Is Waitangi Day supposed to be a national day of celebration? Or has it just become entrenched as a day of protest opportunism? A symbol of grievance, not unity?
Does Waitangi Day fill you with patriotic pride?
Or do you roll your eys and wonder what protest popups will piss on it?
I hardly think it’s banal when what is supposed to be a national day of celebration is degraded by rent-a-mob.
I’d guess that most New Zealanders either don’t give a shit about Waitangi Day (except for enjoying a holiday some years) or get the shits about the inevitable shit stirring. That’s a sad state.
Pete, are you saying that Waitangi Day should be the day of the year that we all forget about what the treaty said and just pretend that it’s been honoured and everything’s peachy? that it should be the day when one partner in that treaty should STFU so that the rest of us can feel good about ourselves?
That’d be a pretty fucking ironic way to go about things.
No one’s stopping you having your big party platitude pete – go hard, crack a beer, tell a few jokes… meanwhile the people you slur will continue working towards equality and a fairer society for all.
how is saying that waitangi should be a day of celebration,
and implying that those who disagree aren’t getting into the spirit of it
or what the fuck ever it is you are saying,
not trying to start a slur fest?
No surprise that Mana want to talk up a hostile reception for Key.
It must be very frustrating for those trying to organise a “peaceful family-oriented celebration” at Waitangi to have all the media and protest addicts take all the attention.
My points are, should we accept that Waitangi Day is going to always be a focus of dissent and protest, and should we have an alternate day for all New Zealanders to enjoy? Or just not bother with some sort of collective celebration of our country?
Thing is Pete, Waitangi day could be the day you want it to be, but it can’t get there by pretending everything is peachy. Sort out the shit, and it won’t be shitty, and we’ll have aday that we can feel good about ouselves in a way that means something.
And can you honestly not see that complaining that Waitangi day isn’t treated as a celebratory love in congratulating pakeha on their awesomeness is actually pretty fucking offensive?
yes you are but you are not very good at it – judging others by how you see yourself methinks – all those lines about piss and shit – save it for your party when you’re reciting your tired jokes pete I’m sure you and your mate will have a big laugh at the expence of others
I suppose they could if they wanted to, but they probably wouldn’t try it here.
Why can’t all New Zealand celebrate a day in common?
Anzac Day comes closest but it is not so much a celebration, it is in Remembrance of past sacrifices, which is important.
Queens ‘Birthday’ is a bit farcical. Labour Day is just Holiday Day. I think it would be good if we could have something here like Independence Day or Australia Day.
Maybe we’re just not mature enough as a country for that yet.
I tend to agree with you Pete in terms of celebrating being a New Zealander.
Waitangi day is what it is and will remain that until Maori achieve equality with their treaty partners in law and in society.
I would do away with Queens Birthday and create Aotearoa Day. A day that we stop and celebrate being Kiwi. There are many things wrong with this country but they are far outweighed by all the things that are right. We never really reflect on that as a country. Surely for one day a year we can come together and forget about our differences and celebrate the one thing we all have in common. Living in a fucking great country.
Yes, it would be good if we could find something we can all come together and celebrate on. I’d be happy calling it Aotearoa Day but I suspect that wouldn’t be universally popular.
But realistically I’m not sure it could happen judging by the level of attacks here for daring suggest it.
Why don’t you take the 364 days that aren’t Waitangi day and use those to celebrate being wealthy and white and part of the power structure built on the very wrongs that the Waitangi protests are attempting to draw your dulled attention to?
I haven’t seen an attack on you for wanting an ‘Aotearoa’ Day. Just leave us Waitangi Day please. It may annoy you that there is protest there but there is nothing to stop tauiwi protesting there as far as I know.
Pay no attention to the concern troll. Waitangi Day is already awesome, there is gonna be a big party up North just like last year. But the only thing you will see on the news is protests and scary looking brown dudes
Oh yeah Pete Australia Day is a fantastic day for the Aborigines too. Yes its great to have a day where the colonialists celebrate all the damage past and present inflicted upon the indigenous people.
So what you are saying Pete is that no matter what the rich and powerful inflict upon you, steal from you etc. you should just forget it and join in with a fake celebration. Get real PG, I actually thought there was a few more brains in your head than you have shown us today.
Pompous Git until Maori hold high place in their homeland instead of being at the bottom of the heap protests will go on simple something you tiny brain should be able to figure out .Your so much like your leader stating the obvious reeling out boring old arguments that NZ will never move on until idiots like you read the real hisTory of new Zealand.
Why can’t the rich white straight men have just ONE day where they get to have THEIR say for a change?
I don’t go a bomb on what PG has to say, but the way you’re all ganging up on him is making me sicker than I already am (and according to the neurologist at Auckland City I am actually not all that crash hot)…
It reminds me of the gang beatings I have had in the past, and that made me despise this place. There are some people, in some groups that it just is not safe to offend or upset. Never has anonymity seemed so valuable! 🙁
I think pete likes offending and upsetting people – but not all people, just ‘some’ people.
Waitangi protestors, the target of pete today, also direct their actions to ‘some’ people, but the difference is that they are working to make our society better, fairer and more equal.
I’d guess that most New Zealanders either don’t give a shit about Waitangi Day …
I admit I don’t… (but then QoT has already labelled me a racist, and as we all know, there’s no defence against that accusation. *)
Years back, in the 1970s, protestors shouted “F*** the Treaty, it’s a fraud, we want nothing to do with it!”
Years later, in the 80s and beyond, the protestors said the exact opposite – “Honour the Treaty, we love it and we want it”.
I am just a stupid evil White bitch, (or so I’ve been told.) I know nothing.
* For his/her benefit – the evil-ex (Maori, but the point s/he missed it he’d have been evil regardless of race – he was an alcoholic) died about 7 weeks back.
Every country must have a starting point, and like it or not, I guess the signing of that Treaty was that starting point.
Though I am concerned about how we are in such a hurry to settle old greivances, we are creating new ones, with the systematic shifting of conservation land into iwi hands, for them to restrict access. And lets not forget Tuhoe’s desire to get their hands on Te Uruwera National Park, which will almost see New Zealanders having to pay big bucks to enjoy something that everyone should be able to enjoy.
Celebrating being a New Zealander is something I do every day but I don’t see Waitangi Day as a day on which one celebrates Te Tiriti but rather a day to commemorate and reflect on what might have been and what still may come to pass. Then again, that is just me
Speaking for myself, I commemorate, not celebrate.
Until The Crown (Her Majesty’s NZ Government) not only settle old grievances in a meaningful manner, then stick to the contracts that have been negotiated as part of those settlements as well as honouring the original Treaty, I have no reason to celebrate.
I seem to remember someone calculating that it took less than a week for the Crown to breach the Ngai Tahu Settlement
Most conservation land that is handed back to iwi comes with strict conditions around public access, however, iwi have known to wait for a few months and then block it off. The Port Nicholson Block Settlement is an example, where access to several lagoons have been restricted.
Is Pete George supposed to be raising a valid issue? Or has he just become entrenched as an attention-seeking linkwhore?
Does Pete George fill you with patriotic pride?
Or do you roll your eyes and wonder when he will actually say or do something that matters a damn?
Yes CV. We do have a limit to the length of the Election. And we nearly have transparency about funding. But it does appear that the few very rich control the direction of decision making.
Maybe the case is waiting to be made for a Public Funding, so that Government is not corrupted (any more.)
A long listen but some parallels with NZ. All for Root Hacking rather than Partisan arguments.
Do you think that in all this is a cause for Voter Apathy in NZ?
I think that there are a few factors leading to citizen apathy (voter apathy being only a symptom of citizen apathy).
Time and information poverty for the majority is an issue. Pervasive framing by the Right Wing that business is the solution and government is the problem is an issue. A lack of civics education is an issue. A distant complex self serving bureaucracy is an issue. The ideology of individualism and not understanding how broader societal and economic structures affect personal income and lifestyles is an issue. A set of politicians who seem to all sound and look the same is an issue.
EDIT a lack of perspective of 20th century NZ history, especially of social and worker struggles, is also an issue.
There aren’t any. We have the resources here to do whatever we want and the only thing that’s holding us back is a socio-economic system that accumulates the control of the wealth into the hands of the few. Money, a non-resource, from over seas won’t change that.
RIP another NZ business owing $11 million. In business since 1964, employing 180 people.
from stuff business – business and KordaMentha Receivers KordaMentha were called into Auckland-based Criterion Group and its New Zealand and Australian subsidiaries on Tuesday. About 180 staff are affected.
Their appointment followed a “serious decline in trading” for the group, the receivers said.
It exports around 70 per cent of its production to North America, South America, Europe, Singapore and the Pacific Islands.
I don’t think that the politicians and economic advisors and company directors understand about the business of making things, and how important it is. They quote the stats about the myriad of small businesses forming the important other sector with earnings not arising from the land.
