Standard diversionary tactics from Shonkey on the issue of the SAS in Afganistan..attack the credibility of the messanger, then repeat the oft repeated “reconstruction” do goood nonsense…
Questions John….what reconstruction do the SAS undertake? Can you get a Victoria Cross for fixing a leaky well in Kandahar?
Another question for John….”Now Osamas gone and we are safe can we have the anti terrorist crap we have to go through in the domestic airports turned off please?”
And can we now bring home our young men home before anymore are killed.?
What the hell are we doing there anyway.This war has been going on for years and will continue to. Now is a good time to call it quits .
So it sounds like Rodney Hide’s political corpse is going to be taken out the back of Parliament today, shot repeatedly and set fire to. You have got to admire the brutal efficiency of the right wing, they are so good at this sort of thing. If only they would put the same effort into reducing unemployment or alleviating poverty.
If Brash doesn’t negotiate a mostly “business as usual” ministerial agreement with Key he may consign Act to the pile of minor coalition parties who couldn’t be relied on the last the distance.
Given your earlier reply to me stating your hatred of women, no doubt you’ll be wanting to join Act where you and Don Brash can play out your hate fantasies together.
Silly Heather Roy thinking that she would stand a chance of promotion in that misogynistic dingbat of a party.
Further fuel for the fire that will consume the nats come November in Christchurch, Canterbury an Westland… tried getting a building consent in post-quake Christchurch? Harder to get than a straight answer from a politician. You would think that in order to get the re-build underway building consents would be flying out the door.
But nope. Even standard designs which have been goven consents for years and years no longer get consents.
Risk averse in the extreme.
Just like the post-September quake, builders sitting around with no real decent work. Fingers up their arses while Council and Cera do …. um,… well I’m not quite sure.
If you lefties wish to cement a dismal return for the nats down these parts then I would suggest this is a big target. And if you righties wish to reverse the current trend then I would suggest you get the Council to start letting consents go so that people can pull their fingers out and get on with it.
Herald: “An image of Osama bin Laden after his death yesterday has been revealed as a fake.
The photo, which shows a bloodied bin Laden with a gun wound to the head, is the photo-shopped combination of two images.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10723030
Well who would believe it. And fancy bin Laden (George W Bush, Blair) hiding in a safe house many miles from the real action but sending troops to their deaths.
Corriere delle Sere had that story (about the fake photos) out about 01.50 our time! (My friend Gianluca sent it to me, saying “told you so!” and he had..)
Lose-Lose for banks, they let some farmers over leverage to the hilt and now the world
economy changes they are either lumbered with indebted farmers who if they foreclose on means a drop in farm property prices (undermining the value of their other loan collateral) or they have to carry the farmers. Who says the private sector can deal with greed better? Bank greed has harmed their shareholders, and nobody is asking for the bonuses bank when the banks were heaping out loans to already heavily leveraged farmers.
Well seeing that Key is not going to be PM for long whether or not NAT win the election…and “this term”, Don is not even an MP so of course he’s not going to be Finance Minister.
Will the unelected and electorally meaningless Leader of Act be party to any confidential government discussions and decisions that Hide enjoyed while he held ministerial positions? Will his parliamentary minions be obligated to tell him everything they know?
Just what is the legal position of Brash?
The situation is mind boggling – just imagine, for some reason, some “knight of the Round Table” was to do the same to the National Party, Leader outside parliament. Decisions would be directed from outside the Beehive. (Some might argue that we already are…)
Joky Hen in his press conference with the throng of journalists in the Beehive advised us that the world is a whole lot safer now that OSB is dead. Perhaps he will advise his fellow leaders all around the world who appear to be telling their citizens that there is a real threat of reprisals … but then he’s realtively new in his job, having done his apprenticeship on the trading floor.
I don’t know. I think the PR machine for NAct is busy trying to make a separation between Act & National to counter the idea that NAct are joined at the hip.
Dr Brash says Mr Hide stays on to push through two very important pieces of legislation – but he struggled to name them, as did the Prime Minister.
“One is the taxpayers bill of right – I can’t be sure, what is it called, John?” Dr Brash asked.
“I guess one area is the telecommunications bill,” Mr Key said.
For the record;
One is about Government spending
The other is about limiting regulation
Neither will pass before the election.
I don’t know, he seems to be able to “pull the birds”. Who could refuse him? Soft lights. Romantic music. Corned beef sandwiches. It”s worked before
I suspect your right tho’, Carol. There is something going on with that crowd and women. Far too much male menopause compensatory behaviour going on.
Perhaps they are threatened by women who can think for themselves – and not some compliant over-aged pixie doll.
Sometimes you just want to scream when some journo is not paying attention or is too lazy to call the pollies on their inconsistencies and duplicity. Then you get some gem like tonight.
“Duncan, I’m sorry for all those times I doubted you!”
Heh. I know what you mean, but it’s not so much about doubt for me. Garner is what he is, and he does what he does.
As a bit of an attempt at showing just how garnered this piece was, I’ll give it a run through, emphasis mine, my comments on subtext in italics:
New ACT leader Don Brash has been stared down by former leader Rodney Hide.
Don is weak and not in full control. Worded as a statement of fact.
Mr Hide – who was again described by Dr Brash as “tarnished” today – has hung on to his ministerial job. In return, he will leave politics at the next election.
Don had to cut a deal with Hide even though he thinks he sucks
“I have not been rolled,” he told 3 News.
“He has an important job to do until the next election and, as I have said many times, he has a somewhat tarnished brand,” says Dr Brash.
“By agreement, he wont’ stand at this year’s election.”
Here we have Don saying that he wasn’t stared down, contra the initial statement from Garner; Don just feels that there is something important Hide needs to do. Setting up for the fall.
So Mr Hide keeps his $210,000-a-year job and all the perks.
Hide – perks – trougher. No mention of the important jobs Hide has.
Dr Brash says Mr Hide stays on to push through two very important pieces of legislation – but he struggled to name them, as did the Prime Minister.
Don and John’s stated excuse for keeping Hide in the job might be bullshit. Can they name name these important things that he supposedly has to do?
“One is the taxpayers bill of right – I can’t be sure, what is it called, John?” Dr Brash asked.
“I guess one area is the telecommunications bill,” Mr Key said.
No, they can’t. The excuse is bullshit; ergo Don got stared down as stated in the opening line.
For the record;
One is about Government spending
The other is about limiting regulation
Neither will pass before the election.
Duncan Garner, 3News, laying it out straight for the people. Don and John just got busted, they shouldn’t have tried to fool the Dunc.
ACT’s other minister, John Boscawen, has lost his job as Minister of Consumer Affairs – but remains deputy leader and new Parliamentary leader, despite never backing Dr Brash in last weeks’ coup.
“I said publicly I was 100 percent behind Rodney Hide,” he said.
Don is weak and not in control
Missing out today on any job was ACT’s former Deputy Leader Heather Roy. 3 News understands Dr Brash didn’t support her.
