Radionz right now doing something pertinent to discussions on work. Listen in. audio link up later when I or someone gets time.
11:05 Robert McChesney – A Citizenless Democracy
Robert McChesney
With new technologies replacing jobs at an ever increasing rate and big money playing a bigger and bigger part in our politics are we facing a future of mass unemployment and an all but disenfranchised populace?
Authors Robert McChesney and John Nichols believe we are and in their new book People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy they provide evidence for that dystopian vision and a set of proposals for how it can be avoided. Robert McChesney is Research Professor in the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
11:40 Jeremy Hansen, Nicola and Lance Herbst – NZ Home of the Year
Architects Nicola and Lance Herbst join HOME magazine’s Jeremy Hansen to talk about their award winning house that’s just won the House of the Year award.
edited
Yep, NZ keeps doing things the cheap way rather than investing in modern technology. With the right technology investment we could easily compete producing high tech products.
Instead we’ve got our businesses cutting costs resulting in low productivity and even lower returns. This what you truly get when you leave it to the private sector who’s only real incentive is to become a rentier capitalist.
The only entity in NZ that could actually make the necessary investment is the government. This would be a full development from extraction of raw resources, processing them and then using those resources to produce products. What we don’t do, and should never do, is sell the raw resources offshore. Everybody’s got raw resources. Of course, give them time and everyone will have a high tech manufacturing sector as well.
Oh, and we need to claiming territory, not just an EEZ, out to the continental shelf.
Yep, NZ keeps doing things the cheap way rather than investing in modern technology. With the right technology investment we could easily compete producing high tech products.
Not a good strategy for a resilient future. We need to be able to design and manufacture appropriate tech, products which are easily maintainable using every day tools and equipment that we can produce and source 100% locally.
Gearing our economy up for exports to compete in global market economies to obtain units of digital currency will be increasingly a distraction and a waste of time.
Everybody’s got raw resources. Of course, give them time and everyone will have a high tech manufacturing sector as well.
None of these statements are true. Japan has much raw resources? South Korea has much raw resources? The UK has much raw resources? (Especially raw energy and mineral resources?)
Japan has fish, if mildly irradiated, and some promising rare earth deposits.
The UK sits on a fecking carbon seam that isn’t mined because of thatcher wanting to kill the unions.
About the only exception is South Korea, which has a natural resource of sitting in a contact zone of the Chinese, Japanese, and Russians. Buffer states can get rich before they get burned.
It’s a brilliant strategy for a resilient future. Invest in:
1. Renewable energy
2. Extraction and processing of those resources by renewable energy
3. Produce the tools and equipment that we need to maintain a high tech manufacturing base right here in NZ from NZ resources
Gearing our economy up for exports to compete in global market economies to obtain units of digital currency will be increasingly a distraction and a waste of time.
True. That would be why I keep saying that trade will come to and end.
None of these statements are true.
Actually, they’re all true but trade is off the table if they want to be sustainable.
Japan has much raw resources? South Korea has much raw resources?
Dude, the worlds crust is much of a muchness everywhere. Sure, there’s better deposits of things here and there but if you go out and dig up a shovel of dirt from your back yard it will have gold, iron, rare earth metals, and semi-conductors in it.
The UK has much raw resources? (Especially raw energy and mineral resources?)
The UK is presently building huge offshore wind farms. This means that they really won’t be short on raw energy. And they’ve never been short on minerals either. Of course, they don’t have as much now as they used to but they do have them. There’s a very good reason why Britain built the first all iron ship – it’s because they have a huge amount of iron. Their production may have decreased but they do have it.
And RT’s Keiser Report details the international scene further:
Japanese government pension payments are so low, that elderly Japanese are committing a wave of shoplifting crimes in order to get prison sentences, and the shelter and food they provide.
Private Japanese prisons then make massive profits from Japanese governments for each inmate.
Also: how PPPs (Public Private Partnerships) in the UK are deliberately structured by government insiders to cost tax payers more, and leave the assets built by tax payers money totally in the hands of private corporations.
HSBC – the transnational banking criminals – now own and profit off a number of UK “public” NHS hospitals.
+100…well worth watching …especially how the corporates are stripping the democratic nation states of their assets built up by generations of taxpayers
…also the plight of the elderly in Japan and the squeezing out of the middle class in USA
hard to believe they are now being so blatant…..and even harder to believe we keep voting for the likes of them……mad scramble for as much as they can steal before it all goes tits up
Another bunch of experts for our government to ignore.
Better to listen to Katherine Rich and other paid shills for transnational corporations…….
‘Medical experts push for sugar tax
An open letter signed by more than 70 medical specialists – including frontline care workers and professors – has called on the Government to introduce a sugar tax.
The letter was delivered to the Cabinet yesterday, citing serious concerns about New Zealand’s “appallingly high rate of childhood obesity” while pushing the Government to follow Mexico and Britain in taxing high-sugar-content soft drinks.
Medical experts who signed the letter include epidemiologists Alistair Woodward and Rod Jackson, paediatrician Diana Lennon, researcher Peter Davis – husband of former PM Helen Clark – cardiologist Harvey White, nutritionist Jim Mann and public health specialist Sally Casswell.’
A public health expert is calling for stronger government leadership to combat obesity, with a new study revealing NZ has one of the highest rates of overweight people in the world.
The study, published in The Lancet, compared body mass index among almost 20 million adult men and women people, from 1975 to 2014.
One of the report’s authors, Robert Beaglehole, an Emeritus Professor at Auckland University said New Zealand had lost the battle with adult obesity, but there was much more that could be done to prevent children from becoming overweight.’
Blah, blah, blah. Really all that effort on sugar tax.
Bugger hungry kids, we have got moralise about fat people.
So lets get the state to tell me what to eat as well, I mean they spy on me, they have silly little signs to tell me it’s unsafe, the tell me not to smoke, and most of the politicians are smug wankers.
But no, lets get a head of steam over sugar, bugger the homeless, the really shitty wages, rape culture and everything else. Lets get fat people sorted.
This is about control Paul, and quite frankly I’ve had enough of control from this and any other government.
So the doctors can piss off as well – not seeing them talking about the rising costs for patients, nor the declining services in the public health system. Or the fact we getting privatisation by stealth. No, they have got up on a higher horse of self bloody indulgence.
Piss off with your sugar tax, it’s just more regressive taxation, so bugger off.
The issue around the faux concern for fatties is that the concern is dressed up as a public health issue when it is in fact a massive stick to beat fatties with. “Anti fat campaigner” Robyn Tootmath was a prime example of a public service fatphobic but luckily she has buggered off in a huff because after 10 years hard work she couldn’t get the fatties to morph into her idea of a socially acceptable person – meaning a thin person. (One commenter on TS had a particularly upsetting experience as a patient of Robyn Toomath).
The concept of a sugar tax, as well as being regressive is also patronising. It says fat people can’t think for themselves when they do the shopping so we must bully them into making the purchases we want them to make, for their own good!
It has never occurred to any of the health professionals to lobby for the removal of GST on food so that healthier food becomes more accessible and more choice become available to the shopper. As poverty has increased, so has obesity. Processed foods, containing excess sugars, fats, additives and little nutritive value will always be chosen over fruit, vege, lean proteins and wholefoods.
It has never occurred to the government to regulate the soft drink industry so their products aren’t so prominent and cheap – control the corporates, don’t control the people.
Children need adults to support their health and well being and prevent future illness such as type 2 diabetes. For that to happen the food market needs to be regulated and good healthy foods need to accessible. Taxing “bad” food just tells us we are “bad” for making those choices.
Consider that if processed sugar was invented tomorrow, it would probably be considered so metabolically toxic that it would be banned. Taxing it wouldn’t even enter the discussion.
In the meantime I guess the rest of us will just have to depend on your ability to ‘think for yourself’ and stop consuming the stuff.
Yes, that’s a theme you, I and quite a few others here are very much in agreement about. Indeed the relationship between civilisation and drugs in general is deep, complex and absolutely fascinating.
Hell you only have to consider the historic role of the Oracle at Delphi to see just one tiny aspect of it.
Banning drugs, without offering a positive alternative path to relieving the pyscho-social pain they are in never works. The pain wins every time.
However it’s usually best to solve the pragmatic problems that are right in front of you; and given the historic place sugar has in Western diet, banning it is no longer an option. Taxing unwanted behaviour remains the next best choice.
Lots of people don’t seem to know how to cope when something doesn’t work or goes to plan.
I wonder if that’s to do with the “cotton wooling” that tends to happen in society these days.
Protecting people from failure robs them of the ability to cope with problems or know how to solve problems when issues arise so people end up being overwhelmed.
I agree that in some ways we “cottonwool” people in destructive and weakening ways.
However, when we are throwing citizens to the wolves, that is equally destructive and weakening.
I’m reminded of that scene in the film 300 when someone throws in a single knife into a locked room of young Spartan boys to see which one is worthy of surviving.
That’s not really the society that we should be striving for.
Not knowing how it cope with problems is the real issue.
I agree. Not knowing , or feeling powerless to change anything, is the most corrosive thing.
I do get the idea that it’s impossible and unreasonable to demand we eliminate all stress and risk from life. In fact quite the opposite, as a keen tramper I’ve actively sought out risk and challenge in my life.
But I go out there with both skills, experience AND the knowledge that I am entirely responsible for the choices I make. I avoid situations where the risks are outside of my control.
For instance I avoid avalanche gullies or debris paths when there’s lots of soft snow about. If I’ve no choice but to cross one, you race across with your heart in your mouth and you don’t feel good about it afterwards. It’s a ‘loss of control’ situation.
Same with society, it’s the sense of isolation, powerlessness and loss of control, when surrounded by a society that sends hostile messages all the time … which breaks people down.
“In the meantime I guess the rest of us will just have to depend on your ability to ‘think for yourself’ and stop consuming the stuff.”
This sounds quite sarcastic to me. What do you mean by the “rest of us”? The fat hating tax payer? And what about “your ability to think for yourself”? Are you talking about me?
Geez. I worked in the organic sector for a good dozen years. I stay away from the processed shitty foods. The only sugar I consume is alcohol. I don’t see anyone, apart from maybe Prof Doug Sellman, attempting to control the sale of alcohol which has far more devastating effects on individuals and society, (alcohol related cancer, early death, road toll, family violence etc) than sugar alone.
That’s a public health issue so why does nobody wring their hands about that one?
What about suicide? That’s a public health issue. What about all the unwell people keeping our hospitals full after their failed attempts and their death rate that is higher than the the road toll. Shouldn’t we be hating on them too?
See, very convenient to dress one issue up as a public health issue when it has it’s basis in social intolerance.
Well yes there are many, many symptoms our stressed and sick society throws up. As much as I’d much as like to think we could address this root cause, I doubt I will see much change in my lifetime. But in the meanwhile health professionals tell us that diabetes is rapidly becoming their number one concern.
Well if making sugar laden foods more expensive, and non-processed foods cheaper by comparison helps reduce the incidence of this awful disease then I’ll support it. If like the Australians we removed GST on ‘fresh food’ I’d support that as well. I’d cheerfully advocate for both.
This sounds quite sarcastic to me. What do you mean by the “rest of us”? The fat hating tax payer? And what about “your ability to think for yourself”? Are you talking about me?
Well you were the one who was cheerfully explaining how people were perfectly capable of choosing not to consume sugar of their own volition, so I was assuming you don’t consume the stuff … which is a genuinely good thing. So frankly if you don’t consume it, why object to a tax on it?
And diabetes is an illness, while connected with obesity, can strike anyone, any shape, pretty much any age. So it’s not a ‘fat’ issue.
Alcohol is something CV and I touched on above.
Suicide is another symptom of a sick society. In the immediate years after Roger Pigfucking Douglas’s sick reforms in the 1980’s the youth male suicide rate quadrupled. And has stayed high ever since. Personally I’d like to hold Douglas accountable with a criminal charge reflecting the consequences of his actions. But that’s not going to happen sadly.
