more than the rent due.
Tracy’s form is freely and quickly available by tapping her name into the Tenancy Tribunal Orders search facility.
Hi Gabby, not sure I understand your point. Tracy appears to be a chronic liar. As I say, the landlord that rents to anyone without sighting a drivers license or passport does so at their peril.
Does James have the guts to challenge these powerful organisations ?
The US and UK arms industries.
The US and UK governments.
All complicit in mass murder in Yemen.
“Since Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies launched a bombing campaign to oust the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the spring of 2015, the UK has sold and estimated $5 billion worth of arms to Riyadh.”
“Plastic – unlike glass or metal – cannot be recycled infinitely, and after a handful of times it will be discarded, where it will take centuries to degrade. One single water bottle will remain on the planet in some form for a minimum of 450 years.
Even if plastic were easily and infinitely recyclable, it is still manufactured from crude oil often obtained by methods such as fracking, one of the most environmentally damaging processes in existence, which produces carbon emissions and contaminates the surrounding areas, putting people’s health at immediate risk.
It’s clear that something needs to change, and it’s not about recycling. If we want to truly address the devastating impact of single-use plastic the answer is simple: governments must focus on stopping its production entirely.
Single-use plastics should be immediately banned, or at the very least heavily taxed. ”
(Personally I am for a ban on single use plastic, but we are so far gone now that is not enough, we need to create a system where the manufacturers are responsible for the recycling of every type of plastic post use, and that will ensure that they start to eliminate unnecessary plastic through their supply chains. )
“A plan to turn a huge tract of pristine Antarctic ocean into the world’s biggest sanctuary has been rejected, throwing the future of one of the Earth’s most important ecosystems into doubt.
Environmental groups said Russia, China and Norway had played a part in blocking the proposal, with the other 22 members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, the organisation set up to protect Antarctic waters, backing the proposal.
The 1.8m sq km reserve – five times the size of Germany – would have banned all fishing in a vast area of the Weddell Sea and parts of the Antarctic peninsula, safeguarding species including penguins, killer whales, leopard seals and blue whales.
Experts said it would also have played a key role in tackling climate change, as the seas around the Antarctic soak up huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. ”
When areas of ocean are protected, allowing marine life to thrive, it creates a spill over effect. The result being increased marine life in adjoining unprotected oceans.
China had previously supported conservation efforts, but now flexing power of where it is going for the future aka not the worldwide, collaborative conservation path… but instead going backwards for short term profits at the expense of future generations and holistic conservation measures…
the world should be increasing conservation, as biodiversity is in major decline, but instead the superpowers and countries of the world seems to be turning a blind eye and making things worse.
Since the rise of the middle class in China’s booming economy seafood has become major staple food source, as where as before the economic boom in China either the rich or those living by sea could afford seafood. The Chinese Fishing Fleet is heavily subsidised to a point in SEA it’s now regarded as the fifth arm of the PLA behind the Chinese Coast Guard due to its illegal conduct against other nations fishing boats on the high seas or in other nations EEZ’s. This aggressive approach by the Chinese Fishing Fleet has lead a number problems such over fishing, collapse of local fishing communities with host nations and possibly long term effects in these host nations will total collapse of the fisheries leading to a total collapse of the economy of that host nation, armed conflict on the high seas which has already happened to the Chinese Fishing Fleet in Southern South America just a couple of yrs ago and that’s before we add the effects of CC.
Having followed Anne Marie Brady research since her break in. In her latest paper on the Antarctic Treaty she has noticed a total lack of disclosure on Chinese and Russia research and military involvement in the Antarctic Region. All other nations that signed the Antarctic Treaty all those years ago have been fully upfront with disclosure in Antarctic Region, but neither Russia or China are compiling to the rules of the Antarctic atm especially over the last 10yrs it seems. We’re already seen land/ water grab by Russia and China over the last 5-10 yrs in the Arctic and in the South China Sea, so they going to do the same thing when the Antarctic Treaty comes up for renewal in the coming yrs?
My guess is they are getting ready to do it. As there is an awful lot fish in those Southern waters, natural resources, oil and gas in the Antarctic Regions ripe exploration.
Susi Pudjiastuti, Indonesia’s minister for fisheries and maritime affairs, has a strong message for China, owner of the world’s largest fishing fleet.
“The Indonesian fisheries minister – known for her penchant for blowing up wayward vessels – sets her sights on Chinese habits ahead of an international conference that will tackle overfishing”
“Ministers and heads of state from 35 nations are to attend this month’s Our Oceans Conference along with 200 non-governmental and private sector organisations. Maritime security, climate change and pollution of the seas will be on the agenda as well as overfishing.”
And you’ve probably seen this paper… By Anne-Marie Brady that highlights some of China’s interests and activities in the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT), which include undeclared military activities and mineral exploration …
Yes, I tend too agree with the Indonesian minister on that, as the Chileans or Arge’s sunk a few fishing boats when the refuse to stop when they were caught illegally fishing inside whoever’s EEZ at the time. The Chinese Fishing Fleet hasn’t been back to those waters since the sinking of it Fishing Boats.
NZ once did the same thing back in the late 70’s using a pair of Skyhawk’s as poor RNZN patrol boat (HDML of WW2 vintage) was struggling to chase them down. NZ didn’t have many problems for a number of yrs/ decades onwards as every Foreign Fishing Boat knew the NZG was prepared to use lethal deadly force to enforce it EEZ rules.
Just before I left work in Jul this yr, I remember reading an article in Janes Defence, that the Chinese were thinking or in the process of upgrading a number of Coast Guard Ships with new Sensor Suite, Weapon Suite IRT mounting a 3’ (76mm) automatic gun with whole host of lethal and non lethal weapons. The big ocean going Chinese Guard vessels which roughly the same size as the ANZAC Frigates, could quite easily mount a 3’ auto gun along with the other upgraded weapon and sensor systems.
But in the footnotes of the Janes Defence Article, they asked the question would you embark on turning your Coast Guard Ships into a De Facto Naval vessel to escort your fishing fleet unless you going to illegally fish in other nations EEZ.
The two OPV’s currently in service with the RNZN are somewhat now under gunned, not having the ideal weapon or mission/ sensor support systems because of the over weight issues with the ice belt added on to the OPV’s. If the Chinese Fishing Fleet does pop up in the Southern Ocean, inside NZ’s EEZ or somewhere else. If going to make an interesting question of enforcement of the rules etc?
Yes I did see Anne-Marie Brady’s paper and it was in the Oz newspaper a couple of weeks ago. It was a very interesting read btw, to a point an ex boss of mine rang up as few questions and my POV on the article.
I heard rumours (backed up by the ODT as well) of the MOD/RNZN scoping out facilities around Port Chambers and Bluff for a possible Southern Naval Base either in the first half of yr or last yr as the RNZN are after a 3rd OPV that’s capable of patrolling the Southern Ocean all yr round, can embark a Sea Sprite and have stern launch and recovery system for the RiB IOT conduct broading parties in all sea states.
This is the effects of CC 101 and it’s only going to get worse.
Ahead of next week’s elections, US President Trump said he will sign an order to bar anyone who illegally entered the US from claiming asylum. He also hinted he would let the military shoot at people throwing stones…..
……On Thursday, the US president said he had told the US military mobilizing at the border to treat rock-throwing by migrants as equivalent to gun usage.
“They want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back. We’re going to consider, and I told them to consider it a rifle. When they throw rocks like they did at the Mexico military police, I say: Consider it a rifle,” Trump said.
Trump’s violent rhetoric echoes that of Benjamin Netanyahu to his military about Gazans who approach the Israeli border.
The atrocities committed by the Israeli army against protesters at the border, crimes labeled by some as a genocide, are outweighed by the even greater genocide being carried out in Syria by Bashar Assad a comparison the Israeli’s don’t hesitate to make.
‘But there is now a spring in the step of Labour insiders whose polling suggests National is taking a much bigger hit from the disarray created by Jami-Lee Ross than the Colmar Brunton poll indicates.’ A.Young
The expert pollsters do say that negatives take a while to filter through to the poll. Maybe that is why National seems a bit down in the House in spite of the Immigration problem.
You shoot yourself and now its called a hit job ??
And his tweet “I want more facts!!! That’s what it’s all about. Why the wall of silence from Govt?” I see that this has since been deleted, but from the thread I gather it was regarding Peter Thiel.
Remember that ILG used absolute discretion of the minister
“Ardern would not discuss further details of the case, such as whether Sroubek’s life might be in danger, but said “you can draw a fair conclusion on why the Minister made his decision”. https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/read-between-lines-drug-smuggler-pm
And then we are told during Question time that “This is not in the public interest” if not then what would be ???
Funny the timing of this ???
Bridesmaid sister gets visa offer following Immigration NZ decision review https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12153884
note the last Min of Imm (M Woodhouse) has questions to be answered as well https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11837608
This should have been cauterised, but has been left to fester, That IMO is where the real damage has been incurred.
Did you hear Woodhouse gleefully telling Lisa Owen on checkpoint last night, “but wait, there’s more!” when she asked him if National had more to throw at Lees-Galloway?
Lees-Galloway has obviously made a hash of the case but Nats have been quietly holding this for a rainy day and, in the wake of the JLR shitfight, it’s been pouring on the National Party.
People get demonised all the time in the media. So many (even here) love to put the boot into those struggling.
Good to read another side of this young mans life not just the sensationalised rubbish used to sell papers.
James Fleet was a P addict – but a meth cook and drug dealer who got what was coming to him? No. His mother, Bron Fleet, reveals publicly for the first time who her son James Fleet was – a deep thinker who was kind, caring, quirky, loyal, intelligent and loved.
“People who are antagonistic resonate more with populist messages”
interesting article in Scientific American
There are many divides in the world right now. But there’s one divide, deeply embedded into the core of human nature, that helps explain many other divides. What I’m referring to is a source of human personality variation that is built right into our DNA: antagonism.
And Stringer had the nerve to say he didn’t have the means to pay off Colin Craig for defamation. The Court clearly should have instructed Stringer to put together a book of his awesome cartoons to raise the money.
But seriously, Siobhan: how on earth could that utterly incompetent fifth-rate cartoonist defame anyone? I imagine it would be something akin to being savaged by a dead sheep, or by our witless friend “James” who sits forlornly just above you in this thread.
A great low cost opportunity for the govt to be seen and acting that would achieve 100% support of the country … And without having to say why did not any previous govt find this organisation deserving !!!
JA make an executive decision and grant NZLS $2-5m annually ? Timing would be almost perfect
We can change. Get your youth into this – it may help a lot of people
“Youth Advisory Group
If you’re aged between 14 and 18 on 1 January 2019, find out how you can have your say about education in New Zealand.
Applications are now open and will close on Sunday 18 November.
To be considered for the Youth Advisory Group you’ll need to:
be aged between 14 and 18 years on the 1 January 2019
live in New Zealand
be respectful of other people’s opinions
get parental, caregiver or legal guardian consent if you are not an independent youth.
You can sign up online, or download and complete the PDF version of the registration form, and email to youth.voice@education.govt.nz. ”
A couple of moral pygmies discuss military matters.
(Where the F**K does Mora’s producer find these people?) The Panel, RNZ National, Thursday 1 November 2018
Jim Mora, Susan Hornsby-Geluk, Mike Rehu
vacuousadj.1. having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless. 2.(archaic) empty
Protests at Defence Forum
Protestors target the representation of US weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin at Palmerston North’s Defence, Industry and National Security Forum. But, NZ First MP Darroch Ball says many other business are taking part which supply “apples, toilet paper, spare parts, electronics, steel and clothing to the Defence Force” and which have a presence in the city. https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/audio/2018669360/protests-at-defence-forum
MORA:[speaking over intro. music] W-w-what do you think, both of you, about the vigorous protests in Palmerston North at the Defence Industry Expo? Do you have a view?
SUSAN HORNSBY-GELUK:[inhales and clicks tongue to indicate how thoughtful she is] I think it’s kind of IRONIC that, um, an anti-violence campaign results in a couple of people being assaulted, ahhh, a couple of people assaulting THE police, but, um, I think the point here is it’s not a GUNS expo, it’s really important that this is, like, a defense procurement exercise, and if we’re going to have an army and we’re going to invest millions of, uh, dollars in the army, we clearly need to understand, y’ow, what the best equipment is, so, yeah, I support the right of people to engage in, ahhhmm, peaceful protest but, ah, I do think it might be slightly misGUIDED in this instance.
MORA:[inhales loudly to indicate moral seriousness] What do YOU think?
MIKE REHU: Yeah, I, I, I’m the SAME actually. I, I do feel as though we, [baffled sigh] y’know, the industryyyy, y’know in EVERY industry they HAVE these conferences, they HAVE these exhibitions, this is, and ironically in SOME countries yooouu, you SAY “defense” and it’s not defense, it’s OFFENSE, but I think New Zealand HAS to have a DE-fense, and I, I personally worry that, that we-e-e-e, we don’t. I mean, I was just looking at some numbers earlier today, we spend four hundred and twenty-six dollars a PERSON on our DE-fense compared to Australia’s fifteen HUNDRED, which is over four times, and the U.S.has three point one per cent of their G.D.P. spent on defense, ours is like one point one—
MORA: Yeah.
MIKE REHU: So we spend a MINUSCULE amount, and you can TELL in the quality of aircraft, boats, and blah-blah-blah that we have. But in these days of, y’know, what they’re calling the sharp POWER where we saw, y’know, ahhmm, the Saudi Arabian fella get, ahhh, get assassinated pretty much, allegedly, in Turkey, ahhh, we’ve seen the North Koreans come down and hit somebody. We’ve seen the Russian spies come in. Now, w-w-we’re pretty harmless down here but we’ve got a lotta things that people WANT in the world, especially our natural resources like water. And we’ve seen, we’ve played NICELY with people, we’ve almost GIVEN [snickers] away some of our resources. But when, now that we’re wising UP a little bit, what if people WAN’ our resources and things down here and, and what’re we gonna do—
MORA: Is that—
MIKE REHU: —if somebody comes in?
MORA: Is that push ever gonna come to shove though?
MIKE REHU: Well. I mean, surely we should have some sort of sturdy defense anyway, at least SOME capability, I mean, otherwise we WILL have to turn to bigger powers and, and then we’d, we have to, obviously, sign some kind of compromise deals with people and—-
MORA: Which is what we do now, don’t we. We, we lend them a frigate, or we lend them a, a batch of the S.A.S. and we play our part among a group of nations.
MIKE REHU:[inhales loudly to indicate how serious he is] Yeah, and, but even with AUSTRALIA, y’know, the relationship we have with Australia, apparently, y’know, a lot of our kit is massively inFERIOR, and we get by with our good soft skills, our good people skills when we’re overseas representing our country in part of these United Nations, ahhhm, combinations. So, y’know, again, coming back to your first question about the expo, ahhhmm, it IS a worry that there MAY be some weapons of OFFense, ahhhm, being shown at this exhibition, but I think if it’s about DE-fense then we should play a part.
MORA: Here’s Andy Hickman from Peace Action Manawatu, talking about Lockheed Martin’s presence at the expo, and its manufacture of a laser-guided bomb that destroyed a school bus in Yemen in August.
RECORDED VOICE OF ANDY HICKMAN: Forty schoolboys were killed by that particular bomb, ahhh, Lockheed Martin takes ownership, that WAS their bomb, but they claim no responsibility ‘cos it was fired by the Saudi Arabians, and we say that no, actually, they have a moral and ethical responsibility to take ownership for that.
MORA: And this is a moral dilemma that in LIVING history goes back to the burden of guilt felt by the men who built the atom bomb. But we also know that everybody sells weapons to the Saudi regime. And, the world of realpolitik, this is a very hard one, isn’t it. And are there any easy answers, and is the, I mean, does New Zealand need to take the clear-cut stand that people like Andy Hickman would like? Or do we have to sidle our way through the world as you’re suggesting?
MIKE REHU: And I know that these expos and exhibitions have been held in different cities over the years, but for Palmerston North as well, um, that is very close to where a lot of our military happens, and a lot of the economy is, is DRIVEN by the military as well, so I guess we have to be a bit careful that we kill ALL industry around that.
MORA: Yeah, aah, and New Zealand First M.P. Darroch Ball says a lot of the businesses have a PRESENCE in Palmerston North, actually, and they employ thousands of people right across the country, and it’s as much about apples, toilet paper, spare parts, electronics, steel and clothing as it is about anything else. But just before we leave the topic, ahh, to give the opposite poi-i-innnt, Golriz Ghahraman, writing today, ahhh, talks about the self-steering bullets, tiny killer drones from Israel: “I’ve seen what that looks like on the ground,” she says, referring to her childhood in Iran, “a sea of amputees poured into Iranian cities from the frontlines during the 1980s. Half the world feels like second class citizens, as we did in Iran. Our lives and misery are not as important as the profit being made from war.” So she’s saying, can New Zealand really, with a clear conscience, take part in any of that?
SUSAN HORNSBY-GELUK: There’s, there’s two different issues in tha-a-a-a-at. One is the, ahhhh, equipment itself, and two is, who’s making a profit from it? But in terms of the equipment itself, IF we’re gonna send guyyyys, aah, to Afghanistan or wherever it is, they need to have whatever the other people have got, otherwise, ahhh, we’re sending them into an unsafe environment. Um, that means they need to have, y’ow, technologically the very best that we ca-a-a-an, uh, possibly provide for them. As to who makes the profit from it, I think that’s a different issue, and I think she’s BLENDING the, um, the MORAL judgement about what war CAN result in, with, aah, the issue of who might make a profit and who might not.
MORA:[inhaling loudly] These are not easy answers to find, are they not, but I’m, um, pleased to have had your opinions on it.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Later in the program, we were treated to the following classic comment:
SUSAN HORNSBY-GELUK: I hear the Governor General is a vegan. That’s really cool.
In the first two essays in this sequence, I sketched out the framework of Oswald Spengler’s vision of the process by which great cultures rise, work through their possibilities, and fossilize once those possibilities have been pushed as far as they can go. That vision of history pretty reliably generates a profound unease among people raised in Western industrial societies, for those societies—the heirs of what Spengler named Faustian culture, the great culture that emerged in western and central Europe starting around the year 1000, and holds temporary dominion over the globe—prefer to see history in a different and far more simplistic way.
In the Faustian worldview, it’s inconceivable that the world’s cultures each have their own possibilities, their own values and insights and ways of understanding the world, which cannot be reduced to any single trajectory. In the Faustian worldview, there is only one range of possibilities open to human beings, the one set out by Faustian culture; all other cultures can be seen only as inadequate attempts to attain the Faustian model. There can be no different but equally valid sets of values and insights and ways of understanding the world; there is simply the Faustian way, which is self-evidently true, and every other way, which is superstitious, benighted, and obviously wrong.