The lawyers, financial advisors, even the managerial class are service providers only making a good living out of a thriving economy (except recently where a business gains ‘face’ by paying top cash to the top people, and then to avoid losing ‘face’ pay more cash when those top people lead the business into a decline.)
ha ha PG. I have a friend who’s worst insult is to call someone ‘banal’. Card carrying lefty too. I reckon we should keep Waitangi Day, get rid of the Queen’s Birthday and have a New Zealand day. Or have an extra public holiday.
Youre a pretty nasty person Monique. I have a feeling that you are of these women who sit in a cafe and run down all and sundry while being all nice to their faces.
You give me that vibe. Youre a nasty nasty bitchy woman. I can tell.
Hmmm, Monique has a contempt for the poor, and appears both socially conservative and politically naive. An ideal United Future candidate, perhaps? Maybe you could have a chat to The Hair, Pete. If he remembers who you are, that is.
A whole 2 people support UF. A guy who tends to do nothing else than sit on the internet all day, and a manicured slumlord who really really needs to get some – perhaps she needs to realise that slagging off those on benefits/her tenants is really a big turn off.
Millsy: Advocating the hanging of people who disagree with you (/treachery/comment-page-1/#comment-429671) tends to undermine your position as the arbiter of nastiness.
The only gaming I do is on blogs. I won’t try to describe my roles as I’d just be struck down by opposing Forces of Banality.
One of my games is wordplay. It was interesting that IB introduced the word ‘banal’ – that comes from Old French banel – ‘pertaining to a ban’.
Another definition is ‘ pertaining to compulsory feudal service ‘. While not compulsory one can get the impression of attempts at imposing serfdom here by the overlords. At least banal doesn’t seem to be banned.
my concise oxford has a good definition – ‘trite, feeble’ and interestingly it sits between ban and banana – nice universe humour in the context of this discussion
I can’t edit my previous comment, straight after I have put it up. The stats of the numbers of small businesses are quoted and we know they are so important, yet they are abandoned whenever the government chooses to make changes. One example of abandonment is after the Christchurch earthquake. There seemed little co-operation with the businesses affected, with explanation of the known and unknown risks in daily briefings in a venue large enough to cater for all and whiteboards where info could be presented even if there was no electricity.
And these are the wealth creators, that phrase which comes to the lips of politicians so often, spoken of but too small to be able to offer quid pro quo, or tit for tat, no doubt.
No, small businesses aren’t the “wealth creators” that the politicians speak of. The “wealth creators” that politicians speak of are the rich parasites and the name is pure misdirection.
SME’s better get it into their little heads that NAT is here to represent the corporates and the multimillionaires, and if you are a small enterprise they are quite happy to leave you twisting in the wind.
When I press Home to refresh my page it seems to take me back some time not bring me up to date. The index shows at the top lprent POAL sleeze each time I press Home – if that’s helpful to know.
Usually that is a problem with the local browser’s cache. For instance I get that type of issue when I use the back button on safari on my iPad (and bloody annoying it is as well). You could look at turning off the browser cache to test if it is just that. The site sends instructions about what should be cached and what should not. But some of the browsers ignore or misinterpret…
I just tried reproducing your diagnostic on linux with chrome and firefox and didn’t get it. Give me some more details – OS / Browser.
However we’re currently running on an apache2 mode that I have never used before after the outage on wednesday. I have no idea what effect it has on the cache modules that are also loaded at the server side. I will be testing my way back to my usual configuration this weekend.
What a train wreck flogging off power assets are proving to be and already there appears to be a blow out in the cost, (potential litigation of treaty rights and rightly so). I seem to recall the figure of 100 million to sell money earning power assets and what will they sell for?
2012 is going to be the year when all the figures do not add up. Bring on the budget I say.
When I click your link Draco, and when I click mine, they take me to exactly the same place – the beginning of the particular blog I’m mentioning.
Where does clicking my link take you?
Maybe this is a browser thing, you’ve made the same comment before, and I’ve clicked both links and ‘snap’. How do you go about linking to a blog or story from somewhere else? If there is a quick *F-key* shortcut I’d be glad to learn it.
Nope. Draco’s one takes you to the post – if you scroll down you’ll find you can add comments.
Your one takes to the front page – which just happens to look the same right now. However as soon as they put in a new post (tonight?), noone will have any idea what you were talking about when they click the link.
bernardchickey
Oh and by the way. Record net migration to Australia of 36,900 in 2011 (100/day) bit.ly/xYlWQd NZ economic policy not working
19 minutes ago
bernardchickey
Is this the path to greatness for NZ? Foreign debt funded property boom for the wealthiest? That pushes up NZ$? Just nuts.
24 minutes ago
bernardchickey
Govt borrows money from China, hands it to wealthiest via tax cuts, who then borrow more and buy bigger houses bit.ly/zDJRKw
25 minutes ago
Here’s the kicker though: “However, support for the full National-led Government has dipped to 49% (down 0.5%), trailing the Opposition Parties (51%, up 0.5%).”
How close was that election, eh? A couple of points would have done it. Still, the good news is the Tories and their support poodles are on the wrong side of the ledger for the first time in 4 years and David Shearer is looking good to be PM sooner rather than later.
Can we have a snap election, please John? Hawaii’s nice this time of year.
Tru ‘nuf, Chris. But Labour does have experience running minority Gov’ts and Winston isn’t going to forget that National condemned him to 3 years in the wilderness. He’d be odds on for a C&S agreement of some kind just to be able to stick it to the Nats, but if he is going to make good on his election promises, realistically, he has to come to an arrangement with Labour and the Greens.
Or he might just stick two fingers up again and offer to take over from the Maori Party as John’s new BFF. He’s got form in that area already, so who knows?
Who the hell thinks trotter is a paragon of the left wing anymore? He might have a slightly leftist emplyment policy, but his blogs on “identity politics” and how women and anyone else with an issue should toe the line and not endanger the Labour vote put him squarely in the camp of social conservatives.
I see that Farrer in Dominion today the polls give the balance of power to Winston Peters.
Nats dropped and Labour up and with other lefties are only one seat behind Nat/Coalition, giving Winston the baubles if an election were held today. How big will his baubles be I wonder – huge, remember he is very selfish, so perhaps Finance, although Norman has bagged that, Foreign Affairs, and he has a few of those.
Makes you wonder – with continued great shit stirring out of Waitangi, Christchurch in revolt, seems a good time to let Key know he’s on his way out.
A cat is purchased, and trained, the trainer is not the owner
and the trainer becomes an attraction in their own right, and
becomes wealthy. The cats need to be trained extensively and
can not be easily replaced, yet are also an attraction in their
own right. The act performed is highly dangerous and has already
caused the death of one keeper, and there is some doubt over
whether the entry into the enclosure should even be allowed.
Due to family bonds some dispute over ownership of the cats
have arisen. Are the cats family pets? Are they trained animals? Or
are they as it looks like an attraction of a zoo primarily?
Should the cats be split up, those that have not be strongly
trained remain at the park as a going concern, and the trainer
take some of the cats and passes onwership of the land back over
as a consideration for past financial investment?
Or should government step in and appoint an independant manager,
ban any member of this disfunctional family from ever having
any access to these wild animals? For if they are an asset of
the businesses of either party then surely the businesses can
fire the employees and hire new staff who can carry out their
function.
Maybe government could even speak to the highly dangerous
‘circus act’ of entering the cage? Since at the core its
the personal affections of the protagonists to the cats
that ellicts all the destruction of value in the brands.
The Lion park and the Lion Man.
But on a personal note, who owns the family pet? The
unpaided person who attends to its needs, or the business
owner who sells tickets to see both do a dangerous
circus act? If I buy a Bear, get someone to train it to
wear a dress and shit on command, and the trainer makes
a name for themselves, does the Bear become their property,
even where it clearly states at the entrance to the ‘Bear’ Park.
I’m having a bit of trouble deciding if Bowalley Road should be included in the Leftwing Blog… because old trots seems decidedly right wing these days… Slater keeps quoting him for one thing. Trotter used to be leftist when he wrote for the Listener back in the day, but he has soured over the years. So should he stay or should he go?
At the risk of being branded a “traitor”, I’m declaring my support for the Crafar farms sale. Not because I like seeing productive New Zealand farmland pass into the hands of foreigners, I don’t.
The reason I’m in favour is because I believe New Zealanders should keep their promises and fulfil their undertakings.
Nah, it happened a good couple of years ago now. When he started arguing that the “left” should bend over and be more cooperative with tories, and on no account should women, homosexuals, or Maori put that relationship at risk by being all activisty and uppity.
He’s been the tories’ token “lefty” for ages, getting wheeled out for a nice unchallenging “left perspective”.