“So frankly if you don’t consume it, why object to a tax on it?”
Because there are better, fairer ways of controlling the sale of high sugar food and drink, as mentioned. (Remove GST on ALL food and regulate the industry at source).
Other reasons. Psychology. Taxing a food source is in punishment orientation. This sends a message to the shopper that they are “bad” if they choose that item that has a public health tax on it. Could potentially lead to a feeling of shame. Nobody needs to feel ashamed about a grocery purchasing decision.
Reward orientation would be a far more healthy approach. Reward people by granting them access to lower cost healthier choices by removing GST on all foods- OR leave GST on alcohol, cigarettes and fizzy drinks.
And taking a sideways diversion. We have been spending time with visitors from the UK. They are horrified at the cost of a grocery shop here. Double that of their shop for similar items in the uk. And that’s with 20% VAT on some items. Do we really need even more cost added to our unaffordable food?
Re Diabetes. Type 1 is the one unrelated to weight. That can affect all ages and sizes. The condition can be triggered by pregnancy. My tiny mother in law has type 1 diabetes as a result of the pregnancy with her second child.
PS. Re Suicide. In 2014/2015 569 people suicided. The highest rate ever. To me this is a real public health crisis and deserves the full attention of mental health professionals, the Government, and and a public caring about such a crisis rather than hating on fatties, which they do on a daily basis in our msm.
Have a look at the figures from 2007 onwards. If Roger Douglas should be held accountable, so should our current government for these;
Because there are better, fairer ways of controlling the sale of high sugar food and drink, as mentioned. (Remove GST on ALL food and regulate the industry at source).
Removing GST on ALL food merely makes the sugar stuff cheaper too. No change in behaviour.
Strong and repeated studies show that foods laden with sugar, salt and trans-fats are seriously addictive and that most people cannot control their appetite for them.
And given these foods also come with nice big packets for lots of colourful advertising, have very long shelf-life and low wastage … they will always enjoy a price advantage.
Logic suggests that a tax to remove that advantage is the correct path. Otherwise all you are doing is rewarding people for eating toxic shit.
My other suggestion, you would have seen, was to retain GST on those unhealthy food and drink choices. That would be a way to level prices between untaxed healthy food and GST added unhealthy food.
To tax those unhealthy foods further tells an addicted person “we know better than you”. It’s an authoritarian approach. It’s always better to stand along side someone and support and educate than speak down and enforce behaviour change WE want to see. Again patronising and dis empowering. Such personal change, as what a persons eats needs to come from the person themselves not finger waver types who can’t tolerate them. – All part of those hostile messages you were talking about above.
Government has three fundamental tools at it’s disposal:
1. Ban it
2. Tax it
3. Educate it
In this case Option 1 of banning it isn’t going to be possible. Any amount of hysterical ‘nanny state’ rantings would stop any useful change. Hell we couldn’t even legislate against obsolete incandescent light bulbs.
And much the same with Option 3. While I agree with you that it’s always the most positive and rewarding approach, when it comes to food choices people are notoriously prickly and defensive; more yelling on about nanny state social engineering. Still if you can get it over the line, I’ll be cheering you on.
That kind of leaves Option 2 of taxing it, the idea of the ‘market signal’ which is pretty much where our political system is at.
In general a mix of ‘carrot and stick’ is the most effective way of changing behaviour. For instance we changed attitudes around drink driving with a major education campaign, but neither did we remove the penalties for it either.
So yes taxing sugar is a penalty, but equally it doesn’t leave people powerless to respond and simply stop consuming it.
Don’t forget that option. Yes, education has been effective around drink driving in NZ but the market is largely unregulated. In fact we put these products up on pedestals via advertising and sponsorship. EG the Jim Beam Homegrown festival
We could start a teeth insurance policy for families, that will ensure that they get free dental treatment every six months for their children. And encourage the mothers to pay into that instead of buying sugary things, give them examples of how they could show their affection and give a treat, with some examples of the sort they would be used to, and add some different ones, or tell them they always knew better, ie chew on some coconut bits, apple bits, especially out of the frig if they can.
And each insurance payer gets into a sweep and winners be a few families who have a completely free weekend away at a holiday site where all can relax, and enjoy. That would get a lot of word of mouth publicity. Carrots, for the teeth, and stick, from the pain and ugliness of having rotting teeth or no teeth left at all.
Well yes, ban it or regulate it more or less fall into the same category at least to my mind. And all the ideas you suggest are absolutely worth implementing. No quibble.
Except given the known addictive power of sugary foods, will it be enough on it’s own? And why leave the food companies with a price and profit advantage in the market?
I guess I’m thinking of the same debate we had 15 years ago about a carbon tax. Yes it would have put prices up, yes it was punitive, and here in Australia for the few years we had one, it was proven effective in reducing carbon consumption. The moment that arse Abbott removed it, the numbers started creeping upwards again.
And given the abject failure of various ETS schemes that let the fossil fuel companies play games and scams, everyone now looks back and realises that a plain old fashioned carbon tax was the right idea all along.
Sure, excise taxes decrease demand, but they also pay for the additional health costs caused by too much sugar and too much fat. A sugar tax could absolutely be used to subsidise vegetables etc.
Food producers (I use that word advisedly) advertise chemical and sugar laden foo as food. One of the many ways they keep costs down is the sugar component. Tax it? Nah.
Maybe ban all brand food advertising – kind of in line with how almost all countries (NZ and the US being the exceptions) ban brand drug advertising.
It looks to me like an aspect of the neoliberal “consensus” whereby the economy must be left to the experts, but it is OK to push for cultural change. After all, rather than infantilising fat people (and continually lowering the threshold for obesity), you could simply limit the amount of sugar permitted in soft drinks and processed products. But that would count as meddling with the economy. So you end up with a situation analogous to that of 19th century Britain, where you couldn’t alleviate poverty, but you could wring your middle class hands about people drinking too much gin and keeping their coal in the bath.
Our working-class ancestors knew a thing or two about anthropogenic climate change! 🙂
They also knew about not getting over-weight. Poverty can do that when food and rents were high, sugary foods too expensive and food far less processed, unlike today where soft drinks are cheaper than milk- rather like 18-19th century gin.
Bugger hungry kids, we have got moralise about fat people.
No one’s moralising about fat people. They’re moralising about poor diet brought about by corporations using too much sugar in the processing of food which then makes people sick.
Here is how you fix obesity: the government gets into the super market business and sets up state supermarkets to sell a reduced range of healthy foods at subsidised rates.
It would cause a massive drop in food prices from the supermarket cartel (trust me, NZ has more expensive food than Germany, let alone Spain – and quality is often poor in NZ, especially for meat, fruit, vegetables and especially bread. Kiwis like to bullshit themselves to the point of self delusion on food prices for some reason). The only losers will be Australian owned food cartels.
Don’t forget that the a word industry has long been generous donors to both main political parties, and probably provided plenty of high class, low cost bevy for sophisticated fund raising dos.
Perhaps the Government should look at the causes of obesity, evidently corn syrup in the USA has caused Americans to blow up like balloons?
This current Government is currently in bed with the multi national food producers or are they frightened of being sued under the TPPA Agreement already.
The current Public Health situation and food policing is a joke.
This is a video in English of a heavy metal band with a message for the world from a German point of view. Germany has learnt its lesson from history. Do we also learn or do we get to make the same mistakes?
Our great Prime Minister jonkey who has just wasted $26 million of New Zealand taxpayers’ hard earned money trying ever-so-hard and with every PR trick in the book …and failing miserably to change New Zealand’s historic flag into his own brand takeover ….is now is giving free advise to Britain :
‘Who asked New Zealand? Brexit scaremongering continues apace’
“Mass immigration, financial woes and an intervention by New Zealand’s PM – all in a day’s work for Project Fear. RT searches for a Brexit reality check as referendum day creeps ever closer….
The High Court list for tomorrow is now online and the very last page is worth a visit. There was some speculation that this case had been moved elsewhere but it would seem not ….
Correct. Arthur Fairley is a Barrister specializing in criminal law, with Thomson Wilson Law in Whangarei. Another partner in the firm, Peter Magee, was involved in the earlier stages.
He has done some interesting cases in the past of a similar nature and/or related to the background of the person we must not name. An easy way to see these in brief is to go to the link below for the Northern Advocate and enter ‘Arthur Fairley’ in the search box.
I was wondering whether the person we cannot name would continue to have name suppression during the trial. The court decision on April 30 2015 was to extend this until the trial but did not make it clear whether suppression would continue during the trial or whether a further application would need to be made at the start of the trial.
This Herald article on Friday seems to think that suppression will continue until the end of the trial.
[Moderating Note: While legally it is safe enough to repeat what is in the Herald and similar media, any in-depth discussion or hashing over this matter is strongly discouraged.
Apart from political and legal aspects of name suppression, there is very little that can be usefully said until the trial is over.
I urge everyone to consider carefully before commenting as to whether what they are about to say is legal, constructive and respects the purpose of the Court order for name suppression.]
I apologise Redlogix, all I wondered was who was this Fairley person. I knew it wasn’t the accused. I do realise everything is under wraps, so I shall not comment again about this. I see, though there are more comments after me who are chatting about stuff about this case which seem as innocent as mine. Sorry if I did wrong.
As an aside, and I hope I am within the boundaries of discussing this case appropriately, this news came up on the Herald yesterday and was posted here on TS by Paul (?) I think.
I had a look at stuff and RNZ websites but couldn’t find a thing. Nothing on tv news at 6.
I wonder if this case will be on the low down for it’s duration, with as little media attention as possible.
Yes. Suppression order stands for duration of trial at the least. That’s my understanding anyway. If its correct then that is so wrong. I cannot recall any other case where a total suppression of all aspects of a trial have occurred. Suppression of the name of the accused and/or the victims yes, but never the entire case.
Sick isn’t it when people have to pay 70-80% of their wages on rent to support investors and speculators in the Auckland property market, many of them are offshore Asian owners, NACT’s Brighter Future Policy?
Many are also offshore USians, English, Australians and other nationalities.
It’s not where they come from that’s the problem but the simple fact that they are offshore. Even ex-pat kiwis should not be able to own land/houses/businesses in NZ.
Next month St Ives will vote in a referendum to approve a neighbourhood plan. While the plan’s 108 pages cover a range of local matters, the eye-catching measure is to be found in section 3, point H2, under the heading “Full-Time Principal Residence Housing”.
If the plan is approved, there will be a legal requirement to ensure that all new housing in the area is for principal residence., with the owners’ status checked against the electoral roll and doctors’ registers. While out-of-towners will still be able to buy second-hand houses as second homes or holiday lets, all newly built property will be reserved exclusively for the locals.
“It’s groundbreaking,” says Taylor, who is about to begin her third term as mayor of the town. “We’re really lucky that we live in such a beautiful area, it’s recognised by a lot of people and a lot of people want to buy a slice of the lifestyle. You can’t overestimate the contribution of second-home owners to the economy, but you have to look at the bigger picture. Where you don’t have a sustainable economy, over time the town will wither away. We don’t want that. We want to maintain a thriving community, we’re trying to keep the fabric of the community together.”
I’m actually more concerned about the cashed up, National-voting, middle class, ‘Mum-and-dad’ property investors that own way more properties around the country. They are the ones benefiting from the poverty that has rusted onto this country over the past 30 years or so.
Gordon Gekko said that “Greed is Good” and Deng Xiaoping said that “To get rich is glorious”. Who really cares about the colour of the landlord.
Given that Super by itself is a pretty modest safety net, and that for most people low risk and security for their retirement funding is a very high priority … investing in rental housing became the ONLY realistic option left open to most middle class people.
