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Former MP Todd Barclay commits what’s considered to be a crime, not talk to the police, no charges laid, then swans off on a taxpayer funded European holiday with the girlfriend!
Seems crime does definitely pays if you are a disgraced Natz MP!
Much as I don”t usually recommend reading the Herald, how about actually reading the article before commenting?
This article actually gives the details of what Barclay has and still is receiving until 23 December – as are other now ex MPs who stood down or lost their seats at the general election.
It is actually worth reading in full but here are some bits
Disgraced MP Todd Barclay has just enjoyed a two-month sun-filled tour of Italy, Croatia and Greece all while receiving a $3000 a week taxpayer-funded pay packet.
The former National MP announced in June he would not stand again after the “phone tapping” scandal – but under Parliament’s rules he still receives his salary until December 23.
That means Barclay will have pocketed a total of $80,000 of taxpayer money, before tax, over six months.
It’s unclear what work he has done since June – Parliamentary Services, which administers politicians’ funding entitlements, was unable to say how many days he had been in Parliament or whether he had claimed any expenses.
…
This week it was reported that Barclay had taken a job with the Japanese owners of Queenstown’s Millbrook Resort, the Ishii family. His London-based role is as international business affairs secretary for the family’s Japanese design and software company, Too Corporation, Mountain Scene reported.
As an MP and deputy chair of a select committee Barclay earned about $160,000 a year as well as the added benefits of travel and accommodation expenses.
…
Under Parliamentary policy someone who retired would still be paid until three months after polling day – up to December 23.
All 34 MPs who resigned or lost their seats at the 2017 election still get paid for three months – about $40,000 in total, or $3300 a week, before tax.
Former MPs and party leaders Peter Dunne and Te Ururoa Flavell defended Barclay, saying departed MPs have an entitlement and how they use it is their business.
Grantoc (2.2) … I never said Barclay was convicted of a crime. The police didn’t bother to lay charges!
BTW what has Metiria Turei got to do with this issue? At least she had the good grace to admit what she did was wrong and prepared to pay what she took, back to social welfare.
Pity Metiria is no longer an MP. Parliament is a poorer place for her absence.
True – you never actually said the words “he was convicted of a crime”. But you strongly implied that he had committed a crime, which is as near as dammit to actually saying that he should have been convicted. The whole tenure of your comment was to buy into the Herald’s faux righteous indignation and to tut tuttingly condemn him.
What does Metiria have to do with it? Simply that she acknowledged defrauding tax payers and she has since continued to receive tax payer paid remuneration in the same way Barclay has and every other mp who did not return to parliament has. Given the circumstances maybe we should also know how she has used her tax paid remuneration, and allow ourselves to be similarly outraged.
The Herald was highly selective in drawing their readers attention to, shock horror, Barclay’s situation whilst completely ignoring other retiring mp’s who in th opinion of the righteously indignant could have also acted disgracefully (eg Metiria).
I guess i’m irritated by the cynical inconsistency demonstrated by the Herald concerning Barclay. And the gullibility of those it dog whistled to for responding as they have.
Barclay told the PM he did it. And Turei had the excuse that she was being subjected to a welfare regime that deliberately pays people an amount that is insufficient to live on. Barclay had the defense that the pm was telling porkies about a member of his own caucus.
Grantoc 2.2.2.1) … recording a private conversation without the permission of those involved is a crime.
As for Metiria, she was torn to shreds by a vicious media, out for blood. And they got it. At the she left Parliament, Metiria was on her own, unlike Todd Barclay. He had a lying, conniving, dirty politics playing leader such as Bill English to spin lies on his behalf!
You guys do realise you’re debating with someone who either can’t spell or is too lazy to bother (Turei instead of Turei) or failed
English (tenure when they mean tenor)?
Kim Hill enabling Don Brash to rise from the crypt (loved the image we had on our recent post) gave fertiliser to the destroyers of NZ bi-cultural values that are ready like old man’s beard to spread and smother our society. It was a mistake. I feel sad that there are so many white men who are steeped in ideas of superiority and sufficiency so they have nothing to learn, no regard to wider society, no reflection of their own limitations once they find their niche to their ‘standing in the community’; their pipeline of trickle-down emoluments delivered to them personally as belonging to the entitled circle. They rose from their crypts at the Constitution Conversation and tried to take over the discourse with the single-mindedness displayed in that zombie-walking-dead tv show. My advice, keep your distance, and don’t let them bite you.
I like these thoughts from Lew of Kiwipolitico 2/12/17 as they get to the heart of the matter, from someone who has a heart and is also rational.
Brash finally went one small step too far, with the claim that the Māori are not the indigenous people of Aotearoa, but merely its second-most-recent invaders. This notion has been debunked for almost a hundred years,…There was nowhere left for Kim Hill to go. Nobody can debunk arguments advanced with such disregard for reality.
So she shut it down. But better than shutting it down would have been not entertaining it in the first place — which is, by and large, what Māori seem to have wanted. The error of this interview was not merely giving Brash a platform, but its objectification of Māori, the idea that their right to existence on their own terms was a matter for debate….
I was in the crowd for this sacrifice. Loath as I am to continue focusing on Pākehā feelings, I have to say: my only remaining feeling is the horror of being responsible for all this. Not only for today’s sacrifice, but the small sliver of the past that is my contribution to what got us here. We Pākehā need to take care of our own embarrassments, it should not fall to Māori to do that. So we need to stop treating the right to Māori existence on their own terms as conditional on our goodwill, and start treating it as a fact of life.
[from now on, please include a link when you cut and paste from a website – weka]
It would not have been difficult for RNZ to agree: “Yes, we will do translations at the time for any full sentences in Maori, just like they do in Parliament.”That would have taken the wind out of his sails.
Instead she treated him with unnecessary disdain, and he in turn did fine.
Hill spent far too much time posturing about the RNZ Charter, and far too much time lobbing easy oppositional questions so that Brash could dig holes for himself about pre-contact Maori being in the stone age.
She also made no mention of the other RNZ Maori-specific programming which slips easily from Maori to English with no fuss.
I find having to actually listen to what they are saying in Maori and trying to work out what they are saying helps my understanding of the reo. Translating it doesn’t help one understand the sentence structure.
I agree that most of the NZ public can pick up specific words, and can scrape by with a few phrases.
Maori Language Week specializes in that, and I see that in many workplaces.
It’s not enough.
If we are going to help the language survive as more than a set of nouns we trot out to feel pc, we need to deal with it in whole sentences.
That’s where live translation comes in, and it’s why Maori TV is so successful.
RNZ needs to improve enabling people to speak te roe Maori, as sentences not as words, and translating the sentences at the beginning of the morning news show is a great way to start that.
It would not have been difficult for RNZ to agree: “Yes, we will do translations at the time for any full sentences in Maori, just like they do in Parliament.”That would have taken the wind out of his sails.