“I said I would put my name forward if I had the support and confidence of the new leader,” Ms Roy said.
Roy expected support but didn’t get it
Dr Brash then appeared on the floor in Parliament, leaving Labour joking that he was there pulling the strings of the Key Government. Dr Brash appeared to love the attention.
But the ACT takeover is a real mess;
-Dr Brash wanted Mr Hide gone from his ministerial jobs. He failed. weak Don
-Dr Brash’s deputy, Mr Boscawen, never supported him last week. But remains, just not as a minister. weak Don
-Ms Roy – who wanted to be promoted – didn’t have Dr Brash’s support. Possibly traitor Don, who may need to watch his back
-ACT is a party that remains deeply and bitterly divided. ends
The real story PB I believe is what role did National play in the ACT takeover.
IMHO the story probably went something like this:
1. National realised that the chances of an outright majority were not good. Labour in 2002 is a good historical lesson of what happens to these expectations.
2. The MP is looking really bad, they may not survive apart from Tariana.
3. ACT is comatose. Between dead babies identities, misogyny and perk busting hypocrisy it would not normally survive.
4. National realised that it needs another party on the right.
5. The proposed conservative party had a problem in that it would have no TV access during the campaign. So the idea of a reverse takeover of ACT was formed.
6. Major funders such as Gibbs and Heatley were obviously in agreement and backed Brash.
7. Brash was able to go to the ACT Caucus and Board and say if he was not installed as leader then the funding would be cut. Everyone then buckled. Big time.
9. Hide has been bought off. Can you imagine why otherwise he would bow out in such a wimpish way?
The interesting question is who in National organised this. If they can be identified then major damage to National could be caused.
Yeah I pretty much think that’s how it went down. The only qualifier I’d have is that I think it’s a faction of National rather than the party as a whole. It’s the same old ‘no brash no cash’ offer the Auckland business mafia roundtable goons pulled last time, but this time using ACT as a shelf company. Look for Rodney to take Kerr’s job at the BRT, as has been floated explicitly by Fran O’Sullivan.
I’m not sure about how pushing that angle would go to be honest. Sure, it’s probably the truth, but proof is hard to get and it would tie in pretty easily to memes about labour dirt digging about secret bagmen. I think there is more than enough toxin flowing from the pores as it is. Keep it simple.
I think there is more than enough toxin flowing from the pores as it is.
There’ll be a number of very unhappy individuals in ACT ATM (I’d estimate at least five), all with vendettas to pursue. They’ll fully self-destruct eventually, without any dirt being dug up by their opponents.
Meanwhile they are no prettier with their new head.
I’m not sure about how pushing that angle would go to be honest. Sure, it’s probably the truth, but proof is hard to get and it would tie in pretty easily to memes about labour dirt digging about secret bagmen.
Aye, fingerprints and blood stains do not matter sometimes. I am interested by your comment which I acknowledge is valid. When Mike Williams went to Aussie to look for Key’s fingerprints on the Equiticorp transactions I thought it was perfectly appropriate. Our elected representatives should be clean and should be able to stand up to scrutiny. Of course they should be checked out.
The nats dig for dirt all the time with far more efficiency than Labour.
I think that Labour sometimes buys into the nat lines and should step back and be themselves sometimes.
Yeah that’s fair enough. But it’s vitally important to be aware of what your opponents lines are, aware if they are working, and if so, not reinforce them.
Dr Brash wanted Mr Hide gone from his ministerial jobs.
Conversation would, IMO, have gone something likethis:
DB to RH: Sorry roders, but we’re going to take your portfolios off you. Nothing personal.
RH to DB: Sure Don, I’ll resign, not a problem.
DB (panicking): ummmm, err, that’s not quite what we had in mind….
If RH had resigned it would have caused a by-election – just after NACT had attacked Hone for doing the same thing. Also, IMO, neither Act nor National are ready for an election in Epsom – has either officially named the person that they will be standing in there yet? – and having a National member win it would give momentum to having the same member win it at the General Election in November which would defeat all the planning that NACT had just gone to to ensure that Act won Epsom.
has either officially named the person that they will be standing in there yet?
Aren’t they waiting until either (a) Winston announces where he will be standing, or (b) one minute before the deadline?
Similar with party lists?
Did anyone see Jabba in question time this avo. He was fine when asked straight forward questions but when Clayton Cosgrove started questioning him about his dictatorial powers and if he would use them to sell Ch’ch assets he got his back up.
In so doing, he showed us all why we are so concerned that someone who doesn’t play well with adults should have such powers.
The issue of the sale of Ch’ch assets is probably a non-starter at this point, but if all it does is get Gerry’s back up, and remind him that we are watching him, then it serves it’s purpose.
‘Just read the words you’ve been given and sit the fuck back down’ is how I imagine the briefing went before she spoke today about the TVNZ charter.
Of course, she probably should’ve given it the once over first just to make sure she didn’t sound totally mental informing the house that TVNZ’s “current character was unworkable.”
No, reading her script (and that’s what it is) in advance would be too much work and she already has a full day trying to turn the computer on. Is she even going to be on the list? If so, why?
Wonder if it’s flexible enough for contractors to join. Young people starting out in contractor only industries like construction really need some help with the contracts etc.
Yep. FTA: “Membership, costing just $1 per week ($52 per year), gives employees and contractors, in industries and locations without union support, access to help and expert advice.“
I really concerned about the latest mining initiatives. We have petrobras of course but we also have had “US independent energy giant Anadarko Petroleum confirming it intends drilling a well in what is known as the Deepwater Taranaki Basin.”
There are battles up and down this country fighting against the greedybastardexploiters – we need to support tangata whenua and the activists as much as possible and we need good coordination and communication.
Yes very good thinking by unions in starting Together. Good name.. The isolated worker or small group have been hard to help in the past.
Also
Don Brash was a topic on Rod Orams radio time with Kathryn Ryan after 11am today. Rod gave him thumbs down so far that they were dangling on the ground.
prism, thanks for heads up on Oram’s interview as there’s precious few hours in the day to get to everything.
Oram was polite but to the point especially his comments about Brash being a nightmare as a finance minister and his not understanding compromise to the point of possibly forcing a second election.
I think the recent activity of the ACT Party is an absolute disgrace. The only reason ACT are in parliament is because Rodney Hide won the seat of Epsom, and now Don Brash has taken over the leadership of the party, and Hide is being forced out of the party.
If Hide had any guts he would resign from parliament.
But lets consider this case.
What happens if Rodney Hide decides to leave parliament and cause a by-election. What happens if ACT lose? Would ACT be removed from parliament?
Would John Key HAVE HIS REASON to call an early election if Rodney Hide resigned?
I’d love somebody with more knowledge than me on the subject to enlighten me.
I am afraid that this is all a ploy for National to stand John Banks in Epsom, win the seat and eliminate ACT. This will secure the right wing vote for National and mean that they can push further to the right without deterring too many central voters.