Retirement can be an extremely unpredictable thing. Some people pass on within months of stopping work, others can live on for more years than their ‘working’ life. Our wild-west stock market, infested with shark-suited insiders lost all credibility with people my generation. It will never get it back. Same with all the finance houses. Think SCF.
And most businesses are run for capital gain not cash flow. A few years back I looked seriously at several horticultural businesses. Two I really liked and wanted to do; but no matter how I cut the numbers the return on capital made no sense. The existing owners could live off their cash flow, but the real returns would come when they sold it.
And this is pretty typical everywhere you look, it’s either over-priced for tax-free capital gain, has no actual value when the owner-operator leaves, or it’s in a dying industry. So in the end even I had no choice but to stick with property. It’s not ideal but you tell me, and heaps of other middle class kiwis, what other options were open to us that we could trust.
@ RedLogix
That’s a great comment from you. With your knowledge of the way things are for investment in NZ it has real gravitas. Actually I am going to copy and keep it and advise others also to do so. It is good to have something to refer to when trying to find base after reading confusing financial figures, and trying to get an understanding of why we are going downwards in an apparently modern, wealthy country.
This and a recent piece from Greek Minister Yanis Varoufakis ( spelling?) about the inevitable downward slide of world economies form a cornerstone to keep near when discussion of the future occurs. If you want the link ask and I’ll find it.
We should perhaps signal our concerns with Auckland housing by using the A-word, with a-word being for alcohol. That would refer to the housing statistics showing there has been a large rise from India and China. Which referred to makes people uncomfortable because it raises the spectre of past nasty to murderous days where the impassioned prejudices of some people against Chinese particularly, came to the fore from negative memes in society.
Last time we had a big discussion on Auckland buy ups from overseas I got to, checked out, and put up a comment with the statistics displaying the reality of people’s concerns about which foreign buyers predominated.
I did it. You can hunt for it if you want to refresh your memories.
must give a belated well done to bunnings management.
belated as it is probably a week ago that they installed defibrillators in five stores, including stores where defibs had been removed.
a union leader maxine gay, thanked the public for it’s vocal support in getting behind the workers.
it felt good, this result, after sending two e-mails to the company.
Yes, noticed that. At least they finally got something right. On the other hand Talleys are up to their old tricks again and are taking the Meat Workers Union to court, can’t remember over what. I read it yesterday on RNZ but their site is down at the moment so can’t link to it.
Who agrees that it’s not a ‘conflict of interest’ for Auckland Council to remain a member of the NZ Property Council, because the latter has ‘broad public interest goals’ ?
Really?
This private sector lobby group for commercial property developers has ‘broad public interest goals’?
How about Auckland Council getting ‘legal advice’ from Meredith Connell on the matter of whether Auckland Council’s membership of the NZ Property Council was a ‘conflict of interest’ – but failing to disclose that Meredith Connell was a corporate member of the NZ Property Council?
File under ‘you couldn’t make this sh*t up’?
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
(Who believes that it is a significant and disturbing ‘conflict of interest’ for Auckland Council or CCOs to be members of private sector lobby groups such as the NZ Property Council and the Committee for Auckland.)
On some level, they have to engage with them anyway, and council and CCOs are normally among the country’s largest property investors – joining them makes some sense.
CASH ….use it or lose it ?
im continually amazed by the trusting willingness of people to become ever more dependent on the banks and on technology in general ,
picture a small coastal resort town at christmas time and the queues of shoppers at the local 4square stretch right to the back of the shop and beyond someone at the front finaly remembers their pin or finds a card from their selection that works and we all shuffle forward a foot …reminds me somewhat of sheep in a sheep yard being forced up a race .After what seems like an hour i have only one shopper in front of me , characteristically this dude whos using his card to purchase a moro bar has turned his back to me and lifts his elbows protectively to shield his pin number obliging me to look about the shop or anywhere apart from him i play the game and think about what i would like to do with his card ..tap tap tap waiting………waiting…..would you like your receit sir?yes !! ?/ he does?? gotta keep track of that dollar fifty i presume or maybe hes gonna get it out when he gets home to see if the indians have diddled him ? who knows ? we shuffle forwards a foot i buy my stuff slap the cash down and get the fuck out of there .
yes i have heard the convienience argument but it comes with the paranoia attachment not to mention when the power goes off or the computers break down but of course that could never happen….
Yep. Cash all the way with me. I love the stuff. Fast and trustworthy. We are tagged in so many ways these days that paying in cash is almost a fingers up to the watchers. Don’t start me with those that have complete faith in their smart phone banking and payments…………..
It’s also fun confusing people with cash payments.
The thought of electronic voting worries me. I understand the argument is “we live in a digital age so we need to encourage the young to vote in a medium they are familiar with”.
But just how easy is it to rig it/hack it? How can confidentiality be maintained? How hard is it to trust it? I don’t think I could be easily persuaded. You?
I’ve some times thought to myself I’m a bit paranoid about technology and how insecure our data is. But last Sunday I watched “Digital Dissidents” on Al Jazeera and realised my apprehensions were completely justified. Just your smart phone alone functions as a geographical tracking device and tracks your purchases of course, if you’re using a phone to pay for items. Your life can easily become a diary for any authority. Privacy is the issue. Now I’m glad I’ve got an old dumb phone and use cash everywhere.
Part two of Digital Dissidents is on tonight. It’s a story about whistleblowers, so by default looks at ways the public are spied upon.
“Facebook is evil in my view, I’ve been saying this for years. […] We offer up our information and it’s just there on a plate for the spies to access. And we know they do through back doors and things. Yet that sort of information used to take them weeks or months to gather on an individual.”
Annie Machon, former British secret service agentdissidents-160323141254755.html
personally i see nothing i trust with electronic voting.
the powers that be constantly show they can not be trusted.
this past week we have the gcsb showing they have over stepped a generous mark, and not a drop of accountability.
not on facebook myself, the best summary of fb is that you are not the client you are the product.
i shall have a look at the digital dissidents.
now to stir the 3 chilli bbq sauce that is simmering on the stove (donated chillis!)
Once apon a time someone decided that they would use bits of worthless paper to trade with instead of gold dust, dead chickens or turnips and I bet they had people react in the same way as you cash is king peoples,!
cash is king especially when eftpos is down, or you have no electricity.
all your digitial 0 and 1s mean nothing when you don’t have juice.
And as a shopkeeper i can guarantee you, on one of these days, if you are not known to the shop owner, you get nothing without cash when eftpos is down or there is no juice.
The problem with cash is that it allows criminal behaviour to continue. Go to a cashless society and you could pretty much eliminate all financial crime over night.
And as a shopkeeper i can guarantee you, on one of these days, if you are not known to the shop owner, you get nothing without cash when eftpos is down or there is no juice.
Oh noes, I won’t be able to buy anything for a few hours, oh woe is…
The jihadi brides saga clearly showed that we were being ‘manipulated’ by withholding information. Funny, how some (?) people seem to think that they can only be affected by things they can see and ‘know’ to exist; this is also one of the reasons why distraction is so effective in politics.
Interesting how the Jihadi Bride Thing made major headlines here in NZ as if their were scores of NZ women heading to the Middle East, when in fact one had left from Australia.
This is a classic example of US paranoia “fear politics”, brings back memories of National’s “reds under the beds in the 1950’s and 1960’s under Holyoake and Muldoon?
Please don’t go down the “nz inc” line James Shaw. Its a country not a fucking company.
Good on Little talking tough on banks , its a vote grabber for sure.
That’s true about NZ being a country (rather self-evidently!), but bear in mind that legally, the name NZ Inc would be an incorporated society, not a company (that would be NZ Ltd), so clearly it’s a not-for-profit entity which operates to attain its objects as set by its members, while not operating for the pecuniary gain of said members.
If we NZers are the members, that would explain a lot…
C’mon Aud’…….don’t hold back. Hoorah Henry Cameron positively cowered in a corner of The Lincoln Room as Key licked his arse. After 20 minutes of good nosh of Obama……Key that is.
Chris Hipkins has become New Zealand’s 41st prime minister following Ardern’s unexpected resignation—perhaps the bold and unpredictable move Labour needed to improve its election chances. Just six days into his premiership and Labour had its first lead over National in thirteen weeks. National has had a largely uninterrupted run of ...
Good people can come into your life imperceptibly. It can seem they’re just there one day being remarkable. Nat Torkington, for instance.We were both online from the early days, I’m assuming that’s where we first connected; maybe in the UseNet newsgroups, or maybe later through Public Address.But it was when ...
One of New Zealand’s biggest electricity generators, Genesis Energy, has given the go-ahead for a large solar farm near Lauriston on the Canterbury Plains, an hour’s drive south of Christchurch. It is part of Genesis’ strategy of replacing thermal baseload with renewable generation – a mix of wind and solar. ...
Buzz from the Beehive We found just one fresh announcement on the Beehive website this morning, when we made our first visit since 4 February. It was posted in the name of Nanaia Mahuta, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, and explained why she was not at Waitangi at the weekend. ...
Hipkins is doing the right thing for New Zealanders already living in Australia, but there’s now a growing risk of a fresh surge of net emigration of frustrated young Kiwis across the Tasman. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Employers here in Aotearoa are desperate to keep their best-trained, most-productive ...
This post contains two guest posts from readers, both of which were sent to us after the flooding on Friday 27 January, both of which discuss how we handle our stormwater. This is a guest post from Ed Clayton, who’s written for us before about Auckland’s relationship with freshwater, ...
TLDR: For paying subscribers, here’s the key breaking news, scoops and links I’ve found since 4 am this morning, as of 7 am, including:A 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 2,200 in Turkey near its border with Syria; ReutersMetService has warned a new cyclone is forming north of Aotearoa that ...
The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. There is a new wave of Maori activism, which sees the Treaty as a living ...
Originally published by The Hill After decades of failure to pass major federal climate legislation, Congress finally broke through last year with the Inflation Reduction Act and its close to $400 billion in clean energy investments. Energy modeling experts estimated that these provisions would help the U.S. cut its carbon pollution ...
Apology Accepted? “I dropped the ball on Friday, I was too slow to be seen …The communications weren’t fast enough – including mine. I’m sorry for that.”–Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown.HOW OFTEN do politicians apologise? Sincerely apologise? Not offer voters the weasel words: “If my actions have offended anyone, then I ...
At first blush, Christopher Luxon’s comment at the parliamentary powhiri at Waitangi this year sounded tone deaf. The Leader of the Opposition in talking about the Treaty of Waitangi described New Zealand as “a little experiment”. It seemed to diminish the treaty and the very idea of our nation. Yet ...
THE (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding. BRIAN EASTON writes: Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It ...
A brief postscript to yesterday’s newsletter…Watching the predawn speeches just now, the reverence of those speaking and the respectful nature of those listening under umbrellas in the dark. I felt a great sadness at the words from Christopher Luxon last evening still in my head. The singing in the dark accompanied ...
by Don Franks While on holiday,I stayed a few days in Scotland with a friend who showed me one of the country’s great working-class achievements. It was a few miles out of central Edinburgh, a huge cantilever bridge across the river Forth. The Forth Bridge was the first major structure ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic and ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 29, 2023 thru Sat, Feb 4, 2023. Story of the Week Social change more important than physical tipping points1.5-degree Goal not plausible Photo: CLICCS / Universität Hamburg Limiting global ...
So Long - And Thanks For All The Fish: In the two-and-a-bit years since Jacinda Ardern’s electoral triumph of 2020, virtually every decision she made had gone politically awry. In the minds of many thousands of voters a chilling metamorphosis had taken place. The Faerie Queen had become the Wicked ...
Look at us here on our beautiful islands in the South Pacific at the start of 2023, we have come so far.Ten days ago we saw a Māori Governor General swearing in our new PM and our first Pasifika Deputy PM, ahead of this year’s parliament where they will be ...