At the beginning of the interview, Kim Hill stated that the translations of the Maori greetings etc used by RNZ presenters are all set out on the RNZ website at http://www.radionz.co.nz/collections/kiaora
She subsequently repeated this several times during the i/v.
The RNZ website also includes a number of other articles, explanations etc setting out their objectives etc in relation to use of Te Reo (includinng directions from the former Minister of Maori Development under the previous National government).
For example this link which also includes links on pronunciation of various words, and links to other RNZ articles and external websites providing more help.
Yes I noted that about the website.
Five clicks in is not good communication, there’s simply no excuse for trying to use web communication with live translation. Doesn’t work in the U.N., doesn’t work in Parliament, certainly doesn’t work on radio.
RNZ should be held to the same standard as Maori TV, which regularly simulcasts its translation as subtext. As it should.
Brash on that point was right, and RNZ should simply acknowledge that it’s really easy to fix, and fix it.
Perhaps she saw Brash as an easy, risible target. But one should never underestimate the power of nostalgia for apparent past glories. In this case – of
European ascendancy and duplicity. Luckily Maori had a good line in duplicity too, so they couldn’t be taken to the cleaners for some blankets and beads.
She should have had that list you mentioned at hand. But I did like the jibe at unintelligible and uncertain business and economic-speak and all based on possible lies and unrelated stats making up a possible model that will be measured to see if it is working. And if not, then the report will not be released till after the Budget, the Election or some other high-water mark.
Between Kim Hill’s interview with the anachronism that is Brash and Wallace Chapman’s interview with Gideon Levy some of my faith in Natrad is restored.
‘Enabling’ ? Not really. Kim Hill gave him enough rope and sat back while he hanged himself. A delight to hear, and I could almost see that wide eyed look that so often appears on the faces of the blindly privileged when someone has the the temerity to suggest there may be opinions counter to his own.
One day these mostly white males will finally shuffle off their mortal coils and we might be free of their bigotry…until then, the younger folk need to hear that some of Grandpa’s wisdom is…. not.
Many thanks for you view greywarshark I agree totally. I seen a recent TV show were one has targets to reduce OUR prison population by 30% many thanks to Our coalition government for setting a. great goals. But I say that that goal will bite you on the ass when you don’t achieve it. Why do I no that won’t be achieved 1 points is most the people running our justice system are of the same era dum brash. They have the same ancient I dialogical view which has caused all the_____ups we have in our society this can be proven as fact. I no that most of these people vote national and the Maori party. I say it was a joke someone trying to blame Tamati Coffee for there lose of Mana.
So in my view OUR justice system is broken how do I no this well no one in the justice system is held accountable for there actions they control the media on articles about the justice system so that most that gets out is positive news about them they have no independent institutions to hold them accountable for there actions. There arguement will be the so called independent police conducted authority this is a farcical organisation that just protects there image O yea it works for the wealthy but not the other 95% of us.
To cut a long story short here is what has happened to me I filed a complaint to the IPCA it got accepted with help from a good kiwi.
They email me to say they were investigating my complaint of breach to my human rights and privacy rights. And one nite I get a random visit from this blonde police officer whom was supposubly look for a false person what was his motive well maybe to sight me or intimated me you will have to ask my neo liberal neighbour. A week also goes by and I get a email and the officer claims that he interviewed me and investigated my complaint and said that there was no case of breach to my rights YEA RIGHT. These people have been breaking into my house on a regular basis I asked the landlord to put dead lock on the front door but no you see he is m8 with my neo liberal neighbour so I payed $140 to get one installed. O and all those emails that I had from the IPCA they have been deleted from my computer but we all no that nothing is ever totally deleted from the Internet net I will get someone to recover this information when the time is right. We need to hold our justice system to account for there actions before we will be able to lower our prison population if we don’t do this these people will keep on doing what they are doing now an no one can touch them so they think they are right.
Here’s a story on all the time I have been discrimination against because of my Maori origins.
I was 17 fishing in Napier I brought my 3rd car HK 69 Holden I drove to work drove around a lot in Napier never got a fine.
I had a fallout with my mum went to Gisborne and met my wife and stayed at my auntie house which was the house that my great-grandmother brought me up in and every 2 days I got pulled up and fined so in 3 months I had racked up $1000 worth of fines I thought that there is just heaps of cops in Gisborne to explain why I had clocked so much fines in such a short time my auntie once commented to me that if the cops harassme me to write a letter of complaint to the police commissioner I did not take this information in at that time. 8 months later I sold my car to pay my fines and I find out later that my wife was pregnant with our first child at massey unerversity and I made a promise to my great grand mother that because I did not no I had a father that I will always put my wife and children first. And now when I look into my past I see that the cops targeted me because of my Whano which is a breach of my rights in the treaty of waitangi.
Because a lot of my whano are in the justice system they have used this against me and bribed them for false information IE whano gossip. I chose a different path to most of my whano which makes me different and can cause the eels in the bucket syndrome IE I climb out and they keep trying to pull me back in. They will try and use any tactics to get me as they do to other people it’s not hard to work this out. They use bait cars houses open gang members to try and intimidat me old associates parading Lady’s past me in my view they are putting these Lady’s in danger and this shows they have no respect for these Lady’s. I no everyone they have used to try an find shit on me they have stereotyped me into a farcical image based on some of my whano members. I would never do what they have tried to bait me into doing. 1 I’m not a idiot 2 it is not in my DNA to steal ect I never changed my name I never went bankrupt I payed most of my dept 3 I no that I will be held accountable for my actions unlike them. They use my children neighbours my neighbours and a lot of other people they have caused hardship to all my immediate Whano members. (And this behaviour by OUR justice system is OK by you well no and I will drag there ASSES over the hot coals of a court house and make them treat MAORI fair and humanly and equally ]. Kia Kaha
eco maori
You will be judged because of your whanau by the police and watched. And your whanau will be annoyed at you going off in your own direction. So maybe you need to think of a different location in the future. It’s hard to be an independent thinker. You might be right about everything but not be able to get redress, it is just the way the system works at present. Kia kaha.
Here’s a story on the hardship they have put on my daughter who lives in Pukeohe.