You have to love Chris Trotters comments on the Crafar farm sales .How it reeks of hypocrisy for David Shearer to now be crticising it. Prediction as soon as Shearer starts debating in the house he is going to get eaten alive by the National front bench comments from trotter below
In 2008, this country ratified a free-trade agreement with the People’s Republic of China. It was hailed as the most important foreign policy and trade achievement of the 1999-2008 Helen Clark-led government. Not only was it the first such agreement to be signed between China and a Western-style democracy, but it also offered New Zealand businesses immense economic opportunities. …
It was all the more perplexing, then, to hear Opposition leader David Shearer declaring his and the Labour Party’s opposition to the sale. It’s simply inconceivable that Mr Shearer is unaware of the MFN prohibition against denying China the same right to buy land as the nations that bought upwards of 650,000 hectares of our national patrimony exercised when Helen Clark was Prime Minister, and Mr Shearer’s friend (and former boss) Phil Goff was the Minister of Trade.
The Chinese under the FTA must be treated equally with all others and not disadvantaged in a deal compared with others. But this means if all land sales to foreigners were banned then Chinese would not be treated any differently. Ban all sales to nonresidents above a certain size.
At some point we must say “Enough! No more land sales.”
Hope it is by then not too late?
They do have the same right and we have the same right to tell them to stuff off. Just because the OIO has been pretty much a rubber stamp process for the last few years doesn’t mean that it has to stay that way.
Fisi and James111, if either of you had the reading and comprehension ability of a preschooler and the wit to understand what Trotter wrote, you would come very quickly to the conclusion that he is calling a spade a spade. He is a leftist accusing his side of playing on the right for to long. Labour and its supporters don’t need RWNJs like yourselves to point out in some faux triumphalist bullshit way that the wounds are self inflicted.
Trotter by comparison is pointing out that for Labour it is too late to cry wolf when they signed the deals, and that we as a collective electorate allowed this to happen so we too have no right to complain. What I think he is driving at is that without repudiating their prior stance before the electorate Labour should shut up.
Question bollocks, Shearer is Johnny Come Lately and as such bears no personal responsibility. Unlike that fuckwit Key who allows his mates onshore and offshore to have their snouts in NZs trough on a permanent basis.
I find it amusing how you james 111 drop in, spout shit and then disappear when you are presented with a rational response (see /wanted-more-news-like-this/ as an example)
It’s kind of halarious the way the right are trotting out the xenophobic line against the left. Truth is, they are insulting the 80% of Kiwis who didnt want those farms sold for good reason – there still hasnt been a single argument as to why selling a chunk of the golden goose to the biggest consumer of golden eggs is a good idea . I mean unless you accept Steven Joyces laughingly lame attempt today suggesting Chinese investment will help local communties and create jobs. Okay Stephen, OIO found only two jobs will be created from the Crafar Sale, but PGG Wrightsons may sell more farm supplies. Of course we also know also they are now majority Chinese owned. Abysmally, there no analysis on the impact of competition against our own dairy industry.
What’s also ironic, is that the claims of xenophobia are sprouting either from resource sucking baby boomers such as the analytic devoid business commentator Fran O’Sullivan, or the politically senile Chris Trotter. But perhaps what is most interesting, is that this accusation has originated from a goverment who have just referrred to our Treaty as largely Symbolic , whose Muldoon supporting leader was pro-springbok , and who sees no issue public making racist and discrimatory jokes about Maori
james 111 is just waleshit in another incarnation.
he got multiple multiple personality disorder but he like a friendly idiot.
every now and then you have to give him a booot.
Despite the introduction of Future Focus, whereby beneficiaries have to adhere to strict conditions or loose their entitlements, people on the unemployment benefit grew by 2158 last month. In a press release today, Bene bashing Bennett does her best to spin the numbers so they don’t look bad, but information attained through the Official Information Act shows the truth of the matter…
Clearly John Key is trying to provoke a spectacle on Waitangi day that will take the focus off National’s plans to privatise state owned assets. National can then claim that the Maori’s are all radicals and therefore not give their concerns the attention they deserve…
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by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh The recent statements made by the former FARC commander, Carlos Lozada (legal name Julian Gallo), where, from his seat in Congress, he praised the Colombian Army demonstrate how low the farianos have sunk. Lozada began by ...
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...
Last month I talked about the no-fly movement: people who refuse to fly or limit it to absolute necessity to avoid destroying the climate. Now, that movement has a somewhat surprising new member: Dutch airline KLM:Dutch airline KLM has launched ...
In the 1960's, humanity faced a terrible threat: global thermonuclear war. Nuclear weapons were uniquely destructive and dangerous, and if more countries got them, the logic of MAD and the pre-emptive strike would put us on a hair-trigger to destruction. ...
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...
Matariki has been and gone, but this year we saw a couple of op-eds arguing that it should be a public holiday, replacing the foreign monarch's fake birthday. And now, New Zealand Republic - a group which campaigns for an ...
The discussion on the quality of economic advice, which we reported last week, has spilled over into a discussion about whether so many senior appointments should be of non-New Zealanders. Recall I discussed the failure to develop career paths within ...
When Nicky Hager revealed US footage of the Operation Burnham raid, obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, one of the obvious questions was whether Ministers had seen it - and in particular, whether they'd been told that it ...
Northern Ireland is the Alabama of the UK: a backwards region where women and gay people are denied fundamental rights. But Westminster has just decided to fix that:MPs have voted resoundingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to ...
There's a problem with "synthetic cannabis", and not just the one you think. It's the name.We're in the midst of a wave of news stories that link synthetic drugs to serious harm, through deadly road accidents and accidental overdoses (which ...
Ranjit Kauri, The Dancing Maharani and Other Stories, Swansea, Head and Heart, 2019, £6.99; reviewed by Don Franks Working people are not the same country to country. Our struggles for a better life take place in surroundings of very different ...
Let's Do Them! All Jacinda Ardern has to do to clinch the 2020 General Election is frighten the bejesus out of the electorate by describing in the most graphic terms imaginable what will happen to all the positive beginnings her ...
It may be that we have all misinterpreted the somewhat surprising “bromance” between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. It has been all too easy to assume that it is Kim who is cosying up to Trump rather than the ...
by Michael Roberts So the full circle is completed. The corrupt pro-business conservative New Democracy party in Greece that was ousted by the anti-capitalist Syriza party in 2015 has been returned to office in yesterday’s general election, with an outright ...
When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
The first full week of the firearms buy-back and amnesty has produced a strong turnout as events roll out nationwide for the first time. “Momentum is slowly starting to build as community collection events are held across the entire country, ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
The New Zealand Deerstalkers Association says it will take an active role in the debate on proposed firearm law changes to ensure any future legislation is fair, reasonable and meets the needs of both firearm owners and the general public. ...
The latest Safety of Children in Care report reveals the scale of the challenge facing social workers as they act to better protect children / tamariki and young people / rangatahi in Oranga Tamariki in the system. While the statistics ...
The next round of proposed Arms Act Amendments will further alienate law abiding firearms licence holders from the Government, according to the NZ Outdoors Party. ...
The current law for dividing property on separation is out of date and in need of reform, the Law Commission concludes in its report, Review of the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 – Te Arotake i te Property (Relationships) Act 1976 ...
First National Real Estate Chief Executive Bob Brereton is predicting that homes currently being built as part of a KiwiBuild development, in Te Kauwhata, will not sell and that the Government will be left with 175 homes and few, if ...
A short time ago, kaumatua and kuia representing mana whenua from Te Kawerau ā Maki, Te Ākitai Waiohua, and Tainui, walked onto the land that Fletcher Building owns at Ōruarangi Road, known as Ihumātao, and asked protestors to leave. ...
The Greenpeace climb of the Majestic Tower in Wellington is ignorant grandstanding says the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ). ...
Tuesday, July 23: The two Greenpeace climbers who are scaling the outside of the tallest building in Wellington have unfurled the first of a series of banners. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer's decision to fire three warning shots to stop a fleeing driver from reversing towards him was not justified. ...
Government figures out today are consistent with what working people have told the Council of Trade Unions in our own survey, that a significant group of working Kiwis are unhappy and dissatisfied at work. Now the Government must act to ...
Deputy State Services Commissioner John Ombler has today announced the outcome of an examination of what led Inland Revenue to commission a public poll that included a question about the political leanings of taxpayers. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Tracey Martin for wasting money on a meaningless “translation” of a written press statement into a sign language video, when the vast majority of any deaf or hard-of-hearing persons are perfectly capable of reading ...
Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Trust (Te Mana) and Tūhourangi Tribal Authority (TTA) have announced that they will jointly negotiate with the Crown for the return of the lands at Waimangu and Otūkapuarangi. These lands have been at the centre ...
Government documents reveal the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) approved a shipment of cattle last month, despite the Government announcing a review into live export five days earlier. ...
“The Government’s second round of firearms reforms has hunters concerned that they will be burdened with onerous and unnecessary compliance and costs,” says Game Animal Council Chair Don Hammond. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) are concerned at the statements by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Police Minister Stuart Nash at the Post-Cabinet Press Conference this afternoon stating that firearm ownership and licences should ...