Peter Dunne and Jim Anderton currently sit in parliament having each won less than 1% of the total Party Vote. NZ First won over 4% of the vote at the last election, and are unrepresented in parliament! Don Brash-led policy initiatives are being created, to be forced into law through parliament via four puppet MPs who are only in parliament due to Rodney Hide winning Epsom!!!
Personally I think the stupid is introduced with the threshold. I can’t really justify disenfranchising people purely on the basis that their views are more unpopular than mine.
If a political party can’t convince even 1/30 voters that it has serious merit then it probably needs to go away and do a bit more work on itself first.
I personally would prefer not to force our political scene into a huge splintering of 1 and 2 MP, single issue parties, which I believe is the result that we would get if we dropped the threshold to 1% or less.
Why don’t we just have one seat for each electorate and then parties get roughly a seat for every 2% they have, and 2% is the threshold for any one Party that doesn’t win an electorate to have seats.
That’s sounds like FPP, you would still have to win each electorate by getting the most votes in that electorate, all other votes are subsequently wasted, and parties like the Greens and NZ First will be annihilated.
(OK I clearly didnt read your post carefully enough, sorry. 2% threshold, I do think that is too low, and on first glance the math doesn’t add up e.g. what if you have numerous parties sitting on 2-3% of the vote).
IMO, if a party can get enough votes for 1 seat then they should be represented. I don’t think you’d see too many 1 seat, 1 issue parties. Inevitably small parties would come together in to a larger grouping as it’s going to be better covering multiple issues – voters really don’t vote for one issue parties which is why the Greens are covering more than the environment now.
Throw in STV voting for electorate seats so that the person elected there has the support of the majority of voters and we’d have the near ideal electoral system.
Im getting sick of these iwi kingpins eyeing up out outdoor recreation estate, and you quislings on the left aiding and abetting them, even though it will mean the average new zealander NOT BEING ABLE TO ACCCESS THE BIRTH RIGHT OF OUR BEACHES AND NATIONAL PARKS.
Te Urewera National Park should remain owned by the government for the enjoyment of all New Zealanders, and not be transferred into an elite brown table grouping that will restrict access.
Public ownership tends to fly out the window when iwi are involved.
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Over the weekend, the Minister of Transport Simeon Brown proudly announced his new speed-setting rule, a decision that will undoubtedly lead to greater harm on our roads. It’s a tragically predictable decision by a Minister who seems to be on only nodding acquaintance with both evidence and international norms. Fueled ...
Kia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, September 30:Over 35,000 people marched in Dunedin on Saturday to protest against the Government’s plans to downgrade the new hospital being built there.In the scoop of the ...
A listing of 30 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, September 22, 2024 thru Sat, September 28, 2024. Story of the week Given the headlines dominance of hot oceans lofting water into the atmosphere where it then obeys the Clausius-Clapeyron relationship thereby ...
But what a fool believes, he seesNo wise man has the power to reason awayWhat seems to beIs always better than nothingThan nothing at allSongwriters: Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonaldWe begin.“Welcome to Q&A, I’m Jack Tame. Today, for a government that says it’s fixated on waste, what’s the point in a ...
Oh, you should have seen Reefton in 1888. It glowed. It was illuminated by the future.In August of that year — and I am confident I have my facts right because I am quoting directly from the town's own website — Reefton became the first place in New Zealand and ...
Dunedin is not a happy city at the moment. We are used to being ignored in the nationwide New Zealand media – wrong end of the country and all – but the Government’s recent announcement on the Dunedin Hospital rebuild has got people motivated. How motivated? Well, I couldn’t make ...
A nice bit of news. I can report that I have had a short story success – my 3,600 word gothic horror piece, The One Who Saw Too Much, has been accepted ...
And another pitch shattersAnother little bit gets lostTell me what else really mattersOh, such a costLike pebbles on a beachKicked around, displaced by feetOh, like broken stonesThey're all trying to get homeSong by Paul WellerDoes it feel as though your country has been hijacked? That terrible people have taken the ...
Dame Jacinda Adern would not accept “acceptable death rates” during Covid. But in the UK the Tory government said “Let them die”.Additions belowYesterday, when I saw the news that a Timaru factory with hundreds of jobs on the line was going to close, I couldn't help but think:"I'm so glad ...
1. What did the National party promise Dunedin last election?a. We will build the hospital you needb. We will never give you up, let you down, or Rickroll you c. We will bring back John Keyd. Pandas2. What is the National party promising Dunedin now?a. A sawn-off half-pint watery version of ...
Note: This is obviously a very heavy topic — it took me three days to manage to write it — so please read with care. In saying that, in amongst the awfulness I think this piece also contains some hope, and plenty of humanity. Thanks to those of you who ...
We are extremely sad to say that our esteemed Skeptical Science colleague— and good friend to many of us— John Mason passed away on Friday September 20, 2024. Only last week, we blew a horn of appreciation for John's remarkable gift for telling stories about science. Our expectation was that ...
Stagnation and ContractionIn this column I use the less familiar measure of GDP per capita instead of the GDP measure favoured by the commentariat. I became familiar with it when I began doing international comparisons because of the population differences between countries, while I depended upon the measure while working ...
This is embarrassing: I just had to google who Andrew Jassy is.I come to substack to learn terrible thingsIn my defence, they promoted him during the pandemic and I had other things on my mind. Also watching Amazon injure their workers at a rate of over four times the US ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on the latest climate news, including research suggesting a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could trigger 8° of warming ...
Long stories short, here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer:A seventh planetary boundary, for ocean acidification will soon be breached, and may have already done so, according to ...
Just a little something for the painHospital food getting you down?Honey now I'm not one to complainBut this hangin' aroundIs wearing me outSong by David Gray.Yesterday, Dr Shane Reti, the Minister of Health, and Chris Bishop, the duty Minister for looking sad, sincere and determined, announced that Dunedin’s promised new ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford still can’t confirm when the Government will deliver the $2 billion worth school upgrades she cut earlier this year. ...
Labour acknowledges the hundreds of workers today losing their jobs as the Winstone Pulp mill closes and what it will mean for their families and community. ...
In Budget '24, the National Government put aside $216 million to pay for a tax cut which mainly benefitted one company: global tobacco giant Philip Morris. Instead of giving hundreds of millions to big tobacco, National could have spent the money sensibly, on New Zealand. ...
Te Whatu Ora’s financials from the last year show the Government has manufactured a financial crisis to justify making cuts that are already affecting patient care. ...
Over 41,000 Palestinian’s have been murdered by Israel in the last 12 months. At the same time, Israel have launched attacks against at least four other countries in the Middle East including Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran. “You cannot play the aggressor and the victim at the same time,” said ...
Associate health minister Casey Costello has made a fool of the Prime Minister, because the product she’s been fighting to get a tax cut for and he’s been backing her on is now illegal – and he doesn’t seem to know it. ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee’s inquiry into climate adaptation is something that must be built on for an enduring framework to manage climate risk. ...