She meets her partner in Rotorua he has 2 children and my daughter looks after them when they visited she is a loving caring girl. They have a baby girl of there own the state takes the 2 children off the scorned ex and gives them to my Daughter these children have been through a lot of bad things she treats them like her own one day we all have Christmas together and the boy punches a window that my second eldest moko is poking tongues at him she get a shard of glass in her eye I saw it sticking out lucky she only had minor damage to her eye this shows anger problems that was stressful fast forward 3 years. My daughter had a fall out with her partner and comes to stay with us and leaves his children with him so he goes to see if the ex can look after there children while he works shes a addict and the scored ex accuses him of indecent assault WTF Anyone with a brain can see she is a woman scorned she has trolled my daughter on social media the cops charged my son-in-law with this farcical charge I advise them to fight this charge and it cost them thousands to defend the. Because of more false statements from the ex the state takes the 2 children off them they just as there behaviour was coming right and gives them to the scorned ex. The charges get dismissed but they make my son in law do 400 hours community service and slap a 5 months home detention on him to ice this farcical cake they are making my daughter and her partner eat and to top it all off they had the cheek to ask my daughter to take the children back because the ex gets done for drunk drivering
I advised them that the other 2 children have been ruined and they will teach my mokos bad behaviour and also to keep the Ex out of there lives and to do that they cannot take the children back
Because of this evil woman ways. This has place my moko and daughter and son in law in hardship. What sort of justice is that I no they have treated them like this because of me. Ana to kai
Wallace Chapman interviewed a very impressive Israeli guy Gideon Levy this morning who condemns the actions of the Israeli government illegally defying UN sanctions with the settlements and the prison that is Gaza . Well worth a listen.
interesting that Israelis are not allowed to visit Gaza. Hidden under the carpet even though it is 15 minutes drive from Israel. Levy says that Gaza has been assessed as being “unlivable” in 2020.
And he mentioned apartheid. He says the settlers live close to the Palestinians. The Israeli settlers are supplied with water and electricity and services. The Palestinians nearby have no water supply, no electricity, and can wake up in the night to armed Israelis in their bedroom. He says that Israelis are deep into a mindset from propaganda that Palestinians are low humans and don’t deserve caring human consideration because of some reason… that justifies this attitude.
On Dec. 29, a transition adviser to Mr. Trump, K. T. McFarland, wrote in an email to a colleague that sanctions announced hours before by the Obama administration in retaliation for Russian election meddling were aimed at discrediting Mr. Trump’s victory. The sanctions could also make it much harder for Mr. Trump to ease tensions with Russia, “which has just thrown the U.S.A. election to him,” she wrote in the emails obtained by The Times.
“Professor Philip Bagshaw, founder of the Canterbury Charity Hospital, says the country is stuck in an austerity model for health and it’s about time doctors spoke out about it moving to an investment model.:
He speaks of how neo liberalism has practically killed the NHS (as was intended) and what needs to be done to save our own publicly funded health system.
A better question would be:
Does Sky TV risk disappearing up its own arse?
It seems to have a management that is incapable of seeing the bleeding obvious when things cudda shudda wudda been oh so different.
You know, if I could be bothered, I could get all the channels I regularly watch (off satellite and FTA) with a little investment in things like C-Band LNB and associated equipment, AND have the ability to record and watch as and when desired.
I think the answer is, SKY will have to radically mutate, or it will disappear up its own arse – EVEN IF it wins its latest desperate attempt to control and plunder.
Seems to me they’re trying to morph into a streaming company (hence really wanting to jump in bed with vodafone), but they haven’t managed to bridge the gap.
The pisser is their court case where they want veto rights on internet access, lol.
The funny thing is, they’re almost there, with the skyplus boxes that have a hard disk function they expect people to pay an extra $15/mth for when they also stream the same content. What they could do is get from China some boxes that have everything as optional addons: broadband streaming (including subscriptions to different services that pay a royalty to be installed on the boxes), or takes satellite if you go for that subscription, and the hdd rental on top of that. And the box doubles as a wifi router if you need one of them, so it’s kit you have around even if you’re not paying sky anything at the moment – because it makes it easier to give them money if you change your mind.
Not sure that Sky want to go streaming, but if they do, they don’t want to seriously commit to it until they absolutely have to, by which time Vodafone and others will probably have left them behind.
The only reason people like me are still with sky is pure laziness. To be fair, they’ve made some effort with that loyalty app, but I have limited space on my phone so haven’t downloaded it, and you can’t use app from a desktop/website. So the only thing keeping me with them is a) I like paying for content I really like, and b) I don’t want to have to go through upteen steps to watch a program, with tv it’s turnontv-flickchannels-done. The ultimate sense-experience, not “what do I want to watch” but “this’ll do”. I’m hot, I’m tired, I’m cooking dinner, what to watch doesn’t need to be a menu goddamn choice. My food isn’t, the TV I watch needn’t be.
Sometimes I do want to watch/stream specfic things, but not after work..
“The only reason people like me are still with sky is pure laziness.”
Me too, although not necessarily laziness – more that I’ve got better things to do than go down to Sky and hand in my decoder, and invest in CBand LNBs, and associated electronics. Last time I did (just to tell them I was fucking off overseas for 3 months), I was confronted with desperate sales-speak and ‘press 1’ for fuck all, or press 2 for slightly better than fuck all options.
You know Sky could have prolonged the inevitable if they’d been more reasonable – except they chose to be smart arses. But then what do you expect with a CEO like that? Now they’re trying to push the limited even further in some ego-driven fight to the death plan.
It’s utter wankery – but it’s also to be expected
Labour better sort this out before they go chucking huge amounts of taxpayer money at the sector.
Almost 90 per cent of the forestry industry is breaching employment standards and that may not even be the full extent of it, according to a Government audit of the sector.
I’m pretty sure Labour are well aware of it, just as they are in other sectors. Hence their commitment to beef up the Labour Inspectorate – which is way, way, way overdue.
I’m also pretty sure they’re well aware of past ills (some still present) in MoBIE.
The only thing that surprises me is that they haven’t seen fit to do with MoBIE what they’re doing with MPI.
It hasn’t just been the Labour Inspectorate, but also other agencies under MoBIE (such as INZ)
Agreed!. Don’t get me started!
I have two long files of various LI and INZ failings and fuckups.
Immigration lawyers (the genuine ones), unions, NGOs and others have been trying to draw attention to the problems now for years.
And the new coalition government fairly quickly recognised the need for more LI inspectors given all the breaches and slave labour conditions that had been reported in media – announcing an increase in numbers in early November, YET the LI National Manager was spouting off that they had sufficient only a few weeks beforehand.
Restructuring can be difficult, but unless there are some forceful messages given to some Senior managers, it might be better to pull agencies out from under the aegis of MoBIE and operate them standalone in the interim.
“A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said it took “the exploitation of workers very seriously” and was working hard to stop the practice.
Simmons said the New Zealand response to problems on fishing boats was poorly co-ordinated, with police, Department of Labour, Ministry for Primary Industries and Maritime NZ working to different briefs. “…
“A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said it took “the exploitation of workers very seriously” and was working hard to stop the practice.”
Except that MoBIE has the wrong organisational culture and focus, and that’s become evident in the way it has resourced the Labour Inspectorate and INZ over the years. It has turned immigration into a business – in order to keep the necessary churn for PTEs, others requiring labour, and shoddy immigration consultancies.