National’s Climate Change spokesperson Todd Muller told Q+A he has “total confidence” that technology will be developed to mitigate the effects of climate change. “To simply take the New Zealand agriculture sector which is the most emissions efficient ...
PM can’t say whether the Government will meet its KiwiBuild goals. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern couldn’t say whether the Government would meet its goal of building 16-thousand KiwiBuild homes by the end of its first term. She was interviewed on ...
Greenpeace climbers are scaling the outside of the Majestic Centre, the tallest building in Wellington, to reach the headquarters of Austrian oil giant, OMV. ...
Media statement on behalf of Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie and Donna Marie Tai Tokerau Hall: Māori Television has admitted publishing false allegations about former High Court justice, Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie, and his wife, Donna Hall, and it has ...
Announcement today by the Prime Minister of further gun law reform is being shrouded by fear, so that scrutiny of the law is seen as an affront to the victims of the horror attack in March. The Prime Minister acknowledged ...
Misgivings about the practicality and cost of a firearms register is likely to dominate feedback from rural areas on the second round of proposed Arms Act amendments, Federated Farmers says. ...
School Strike 4 Climate NZ organisers Sophie Handford and Raven Maeder delivered a clear message to over 600 local government mayors, chairs, chief executives and councillors at the recent LGNZ conference : make climate change a priority. ...
The Police Association, Te Aka Hāpai backs the government’s emphasis on public safety as the driver of its second tranche of amendments to New Zealand’s firearms law, announced today. ...
The growing housing shortage crisis about more than supply and demand- it is about inequity. Recently released analysis by Kiwibank shows that last year’s “severe” shortage of housing has worsened, with the shortfall growing from 100,000 to 130,0000 ...
One of the country’s largest district health boards has a severe shortage of hospital specialists, says the senior doctors’ union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is joining opposition to possible regulations on the strength of nicotine vaping liquid. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “The Government would certainly benefit from regulations on the strength ...
The Meat Industry Association (MIA) is calling for significant changes to the Zero Carbon Bill with a new analysis using the Government’s preferred modelling indicating that the proposed methane targets are excessive if all other gases go to net zero. ...
Victoria University Feminist Organisation and ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa, in conjunction with the VUW Feminist Law Students, Organise Aotearoa, Fem Force, and with the support of VUW Student Association announced they are sponsoring a march ...
With the Government's firearm buyback scheme starting to draw over 30,000 police man hours away from fighting crime, the safety of law abiding citizens is being compromised. ...
Social Credit Party leader Chris Leitch is calling on the sale of Westland Milk to Chinese company Yili to be put on hold pending an approach to the Government by Westland Milk for funding assistance. ...
Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa seems intent on ensuring the Government’s vaping legislation will heavily target flavours and nicotine levels – a move that would be completely counterproductive to helping Kiwis quit smoking and achieving ...
A new website has launched in response to recent RNZ reporting about Police in Dunedin unlawfully entering people’s homes and breath-testing them. “I was disgusted when I saw what they cops were doing in Dunedin. Their behaviour undermines all of ...
Hundreds of whanau and Maori leaders gathered at a hui in Mangere last weekend where they voted unanimously for an inquiry into Oranga Tamariki. The historic meeting called for a child welfare framework to be developed by Maori, for Maori. ...
The Head of the New Zealand Maori Council has called for the Government to hold an immediate investigation into the global cosmetics company Sephora after they were caught dumping waste hundreds and thousands of waste paper products embedded with ...
Simon Shepherd: The government says its agreement with farmers, that they should pay for agricultural emissions, is historic. But there's no agreement on how. One proposal says farmers should pay a 5 per cent emissions tax. Another suggests farmers ...
The O’Brien Institute for Public Health at Calgary University has just released their report on fluoridation. This institute has, up to now, been staunchly in favour of fluoridation. However, yesterday, with regards to fluoride’s effect on the brain, ...
July 19 (BusinessDesk) - The government is looking to tighten control and impose harsher penalties after the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak revealed cracks in the country's stock management system. ...
Kia Anga Mua Ngā Hapū o Ngāpuhi (KAM) has reached a pivotal milestone following a hui yesterday at Waitangi with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Government spent $133,530 on producing its ‘Wellbeing Budget’ document, a cost blowout largely driven by spending on graphic design and photography. The $133,530 price tag compares to $86,268 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese Keane, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair Department of Education, Swinburne University of Technology A cute human-like robot taught students in a small, rural school how to code while also helping them learn ...
After months of protest, the last occupants were moved off Ihumātao in south Auckland by police this afternoon. Don Rowe reports. Most of the occupants of Ihumātao had been moved on. The police, numbering at least 30, had finally made good ...
Hundreds of people marched to Parliament today calling for reform of New Zealand's abortion laws, as Cabinet prepares to consider a bill that would remove abortion from the Crimes Act. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The two Centre Alliance senators, Stirling Griff and Rex Patrick will often be pivotal to the fate of government legislation. The smaller non-Green Senate crossbench ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chongyi Feng, Associate Professor in China Studies, University of Technology Sydney Australian authorities have been told to stop interfering in the case of the Chinese-Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun who has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tess Newton Cain, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Political Science & International Studies, The University of Queensland Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape is visiting Australia this week, his first overseas ...
The Greens may have achieved their sought-after mainstream credibility, and scored some wins in government, but commentators warn this will not necessarily result in more votes. On the contrary – it might even result in a loss of enthusiasm from ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsThe supposed end of the 20-year standoff between environmentalists and farmers was announced last week, with the release of the Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on “Action on agricultural emissions”. It was celebrated as an “historic consensus” ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentGovernment Joseph Nunweek (Spinoff): Jacinda Ardern and bringing the ...
The 2019 budget put aside $300m for venture capital for small to medium-sized startups with the hope it will allow businesses to grow locally and stay in New Zealand for longer. In a small rural town on the east coast ...
To give the Pacific a fighting chance Australia and NZ need to take a stand, writes a Fijian litigator and activist.Climate change is now an everyday reality for the Pacific. Its impact on our countries is undeniable. To remain within ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Grové, Educational Psychologist and Lecturer, Monash University Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might ...
Questions about political leanings in surveys by Inland Revenue, DOC and Stats NZ were inappropriate and had the potential to undermine political neutrality, a report has found. ...
Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little says he cannot understand why the previous government ever accepted Ngāpuhi's problematic Tūhoronuku mandate. ...
The Electricity Authority’s latest take on transmission prices has softened the expected hike in power prices for Aucklanders from $176 per year to $21 a year. ...
New Zealanders are as parochial about charity as they are about sport, with only a fraction of the money we donate leaving our shores or even going outside our local areas.Less than 9% of private donations in New Zealand go ...
Infrastructure investor Infratil is looking for potential buyers of a group of mature investments across Australia and NZ's health, education and prison sectors,according to the AFR. ...
A nightmarish and near-fatal high-speed pursuit of a New Zealand Chinese family concluded with a judge rejecting the prosecution’s request for hate crime sentencing. Tze Ming Mok discusses why New Zealand’s approach to hate crime is utterly useless.I don’t like ...
The Māori midwives on the frontline of whānau care and Oranga Tamariki scrutiny say their voices are going unheard and their wisdom unheeded.*All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involvedNewsroom’s powerful investigation into Oranga Tamariki’s attempt ...
From fine art school graduates to hobbyists, magazine-making talent from all over the city is showcased in Auckland Zinefest. Lucy Zee went along to check out the zines and meet some makers.Aucklanders love a festival. If it’s not food, wine ...
Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa artist Nikau Hindin has recently been taught by ancestors in Hawai’i the skills of beating tapa or barkcloth, reviving as contemporary form a Māori art largely lost after the extinction of the aute plant in Aotearoa. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has stopped short of committing to a declaration of climate emergency in Parliament, despite again saying she supports such a move. ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called on the Australian authorities to drop all charges against four French TV journalists who – in what RSF called an “unacceptable attack on investigative journalism” – were arrested yesterday ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neville Nicholls, Professor emeritus, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University This month the world has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon. But this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide Viral photo app FaceApp has taken the world by storm. Launched in 2017, the app has recently enjoyed mass popularity due largely to Hollywood ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Barton, Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University A key element in the success of countering terrorism in Australia has been a series of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Around one-quarter of the world’s population menstruate. That’s more than 1.9 billion people in the world who will bleed, on average, for 65 days ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese Keane, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair Department of Education, Swinburne University of Technology A cute human-like robot taught students in a small, rural school how to code while also helping them learn ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Podger, Honorary Professor of Public Policy, Australian National University There is a case for not proceeding with, or at least further deferring, the legislated increase in employers’ compulsory superannuation contributions from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Ostling, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University Review: Margaret Olley: A Generous Life, and Quilty, QAGOMA Margaret Olley’s exhibition at QAGOMA is titled A Generous Life, referring to ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Second round of gun law changes announced, hundreds with conditions like Down syndrome get early Kiwisaver, and a major refusal to participate in March 15 inquiry.The second major phase of ...