The Government is taking tertiary education down a worrying path with new reporting finding that fourteen of the country’s sixteen polytechnics couldn’t survive on their own,” Labour’s tertiary education spokesperson Dr Deborah Russell says. ...
Today the government announced a $30m cut to Te Ahu o Te Reo Māori- a programme that develops te reo Māori among our kaiako. “This announcement is just the latest in an onslaught of attacks on te iwi Māori,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader Rawiri Waititi. ...
The Government has shown its true intentions for the public service and economy – it’s not to get more public servants back to the office, it’s more job losses. ...
The National Government is hiding the gaps in the health workforce from New Zealanders, by not producing a full workforce plan nearly a year into their tenure. ...
Today, the Crown Mineral Amendment Bill was read for the first time, reversing the ban on oil exploration off the coast of Taranaki. It was no accident that this proposed law change was read directly after the Government started to unravel the ability of iwi and hapū Māori to have ...
Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Justice, Tākuta Ferris, has hit out at the Government, demanding the Crown prove its rights to the foreshore, following the Marine and Coastal Area Amendment Bill, passing its first reading. "Māori rights to the foreshore pre-exist the Declaration of Independence, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and ...
The Green Party vows to reinstate the oil and gas ban and revoke permits when it returns to government following the coalition’s introduction of legislation to reopen offshore oil and gas exploration this afternoon. ...
The Government’s introduction of its interventions in the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act threatens to throw relations between Māori and Crown into deeper disharmony. ...
Gun lobbyist Nicole McKee and her conflict of interest has struck again, this time removing safety regulations from shooting clubs and ranges in New Zealand. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s retrograde move to tighten up on Work from Home arrangements is the latest in a series of blows to the Public Service. ...
The National Government is oblivious to the impact cuts to services will have on New Zealanders who are doing the hard yards caring for mentally ill family members. ...
National continues to dismantle environmental protections in the interests of rushing through unsustainable development that will ultimately cost communities. ...
The economy has stagnated and the National Government is having to face the consequences of its atrocious lawmaking, as beneficiary numbers skyrocket past even Treasury’s predictions. ...
Today’s GDP figures combined with the injustice of our tax system will mean more pain for our lowest-income households while those at the top remain relatively unscathed. ...
A new multi-purpose recreation centre will provide a valuable wellbeing hub for residents and visitors to Ruakākā in Northland, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. The Ruakākā Recreation Centre, officially opened today, includes separate areas for a gymnasium, a community health space and meeting rooms made possible with support of ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay, and Rural Communities Minister Mark Patterson announced up to $50,000 in additional Government support for farmers and growers across Southland and parts of Otago as challenging spring weather conditions have been classified a medium-scale adverse event. “The relentless wet weather has been tough on farmers and ...
Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay today welcomed a move by the European Commission to delay the implementation of the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) by 12 months, describing the proposal as a pragmatic step that will provide much-needed certainty for New Zealand exporters and ensure over $200 million in ...
The Government is taking decisive action in response to the Ministerial Inquiry into School Property, which concludes the way school property is delivered is not fit for purpose. “The school property portfolio is worth $30 billion, and it’s critically important it’s managed properly. This Government is taking a series of immediate actions ...
The Government has announced a new support programme for the residential construction market while the economy recovers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk say. “We know the residential development sector is vulnerable to economic downturns. The lead time for building houses is typically 18 ...
Environment Minister Penny Simmonds has confirmed the final appointee to the refreshed Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) board. “I am pleased to welcome Brett O’Riley to the EPA board,” Ms Simmonds says. “Brett is a seasoned business advisor with a long and distinguished career across the technology, tourism, and sustainable business ...
The Government has approved a $226.2 million package of resilience improvement projects for state highways and local roads across the country that will reduce the impact of severe weather events and create a more resilient and efficient road network, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Our Government is committed to delivering ...
Kiwis will see fewer potholes on our roads with road rehabilitation set to more than double through the summer road maintenance programme to ensure that our roads are maintained to a safe and reliable standard, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is a key ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the announcement of Sir Jerry Mateparae as an independent moderator, to work with the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville Government in resolving outstanding issues on Bougainville’s future. “New Zealand is an enduring friend to Papua New Guinea and the ...
The latest 2023 Census results released today further highlight New Zealand’s growing ethnic and cultural diversity, says Ethnic Communities Minister Melissa Lee. “Today’s census results are further evidence of the increasingly diverse nature of our population. It’s something that should be celebrated and also serve as a reminder of the ...
Parents and caregivers are now able to claim for FamilyBoost, which provides low-to-middle-income families with young children payments to help them meet early childhood education (ECE) costs. “FamilyBoost is one of the ways we are supporting families with young children who are struggling with the cost of living, by helping ...
This week’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM) has concluded with a renewed commitment to regional security of all types, Defence Minister Judith Collins says. Defence Ministers and senior civilian and military officials from Australia, Chile, Fiji, France, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Tonga gathered in Auckland to discuss defence and security cooperation in the ...
Associate Police Minister Casey Costello has welcomed the Police announcement that recruitment wings at the Police College will be expanded to 100 recruits next year. “This is good news on two fronts – it reflects the fact that more and more New Zealanders are valuing policing and seeing it as ...
Introduction Good morning! What a pleasure to be back in the stunning West Coast at one of my favourite events in the calendar. Every time I come back here, I’m reminded of the Coast’s natural beauty, valuable resources, and great people. Yet, every time I come back here, I’m also ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti welcomes new data from Health New Zealand, saying it demonstrates encouraging progress against the Government’s health targets. Health New Zealand’s quarterly report for the quarter to 30 June will be used as the baseline for reporting against the Government’s five health targets, which came into ...
The launch of a new data tool will provide Kiwis with better access to important data, Statistics Minister Andrew Bayly says. “To grow our economy and improve productivity we must adopt smarter ways of working, which means taking a more data driven approach to decision-making. “As Statistics Minister one of ...
The Government is progressing plans to increase the use of remote inspections to make the building and consenting process more efficient and affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “We know that the building and construction sector suffers from a lack of innovation. According to a recent report, productivity ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes the PPTA putting a proposal to members at its annual conference to change its constitution and allow membership of teachers who work in charter schools. “The PPTA has had a come to Jesus moment on charter schools. This is a major departure from the ...
David Clarke has been announced as the Chief Commissioner of the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC). David Clarke is a barrister specialising in corporate and commercial law and he has over 20 years experience in governance roles in commercial, public and charitable sectors. He also is a current TAIC Commissioner. ...
The Government has secured market access for New Zealand blueberries to Korea, unlocking an estimated $5 million in annual export opportunities for Kiwi growers Minister for Trade and Agriculture Todd McClay today announced. “This is a win for our exporters and builds on our successful removal of $190 million in ...
Partnership and looking to the future are key themes as Defence Ministers from across the South Pacific discuss regional security challenges in Auckland today, Defence Minister Judith Collins says. The South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM) brings together Defence Ministers, Chiefs of Defence and Secretaries of Defence from New Zealand, ...