I’m so scared I’m having difficulties sleeping,” said André Karipuna, a young indigenous community leader of a protected area in the Brazilian Amazon. According to satellite data from fly-overs commissioned by All Eyes on the Amazon in June and October 2018, his fears are very real. And now after the election of Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, even more so.
Hard evidence of vast deforestation
They show that forest destruction is four times greater than official data suggests. Over 10,000 hectares of the Karipuna territory have already been destroyed – 80 percent in the last three years alone. This deforestation is not only devastating to the Karipuna community. It also forms a major threat to our climate.
Photos of staff at an elementary school in Middleton who were dressed for Halloween as Mexicans, while others posed behind a cardboard cutout of a border wall that says “Make America Great Again,” have gone viral.
ta – so good to read good news. In some ways I really wish I was in Dunners – visiting mum in south dunedin, visiting my mates around the traps and seeing all the Labour people feeling great about this country and where we are going now. So much more to do and we are at last DOING it. That is the way forward – proud to be a left lingering Kiwi. Proud to call this country home.
Seymour goes off half baked and trys to take on the plastic bag ban in supermarkets
hes says he has some ‘research’
“Mr Seymour said the government’s decision to ban single use plastic bags could be killing up to 20 New Zealanders a year.
He said research in the US showed that people using reusable bags were susceptible to diseases such as campylobacter from chicken.
However, Professor Siouxsie Wiles at Auckland University told Checkpoint this research had already been debunked.
“So it’s written by two professors of Law and Economics who are not microbiologists or public health experts.
“They’ve taken a data set around people who are hospitalised or deaths in San Francisco and looked at before plastic bags were banned and then afterwards. They’ve then drawn a bunch of conclusions which if anybody in public health looked at would say no, not true at all.”
Flint isnt backing Seymours crazy claim based on US research by law professors.
Meanwhile the safety of the food itself is ignored !
Ive washed my resuable bag a number of times, and hung it out in the sun- a great sanitiser
Its a super sized one from a hardware store, it probably needs little wheels like luggage does.!
“So far, governments have been slow to react to the human rights disaster in China’s far western Xinjiang region. Its sheer scale demands immediate international action. An estimated one million Uighurs and other Muslims minorities are believed to be held in extra-legal detention centres in Xinjiang because of their ethno-religious identity, with torture and ill-treatment rife in the camps. Authorities in partnership with tech companies have developed and deployed dystopian surveillance technologies to turn the rest of Xinjiang into an open-air prison.
In August, the UN committee on racial discrimination described Xinjiang as a “massive internment camp shrouded in secrecy”. The US congressional-executive commission on China said the Chinese government’s policies in Xinjiang might amount to crimes against humanity. The UK government recently confirmed reports of internment camps for Uighur Muslims following a visit to the region by British diplomats.
Step-by-step the Xi Jinping regime has crossed thresholds unthinkable years ago, with little repercussion. The government detained nearly every single human rights lawyer over a single weekend in July 2015, imprisoned China’s only Nobel peace prize laureate until he died in custody in July 2017, and earlier this year, abolished presidential terms limits, paving the way for Xi to become dictator for life. The Han-dominated Chinese Communist party is now confident that the only way to govern Xinjiang is to eradicate the distinct Uighur identity in the name of countering terrorism. This cannot continue.”
Happy to do that, marty! I’ve got some issues accessing the back end of the site, though I hope to have a post up later today or early tomorrow.
In short, it’s been gloriously upbeat. There have been some rousing standing ovations for the PM, Grant Robertson, and Kristine Bartlett. This arvo is policy amendments (nothing controversial). Then it’s various elections, some of which are tightly contested.
To be fair, the lack of negative issues has meant its been tough on the media. I can see Audrey Young at the back of the room, absentmindedly chewing on the roast limb of a small child, desperately hoping for David Cunliffe to announce a new tilt at the leadership.*
I really hope we get serious about this. So many people are suffering and struggling. I am hoping that it is true and that it will be delivered. Everything is crossed.
Absolutely it’s a priority, marty. I was talking to a minister about homelessness and they made the point that its a health issue, not just about housing. And others have talked about the links between suicide, depression and violence and mental health. This party cares.
I don’t think it’s come up so far, though the policy part of conference is yet to come. From memory, I think Labour have already said they will regularly lift rates.
They’re required by statute to raise benefits according to the CPI. I was referring to raising basic benefits so that people weren’t expected to be forced into debt, either to Work and Income or loan sharks or whomever, just to get by. Wonder what the odds are of that coming up in the “policy” section.
There is one policy proposal that directly affects beneficiaries and that’s to lift the earning threshold and to lower the abatement. This would allow beneficiaries to earn more as part time workers and not lose the benefit at 70 cents in the dollar as it is now.
That can only be good, but is kind of the same as Kiwibuild – aimed at mid-range of the target group. The poorest, those without part-time employment, generally speaking, are again excluded. Let’s see if basic benefit rates come up at tomorrow’s “policy” session. It’s a pity ipredict has shut down – could’ve made a killing.
I’m sure the Labour Party cares a lot more about homelessness than it did in 1984, when in the run-up to the Snap Election it staged a mock soup kitchen in Auckland’s Upper Queen Street to draw attention to the failure of the Muldoon government’s housing policies. Dozens of news media and wellwishers turned up for the event, and were ladled out helpings of soup.
Unfortunately, a couple of real homeless people also turned up and tried to get a plate of soup for their worthless selves—but were swiftly hustled away by Labour Party “security” before their shabbiness and unkemptness could lower the tone.
The Labour Party of 1984 was dominated by such caring people as Roger Douglas, Richard Prebble, Mike Moore, Geoffrey “Footstool” Palmer, and Trevor De Cleene. I hope it’s slightly more caring these days.
Excuse me? When have I “spread lies” here or anywhere else?
prove it or remove it.
It was reported in the New Zealand Herald in June 1984, and quite possibly in the Auckland Star as well. Why don’t you get off your useless asssss and find it for yourself?
Those of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to suffer mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Depression being a leading cause of suicide.
Therefore, it would be good to see this coalition Government do more to address low incomes and benefits, thus improving mental health and our high rate of suicide via this avenue.
Depression is in every group , its rubbish to suggest the poor ore far more adversely affected.
eg medicine has a higher depression rate than some professions as it attracts the ‘ perfect’ type.
Moreover, it’s borne out in our suicide stats (see the following below).
For the majority of the 10-year period 2006-2015, the rate of suicide for those living in the most deprived areas was significantly higher (around twice as high) than for those living in the least deprived areas.
“The whole point of this is that for too long we’ve measured ourselves on a very narrow basis…so not having every single data point shouldn’t stop us from saying the health of our environment, our people and our communities is as important as our financial wealth.”
At first I thought he was channelling the Greens but this was at the Labour Party annual conference so I clicked on the link and read the article.
There was a nod to sceptics however, with Robertson saying the Government knew it had to strike a balance between “careful management of the economy and making significant investments in our social progress”.
“Previous Labour governments have done it, this coalition Government is doing it, and I know that we can keep doing it.”
He told media afterwards there was “a tricky balance to strike” between maintaining a robust economy and making the investment that was required around the country.
I read it several times to make sure I got it right but I can’t tell.
To me it seems he (and Labour) are framing it as two targets that oppose one another or are perhaps even mutually exclusive. And if they’re on an equal footing, which one would a true Labour Party stand for?
Is Robertson framing it this way to avoid frightening the horses or is he simply showing his personal (and/or his party’s) beliefs on these matters?
Perceptions matter a lot in politics (and in life) but any decisions (or lack thereof) speak volumes no matter how you frame (spin) things – are we on the cusp of something special?
” the big driver of future costs: long-term invalids and sickness beneficiaries, a group he describes as “this big hard lump of long-term waste of human potential”. ”
….was to replicate ACC’s tactics…
” If they were ACC customers, we would be spending a lot of money on trying to move them. They cost a bit less on sickness and invalids [benefits], not a hell of a lot less(bullshit), but we do nothing and we are actually doing nothing to reduce this very large long-term liability.” ”
And that sure worked well…with how many shifted from ACC to SLP and Jobseekers?
So far….I’m certainly not seeing how this government attitude towards those whose health and disability needs prevent them from being in paid work differ from National’s.
Policy change to encourage those on benefits to participate in paid employment ( /open-mike-03-11-2018/#comment-1546092) without increasing the base rate for the SLP for those who simply can’t work sounds like more arbeit macht frei to me.
“His plan for the sick and disabled folk… was to replicate ACC’s tactics”
And with Labour apparently just passing a remit (extending ACC to include illness) can we assume they plan to do the same (replicate ACC’s tactics) albeit a little softer?
When people are (badly) haemorrhaging you don’t because you can’t wait, you must act there & then. So, I reject that we should sit & wait for ‘something special’ or even for a budget surplus, a healthy economy or what have you.
This is how I see the main political parties in NZ framing their view [singular] of our society: A is as important as B, but B is conditional on A.
Craig H…sorry, can you explain your remit? What exactly does it entail? ‘extending ACC to cover illness’…is this the ACC weekly compensation? ACC level treatment, rehab, ongoing support? Heavens forbid to be able to have a resident family member as your paid carer? Only ‘illness’, or would the extension cover those born with disabilities?
That Labour could entertain the possibility of extending the scheme to cover those born with disabilities seems too far-fetched. Up there with raising basic benefit levels.
“Even the pro-Government blogsite, The Standard, is publishing criticisms of the scheme – see: KiwiBuild doesn’t fly. According to this critique, the Government is effectively privatising “state housing land”, to be used by private developers and the KiwiBuild scheme, meaning that most of the land will be for privately-owned houses. It says John Tamihere is correct in his call that development on state housing land in Mangere is akin to “social engineering”…..
Didn’t know that Kiwibuild was ever meant for low earners. So Kiwibuild becomes fodder for the Edwards with his mates in the Opposition.
Yeah, this has come up at conference. More explanation about state housing improvements is needed. Kiwibuild is about intervention in a buggered market. Building new state houses is complimentary, but different. Both are good policies.
So many lies spread by some well known names on Standard
.
State housing land is being ‘gifted’ to private buyers.
Kiwibuild homes have a big subsidy.
No new State houses are being built.
That ultra high insulation/glazing is required to make them ‘warm and dry’
Those who don’t qualify for state housing and would get laughed out of the bank if they tried to get a $650K mortgage for a Kiwibuild loan. Some of these households don’t even qualify for WFF, FFS. They are hard working families which for a variety of reasons haven’t been able to be stable enough to be seen as good loan material. They have young kids and instead of subjecting them to years of austerity have decided to give them what opportunities they can now instead of scrimping for an ever increasing deposit. Dad slogs his guts out and mum works part time around the kids.
Building new State Houses is urgent. Demolishing existing State Houses and using any of the land they were built on for Kiwibuild houses is uncomplimentary.
The East Porirua scheme is very like the Glen Innes one – building fewer state houses on the land; some Kiwibuild homes there and some homes on the general market.
The promise is for 150 more state houses than before. But the 2000 state homes being replaced in East Porirua, may not be on that land as far as I can see.
Basically, it looks like many state home tenants will be moved elsewhere in Porirua – uprooted from their existing community to make way for more homes in the area on the market for the middle classes.
Why? Why not build the new Kiwibuild and general market homes elsewhere in Porirua, rather than shift the state homes there?
TBH Carolyn_Nth, my usual talent for being able to seek out the nitty gritty on Government work appears to be failing me. For the life of me I can’t seem to find a one stop website that tells everything a citizen would ever want to know about Government’s plans and schemes for housing. Slogans…yes. But actual hard core nitty gritty from an actual government website (not a ‘partner’ website) is proving a challenge.
Must be because I’m closer to 86 than 16 and am tuning out. 🙁 🙁
The announcement by the government is not totally clear. But, to me ot looks like there will be 150 new state homes on top of the ones already in East Porirua.
The East Porirua land that currently has 2000 state homes, will be regenerated – ie the existing state homes will be rebuilt, and also on the same land will be Kiwibuild homes, plus homes built by developers for the general market.
it’s not totally clear to me whether the current 2000 state homes will all be rebuilt on the existing land, or whether some will be rebuilt elsewhere in the wider area.
Lots of pretty images, but I’m not seeing any more detail there and it says:
In Eastern Porirua, we expect physical works to start in 2019. This is a 25-year project, and it is very early days, so the detail is still to come. But we expect the first public housing to be delivered in 2019 and the first KiwiBuild homes in 2020.
““For instance, in Māngere – just one of many projects that the Government is working on at the moment – 2700 state homes are going to be demolished and 3000 state homes are going to be rebuilt, but in a third of the land area.
“The other two-thirds are going to be KiwiBuild and affordable.
“By my estimations, in 2700 homes there now, there’s probably 12,000 to 15,000 people in those homes. Multiply that to be 10,000 homes [on the site in total] and we’re looking at 25,000 to 30,000 people living on the same land mass.
“That’s 30,000 human beings of different cultures, different religions, differing values and life, living in the same space as 12,000 people used to.”
I do think Labour have learned somewhat from the debacle of Glen Innes. however, the vagueness about some details is concerning.
I do get the idea that people might be rehoused in greater Porirua, rather than in the area of Porirua where they currently live. But that still might be a disruption for many.
“Kiwibuild is about intervention in a buggered market”
I wish people would see that. In previous times people would rent and build up an asset base to move into home ownership. Now, due to a combination of factors that step has become impossible for most people in Auckland and many other areas, and they are trapped in the rental market. KiwiBuild is about moving the people who would otherwise have left the rental market into ownership by “de-risking” the building of lower spec homes for developers (4 bed, 2 bath and office appeals to more buyers, so more are built) and using the power / guarantee of government to drive the cost down. The resulting churn in rental market then helps those further down.
Probably a poor choice of words there using “down”, but it will allow people to leave the rental market and provide opportunities for others to enter the same limited market.
But KiwiBuild is really only targeting a very limited group, and it’s an easy and cheap intervention. The targets are, or were, potential National voters being the aspirational young things striving for their first homes. They will be ensuring the Coalition’s second and maybe third term. That’s why 101st keyboard brigade is loosing it’s shit over it.
There’s a big difference between this and completely rebuilding our social housing infrastructure, it’s been fucked by being run like a hire centre. That will require a much stronger government, with say 75 or 80 seats in the house and the corresponding public support to undertake bold projects. KiwiBuild is a step on that path, both physically and politically.
Pretty sure they’ll enjoy their foray into the centre having hoovered up all those soft right wing votes. I don’t have any confidence they’ll do much at all for long term tenants in the face of that.
Last Saturday was a watershed moment for me because I saw where Labour were going for their survival. I feel they have abandoned a lot of the people who voted for them in the hope they’d get a fairer crack.
Not to be so far.
It’s not too late though. They just need to rethink eligibility and support for Kiwibuild accessibility, fast.
Nope. You don’t get to comment on this, sorry. You are from the other side. Those who don’t believe in any support for families who find the equation of modern life difficult to comprehend. Families who work super hard but have had mistakes hang around their neck for years.
I hear the criticisms of the current version of Kiwibuild from the Nats and the right wing but they are criticisms born of simple and automatic opposition to the government, rather than support of low income families finding peace and security in their communities.
We see simple calls from the low regulation right wing for more housing – ‘just build them’ – but whenever a house is built there are wider, 100 year factors to be taken into account.
I don’t have any issue with Auckland City putting the brakes on wild-west developments because you cannot move these people to work without the right long term strategy.
Yep. Although I believe she said, ‘I’m not going to carry a table’ or words to that effect, the cosying up to Savage while standing next to a portrait of white upper middle class privilege was a huge mistake from JA.
“”If I can hark back to some Labour tradition,” said Ardern, going on to remember the “great father of the Labour Party” Michael Joseph Savage and Norman Kirk, who had one of her favourite sayings: “All one really needs is something to do, somewhere to live, someone to love and something to hope for.””
Yeah. This government removed hope for tens of thousands of families last Saturday.
If the Greens could stop navel gazing for five seconds and ramp up their already strong housing policy they could really teach Labour a lesson on this.
I’d be very happy with a Labour/Green government next term with the Greens making sure Labour didn’t slop down in the centre, fat dumb and happy.
“If the Greens could stop navel gazing for five seconds and ramp up their already strong housing policy they could really teach Labour a lesson on this.”
Yes. I voted for the Greens. Two ticks. Hoping they’d put on their steel toe-caps and do some proper social advocacy.
Speaking of the Greens and their inaction. Remember the glimmer of hope shown by Marama re her bold stance taken in support of the disabled grandmother who was offered a free solar setup but was declined approval by HNZ to install it? Winter has come and gone and it has still yet to be resolved.
I had my suspicions about the Lange government from before it was elected. Two things in particular concerned me:
1) LABOUR’S CRASS, BOORISH, DULL CAMPAIGN
The choice of the egregious Jennifer Warnes/Joe Cocker song “Up Where We Belong” made me cringe every time I heard it, and pointed to a dire lack of imagination and creativity in the party. Funnily enough, the New Zealand Labour Party’s use of that virtually unlistenable pop song in 1984 was echoed by the Democratic Party eight years later, when Slick Willie’s campaign song was Fleetwood Mac’s equally awful “Don’t Stop Thinkin’ About Tomorrow”.
2) THE SOUP KITCHEN INCIDENT
Shortly before the 1984 election, the Labour Party organised a brilliant media event to draw attention to the plight of the poor and homeless under the heartless National government. They organised a mock soup kitchen, to be held at Myers Park. Overtones of the Great Depression, unemployment, sugarbag years….
The media was invited, and all the Labour candidates they could muster would be there. Talking about poverty, of course. It was a MOCK soup kitchen, of course, but the soup was real, and prepared by one of Auckland’s most renowned chefs, and everyone would of course be served some of this top-grade soup after the speeches.
A short time before the event was about to get under way, as the assembled guests and dignitaries were arriving, the organisers were annoyed to see that a couple of real homeless men had arrived. They’d seen the mock-up Depression-style “Soup Kitchen” sign and assumed….
Assumed WRONGLY, it turned out. Labour’s hired muscle for the day escorted the horrible, tatty, unwashed tramps away from the “Soup Kitchen” quick smart, and the Labour Party Soup Kitchen event got under way. There was no further trouble from lowlifes that day.