Check out its organisational structure and the backgrounds of its gNat appointees. I’m now convinced it has been working as designed (by Steven Joyce – even though he may not have realised the problems that are now haunting us).
Then there’s this doozy from a Cabinet Paper at the time of its creation (Steven Joyce and Jonathan Coleman who have such spectacular records):
“If real or perceived conflicts of objective within the Ministry’s role (for example, social vs. economic objectives; employer vs. worker perspectives; producer vs. consumer interests) are not managed, there is a risk that the new Ministry will not fully realise its benefits and will not be sustainable over time. This risk will be managed through organisational design and diligent management”.
Well I think we all now know what their intended benefits were, (and they’re to do with business growth growth growth and exploitation), that organisation design is a complete bugger’s muddle, and there must be a new definition of diligent management
No doubt they are aware of it. And to be fair, the Minister has issued a warning. Moreover, as you say, they plan to beef up the inspectors.
However, will they get on top of it on time? The Minister is going to start announcing expenditure on new projects before Christmas. The last thing the Government needs is headlines reporting employers funded by the taxpayer are breaching employment standards, thus exploiting their employees.
So far @The Chairman, the Minister(s) APPEARS to have more confidence in MoBIE officials than I do (and probably you – even though I suspect our politics might be eons apart).
On the other hand, I’m pretty bloody sure (as ‘the Minister(s) responsible’ come(s) to realise who has been responsible for various impediments in progressing new policy [going forward, of course], …….. he/they may get his/their dander up).
The MPI problem was a little more obvious. Then of course Rome wasn’t built in a day, and there are fuckups galore to have to deal with.
MoBIE would hopefully be 2nd or 3rd on the list (that Munstry for Everything dressed up in drag). There’s MSD, Health, Education, Land Transport, some of the SOE’s, etc., etc.
Back in the day when we had the old NZ Forest Service, the department provided leadership and training to the industry, so dodgy practices weren’t allowed to flourish.
Hopefully the re-establishment of the department will reintroduce this role into the industry.
The old NZFS certainly needed reform, but in killing it totally we lost a lot of vital functions that we as a country and economy, and especially those working in the industry desperately need now.
Sovereignty, freedom & democracy is under threat here. A good article worth reading here. Its our freedoms going under threat. https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/12/02/trade-minister-david-parker-must-intervene-over-sudden-and-bizarre-de-registration-of-anti-tppa-ngos/#comment-409789
Says Professor Jane Kelsey.
The bizarre de-registration of anti-WTO NGOs
By Prof Jane Kelsey / December 2, 2017 /
Yesterday I wrote to Trade Minister David Parker asking him to intervene urgently over the sudden and bizarre de-registration of representatives of prominent NGOs who had been accredited to attend the World Trade Organization ministerial conference from 10 to 13 December in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Parker is one of four vice-chairs of the eleventh WTO ministerial conference (MC11). To his credit he moved immediately. Vitalis Vangelis, the deputy head of MFAT responsible for these issues emailed back that:
“The Minister has asked me to underline to you that we absolutely share your concern that this is a very troubling development. The Minister has also told me to formally and urgently instruct our WTO Mission in Geneva to take this up as a priority with the WTO Secretariat, including to clarify what has happened – and quickly. A Formal Message (ie an instruction to the Mission) is being sent tonight to that effect.”
Trickle Down Economics
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I read a article that Sir Peter gluckman put out and it was very promising for our science in NZ. The sad part is some people have a hard time working out the truth here’s how I figure that out. First Id check that there are no conflicts of interest buy the author. 2 I use logic to analyse the article if the claim is not logical well that’s a no 3 I use math to analyse the percentage of scientists are for and against the artcail 4 I use social media
To check what the people say I usually made up my mind before this Ka pai
Many thanks to the 90% of kiwi who no science is good for US I say that science is essential for US to survive this tragic future that the wealth could impose on us. I will not stop trying to steer us to a sustainable humane future for our mokos.
PS I think that Elon Mus idea about sending a Tesla car into space will promote sustainability and solar and electricik cars but I’m a bit biased in Mus favour lol Ka kite ano.
Anyone been on Stuff lately?, the comment sections are unbelievably one sided, and yes I do realise im saying this in this little echo chamber we call TS, but youd think a national media website like this would be a bit more discrete in their biases.
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Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
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GROPERS
No. 15: Matt Lauer
Like another highly controversial American, the anti-free speech zealot Peter Thiel, this creep was given special treatment by the (thankfully defunct) National government….
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/99395517/disgraced-us-tv-host-matt-lauer-irks-kiwis-who-cannot-pass-through-his-land-to-huge-park
“GROPERS” is presented by GroperWatch, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
Keep up with the Gropers….
No.1 George Herbert Walker Bush; No. 2 Bill O’Reilly; No. 3 Al Franken; No. 4 Robin Brooke; No. 5 Lester Beck; No. 6 Arnold Schwarzenegger; No. 7 Joe Biden; No. 8 Rolf Harris; No. 9 Harold Bloom; No. 10 Sir Jimmy Savile; No. 11 Dr Morgan Fahey; No.12 Prince Harry; No. 13 Bill Clinton; No.14 Judge Roy Moore
Brilliant /sarc …
Former MP Todd Barclay commits what’s considered to be a crime, not talk to the police, no charges laid, then swans off on a taxpayer funded European holiday with the girlfriend!
Seems crime does definitely pays if you are a disgraced Natz MP!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11951474
Be interesting to know who paid there fares?
Is there any way he could of got the fares paid by the taxpayer(other that from his salary)?
I think I heard he is still paid as an MP for a while (3 months?) after he leaves parliament.
Yes, i was wondering if he had a paid for junket trip.
Much as I don”t usually recommend reading the Herald, how about actually reading the article before commenting?
This article actually gives the details of what Barclay has and still is receiving until 23 December – as are other now ex MPs who stood down or lost their seats at the general election.
It is actually worth reading in full but here are some bits
Disgraced MP Todd Barclay has just enjoyed a two-month sun-filled tour of Italy, Croatia and Greece all while receiving a $3000 a week taxpayer-funded pay packet.
The former National MP announced in June he would not stand again after the “phone tapping” scandal – but under Parliament’s rules he still receives his salary until December 23.
That means Barclay will have pocketed a total of $80,000 of taxpayer money, before tax, over six months.
It’s unclear what work he has done since June – Parliamentary Services, which administers politicians’ funding entitlements, was unable to say how many days he had been in Parliament or whether he had claimed any expenses.
…
This week it was reported that Barclay had taken a job with the Japanese owners of Queenstown’s Millbrook Resort, the Ishii family. His London-based role is as international business affairs secretary for the family’s Japanese design and software company, Too Corporation, Mountain Scene reported.