In a triple whammy of good news, 1 October heralds the beginning of the funding of two major health products and a welcome contribution to early childhood fees, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “Keytruda is the first drug to be funded and made available from the $604 million boost we ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti today opened the refurbished Children’s Unit at Rotorua Hospital, which will provide young patients and their families in the Lakes District with a safe, comfortable and private space to receive care. “The opening of this unit is a significant milestone in our commitment to improving ...
It is now easier to make small changes to building plans without having to apply for a building consent amendment, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Previously builders who wanted to make a minor change, for example substituting one type of product for another, or changing the layout of ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced seven diplomatic appointments. “Protecting and advancing New Zealand’s interests abroad is an extremely important role for our diplomats,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to announce the appointment of seven senior diplomats to these overseas missions.” The appointments are: Andrew ...
The first iteration of the SuperGold Information Hub is now on-line, Minister for Seniors Casey Costello announced today. “The SuperGold Hub is an online portal offering up-to-date information on all of the offers available to SuperGold cardholders. “We know the SuperGold card is valued, and most people know its use ...
A new Contaminated Sites and Vulnerable Landfills Fund will help councils and landowners clean up historic landfills and other contaminated sites that are vulnerable to the effects of severe weather, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. "This $30 million fund, part of our Q4 Action Plan, increases the Government’s investment in ...
Associate Health Minister with responsibility for Pharmac David Seymour has welcomed the increased availability of medicines for Kiwis resulting from the Government’s increased investment in Pharmac. “Pharmac operates independently, but it must work within the budget constraints set by the Government,” says Mr Seymour. “When our Government assumed office, New ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today wrapped up a week of high-level engagements at the United Nations in New York and in Papeete, French Polynesia. “Our visit to New York was about demonstrating New Zealand’s unwavering support for an international system based on rules and respect for the UN Charter, as ...
The Government’s Quarter Four (Q4) Action Plan will be focused on making it easier and faster to build infrastructure in New Zealand as part of its wider plan to rebuild the economy, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “My Government has been working at pace to get the country back on ...
New Zealanders will be safer as a result of the Government’s crackdown on crime which includes tougher laws for offenders and gangs delivered as part of the Quarter Three (Q3) Action Plan, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “I’m proud to say we have delivered on 39 of the 40 actions ...
The Government is backing a new world-leading programme set to boost vineyard productivity and inject an additional $295 million into New Zealand’s economy by 2045, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay today announced. The Next Generation Viticulture programme will transform traditional vineyard systems, increasing profitability by $22,060 per hectare by 2045 without ...
Over 90 per cent of submissions have expressed broad support for a New Zealand minerals strategy, indicating a strong appetite for a considered, enduring approach to minerals development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. A summary of the 102 submissions on the draft strategy has been published today by the Ministry ...
Catch limits for several fisheries will be increased following a review that shows stocks of those species are healthy and abundant. The changes are being made as part of Fisheries New Zealand’s biannual sustainability review, which considers catch limits and management settings across New Zealand’s fisheries. “Scientific evidence and information ...
The Government is investigating options for a major reform of the building consent system to improve efficiency and consistency across New Zealand, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “New Zealand has some of the least affordable housing in the world, which has dire social and economic implications. At the heart ...
The Government has announced that an initial cost-benefit analysis of establishing a third medical school based at the University of Waikato has been completed and has been found to provide confidence for the project to progress to the next stage. Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti says the proposal will ...
The Government’s new speed limit rule has today been signed to reverse Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions and enable Kiwis to get to where they want to go quickly and safely, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Reverse Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions on local streets, arterial roads, and state highways ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts is travelling to Fiji on Monday to attend a Ministerial Meeting (Talanoa) with Pacific Island Countries, Australia, and New Zealand. “Attending the Talanoa will reinforce New Zealand’s commitment to supporting climate resilience in the Pacific and advancing action in the areas of climate change,” Mr ...
The Government is accepting the majority of human rights recommendations received at the fourth Universal Period Review in Geneva, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “We have considered all 259 recommendations from the United Nations. We are supporting 168 and partially supporting 12 of these recommendations. “Recommendations related to women’s rights, ...
The Government is continuing to move at pace on the Northland Expressway, with significant geotechnical investigations now underway for phase one from Warkworth to Te Hana, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “With thousands of motorists and freight travelling through Northland, we’re focused on delivering for this region to grow our economy. ...
Temporary SetbackLord Kenyon and Lady Charlotte walk down the rampOf their magenta and lime green hot air balloon Hubris,In matching Polar Bear fur coats, wraparound shadesEncrusted with diamonds, and a hundredweightOf subtle and discreet chunky gold accessories.At the bottom of the ramp, a squad of burly Bailiffs wait.“What ho, good ...
A new war in Lebanon has begun, but a dual focus on sub- and trans-national dynamics is required to understand what might come next in the Middle East.Starting with the trans-national matters. On ‘April Fools Day’ this year a region-wide game of cat and mouse began between Israeli and Iranian ...
Stuck on the wall in the women’s changing room at the West Coast Rangers Football Club is the catchphrase: It means more here.It personifies what it means to players to belong to a club in Auckland’s north-west that’s just three years old, but already has a team who’ve fought their ...
MONDAYA cold wind came down from the mountain range of the Sierra Thorndons and swept through the empty main street of Labour City.It had been the exact same weather for over a year.A few old-timers remembered a time of golden weather. Sometimes they thought they might only have dreamt it ...
Inspired by a dictionary’s survey of its online followers, The Detail gathers three professional word-workers to nominate the best and worst of language and the traps of faux erudition, cliche, neuron-breaking elaborate prose, and journalese.Alexia Russell chats with two editors, one who banned overused words and another who makes it ...
Alex Casey meets the Southland principal who wrote and directed a feature length fantasy epic starring the whole school.Ask a primary school principal how many feature films they’ve made, and most will say zero. Ask Steve Wadsworth, principal of Winton School in Southland, and he will say not one, ...
The award-winning broadcaster and journalist looks back on his life in television, featuring early morning All Blacks games, his love for The Repair Shop and why he’s turning into his parents. John Campbell doesn’t remember his first ever appearance on television. “Funny, eh?” the broadcaster chuckles over the phone. All ...
Jenna Todd responds to Kataraina, the sequel to Becky Manawatu’s award-winning first novel Auē.This review contains major spoilers for Auē. Many years after the girl shot the man. I’d almost forgotten who had shot the man in Auē, winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Foundation Prize for Fiction in 2020. ...
Big Fan mentor Matthew Young and mentee Jared Frost share their perfect weekend playlist. Breaking into the music industry is no easy feat, but it makes a difference when you have someone who can guide you through the distortion. At Auckland’s Big Fan, a live venue and recording studio, programmes ...