Fair point, Ad. I do indeed support Labour, though not uncritically. We need always to be vigilant about what is happening in our party, who is calling the shots, and whether or not they should be entrusted with leading us. It’s worth remembering that a small clique of ideologues took over the Labour Party in 1984 and nearly destroyed it. It’s no coincidence that that Soup Kitchen debacle and that rotten advertising campaign ushered in the regime of Douglas, Moore, Palmer, and Prebble.
“One of the women who accused Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault has apparently admitted she lied and used the allegations as a “ploy” to get attention.”
But the saga of Jacob Wohl took a turn this week, when he was unexpectedly implicated in a bizarre plot to smear special counsel Robert Mueller as a sexual predator. The exact nature of the scheme, and Wohl’s involvement, is somewhat unclear. On October 17, a number of journalists reportedly received an e-mail from “Lorraine Parsons,” alleging that she had been contacted by a man claiming to work for a firm called Surefire Intelligence, on behalf of G.O.P. operative Jack Burkman, who had offered her substantial sums of money to make false accusations about Mueller. Yet no reporters were able to verify that Lorraine is a real person. Surefire Intelligence, too, appeared to be fake. When NBC News investigated, they found the Web site was registered to Wohl’s e-mail; a phone number on the site went to a voice mail that provided another number listed as belonging to Wohl’s mother. (Wohl stopped responding to NBC after they asked why his mother’s phone number was in that voice mail.) In perhaps the most amateurish element of the whole sordid episode, Internet sleuths quickly discovered that headshots of Surefire’s purported employees actually belonged to celebrities including Israeli model Bar Refaeli and Austrian actor Christoph Waltz. A photograph of “Matthew Cohen,” allegedly a managing partner at Surefire Intelligence, is simply a darkened image of Wohl himself.
Note: This woman was not one of the women to make solid accusations against Kavanaugh. Those accusations still stand. The letter she forwarded was a copy of a letter from an anonymous accuser – Jane Doe – which may or may not be false.
rimmer from act just called for plastic bags to be brought back and people caught littering for the third time should be jailed . Boys lost the plot.🤣🤣🤣🤣
the hui Kia ora Its tricky I think its cool Jacinda’s on your show Its best that all common poor people are lifted up there ladders of life together . Just targeting maori we need unity and targeting maori will just divide Aotearoa society .
The Labour Party has done a awesome job in there first 12 month’s in the New Coalition
Government. Ka kite ano P.S I see
All Americana Wahine and minority cultures should houner your Children and Ancestors buy getting up and voting for a better brighter healthy future for all HUMAN KIND. That’s how big a ISSUE The mid term elections in America is at this point in time if you don’t vote that’s a vote for trump and we can not have him letting people think that behaving like a ASS is OK we need and want PEACE and Harmony not War and lies.
Ka kite ano Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
Now All The Latino people in America We Have a link Its a well known fact that Aotearoa New Zealand Ngati Porou iwi has a great Ancestor Jose Manuel .I have a direct link through my Grate-grand mother there was talk about a African link to .
Don’t let the go oil party or trump rain over our moko /Grand childrens future and your mana/ power get up and vote there people out of power. link to Jose Manuel site below
Ka kite ano. P.S Don’t let them rain ruin over the WORLD.
Native American cultures have a lot in common with Native Aotearoa /New Zealand.
In the way we see and treat most thing’s .Respect for our Ancestors respect for our whenua/land respect for our decedents. ka kite ano vote for your childrens future
The Navajo, like tribes across the country, have bristled at Trump’s suggestion that tribes should be reclassified as races rather than separate governments, a legal shift that would mean that tribal members were no longer exempt from Medicaid work requirements. Trump’s downsizing of Bears Ears national monument, which was done at the urging of Utah Republicans, has also been a key rallying point for Native Americans link below https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/01/navajo-nation-utah-midterm-election-gerrymandering
American Wahine / Ladies of all cultures step up and vote so there is no illusion in thoughts of man that you want your daughters treated Equally in all aspects of our Worlds society
Jordan is part of a blue wave of candidates pushing to change the face of US politics, with record-breaking numbers of women and history-making women of color and Native Americans on the ballot. With progressive stars like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stunning pundits with victories, there’s a sense among some non-traditional Democratic campaigns that anything is possible. Ka kite ano Link below https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/31/paulette-jones-idaho-governor-native-american-democrat
Syria need’s peace or million’s will suffer starve and DIE War should be in OUR history books in the year 2018. I have figured out why war has not been left behind GREED
The White Helmets risked life and limb to save over 115,000 lives during the Syrian conflict, despite attacks at the hands of the Syrian regime and the Russian military,” Hunt said. “The UK is proud to stand behind them.”Raed al-Saleh said Moscow’s record of broken promises meant he had little confidence in a ceasefire brokered between Russia and Turkey in September. The agreement halted a planned advance on Idlib, one of the last parts of Syria still outside the control of President Bashar al-Assad, and currently home to more than 3 million people.Ana to kai ka kite ano links below.
Eco Maori has a good grasp of the situation in the Middle East and around the World.
I’m not laying blame on one side or thee other you are both to blame clean this mess
UP in Syria and the World. Ka kite ano.
I know the big company’s are manipulating the market’s and push out the new smaller company’s
“The big retailers are rigging the market to stop smaller players competing and getting bigger prices to the public.In a current situation where there’s a squeeze on gas and lakes are bit a lower, these are the perfect conditions for them to exercise market power. I would expect it the big business all ways cheat to squeezes out the small company’s
But Marc England, chief executive at gentailer Genesis Energy, said while there was “something unusual” going on, there was no gaming of the system. “There’s no big versus small plot here.” this man is lieing through his teeth.ka kite ano link below.
Kia ora Newshub Its not the fire works its the idiots using them wrong deliberately
With the 2 hedge fires in South Island .?????????????? hope its not to bad this year for fires caused by idiots
The new support staff for teachers is cool the Labour party had a good event in Dunedin in the South Island this weekend.
That will be cool to have a pest free Banks peninsula that’s more logical than trying to eliminate all pest in Aotearoa.
The wind is going hard in Itlay at the moment I hope no one was injured global warming no
There was a Black out in Chicago & Japan this weekend and the Green Irish won to .
I bet that guy will be wishing his horse does not win the Melbourne Cup lol.
Good win Israel at your fight in UFC Ka kite ano
. Alex I have experienced the wind Castle point and Turn again it sure get the Boat rolling thats why its called turn again we would get there and turn for shelter .
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...
For the past week, Extinction Rebellion has been peacefully protesting in London to demand action on climate change. The British government's response? Ban their protests:Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s ...
When they were running for election, Labour promised to overhaul the Employment Relations Act and introduce fair pay agreements to set basic pay and conditions on an industry level, preventing bad employers from undercutting good ones. They followed this up by establishing a working group, which reported back in January ...
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...
Nothing Left To Say: Labour's pollster, Stephen Mills, remains swaddled-up in the comforting myths of the 1980s. As if the experience of Roger Douglas’s genuinely radical post-Muldoon policy agenda was literally a once-in-a-lifetime thing – as much as the party could possibly absorb for at least the next 50 years.MEMO ...
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...
With an unfair voting system, uneven electorates and an un-elected upper house, the UK's "democracy" is barely worthy of the name. But now the government wants to make it worse:The government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans ...
Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the building industry was building leaky homes which should never have been granted consent. Now it turns out they've been building dodgy office blocks as well:New imaging technology has revealed hundreds of major buildings nationwide have defective or missing concrete or reinforcing steel. ...
Local body election results were released over the weekend, to joy or despair depending on where you live. In Auckland, Phil Goff trounced John Tamihere, who is muttering darkly about running for Parliament again (but which party would want him?) Wellington is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weta Workshop, except ...
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
The Ugandan government wants to murder gay people:Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The ...
Freedom Of Speech? The Säuberung (cleansing by fire) was the work of the German Student Union which, on 10 May 1933, under the watchful eye of the Nazi Reichminister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, consigned 25,000 books to the flames in a ritual exorcism of “un-German thought”. According to the logic of the ...
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...
New Zealand’s media is doing its part in Japan, reassuring those in the path of the storm that they won’t miss any rugby while away from their flooded homes. New Zealand sports reporters stationed in Japan for the Rugby World Cup have had the rare and heartwarming opportunity to inform ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is the only Cabinet member in favour of putting it all on green. As Finance Minister Grant Robertson finds himself with an enormous $7.5 billion surplus, the Government has begun intense, at times contentious conversations about whether to put the money on red or black at ...
by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
The following was released yesterday (Tues, October 8) by the women’s liberation organisation Speak Up for Women. On 23 September Speak Up For Women announced that we would be holding an event at the Massey University Theaterette in Wellington. The event is called Feminism 2020. The intention of the event ...
The government is currently consulting on plans to improve freshwater quality. So naturally, farmers oppose it:South Taranaki farmers are preparing to fight proposed national freshwater changes that some fear will bankrupt them. The Government's proposed National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management, released in September, rated the Waingongoro River as one ...
Yesterday was the last day for (reliably) posting your vote away in local body elections. Turnouts are mostly much lower than the equivalent time last year (Palmerston North is down 2.3%), and so naturally people are pushing their online-voting snake oil again. Because the online census worked so well, lets ...
This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
Another year, and the government has announced another enormous government "surplus". And just like last year, its nothing of the sort. When we have people homeless and sick and hungry, when we have schools and hospitals still falling down, when we have underpaid public servants and infrastucture unmaintained or unbuilt, ...
James Forsyth at The Spectator (I know, I know) has tapped one of his contacts inside Number Ten for an insight into the Johnson administration's thinking and strategy.It is fascinating, unsettling and quite, quite mad. Some key points:Negotiations have stalled and the Johnson administration are keen to blame the EU: ...
Fatal Contact: With the arrival of captain James Cook in October 1769, the islands of what would become New Zealand ceased to be the preserve of Polynesian navigators and settlers and became a part of both the world’s map and the world’s history.THE MAORI NATIONALIST assault upon the historical meaning ...
Another round of tactical talks about forming a Government of National Unity have come to nothing with the Liberal Democrats still refusing countenance putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street:Opposition talks on Monday made little headway over when to try and vote down Boris Johnson's government and who might succeed him as ...
by Nick Rogers The debate around the meaning of sex and gender made an appearance at this year’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton. Women’s Place UK – an organisation that questions the demand that biological males who self-identify as woman should have access to women’s spaces, to all-women shortlists, ...
Yesterday I went down to Wellington to participate in the Extinction Rebellion protest. Its part of the latest global wave of XR actions, with actions happening all over the world. Some of those protests are massively disruptive: in Canada, XR is blocking major bridges, stopping people from getting to work. ...
The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
Being and Being Bought (Spinifex Press, 2013) by Kajsa Ekis Ekman A synopsis and commentary of Chapters 1-2 by Daphna Whitmore Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book She opens the discussion with a definition of ...
I make no claims to having much legal knowledge, so I defer to those trained in this area.I am very much enjoying this twitter stream from m'learned friend in Edinburgh, deciphering the legal arguments around the Scottish court challenge to Boris Johnson, based on the charmingly obscure principle of Nobile ...
Ivory Folly? The University of Auckland’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, upheld the right of the radical nationalist group, Action Zealandia to exercise their freedom of speech – not matter how distasteful that speech might be. A wiser community of students and scholars would have nodded their agreement and moved on. ...
If you are not convinced terrorist Organisation ‘Extinction Rebellion’ is very, very dangerous – watch this video at one of their recent meetings. Not only is this obviously mentally ill Woman begging the other terrorists to promote killing and “eating” babies and children, if you watch carefully other members nod ...
The Ombudsman has been surveying people about their knowledge of the OIA and the right to information. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that widespread:The Chief Ombudsman says too many New Zealanders were in the dark over their right to access official information. Peter Boshier said an independent survey released yesterday on ...
In the wake of last Friday's climate strike, Peter McKenzie had an article in The Spinoff about protest strategies. The school strike movement is "polite" and cooperates with those in power because that's its kaupapa - its led by schoolkids who understandably don't want to risk arrest. But there's more ...
So, the latest ruminations on the gnews from Westminster (Again, sorry; I'll stop making that pun right now). This follows on from, and likely repeats bits of, my last post, on the suggestion that a Government of National Unity (GNU) should be set up and then oversee a referendum before ...
New Zealand likes to think of itself as not a racist country (despite being founded on the racist dispossession and subjugation of Maori). But for years, we've had a racist refugee policy, which basicly excludes refugees from Africa and the Middle East unless they already have relatives here. Now, the ...
Several people have asked me whether a particular repeat litigant could be declared a vexatious litigant, in light of their recent decision to appeal an adverse High Court ruling. My nascent tweet thread was getting ridiculously long, so it became this blog post instead.The short answer is: no. The particular ...
Appealing To The Past: Action Zealandia, like so many of the organisations springing up on the far-Right, across what they call the “Anglosphere”, is born out of the profound confusion over what a man is supposed to be in the twenty-first century and, more importantly, what he is supposed to do.THE STATUE OF ...
The attempts of anti-democratic transactivists to (often violently) disrupt women’s rights organising is largely ignored by those sections of the left most prone to misogyny and authoritarianism in New Zealand. In Britain, however, scores of trade union and left activists added their names to a letter in July, defending ...
The Justice Committee has reported back on the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill. The Bill would establish an independent, quasi-judicial body to investigate and review potential miscarriages of justice, and refer them back to the Court of appeal if required. It would be a vital backstop to our judiciary, help ...
by The Spark On September 14, a total of 22 drones and cruise missiles struck two oil installations in Saudi Arabia, the Abqaiq processing facility and the Khurais oil field. Abqaiq is the largest oil production facility in the world. For a few days afterwards, Saudi Aramco, the Saudi national ...
How much will NeoLiberal irregulation of the building sector and subsequent leaky homes crisis cost us? $47 billion, according to a new book:The total cost to fix all of New Zealand's leaky homes would be $47 billion, probably. The estimate comes from a new book, Rottenomics written by journalist Peter ...
Below is the start of another excellent article on the Freer Lives blog. Click onto the link at the end of this extract to read the full article. The punch-a-terf, kill-a-terf message pervades social media, always righteously delivered, chin held high. By contrast, the dehumanised “terfs” themselves, that is gender-critical ...
The Reserve Bank is currently planning tighter banking regulation, requiring banks to hold enough local capital to survive a 1-in-200 year financial crisis in order to protect consumers. The big Aussies banks, those foreign leeches who suck $5 billion in profit out of our economy every year, don't like that, ...
Its the usual story: a police officer beats a handcuffed suspect so hard they break one of their own fingers. The IPCA investigates and concludes that the use of force was unlawful. And the police refuse to do anything about it:A man punched repeatedly in the face by a police ...
From time to time we add links to our blogroll. The latest blog we have added is Freer Lives. This is a Marxist gender-critical blog, based in Melbourne, Australia. On it you will find a bunch of excellent articles which use the tools of Marxist analysis to critique the rise ...
Last Friday say the largest protest in a generation, as 170,000 people joined the school strike and marched to demand real action on climate change. The demands of the school strike were simple and clear: declare a climate emergency, set a climate target of net-zero by 2040, impose a total ...
Labour is a rather middle of the road capitalist party and earlier this year we discussed how far from being ‘transformative’, Ardern’s government is. An article published this week in the Guardian, by Bryce Edwards (political scientist and commentator at Victoria University), looks at Ardern’s business as usual performance. Where ...
In the hours since my last interminable wittering about the possibility of a Government of National Unity (GNU) in Britain, there has been a slight maybe development:A Corbyn-led caretaker government could then sit for several months while it enacted and delivered a referendum with the support of smaller parties and ...
Jeremy Clarkson says much like Greta Thunberg, Anne Frank “didn’t like what was going on”, but “she didn’t have a tantrum about it.” Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has offered praise to historical figure Anne Frank, comparing her favourably to 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, who he attacked in ...
Press release by Speak Up For Women Lesbians from women’s rights group Speak Up For Women are furious at reports that Rainbow Tick are threatening Massey University with the removal of their ‘tick’ if they let the group’s event go ahead. The group has been under attack from trans ...
By Duncan Garner Before you jump down my throat, nobody cares about the environment more than me. I have a garden, and since my wife and I broke up, I’ve let it grow wildly out of control, so please don’t tell me I’m not doing enough for plants. They’re ten ...
Local government elections are upon us again. It is a fair bet that, when they are over, we will have all the usual complaints that, despite their undoubted importance, the turnout was depressingly low. So, why do local elections attract so little attention and involvement from the general public? I ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
Another busy week, from speaking with world leaders on the world stage about climate change, to equipping our school leavers with everything they need to get ahead in life. ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says Air New Zealand has "an obligation to look after Kiwis", and urged the national carrier not to hike up their prices after Jetstar airline announced their withdrawal from regional flights this week. The Provincial Champion also expressed his disappointment at Jetstar’s decision on ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will help fund a new dredge for the Port of Greymouth to ensure the regional fishing fleet have a reliable and productive harbour, Parliamentary Undersecretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today “Last year the movements of ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
The Government is acting swiftly to strengthen NZTA’s regulatory role following a review into the Transport Agency, and Ministry of Transport’s performance as its monitor, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. An independent review by Martin Jenkins has found NZTA failed to properly regulate the transport sector under the previous ...
The Netherlands and New Zealand have a long-standing and close relationship based on many shared interests and values. We value the rule of law, our democracies, and multilateralism. And we value our environment – at home and globally. Right now there are major global challenges in all of these areas – ...
The Government is putting right a decade’s worth of underpayment to nurses, doctors and other health workers, says Health Minister Dr David Clark. Initial sampling of District Health Boards payroll records has found that around $550-$650 million is owed to DHB staff to comply with the Holidays Act. It’s expected ...
A strong surplus and low debt show the economy is performing well, and means the Government is in a good position to meet the challenges of global economic uncertainty. “The surplus and low levels of debt show the economy is in good shape. This allows the Government to spend more ...
New applications from mining company OceanaGold to purchase land in Waihi for new tailings ponds associated with its gold mines have been approved. Minister of Finance Grant Robertson and Associate Minister of Finance David Parker considered the applications under the Overseas Investment Act. Earlier this year, applications from OceanaGold to ...
New Zealanders in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay will witness Māori, Pākehā and Pacific voyaging traditions come together today as the Tuia 250 Voyage flotilla assembles for the first time, Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Minister Kelvin Davis says. “Tuia 250 is a national commemoration and an opportunity for honest conversations ...
Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker leaves tomorrow for Dubai, London and Berlin for a series of meetings to advance New Zealand’s trade interests. In Dubai he will visit New Zealand’s Pavilion at Expo 2020 where construction is underway. There he will meet Minister of State for International Cooperation, Her ...