Almost as soon as it was announced, the Royal Commission tasked with probing the lead-up and response to the terrorist attacks in March attracted criticism, both over the process and its engagement with Muslim groups. Former race relations commissioner Joris ...
Following the Silver Ferns’ World Cup victory, another New Zealand team playing korfball – netball’s European cousin - are about to make world championship history of their own. ...
A victim of domestic violence has had to find alternative accommodation after Oranga Tamariki breached her privacy for the second time in three years. ...
While researching NZ on Air for a recent history, Duncan Greive noticed a shocking 30 year trend.News broke over the weekend that Love Island NZ, Three’s biggest announcement of the year, will now not screen in 2019, and realistically is unlikely ...
Joseph Nunweek joins the adoring throngs gathered at the Melbourne Town Hall to watch the New Zealand prime minister. The warm feeling is contagious, but a question hangs in the airThursday, 18 July: a big night for New Zealanders in ...
Open mike 03/02/2012 
My idealistic position on the role of MPs was articulated by Edmund Burke: ‘Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.’read more ...29 mins ago
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled on the pillage of swamp kauri, stating clearly that export was forbidden unless it had been clearly turned into a finished product. But less than a month later, MPI was again approving minimally carved ...4 hours ago
Having spent the last 3 months in these countries and getting some appreciation of their dependence on fossil fuels – oil, gas, coal – one realises how loopy is the idea popular in societies like New Zealand that have negligible ...9 hours ago
I have been unimpressed with Western corporate media coverage of the tensions involving Iran in the Straits of Hormuz. They repeat the line that Iran is the source of current tensions, that it is a major sponsor of terrorism, that ...2 days ago
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Much like Tuvalu, the manmade climate change Cult love to tell people the Maldives is almost totally underwater. In fact the dishonest Maldives Govt d on the same bandwagon, believing they would receive billions of dollars aid from other Countries ...3 days ago
As the entry on Wikipedia shows (and no, one doesn’t necessarily have to regard Wikipedia as the be-all and end-all of truth, because it isn’t on a great many things, to agree with the following): “…a fallacious argument that concludes ...3 days ago
by Daphna Whitmore The story of how the world awoke to a big injustice is starting to be told. The Pacific Games held this month in Samoa is another chapter. On the podium was Laurel Hubbard, the giant transgender weightlifter, ...3 days ago
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...4 days ago
Something I missed: not only did Youth MPs declare a climate emergency; they also launched a campaign to lower the voting age to 16:Youth Parliament week in Parliament has seen the establishment of Make it 16, a campaign to ...4 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...6 days ago
6 days ago
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...1 week ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...1 week ago
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
The first full week of the firearms buy-back and amnesty has produced a strong turnout as events roll out nationwide for the first time. “Momentum is slowly starting to build as community collection events are held across the entire country, ...1 day ago
The New Zealand Deerstalkers Association says it will take an active role in the debate on proposed firearm law changes to ensure any future legislation is fair, reasonable and meets the needs of both firearm owners and the general public. ...3 hours ago
The House: Youth MPs have laid down another climate challenge to their real counterparts in the form of an open letter. ...39 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese Keane, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair Department of Education, Swinburne University of Technology A cute human-like robot taught students in a small, rural school how to code while also helping them learn ...59 mins ago
After months of protest, the last occupants were moved off Ihumātao in south Auckland by police this afternoon. Don Rowe reports. Most of the occupants of Ihumātao had been moved on. The police, numbering at least 30, had finally made good ...2 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tess Newton Cain, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Political Science & International Studies, The University of Queensland Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape is visiting Australia this week, his first overseas ...2 hours ago
3 hours ago
The 2019 budget put aside $300m for venture capital for small to medium-sized startups with the hope it will allow businesses to grow locally and stay in New Zealand for longer. In a small rural town on the east coast ...4 hours ago
To give the Pacific a fighting chance Australia and NZ need to take a stand, writes a Fijian litigator and activist.Climate change is now an everyday reality for the Pacific. Its impact on our countries is undeniable. To remain within ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Grové, Educational Psychologist and Lecturer, Monash University Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might ...5 hours ago
The Electricity Authority’s latest take on transmission prices has softened the expected hike in power prices for Aucklanders from $176 per year to $21 a year. ...6 hours ago
New Zealanders are as parochial about charity as they are about sport, with only a fraction of the money we donate leaving our shores or even going outside our local areas.Less than 9% of private donations in New Zealand go ...7 hours ago
Infrastructure investor Infratil is looking for potential buyers of a group of mature investments across Australia and NZ's health, education and prison sectors,according to the AFR. ...7 hours ago
Mistakes happen but this one was a biggy, and a lack of proactive correction did not look good for the Government. ...7 hours ago
The Māori midwives on the frontline of whānau care and Oranga Tamariki scrutiny say their voices are going unheard and their wisdom unheeded.*All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involvedNewsroom’s powerful investigation into Oranga Tamariki’s attempt ...8 hours ago
From fine art school graduates to hobbyists, magazine-making talent from all over the city is showcased in Auckland Zinefest. Lucy Zee went along to check out the zines and meet some makers.Aucklanders love a festival. If it’s not food, wine ...9 hours ago
Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa artist Nikau Hindin has recently been taught by ancestors in Hawai’i the skills of beating tapa or barkcloth, reviving as contemporary form a Māori art largely lost after the extinction of the aute plant in Aotearoa. ...10 hours ago
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called on the Australian authorities to drop all charges against four French TV journalists who – in what RSF called an “unacceptable attack on investigative journalism” – were arrested yesterday ...10 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neville Nicholls, Professor emeritus, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University This month the world has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon. But this ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide Viral photo app FaceApp has taken the world by storm. Launched in 2017, the app has recently enjoyed mass popularity due largely to Hollywood ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Around one-quarter of the world’s population menstruate. That’s more than 1.9 billion people in the world who will bleed, on average, for 65 days ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Will Rifkin, Chair in Applied Regional Economics and Director, Hunter Research Foundation Centre, University of Newcastle News of evacuations from cracked apartment buildings in Sydney and the need to replace combustible cladding ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Podger, Honorary Professor of Public Policy, Australian National University There is a case for not proceeding with, or at least further deferring, the legislated increase in employers’ compulsory superannuation contributions from ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Ostling, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University Review: Margaret Olley: A Generous Life, and Quilty, QAGOMA Margaret Olley’s exhibition at QAGOMA is titled A Generous Life, referring to ...12 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Second round of gun law changes announced, hundreds with conditions like Down syndrome get early Kiwisaver, and a major refusal to participate in March 15 inquiry.The second major phase of ...13 hours ago
Fraser Newman tells of opening Atlantis Books in Rotorua and Tokoroa – and having to close shop in Whakatāne. ...14 hours ago
Following the Silver Ferns’ World Cup victory, another New Zealand team playing korfball – netball’s European cousin - are about to make world championship history of their own. ...14 hours ago
As NZ Bird Rescue cares for record numbers of ruru/morepork at Auckland, one theory is they're being poisoned. ...14 hours ago
A swamp kauri log exported to China sparked deep discussion among forestry public servants over what is art and what is a log. ...14 hours ago
Anna Rawhiti-Connell shakes her head at the state of our health system, urging MPs to take their duties seriously. ...14 hours ago
A victim of domestic violence has had to find alternative accommodation after Oranga Tamariki breached her privacy for the second time in three years. ...14 hours ago
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Is Waitangi Day supposed to be a national day of celebration? Or has it just become entrenched as a day of protest opportunism? A symbol of grievance, not unity?
Does Waitangi Day fill you with patriotic pride?
Or do you roll your eys and wonder what protest popups will piss on it?
My god you’re banal.
Banal is an odd accusation.
I hardly think it’s banal when what is supposed to be a national day of celebration is degraded by rent-a-mob.
I’d guess that most New Zealanders either don’t give a shit about Waitangi Day (except for enjoying a holiday some years) or get the shits about the inevitable shit stirring. That’s a sad state.
PG, your banal claims of degradation is what is banal.
Pete, are you saying that Waitangi Day should be the day of the year that we all forget about what the treaty said and just pretend that it’s been honoured and everything’s peachy? that it should be the day when one partner in that treaty should STFU so that the rest of us can feel good about ourselves?
That’d be a pretty fucking ironic way to go about things.
Waitangi Day should be a day of commemoration of the Treaty and what it now means. That will mean debate and greivance in the forseeable future.
It would be good to also have a national day of celebration and pride. Maybe we need to create a day for that. Like a New Zealand Day?
Racist.
Vicious creep! Who gave you the right to decide he’s a racist? QoT?
No one’s stopping you having your big party platitude pete – go hard, crack a beer, tell a few jokes… meanwhile the people you slur will continue working towards equality and a fairer society for all.