The Herald’s headline writers are at it again! A sensible and balanced piece by Liam Dann on the battle against inflation carries a headline that suggests that NZ is doing worse than the rest of the world. Check it out and see for yourself if I am right. Is this ...
Photo by Anna Demianenko on UnsplashTLDR: Here’s my longer reads and listens for the weekend for sharing with The Kaka’s paying subscribers. I’ve opened this one up for all to give everyone a taste of the sorts of extras you get as a full paying subscriber.Subscribe nowDeeper reads and listens ...
Hello from the middle of a long weekend where I’m letting the last few days unspool, not ready, not yet, to give words to the hardest of what we heard.Instead, today, here are some good words from other people.Mother CourageWhen I wrote last year about Mum and Dad’s move to ...
Workers Now is a new slate of candidates contesting this year’s general election. James Robb and Don Franks are the people behind this initiative and they are hoping to put the spotlight on working people’s interests. Both are seasoned activists who have campaigned for workers’ rights over many decades. Here is ...
Buzz from the Beehive Politicians keen to curry favour with Māori tribal leaders have headed north for Waitangi weekend. More than a few million dollars of public funding are headed north, too. Not all of this money is being trumpeted on the Beehive website, the Government’s official website. ...
Insurers face claims of over $500 million for cars, homes and property damaged in the floods. They are already putting up premiums and pulling insurance from properties deemed at high risk of flooding. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: This week in the podcast of our weekly hoon webinar for paying subscribers, ...
Our Cranky Uncle Game can already be played in eight languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. About 15 more languages are in the works at various stages of completion or have been offered to be done. To kick off the new year, we checked with how ...
The (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding.Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It refers to ‘government’ on ...
It’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump on this link for our chat about the week’s news with special guests Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick and Auckland City Councillor Julie Fairey, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which ...
In March last year, in a panic over rising petrol prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government made a poor decision, "temporarily" cutting fuel excise tax by 25 cents a litre. Of course, it turned out not to be temporary at all, having been extended in May, July, ...
This month’s open thread for climate related topics. Please be constructive, polite, and succinct. The post Unforced variations: Feb 2023 first appeared on RealClimate. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two fresh press releases had been posted when we checked the Beehive website at noon, both of them posted yesterday. In one statement, in the runup to Waitangi Day, Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis drew attention to happenings on a Northland battle site in 1845. ...
It’s that time of the week again when I’m on the site for an hour for a chat in an Ask Me Anything with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump in for a chat on anything, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which are set to cost insurers and the Government well over ...
Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) has published a 6,000 word manifesto called ‘Capitalism after the Crises’ arguing for ‘values-based capitalism’. Yet here in NZ we hear the same stale old rhetoric unchanged from the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The rest of the world is talking about inflation ...
A couple of weeks ago, after NCEA results came out, my son’s enrolment at Auckland Uni for this year was confirmed - he is doing a BSc majoring in Statistics. Well that is the plan now, who knows what will take his interest once he starts.I spent a bit of ...
Kia ora. What a week! We hope you’ve all come through last weekend’s extreme weather event relatively dry and safe. Header image: stormwater ponds at Hobsonville Point. Image via Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland There’s been a storm of information and debate since the worst of the flooding ...
Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
Open access notables Via PNAS, Ceylan, Anderson & Wood present a paper squarely in the center of the Skeptical Science wheelhouse: Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased. The signficance statement is obvious catnip: Misinformation is a worldwide concern carrying socioeconomic and political consequences. What drives ...
Mark White from the Left free speech organisation Plebity looks at the disturbing trend of ‘book burning’ on US campuses In the abstract, people mostly agree that book banning is a bad thing. The Nazis did us the favor of being very clear about it and literally burning books, but ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has undergone a stern baptisim of fire in his first week in his new job, but it doesn’t get any easier. Next week, he has a vital meeting in Canberra with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, where he has to establish ...
As PM Chris Hipkins says, it’s a “no brainer” to extend the fuel tax cut, half price public subsidy and the cut to the road user levy until mid-year. A no braoner if the prime purpose is to ease the burden on people struggling to cope with the cost of ...
Buzz from the Beehive Cost-of-living pressures loomed large in Beehive announcements over the past 24 hours. The PM was obviously keen to announce further measures to keep those costs in check and demonstrate he means business when he talks of focusing his government on bread-and-butter issues. His statement was headed ...
Poor Mike Hosking. He has revealed himself in his most recent diatribe to be one of those public figures who is defined, not by who he is, but by who he isn’t, or at least not by what he is for, but by what he is against. Jacinda’s departure has ...
New Zealand is the second least corrupt country on earth according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published yesterday by Transparency International. But how much does this reflect reality? The problem with being continually feted for world-leading political integrity – which the Beehive and government departments love to boast about ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus. Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects. “We are undertaking a stocktake about how ...
Sometime before the new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that this year would be about “bread and butter issues”, National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis decided to move from Wellington Central and stand for Ohariu, which spreads across north Wellington from the central city to Johnsonville and Tawa. It’s an ...
They say a week is a long time in politics. For Mayor Wayne Brown, turns out 24 hours was long enough for many of us to see, quite obviously, “something isn’t right here…”. That in fact, a lot was going wrong. Very wrong indeed.Mainly because it turns ...
One of the most effective, and successful, graphics developed by Skeptical Science is the escalator. The escalator shows how global surface temperature anomalies vary with time, and illustrates how "contrarians" tend to cherry-pick short time intervals so as to argue that there has been no recent warming, while "realists" recognise ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Tomorrow we have a funeral, and thank you all of you for your very kind words and thoughts — flowers, even.Our friend Michèle messaged: we never get to feel one thing at a time, us grownups, and oh boy is that ever the truth. Tomorrow we have the funeral, and ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
A new Prime Minister, a revitalised Cabinet, and possibly revised priorities – but is the political and, importantly, economic landscape much different? Certainly some within the news media were excited by the changes which Chris Hipkins announced yesterday or – before the announcement – by the prospect of changes in ...
Currently the government's strategy for reducing transport emissions hinges on boosting vehicle fuel-efficiency, via the clean car standard and clean car discount, and some improvements to public transport. The former has been hugely successful, and has clearly set us on the right path, but its also not enough, and will ...
Buzz from the Beehive Before he announced his Cabinet yesterday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced he would be flying to Australia next week to meet that country’s Prime Minister. And before Kieran McAnulty had time to say “Three Waters” after his promotion to the Local Government portfolio, he was dishing ...
The quarterly labour market statistics were released this morning, showing that unemployment has risen slightly to 3.4%. There are now 99,000 people unemployed - 24,000 fewer than when Labour took office. So, I guess the Reserve Bank's plan to throw people out of work to stop wage rises "inflation", and ...
Another night of heavy rain, flooding, damage to homes, and people worried about where the hell all this water is going to go as we enter day twenty two of rain this year.Honestly if the government can’t sell Three Waters on the back of what has happened with storm water ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular reforms in water and DHB centralisation ...
Hi,It’s weird to me that in 2023 we still have people falling for multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs for short). There are Netflix documentaries about them, countless articles, and last year we did an Armchaired and Dangerous episode on them.Then you check a ticketing website like EventBrite and see this shit ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Shortly, the absolute state of Wayne Brown. But before that, something I wrote four years ago for the council’s own media machine. It was a day-in-the-life profile of their many and varied and quite possibly unnoticed vital services. We went all over Auckland in 48 hours for the story, the ...
Completed reads for January Lilith, by George MacDonald The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Christabel (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, by Anonymous The Lay of Kraka (poem), by Anonymous 1066 and All That, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. ...
Pity the poor Brits. They just can’t catch a break. After years of reporting of lying Boris Johnson, a change to a less colourful PM in Rishi Sunak has resulted in a smooth media pivot to an end-of-empire narrative. The New York Times, no less, amplifies suggestions that Blighty ...
On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth.Genesis 6:11-12THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS that dumped a record-breaking amount of rain on Auckland this anniversary weekend will reoccur with ever-increasing frequency. The planet’s atmosphere is ...
Buzz from the Beehive There has been plenty to keep the relevant Ministers busy in flood-stricken Auckland over the past day or two. But New Zealand, last time we looked, extends north of Auckland into Northland and south of the Bombay Hills all the way to the bottom of the ...
Kia ora e te whānau. Today, we mark the anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi - and our commitment to working in partnership with Māori to deliver better outcomes and tackle the big issues, together. ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today held their first bilateral meeting in Canberra. It was Chris Hipkins’ first overseas visit since he took office, reflecting the close relationship between New Zealand and Australia. “New Zealand has no closer partner than Australia. I was pleased to ...
New Zealand will immediately provide humanitarian support to those affected by the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “Aotearoa New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by these earthquakes. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones affected,” ...
An historic Northland pā site with links to Ngāpuhi chief Hongi Hika is to be handed back to iwi, after collaboration by government, private landowners and local hapū. “It is fitting that the ceremony for the return of the Pākinga Pā site is during Waitangi weekend,” said Regional Development Minister ...
The Government is investing in a suite of initiatives to unlock Māori and Pacific resources, talent and knowledge across the science and research sector, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Two new funds – He tipu ka hua and He aka ka toro – set to ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for India tomorrow as she continues to reconnect Aotearoa New Zealand to the world. The visit will begin in New Delhi where the Foreign Minister will meet with the Vice President Hon Jagdeep Dhankar and her Indian Government counterparts, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
The Government is supporting one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most significant historic sites, the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, as it continues to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. “The Waitangi Treaty Grounds are a taonga that we should protect and look after. This additional support will mean people can continue to ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
By Ian Chute in Suva Fijian Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) board chairman Ajay Bhai Amrit says he has receipts to prove former FBC chief executive officer Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum received an annual package of $387,790 including benefits and entitlements. He said this worked out to $32,315 a month and that the board ...
PNG Post-Courier PNG Defence Force Commander Major-General Mark Goina says “appropriate force” will be dealt to the gunmen who ambushed and wounded two soldiers in Saugurap, Enga Province, last week. In a statement Major-General Goina said: “A section from the PNGDF contingent deployed in Enga Province were on routine duty, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation’s politics team. In this podcast Michelle and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe.Lukas Coch/AAP Australia’s cash rate has hit 3.35%, after the Reserve Bank raised interest rates for the ninth time in a row – and signalled ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Della Bosca, PhD Candidate and Research Assistant at Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney Shutterstock While the days of overt climate denial are mostly over, there’s a distinct form of denial emerging in its stead. You may have experienced ...
A potential cyclone that could bring more severe wet weather to the upper North Island is now forecast to form a day earlier, Stuff reports. Due to ideal cyclone-formation conditions over the Coral Sea, a low south of the Solomon Islands has a high chance of turning into a cyclone ...
Author I.S. Belle reveals the top five influences on her debut LGBT horror/paranormal YA novel, Zombabe.Zombabe is a LGBT found family horror/paranormal YA about a group of friends putting down an ancient evil inextricably linked to their sleepy town of Bulldeen, Maine. Does all of that bring anything to ...
New Zealand prime minister Chris Hipkins and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese are holding a joint press conference in Canberra. Watch live here. ...
The New Zealand government is providing $1.5 million in humanitarian support to those affected by destructive earthquakes in Turkey and Syria last night, foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced. The contribution of $1m to Turkey and $500,000 to Syria will be made via the International Federation of Red Cross and ...
In a state-of-the-nation-style lunchtime speech in Auckland today, the leader of the Act Party has taken aim at both major party leaders. “Throughout this speech,” David Seymour told supporters at the Maritime Museum, “I will do my best to differentiate between the Chrisses, but it may not be easy.” Seymour ...
In Canberra Chris Hipkins has met with Australia’s Anthony Albanese in Canberra, exchanging a few brief words to gathered reporters before heading inside for a closed doors meeting. Hipkins was driven into the courtyard of Parliament House, where he was greeted by Albanese in person. “Welcome prime minister,” said Albanese. A beaming ...