Confirmation that PHARMAC will fund two new cancer drugs is further evidence of the good progress the Government is making to improve the treatment of New Zealand’s leading cause of death, Health Minister David Clark says. From 1 December PHARMAC will fund alectinib (Alecensa) for ALK positive advanced non-small cell ...
An additional $2.7 million has been announced for the Government Strategy for Women and Girls in Sport and Active Recreation on the first anniversary of the strategy’s launch. Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson gave the opening address to the first Sport NZ Women + Girls Summit in Wellington today, ...
As part of its work to ensure businesses can get the skilled workers they need, the Coalition Government is re-opening and re-setting the Parent Category visa programme, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. The move will: support skilled migrants who help fill New Zealand’s skills gaps by providing a pathway for ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has today announced Major General Evan Williams of the New Zealand Defence Force has been selected as the commander of a significant, longstanding peacekeeping mission in the Middle East. In December, Major General Williams takes over as Force Commander for the Multinational Force and Observers ...
A record number of nurses are now working to deliver health services to New Zealanders as the Government’s increased funding and new initiatives rebuild key workforces start to show results, Health Minister Dr David Clark says. • 1458 more DHB nurses since the Government took office • 106 more midwives ...
Farmer and former Nuffield scholar Mel Poulton has been appointed New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, David Parker, and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, announced today. The position supports key Government objectives, including raising the value of New Zealand agricultural goods and services. Mel is ...
New Zealand’s Pacific and Māori voyaging heritage is acknowledged and celebrated today as waka of the Tuia 250 voyage flotilla arrive in Tūranga / Gisborne. “Today we celebrate Tangata Whenua, the first people of Aotearoa, and the triumphs of the voyaging tradition that brought our ancestors here from Polynesia 1000 ...
“Fijian Language Week starts on Sunday and the theme reminds us how important it is that we each have something to anchor ourselves to, something that can help us pause and feel in control in a rapidly changing world,” says Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio. “Family, culture, faith, ...
The Government is establishing an Airspace Integration Trials Programme to support the safe testing and development of advanced unmanned aircraft and accelerate their integration into the aviation system, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods announced today. The Government will work with leading, innovative aviation industry partners to test and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The last PM shock jock Alan Jones slapped down was Jacinda Ardern. His language was particularly offensive, advertisers deserted his program and he apologised to New Zealand’s leader. But at least Ardern didn’t have to ...
By Michael Andrew and Sri Krishnamurthi The true story of one of the Pacific’s great waka builders and sailor has been captured in a stirring and visually gripping documentary. Loimata: The Sweetest Tears follows the final years of Ema Siope, a Samoan born kiwi who endured a tumultuous past ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Cowie, Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity Around one-third of Australians living with hepatitis C have been cured in the last four years. Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. Hepatitis C is ...
New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. Image AsiaPacificReport.nz/RNZ.Commentators across the political spectrum seem to agree – the Labour-led Government’s popularity is being damaged by its failure to deliver in Jacinda Ardern’s self-proclaimed “Year of Delivery”. Instead, the delivery of bad news to Labour and the Government has come in ...
Internet Service Providers have cautiously greeted the news that the Government is exploring an internet filter for violent extremist and terrorist content. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Polls Richard Harman (Politik): Ardern now dependent on Peters Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Ardern still standing, but ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Austin, Professor UNSW Canberra Cyber, UNSW This is part of a new series looking at the national security challenges facing Australia, how our leaders are responding to them and how these measures are impacting society. Read other stories in the series ...
Researchers from Lincoln University are investigating how to use nanotechnology in agriculture to increase productivity and reduce environmental impact. ...
The increased presence of anti-trans and white supremacist stickers around the University of Auckland campus is proof that inaction is enabling hate groups, write Anisha Sankar and Max Whitehurst.Anisha Sankar is a Chennai-born, Te Awakairangi-raised, South Indian Tamil studying at the University of Auckland. Max Whitehurst is a transgender Pākehā ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Following the Christchurch mosque shootings, the New Zealand government’s first response was to ban the firearms the alleged gunman had used to murder 51 people. Seven months later, the second tranche of this process ...
The nine members for the next three year term of the Independent Māori Statutory Board (IMSB) for Auckland have been appointed by the statutory Selection Body. Their appointments begin on 1 November 2019 and continue to 31 October 2022. Mana Whenua ...
“If we are truly to solve the challenge of poverty within the Te Ao Maori world we must lift our people from the low wage and low skills growth side of the economy. At the same time we must continue to ensure our people, no matter where they are, ...
Alex Casey asks Rose Stewart from Family Planning every single question she can think of about New Zealand’s new free IUDs. Listen up, womb-owners who love free shit and long-term contraceptive options: Pharmac announced that they will be fully funding two new long-lasting, reversible contraceptives in New Zealand from November 1, ...
Patients are increasingly being turned away for treatment and there can be no more excuses from the Government over properly funding district health boards to boost specialist numbers in public hospitals, says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the ...
Today’s Council of Trade Unions’ report, Fair Pay Agreements: A Framework for Fairness , provides a much-needed pathway to fair wages and conditions across several major industries, and the Government must deliver on its promise to introduce FPAs ...
The Speaker has limited the number of questions Simon Bridges can ask in the House as a punishment for the National Party defying Trevor Mallard by not pulling down their attack ads. ...
Sunshine capital? Check. Rich artisan tradition? Check. Incredible sausages? That’s a big check. We’ve put together a list of all you need to know before you explore the truly gorgeous Nelson region this summer. If you’ve got friends or relatives visiting Aotearoa, top of their list should be sorting out their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Jotzo, Director, Centre for Climate and Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University In the four years since the Paris climate agreement was adopted, countries have debated the fine print of how emissions reduction should be tracked and ...
The flight drink company 1Above, partly-owned by the high profile, venture capital fund Movac and businessman Gareth Morgan, is in liquidation owing almost $10 million. ...
In recent weeks Responsible Campers Association Incorporated (RCAi) has become involved in some high level discussions about our right to camp. This began out of discussion about the disabled who which to participate in Sport and Recreation activities. ...
In their quest for a cashless society the Japanese have beaten New Zealand to its own next-gen shopping experience.New Zealanders are missing out to the Japanese on a Kiwi technology that is set to eliminate supermarket queues.The first store to implement the SmartCart cashierless shopping system will be in Osaka, ...
If you don’t like Shortland Street, or you’re unconvinced that Michael Galvin actually is a doctor, does that mean all New Zealand television is rubbish? Some say yes. Tara Ward says an emphatic no. The world is our TV oyster, but lately it seems not everyone in Godzone is feeling the ...
The National Party is accusing the Immigration Minister of a "Sroubek 2.0" after revelations he granted residence to a man with multiple drink-driving convictions. ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu urges the Crown to ensure that the Establishment Board of the newly formed Institute of Skills and Technology meets its Treaty obligations and addresses the statutory role of iwi as Treaty partners in redesigning the education ...
The top-selling food magazine in New Zealand is closing its print operation. Niki Bezzant, Healthy Food Guide‘s former editor, reflects on the challenges the title faced.The news that after 14 years and 176 issues Healthy Food Guide magazine is closing its print operation came as a shock to some. It ...
A unique deal saw Sky buy the rugby rights and sell some of itself to NZ Rugby. Trevor McKewen breaks down what it all means.The news came thick and fast over a remarkable five-day corporate slugfest, starting last Thursday. First, Spark Sport struck, gobbling up New Zealand Cricket’s domestic broadcasting ...
In what’s thought to be the last piece of writing Peter Wells completed before he died, he wonders about his great-grandfather, and the locket he wore all his life. ‘The Story of a Locket’ is published in part here, and features in the extraordinary collection of essays Queer Objects, released this ...
Relationship expert Holly Dixon explains why the entire Married at First Sight franchise is based on bunk science.As the third MAFS NZ season has come to an end, I thought it relevant to answer the question upon which the entire MAFS enterprise is built: Is it possible to predict attraction and ...
SkyCity Casino workers will be on strike and picketing today as Rob Campbell, the Chair of SkyCity Casino talks to other employers about making pay fair at a “Wellbeing at Work” conference today. ...
He was the prototypical high school nerd, hanging on Don Brash’s every word. Then the financial world turned upside down. This is the story of how Kiwibank’s Jarrod Kerr became a most unconventional economist.In 2008, Jarrod Kerr was working at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia when the global financial crisis ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriela D’Souza, Affiliate, Monash department of business statistics and econometrics, Monash University For most people the second week in October probably doesn’t hold much promise. Longer days for some, perhaps. But for those is us in the economics profession, come the second ...
One of the important parameters of the agreement’s aims was to ensure there was no threat to food production from the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. ...
A monument to Winston Peters and Think Big projects would both boost the economy, but Argentina learned the hard way they can also impoverish a nation, writes Tony Burton.Everyone who loves New Zealand should visit Argentina. There are more similarities than you might think – large areas of wild natural ...
The Salvation Army foodbank in Waitakere ran out of food last week; an indication of the strain many New Zealand whanau are under as they struggle to afford the cost of living. Wednesday, October 16 is World Food Day, and as demand for services offered ...
Phil Goff was re-elected by a huge margin on Saturday. How will he put that mandate to use this term? Hayden Donnell asks the questions.Phil Goff is once again Auckland’s mayor. Preliminary local election results show him with a lead of nearly 100,000 votes over his nearest challenger, John Tamihere. ...
Catherine Bindon from Ban the Boom has created these colourful and positive posters for you to use to show you don't support the use of fireworks in your neighbourhood over the next few weeks distressing our animals and birds. ...
On Tuesday morning the Operation Burnham inquiry hearing resumed after it was suspended three weeks ago. The hearing is being held at Royal Society of New Zealand, 11 Turnbull St, Thorndon, Wellington on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Ellerton, Lecturer in Critical Thinking; Curriculum Director, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland It’s not uncommon for science and religion to be framed as two opposing forces. The Catholic church has famously struggled to accommodate scientific research in its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cat Pausé, Senior Lecturer in Human Development, Massey University The British Psychological Society is calling for changes for how we talk about fatness, suggesting we should no longer use the phrase “obese people”, but instead, “people with obesity” or “people living with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University The federal government’s much-vaunted Snowy Hydro expansion is supposed to smooth out the bumps in electricity supply as Australia transitions to renewables. But not only is the project a bad deal for taxpayers, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By María Yanotti, Lecturer of Economics and Finance Tasmanian School of Business & Economics, University of Tasmania The housing market is moving again. In the past month, national prices have climbed 0.9%. What matters most to buyers (and especially to investors), along with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanna Mendelssohn, Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, University of Melbourne It seems appropriate that a painting titled Feng Shui dominates the new exhibition of Guan Wei’s work ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Matthews, Lecturer in Digital Media and Popular Culture Researcher, Auckland University of Technology According to a recent study, the sixth leading cause of death for young men in the United States is the warranted and unwarranted use of police force. With ...
The Council of Trade Unions has today released its report - Fair Pay Agreements: A Framework for Fairness . The report details the six key principles needed for Fair Pay Agreements to deliver real change for working people, and democratic agreements ...
Too many New Zealanders endure poor working conditions in jobs that don’t pay enough and offer few opportunities for career progression, and the union movement is calling for change. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the latest polls which show a drop in support for Labour are not a concern when it comes to forming a government. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: A pair of polls put pressure on the Labour Party, a wild night of weather in the North Island, and Shane Jones snapped brandishing a semi-automatic.Parliament resumes today after a fortnight recess, and MPs were given a welcome-back present in ...
Mandy Hager, the newly elected head of the New Zealand Society of Authors, is lobbying the government to improve the lot of writers - to no avail, despite the Prime Minister's championing of the arts. ...
Given the vast impacts that poor diet have had on global health, a deficit in nutrition education in medicine represents a big problem, writes Dr Jennifer Crowley. ...
Any time Olympian Luuka Jones needs advice or encouragement in her pursuit of more canoe slalom success, she doesn’t have to look far. Jones’ coach, Campbell Walsh, is also her partner. ...
Competition for the rights to broadcast sports matches involving NZ’s top teams has produced a bonanza for the sporting bodies, forcing media companies to be a lot more innovative. ...
The Wellington suburb’s successful opposition to a proposed Bottle-O shows how the system is biased towards communities with the organisation, capacity and resources to protest effectively, says Jenesa Jeram.For those unfamiliar with Wellington geography, Khandallah is a Very Nice place to live (Aucklanders: think Remuera). So when it was reported ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission conducted an inquiry into mortgage pricing as recently as last year. Now Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has asked it to do another, broader one, in order to ensure the banks’ ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsThe results of the local government elections appear to show that New Zealanders are generally supportive of a more diverse range of representatives, having voted in greater numbers for candidates from traditionally under-represented groups. The elections have therefore modernised our councils in a small but very significant ...
The Inquiry has today published Minute No 21. This Minute sets out how the Inquiry intends to proceed given that the Attorney-General the Hon David Parker has agreed to extend the Inquiry’s reporting date by three months to 31 March 2020. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grace Skrzypiec, Senior Lecturer, Flinders University Many Australian students don’t know the difference between banter and bullying, with some saying they joke about wishing their friend would “drown” or “die in a car crash”. More than 800 Australian students aged 11-16 took ...
But he did play a crucial role in helping journeyman Andy Foster knock over Justin Lester. Team Gone By Lunchtime size up the local elections, gaze plaintively at the dramas in the NZ First Party, and ask how bad the new poll is for Jacinda Ardern.Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and ...
In the fifth episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect Artificial Intelligence has on our lives, Russell Brown speaks to Ben Reid, executive director of the AI Forum, about the role of government in embracing and regulating AI.Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below.To ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Local government Henry Cooke (Stuff): How to lose an election: Over-promise or under-deliver Simon Collins ...
By RNZ Pacific A Solomon Islands province has agreed to lease a large island to a Chinese developer to develop into a special economic zone, weeks after the country opened diplomatic ties with China. But already cracks abound; there has been no official announcement and the provincial premier says the ...
Open Mike 03/11/2018 
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...10 hours ago
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...12 hours ago
For the past week, Extinction Rebellion has been peacefully protesting in London to demand action on climate change. The British government's response? Ban their protests:Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s ...13 hours ago
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...17 hours ago
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...4 days ago
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...5 days ago
https://mailchi.mp/7d9133add053/closing-the-gap-october-2019-newsletter ...6 days ago
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...6 days ago
Local government elections are upon us again. It is a fair bet that, when they are over, we will have all the usual complaints that, despite their undoubted importance, the turnout was depressingly low. So, why do local elections attract so little attention and involvement from the general public? I ...2 weeks ago
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...12 hours ago
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...13 hours ago
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...14 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The last PM shock jock Alan Jones slapped down was Jacinda Ardern. His language was particularly offensive, advertisers deserted his program and he apologised to New Zealand’s leader. But at least Ardern didn’t have to ...5 hours ago
Internet Service Providers have cautiously greeted the news that the Government is exploring an internet filter for violent extremist and terrorist content. ...9 hours ago
The proceeds from the sale of Trump-style "Make Ardern Go Away" hats are being used to promote far right Facebook pages. ...10 hours ago
Support has risen for the general arming of police officers in the wake of March 15, but the police minister is opposed. ...10 hours ago
Researchers from Lincoln University are investigating how to use nanotechnology in agriculture to increase productivity and reduce environmental impact. ...10 hours ago
The increased presence of anti-trans and white supremacist stickers around the University of Auckland campus is proof that inaction is enabling hate groups, write Anisha Sankar and Max Whitehurst.Anisha Sankar is a Chennai-born, Te Awakairangi-raised, South Indian Tamil studying at the University of Auckland. Max Whitehurst is a transgender Pākehā ...11 hours ago
Information spread by the Coalition of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) and picked up by ACT’s David Seymour is incorrect. ...11 hours ago
The Speaker has limited the number of questions Simon Bridges can ask in the House as a punishment for the National Party defying Trevor Mallard by not pulling down their attack ads. ...12 hours ago
The real estate market has sprung back into life, but national sales volumes were flat. ...13 hours ago
The flight drink company 1Above, partly-owned by the high profile, venture capital fund Movac and businessman Gareth Morgan, is in liquidation owing almost $10 million. ...13 hours ago
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Cruz by 3 polling points.
C’mon Beto!
The Cook Political Report has moved that race to toss-up. And there’s record early voting turnout for key Democrat voters.
Stories of rampant Republican-initiated voter suppression in Georgia and Arizona. Voters thrown off the rolls, forced to cast a provisional ballot if they turn up, which then isn’t counted. Haven’t heard anything about how bad it might be in Texas, but It has to be a worry.
Standard practice for Republicans every cycle sadly. Interesting to see that there’s a narrative developing that Trump is already casting around for someone to blame if next weeks results prove disappointing for Republicans. And that someone looks to be outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan who is not seeking re-election.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/31/trump-rips-paul-ryan-over-birthright-citizenship-comments-with-days-to-go-before-midterms.html
Greg Palast (gregpalast.com) saying it is very aggressive this year. Seems that voter suppression is the reason behind discrepancies between polls (including exit polls) and actual results. Provisional ballots cast on the day by those purged from the rolls, are not counted. Will be interesting to watch.
Widespread early voting may help to ameliorate some of these voter suppression tactics I suppose?
A Federal Judge in Georgia has just ruled that the state must allow over 3 thousand naturalised US citizens to vote in a defeat for Republicans who had sought to suspend their voter registrations.
Mentioned it in yesterdays open mike but at 4ish in the morning…
Cellphones cause cancer.
I’ve known this many years and people just treated me like a loony so I dropped the subject and stopped quoting studies. But the studies continue, and they continue to PROVE cellphones cause cancer. The science was obvious before but still these large corporations lie and deceive – controversy… you know, like global warming, tobacco, and a housing crisis.
Take those stupid damn devices off your face and from your kids now. They make you stupider, reduce concentration span, have all sorts of psychological implications, are deliberately designed to addict…
And cancer.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/14/mobile-phones-cancer-inconvenient-truths
What, you think the biggest companies in the world tell the truth? You and your children mean nothing except to bolster their profits.
Nope you are still acting like a looney.
https://www.livescience.com/63996-cellphones-cancer-rats-ntp-study.html
When have you ever had the guts to question the motivations of large corporations?
You just want a simple life.
See no evil, hear no evil.
So you shill for the powerful.
It dosnt take guys – it take a strange view on life to think everyone is a dr evil.
And I was simply pointing out he was wrong.
See post below about labour UK and their anti-Semitism below.