Treasury’s chief economic adviser, Dominick Stephens, believes the government’s tax, health and pension settings are untenable in the long term. Something’s got to give, he tells Bernard Hickey on The Spinoff’s economics podcast When the Facts Change. New Zealand’s ageing population is about to give the government’s finances a ...
Anna Rawhiti-Connell reflects on the week that was. As a teenager in the mid to late 90s, I vividly remember a statistical “urban legend” doing the rounds. “15% of the population is gay, so… [insert number based on how many people were in the classroom] must be gay.” I have ...
An elder scolded me for my inability to speak Cantonese: ‘You must learn.’ My father heard my elder’s words and said nothing. My shame was as much his as it was mine.I have three missed calls from my mother. When I finally call her back, she doesn’t even greet ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kerry Brown, Professor of Employment and Industry, School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University NT_Studio/Shutterstock Should young people be paid less than their older counterparts, even if they’re working the same job? Whether you think it’s fair or not, it’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeremy Day, PhD researcher, University of Newcastle Author provided Long-spined sea urchins have emerged as an environmental issue off Australia’s far south coast. Native to temperate waters around New South Wales, the urchins have expanded their range south as oceans warm. ...
You really won’t guess how it ends. Parliament’s Economic Development, Science and Innovation committee today heard public submissions on its controversial Crown Mineral Amendments Bill. That’s the proposed law, explained Gabi Lardies earlier this week, that would see the previous government’s ban on new oil and gas exploration overturned. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Kelly, PhD Candidate, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock Missy Higgins’ recent ARIA number-one album, The Second Act, represents an increasingly rare sighting: an Australian artist at the top of an Australian chart. My recently published analysis of Australia’s best-selling singles ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Webb, Lecturer, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology Greg Rakozy/Shutterstock What does the edge of the universe look like? Lily, age 7, Harcourt What a great question! In fact, this is one of those questions ...
People in our community are worried about their property and possessions as the water rises, and for this we raise the alarm. This is what climate change looks like - more frequent and severe weather, storms, and flooding,” said spokesperson Annabel ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Westaway, Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Archaeology, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland The NSW Education Standards Authority has announced that teaching of the Aboriginal past prior to European arrival will be excluded from the Year 7–10 syllabus as ...
The report states that $2bn of ‘savings’ are now targeted in health, just in this fiscal year (p.57). That’s a huge potential cut and is clearly not possible from just efficiencies. ...
Sophie Turner steals the show in new con-woman drama Joan. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. Joan is Neon’s new six-part British crime drama inspired by the real-life story of Joan Hannington, the woman who became the UK’s most notorious jewel thief. ...
A new poem by by Jiaqiao Liu. cabbage rolls cut out the hard core pile up stalks, bin later. one, two long lines mimic Dani before they ran to stir the marinara Sally stopped stirring. one, two chopping board burnt with a perfect spiral artfully off-centre. you are good at ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37) Here’s a snippet from Rebecca K Reilly’s review ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Park Thaichon, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Southern Queensland Elizaveta Galitckaia/Shutterstock Building a home can come with hidden costs. Unfortunately, many people don’t think about these costs until it’s too late. Some buyers succumb to the tricks marketers use ...
Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, told the Ministers that ‘your lack of support for the workers of the PPTA who provide so much to their students shows a lack of leadership on your part. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Nicole Driessen, Postdoctoral researcher in radio astronomy, University of Sydney Kasper Lyngby/Shutterstock The days are getting longer and in Australia, the switch to daylight saving time is almost upon us (for about 70% of the population, anyway). But why ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Nicole Driessen, Postdoctoral researcher in radio astronomy, University of Sydney Kasper Lyngby/Shutterstock The days are getting longer and in Australia, the switch to daylight saving time is almost upon us (for about 70% of the population, anyway). But why ...
Information released under the Official Information Act shows that there were 53,350 taxpayers who reported negative rental income in the 2023 tax year. ...
“These recent figures highlight the financial mismanagement that occurs at Health New Zealand. With news like this, taxpayers are absolutely in their right to demand answers. ...
Not so long ago it was an essential tool to aid in the struggles of coming of age. Now less than a third of New Zealand households still have a landline telephone. On Thursday morning at 10.45, a thrill buzzed in the air, possibly only detectable by journalists. Another tranche ...
The Housing Minister says the plan would lower the risk for developers and ensure houses were ready for buyers to enter the market as interest rates drop. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Harris, Professor of Corporate Law, University of Sydney Shutterstock Capitalism without insolvency is like Christianity without Hell. Those were the words of former Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman, speaking as chairman of Eastern Airlines in the United ...
His world view is famously built on centre-right common sense, with little time for losers and dreamers. Which makes his undying love for the Warriors all the more baffling to this fellow supporter. Hello, my name is Pete, and I am a New Zealand Warriors fan.Actually, it’s a bit ...
Standard diversionary tactics from Shonkey on the issue of the SAS in Afganistan..attack the credibility of the messanger, then repeat the oft repeated “reconstruction” do goood nonsense…
Questions John….what reconstruction do the SAS undertake? Can you get a Victoria Cross for fixing a leaky well in Kandahar?
And if what I hear about the press gallery having a good laugh when he attacked the journo is true, they need to have a good long look at themselves.
Another question for John….”Now Osamas gone and we are safe can we have the anti terrorist crap we have to go through in the domestic airports turned off please?”
And can we now bring home our young men home before anymore are killed.?
What the hell are we doing there anyway.This war has been going on for years and will continue to. Now is a good time to call it quits .
carcasses of old empires lay strewn across the Hindu Kush.
Best we not join them.
So it sounds like Rodney Hide’s political corpse is going to be taken out the back of Parliament today, shot repeatedly and set fire to. You have got to admire the brutal efficiency of the right wing, they are so good at this sort of thing. If only they would put the same effort into reducing unemployment or alleviating poverty.
If Brash doesn’t negotiate a mostly “business as usual” ministerial agreement with Key he may consign Act to the pile of minor coalition parties who couldn’t be relied on the last the distance.
ACT has already qualified for this pile.
@mickysavage: Mike Moore might deny that the right have a monopoly on this.
Heh. Yeah, mickey et al would like to forget that Helen’s skill with a knife makes Don look like a blind butcher with meat axe.
That makes me think… with Labour’s polling the way it is, isn’t it time Moore demanded to lead it from outside Parliament?
Now there’s a thought…
Nooooooooooo
Well Rex,
Given your earlier reply to me stating your hatred of women, no doubt you’ll be wanting to join Act where you and Don Brash can play out your hate fantasies together.
Silly Heather Roy thinking that she would stand a chance of promotion in that misogynistic dingbat of a party.
Further fuel for the fire that will consume the nats come November in Christchurch, Canterbury an Westland… tried getting a building consent in post-quake Christchurch? Harder to get than a straight answer from a politician. You would think that in order to get the re-build underway building consents would be flying out the door.
But nope. Even standard designs which have been goven consents for years and years no longer get consents.
Risk averse in the extreme.