The acclaimed fashion designer has been crowned the ‘undisputed king of the frock’ – but with identical dresses widely available on fast fashion outlets, questions are being asked about his design practices.This story was first published on Stuff. He has been described as the “knight of New Zealand fashion”, his ...
In Canberra New Zealand’s media pack has arrived at Australia’s parliament ahead of this afternoon’s visit from prime minister Chris Hipkins. The PM will be met by his counterpart Anthony Albanese in the courtyard of parliament house, before heading inside for a closed doors meeting. Following the 45 minute meeting, ...
Two new funding initiatives, totalling $22 million, have been approved by Cabinet today to help ensure the cultural sector has the “certainty and support to thrive”, announced Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage. $10 million of Covid-19 recovery funding will support established arts, cultural and diversity festivals, while $12 ...
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project. Items of interest and importance todayWAITANGI, CO-GOVERNANCE, THREE WATERS Thomas Cranmer: Waitangi Day and the quiet revolution Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Waitangi in 2023: Plenty ...
ACT leader David Seymour has delivered a speech painting National and Labour as two sides of the same coin, and calling co-governance a "culture war". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Quigley, Associate Professor of Earthquake Science, The University of Melbourne Mustafa Karali / AP A pair of huge earthquakes have struck in Turkey, leaving more than 3,000 people dead and unknown numbers injured or displaced. The first quake, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kalinda Griffiths, Scientia lecturer, UNSW Sydney Getty/Marianne Purdie Cancer figures provide stark evidence of the gap between the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people in Australia. The difference is confronting – and it’s increasing over ...
NZ Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have used a joint media conference to affirm the nations' relationship is that of "family". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Alcohol bans are being reimposed on Northern Territory Indigenous communities, as the federal and territory governments grapple with intractable problems in Alice Springs and elsewhere in the NT. The situation in Alice Springs and the ...
I was told to avoid gluten. I was told it was all in my head. When 10% of women experience endometriosis, why does it take so long for its classic symptoms to be recognised? It was 2011 when I had my first period. It felt like a very exciting moment ...
In Canberra Chris Hipkins has touched down in Australia’s capital – his first overseas visit since becoming prime minister just three weeks ago. After disembarking from the Airforce Boeing, Hipkins was greeted by his former caucus colleague and current high commissioner to Australia, Dame Annette King. The pair hugged on ...
The rise of TikTok-inspired ‘algospeak’ is making online communication even more of a nightmare, writes SYSCA‘s Lucy Blakiston.This is an excerpt from the Shit You Should Care About daily newsletter – sign up here.Content warning: sexual assault The other day I was chatting with a friend about algospeak – ...
School, finally, is back this week in the nation’s largest city to howls of relief from many parents and (one hopes) some students also. Yet the resumption of normal service shouldn’t obscure a curious inconsistency. The past few weeks have shown ...
MediaRoom column: On the eve of a Cabinet decision on the fate of the proposed public broadcasting merger, questions emerge over the engagement by the TVNZ chief executive of two former National government aides to change the narrative and push TVNZ's view on the Government's plan Within weeks of taking over ...
Olivia Sisson performs a good old-fashioned cost comparison – and it might change the way you buy your veges.The price of food in New Zealand is shocking. So, how to cope? The recommendations are starting to feel like the avo-toast-flat-white trope. Cut those items out and there it is, ...
An early morning fire at an egg-laying farm in Orini, Waikato yesterday has claimed the lives of at least 50,000 hens. The farm is operated by New Zealand’s largest egg producer Zeagold, the country’s biggest egg producer, whose eggs are sold under ...
The Natural and Built Environment Bill and Spatial Planning Bill will make resource management issues worse and should be withdrawn, Federated Farmers has told the Environment Select Committee. "Farmers agree the costly, slow and unpredictable processes ...
New police minister Stuart Nash has met with new health minister Ayesha Verrall to talk about the issue with the aim of preventing ram raids. Nash wants to speed up the scheduled reduction of dairies that can sell cigarettes. Nash made the comments at a police graduation ceremony in Porirua last ...
It’s Tuesday, February 7 and welcome to a special edition of The Spinoff’s live updates. Stewart Sowman-Lund will be on the ground in Canberra today as PM Chris Hipkins meets with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. What you need to know Chris Hipkins will meet Australian PM ...
Politicking by politicians was less overt but whether there was less politics probably depends on your definition of the word and what lay beneath the optics, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Why is it becoming harder to achieve debt-free status? Money Sweetspot is a new company that uses compassion and incentives to help people pay off their debts. Co-founder Sasha Lockley talks to Simon about using gamification to increase financial literacy, breaking the cycle of poverty, and how she intends to ...
Prime minister Chris Hipkins is heading to Australia today for his first face-to-face meeting with an international leader. He’ll be meeting with Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese during his single-day visit to Canberra. The Spinoff live updates will be on the ground in Australia as the meeting takes place and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney Pexels/Uriel Mont The question of whether and to what extent face masks work to prevent respiratory infections such as COVID and influenza ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Mackinnon, Professor and Director, Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices, Queensland University of Technology Superconducting cables transmit electicity without lossesShutterstock For most of us, transmitting power is an invisible part of modern life. You flick the switch and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Munro, Professor, Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University Shutterstock Many students are returning to school this year face a renewed focus on grammar. Just before Christmas, the NSW curriculum was overhauled to include the “explicit teaching of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debra Dudek, Associate professor, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University Universal Life is full of surprises – some pleasant and some painful – but there can be no surprises without expectations. We expect the sun to come up ...
News stories have honed in on the fact Wayne Brown and his staff were left off a ‘vital’ email distribution list on the night of the Auckland floods. But internal emails from the mayor’s chief of staff show he was getting regular briefings from officials.Internal council emails obtained by ...
In a reality shaped by climate crisis, how do you think and feel about the changed present – and the changing future – without spiralling into despair?In the midst of a flood there’s not much time to think about the future. But when the water recedes, the reality of ...
06 Feb The news today of the death of 75,000 chickens at an egg farm in Waikato is yet another outrageous and avoidable tragedy. “The fact that so many hens died in this fire in the Waikato is a testament to the systemic neglect and disregard ...
Lawmakers are being urged to bridge the legal and scientific divide over braided rivers. David Williams reports What is a river? More particularly, what is a braided river? An expert group known as The Land The Law Forgot is urging politicians considering the Natural and Built Environment Bill – one ...
Chris Hipkins’ first overseas trip as Prime Minister comes on relatively friendly territory. But while there have been marked improvements in the trans-Tasman relationship since a change in Canberra, there is still plenty to discuss, as Sam Sachdeva writes In many ways, it is fitting Chris Hipkins should make Australia the ...
Fiordland National Park is the crowning jewel of our national parks and arguably our greatest tourist magnet. But conservationists warn that marine life has been put at risk because the park’s waters are unprotected. Heidi Bendikson’s investigation shows they are right. Tourists on the 'M.V Sinbad' clamber to the bow to ...
As Auckland copes with unprecedented flooding, Mairi Jay points to lessons from extreme weather events in British Columbia that could be vitally important for policy-makers and administrators here “Expect extreme weather events” the climate scientists tell us. But sometimes the extreme is beyond our imagining. On Thursday January 26, New Zealand’s Met Service predicted ...
UK and US deals for NZ novels Three of the best New Zealand novels of recent years are about to be published in the UK and the US. All three books – She's a Killer by Kirsten McDougall, Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly, and The New Animals ...
Confidence from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell kept markets buoyant. But mortgage payments and job losses could dampen consumer spending in NZ ...
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The first of the air force's new Poseidon aircraft has landed in New Zealand. But is this the sort of workhorse the military needs? Our old heroes of the Air Force, the P-3 Orions, have retired after 56 years of service - and the first of the flash new Poseidon ...
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RNZ News New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has described today’s Waitangi Day dawn service as moving and says he welcomes the shift away from a focus on politics. Hundreds of people gathered before dawn to commemorate 183 years since Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed. Hipkins said the national ...
By Hilaire Bule, RNZ Pacific Vanuatu correspondent in Port Vila Vanuatu’s prime minister has stressed any future employment within the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat must be from MSG member countries. Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau, who is also chair of the MSG Secretariat, made the statement following the recruitment of ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Yamin Kogoya On Friday 10 February 2023, it will be one month since the Papua Governor Lukas Enembe was “kidnapped” at a local restaurant during his lunch hour by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and security forces. The crisis began in September 2022, when Governor Enembe was ...
By Kālino Lātū, editor of Kaniva News Dr Sitiveni Halapua, former deputy leader of Tonga’s Democratic Movement, has died aged 74. Born on February 13, 1949, he was a respected academic, a pioneer of Tonga’s democratic reforms and pioneer of a conflict resolution system based on traditional practices. Halapua earned ...
COMMENTARY:By Richard Naidu in Suva Five weeks on from Christmas Eve, I think most of us are still a bit stunned at what has happened in Fiji. A new government came to power in dramatic circumstances. It took not one but two Sodelpa management board meetings to change it, ...
By Red Tsounga Another house done, and onto the next . . . Volunteers working in Mount Roskill community over the past few days helping those suffering from Auckland’s flash flood devastation have done us proud. Tremendous work by everybody. Here are some random photos of our volunteer teams on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Mick Tsikas/AAP Senator Lidia Thorpe announced on Monday that she would be leaving the Greens. Thorpe had split with the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis B. Desmond, Lecturer, Cyberintelligence and Cybercrime Investigations, University of the Sunshine Coast The news of a so-called “Chinese spy balloon” being shot down over the US has reignited interest in how nation-states spy on one another. It’s not confirmed that the ...
Today, at a Waitangi ki Waititi concert hosted by Te Whānau o Waipareira at Hoani Waititi Marae, West Auckland; Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp was officially announced as Te Pāti Māori Candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau for the 2023 Election. Hailing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Daniel Pockett/AAP Victorian Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe has defected from the Greens to sit on the crossbench, declaring she wants to fully represent the “Blak Sovereign Movement” in parliament. The announcement by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Daniel Pockett/AAP Victorian Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe has defected from the Greens to sit on the crossbench, declaring she wants to fully represent the “Blak Sovereign Movement” in parliament. The announcement by ...
Sure, Scotty Morrison’s Māori At Work is a wonderful resource for Aotearoa’s collective te reo Māori journey. But is it judgemental enough for the modern office environment?First published September 12 2019 The growing strength of te reo is palpable across Aotearoa, with record numbers of people participating in Mahuru ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Mills, Professor and Dean La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University Shutterstock It can be tough to access front-line health care outside the cities and suburbs. For the seven million Australians living in rural communities there are significant ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University Chad Fish/AP Was the balloon that suddenly appeared over the US last week undertaking surveillance? Or was it engaging in research, as China has claimed? While the answers to these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Walker-Munro, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The generative AI industry will be worth about A$22 trillion by 2030, according to the CSIRO. These systems – of which ChatGPT is currently the best known – can write ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Doug Drury, Professor/Head of Aviation, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock When booking a flight, do you ever think about which seat will protect you the most in an emergency? Probably not. Most people book seats for comfort, such as leg room, ...
Bernard Hickey explains our particular style of parasitical, renter capitalism.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11615870
Wondered why people have to work harder and longer without much gain. Especially those on minimum wage.
Employers don’t want to pay anymore than minimum wages, there are plenty of Asiand students here in NZ who will work for minimum wages or less.
Radionz right now doing something pertinent to discussions on work. Listen in. audio link up later when I or someone gets time.
11:05 Robert McChesney – A Citizenless Democracy
Robert McChesney
With new technologies replacing jobs at an ever increasing rate and big money playing a bigger and bigger part in our politics are we facing a future of mass unemployment and an all but disenfranchised populace?