I question the motivations of this large organisation. I see evil in this.
Happy now Ed ?
I asked about corporations.
Like the fossil fuel , pharmaceuticals, animal agriculture, alcohol industries.
The corporate powerful interests that put profit over the people and the planet.
We are on the brink of climate catastrophe thanks to neoliberal capitalism and the actions of corporations.
Interesting that you ignore the anti-Semitism comments also.
Just sayin
Ed has no time for your propaganda.
Yes you are so right there. Ed has so much propaganda of his own that he can’t keep up with even that.
Whilst it would be great to be so powerful- it’s not owned by me.
Reported in numerous reputable news outlets and is actually being investigated by the police.
That’s facts not propaganda
Kinda of funny then that the biggest contributor to global warming is not capitalist countries, but the good old communist regime of China (over 23% of all global CO2 emissions). Blows your conspiracy theories right out of the water Ed.
They even say that “the findings do not apply to people”.
So what they are pointing out is what you have “known” for years is proven wrong by a huge study.
Did you read the article?
I highly doubt it.
Says the guy who recommends movies having only seen the trailer.
I read the abstract.
It is very funny how you jump back to prove my point.
I watch the film.
I share the trailer.
Interesting article.
This bit stood out.
“A closer look reveals the industry’s sleight of hand. When Henry Lai, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington, analysed 326 safety-related studies completed between 1990 and 2006, he discovered that 44% of them found no biological effect from mobile phone radiation and 56% did; scientists apparently were split. But when Lai recategorised the studies according to their funding sources, a different picture emerged: 67% of the independently funded studies found a biological effect, while a mere 28% of the industry-funded studies did. Lai’s findings were replicated by a 2007 analysis in Environmental Health Perspectives, which concluded that industry-funded studies were two and a half times less likely than independent studies to find health effects.”
2011 – WHO – EMF – Possible Carcinogen
Listen to some people who actually know what they’re talking about
LOL. Why we have no need for concern:
“You are not a male rat.”
This calls for the cone of silence.
Labout (UK). Hate speech enablers:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/cancer-jew-boy-uk-police-probing-dozens-of-labour-anti-semitism-allegations/
Of course only against Jews. Use the wrong pronoun and they will be all over it.
That is horrid if true.
But one has to point out that what Israel has done to the Palestinians hasn’t exactly helped with Jewish PR.
Are you allowed to say that cindy?
Who would one ask for permission to say it?
Hi james, You might be interested in this petition..
https://www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-tory-links-to-antisemitism-in-eu-politics
Putting up links from a very right wing Israeli paper from the beginning of September when the dubious crusade against UK Labour was in full swing? And suggesting it’s current? Really!?
Here is a link from the BBC dated November 2nd.
Hope that is independent and current (dated nov 2).
Perhaps now you will be happy to discuss labour (uk) anti-Semitism?
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-46073470/labour-anti-semitism-claims-investigated
There should be a register to stop people like this ever being able to rip off landlords.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/108223999/a-tenant-from-hell-facing-her-16th-tribunal-hearing
@James. What government don’t realise is that sort of behaviour is becoming a wider spread problem of why there is going to be increasing private rental shortages in particular at the affordable end.
The government are only focusing on landlord problems, there are also issues with anti social or mentally ill tenants impacting on housing, people who can’t afford rents or just fraudsters out there.
Even the government does not want to be a landlord anymore and is selling off the state houses and land for private sale and only wants to provide middle class options for middle, upper class tenants.
What happens to the others, a pretty large group of people, some of whom seem have major social issues along with the entitlement who even when given opportunities feel or (litigate) they are the victims.
“Even the government does not want to be a landlord anymore and is selling off the state houses and land for private sale and only wants to provide middle class options for middle, upper class tenants.”
That is untrue. Try having some honour and tell the truth.
Ok $120k – $180k is the income bracket for Kiwibuy is that the middle class? Let me know the ‘true’ answer in your eyes.
The government are selling approx 2/3 of the state house land… to fund new posh housing for a few select renters instead of repairing at much less cost the existing housing and developing the land better for RENTING. (The older housing would last longer anyway judging from modern building practices and standards which is another issue we will ‘find’ out in the next few decades if the new, posh housing fails).
“Even the government does not want to be a landlord anymore and is selling off the state houses and land for private sale and only wants to provide middle class options for middle, upper class tenants.”
you said that and it is not true – if it is put the links and evidence up please.
How is it not true marty?
Isn’t “right to buy” the government selling housing stock into the private sector? How else might that be seen?
And public land has been transferred to the private sector as a part of KiwiBuild.
“… and only wants to provide middle class options for middle, upper class tenants.” ”
That is not true.
Yip, in my example Housing Corp wouldn’t even consider “middle class options”:
Reader said residents questioned Housing New Zealand vigorously at the meeting and suggested alternatives such as buy back of houses, and affordable or retirement housing options but alleged Housing New Zealand would not consider these.
The Northern Advocate asked Housing New Zealand if it would consider affordable or retirement housing as alternatives to state housing alongside questions about the meeting and the status of the sale.
In response, Housing New Zealand asset development group general manager Patrick Dougherty provided this statement:
“Housing New Zealand appreciated the opportunity to talk to people on Saturday and explain what the next steps would be following settlement [yesterday] and confirmation that we are now the legal owner of this piece of Crown land.
“We’re now looking forward to getting on and planning what state housing we could put on the land and sharing these details with both the people in the Maunu community and the broader Whangārei community as soon as possible. “
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503439&objectid=12068423
They are taking part of an area used as a public park and owned by Ministry of Education.
Bit of a double standard as in Auckland where the land is so expensive and they need the affordable housing much more due to population growth they have created, they are worried about slums so do not want to put social housing all in one location, hence Kiwibuy, but apparently outside Auckland, no problem?
Housing corp/their private build partners must consider the Whangerei state houses are unlikely to end up as the Auckland slums they worry about as they are treating the cheaper land locations somewhat differently? Sarcasm.
Don’t think you read what i wrote in my first link below:
“Manau is one of Whangarei’s whitest and wealthiest suburbs.”
There are currently no state houses there. That is what is upsetting the nimbies so much. So same policy as in Auckland.
And we DO have a serious problem with homelessness up here now with population increase as cashed up Aucklanders move north. Great work being done on our new day centre for the homeless:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/362943/crazy-response-to-whangarei-homeless-centre
Well, if you don’t think SaveNZ is mistaken to see the private sales component of KiwiBuild as being aimed at the middle class, then how’s about you engage meaningfully with them over that point in lieu of accusatory finger pointing that only encourages boring ‘yes it is’/ ‘no it isn’t’ type exchanges that go nowhere and offer nothing?
I have asked for proof – I know there isn’t any because it is made up. You can’t provide any proof either so how about YOU put some truth up and not just your subjective and bias opinion. When we don’t have made up thinks we can engage meaningfully.
In asking for proof, you’re lazily (and again) “having a go” instead of engaging around the ideas and opinions people hold or promote.
What proof can there possibly be that would back up an ostensibly subjective notion of what is and isn’t middle class?
If you think it’s a financial thing and that the finances are within reach of non-middle class peeps, then have that debate with SaveNZ.
Truth is, that would make for better reading than the shouty ad homs you’re pinging up.
You may like unverified attack lines against labour but I don’t. There is no proof that labour have said the following … “and only wants to provide middle class options for middle, upper class tenants.”
That is an attack line and not true. You may like it or even believe it but I’m not discussing with someone who deliberately muddies the waters before the discussion has even begun.
The truth is imo you are just pissed off with me and are looking for a way to try and ban me. Own your stuff bill.
@Bill
This is in open mike and not in your thing about Kiwibuild. This discussion started with James linking to an article about a bad tenant. SaveNZ responded by saying that “even the government does not want to be a landlord anymore” which is clearly false as the government is increasing state housing stock. When Marty challenged this false assertion SaveNZ came back with Kiwbuild but Kiwibuild is aimed at people who would not qualify for state housing and so would never be state tenants.
All Marty has done is ask for proof of what is clearly a false assertion. My understanding of the rules here is that making assertions “you are unable to substantiate with some proof” is not tolerated.
@ solkta
It’s alright. Appreciate the support and this is an old pattern between bill and I and I accept some responsibility for it.
Truth is I know there is no proof – I just get sick of these dim attacks on Labour.
Actually it is up to Marty and Solka to provide proof of the ‘lies’.
So please link to how many state houses have been built this year and moved into by state house tenants?
No, the burden of proof is on you SaveNZ. You made the statement yet can’t back it up.
SaveNZ didn’t claim NZ Labour had said and only wants to provide middle class options for middle, upper class tenants
That aside, your apparent noble and tribal defense of NZ Labour against any perceived criticism is noted. I’m more in line with Rosemary, Sioban and others on that front. But hey…
I don’t want to ban you marty, and would hardly hae to “search” for a reason to do so – that’s just you projecting (again) and wrongly second guessing my thoughts and/or intentions – which is getting damned tedious if truth be told.
@ solka.
SaveNZ voicing their opinion is legitimate and (get this!) what the standard is intended for.
Attacking a person for expressing an opinion is not what the standard is for.
But this infantile level of exchange does my head in, so instead of trying to steer things in a healthier direction (it’s striking me as a lost cause) I’m outta here in the hope that Rosemary, Carolyn_Nth, Molly and others who make worthwhile contributions to discussion have had something to say in the meantime.
Chow.
@Marty
I feel i have as much skin in this game as you. Many of SaveNZ’s posts are false assertions about Labour and the Greens. I hate that, even when it is directed at Nact. I can see that there is a pattern between you and Bill but hey will i be next?
@ solkta
Yeah I get it. Hard to deal with spin sometimes.
@ bill. Yeah I’m sick of you too especially for bullshit like this, “That aside, your apparent noble and tribal defense of NZ Labour against any perceived criticism is noted”
Always love the big threats you do eh bill – little man big stick syndrome imo but thanks for the LOLs.
[ 🙄 It’s your behaviour I’m finding tedious marty. Not you. Hell, I don’t know you from a bar of soap and could walk past you in the street or even pass time with you over a beer and be none the wiser. But that aside, since you’re obviously not paying any heed to what’s being written and seem determined to carry on on the same track that involves submitting comments that are just excuses for snide or direct ad homs, I’m now assuming you’re angling for self martyrdom. Which is fine. Any more comments coming from you that appear to be just wrappings for pointless abuse, or that appear to have been constructed solely or mostly as a platform from which to launch personal abuse, and I’ll help you honour that 8 week ban you said you were imposing on yourself a week or two back.] – B.
Hi Marty
SaveNZ certainly implied intent by the government, but whether the current performance of kiwibuild is by intent or not, the perception is that kiwibuild is not reaching those genuinely in need. The couple proudly paraded by Phil Twyford and Jacinda Ardern as the first owners of a KiwiBuild home are not examples of people who need government assistance into housing. They are classic examples of middle class welfare, and given the Michael Joseph Savage imagery, Labour have to own that.
If you are interested, Chris trotter has written on Kiwibuild at https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2018/11/kiwibuild-should-be-targeting-poor.html. I’ll finish with his closing quote:
“About the only people who aren’t happy are those who believe that publicly funded social interventions on the scale of KiwiBuild should be directed first to those most in need. Tragically, however, the Coalition Government is selling the poor a pup.”
It’s interesting, shadrach, that Twyford’s response was pretty much that the poor wouldn’t be able to afford home ownsership anyway so what’s their problem.
While I agree with some concerns re building codes/building smarter, this debate has elements of ridiculous left wing identity politics.
Lower and upper middle class… more categories to divide folks up. And somehow, now, a middle class person buying a house is the ‘private sector’ like they’ve taken the form of some corporate entity upon receiving their keys. They’re people moving into their first homes, not villains.
Hey bill yesterday you challenged me re KiwiBuild homes not being fit for purpose, warm, dry, last well. I re-read your post but could find no link. Can you let me know the source of your information? Cheers
You mean in relation to AGW?
edit – okay, I think I found the comment you made. If you go through the link that was used as the source for the IEA quote, you’ll see under the heading “2. The New Zealand Building Code” further quotes from other studies pointing to the fact that NZ building codes are wanting in relation to other richer countries.
Both the OECD and the IEA point to the necessity of retrofitting in the future should NZ continue to build houses to current standards.
Beyond that, it’s just taken for granted that in a world experiencing warming, houses need (for example) to have enough thermal mass to reduce the amount of energy used for heating and cooling – we can’t construct energy supply networks fast enough to get zero carbon energy in time to avoid shooting through 2 degrees. That means we have to simultaneously reduce demand through efficiences while at the same time expanding energy supply to cater for a whole pile of stuff that’s going to have to shift from fossil and bio to non-carbon and electric.
Beyond the energy side of things, buildings that aren’t built to deal with prolonged heat waves are buildings that people will be dying in. If last year’s northern summer is an indicator of things to come, then we’re probably not looking at decades down the track – more in terms of mere years.
You might find the following of interest in relation to the current NZ building standards being behind those of other countries and maybe with an eye to the comparatively poor standard of insulation in NZ – and expected heat events.
From pp36 onwards in Your Home in a Changing Climate retrofitting existing homes for climate change impacts (for policy makers)
and
Impact of climate change on the domestic indoor environment and associated health risks in the UK
Thanks for replying Bill.
Will read soon. I don’t doubt that our building standards are rubbish, but read (for what it’s worth, and it’s probably not worth much) that KiwiBuild would be warm dry homes… but you may be referring to other needs as our planet warms. The honest truth is that I am so pleased National aren’t in power anymore, that I tend to think well this is better, so much better than what National would have done. Appreciate people such as yourself to critique labour more rigorously.
I do support the idea of young first home buyers getting access to buying their own home though. But clearly more needs to be done for the poor. They are doing stuff eg porirua announcement but I hope they are getting the message to increase their efforts here+++++
I’ll start off with this example where “the government” is moving ahead with a state housing development in the face of strong local opposition. Manau is one of Whangarei’s whitest and wealthiest suburbs.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=12152740
That is land. No houses built there just ‘paper plans’. Unlike the Kiwibuy which has already got the houses built and middle class tenants moved in there. In contrast the state house tenants have not got houses, but plans and have been evicted and in temporary housing.
And if antisocial tenants and gangs move into Whangarei, when it eventually gets built, how nice will that be for the rest of the residents living there?
Right, so you are all for the state providing rental housing but only if it contains low income people in slums well segregated from the well to do.
Time for your private room there Solka. Even I can’t make out what you are on about, which is apparently being annoyed about what I am on about.
PS Did you bother to post on the Labour conference any ideas of your own?
This is supposed to be a site for comments and ideas not what you are using it for, aka to derail debate.
You said:
And if antisocial tenants and gangs move into Whangarei, when it eventually gets built, how nice will that be for the rest of the residents living there?
You say you want to look after the most vulnerable but don’t want the wealthy to be burdened with having them in ‘their’ neighborhood. I live in a mixed neighborhood and have five direct housing corp neighbors and have never had an issue. All nice people.
https://www.labour.org.nz/kiwibuild
Multiple initiatives to tackle the housing issue.
“The Government will invest $100 million into tackling homelessness in this month’s Budget.
Of that total, $37m will go into providing 1500 shorter-term houses, which should be in place by the end of winter.
The other $63m will be used to significantly ramp up the Housing First Programme, which is a longer-term solution and targets the most vulnerable families in the country.
Housing First is based on the idea that people should be placed straight into permanent housing, rather than emergency shelters, before any other issues such as addiction or mental health are addressed.
There are no conditions attached for tenants, such as a requirement to be alcohol or drug-free when they come into the progtramme.
The new money will expand the programme to another 550 households outside the main centres, at a cost of $42.9m. The remainder of the $63 million will be used to sustain and expand Housing First services – such as mental health treatment.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Housing Minister Phil Twyford made the announcement at Te Puea Marae in Mangere, which took on large numbers of homeless in recent years as the problem worsened.
Speaking at the marae, Ardern said there should be no homelessness in a country like New Zealand.
“Images of children growing up in cars sits well with no one,” she said.
She said the government would be also seeking out help from other maraes and social services, who have land or the ability to offer services to homeless people.
She acknowledged the funding package would not be enough to end homelessness and said her government aimed to deliver more funding to build permanent housing in coming announcements.
Putting chronically homeless people into emergency housing did not provide them with long-term stability, she said.
“[But] this is us trying to meet the immediate need.”
Twyford said most of the new 1500-odd homes were already available for homeless people to move into.
He said the public housing waiting list in New Zealand was now over 9000 and heading for 10,000.
The minister appealed to the public to assist with finding homes and land which could be used for emergency housing.
“We can’t do this alone … If you know of properties that might be available over winter, such as seasonal worker accommodation or private rental homes, we’d like to hear about those.
“We’d also like to identify small land options suitable for temporary housing with power and water connections ready to go, such as marae and private land.”
The $37m for MSD came from underspend under the previous Government. The $63m was new money and was on top of the $300m committed by the National Government in 2016.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12044775
Hi Marty. Managing HNZ tenants is a massive ongoing challenge with lots of potential to paint the government ugly.
eg: As per your link, providing long term chronic alcoholics with a permanent place to call home is great, the best option I feel. But geez, I wouldn’t want to be fielding the endless streams of complaints from disgruntled neighbours.
I agree Marty, these initiatives do represent movement in the right direction and most certainly is the hard way. Our previous government’s solution to the problem was to try and drop the lot into the lap of The Salvation Army.
They wisely said “No thanks Mr Key, we don’t want your 1000’s of free houses”.
Also you say “The new money will expand the programme to another 550 households outside the main centres, at a cost of $42.9m”
So that seems a ratio of $78,000 per household, per year if yearly or is that amount over how much time?
Cos $650,000 for a house for 50 years adds up to $13,000 per year and if the house lasts 100 years it’s $6,500 per year per household if the state owns the house.
Then they get state house rent from the tenant etc to cover expenses, interest etc.
Long term that’s a significant amount of money to find aka $42.9m and it might be easier just to can Kiwibuy and just pop the homeless in the Kiwibuild houses and save a shit load of tax payer money.
Demand for State Houses is unlikely to be met for generations, if ever. Places like Sweden were building them before white fellas landed in NZ. Millions of us would stick our hand up if offered a home for a third of our available income.
Housing First is not a state agency. The government are giving significant amounts of money to third party providers who then use private housing (aka private landlords) for the housing and obviously there are overheads to having 5 separate organisations who all have their own paid members etc to run all these charities and organisations.
So the money is not going into state housing. It might be going into helping homelessness but it is not going into building the actual housing via groups like Housing First.