I’m not the one trying to turn Waitangi Day at Waitangi into a slurfest.
Daveo – yes, some of those seeking media attention at Waitangi could be seen as rascist.
how is saying that waitangi should be a day of celebration,
and implying that those who disagree aren’t getting into the spirit of it
or what the fuck ever it is you are saying,
not trying to start a slur fest?
And check out the comments on this:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6359946/Mana-Key-set-for-hostile-Waitangi-reception?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Lovely.
No surprise that Mana want to talk up a hostile reception for Key.
It must be very frustrating for those trying to organise a “peaceful family-oriented celebration” at Waitangi to have all the media and protest addicts take all the attention.
My points are, should we accept that Waitangi Day is going to always be a focus of dissent and protest, and should we have an alternate day for all New Zealanders to enjoy? Or just not bother with some sort of collective celebration of our country?
Thing is Pete, Waitangi day could be the day you want it to be, but it can’t get there by pretending everything is peachy. Sort out the shit, and it won’t be shitty, and we’ll have aday that we can feel good about ouselves in a way that means something.
And can you honestly not see that complaining that Waitangi day isn’t treated as a celebratory love in congratulating pakeha on their awesomeness is actually pretty fucking offensive?
Does the blindness in that somehow slip past you?
I’m not trying to pretend anything. I’m pointing out that many people are fed up with the attention seeking protests at Waitangi each year.
“a celebratory love in congratulating pakeha on their awesomeness ”
Does the making stuff up in that somehow slip past you?
yes you are but you are not very good at it – judging others by how you see yourself methinks – all those lines about piss and shit – save it for your party when you’re reciting your tired jokes pete I’m sure you and your mate will have a big laugh at the expence of others
Why can’t the rich white straight men have just ONE day where they get to have THEIR say for a change?
I suppose they could if they wanted to, but they probably wouldn’t try it here.
Why can’t all New Zealand celebrate a day in common?
Anzac Day comes closest but it is not so much a celebration, it is in Remembrance of past sacrifices, which is important.
Queens ‘Birthday’ is a bit farcical. Labour Day is just Holiday Day. I think it would be good if we could have something here like Independence Day or Australia Day.
Maybe we’re just not mature enough as a country for that yet.
What’s mature about a rah rah meaningless pat yourself on the back?
I guess Pete uses “mature” in the same sense as he uses “sensible” and “centrist”.
I tend to agree with you Pete in terms of celebrating being a New Zealander.
Waitangi day is what it is and will remain that until Maori achieve equality with their treaty partners in law and in society.
I would do away with Queens Birthday and create Aotearoa Day. A day that we stop and celebrate being Kiwi. There are many things wrong with this country but they are far outweighed by all the things that are right. We never really reflect on that as a country. Surely for one day a year we can come together and forget about our differences and celebrate the one thing we all have in common. Living in a fucking great country.
Yes, it would be good if we could find something we can all come together and celebrate on. I’d be happy calling it Aotearoa Day but I suspect that wouldn’t be universally popular.
But realistically I’m not sure it could happen judging by the level of attacks here for daring suggest it.
Why don’t you take the 364 days that aren’t Waitangi day and use those to celebrate being wealthy and white and part of the power structure built on the very wrongs that the Waitangi protests are attempting to draw your dulled attention to?
“I’d be happy calling it Aotearoa Day but I suspect that wouldn’t be universally popular.”
why wouldnt it be popular? Is it because its a maori word?
I haven’t seen an attack on you for wanting an ‘Aotearoa’ Day. Just leave us Waitangi Day please. It may annoy you that there is protest there but there is nothing to stop tauiwi protesting there as far as I know.
Pay no attention to the concern troll. Waitangi Day is already awesome, there is gonna be a big party up North just like last year. But the only thing you will see on the news is protests and scary looking brown dudes
Oh yeah Pete Australia Day is a fantastic day for the Aborigines too. Yes its great to have a day where the colonialists celebrate all the damage past and present inflicted upon the indigenous people.
So what you are saying Pete is that no matter what the rich and powerful inflict upon you, steal from you etc. you should just forget it and join in with a fake celebration. Get real PG, I actually thought there was a few more brains in your head than you have shown us today.
Pompous Git until Maori hold high place in their homeland instead of being at the bottom of the heap protests will go on simple something you tiny brain should be able to figure out .Your so much like your leader stating the obvious reeling out boring old arguments that NZ will never move on until idiots like you read the real hisTory of new Zealand.
I don’t go a bomb on what PG has to say, but the way you’re all ganging up on him is making me sicker than I already am (and according to the neurologist at Auckland City I am actually not all that crash hot)…
It reminds me of the gang beatings I have had in the past, and that made me despise this place. There are some people, in some groups that it just is not safe to offend or upset. Never has anonymity seemed so valuable! 🙁
I agree it’s unfair.
When are the rich white straight men going to catch a break in this world?
You tell me, when will you? Wailing on here won’t do it for you.
I think pete likes offending and upsetting people – but not all people, just ‘some’ people.
Waitangi protestors, the target of pete today, also direct their actions to ‘some’ people, but the difference is that they are working to make our society better, fairer and more equal.
BTW I hope your health improves.
I admit I don’t… (but then QoT has already labelled me a racist, and as we all know, there’s no defence against that accusation. *)
Years back, in the 1970s, protestors shouted “F*** the Treaty, it’s a fraud, we want nothing to do with it!”
Years later, in the 80s and beyond, the protestors said the exact opposite – “Honour the Treaty, we love it and we want it”.
I am just a stupid evil White bitch, (or so I’ve been told.) I know nothing.
* For his/her benefit – the evil-ex (Maori, but the point s/he missed it he’d have been evil regardless of race – he was an alcoholic) died about 7 weeks back.
I remember the catchcry “the treaty is a fraud” too. What do you think was meant by that?
Pompous Git for an odd person
Every country must have a starting point, and like it or not, I guess the signing of that Treaty was that starting point.
Though I am concerned about how we are in such a hurry to settle old greivances, we are creating new ones, with the systematic shifting of conservation land into iwi hands, for them to restrict access. And lets not forget Tuhoe’s desire to get their hands on Te Uruwera National Park, which will almost see New Zealanders having to pay big bucks to enjoy something that everyone should be able to enjoy.
Old age kicking in Pete – Or are you just being deliberately fucken idiotic!
I for one applaud the protestors, and given the past weeks actions by government, would expect this year to be heated.
What have we really got to celebrate Pete, the rape of the country by ancestors of dick heads like you!
There is nothing to celebrate about being a New Zealander? Nothing?
Celebrating being a New Zealander is something I do every day but I don’t see Waitangi Day as a day on which one celebrates Te Tiriti but rather a day to commemorate and reflect on what might have been and what still may come to pass. Then again, that is just me
Classic , now Muzza is accusing Pete of rape and tortue, you can’t make this shit up.
Speaking for myself, I commemorate, not celebrate.
Until The Crown (Her Majesty’s NZ Government) not only settle old grievances in a meaningful manner, then stick to the contracts that have been negotiated as part of those settlements as well as honouring the original Treaty, I have no reason to celebrate.
I seem to remember someone calculating that it took less than a week for the Crown to breach the Ngai Tahu Settlement
Iwi are just as bad at breaking settlement terms.
Most conservation land that is handed back to iwi comes with strict conditions around public access, however, iwi have known to wait for a few months and then block it off. The Port Nicholson Block Settlement is an example, where access to several lagoons have been restricted.
Go away – please PG and never come back!
Is Pete George supposed to be raising a valid issue? Or has he just become entrenched as an attention-seeking linkwhore?
Does Pete George fill you with patriotic pride?
Or do you roll your eyes and wonder when he will actually say or do something that matters a damn?
The second one.
No
Yes, all the time
How money corrupts the US Congress
Scary, scary, stuff. And these very established practices and globalised methods are coming here.
http://fora.tv/2012/01/17/How_Money_Corrupts_Congress_and_a_Plan_to_Stop_It
Yes CV. We do have a limit to the length of the Election. And we nearly have transparency about funding. But it does appear that the few very rich control the direction of decision making.
Maybe the case is waiting to be made for a Public Funding, so that Government is not corrupted (any more.)
A long listen but some parallels with NZ. All for Root Hacking rather than Partisan arguments.
Do you think that in all this is a cause for Voter Apathy in NZ?
I think that there are a few factors leading to citizen apathy (voter apathy being only a symptom of citizen apathy).
Time and information poverty for the majority is an issue. Pervasive framing by the Right Wing that business is the solution and government is the problem is an issue. A lack of civics education is an issue. A distant complex self serving bureaucracy is an issue. The ideology of individualism and not understanding how broader societal and economic structures affect personal income and lifestyles is an issue. A set of politicians who seem to all sound and look the same is an issue.