Authors Robert McChesney and John Nichols believe we are and in their new book People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy they provide evidence for that dystopian vision and a set of proposals for how it can be avoided. Robert McChesney is Research Professor in the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
11:40 Jeremy Hansen, Nicola and Lance Herbst – NZ Home of the Year
Architects Nicola and Lance Herbst join HOME magazine’s Jeremy Hansen to talk about their award winning house that’s just won the House of the Year award.
edited
Except this ends in revolution.
Yep, NZ keeps doing things the cheap way rather than investing in modern technology. With the right technology investment we could easily compete producing high tech products.
Instead we’ve got our businesses cutting costs resulting in low productivity and even lower returns. This what you truly get when you leave it to the private sector who’s only real incentive is to become a rentier capitalist.
The only entity in NZ that could actually make the necessary investment is the government. This would be a full development from extraction of raw resources, processing them and then using those resources to produce products. What we don’t do, and should never do, is sell the raw resources offshore. Everybody’s got raw resources. Of course, give them time and everyone will have a high tech manufacturing sector as well.
Oh, and we need to claiming territory, not just an EEZ, out to the continental shelf.
Not a good strategy for a resilient future. We need to be able to design and manufacture appropriate tech, products which are easily maintainable using every day tools and equipment that we can produce and source 100% locally.
Gearing our economy up for exports to compete in global market economies to obtain units of digital currency will be increasingly a distraction and a waste of time.
None of these statements are true. Japan has much raw resources? South Korea has much raw resources? The UK has much raw resources? (Especially raw energy and mineral resources?)
Japan has fish, if mildly irradiated, and some promising rare earth deposits.
The UK sits on a fecking carbon seam that isn’t mined because of thatcher wanting to kill the unions.
About the only exception is South Korea, which has a natural resource of sitting in a contact zone of the Chinese, Japanese, and Russians. Buffer states can get rich before they get burned.
It’s a brilliant strategy for a resilient future. Invest in:
1. Renewable energy
2. Extraction and processing of those resources by renewable energy
3. Produce the tools and equipment that we need to maintain a high tech manufacturing base right here in NZ from NZ resources
True. That would be why I keep saying that trade will come to and end.
Actually, they’re all true but trade is off the table if they want to be sustainable.
Dude, the worlds crust is much of a muchness everywhere. Sure, there’s better deposits of things here and there but if you go out and dig up a shovel of dirt from your back yard it will have gold, iron, rare earth metals, and semi-conductors in it.
The UK is presently building huge offshore wind farms. This means that they really won’t be short on raw energy. And they’ve never been short on minerals either. Of course, they don’t have as much now as they used to but they do have them. There’s a very good reason why Britain built the first all iron ship – it’s because they have a huge amount of iron. Their production may have decreased but they do have it.
And RT’s Keiser Report details the international scene further:
Japanese government pension payments are so low, that elderly Japanese are committing a wave of shoplifting crimes in order to get prison sentences, and the shelter and food they provide.
Private Japanese prisons then make massive profits from Japanese governments for each inmate.
Also: how PPPs (Public Private Partnerships) in the UK are deliberately structured by government insiders to cost tax payers more, and leave the assets built by tax payers money totally in the hands of private corporations.
HSBC – the transnational banking criminals – now own and profit off a number of UK “public” NHS hospitals.
+100…well worth watching …especially how the corporates are stripping the democratic nation states of their assets built up by generations of taxpayers
…also the plight of the elderly in Japan and the squeezing out of the middle class in USA
hard to believe they are now being so blatant…..and even harder to believe we keep voting for the likes of them……mad scramble for as much as they can steal before it all goes tits up
Another bunch of experts for our government to ignore.
Better to listen to Katherine Rich and other paid shills for transnational corporations…….
‘Medical experts push for sugar tax
An open letter signed by more than 70 medical specialists – including frontline care workers and professors – has called on the Government to introduce a sugar tax.
The letter was delivered to the Cabinet yesterday, citing serious concerns about New Zealand’s “appallingly high rate of childhood obesity” while pushing the Government to follow Mexico and Britain in taxing high-sugar-content soft drinks.
Medical experts who signed the letter include epidemiologists Alistair Woodward and Rod Jackson, paediatrician Diana Lennon, researcher Peter Davis – husband of former PM Helen Clark – cardiologist Harvey White, nutritionist Jim Mann and public health specialist Sally Casswell.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11615519
‘Calls for stronger action to fight obesity
A public health expert is calling for stronger government leadership to combat obesity, with a new study revealing NZ has one of the highest rates of overweight people in the world.
The study, published in The Lancet, compared body mass index among almost 20 million adult men and women people, from 1975 to 2014.
One of the report’s authors, Robert Beaglehole, an Emeritus Professor at Auckland University said New Zealand had lost the battle with adult obesity, but there was much more that could be done to prevent children from becoming overweight.’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/300510/calls-for-stronger-action-to-fight-obesity
Blah, blah, blah. Really all that effort on sugar tax.
Bugger hungry kids, we have got moralise about fat people.
So lets get the state to tell me what to eat as well, I mean they spy on me, they have silly little signs to tell me it’s unsafe, the tell me not to smoke, and most of the politicians are smug wankers.
But no, lets get a head of steam over sugar, bugger the homeless, the really shitty wages, rape culture and everything else. Lets get fat people sorted.
This is about control Paul, and quite frankly I’ve had enough of control from this and any other government.
So the doctors can piss off as well – not seeing them talking about the rising costs for patients, nor the declining services in the public health system. Or the fact we getting privatisation by stealth. No, they have got up on a higher horse of self bloody indulgence.
Piss off with your sugar tax, it’s just more regressive taxation, so bugger off.
Yes and while your at it take off the tobacco tax. The fat, toothless, homeless poor need some solace.
The issue around the faux concern for fatties is that the concern is dressed up as a public health issue when it is in fact a massive stick to beat fatties with. “Anti fat campaigner” Robyn Tootmath was a prime example of a public service fatphobic but luckily she has buggered off in a huff because after 10 years hard work she couldn’t get the fatties to morph into her idea of a socially acceptable person – meaning a thin person. (One commenter on TS had a particularly upsetting experience as a patient of Robyn Toomath).
The concept of a sugar tax, as well as being regressive is also patronising. It says fat people can’t think for themselves when they do the shopping so we must bully them into making the purchases we want them to make, for their own good!
It has never occurred to any of the health professionals to lobby for the removal of GST on food so that healthier food becomes more accessible and more choice become available to the shopper. As poverty has increased, so has obesity. Processed foods, containing excess sugars, fats, additives and little nutritive value will always be chosen over fruit, vege, lean proteins and wholefoods.
It has never occurred to the government to regulate the soft drink industry so their products aren’t so prominent and cheap – control the corporates, don’t control the people.
Children need adults to support their health and well being and prevent future illness such as type 2 diabetes. For that to happen the food market needs to be regulated and good healthy foods need to accessible. Taxing “bad” food just tells us we are “bad” for making those choices.
Consider that if processed sugar was invented tomorrow, it would probably be considered so metabolically toxic that it would be banned. Taxing it wouldn’t even enter the discussion.
In the meantime I guess the rest of us will just have to depend on your ability to ‘think for yourself’ and stop consuming the stuff.
More so for alcohol.
Thing is though, both have been around for centuries/millenia.
Like hashish, marijuana, etc.
Exactly. And I note without the slightest hint of patronising how people think for themselves and demonstrate such self controlled with alcohol too.
BTW we have created such a stressful society that people are going to keep turning to substances to try and get some relief.
You only need to look up the massive pain killer addiction that Americans are now suffering from.
Yes, that’s a theme you, I and quite a few others here are very much in agreement about. Indeed the relationship between civilisation and drugs in general is deep, complex and absolutely fascinating.
Hell you only have to consider the historic role of the Oracle at Delphi to see just one tiny aspect of it.
Banning drugs, without offering a positive alternative path to relieving the pyscho-social pain they are in never works. The pain wins every time.
However it’s usually best to solve the pragmatic problems that are right in front of you; and given the historic place sugar has in Western diet, banning it is no longer an option. Taxing unwanted behaviour remains the next best choice.
Like alcohol and tobacco, it’ll just end up as a tax on the people who consume the most. The poorer classes.
Society has always being stressful.
Not knowing how it cope with problems is the real issue.
Create strong community ties. Family support structures. Resilient and independent ways of obtaining accomodation, food and the necessities of life.
Societal leaders who understand and direct resources to help those in need.
Is that what you were thinking of?
I was more thinking at a individual level.
Lots of people don’t seem to know how to cope when something doesn’t work or goes to plan.
I wonder if that’s to do with the “cotton wooling” that tends to happen in society these days.
Protecting people from failure robs them of the ability to cope with problems or know how to solve problems when issues arise so people end up being overwhelmed.
I agree that in some ways we “cottonwool” people in destructive and weakening ways.
However, when we are throwing citizens to the wolves, that is equally destructive and weakening.
I’m reminded of that scene in the film 300 when someone throws in a single knife into a locked room of young Spartan boys to see which one is worthy of surviving.
That’s not really the society that we should be striving for.
Not knowing how it cope with problems is the real issue.
I agree. Not knowing , or feeling powerless to change anything, is the most corrosive thing.
I do get the idea that it’s impossible and unreasonable to demand we eliminate all stress and risk from life. In fact quite the opposite, as a keen tramper I’ve actively sought out risk and challenge in my life.
But I go out there with both skills, experience AND the knowledge that I am entirely responsible for the choices I make. I avoid situations where the risks are outside of my control.
For instance I avoid avalanche gullies or debris paths when there’s lots of soft snow about. If I’ve no choice but to cross one, you race across with your heart in your mouth and you don’t feel good about it afterwards. It’s a ‘loss of control’ situation.
Same with society, it’s the sense of isolation, powerlessness and loss of control, when surrounded by a society that sends hostile messages all the time … which breaks people down.
“In the meantime I guess the rest of us will just have to depend on your ability to ‘think for yourself’ and stop consuming the stuff.”
This sounds quite sarcastic to me. What do you mean by the “rest of us”? The fat hating tax payer? And what about “your ability to think for yourself”? Are you talking about me?
Geez. I worked in the organic sector for a good dozen years. I stay away from the processed shitty foods. The only sugar I consume is alcohol. I don’t see anyone, apart from maybe Prof Doug Sellman, attempting to control the sale of alcohol which has far more devastating effects on individuals and society, (alcohol related cancer, early death, road toll, family violence etc) than sugar alone.
That’s a public health issue so why does nobody wring their hands about that one?
What about suicide? That’s a public health issue. What about all the unwell people keeping our hospitals full after their failed attempts and their death rate that is higher than the the road toll. Shouldn’t we be hating on them too?
See, very convenient to dress one issue up as a public health issue when it has it’s basis in social intolerance.
Well yes there are many, many symptoms our stressed and sick society throws up. As much as I’d much as like to think we could address this root cause, I doubt I will see much change in my lifetime. But in the meanwhile health professionals tell us that diabetes is rapidly becoming their number one concern.
Well if making sugar laden foods more expensive, and non-processed foods cheaper by comparison helps reduce the incidence of this awful disease then I’ll support it. If like the Australians we removed GST on ‘fresh food’ I’d support that as well. I’d cheerfully advocate for both.
This sounds quite sarcastic to me. What do you mean by the “rest of us”? The fat hating tax payer? And what about “your ability to think for yourself”? Are you talking about me?
Well you were the one who was cheerfully explaining how people were perfectly capable of choosing not to consume sugar of their own volition, so I was assuming you don’t consume the stuff … which is a genuinely good thing. So frankly if you don’t consume it, why object to a tax on it?
And diabetes is an illness, while connected with obesity, can strike anyone, any shape, pretty much any age. So it’s not a ‘fat’ issue.