As an MP and deputy chair of a select committee Barclay earned about $160,000 a year as well as the added benefits of travel and accommodation expenses.
…
Under Parliamentary policy someone who retired would still be paid until three months after polling day – up to December 23.
All 34 MPs who resigned or lost their seats at the 2017 election still get paid for three months – about $40,000 in total, or $3300 a week, before tax.
Former MPs and party leaders Peter Dunne and Te Ururoa Flavell defended Barclay, saying departed MPs have an entitlement and how they use it is their business.
mary_a
You are wrong. Barclay was never convicted of a crime.
Metiria Turie admitted committing fraud, which I believe is a crime.
In the interests of balance the Herald should have commented on her too and how she has spent her tax paid salary since she left parliament.
If mary_a had said Barclay was convicted you may have a point, but she didn’t so your comment just makes you look incapable of comprehension.
+1
Grantoc (2.2) … I never said Barclay was convicted of a crime. The police didn’t bother to lay charges!
BTW what has Metiria Turei got to do with this issue? At least she had the good grace to admit what she did was wrong and prepared to pay what she took, back to social welfare.
Pity Metiria is no longer an MP. Parliament is a poorer place for her absence.
Mary_a
True – you never actually said the words “he was convicted of a crime”. But you strongly implied that he had committed a crime, which is as near as dammit to actually saying that he should have been convicted. The whole tenure of your comment was to buy into the Herald’s faux righteous indignation and to tut tuttingly condemn him.
What does Metiria have to do with it? Simply that she acknowledged defrauding tax payers and she has since continued to receive tax payer paid remuneration in the same way Barclay has and every other mp who did not return to parliament has. Given the circumstances maybe we should also know how she has used her tax paid remuneration, and allow ourselves to be similarly outraged.
The Herald was highly selective in drawing their readers attention to, shock horror, Barclay’s situation whilst completely ignoring other retiring mp’s who in th opinion of the righteously indignant could have also acted disgracefully (eg Metiria).
I guess i’m irritated by the cynical inconsistency demonstrated by the Herald concerning Barclay. And the gullibility of those it dog whistled to for responding as they have.
Bill English also strongly implied Barclay had committed a crime, have you taken it up with him?
Wonder why that little shit ran off and refused to give a statement to the police?
Barclay told the PM he did it. And Turei had the excuse that she was being subjected to a welfare regime that deliberately pays people an amount that is insufficient to live on. Barclay had the defense that the pm was telling porkies about a member of his own caucus.
Grantoc 2.2.2.1) … recording a private conversation without the permission of those involved is a crime.
As for Metiria, she was torn to shreds by a vicious media, out for blood. And they got it. At the she left Parliament, Metiria was on her own, unlike Todd Barclay. He had a lying, conniving, dirty politics playing leader such as Bill English to spin lies on his behalf!
You guys do realise you’re debating with someone who either can’t spell or is too lazy to bother (Turei instead of Turei) or failed
English (tenure when they mean tenor)?
Sorry too rushed, Grantoc = Turie
Barclay was never convicted of a crime. The money out of our taxes to pay off someone from his office wasn’t for a crime, it was for ……………… um ……………
Kim Hill enabling Don Brash to rise from the crypt (loved the image we had on our recent post) gave fertiliser to the destroyers of NZ bi-cultural values that are ready like old man’s beard to spread and smother our society. It was a mistake. I feel sad that there are so many white men who are steeped in ideas of superiority and sufficiency so they have nothing to learn, no regard to wider society, no reflection of their own limitations once they find their niche to their ‘standing in the community’; their pipeline of trickle-down emoluments delivered to them personally as belonging to the entitled circle. They rose from their crypts at the Constitution Conversation and tried to take over the discourse with the single-mindedness displayed in that zombie-walking-dead tv show. My advice, keep your distance, and don’t let them bite you.
I like these thoughts from Lew of Kiwipolitico 2/12/17 as they get to the heart of the matter, from someone who has a heart and is also rational.
Brash finally went one small step too far, with the claim that the Māori are not the indigenous people of Aotearoa, but merely its second-most-recent invaders. This notion has been debunked for almost a hundred years,…There was nowhere left for Kim Hill to go. Nobody can debunk arguments advanced with such disregard for reality.
So she shut it down. But better than shutting it down would have been not entertaining it in the first place — which is, by and large, what Māori seem to have wanted. The error of this interview was not merely giving Brash a platform, but its objectification of Māori, the idea that their right to existence on their own terms was a matter for debate….
I was in the crowd for this sacrifice. Loath as I am to continue focusing on Pākehā feelings, I have to say: my only remaining feeling is the horror of being responsible for all this. Not only for today’s sacrifice, but the small sliver of the past that is my contribution to what got us here. We Pākehā need to take care of our own embarrassments, it should not fall to Māori to do that. So we need to stop treating the right to Māori existence on their own terms as conditional on our goodwill, and start treating it as a fact of life.
[from now on, please include a link when you cut and paste from a website – weka]
It would not have been difficult for RNZ to agree: “Yes, we will do translations at the time for any full sentences in Maori, just like they do in Parliament.”That would have taken the wind out of his sails.
Instead she treated him with unnecessary disdain, and he in turn did fine.
Hill spent far too much time posturing about the RNZ Charter, and far too much time lobbing easy oppositional questions so that Brash could dig holes for himself about pre-contact Maori being in the stone age.
She also made no mention of the other RNZ Maori-specific programming which slips easily from Maori to English with no fuss.
I find having to actually listen to what they are saying in Maori and trying to work out what they are saying helps my understanding of the reo. Translating it doesn’t help one understand the sentence structure.
I agree that most of the NZ public can pick up specific words, and can scrape by with a few phrases.
Maori Language Week specializes in that, and I see that in many workplaces.
It’s not enough.
If we are going to help the language survive as more than a set of nouns we trot out to feel pc, we need to deal with it in whole sentences.
That’s where live translation comes in, and it’s why Maori TV is so successful.
RNZ needs to improve enabling people to speak te roe Maori, as sentences not as words, and translating the sentences at the beginning of the morning news show is a great way to start that.
It would not have been difficult for RNZ to agree: “Yes, we will do translations at the time for any full sentences in Maori, just like they do in Parliament.”That would have taken the wind out of his sails.
At the beginning of the interview, Kim Hill stated that the translations of the Maori greetings etc used by RNZ presenters are all set out on the RNZ website at http://www.radionz.co.nz/collections/kiaora
She subsequently repeated this several times during the i/v.
The RNZ website also includes a number of other articles, explanations etc setting out their objectives etc in relation to use of Te Reo (includinng directions from the former Minister of Maori Development under the previous National government).
For example this link which also includes links on pronunciation of various words, and links to other RNZ articles and external websites providing more help.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/279645/new-kupu-for-maori-language-week
Yes I noted that about the website.