If you have a link to an actual NEW state house built with our tax payer money in first years this government has been in power and has permanent and secure tenancy in place, I’m keen to see it.
Grenfell is an example of how things can go wrong when you put overhead over overhead into social and state housing. The money can easily go in the wrong direction and the tenants are at the mercy of organisations that are profiting from the arrangement of them managing the money. Of course it’s all great when they first get the money and full of success stories, but 5, 10, 20, 100 years time, what is going to happen with this approach over just one generation and how much money gets siphoned off the system.
Housing First should only be considered a temporary solution because of the dysfunction caused by National party. Long term it is just siphoning off housing money using third party approaches rather than investing WISELY in the actual housing itself owned by the state specifically for state housing and making housing NZ functional again.
New state house built – heres it is, as part of ongoing Tamaki Regeneration
https://www.tamakiregeneration.co.nz/our-community/news/new-residents-enjoying-show-home
They also have homes for sale under shared equity arrangements
And another Auckland suburb
https://www.hnzc.co.nz/news/latest-news/monk-mackenzie-award-winning-state-housing-should-be-the-norm/
And New State flats in Wellington
https://www.hnzc.co.nz/news/latest-news/te-maru-o-tawatawa-homes-open-in-the-capital/
New state houses Timaru
https://www.hnzc.co.nz/news/latest-news/regenerating-regional-nz-housing/
The TRC link does not tell the full history of what went on in Glen Innes, which started way back in 2011 with evictions of existing tenants.
The transfer of state housing to Auckland Council and the TRC is still a transfer, and a shirking of responsibility.
A Facebook link to some of the tactics used in 2012 to get people to move gives an indication of the failure to negotiate with the existing community in good faith.
I’m pleased for those who have now got a stable home in GI state housing tenancy. But I doubt that all those who previously resided in GI managed to withstand the continual uncertainty and overt hostility to get keys to replacement houses.
But really, seven years to be relocated? Do you understand how disruptive that is to community, children’s education and general wellbeing?
The full history of what went on previous to the handing over of the keys is relevant, and missing from your link.
Corrections, the Tamaki Reboot started in 2008 under Labour, according to John Minto (who has been following this process from the start).
Ten years… great.
The right to buy: the housing crisis that Thatcher built
Now revived by David Cameron, the right to buy social housing was a key Conservative policy in the 80s: populist, profitable, and with its disastrous effects yet to come
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/aug/26/right-to-buy-margaret-thatcher-david-cameron-housing-crisis
My last comment – I appreciate that you are trying to look after the most vulnerable in our society. I don’t agree with many of the extrapolated conclusions you reach. I also want to look after the most vulnerable in our society.
The right to buy your state house was the norm in New Zealand throughout the 50s and 60s and was a successful policy. The only reason for this, though, is because it was regarded as merely one aspect of a wider housing policy of providing low interest home loans to either buy or build, secure low cost tenancies for those who continued to rent, and actively replacing stock that was sold to tenants. The only negative aspect of that era was the shortlived or not used enough approach of pepper-potting, the consequences of which we still see today. A housing policy that has all of these things, including pepper-potting and adding full insulation, is what we need right now.
National introduced right buy in the mid 50s
“the government offered purchasers very generous terms: 5 percent deposit, a 3 percent mortgage rate, with a maximum purchase period of 40 years”
That is the State was the lender- Sate Advances Corporation.
Trading Banks of course didnt lend much to ordinary homeowners and most housing loans were from Savings Banks who required you to have a deposit saved with them. Investors were fairly rare.
In general National wanted renters to buy houses and didnt like building more, while labour was the opposite.
In the 1990s National moved to ‘market rates’ for all state houses and allowed those not normally eligible to rent expensive state houses , often so they could buy , especially in Auckland.
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/we-call-it-home/the-state-steps-in-and-out
Even though it was the previous government, HNZ did hand over half the equity and the management of HNZ stock to Auckland Council, and the Tāmaki Regeneration Company. And that model is currently being used as validation for other proposals along similar lines.
My concern is that when authority and management is diluted amongst three different entities, it is quite easy and often observed, that it is difficult to get anyone to take responsibility. I feel that is the perspective I share with saveNZ. I feel strongly that state housing should be administered, owned and maintained by the state. Council housing similarly.
The moves to override local government regulations in order to provide housing, would quite rightly be criticised on this forum, if it had been proposed by National. Aligned with PPP models, this is a complete disregard for considered planning, and will most likely result in long-term negative outcomes for those residing in resulting communities, and possibly for the neighbourhoods surrounding. Local government planning and regulations should be putting in place guidelines and rules to improve the wellbeing of residents and communities for years to come – and Phil Twyford is suggesting to ignore all that?
Why is that seen a reasonable thing to do?
There is a register James. She targets soft touch private landlords who have decided to save 8% of the rent and manage their properties themselves. A landlord that hands over the keys before a tenancy agreement is signed or photo ID sighted deserves their fate. Miniscule savings that can easily cost much more than the rent due.
Tracy’s form is freely and quickly available by tapping her name into the Tenancy Tribunal Orders search facility.
https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/TT/
Just as well she always uses her real name isn’t it davy. Crikey, imagine what she could get away with if she told fibs about stuff.
Hi Gabby, not sure I understand your point. Tracy appears to be a chronic liar. As I say, the landlord that rents to anyone without sighting a drivers license or passport does so at their peril.
You know, i wouldn’t put it past her to be less than 100% accurate in providing a driver’s licence.
Does James have the guts to challenge these powerful organisations ?
The US and UK arms industries.
The US and UK governments.
All complicit in mass murder in Yemen.
“Since Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies launched a bombing campaign to oust the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the spring of 2015, the UK has sold and estimated $5 billion worth of arms to Riyadh.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-saudi-arabia-oxfam-aid-air-strikes-civilian-casualties-a8615081.html
“UK government ‘has blood on its hands’ over Yemen conflict but poll shows 42% of British public do not know war exists”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/yemen-war-saudi-arabia-bombing-british-uk-arms-exports-public-poll-keith-vaz-blood-hands-a8604521.html
Switzerland has now halted arm sales to the Saudi’s.
Sure do Ed.
I’ve stopped eating broad beans.
Makes as much impact as the stands you make.
“Plastic – unlike glass or metal – cannot be recycled infinitely, and after a handful of times it will be discarded, where it will take centuries to degrade. One single water bottle will remain on the planet in some form for a minimum of 450 years.
Even if plastic were easily and infinitely recyclable, it is still manufactured from crude oil often obtained by methods such as fracking, one of the most environmentally damaging processes in existence, which produces carbon emissions and contaminates the surrounding areas, putting people’s health at immediate risk.
It’s clear that something needs to change, and it’s not about recycling. If we want to truly address the devastating impact of single-use plastic the answer is simple: governments must focus on stopping its production entirely.
Single-use plastics should be immediately banned, or at the very least heavily taxed. ”
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/plastic-waste-wish-recycling-bins-black-environment-green-shopping-a8548736.html?fbclid=IwAR1lkdImgBHjdQyiVV_YeB2jZmcRUgxjKO4MWB7xye-hemUQHQkhcmZFdzo
(Personally I am for a ban on single use plastic, but we are so far gone now that is not enough, we need to create a system where the manufacturers are responsible for the recycling of every type of plastic post use, and that will ensure that they start to eliminate unnecessary plastic through their supply chains. )
Completely disgusting.
“A plan to turn a huge tract of pristine Antarctic ocean into the world’s biggest sanctuary has been rejected, throwing the future of one of the Earth’s most important ecosystems into doubt.
Environmental groups said Russia, China and Norway had played a part in blocking the proposal, with the other 22 members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, the organisation set up to protect Antarctic waters, backing the proposal.
The 1.8m sq km reserve – five times the size of Germany – would have banned all fishing in a vast area of the Weddell Sea and parts of the Antarctic peninsula, safeguarding species including penguins, killer whales, leopard seals and blue whales.
Experts said it would also have played a key role in tackling climate change, as the seas around the Antarctic soak up huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. ”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/02/plan-create-worlds-biggest-nature-reserve-antarctic-rejected
As blocking the nature reserve in Antartica with Russia and Norway apparently China is now allowing the sale of endangered animal parts.
Agree 100%
When areas of ocean are protected, allowing marine life to thrive, it creates a spill over effect. The result being increased marine life in adjoining unprotected oceans.
Short clip under 3mins
China Lifts The Ban On Endangered Animal Parts To Promote Medicine
http://medicaldailytimes.com/news/china-lifts-ban-endangered-animal-parts-promote-medicine/4246/
China had previously supported conservation efforts, but now flexing power of where it is going for the future aka not the worldwide, collaborative conservation path… but instead going backwards for short term profits at the expense of future generations and holistic conservation measures…
the world should be increasing conservation, as biodiversity is in major decline, but instead the superpowers and countries of the world seems to be turning a blind eye and making things worse.
This will finish the rhinos off….more than a 1000 are poached from just South Africa alone each year, and these are the official figures.
China should hang its head in shame.
Terrible news.
The article reads like a beat-up, without any substance…
Read it slowly, and look for the signs, of which there are many
This is an interesting article from the Oz ABC News website,
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-03/fish-wars-likely/10459584
Since the rise of the middle class in China’s booming economy seafood has become major staple food source, as where as before the economic boom in China either the rich or those living by sea could afford seafood. The Chinese Fishing Fleet is heavily subsidised to a point in SEA it’s now regarded as the fifth arm of the PLA behind the Chinese Coast Guard due to its illegal conduct against other nations fishing boats on the high seas or in other nations EEZ’s. This aggressive approach by the Chinese Fishing Fleet has lead a number problems such over fishing, collapse of local fishing communities with host nations and possibly long term effects in these host nations will total collapse of the fisheries leading to a total collapse of the economy of that host nation, armed conflict on the high seas which has already happened to the Chinese Fishing Fleet in Southern South America just a couple of yrs ago and that’s before we add the effects of CC.
Having followed Anne Marie Brady research since her break in. In her latest paper on the Antarctic Treaty she has noticed a total lack of disclosure on Chinese and Russia research and military involvement in the Antarctic Region. All other nations that signed the Antarctic Treaty all those years ago have been fully upfront with disclosure in Antarctic Region, but neither Russia or China are compiling to the rules of the Antarctic atm especially over the last 10yrs it seems. We’re already seen land/ water grab by Russia and China over the last 5-10 yrs in the Arctic and in the South China Sea, so they going to do the same thing when the Antarctic Treaty comes up for renewal in the coming yrs?
My guess is they are getting ready to do it. As there is an awful lot fish in those Southern waters, natural resources, oil and gas in the Antarctic Regions ripe exploration.
One option …
Susi Pudjiastuti, Indonesia’s minister for fisheries and maritime affairs, has a strong message for China, owner of the world’s largest fishing fleet.
“The Indonesian fisheries minister – known for her penchant for blowing up wayward vessels – sets her sights on Chinese habits ahead of an international conference that will tackle overfishing”
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2169153/china-calls-it-fishing-indonesia-calls-it-crime-pudjiastuti
“Ministers and heads of state from 35 nations are to attend this month’s Our Oceans Conference along with 200 non-governmental and private sector organisations. Maritime security, climate change and pollution of the seas will be on the agenda as well as overfishing.”
https://ourocean2018.org/
And you’ve probably seen this paper… By Anne-Marie Brady that highlights some of China’s interests and activities in the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT), which include undeclared military activities and mineral exploration …
https://www.aspi.org.au/report/chinas-expanding-interests-antarctica
Yes, I tend too agree with the Indonesian minister on that, as the Chileans or Arge’s sunk a few fishing boats when the refuse to stop when they were caught illegally fishing inside whoever’s EEZ at the time. The Chinese Fishing Fleet hasn’t been back to those waters since the sinking of it Fishing Boats.
NZ once did the same thing back in the late 70’s using a pair of Skyhawk’s as poor RNZN patrol boat (HDML of WW2 vintage) was struggling to chase them down. NZ didn’t have many problems for a number of yrs/ decades onwards as every Foreign Fishing Boat knew the NZG was prepared to use lethal deadly force to enforce it EEZ rules.
Just before I left work in Jul this yr, I remember reading an article in Janes Defence, that the Chinese were thinking or in the process of upgrading a number of Coast Guard Ships with new Sensor Suite, Weapon Suite IRT mounting a 3’ (76mm) automatic gun with whole host of lethal and non lethal weapons. The big ocean going Chinese Guard vessels which roughly the same size as the ANZAC Frigates, could quite easily mount a 3’ auto gun along with the other upgraded weapon and sensor systems.
But in the footnotes of the Janes Defence Article, they asked the question would you embark on turning your Coast Guard Ships into a De Facto Naval vessel to escort your fishing fleet unless you going to illegally fish in other nations EEZ.
The two OPV’s currently in service with the RNZN are somewhat now under gunned, not having the ideal weapon or mission/ sensor support systems because of the over weight issues with the ice belt added on to the OPV’s. If the Chinese Fishing Fleet does pop up in the Southern Ocean, inside NZ’s EEZ or somewhere else. If going to make an interesting question of enforcement of the rules etc?
Yes I did see Anne-Marie Brady’s paper and it was in the Oz newspaper a couple of weeks ago. It was a very interesting read btw, to a point an ex boss of mine rang up as few questions and my POV on the article.
I heard rumours (backed up by the ODT as well) of the MOD/RNZN scoping out facilities around Port Chambers and Bluff for a possible Southern Naval Base either in the first half of yr or last yr as the RNZN are after a 3rd OPV that’s capable of patrolling the Southern Ocean all yr round, can embark a Sea Sprite and have stern launch and recovery system for the RiB IOT conduct broading parties in all sea states.
This is the effects of CC 101 and it’s only going to get worse.
The Syrianisation of the World.
Trump threatens to shoot stone-throwing migrants
Trump’s violent rhetoric echoes that of Benjamin Netanyahu to his military about Gazans who approach the Israeli border.
The atrocities committed by the Israeli army against protesters at the border, crimes labeled by some as a genocide, are outweighed by the even greater genocide being carried out in Syria by Bashar Assad a comparison the Israeli’s don’t hesitate to make.
‘But there is now a spring in the step of Labour insiders whose polling suggests National is taking a much bigger hit from the disarray created by Jami-Lee Ross than the Colmar Brunton poll indicates.’ A.Young
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12153414
The expert pollsters do say that negatives take a while to filter through to the poll. Maybe that is why National seems a bit down in the House in spite of the Immigration problem.
And that goes some way to explaining the timing this week of the Sroubek hit-job on Lee’s-Galloway.
You shoot yourself and now its called a hit job ??
And his tweet “I want more facts!!! That’s what it’s all about. Why the wall of silence from Govt?” I see that this has since been deleted, but from the thread I gather it was regarding Peter Thiel.
Remember that ILG used absolute discretion of the minister
“Ardern would not discuss further details of the case, such as whether Sroubek’s life might be in danger, but said “you can draw a fair conclusion on why the Minister made his decision”.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/read-between-lines-drug-smuggler-pm
And then we are told during Question time that “This is not in the public interest” if not then what would be ???
Funny the timing of this ???
Bridesmaid sister gets visa offer following Immigration NZ decision review
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12153884
note the last Min of Imm (M Woodhouse) has questions to be answered as well
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11837608
This should have been cauterised, but has been left to fester, That IMO is where the real damage has been incurred.
Did you hear Woodhouse gleefully telling Lisa Owen on checkpoint last night, “but wait, there’s more!” when she asked him if National had more to throw at Lees-Galloway?
Lees-Galloway has obviously made a hash of the case but Nats have been quietly holding this for a rainy day and, in the wake of the JLR shitfight, it’s been pouring on the National Party.
When I have a spring in my step it is because I feel good about myself.
People get demonised all the time in the media. So many (even here) love to put the boot into those struggling.
Good to read another side of this young mans life not just the sensationalised rubbish used to sell papers.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12151856
Trump tells 83 lies in ONE day!
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/02/politics/donald-trump-lies/index.html
Gosh that’s Key-like, or even worse. Another thing where NZ is not the world leader we naively imagine we are.
Its getting busier in here. 43 comments and only 9:46 am
Go Helen!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12153899
“People who are antagonistic resonate more with populist messages”
interesting article in Scientific American
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-personality-trait-that-is-ripping-america-and-the-world-apart/
We’ve found him! The world’s most useless cartoonist.
This guy makes Rod Emmerson look like Gerald Scarfe.
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2018/11/cartoon-3.html/comment-page-1#comment-2350120
Lol. The fact that you link to a comment by yourself and refer to yourself as “we’ve”
Explains a lot.
And Stringer had the nerve to say he didn’t have the means to pay off Colin Craig for defamation. The Court clearly should have instructed Stringer to put together a book of his awesome cartoons to raise the money.
But seriously, Siobhan: how on earth could that utterly incompetent fifth-rate cartoonist defame anyone? I imagine it would be something akin to being savaged by a dead sheep, or by our witless friend “James” who sits forlornly just above you in this thread.
A great low cost opportunity for the govt to be seen and acting that would achieve 100% support of the country … And without having to say why did not any previous govt find this organisation deserving !!!
JA make an executive decision and grant NZLS $2-5m annually ? Timing would be almost perfect
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/surf-lifesaving-struggling-traditional-funding-sources-dry-up
Beach Tax!
Gfoffoloffle would come to that partee!
We can change. Get your youth into this – it may help a lot of people
“Youth Advisory Group
If you’re aged between 14 and 18 on 1 January 2019, find out how you can have your say about education in New Zealand.
Applications are now open and will close on Sunday 18 November.
To be considered for the Youth Advisory Group you’ll need to:
be aged between 14 and 18 years on the 1 January 2019
live in New Zealand
be respectful of other people’s opinions
get parental, caregiver or legal guardian consent if you are not an independent youth.
You can sign up online, or download and complete the PDF version of the registration form, and email to youth.voice@education.govt.nz. ”
http://www.education.govt.nz/school/student-support/youth-advisory-group/?fbclid=IwAR3Sfb8edmqQHeslWkh21V5rUDaEYZ8FG7wSgAG4Yg9QBYHfAlGZmfbsYEQ
A couple of moral pygmies discuss military matters.
(Where the F**K does Mora’s producer find these people?)
The Panel, RNZ National, Thursday 1 November 2018
Jim Mora, Susan Hornsby-Geluk, Mike Rehu
vacuous adj. 1. having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless. 2. (archaic) empty
MORA: [speaking over intro. music] W-w-what do you think, both of you, about the vigorous protests in Palmerston North at the Defence Industry Expo? Do you have a view?