Just like the post-September quake, builders sitting around with no real decent work. Fingers up their arses while Council and Cera do …. um,… well I’m not quite sure.
If you lefties wish to cement a dismal return for the nats down these parts then I would suggest this is a big target. And if you righties wish to reverse the current trend then I would suggest you get the Council to start letting consents go so that people can pull their fingers out and get on with it.
It is a like a giant and growing cow pat.
Do you know what CERA actually do, yet, vto? There was another press release on the RSS today, but it still didn’t say much.
Herald: “An image of Osama bin Laden after his death yesterday has been revealed as a fake.
The photo, which shows a bloodied bin Laden with a gun wound to the head, is the photo-shopped combination of two images.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10723030
Well who would believe it. And fancy bin Laden (George W Bush, Blair) hiding in a safe house many miles from the real action but sending troops to their deaths.
Corriere delle Sere had that story (about the fake photos) out about 01.50 our time! (My friend Gianluca sent it to me, saying “told you so!” and he had..)
Lose-Lose for banks, they let some farmers over leverage to the hilt and now the world
economy changes they are either lumbered with indebted farmers who if they foreclose on means a drop in farm property prices (undermining the value of their other loan collateral) or they have to carry the farmers. Who says the private sector can deal with greed better? Bank greed has harmed their shareholders, and nobody is asking for the bonuses bank when the banks were heaping out loans to already heavily leveraged farmers.
Last question today: (paraphrasing)
Trevor: Will you rule out ever having Don Brash as Minister of Finance?
Key: I absolutely rule him out for this term.
Everyone get that?
k then.
Well seeing that Key is not going to be PM for long whether or not NAT win the election…and “this term”, Don is not even an MP so of course he’s not going to be Finance Minister.
I wonder how English liked the response.
Could be some more leaked emails coming up in the not too distant future?
So only as long is it would be illegal to do it then.
Rightio.
A question or two…
Will the unelected and electorally meaningless Leader of Act be party to any confidential government discussions and decisions that Hide enjoyed while he held ministerial positions? Will his parliamentary minions be obligated to tell him everything they know?
Just what is the legal position of Brash?
The situation is mind boggling – just imagine, for some reason, some “knight of the Round Table” was to do the same to the National Party, Leader outside parliament. Decisions would be directed from outside the Beehive. (Some might argue that we already are…)
Joky Hen in his press conference with the throng of journalists in the Beehive advised us that the world is a whole lot safer now that OSB is dead. Perhaps he will advise his fellow leaders all around the world who appear to be telling their citizens that there is a real threat of reprisals … but then he’s realtively new in his job, having done his apprenticeship on the trading floor.
National did have a plan for the economy after all…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19473099@N05
ACTies probably won’t be happy with Duncan Garners’s coverage tonight.
The narrative is formed, and it’s mockative with a sideline of ‘ACT still rife with division’.
I don’t know. I think the PR machine for NAct is busy trying to make a separation between Act & National to counter the idea that NAct are joined at the hip.
So we can’t refer to them as the Brashional Party?
Nope, and no talking about Prime Minister John Brash either you impudent kids.
I like this bit…
http://www.3news.co.nz/ACT-A-bitterly-divided-party/tabid/419/articleID/209619/Default.aspx
Curiously, no-on seems to know why Brash didn’t support a promotion for Roy. NAct/Brash just doesn’t like women being in too powerful a position?
I don’t know, he seems to be able to “pull the birds”. Who could refuse him? Soft lights. Romantic music. Corned beef sandwiches. It”s worked before
I suspect your right tho’, Carol. There is something going on with that crowd and women. Far too much male menopause compensatory behaviour going on.
Perhaps they are threatened by women who can think for themselves – and not some compliant over-aged pixie doll.
Sometimes you just want to scream when some journo is not paying attention or is too lazy to call the pollies on their inconsistencies and duplicity. Then you get some gem like tonight.
“Duncan, I’m sorry for all those times I doubted you!”
Heh. I know what you mean, but it’s not so much about doubt for me. Garner is what he is, and he does what he does.
As a bit of an attempt at showing just how garnered this piece was, I’ll give it a run through, emphasis mine, my comments on subtext in italics:
The real story PB I believe is what role did National play in the ACT takeover.
IMHO the story probably went something like this:
1. National realised that the chances of an outright majority were not good. Labour in 2002 is a good historical lesson of what happens to these expectations.
2. The MP is looking really bad, they may not survive apart from Tariana.
3. ACT is comatose. Between dead babies identities, misogyny and perk busting hypocrisy it would not normally survive.
4. National realised that it needs another party on the right.
5. The proposed conservative party had a problem in that it would have no TV access during the campaign. So the idea of a reverse takeover of ACT was formed.
6. Major funders such as Gibbs and Heatley were obviously in agreement and backed Brash.
7. Brash was able to go to the ACT Caucus and Board and say if he was not installed as leader then the funding would be cut. Everyone then buckled. Big time.
9. Hide has been bought off. Can you imagine why otherwise he would bow out in such a wimpish way?
The interesting question is who in National organised this. If they can be identified then major damage to National could be caused.
Yeah I pretty much think that’s how it went down. The only qualifier I’d have is that I think it’s a faction of National rather than the party as a whole. It’s the same old ‘no brash no cash’ offer the Auckland business mafia roundtable goons pulled last time, but this time using ACT as a shelf company. Look for Rodney to take Kerr’s job at the BRT, as has been floated explicitly by Fran O’Sullivan.
I’m not sure about how pushing that angle would go to be honest. Sure, it’s probably the truth, but proof is hard to get and it would tie in pretty easily to memes about labour dirt digging about secret bagmen. I think there is more than enough toxin flowing from the pores as it is. Keep it simple.
I think there is more than enough toxin flowing from the pores as it is.
There’ll be a number of very unhappy individuals in ACT ATM (I’d estimate at least five), all with vendettas to pursue. They’ll fully self-destruct eventually, without any dirt being dug up by their opponents.
Meanwhile they are no prettier with their new head.
I’m not sure about how pushing that angle would go to be honest. Sure, it’s probably the truth, but proof is hard to get and it would tie in pretty easily to memes about labour dirt digging about secret bagmen.
Aye, fingerprints and blood stains do not matter sometimes. I am interested by your comment which I acknowledge is valid. When Mike Williams went to Aussie to look for Key’s fingerprints on the Equiticorp transactions I thought it was perfectly appropriate. Our elected representatives should be clean and should be able to stand up to scrutiny. Of course they should be checked out.
The nats dig for dirt all the time with far more efficiency than Labour.
I think that Labour sometimes buys into the nat lines and should step back and be themselves sometimes.
Yeah that’s fair enough. But it’s vitally important to be aware of what your opponents lines are, aware if they are working, and if so, not reinforce them.
Conversation would, IMO, have gone something likethis:
DB to RH: Sorry roders, but we’re going to take your portfolios off you. Nothing personal.
RH to DB: Sure Don, I’ll resign, not a problem.