Five clicks in is not good communication, there’s simply no excuse for trying to use web communication with live translation. Doesn’t work in the U.N., doesn’t work in Parliament, certainly doesn’t work on radio.
RNZ should be held to the same standard as Maori TV, which regularly simulcasts its translation as subtext. As it should.
Brash on that point was right, and RNZ should simply acknowledge that it’s really easy to fix, and fix it.
True re the five clicks! LOL. I have it bookmarked so its only one click away.
Perhaps she saw Brash as an easy, risible target. But one should never underestimate the power of nostalgia for apparent past glories. In this case – of
European ascendancy and duplicity. Luckily Maori had a good line in duplicity too, so they couldn’t be taken to the cleaners for some blankets and beads.
She should have had that list you mentioned at hand. But I did like the jibe at unintelligible and uncertain business and economic-speak and all based on possible lies and unrelated stats making up a possible model that will be measured to see if it is working. And if not, then the report will not be released till after the Budget, the Election or some other high-water mark.
Between Kim Hill’s interview with the anachronism that is Brash and Wallace Chapman’s interview with Gideon Levy some of my faith in Natrad is restored.
‘Enabling’ ? Not really. Kim Hill gave him enough rope and sat back while he hanged himself. A delight to hear, and I could almost see that wide eyed look that so often appears on the faces of the blindly privileged when someone has the the temerity to suggest there may be opinions counter to his own.
One day these mostly white males will finally shuffle off their mortal coils and we might be free of their bigotry…until then, the younger folk need to hear that some of Grandpa’s wisdom is…. not.
Time for younger more tolerant (and kinder) leadership to shut these old white trumplike dinosaurs down.
greywarshark, please include the link to the story: http://www.kiwipolitico.com/2017/12/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-an-error/
+1, will add a moderator note.
sorry weka thought I had.
all good, thanks.
please see moderator note above.
Many thanks for you view greywarshark I agree totally. I seen a recent TV show were one has targets to reduce OUR prison population by 30% many thanks to Our coalition government for setting a. great goals. But I say that that goal will bite you on the ass when you don’t achieve it. Why do I no that won’t be achieved 1 points is most the people running our justice system are of the same era dum brash. They have the same ancient I dialogical view which has caused all the_____ups we have in our society this can be proven as fact. I no that most of these people vote national and the Maori party. I say it was a joke someone trying to blame Tamati Coffee for there lose of Mana.
So in my view OUR justice system is broken how do I no this well no one in the justice system is held accountable for there actions they control the media on articles about the justice system so that most that gets out is positive news about them they have no independent institutions to hold them accountable for there actions. There arguement will be the so called independent police conducted authority this is a farcical organisation that just protects there image O yea it works for the wealthy but not the other 95% of us.
To cut a long story short here is what has happened to me I filed a complaint to the IPCA it got accepted with help from a good kiwi.
They email me to say they were investigating my complaint of breach to my human rights and privacy rights. And one nite I get a random visit from this blonde police officer whom was supposubly look for a false person what was his motive well maybe to sight me or intimated me you will have to ask my neo liberal neighbour. A week also goes by and I get a email and the officer claims that he interviewed me and investigated my complaint and said that there was no case of breach to my rights YEA RIGHT. These people have been breaking into my house on a regular basis I asked the landlord to put dead lock on the front door but no you see he is m8 with my neo liberal neighbour so I payed $140 to get one installed. O and all those emails that I had from the IPCA they have been deleted from my computer but we all no that nothing is ever totally deleted from the Internet net I will get someone to recover this information when the time is right. We need to hold our justice system to account for there actions before we will be able to lower our prison population if we don’t do this these people will keep on doing what they are doing now an no one can touch them so they think they are right.
Here’s a story on all the time I have been discrimination against because of my Maori origins.
I was 17 fishing in Napier I brought my 3rd car HK 69 Holden I drove to work drove around a lot in Napier never got a fine.
I had a fallout with my mum went to Gisborne and met my wife and stayed at my auntie house which was the house that my great-grandmother brought me up in and every 2 days I got pulled up and fined so in 3 months I had racked up $1000 worth of fines I thought that there is just heaps of cops in Gisborne to explain why I had clocked so much fines in such a short time my auntie once commented to me that if the cops harassme me to write a letter of complaint to the police commissioner I did not take this information in at that time. 8 months later I sold my car to pay my fines and I find out later that my wife was pregnant with our first child at massey unerversity and I made a promise to my great grand mother that because I did not no I had a father that I will always put my wife and children first. And now when I look into my past I see that the cops targeted me because of my Whano which is a breach of my rights in the treaty of waitangi.
Because a lot of my whano are in the justice system they have used this against me and bribed them for false information IE whano gossip. I chose a different path to most of my whano which makes me different and can cause the eels in the bucket syndrome IE I climb out and they keep trying to pull me back in. They will try and use any tactics to get me as they do to other people it’s not hard to work this out. They use bait cars houses open gang members to try and intimidat me old associates parading Lady’s past me in my view they are putting these Lady’s in danger and this shows they have no respect for these Lady’s. I no everyone they have used to try an find shit on me they have stereotyped me into a farcical image based on some of my whano members. I would never do what they have tried to bait me into doing. 1 I’m not a idiot 2 it is not in my DNA to steal ect I never changed my name I never went bankrupt I payed most of my dept 3 I no that I will be held accountable for my actions unlike them. They use my children neighbours my neighbours and a lot of other people they have caused hardship to all my immediate Whano members. (And this behaviour by OUR justice system is OK by you well no and I will drag there ASSES over the hot coals of a court house and make them treat MAORI fair and humanly and equally ]. Kia Kaha
eco maori
You will be judged because of your whanau by the police and watched. And your whanau will be annoyed at you going off in your own direction. So maybe you need to think of a different location in the future. It’s hard to be an independent thinker. You might be right about everything but not be able to get redress, it is just the way the system works at present. Kia kaha.
I’m not running away from these dicks GWS I do not fall for power suggestions so go try it on someone else I will have my days in court Ana to kai
Here’s a story on the hardship they have put on my daughter who lives in Pukeohe.