SUSAN HORNSBY-GELUK: [inhales and clicks tongue to indicate how thoughtful she is] I think it’s kind of IRONIC that, um, an anti-violence campaign results in a couple of people being assaulted, ahhh, a couple of people assaulting THE police, but, um, I think the point here is it’s not a GUNS expo, it’s really important that this is, like, a defense procurement exercise, and if we’re going to have an army and we’re going to invest millions of, uh, dollars in the army, we clearly need to understand, y’ow, what the best equipment is, so, yeah, I support the right of people to engage in, ahhhmm, peaceful protest but, ah, I do think it might be slightly misGUIDED in this instance.
MORA: [inhales loudly to indicate moral seriousness] What do YOU think?
MIKE REHU: Yeah, I, I, I’m the SAME actually. I, I do feel as though we, [baffled sigh] y’know, the industryyyy, y’know in EVERY industry they HAVE these conferences, they HAVE these exhibitions, this is, and ironically in SOME countries yooouu, you SAY “defense” and it’s not defense, it’s OFFENSE, but I think New Zealand HAS to have a DE-fense, and I, I personally worry that, that we-e-e-e, we don’t. I mean, I was just looking at some numbers earlier today, we spend four hundred and twenty-six dollars a PERSON on our DE-fense compared to Australia’s fifteen HUNDRED, which is over four times, and the U.S.has three point one per cent of their G.D.P. spent on defense, ours is like one point one—
MORA: Yeah.
MIKE REHU: So we spend a MINUSCULE amount, and you can TELL in the quality of aircraft, boats, and blah-blah-blah that we have. But in these days of, y’know, what they’re calling the sharp POWER where we saw, y’know, ahhmm, the Saudi Arabian fella get, ahhh, get assassinated pretty much, allegedly, in Turkey, ahhh, we’ve seen the North Koreans come down and hit somebody. We’ve seen the Russian spies come in. Now, w-w-we’re pretty harmless down here but we’ve got a lotta things that people WANT in the world, especially our natural resources like water. And we’ve seen, we’ve played NICELY with people, we’ve almost GIVEN [snickers] away some of our resources. But when, now that we’re wising UP a little bit, what if people WAN’ our resources and things down here and, and what’re we gonna do—
MORA: Is that—
MIKE REHU: —if somebody comes in?
MORA: Is that push ever gonna come to shove though?
MIKE REHU: Well. I mean, surely we should have some sort of sturdy defense anyway, at least SOME capability, I mean, otherwise we WILL have to turn to bigger powers and, and then we’d, we have to, obviously, sign some kind of compromise deals with people and—-
MORA: Which is what we do now, don’t we. We, we lend them a frigate, or we lend them a, a batch of the S.A.S. and we play our part among a group of nations.
MIKE REHU: [inhales loudly to indicate how serious he is] Yeah, and, but even with AUSTRALIA, y’know, the relationship we have with Australia, apparently, y’know, a lot of our kit is massively inFERIOR, and we get by with our good soft skills, our good people skills when we’re overseas representing our country in part of these United Nations, ahhhm, combinations. So, y’know, again, coming back to your first question about the expo, ahhhmm, it IS a worry that there MAY be some weapons of OFFense, ahhhm, being shown at this exhibition, but I think if it’s about DE-fense then we should play a part.
MORA: Here’s Andy Hickman from Peace Action Manawatu, talking about Lockheed Martin’s presence at the expo, and its manufacture of a laser-guided bomb that destroyed a school bus in Yemen in August.
RECORDED VOICE OF ANDY HICKMAN: Forty schoolboys were killed by that particular bomb, ahhh, Lockheed Martin takes ownership, that WAS their bomb, but they claim no responsibility ‘cos it was fired by the Saudi Arabians, and we say that no, actually, they have a moral and ethical responsibility to take ownership for that.
MORA: And this is a moral dilemma that in LIVING history goes back to the burden of guilt felt by the men who built the atom bomb. But we also know that everybody sells weapons to the Saudi regime. And, the world of realpolitik, this is a very hard one, isn’t it. And are there any easy answers, and is the, I mean, does New Zealand need to take the clear-cut stand that people like Andy Hickman would like? Or do we have to sidle our way through the world as you’re suggesting?
MIKE REHU: And I know that these expos and exhibitions have been held in different cities over the years, but for Palmerston North as well, um, that is very close to where a lot of our military happens, and a lot of the economy is, is DRIVEN by the military as well, so I guess we have to be a bit careful that we kill ALL industry around that.
MORA: Yeah, aah, and New Zealand First M.P. Darroch Ball says a lot of the businesses have a PRESENCE in Palmerston North, actually, and they employ thousands of people right across the country, and it’s as much about apples, toilet paper, spare parts, electronics, steel and clothing as it is about anything else. But just before we leave the topic, ahh, to give the opposite poi-i-innnt, Golriz Ghahraman, writing today, ahhh, talks about the self-steering bullets, tiny killer drones from Israel: “I’ve seen what that looks like on the ground,” she says, referring to her childhood in Iran, “a sea of amputees poured into Iranian cities from the frontlines during the 1980s. Half the world feels like second class citizens, as we did in Iran. Our lives and misery are not as important as the profit being made from war.” So she’s saying, can New Zealand really, with a clear conscience, take part in any of that?
SUSAN HORNSBY-GELUK: There’s, there’s two different issues in tha-a-a-a-at. One is the, ahhhh, equipment itself, and two is, who’s making a profit from it? But in terms of the equipment itself, IF we’re gonna send guyyyys, aah, to Afghanistan or wherever it is, they need to have whatever the other people have got, otherwise, ahhh, we’re sending them into an unsafe environment. Um, that means they need to have, y’ow, technologically the very best that we ca-a-a-an, uh, possibly provide for them. As to who makes the profit from it, I think that’s a different issue, and I think she’s BLENDING the, um, the MORAL judgement about what war CAN result in, with, aah, the issue of who might make a profit and who might not.
MORA: [inhaling loudly] These are not easy answers to find, are they not, but I’m, um, pleased to have had your opinions on it.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Later in the program, we were treated to the following classic comment:
SUSAN HORNSBY-GELUK: I hear the Governor General is a vegan. That’s really cool.
Susy would totally get those arms dealers off.
A bigger, deeper read – well worth it imo
https://www.ecosophia.net/america-and-russia-tamanous-and-sobornost/
Evidence.
What day is it today? asked Pooh.
Making ‘Murica, the place where feeding a live puppy to a snapping turtle in front of the kids is regarded as a teaching moment, great.
Photos of staff at an elementary school in Middleton who were dressed for Halloween as Mexicans, while others posed behind a cardboard cutout of a border wall that says “Make America Great Again,” have gone viral.
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/education/article221015995.html
Test!
yay – give us some good news from the conference about this awesome government and leader please!!!
See below, comrade!
ta – so good to read good news. In some ways I really wish I was in Dunners – visiting mum in south dunedin, visiting my mates around the traps and seeing all the Labour people feeling great about this country and where we are going now. So much more to do and we are at last DOING it. That is the way forward – proud to be a left lingering Kiwi. Proud to call this country home.
Hi te reo putake. Ad has sent some info .. give us your take.
Seymour goes off half baked and trys to take on the plastic bag ban in supermarkets
hes says he has some ‘research’
“Mr Seymour said the government’s decision to ban single use plastic bags could be killing up to 20 New Zealanders a year.
He said research in the US showed that people using reusable bags were susceptible to diseases such as campylobacter from chicken.
However, Professor Siouxsie Wiles at Auckland University told Checkpoint this research had already been debunked.
“So it’s written by two professors of Law and Economics who are not microbiologists or public health experts.
“They’ve taken a data set around people who are hospitalised or deaths in San Francisco and looked at before plastic bags were banned and then afterwards. They’ve then drawn a bunch of conclusions which if anybody in public health looked at would say no, not true at all.”
Food safety expert Steve Flint said it was a valid concern.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/108270526/reusable-bags-could-kill-about-20-people-a-year-claims-politician
Seemore will be ok as long as he doesn’t put his raw Coq in his reusable bag. Stick to frozen Coq Seemore.
I hope that is going to be Coq au Vin..
Flint isnt backing Seymours crazy claim based on US research by law professors.
Meanwhile the safety of the food itself is ignored !
Ive washed my resuable bag a number of times, and hung it out in the sun- a great sanitiser
Its a super sized one from a hardware store, it probably needs little wheels like luggage does.!
Time to stand up to this atrocious oppression
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/03/china-is-committing-ethnic-cleansing-in-xinjiang-its-time-for-the-world-to-stand-up
Happy to do that, marty! I’ve got some issues accessing the back end of the site, though I hope to have a post up later today or early tomorrow.
In short, it’s been gloriously upbeat. There have been some rousing standing ovations for the PM, Grant Robertson, and Kristine Bartlett. This arvo is policy amendments (nothing controversial). Then it’s various elections, some of which are tightly contested.
To be fair, the lack of negative issues has meant its been tough on the media. I can see Audrey Young at the back of the room, absentmindedly chewing on the roast limb of a small child, desperately hoping for David Cunliffe to announce a new tilt at the leadership.*
*may not be 100% accurate.
I’m loving this
“Mental health is likely to get a significant funding boost, the Finance Minister has indicated in his address to Labour party members.”
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/370139/wellbeing-budget-to-give-mental-health-the-priority-and-focus-it-deserves
I really hope we get serious about this. So many people are suffering and struggling. I am hoping that it is true and that it will be delivered. Everything is crossed.
Absolutely it’s a priority, marty. I was talking to a minister about homelessness and they made the point that its a health issue, not just about housing. And others have talked about the links between suicide, depression and violence and mental health. This party cares.
Good one – so good you get to talk to the ministers – feel a wee bit envious tbh – but pleased it’s you talking to them.
Anything about social welfare? Raising basic benefit rates?
I don’t think it’s come up so far, though the policy part of conference is yet to come. From memory, I think Labour have already said they will regularly lift rates.
Every blue moon. like clockwork.
They’re required by statute to raise benefits according to the CPI. I was referring to raising basic benefits so that people weren’t expected to be forced into debt, either to Work and Income or loan sharks or whomever, just to get by. Wonder what the odds are of that coming up in the “policy” section.
Raising basic benefits would also be of benefit to mental health. See my post at 25.1.1.4.
There is one policy proposal that directly affects beneficiaries and that’s to lift the earning threshold and to lower the abatement. This would allow beneficiaries to earn more as part time workers and not lose the benefit at 70 cents in the dollar as it is now.
“There is one policy proposal that directly affects beneficiaries and that’s to lift the earning threshold and to lower the abatement.”
So…nothing for Tui then? /poverty-and-disability/
Or Kay? /beneficiary-for-life-the-joys-of-permanent-disability-in-present-day-nz/
Maybe you could ask them TRP….in between standing ovations?
Give them one more chance. Perhaps 2020 will be different?
That can only be good, but is kind of the same as Kiwibuild – aimed at mid-range of the target group. The poorest, those without part-time employment, generally speaking, are again excluded. Let’s see if basic benefit rates come up at tomorrow’s “policy” session. It’s a pity ipredict has shut down – could’ve made a killing.
So no mention of raising basic benefit rates in the “policy” section? Bugger. you had me quite excited there for a while.
Make it happen, Chris: https://www.labour.org.nz/join
Be easier to just join a party that already has that policy.
Will that make it happen?
Nice.
This party cares.
I’m sure the Labour Party cares a lot more about homelessness than it did in 1984, when in the run-up to the Snap Election it staged a mock soup kitchen in Auckland’s Upper Queen Street to draw attention to the failure of the Muldoon government’s housing policies. Dozens of news media and wellwishers turned up for the event, and were ladled out helpings of soup.
Unfortunately, a couple of real homeless people also turned up and tried to get a plate of soup for their worthless selves—but were swiftly hustled away by Labour Party “security” before their shabbiness and unkemptness could lower the tone.
The Labour Party of 1984 was dominated by such caring people as Roger Douglas, Richard Prebble, Mike Moore, Geoffrey “Footstool” Palmer, and Trevor De Cleene. I hope it’s slightly more caring these days.
Monty Python-esque. Probably still happen today.
I wouldn’t trust Palmer or Moore to look after a dog, let alone have any say in a welfare policy for people.
Spreading lies again Moronissey ?
prove it or remove it.
Spreading lies again Moronissey ?
Excuse me? When have I “spread lies” here or anywhere else?
prove it or remove it.
It was reported in the New Zealand Herald in June 1984, and quite possibly in the Auckland Star as well. Why don’t you get off your useless asssss and find it for yourself?
Papers past doesn’t go past 1948.
Online herald site doesn’t mention it.
If you have it , give a link. But you don’t do you.
And no Muldoon telling fibs doesn’t count
Those of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to suffer mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Depression being a leading cause of suicide.
Therefore, it would be good to see this coalition Government do more to address low incomes and benefits, thus improving mental health and our high rate of suicide via this avenue.
Depression is in every group , its rubbish to suggest the poor ore far more adversely affected.
eg medicine has a higher depression rate than some professions as it attracts the ‘ perfect’ type.
Numerous studies acknowledge the correlation. The Childrens’ Commissioner acknowledges the correlation (see link below).
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12050722
Moreover, it’s borne out in our suicide stats (see the following below).
For the majority of the 10-year period 2006-2015, the rate of suicide for those living in the most deprived areas was significantly higher (around twice as high) than for those living in the least deprived areas.
https://www.health.govt.nz/publication/suicide-facts-data-tables-19962015
“Finance Minister Grant Robertson has confirmed mental health will be one of the Government’s five priorities in its first Wellbeing Budget,….”
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/11/03/304816/wellbeing-budget-to-prioritise-mental-health
“The whole point of this is that for too long we’ve measured ourselves on a very narrow basis…so not having every single data point shouldn’t stop us from saying the health of our environment, our people and our communities is as important as our financial wealth.”
At first I thought he was channelling the Greens but this was at the Labour Party annual conference so I clicked on the link and read the article.
I read it several times to make sure I got it right but I can’t tell.
To me it seems he (and Labour) are framing it as two targets that oppose one another or are perhaps even mutually exclusive. And if they’re on an equal footing, which one would a true Labour Party stand for?
Is Robertson framing it this way to avoid frightening the horses or is he simply showing his personal (and/or his party’s) beliefs on these matters?
Perceptions matter a lot in politics (and in life) but any decisions (or lack thereof) speak volumes no matter how you frame (spin) things – are we on the cusp of something special?
An earlier newsroom piece….https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/09/05/224294/what-will-the-wellbeing-budget-change
…and yes!!!! There’s Uncle Bill ‘if there’s a loophole you’d be a fool not to exploit it’ English’s Social Investment plan….https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10644993
His plan for the sick and disabled folk…
” the big driver of future costs: long-term invalids and sickness beneficiaries, a group he describes as “this big hard lump of long-term waste of human potential”. ”
….was to replicate ACC’s tactics…
” If they were ACC customers, we would be spending a lot of money on trying to move them. They cost a bit less on sickness and invalids [benefits], not a hell of a lot less(bullshit), but we do nothing and we are actually doing nothing to reduce this very large long-term liability.” ”
And that sure worked well…with how many shifted from ACC to SLP and Jobseekers?
So far….I’m certainly not seeing how this government attitude towards those whose health and disability needs prevent them from being in paid work differ from National’s.
Policy change to encourage those on benefits to participate in paid employment ( /open-mike-03-11-2018/#comment-1546092) without increasing the base rate for the SLP for those who simply can’t work sounds like more arbeit macht frei to me.
Prove me wrong.
“His plan for the sick and disabled folk… was to replicate ACC’s tactics”
And with Labour apparently just passing a remit (extending ACC to include illness) can we assume they plan to do the same (replicate ACC’s tactics) albeit a little softer?
Here’s the entire speech here;
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1811/S00028/grant-robertson-speech-to-labour-party-conference.htm
But as Ad says we may have to wait … /labour-conference-random-notes/#comment-1546345
Would prefer to believe we may be on the cusp of something special myself ….
Thanks for the link to the speech.
When people are (badly) haemorrhaging you don’t because you can’t wait, you must act there & then. So, I reject that we should sit & wait for ‘something special’ or even for a budget surplus, a healthy economy or what have you.
This is how I see the main political parties in NZ framing their view [singular] of our society: A is as important as B, but B is conditional on A.
A logical flaw? Bad framing? Or something else?
I couldn’t make it due to family reasons (attending a 50th birthday party!) but I hear our policy remit (extending ACC to include illness) passed!
“I couldn’t make it due to family reasons (attending a 50th birthday party!) but I hear our policy remit (extending ACC to include illness) passed!”
?????
Craig H…sorry, can you explain your remit? What exactly does it entail? ‘extending ACC to cover illness’…is this the ACC weekly compensation? ACC level treatment, rehab, ongoing support? Heavens forbid to be able to have a resident family member as your paid carer? Only ‘illness’, or would the extension cover those born with disabilities?
That Labour could entertain the possibility of extending the scheme to cover those born with disabilities seems too far-fetched. Up there with raising basic benefit levels.
The remit encompassed both.
Don’t worry te reo Putake, Audrey has already had a little snide dig and grudging praise for Jacinda “Becoming a PM of substance” So you never know.
Who loves Bryce Edwards? Not me.
“Even the pro-Government blogsite, The Standard, is publishing criticisms of the scheme – see: KiwiBuild doesn’t fly. According to this critique, the Government is effectively privatising “state housing land”, to be used by private developers and the KiwiBuild scheme, meaning that most of the land will be for privately-owned houses. It says John Tamihere is correct in his call that development on state housing land in Mangere is akin to “social engineering”…..
Didn’t know that Kiwibuild was ever meant for low earners. So Kiwibuild becomes fodder for the Edwards with his mates in the Opposition.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12154010
Yeah, this has come up at conference. More explanation about state housing improvements is needed. Kiwibuild is about intervention in a buggered market. Building new state houses is complimentary, but different. Both are good policies.
So many lies spread by some well known names on Standard
.
State housing land is being ‘gifted’ to private buyers.
Kiwibuild homes have a big subsidy.
No new State houses are being built.
That ultra high insulation/glazing is required to make them ‘warm and dry’
All falsehoods.
+ 1
Saw that coming. Sour grapes is the MO for some.
And what of the missing middle?
Those who don’t qualify for state housing and would get laughed out of the bank if they tried to get a $650K mortgage for a Kiwibuild loan. Some of these households don’t even qualify for WFF, FFS. They are hard working families which for a variety of reasons haven’t been able to be stable enough to be seen as good loan material. They have young kids and instead of subjecting them to years of austerity have decided to give them what opportunities they can now instead of scrimping for an ever increasing deposit. Dad slogs his guts out and mum works part time around the kids.