DB (panicking): ummmm, err, that’s not quite what we had in mind….
If RH had resigned it would have caused a by-election – just after NACT had attacked Hone for doing the same thing. Also, IMO, neither Act nor National are ready for an election in Epsom – has either officially named the person that they will be standing in there yet? – and having a National member win it would give momentum to having the same member win it at the General Election in November which would defeat all the planning that NACT had just gone to to ensure that Act won Epsom.
+1
has either officially named the person that they will be standing in there yet?
Aren’t they waiting until either (a) Winston announces where he will be standing, or (b) one minute before the deadline?
Similar with party lists?
What was that in the TV3 piece about Brash being in Parliament today?
Apparently they have some special seats for ex-parliamentarians to relive their salad days in. Who knew?
Did anyone see Jabba in question time this avo. He was fine when asked straight forward questions but when Clayton Cosgrove started questioning him about his dictatorial powers and if he would use them to sell Ch’ch assets he got his back up.
In so doing, he showed us all why we are so concerned that someone who doesn’t play well with adults should have such powers.
The issue of the sale of Ch’ch assets is probably a non-starter at this point, but if all it does is get Gerry’s back up, and remind him that we are watching him, then it serves it’s purpose.
Oh dear.
Katrina Shanks, digital media expert and recipient of the Queen’s Special Award for Oratory, seems to have been told she’s not allowed to freestyle in the house anymore.
‘Just read the words you’ve been given and sit the fuck back down’ is how I imagine the briefing went before she spoke today about the TVNZ charter.
Of course, she probably should’ve given it the once over first just to make sure she didn’t sound totally mental informing the house that TVNZ’s “current character was unworkable.”
No, reading her script (and that’s what it is) in advance would be too much work and she already has a full day trying to turn the computer on. Is she even going to be on the list? If so, why?
http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/8471
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1105/S00018/together-launched-to-support-fairness-at-work.htm
Excellent news, very good lateral thinking Helen Kelly and Co.
That sounds awesome.
Wonder if it’s flexible enough for contractors to join. Young people starting out in contractor only industries like construction really need some help with the contracts etc.
Draco T Bastard,
Perhaps someone could copy it to the movie industry…
Yep. FTA: “Membership, costing just $1 per week ($52 per year), gives employees and contractors, in industries and locations without union support, access to help and expert advice.“
I really concerned about the latest mining initiatives. We have petrobras of course but we also have had “US independent energy giant Anadarko Petroleum confirming it intends drilling a well in what is known as the Deepwater Taranaki Basin.”
http://mars2earth.blogspot.com/2011/05/old-one-two.html
and now Greywolf, a Chinese-backed Australian mining company wanting to drill near tthe Able Tasman National Park and Golden Bay
http://mars2earth.blogspot.com/2011/05/polluting-paradise.html
There are battles up and down this country fighting against the greedybastardexploiters – we need to support tangata whenua and the activists as much as possible and we need good coordination and communication.
We just need to get hold of the resource consent before they do.
Yes very good thinking by unions in starting Together. Good name.. The isolated worker or small group have been hard to help in the past.
Also
Don Brash was a topic on Rod Orams radio time with Kathryn Ryan after 11am today. Rod gave him thumbs down so far that they were dangling on the ground.
prism, thanks for heads up on Oram’s interview as there’s precious few hours in the day to get to everything.
Oram was polite but to the point especially his comments about Brash being a nightmare as a finance minister and his not understanding compromise to the point of possibly forcing a second election.
I think the recent activity of the ACT Party is an absolute disgrace. The only reason ACT are in parliament is because Rodney Hide won the seat of Epsom, and now Don Brash has taken over the leadership of the party, and Hide is being forced out of the party.
If Hide had any guts he would resign from parliament.
But lets consider this case.
What happens if Rodney Hide decides to leave parliament and cause a by-election. What happens if ACT lose? Would ACT be removed from parliament?
Would John Key HAVE HIS REASON to call an early election if Rodney Hide resigned?
I’d love somebody with more knowledge than me on the subject to enlighten me.
I am afraid that this is all a ploy for National to stand John Banks in Epsom, win the seat and eliminate ACT. This will secure the right wing vote for National and mean that they can push further to the right without deterring too many central voters.
Peter Dunne and Jim Anderton currently sit in parliament having each won less than 1% of the total Party Vote. NZ First won over 4% of the vote at the last election, and are unrepresented in parliament! Don Brash-led policy initiatives are being created, to be forced into law through parliament via four puppet MPs who are only in parliament due to Rodney Hide winning Epsom!!!
What happens if ACT lose? Would ACT be removed from parliament?
Nope. Lists seats are determined on election day. ACT got the seats, so they keep ’em till the next election.
Thats kind of a stupid system then.
Yep.
Personally I think the stupid is introduced with the threshold. I can’t really justify disenfranchising people purely on the basis that their views are more unpopular than mine.
Perhaps the threshold could be lowered to 3.3%.
If a political party can’t convince even 1/30 voters that it has serious merit then it probably needs to go away and do a bit more work on itself first.
I personally would prefer not to force our political scene into a huge splintering of 1 and 2 MP, single issue parties, which I believe is the result that we would get if we dropped the threshold to 1% or less.
Why don’t we just have one seat for each electorate and then parties get roughly a seat for every 2% they have, and 2% is the threshold for any one Party that doesn’t win an electorate to have seats.
That’s sounds like FPP, you would still have to win each electorate by getting the most votes in that electorate, all other votes are subsequently wasted, and parties like the Greens and NZ First will be annihilated.
(OK I clearly didnt read your post carefully enough, sorry. 2% threshold, I do think that is too low, and on first glance the math doesn’t add up e.g. what if you have numerous parties sitting on 2-3% of the vote).
Then they get one seat each. The maths will never work out perfectly.
IMO, if a party can get enough votes for 1 seat then they should be represented. I don’t think you’d see too many 1 seat, 1 issue parties. Inevitably small parties would come together in to a larger grouping as it’s going to be better covering multiple issues – voters really don’t vote for one issue parties which is why the Greens are covering more than the environment now.
Throw in STV voting for electorate seats so that the person elected there has the support of the majority of voters and we’d have the near ideal electoral system.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1105/S00051/mediaworks-radio-appointed-rwc-2011-radio-rights-holder.htm
The Media Works Radio that Paul Henry joined recently…
Steven Joyce?
Sigh. Paul Moon is bitching about how Tuhoe couldnt get their filthy mitts on a taonga that should remain in public ownership for all eternity
Im getting sick of these iwi kingpins eyeing up out outdoor recreation estate, and you quislings on the left aiding and abetting them, even though it will mean the average new zealander NOT BEING ABLE TO ACCCESS THE BIRTH RIGHT OF OUR BEACHES AND NATIONAL PARKS.
Te Urewera National Park should remain owned by the government for the enjoyment of all New Zealanders, and not be transferred into an elite brown table grouping that will restrict access.
Public ownership tends to fly out the window when iwi are involved.