EDIT a lack of perspective of 20th century NZ history, especially of social and worker struggles, is also an issue.
Joyce is trying to lead a debate to gain greater acceptance of foreign investmen
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10783089
Perhaps they feel stung by public reaction? By the way how will the Crafar sale be an investment in NZ rather than a payment to Wespac?
There aren’t any. We have the resources here to do whatever we want and the only thing that’s holding us back is a socio-economic system that accumulates the control of the wealth into the hands of the few. Money, a non-resource, from over seas won’t change that.
By having a non-policy policy? And at every opportunity show how sniviling and cowtowing Keys govt is?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/6358098/New-IRD-system-costs-1b
Lets see, tax cuts for rich people or spend a small fraction of that money on ensuring we can properly collect taxes in the future?
Fuck me:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/6358791/Stolen-frozen-foetus-sparks-gang-brawl
Only in NZ….
BTW, on the links on the side was this little gem that the Greens may want to note.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/6358786/Hydraulic-fracturing-is-safe-energy-boss
sorry but you are already f*cked.
get over it.
Still not found the reply button, I see, randal.
RIP another NZ business owing $11 million. In business since 1964, employing 180 people.
from stuff business – business and KordaMentha
Receivers KordaMentha were called into Auckland-based Criterion Group and its New Zealand and Australian subsidiaries on Tuesday. About 180 staff are affected.
Their appointment followed a “serious decline in trading” for the group, the receivers said.
It exports around 70 per cent of its production to North America, South America, Europe, Singapore and the Pacific Islands.
I don’t think that the politicians and economic advisors and company directors understand about the business of making things, and how important it is. They quote the stats about the myriad of small businesses forming the important other sector with earnings not arising from the land.
The lawyers, financial advisors, even the managerial class are service providers only making a good living out of a thriving economy (except recently where a business gains ‘face’ by paying top cash to the top people, and then to avoid losing ‘face’ pay more cash when those top people lead the business into a decline.)
ha ha PG. I have a friend who’s worst insult is to call someone ‘banal’. Card carrying lefty too. I reckon we should keep Waitangi Day, get rid of the Queen’s Birthday and have a New Zealand day. Or have an extra public holiday.
You’s guys gonna take the fight to Hekia?
http://nowoccupy.blogspot.com/2012/02/good-luck-luv-youll-be-needing-it.html
You a gamer PG? Check out my profile.
Youre a pretty nasty person Monique. I have a feeling that you are of these women who sit in a cafe and run down all and sundry while being all nice to their faces.
You give me that vibe. Youre a nasty nasty bitchy woman. I can tell.
Pot. Kettle. I can tell.
Who yanked your chain?
Hmmm, Monique has a contempt for the poor, and appears both socially conservative and politically naive. An ideal United Future candidate, perhaps? Maybe you could have a chat to The Hair, Pete. If he remembers who you are, that is.
She’s already a big United Future fan, according to her twitter profile pic: http://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/1559047278/302395_10150396943355522_671390521_10080692_2092190889_n.jpg
Figures.
A whole 2 people support UF. A guy who tends to do nothing else than sit on the internet all day, and a manicured slumlord who really really needs to get some – perhaps she needs to realise that slagging off those on benefits/her tenants is really a big turn off.
Well, that explains the lawful-evil types she works with.
Millsy: Advocating the hanging of people who disagree with you (/treachery/comment-page-1/#comment-429671) tends to undermine your position as the arbiter of nastiness.
Come on mate, if you’re going to attribute some nastiness to Millsy do try and get it right.
So you’d agree that he has been nasty in the past then felix?
Is this a new game? How do we play?
Nice [No speculation in identity please – r0b], big words for such a little man.
Hey mods, that seems to be speculation on a poster’s identity.
Hope that doesn’t make me a comment Nazi.
[actioned, thanks – r0b]
The only gaming I do is on blogs. I won’t try to describe my roles as I’d just be struck down by opposing Forces of Banality.
One of my games is wordplay. It was interesting that IB introduced the word ‘banal’ – that comes from Old French banel – ‘pertaining to a ban’.
Another definition is ‘ pertaining to compulsory feudal service ‘. While not compulsory one can get the impression of attempts at imposing serfdom here by the overlords. At least banal doesn’t seem to be banned.
Or a definition more relevant to you: fucking pointless, boring, unimaginative and insubstantive.
my concise oxford has a good definition – ‘trite, feeble’ and interestingly it sits between ban and banana – nice universe humour in the context of this discussion
Should that be:
You a lamer PG? Check out my profile ?
I can’t edit my previous comment, straight after I have put it up. The stats of the numbers of small businesses are quoted and we know they are so important, yet they are abandoned whenever the government chooses to make changes. One example of abandonment is after the Christchurch earthquake. There seemed little co-operation with the businesses affected, with explanation of the known and unknown risks in daily briefings in a venue large enough to cater for all and whiteboards where info could be presented even if there was no electricity.
And these are the wealth creators, that phrase which comes to the lips of politicians so often, spoken of but too small to be able to offer quid pro quo, or tit for tat, no doubt.
No, small businesses aren’t the “wealth creators” that the politicians speak of. The “wealth creators” that politicians speak of are the rich parasites and the name is pure misdirection.
SME’s better get it into their little heads that NAT is here to represent the corporates and the multimillionaires, and if you are a small enterprise they are quite happy to leave you twisting in the wind.
Happy hunting for Zionist fundamentalists or why I will keep on speaking up against the “apartheid” state of Israel
If this doesn’t get you seriously pissed off I don’t know what will!
When I press Home to refresh my page it seems to take me back some time not bring me up to date. The index shows at the top lprent POAL sleeze each time I press Home – if that’s helpful to know.
Usually that is a problem with the local browser’s cache. For instance I get that type of issue when I use the back button on safari on my iPad (and bloody annoying it is as well). You could look at turning off the browser cache to test if it is just that. The site sends instructions about what should be cached and what should not. But some of the browsers ignore or misinterpret…
I just tried reproducing your diagnostic on linux with chrome and firefox and didn’t get it. Give me some more details – OS / Browser.
However we’re currently running on an apache2 mode that I have never used before after the outage on wednesday. I have no idea what effect it has on the cache modules that are also loaded at the server side. I will be testing my way back to my usual configuration this weekend.
it’s bouncing around like gossy trying not to answer a question
Thanks lprent I will get my technical expert – son – to look at that.
I had the same problem as Prism this morning but it seems to have sorted itself.
http://www.thepoliticalscientist.org/
Key losing control.
Well worth reading – puddleglum’s latest (above)
Raises interesting questions…
What a train wreck flogging off power assets are proving to be and already there appears to be a blow out in the cost, (potential litigation of treaty rights and rightly so). I seem to recall the figure of 100 million to sell money earning power assets and what will they sell for?
2012 is going to be the year when all the figures do not add up. Bring on the budget I say.
You mean this one? Just linking to the blog home page fails to indicate which article you’re talking about.
When I click your link Draco, and when I click mine, they take me to exactly the same place – the beginning of the particular blog I’m mentioning.
Where does clicking my link take you?
Maybe this is a browser thing, you’ve made the same comment before, and I’ve clicked both links and ‘snap’. How do you go about linking to a blog or story from somewhere else? If there is a quick *F-key* shortcut I’d be glad to learn it.
Nope. Draco’s one takes you to the post – if you scroll down you’ll find you can add comments.
Your one takes to the front page – which just happens to look the same right now. However as soon as they put in a new post (tonight?), noone will have any idea what you were talking about when they click the link.
So Blinglish refused to front on breakfast TV to talk about the latest treasury report. Normal service has resumed.
Funny that!
Ahem!
http://tiny.cc/v83a0
And this from a right wing rag.
Trust them, they know what they are doing…yeah right!
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/more-tui-announcements-for-education.html
Bernard Hickey recent tweets
bernardchickey
Oh and by the way. Record net migration to Australia of 36,900 in 2011 (100/day) bit.ly/xYlWQd NZ economic policy not working
19 minutes ago
bernardchickey
Is this the path to greatness for NZ? Foreign debt funded property boom for the wealthiest? That pushes up NZ$? Just nuts.
24 minutes ago
bernardchickey
Govt borrows money from China, hands it to wealthiest via tax cuts, who then borrow more and buy bigger houses bit.ly/zDJRKw
25 minutes ago
Labour cracks 30% despite doing nothing except losing Goff.
Two months too late that one.
Here’s the kicker though: “However, support for the full National-led Government has dipped to 49% (down 0.5%), trailing the Opposition Parties (51%, up 0.5%).”
How close was that election, eh? A couple of points would have done it. Still, the good news is the Tories and their support poodles are on the wrong side of the ledger for the first time in 4 years and David Shearer is looking good to be PM sooner rather than later.
Can we have a snap election, please John? Hawaii’s nice this time of year.
Couple of points assuming Peters would’ve gone with Labour which is a big assumption.