She meets her partner in Rotorua he has 2 children and my daughter looks after them when they visited she is a loving caring girl. They have a baby girl of there own the state takes the 2 children off the scorned ex and gives them to my Daughter these children have been through a lot of bad things she treats them like her own one day we all have Christmas together and the boy punches a window that my second eldest moko is poking tongues at him she get a shard of glass in her eye I saw it sticking out lucky she only had minor damage to her eye this shows anger problems that was stressful fast forward 3 years. My daughter had a fall out with her partner and comes to stay with us and leaves his children with him so he goes to see if the ex can look after there children while he works shes a addict and the scored ex accuses him of indecent assault WTF Anyone with a brain can see she is a woman scorned she has trolled my daughter on social media the cops charged my son-in-law with this farcical charge I advise them to fight this charge and it cost them thousands to defend the. Because of more false statements from the ex the state takes the 2 children off them they just as there behaviour was coming right and gives them to the scorned ex. The charges get dismissed but they make my son in law do 400 hours community service and slap a 5 months home detention on him to ice this farcical cake they are making my daughter and her partner eat and to top it all off they had the cheek to ask my daughter to take the children back because the ex gets done for drunk drivering
I advised them that the other 2 children have been ruined and they will teach my mokos bad behaviour and also to keep the Ex out of there lives and to do that they cannot take the children back
Because of this evil woman ways. This has place my moko and daughter and son in law in hardship. What sort of justice is that I no they have treated them like this because of me. Ana to kai
Wallace Chapman interviewed a very impressive Israeli guy Gideon Levy this morning who condemns the actions of the Israeli government illegally defying UN sanctions with the settlements and the prison that is Gaza . Well worth a listen.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018623972/gideon-levy-israeli-journalist
interesting that Israelis are not allowed to visit Gaza. Hidden under the carpet even though it is 15 minutes drive from Israel. Levy says that Gaza has been assessed as being “unlivable” in 2020.
And he mentioned apartheid. He says the settlers live close to the Palestinians. The Israeli settlers are supplied with water and electricity and services. The Palestinians nearby have no water supply, no electricity, and can wake up in the night to armed Israelis in their bedroom. He says that Israelis are deep into a mindset from propaganda that Palestinians are low humans and don’t deserve caring human consideration because of some reason… that justifies this attitude.
But her emails.
On Dec. 29, a transition adviser to Mr. Trump, K. T. McFarland, wrote in an email to a colleague that sanctions announced hours before by the Obama administration in retaliation for Russian election meddling were aimed at discrediting Mr. Trump’s victory. The sanctions could also make it much harder for Mr. Trump to ease tensions with Russia, “which has just thrown the U.S.A. election to him,” she wrote in the emails obtained by The Times.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/12/02/us/russia-mcfarland-flynn-trump-emails.html?referer=https://t.co/Rt9xh2iQjw?amp=1
Thank you Michael Flynn
Your transitional, timely and nuanced “collusion” resulted in this;
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-putin-president-invite-35-us-diplomats-kremlin-christmas-barack-obama-sanction-russian-a7509301.html
Shame that the children of Russian diplomats in Maryland did not have such happy prospects for Christmas;
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/28/obama-poised-to-hit-russia-with-further-sanctions-before-leaving-office
And, and, this… http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018623967/philip-bagshaw-why-doctors-needs-to-speak-out …from Wallace Chapman this morning.
“Professor Philip Bagshaw, founder of the Canterbury Charity Hospital, says the country is stuck in an austerity model for health and it’s about time doctors spoke out about it moving to an investment model.:
He speaks of how neo liberalism has practically killed the NHS (as was intended) and what needs to be done to save our own publicly funded health system.
Strong on advocacy is this one…:-)
Does Sky TV risk consumer backlash (such as a boycott) with its attempt to censor the internet?
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/11/sky-tv-accused-of-trying-to-censor-the-internet.html
A better question would be:
Does Sky TV risk disappearing up its own arse?
It seems to have a management that is incapable of seeing the bleeding obvious when things cudda shudda wudda been oh so different.
You know, if I could be bothered, I could get all the channels I regularly watch (off satellite and FTA) with a little investment in things like C-Band LNB and associated equipment, AND have the ability to record and watch as and when desired.
I think the answer is, SKY will have to radically mutate, or it will disappear up its own arse – EVEN IF it wins its latest desperate attempt to control and plunder.
“Does Sky TV risk disappearing up its own arse?”
If they lose the rights to the rugby, most likely.
Seems to me they’re trying to morph into a streaming company (hence really wanting to jump in bed with vodafone), but they haven’t managed to bridge the gap.
The pisser is their court case where they want veto rights on internet access, lol.
The funny thing is, they’re almost there, with the skyplus boxes that have a hard disk function they expect people to pay an extra $15/mth for when they also stream the same content. What they could do is get from China some boxes that have everything as optional addons: broadband streaming (including subscriptions to different services that pay a royalty to be installed on the boxes), or takes satellite if you go for that subscription, and the hdd rental on top of that. And the box doubles as a wifi router if you need one of them, so it’s kit you have around even if you’re not paying sky anything at the moment – because it makes it easier to give them money if you change your mind.
Not sure that Sky want to go streaming, but if they do, they don’t want to seriously commit to it until they absolutely have to, by which time Vodafone and others will probably have left them behind.
Someone was looking for synergies with that merger plan.
The only reason people like me are still with sky is pure laziness. To be fair, they’ve made some effort with that loyalty app, but I have limited space on my phone so haven’t downloaded it, and you can’t use app from a desktop/website. So the only thing keeping me with them is a) I like paying for content I really like, and b) I don’t want to have to go through upteen steps to watch a program, with tv it’s turnontv-flickchannels-done. The ultimate sense-experience, not “what do I want to watch” but “this’ll do”. I’m hot, I’m tired, I’m cooking dinner, what to watch doesn’t need to be a menu goddamn choice. My food isn’t, the TV I watch needn’t be.
Sometimes I do want to watch/stream specfic things, but not after work..
“The only reason people like me are still with sky is pure laziness.”
Me too, although not necessarily laziness – more that I’ve got better things to do than go down to Sky and hand in my decoder, and invest in CBand LNBs, and associated electronics. Last time I did (just to tell them I was fucking off overseas for 3 months), I was confronted with desperate sales-speak and ‘press 1’ for fuck all, or press 2 for slightly better than fuck all options.
You know Sky could have prolonged the inevitable if they’d been more reasonable – except they chose to be smart arses. But then what do you expect with a CEO like that? Now they’re trying to push the limited even further in some ego-driven fight to the death plan.
It’s utter wankery – but it’s also to be expected
Important Notice:
“What does CPTPP mean for you? Come along Tuesday 5 Dec, Europe House @AUTuni to hear from Minister of Trade David Parker. Register here: https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/nz-trade-policy/public-engagement-on-trade/ …”
Other venues/ dates here… From Dunners to the Tron all on this week
https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/nz-trade-policy/public-engagement-on-trade/
Labour better sort this out before they go chucking huge amounts of taxpayer money at the sector.
Almost 90 per cent of the forestry industry is breaching employment standards and that may not even be the full extent of it, according to a Government audit of the sector.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99430664/forestry-audit-reveals-widespread-breaches-in-employment-standards
I’m pretty sure Labour are well aware of it, just as they are in other sectors. Hence their commitment to beef up the Labour Inspectorate – which is way, way, way overdue.
I’m also pretty sure they’re well aware of past ills (some still present) in MoBIE.