Alcohol is something CV and I touched on above.
Suicide is another symptom of a sick society. In the immediate years after Roger Pigfucking Douglas’s sick reforms in the 1980’s the youth male suicide rate quadrupled. And has stayed high ever since. Personally I’d like to hold Douglas accountable with a criminal charge reflecting the consequences of his actions. But that’s not going to happen sadly.
“So frankly if you don’t consume it, why object to a tax on it?”
Because there are better, fairer ways of controlling the sale of high sugar food and drink, as mentioned. (Remove GST on ALL food and regulate the industry at source).
Other reasons. Psychology. Taxing a food source is in punishment orientation. This sends a message to the shopper that they are “bad” if they choose that item that has a public health tax on it. Could potentially lead to a feeling of shame. Nobody needs to feel ashamed about a grocery purchasing decision.
Reward orientation would be a far more healthy approach. Reward people by granting them access to lower cost healthier choices by removing GST on all foods- OR leave GST on alcohol, cigarettes and fizzy drinks.
And taking a sideways diversion. We have been spending time with visitors from the UK. They are horrified at the cost of a grocery shop here. Double that of their shop for similar items in the uk. And that’s with 20% VAT on some items. Do we really need even more cost added to our unaffordable food?
Re Diabetes. Type 1 is the one unrelated to weight. That can affect all ages and sizes. The condition can be triggered by pregnancy. My tiny mother in law has type 1 diabetes as a result of the pregnancy with her second child.
PS. Re Suicide. In 2014/2015 569 people suicided. The highest rate ever. To me this is a real public health crisis and deserves the full attention of mental health professionals, the Government, and and a public caring about such a crisis rather than hating on fatties, which they do on a daily basis in our msm.
Have a look at the figures from 2007 onwards. If Roger Douglas should be held accountable, so should our current government for these;
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/69920289/Suicide-toll-reaches-highest-rate-since-records-kept
Because there are better, fairer ways of controlling the sale of high sugar food and drink, as mentioned. (Remove GST on ALL food and regulate the industry at source).
Removing GST on ALL food merely makes the sugar stuff cheaper too. No change in behaviour.
Strong and repeated studies show that foods laden with sugar, salt and trans-fats are seriously addictive and that most people cannot control their appetite for them.
And given these foods also come with nice big packets for lots of colourful advertising, have very long shelf-life and low wastage … they will always enjoy a price advantage.
Logic suggests that a tax to remove that advantage is the correct path. Otherwise all you are doing is rewarding people for eating toxic shit.
My other suggestion, you would have seen, was to retain GST on those unhealthy food and drink choices. That would be a way to level prices between untaxed healthy food and GST added unhealthy food.
To tax those unhealthy foods further tells an addicted person “we know better than you”. It’s an authoritarian approach. It’s always better to stand along side someone and support and educate than speak down and enforce behaviour change WE want to see. Again patronising and dis empowering. Such personal change, as what a persons eats needs to come from the person themselves not finger waver types who can’t tolerate them. – All part of those hostile messages you were talking about above.
Government has three fundamental tools at it’s disposal:
1. Ban it
2. Tax it
3. Educate it
In this case Option 1 of banning it isn’t going to be possible. Any amount of hysterical ‘nanny state’ rantings would stop any useful change. Hell we couldn’t even legislate against obsolete incandescent light bulbs.
And much the same with Option 3. While I agree with you that it’s always the most positive and rewarding approach, when it comes to food choices people are notoriously prickly and defensive; more yelling on about nanny state social engineering. Still if you can get it over the line, I’ll be cheering you on.
That kind of leaves Option 2 of taxing it, the idea of the ‘market signal’ which is pretty much where our political system is at.
In general a mix of ‘carrot and stick’ is the most effective way of changing behaviour. For instance we changed attitudes around drink driving with a major education campaign, but neither did we remove the penalties for it either.
So yes taxing sugar is a penalty, but equally it doesn’t leave people powerless to respond and simply stop consuming it.
4. Regulate it 😀
Don’t forget that option. Yes, education has been effective around drink driving in NZ but the market is largely unregulated. In fact we put these products up on pedestals via advertising and sponsorship. EG the Jim Beam Homegrown festival
http://www.homegrown.net.nz/#home-2016-1-1
Stop the advertising. Stop the price cutting. Stop the sponsorship. Diminish the presence of the product and diminish it’s influence.
We could start a teeth insurance policy for families, that will ensure that they get free dental treatment every six months for their children. And encourage the mothers to pay into that instead of buying sugary things, give them examples of how they could show their affection and give a treat, with some examples of the sort they would be used to, and add some different ones, or tell them they always knew better, ie chew on some coconut bits, apple bits, especially out of the frig if they can.
And each insurance payer gets into a sweep and winners be a few families who have a completely free weekend away at a holiday site where all can relax, and enjoy. That would get a lot of word of mouth publicity. Carrots, for the teeth, and stick, from the pain and ugliness of having rotting teeth or no teeth left at all.
@Rosie @grey
Well yes, ban it or regulate it more or less fall into the same category at least to my mind. And all the ideas you suggest are absolutely worth implementing. No quibble.
Except given the known addictive power of sugary foods, will it be enough on it’s own? And why leave the food companies with a price and profit advantage in the market?
I guess I’m thinking of the same debate we had 15 years ago about a carbon tax. Yes it would have put prices up, yes it was punitive, and here in Australia for the few years we had one, it was proven effective in reducing carbon consumption. The moment that arse Abbott removed it, the numbers started creeping upwards again.
And given the abject failure of various ETS schemes that let the fossil fuel companies play games and scams, everyone now looks back and realises that a plain old fashioned carbon tax was the right idea all along.
It wouldn’t be too hard to cap sugar content in drinks. No tax required, but conform or leave the market.
Sure, excise taxes decrease demand, but they also pay for the additional health costs caused by too much sugar and too much fat. A sugar tax could absolutely be used to subsidise vegetables etc.
Food producers (I use that word advisedly) advertise chemical and sugar laden foo as food. One of the many ways they keep costs down is the sugar component. Tax it? Nah.
Maybe ban all brand food advertising – kind of in line with how almost all countries (NZ and the US being the exceptions) ban brand drug advertising.
It looks to me like an aspect of the neoliberal “consensus” whereby the economy must be left to the experts, but it is OK to push for cultural change. After all, rather than infantilising fat people (and continually lowering the threshold for obesity), you could simply limit the amount of sugar permitted in soft drinks and processed products. But that would count as meddling with the economy. So you end up with a situation analogous to that of 19th century Britain, where you couldn’t alleviate poverty, but you could wring your middle class hands about people drinking too much gin and keeping their coal in the bath.
“and keeping their coal in the bath.”
Clean burning coal?
Our working-class ancestors knew a thing or two about anthropogenic climate change! 🙂
They also knew about not getting over-weight. Poverty can do that when food and rents were high, sugary foods too expensive and food far less processed, unlike today where soft drinks are cheaper than milk- rather like 18-19th century gin.
No one’s moralising about fat people. They’re moralising about poor diet brought about by corporations using too much sugar in the processing of food which then makes people sick.
Here is how you fix obesity: the government gets into the super market business and sets up state supermarkets to sell a reduced range of healthy foods at subsidised rates.
It would cause a massive drop in food prices from the supermarket cartel (trust me, NZ has more expensive food than Germany, let alone Spain – and quality is often poor in NZ, especially for meat, fruit, vegetables and especially bread. Kiwis like to bullshit themselves to the point of self delusion on food prices for some reason). The only losers will be Australian owned food cartels.
Amazing that the ‘a’ word is not mentioned in either article,
New Zealand’s most dangerous drug is responsible for a lot.
Second councillor joins Auckland safety calls
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/300528/'people-don't-feel-that-they-are-safe‘
Auckland unsafe, councillor tells police
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/300475/auckland-unsafe,-councillor-tells-police
Thats because the a word industry has politicians in its pocket, especially when they own shares in wineries.
Don’t forget that the a word industry has long been generous donors to both main political parties, and probably provided plenty of high class, low cost bevy for sophisticated fund raising dos.
Perhaps the Government should look at the causes of obesity, evidently corn syrup in the USA has caused Americans to blow up like balloons?
This current Government is currently in bed with the multi national food producers or are they frightened of being sued under the TPPA Agreement already.
The current Public Health situation and food policing is a joke.
This is a video in English of a heavy metal band with a message for the world from a German point of view. Germany has learnt its lesson from history. Do we also learn or do we get to make the same mistakes?
Be Deutsch!
Rammstein, Birkenstocks and potty-mouthed kids, in case anyone is wondering. Pretty cool.
read Kant, c**t. lol……..
zhat waz awesoame . zhanks.
Our great Prime Minister jonkey who has just wasted $26 million of New Zealand taxpayers’ hard earned money trying ever-so-hard and with every PR trick in the book …and failing miserably to change New Zealand’s historic flag into his own brand takeover ….is now is giving free advise to Britain :
‘Who asked New Zealand? Brexit scaremongering continues apace’
https://www.rt.com/uk/338058-brexit-scaremongering-new-zealand/
“Mass immigration, financial woes and an intervention by New Zealand’s PM – all in a day’s work for Project Fear. RT searches for a Brexit reality check as referendum day creeps ever closer….
Bad luck Ritchie and Dan you didn’t get your new flag for Uncle John.
John Key, like all authoritarians, always plays to what the rich and powerful want – and ignores what the people want.
Tomorrow is Monday, 4 April 2016.
The High Court list for tomorrow is now online and the very last page is worth a visit. There was some speculation that this case had been moved elsewhere but it would seem not ….
https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/business/calendar/daily-lists/1-National%20Court%20List%20-%20Monday%20-%2004.04.2016.pdf
[RL: Deleted]
[RL: Deleted]
Correct. Arthur Fairley is a Barrister specializing in criminal law, with Thomson Wilson Law in Whangarei. Another partner in the firm, Peter Magee, was involved in the earlier stages.
https://thomsonwilson.co.nz/Arthur-Fairley-Partner
He has done some interesting cases in the past of a similar nature and/or related to the background of the person we must not name. An easy way to see these in brief is to go to the link below for the Northern Advocate and enter ‘Arthur Fairley’ in the search box.
http://northernadvocate.co.nz/
It seems that, in the past (eg around 2012) he was the highest paid lawyer in Northland from legal aid funds – over $430,000 in 2012.
Update.
I was wondering whether the person we cannot name would continue to have name suppression during the trial. The court decision on April 30 2015 was to extend this until the trial but did not make it clear whether suppression would continue during the trial or whether a further application would need to be made at the start of the trial.
This Herald article on Friday seems to think that suppression will continue until the end of the trial.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=11615353
[Moderating Note: While legally it is safe enough to repeat what is in the Herald and similar media, any in-depth discussion or hashing over this matter is strongly discouraged.
Apart from political and legal aspects of name suppression, there is very little that can be usefully said until the trial is over.
I urge everyone to consider carefully before commenting as to whether what they are about to say is legal, constructive and respects the purpose of the Court order for name suppression.]
His barrister.
I apologise Redlogix, all I wondered was who was this Fairley person. I knew it wasn’t the accused. I do realise everything is under wraps, so I shall not comment again about this. I see, though there are more comments after me who are chatting about stuff about this case which seem as innocent as mine. Sorry if I did wrong.
Hey thanks for this info veutoviper (6). Much appreciated.
I take it the numbers following the age details of the complainants, is the number of times the alleged assaults took place.
Unfolding court events originating from Monday 4 April could turn out to be one dear leader’s worst nightmare.
Now we wait for a closed case, with a closed public gallery and a possible media blackout?
Derryn Hinch is always good value for reporting news information.
Now who is AB Fairley? A pseudonym perhaps?
Counsel for the defendant.