Being in opposition doesn’t automatically mean that they would’ve formed a government
Tru ‘nuf, Chris. But Labour does have experience running minority Gov’ts and Winston isn’t going to forget that National condemned him to 3 years in the wilderness. He’d be odds on for a C&S agreement of some kind just to be able to stick it to the Nats, but if he is going to make good on his election promises, realistically, he has to come to an arrangement with Labour and the Greens.
Or he might just stick two fingers up again and offer to take over from the Maori Party as John’s new BFF. He’s got form in that area already, so who knows?
Either way, seems the tide is going out on Key.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/chris-trotter/6356378/Our-hands-were-tied-over-the-Crafar-farms-sale
So roll up and call Trotter a traitor for speaking the truth just like Fran o’Sullivan.
Who the hell thinks trotter is a paragon of the left wing anymore? He might have a slightly leftist emplyment policy, but his blogs on “identity politics” and how women and anyone else with an issue should toe the line and not endanger the Labour vote put him squarely in the camp of social conservatives.
Yeah he’s probably got more in common with your lot these days Fisi.
call you an idiot for mangling the oranges and the apples.
I see that Farrer in Dominion today the polls give the balance of power to Winston Peters.
Nats dropped and Labour up and with other lefties are only one seat behind Nat/Coalition, giving Winston the baubles if an election were held today. How big will his baubles be I wonder – huge, remember he is very selfish, so perhaps Finance, although Norman has bagged that, Foreign Affairs, and he has a few of those.
Makes you wonder – with continued great shit stirring out of Waitangi, Christchurch in revolt, seems a good time to let Key know he’s on his way out.
A cat is purchased, and trained, the trainer is not the owner
and the trainer becomes an attraction in their own right, and
becomes wealthy. The cats need to be trained extensively and
can not be easily replaced, yet are also an attraction in their
own right. The act performed is highly dangerous and has already
caused the death of one keeper, and there is some doubt over
whether the entry into the enclosure should even be allowed.
Due to family bonds some dispute over ownership of the cats
have arisen. Are the cats family pets? Are they trained animals? Or
are they as it looks like an attraction of a zoo primarily?
Should the cats be split up, those that have not be strongly
trained remain at the park as a going concern, and the trainer
take some of the cats and passes onwership of the land back over
as a consideration for past financial investment?
Or should government step in and appoint an independant manager,
ban any member of this disfunctional family from ever having
any access to these wild animals? For if they are an asset of
the businesses of either party then surely the businesses can
fire the employees and hire new staff who can carry out their
function.
Maybe government could even speak to the highly dangerous
‘circus act’ of entering the cage? Since at the core its
the personal affections of the protagonists to the cats
that ellicts all the destruction of value in the brands.
The Lion park and the Lion Man.
But on a personal note, who owns the family pet? The
unpaided person who attends to its needs, or the business
owner who sells tickets to see both do a dangerous
circus act? If I buy a Bear, get someone to train it to
wear a dress and shit on command, and the trainer makes
a name for themselves, does the Bear become their property,
even where it clearly states at the entrance to the ‘Bear’ Park.
I’m having a bit of trouble deciding if Bowalley Road should be included in the Leftwing Blog… because old trots seems decidedly right wing these days… Slater keeps quoting him for one thing. Trotter used to be leftist when he wrote for the Listener back in the day, but he has soured over the years. So should he stay or should he go?
Stay – if you think any common sense fits in on the left.
Considering your track record there Pete George, I think I ‘d better count that as a vote against old Trots.
So, I see that Trotter has joined the hate list… why?
Because…
And even worse, Whale oil agreed with him, so that makes him another enemy of the day.
Nah, it happened a good couple of years ago now. When he started arguing that the “left” should bend over and be more cooperative with tories, and on no account should women, homosexuals, or Maori put that relationship at risk by being all activisty and uppity.
He’s been the tories’ token “lefty” for ages, getting wheeled out for a nice unchallenging “left perspective”.
Just another thing you know fuck-all about,pete.
You have to love Chris Trotters comments on the Crafar farm sales .How it reeks of hypocrisy for David Shearer to now be crticising it. Prediction as soon as Shearer starts debating in the house he is going to get eaten alive by the National front bench comments from trotter below
In 2008, this country ratified a free-trade agreement with the People’s Republic of China. It was hailed as the most important foreign policy and trade achievement of the 1999-2008 Helen Clark-led government. Not only was it the first such agreement to be signed between China and a Western-style democracy, but it also offered New Zealand businesses immense economic opportunities. …
It was all the more perplexing, then, to hear Opposition leader David Shearer declaring his and the Labour Party’s opposition to the sale. It’s simply inconceivable that Mr Shearer is unaware of the MFN prohibition against denying China the same right to buy land as the nations that bought upwards of 650,000 hectares of our national patrimony exercised when Helen Clark was Prime Minister, and Mr Shearer’s friend (and former boss) Phil Goff was the Minister of Trade.
The Chinese under the FTA must be treated equally with all others and not disadvantaged in a deal compared with others. But this means if all land sales to foreigners were banned then Chinese would not be treated any differently. Ban all sales to nonresidents above a certain size.
At some point we must say “Enough! No more land sales.”
Hope it is by then not too late?
They do have the same right and we have the same right to tell them to stuff off. Just because the OIO has been pretty much a rubber stamp process for the last few years doesn’t mean that it has to stay that way.
so what clause is it that contains the free trade in land?
Fisi and James111, if either of you had the reading and comprehension ability of a preschooler and the wit to understand what Trotter wrote, you would come very quickly to the conclusion that he is calling a spade a spade. He is a leftist accusing his side of playing on the right for to long. Labour and its supporters don’t need RWNJs like yourselves to point out in some faux triumphalist bullshit way that the wounds are self inflicted.
Trotter by comparison is pointing out that for Labour it is too late to cry wolf when they signed the deals, and that we as a collective electorate allowed this to happen so we too have no right to complain. What I think he is driving at is that without repudiating their prior stance before the electorate Labour should shut up.
Bored I totally agree with you and Trotter but you have to question Shearers naievity in even talking about it
Question bollocks, Shearer is Johnny Come Lately and as such bears no personal responsibility. Unlike that fuckwit Key who allows his mates onshore and offshore to have their snouts in NZs trough on a permanent basis.
I find it amusing how you james 111 drop in, spout shit and then disappear when you are presented with a rational response (see /wanted-more-news-like-this/ as an example)
You must be part of this mob…..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2095549/Right-wingers-intelligent-left-wingers-says-controversial-study–conservative-politics-lead-people-racist.html
Not exactly rocket surgery, innit?
It’s kind of halarious the way the right are trotting out the xenophobic line against the left. Truth is, they are insulting the 80% of Kiwis who didnt want those farms sold for good reason – there still hasnt been a single argument as to why selling a chunk of the golden goose to the biggest consumer of golden eggs is a good idea . I mean unless you accept Steven Joyces laughingly lame attempt today suggesting Chinese investment will help local communties and create jobs. Okay Stephen, OIO found only two jobs will be created from the Crafar Sale, but PGG Wrightsons may sell more farm supplies. Of course we also know also they are now majority Chinese owned. Abysmally, there no analysis on the impact of competition against our own dairy industry.
What’s also ironic, is that the claims of xenophobia are sprouting either from resource sucking baby boomers such as the analytic devoid business commentator Fran O’Sullivan, or the politically senile Chris Trotter. But perhaps what is most interesting, is that this accusation has originated from a goverment who have just referrred to our Treaty as largely Symbolic , whose Muldoon supporting leader was pro-springbok , and who sees no issue public making racist and discrimatory jokes about Maori
But what’s partuclarly telling, is John Key’s supposedly unambigous announcement today regarding Chinese investment in New Zealand, has been now been quickly palmed off to Stephen Joyce . Anyone listening to the interview on RNZ this evening will understand why.
Ian thanks for that wonderful story believe it was written by a left winger in drag. So I guess you have all bases covered then LMFAO
james 111 is just waleshit in another incarnation.
he got multiple multiple personality disorder but he like a friendly idiot.
every now and then you have to give him a booot.
But with Jturd you don’t want to give him a boot cause you end up covered in his excrement.
Bennett’s bungled numbers
Despite the introduction of Future Focus, whereby beneficiaries have to adhere to strict conditions or loose their entitlements, people on the unemployment benefit grew by 2158 last month. In a press release today, Bene bashing Bennett does her best to spin the numbers so they don’t look bad, but information attained through the Official Information Act shows the truth of the matter…
John Key – Asshole of the Week
Clearly John Key is trying to provoke a spectacle on Waitangi day that will take the focus off National’s plans to privatise state owned assets. National can then claim that the Maori’s are all radicals and therefore not give their concerns the attention they deserve…
Seen on facebook recently:
A special message for the Tea Party : http://is.gd/7A0Imi
You might be a Socialist!! : http://is.gd/pYNapA
🙂