The only thing that surprises me is that they haven’t seen fit to do with MoBIE what they’re doing with MPI.
It hasn’t just been the Labour Inspectorate, but also other agencies under MoBIE (such as INZ)
INZ definately need a rocket!
https://twitter.com/MichaelFieldNZ/status/935392065789206528
https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/99397804/vietnamese-fishermen-to-be-repatriated-after-jumping-ship-in-bluff
Agreed!. Don’t get me started!
I have two long files of various LI and INZ failings and fuckups.
Immigration lawyers (the genuine ones), unions, NGOs and others have been trying to draw attention to the problems now for years.
And the new coalition government fairly quickly recognised the need for more LI inspectors given all the breaches and slave labour conditions that had been reported in media – announcing an increase in numbers in early November, YET the LI National Manager was spouting off that they had sufficient only a few weeks beforehand.
Restructuring can be difficult, but unless there are some forceful messages given to some Senior managers, it might be better to pull agencies out from under the aegis of MoBIE and operate them standalone in the interim.
It’s got me going Tim..
“A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said it took “the exploitation of workers very seriously” and was working hard to stop the practice.
Simmons said the New Zealand response to problems on fishing boats was poorly co-ordinated, with police, Department of Labour, Ministry for Primary Industries and Maritime NZ working to different briefs. “…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/344987/absconding-men-probably-desperate-to-leave-vessel
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/68739974/slavery-on-nz-seas-rape-bonded-labour-and-abuse-widespread-on-fishing-boats
The 3 Vietmanese were Captured Tuesday and deported by INZ on Thursday! No legal assistance even though offered pro bono.
“A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said it took “the exploitation of workers very seriously” and was working hard to stop the practice.”
Except that MoBIE has the wrong organisational culture and focus, and that’s become evident in the way it has resourced the Labour Inspectorate and INZ over the years. It has turned immigration into a business – in order to keep the necessary churn for PTEs, others requiring labour, and shoddy immigration consultancies.
Check out its organisational structure and the backgrounds of its gNat appointees. I’m now convinced it has been working as designed (by Steven Joyce – even though he may not have realised the problems that are now haunting us).
Then there’s this doozy from a Cabinet Paper at the time of its creation (Steven Joyce and Jonathan Coleman who have such spectacular records):
“If real or perceived conflicts of objective within the Ministry’s role (for example, social vs. economic objectives; employer vs. worker perspectives; producer vs. consumer interests) are not managed, there is a risk that the new Ministry will not fully realise its benefits and will not be sustainable over time. This risk will be managed through organisational design and diligent management”.
Well I think we all now know what their intended benefits were, (and they’re to do with business growth growth growth and exploitation), that organisation design is a complete bugger’s muddle, and there must be a new definition of diligent management
@ OnceWasTim
No doubt they are aware of it. And to be fair, the Minister has issued a warning. Moreover, as you say, they plan to beef up the inspectors.
However, will they get on top of it on time? The Minister is going to start announcing expenditure on new projects before Christmas. The last thing the Government needs is headlines reporting employers funded by the taxpayer are breaching employment standards, thus exploiting their employees.
So far @The Chairman, the Minister(s) APPEARS to have more confidence in MoBIE officials than I do (and probably you – even though I suspect our politics might be eons apart).
On the other hand, I’m pretty bloody sure (as ‘the Minister(s) responsible’ come(s) to realise who has been responsible for various impediments in progressing new policy [going forward, of course], …….. he/they may get his/their dander up).
The MPI problem was a little more obvious. Then of course Rome wasn’t built in a day, and there are fuckups galore to have to deal with.
MoBIE would hopefully be 2nd or 3rd on the list (that Munstry for Everything dressed up in drag). There’s MSD, Health, Education, Land Transport, some of the SOE’s, etc., etc.
Back in the day when we had the old NZ Forest Service, the department provided leadership and training to the industry, so dodgy practices weren’t allowed to flourish.
Hopefully the re-establishment of the department will reintroduce this role into the industry.
The old NZFS certainly needed reform, but in killing it totally we lost a lot of vital functions that we as a country and economy, and especially those working in the industry desperately need now.
Sovereignty, freedom & democracy is under threat here. A good article worth reading here. Its our freedoms going under threat.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/12/02/trade-minister-david-parker-must-intervene-over-sudden-and-bizarre-de-registration-of-anti-tppa-ngos/#comment-409789
Says Professor Jane Kelsey.
The bizarre de-registration of anti-WTO NGOs
By Prof Jane Kelsey / December 2, 2017 /
Yesterday I wrote to Trade Minister David Parker asking him to intervene urgently over the sudden and bizarre de-registration of representatives of prominent NGOs who had been accredited to attend the World Trade Organization ministerial conference from 10 to 13 December in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Parker is one of four vice-chairs of the eleventh WTO ministerial conference (MC11). To his credit he moved immediately. Vitalis Vangelis, the deputy head of MFAT responsible for these issues emailed back that:
“The Minister has asked me to underline to you that we absolutely share your concern that this is a very troubling development. The Minister has also told me to formally and urgently instruct our WTO Mission in Geneva to take this up as a priority with the WTO Secretariat, including to clarify what has happened – and quickly. A Formal Message (ie an instruction to the Mission) is being sent tonight to that effect.”
Keeper
very good.
Nice!!
You missed
Trickle Down
And there goes the base.
LOL gotta love those stupid republicans.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax/senate-approves-major-tax-cuts-in-victory-for-trump-idUSKBN1DV4K2
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/senate-tax-cuts-donald-trump-rich-us-vote-republican-vote-result-latest-a8088196.html
Shane Jones blaming the poor and getting wide spread coverage.
And note above the forestry work stuff.
FFS
Did I just c Shane Jones throwing a hospital pass to Grant Robertson on National tv…ffs prepare better man
Dam I need to drink more 🙁
I read a article that Sir Peter gluckman put out and it was very promising for our science in NZ. The sad part is some people have a hard time working out the truth here’s how I figure that out. First Id check that there are no conflicts of interest buy the author. 2 I use logic to analyse the article if the claim is not logical well that’s a no 3 I use math to analyse the percentage of scientists are for and against the artcail 4 I use social media
To check what the people say I usually made up my mind before this Ka pai
Many thanks to the 90% of kiwi who no science is good for US I say that science is essential for US to survive this tragic future that the wealth could impose on us. I will not stop trying to steer us to a sustainable humane future for our mokos.
PS I think that Elon Mus idea about sending a Tesla car into space will promote sustainability and solar and electricik cars but I’m a bit biased in Mus favour lol Ka kite ano.
Anyone been on Stuff lately?, the comment sections are unbelievably one sided, and yes I do realise im saying this in this little echo chamber we call TS, but youd think a national media website like this would be a bit more discrete in their biases.