Some of the other cases on the various dockets look quite interesting to me as well.
hi veto,
thanx for the list.
i see arthur taylor is also in court with a big wig from corrections.
also in wellys, a pre trial hearing, which i think relates to a missing person in wanganui from a few years back.
As an aside, and I hope I am within the boundaries of discussing this case appropriately, this news came up on the Herald yesterday and was posted here on TS by Paul (?) I think.
I had a look at stuff and RNZ websites but couldn’t find a thing. Nothing on tv news at 6.
I wonder if this case will be on the low down for it’s duration, with as little media attention as possible.
Yes. Suppression order stands for duration of trial at the least. That’s my understanding anyway. If its correct then that is so wrong. I cannot recall any other case where a total suppression of all aspects of a trial have occurred. Suppression of the name of the accused and/or the victims yes, but never the entire case.
Sick isn’t it when people have to pay 70-80% of their wages on rent to support investors and speculators in the Auckland property market, many of them are offshore Asian owners, NACT’s Brighter Future Policy?
Many are also offshore USians, English, Australians and other nationalities.
It’s not where they come from that’s the problem but the simple fact that they are offshore. Even ex-pat kiwis should not be able to own land/houses/businesses in NZ.
Don’t agree about ex-pats – many intend to return – only way you can afford housing these days is to work abroad.
Like eligibility for NZ Super, there should be some time limits.
“It’s not where they come from that’s the problem but the simple fact that they are offshore.”
+100
Where they come from will influence how much money they have and any advantage of exchange rates.
In a Guardian article – St Ives in Cornwall will be voting to restrict the number of homes being sold to part-time residents:
I’m actually more concerned about the cashed up, National-voting, middle class, ‘Mum-and-dad’ property investors that own way more properties around the country. They are the ones benefiting from the poverty that has rusted onto this country over the past 30 years or so.
Gordon Gekko said that “Greed is Good” and Deng Xiaoping said that “To get rich is glorious”. Who really cares about the colour of the landlord.
You don’t think that many current and former Labour and Green MPs also own plenty of investment properties all around the country?
Edit – to make my point more clear – this is a financial class problem first. Only then is it a political problem.
Given that Super by itself is a pretty modest safety net, and that for most people low risk and security for their retirement funding is a very high priority … investing in rental housing became the ONLY realistic option left open to most middle class people.
Retirement can be an extremely unpredictable thing. Some people pass on within months of stopping work, others can live on for more years than their ‘working’ life. Our wild-west stock market, infested with shark-suited insiders lost all credibility with people my generation. It will never get it back. Same with all the finance houses. Think SCF.
And most businesses are run for capital gain not cash flow. A few years back I looked seriously at several horticultural businesses. Two I really liked and wanted to do; but no matter how I cut the numbers the return on capital made no sense. The existing owners could live off their cash flow, but the real returns would come when they sold it.
And this is pretty typical everywhere you look, it’s either over-priced for tax-free capital gain, has no actual value when the owner-operator leaves, or it’s in a dying industry. So in the end even I had no choice but to stick with property. It’s not ideal but you tell me, and heaps of other middle class kiwis, what other options were open to us that we could trust.
Nail on the head. And I would ad that property is very easy to understand and reasonable easy to control the risks and it can’t disappear in a crash.
@ RedLogix
That’s a great comment from you. With your knowledge of the way things are for investment in NZ it has real gravitas. Actually I am going to copy and keep it and advise others also to do so. It is good to have something to refer to when trying to find base after reading confusing financial figures, and trying to get an understanding of why we are going downwards in an apparently modern, wealthy country.
This and a recent piece from Greek Minister Yanis Varoufakis ( spelling?) about the inevitable downward slide of world economies form a cornerstone to keep near when discussion of the future occurs. If you want the link ask and I’ll find it.
“You don’t think that many current and former Labour and Green MPs also own plenty of investment properties all around the country?”
How do you know? I just had a look at the Pecuniary interests register and it’s hard to tell what are investment properties and what aren’t.
http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/mpp/mps/fin-interests
We should perhaps signal our concerns with Auckland housing by using the A-word, with a-word being for alcohol. That would refer to the housing statistics showing there has been a large rise from India and China. Which referred to makes people uncomfortable because it raises the spectre of past nasty to murderous days where the impassioned prejudices of some people against Chinese particularly, came to the fore from negative memes in society.
Last time we had a big discussion on Auckland buy ups from overseas I got to, checked out, and put up a comment with the statistics displaying the reality of people’s concerns about which foreign buyers predominated.
I did it. You can hunt for it if you want to refresh your memories.
must give a belated well done to bunnings management.
belated as it is probably a week ago that they installed defibrillators in five stores, including stores where defibs had been removed.
a union leader maxine gay, thanked the public for it’s vocal support in getting behind the workers.
it felt good, this result, after sending two e-mails to the company.
Yes, noticed that. At least they finally got something right. On the other hand Talleys are up to their old tricks again and are taking the Meat Workers Union to court, can’t remember over what. I read it yesterday on RNZ but their site is down at the moment so can’t link to it.
for “misleading and deceptive statements in the media”.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/300439/affco-taking-union-to-employment-authority
🙄
These guys must be the biggest time wasters of the Employment Relations Authority’s services. Ever.
Who agrees that it’s not a ‘conflict of interest’ for Auckland Council to remain a member of the NZ Property Council, because the latter has ‘broad public interest goals’ ?
Really?
This private sector lobby group for commercial property developers has ‘broad public interest goals’?
How about Auckland Council getting ‘legal advice’ from Meredith Connell on the matter of whether Auckland Council’s membership of the NZ Property Council was a ‘conflict of interest’ – but failing to disclose that Meredith Connell was a corporate member of the NZ Property Council?
File under ‘you couldn’t make this sh*t up’?
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
(Who believes that it is a significant and disturbing ‘conflict of interest’ for Auckland Council or CCOs to be members of private sector lobby groups such as the NZ Property Council and the Committee for Auckland.)
On some level, they have to engage with them anyway, and council and CCOs are normally among the country’s largest property investors – joining them makes some sense.
CASH ….use it or lose it ?
im continually amazed by the trusting willingness of people to become ever more dependent on the banks and on technology in general ,
picture a small coastal resort town at christmas time and the queues of shoppers at the local 4square stretch right to the back of the shop and beyond someone at the front finaly remembers their pin or finds a card from their selection that works and we all shuffle forward a foot …reminds me somewhat of sheep in a sheep yard being forced up a race .After what seems like an hour i have only one shopper in front of me , characteristically this dude whos using his card to purchase a moro bar has turned his back to me and lifts his elbows protectively to shield his pin number obliging me to look about the shop or anywhere apart from him i play the game and think about what i would like to do with his card ..tap tap tap waiting………waiting…..would you like your receit sir?yes !! ?/ he does?? gotta keep track of that dollar fifty i presume or maybe hes gonna get it out when he gets home to see if the indians have diddled him ? who knows ? we shuffle forwards a foot i buy my stuff slap the cash down and get the fuck out of there .
yes i have heard the convienience argument but it comes with the paranoia attachment not to mention when the power goes off or the computers break down but of course that could never happen….
Yep. Cash all the way with me. I love the stuff. Fast and trustworthy. We are tagged in so many ways these days that paying in cash is almost a fingers up to the watchers. Don’t start me with those that have complete faith in their smart phone banking and payments…………..
It’s also fun confusing people with cash payments.
snap.
“Cash all the way with me. I love the stuff. Fast and trustworthy. ”
how do you feel about voting electrinically?
The thought of electronic voting worries me. I understand the argument is “we live in a digital age so we need to encourage the young to vote in a medium they are familiar with”.
But just how easy is it to rig it/hack it? How can confidentiality be maintained? How hard is it to trust it? I don’t think I could be easily persuaded. You?
I’ve some times thought to myself I’m a bit paranoid about technology and how insecure our data is. But last Sunday I watched “Digital Dissidents” on Al Jazeera and realised my apprehensions were completely justified. Just your smart phone alone functions as a geographical tracking device and tracks your purchases of course, if you’re using a phone to pay for items. Your life can easily become a diary for any authority. Privacy is the issue. Now I’m glad I’ve got an old dumb phone and use cash everywhere.
Part two of Digital Dissidents is on tonight. It’s a story about whistleblowers, so by default looks at ways the public are spied upon.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2016/03/digital-
“Facebook is evil in my view, I’ve been saying this for years. […] We offer up our information and it’s just there on a plate for the spies to access. And we know they do through back doors and things. Yet that sort of information used to take them weeks or months to gather on an individual.”
Annie Machon, former British secret service agentdissidents-160323141254755.html
personally i see nothing i trust with electronic voting.
the powers that be constantly show they can not be trusted.
this past week we have the gcsb showing they have over stepped a generous mark, and not a drop of accountability.
not on facebook myself, the best summary of fb is that you are not the client you are the product.
i shall have a look at the digital dissidents.
now to stir the 3 chilli bbq sauce that is simmering on the stove (donated chillis!)
Once apon a time someone decided that they would use bits of worthless paper to trade with instead of gold dust, dead chickens or turnips and I bet they had people react in the same way as you cash is king peoples,!
+1
cash is king especially when eftpos is down, or you have no electricity.
all your digitial 0 and 1s mean nothing when you don’t have juice.
And as a shopkeeper i can guarantee you, on one of these days, if you are not known to the shop owner, you get nothing without cash when eftpos is down or there is no juice.
The problem with cash is that it allows criminal behaviour to continue. Go to a cashless society and you could pretty much eliminate all financial crime over night.
Oh noes, I won’t be able to buy anything for a few hours, oh woe is…
Oh, look flower 😀
If its that important wouldn’t you have a mobile one as back up, as long as there is cell coverage of course.
perfectly happy to trade for your gold dust an chicken bob you can keep the turnips tho
Marvelous.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/78466989/Poet-songwriter-and-politician-Colin-Craig-sues-Slater-for-publishing-his-poem
I am wondering if James Shaw understand how banks work.
https://www.greens.org.nz/policy/smarter-economy/kiwibank-can-get-low-rates-all-us
“To achieve better bank interest rates, the Green Party will:
Inject a further $100 million of capital in Kiwibank to speed its expansion into commercial banking”
Inject?!! Banks create credit dammit!!
“
Stacey Kirk seems to think that we’re only ‘manipulated’ by information that is released by the Government. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/78457614/stacey-kirk-terrorism-in-nz–what-we-know-and-why-we-cant-trust-the-government-to-tell-us-the-rest
The jihadi brides saga clearly showed that we were being ‘manipulated’ by withholding information. Funny, how some (?) people seem to think that they can only be affected by things they can see and ‘know’ to exist; this is also one of the reasons why distraction is so effective in politics.
Interesting how the Jihadi Bride Thing made major headlines here in NZ as if their were scores of NZ women heading to the Middle East, when in fact one had left from Australia.
This is a classic example of US paranoia “fear politics”, brings back memories of National’s “reds under the beds in the 1950’s and 1960’s under Holyoake and Muldoon?
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11616090
Please don’t go down the “nz inc” line James Shaw. Its a country not a fucking company.
Good on Little talking tough on banks , its a vote grabber for sure.
That’s true about NZ being a country (rather self-evidently!), but bear in mind that legally, the name NZ Inc would be an incorporated society, not a company (that would be NZ Ltd), so clearly it’s a not-for-profit entity which operates to attain its objects as set by its members, while not operating for the pecuniary gain of said members.
If we NZers are the members, that would explain a lot…
If not the World, at least the Herald Thanks God for Little Churchill !
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11615796
I guess like the ’81 Tour Little Churchill doesn’t recall where he stood on Mururoa Atoll or nuclear vessels. Being such a ballsy joker and all that.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11615484
C’mon Aud’…….don’t hold back. Hoorah Henry Cameron positively cowered in a corner of The Lincoln Room as Key licked his arse. After 20 minutes of good nosh of Obama……Key that is.