Did that come up at the conference?
Building new state houses is complimentary, [sic] but different.
complementary.
” Building new state houses is complimentary,…”
Building new State Houses is urgent. Demolishing existing State Houses and using any of the land they were built on for Kiwibuild houses is uncomplimentary.
The East Porirua scheme is very like the Glen Innes one – building fewer state houses on the land; some Kiwibuild homes there and some homes on the general market.
The promise is for 150 more state houses than before. But the 2000 state homes being replaced in East Porirua, may not be on that land as far as I can see.
Basically, it looks like many state home tenants will be moved elsewhere in Porirua – uprooted from their existing community to make way for more homes in the area on the market for the middle classes.
Why? Why not build the new Kiwibuild and general market homes elsewhere in Porirua, rather than shift the state homes there?
TBH Carolyn_Nth, my usual talent for being able to seek out the nitty gritty on Government work appears to be failing me. For the life of me I can’t seem to find a one stop website that tells everything a citizen would ever want to know about Government’s plans and schemes for housing. Slogans…yes. But actual hard core nitty gritty from an actual government website (not a ‘partner’ website) is proving a challenge.
Must be because I’m closer to 86 than 16 and am tuning out. 🙁 🙁
The announcement by the government is not totally clear. But, to me ot looks like there will be 150 new state homes on top of the ones already in East Porirua.
The East Porirua land that currently has 2000 state homes, will be regenerated – ie the existing state homes will be rebuilt, and also on the same land will be Kiwibuild homes, plus homes built by developers for the general market.
it’s not totally clear to me whether the current 2000 state homes will all be rebuilt on the existing land, or whether some will be rebuilt elsewhere in the wider area.
The government announcement.
It links to the Porirua development led by HLC (a subsidiary of HNZ), saying more details there.
Lots of pretty images, but I’m not seeing any more detail there and it says:
I’m all for 16 year olds getting the vote.
State Housing Action (includes John Minto) – is sceptical.
Report on it on Stuff
HCNZ is one another is kiwibuild.co.nz
Who says there will be fewer state houses on the redeveloped land.
It doesn’t say whether or not there will be fewer or the same amount of state homes on the land – a bit vague.
But, given they are also going to build kiwibuild and general market homes there – will they all fit?
“… a bit vague.” That’s what I was getting at. Nothing crystal clear.
“… will they all fit?”
Yep, they’ll rack ’em and stack ’em.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/10/25/291004/kiwibuild-a-community-trainwreck
““For instance, in Māngere – just one of many projects that the Government is working on at the moment – 2700 state homes are going to be demolished and 3000 state homes are going to be rebuilt, but in a third of the land area.
“The other two-thirds are going to be KiwiBuild and affordable.
“By my estimations, in 2700 homes there now, there’s probably 12,000 to 15,000 people in those homes. Multiply that to be 10,000 homes [on the site in total] and we’re looking at 25,000 to 30,000 people living on the same land mass.
“That’s 30,000 human beings of different cultures, different religions, differing values and life, living in the same space as 12,000 people used to.”
Carolyn look at the video of the speeches… there was a definite statement that locals would be in the communities they loved and had helped form.
Which video? What speeches?
I do think Labour have learned somewhat from the debacle of Glen Innes. however, the vagueness about some details is concerning.
I do get the idea that people might be rehoused in greater Porirua, rather than in the area of Porirua where they currently live. But that still might be a disruption for many.
“Kiwibuild is about intervention in a buggered market”
I wish people would see that. In previous times people would rent and build up an asset base to move into home ownership. Now, due to a combination of factors that step has become impossible for most people in Auckland and many other areas, and they are trapped in the rental market. KiwiBuild is about moving the people who would otherwise have left the rental market into ownership by “de-risking” the building of lower spec homes for developers (4 bed, 2 bath and office appeals to more buyers, so more are built) and using the power / guarantee of government to drive the cost down. The resulting churn in rental market then helps those further down.
“The resulting churn in rental market then helps those further down.”
Ah! The ‘trickle-down effect’ , I’ve heard about that.
Yep. Everyone else wait while we look after the already privileged.
Me too.
How did that work out again in terms of financial wellbeing?….
Probably a poor choice of words there using “down”, but it will allow people to leave the rental market and provide opportunities for others to enter the same limited market.
But KiwiBuild is really only targeting a very limited group, and it’s an easy and cheap intervention. The targets are, or were, potential National voters being the aspirational young things striving for their first homes. They will be ensuring the Coalition’s second and maybe third term. That’s why 101st keyboard brigade is loosing it’s shit over it.
There’s a big difference between this and completely rebuilding our social housing infrastructure, it’s been fucked by being run like a hire centre. That will require a much stronger government, with say 75 or 80 seats in the house and the corresponding public support to undertake bold projects. KiwiBuild is a step on that path, both physically and politically.
How? The people buying Kiwi Build houses wouldn’t be living in some shit box rental in South Auckland.
They’d be renting out some new place in the better parts of Auckland.
No need for an opposition party when labours in power . There own side fucks them daily .
Wouldn’t happen if they hadn’t made a hard right turn, bwag. It’s like 1984 all over again.
Maybe we should give them a couple more years before deliver a verdict
That’s been happening since 1999 – first time back in government since Rogernomics. Trouble is a verdict is never given, just more chances.
Pretty sure they’ll enjoy their foray into the centre having hoovered up all those soft right wing votes. I don’t have any confidence they’ll do much at all for long term tenants in the face of that.
Last Saturday was a watershed moment for me because I saw where Labour were going for their survival. I feel they have abandoned a lot of the people who voted for them in the hope they’d get a fairer crack.
Not to be so far.
It’s not too late though. They just need to rethink eligibility and support for Kiwibuild accessibility, fast.
It’s not like it should come as a surprise.
Nope. You don’t get to comment on this, sorry. You are from the other side. Those who don’t believe in any support for families who find the equation of modern life difficult to comprehend. Families who work super hard but have had mistakes hang around their neck for years.
I hear the criticisms of the current version of Kiwibuild from the Nats and the right wing but they are criticisms born of simple and automatic opposition to the government, rather than support of low income families finding peace and security in their communities.
So, GTFO.
Let’s see what the well being budget does next year a??
You do realise there’s no money in the budget for any extra expenditure.
The 5 billion dollar surplus was an illusion, Labour borrowed 6.5 billion dollars through Crown entities so it wouldn’t appear on the balance sheet.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12104552
Also, the roading network got revalued which added another 7 billion dollars to the total.
Any extra expenditure has to either come through more borrowing or higher taxes.
Famous RW Blogger miraculous discovery of Stephen Joyce’s “Missing Hole” likening to Dr Orbell….
https://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/tag/steven-joyce/
I always prefered Winstons Kiwiland idea, free up and develop land for housing and then get out of the way.
Not enough photo ops, feel-good marketing stories in that sort of policy for Labour so it was never considered.
We’ve seen what problems occur without planning.
We see simple calls from the low regulation right wing for more housing – ‘just build them’ – but whenever a house is built there are wider, 100 year factors to be taken into account.
I don’t have any issue with Auckland City putting the brakes on wild-west developments because you cannot move these people to work without the right long term strategy.
Hey look at this – I can comment – yaaaay!!!!
But hey you were stupid enough to drink the Kiwibuild cool aid when this was so obvious from the outset.
You kinda deserve what you get.
Careful bwaghorn, you’ll be accused of bias.
Now, about Ardern referencing Savage and the 1937 launch of State Housing at the Kiwibuild launch.
Yep. Although I believe she said, ‘I’m not going to carry a table’ or words to that effect, the cosying up to Savage while standing next to a portrait of white upper middle class privilege was a huge mistake from JA.
She should have gone nowhere near Savage.
“”If I can hark back to some Labour tradition,” said Ardern, going on to remember the “great father of the Labour Party” Michael Joseph Savage and Norman Kirk, who had one of her favourite sayings: “All one really needs is something to do, somewhere to live, someone to love and something to hope for.””
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12149888
Yeah. This government removed hope for tens of thousands of families last Saturday.
If the Greens could stop navel gazing for five seconds and ramp up their already strong housing policy they could really teach Labour a lesson on this.
I’d be very happy with a Labour/Green government next term with the Greens making sure Labour didn’t slop down in the centre, fat dumb and happy.
“If the Greens could stop navel gazing for five seconds and ramp up their already strong housing policy they could really teach Labour a lesson on this.”
Yes. I voted for the Greens. Two ticks. Hoping they’d put on their steel toe-caps and do some proper social advocacy.
Speaking of the Greens and their inaction. Remember the glimmer of hope shown by Marama re her bold stance taken in support of the disabled grandmother who was offered a free solar setup but was declined approval by HNZ to install it? Winter has come and gone and it has still yet to be resolved.
The story can be seen in the link below from about 19 mins in. https://www.threenow.co.nz/shows/the-hui/season-3%3A-sunday-6-may-2018/125685/M21250-300
If I recall, there was something not quite right about that particular scheme. It set my bullshit antennae quivering.
We can do better.
The rot goes back to that infamous year 1984….
I had my suspicions about the Lange government from before it was elected. Two things in particular concerned me:
1) LABOUR’S CRASS, BOORISH, DULL CAMPAIGN
The choice of the egregious Jennifer Warnes/Joe Cocker song “Up Where We Belong” made me cringe every time I heard it, and pointed to a dire lack of imagination and creativity in the party. Funnily enough, the New Zealand Labour Party’s use of that virtually unlistenable pop song in 1984 was echoed by the Democratic Party eight years later, when Slick Willie’s campaign song was Fleetwood Mac’s equally awful “Don’t Stop Thinkin’ About Tomorrow”.
2) THE SOUP KITCHEN INCIDENT
Shortly before the 1984 election, the Labour Party organised a brilliant media event to draw attention to the plight of the poor and homeless under the heartless National government. They organised a mock soup kitchen, to be held at Myers Park. Overtones of the Great Depression, unemployment, sugarbag years….
The media was invited, and all the Labour candidates they could muster would be there. Talking about poverty, of course. It was a MOCK soup kitchen, of course, but the soup was real, and prepared by one of Auckland’s most renowned chefs, and everyone would of course be served some of this top-grade soup after the speeches.
A short time before the event was about to get under way, as the assembled guests and dignitaries were arriving, the organisers were annoyed to see that a couple of real homeless men had arrived. They’d seen the mock-up Depression-style “Soup Kitchen” sign and assumed….
Assumed WRONGLY, it turned out. Labour’s hired muscle for the day escorted the horrible, tatty, unwashed tramps away from the “Soup Kitchen” quick smart, and the Labour Party Soup Kitchen event got under way. There was no further trouble from lowlifes that day.
Bullshit about the lowlife escorted from the fake soup kitchen….
Join Labour and engage in actual stuff Morrissey. Whole bunch more fun than an anecdotal whine 35 years old.
Fair point, Ad. I do indeed support Labour, though not uncritically. We need always to be vigilant about what is happening in our party, who is calling the shots, and whether or not they should be entrusted with leading us. It’s worth remembering that a small clique of ideologues took over the Labour Party in 1984 and nearly destroyed it. It’s no coincidence that that Soup Kitchen debacle and that rotten advertising campaign ushered in the regime of Douglas, Moore, Palmer, and Prebble.
Absolutely.
So, Weeple, what’s your take on the right’s hijacking of the party in the 1980s?
How disgusting is this.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2018/11/judge-kavanaugh-s-sexual-assault-accuser-allegedly-admits-she-lied-wanted-attention.html
“One of the women who accused Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault has apparently admitted she lied and used the allegations as a “ploy” to get attention.”
Hope she goes to jail for a long time.
If she lied, yes, she should be tried.
But what about all the other women who testified against this weasel?
Sadly a his word against hers.
But glad we agree that this woman should be in front of a court.
She should be. He is not fit to judge her, or anyone else.
Got nothing on this shit.
But the saga of Jacob Wohl took a turn this week, when he was unexpectedly implicated in a bizarre plot to smear special counsel Robert Mueller as a sexual predator. The exact nature of the scheme, and Wohl’s involvement, is somewhat unclear. On October 17, a number of journalists reportedly received an e-mail from “Lorraine Parsons,” alleging that she had been contacted by a man claiming to work for a firm called Surefire Intelligence, on behalf of G.O.P. operative Jack Burkman, who had offered her substantial sums of money to make false accusations about Mueller. Yet no reporters were able to verify that Lorraine is a real person. Surefire Intelligence, too, appeared to be fake. When NBC News investigated, they found the Web site was registered to Wohl’s e-mail; a phone number on the site went to a voice mail that provided another number listed as belonging to Wohl’s mother. (Wohl stopped responding to NBC after they asked why his mother’s phone number was in that voice mail.) In perhaps the most amateurish element of the whole sordid episode, Internet sleuths quickly discovered that headshots of Surefire’s purported employees actually belonged to celebrities including Israeli model Bar Refaeli and Austrian actor Christoph Waltz. A photograph of “Matthew Cohen,” allegedly a managing partner at Surefire Intelligence, is simply a darkened image of Wohl himself.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/10/jacob-wohl-robert-mueller-sexual-assault-allegations
I would think most people would find one just as bad as the other.
In both cases it’s a bloke who has been smeared unjustly
For a more nuanced take on this article I recommend the following:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/3/18058832/judy-munro-leighton-brett-kavanaugh-trump-tweet.
Note: This woman was not one of the women to make solid accusations against Kavanaugh. Those accusations still stand. The letter she forwarded was a copy of a letter from an anonymous accuser – Jane Doe – which may or may not be false.
rimmer from act just called for plastic bags to be brought back and people caught littering for the third time should be jailed . Boys lost the plot.🤣🤣🤣🤣
I doubt he had a plot to loose unfortunately….
Oumuamua (the messenger) and its sail?”
https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.11490
Oumuamua … Mind blowing in its possibilities.
As heinous was Clinton apparently……are Deplorables a thing ?
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/existential-anxiety-not-poverty-motivates-trump-support/558674/
the hui Kia ora Its tricky I think its cool Jacinda’s on your show Its best that all common poor people are lifted up there ladders of life together . Just targeting maori we need unity and targeting maori will just divide Aotearoa society .
The Labour Party has done a awesome job in there first 12 month’s in the New Coalition
Government. Ka kite ano P.S I see
All Americana Wahine and minority cultures should houner your Children and Ancestors buy getting up and voting for a better brighter healthy future for all HUMAN KIND. That’s how big a ISSUE The mid term elections in America is at this point in time if you don’t vote that’s a vote for trump and we can not have him letting people think that behaving like a ASS is OK we need and want PEACE and Harmony not War and lies.
Ka kite ano Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
Now All The Latino people in America We Have a link Its a well known fact that Aotearoa New Zealand Ngati Porou iwi has a great Ancestor Jose Manuel .I have a direct link through my Grate-grand mother there was talk about a African link to .
Don’t let the go oil party or trump rain over our moko /Grand childrens future and your mana/ power get up and vote there people out of power. link to Jose Manuel site below
Ka kite ano. P.S Don’t let them rain ruin over the WORLD.
https://www.manueljose.org.nz/whakapapa-233/
Native American cultures have a lot in common with Native Aotearoa /New Zealand.
In the way we see and treat most thing’s .Respect for our Ancestors respect for our whenua/land respect for our decedents. ka kite ano vote for your childrens future
The Navajo, like tribes across the country, have bristled at Trump’s suggestion that tribes should be reclassified as races rather than separate governments, a legal shift that would mean that tribal members were no longer exempt from Medicaid work requirements. Trump’s downsizing of Bears Ears national monument, which was done at the urging of Utah Republicans, has also been a key rallying point for Native Americans link below
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/01/navajo-nation-utah-midterm-election-gerrymandering
American Wahine / Ladies of all cultures step up and vote so there is no illusion in thoughts of man that you want your daughters treated Equally in all aspects of our Worlds society
Jordan is part of a blue wave of candidates pushing to change the face of US politics, with record-breaking numbers of women and history-making women of color and Native Americans on the ballot. With progressive stars like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stunning pundits with victories, there’s a sense among some non-traditional Democratic campaigns that anything is possible. Ka kite ano Link below
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/31/paulette-jones-idaho-governor-native-american-democrat
Syria need’s peace or million’s will suffer starve and DIE War should be in OUR history books in the year 2018. I have figured out why war has not been left behind GREED
The White Helmets risked life and limb to save over 115,000 lives during the Syrian conflict, despite attacks at the hands of the Syrian regime and the Russian military,” Hunt said. “The UK is proud to stand behind them.”Raed al-Saleh said Moscow’s record of broken promises meant he had little confidence in a ceasefire brokered between Russia and Turkey in September. The agreement halted a planned advance on Idlib, one of the last parts of Syria still outside the control of President Bashar al-Assad, and currently home to more than 3 million people.Ana to kai ka kite ano links below.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/03/idlib-jeremy-hunt-syria-russia-turkey
Eco Maori has a good grasp of the situation in the Middle East and around the World.
I’m not laying blame on one side or thee other you are both to blame clean this mess
UP in Syria and the World. Ka kite ano.
I know the big company’s are manipulating the market’s and push out the new smaller company’s
“The big retailers are rigging the market to stop smaller players competing and getting bigger prices to the public.In a current situation where there’s a squeeze on gas and lakes are bit a lower, these are the perfect conditions for them to exercise market power. I would expect it the big business all ways cheat to squeezes out the small company’s
But Marc England, chief executive at gentailer Genesis Energy, said while there was “something unusual” going on, there was no gaming of the system. “There’s no big versus small plot here.” this man is lieing through his teeth.ka kite ano link below.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/108312588/whats-gone-wrong-with-new-zealands-electricity-market
Kia ora Newshub Its not the fire works its the idiots using them wrong deliberately
With the 2 hedge fires in South Island .?????????????? hope its not to bad this year for fires caused by idiots
The new support staff for teachers is cool the Labour party had a good event in Dunedin in the South Island this weekend.
That will be cool to have a pest free Banks peninsula that’s more logical than trying to eliminate all pest in Aotearoa.
The wind is going hard in Itlay at the moment I hope no one was injured global warming no
There was a Black out in Chicago & Japan this weekend and the Green Irish won to .
I bet that guy will be wishing his horse does not win the Melbourne Cup lol.
Good win Israel at your fight in UFC Ka kite ano
. Alex I have experienced the wind Castle point and Turn again it sure get the Boat rolling thats why its called turn again we would get there and turn for shelter .