This article shows up a few interesting and pertinent points.
NZ is sadly pimping for Obama’s TPP.
What was promised at Hawaiian golf game?
Funny John Campbell wasn’t taken to the holiday house Key actually goes to each summer.
So this is what happens to Reserve Bank Governors? They work for the globalist agenda.
The TPP, despite the upbeat headline, isn’t going to happen.
Japan and Australia are ensuring this is not occurring, while we play lapdog to US corporate interests.
“A sticking point has been Japanese reluctance to open market access in the “sacred” agricultural sectors — rice, wheat, beef, pork, sugar and dairy products. The recent visit to Japan by US President Barack Obama failed to deliver a major breakthrough on that front..”
“It is possible a Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal will be thrashed out by the end of the month, says Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) executive director Alan Bollard.” The key word here is possible. Not probable or likely.
the fact that we are among the group for an ‘ambitious, high quality agreement.’ In other words a totally open global market for corporate predators to maximise their profits in.
“Bollard said another question was whether, if the TPP negotiations arrived at a “mediocre” outcome, New Zealand and some other TPP partners keen on an ambitious, high quality agreement would sign up to it anyway. “I wouldn’t know.”
Well I suppose it depends what the manifestations of ambition and high quality are, but the fact is (cf: Wikileaks) NZ’s negotiating stance has not been aligned with that of the US. Far from it.
Because neither of them are on their respective negotiating teams? Our negotiating team was established and briefed by the fifth Labour cabinet, by the way.
Not a party political point on my behalf.
Merely think that signing the TPP would impact badly in the country’s sovereignty as NAFTA did to Mexico, Canada and the US.
Yes and the whole deal will not be see till it’s signed.
So, no thanks. I prefer not to sign deals over which I have no oversight. Surely this allies to country’s citizens as well.
Or do you implicitly trust that our leaders have ordinary NZ citizens best interests at the top of their list?
The events of the 1984 – 1993 would suggest we would be wise not to trust that.
Um, the whole deal will not be seen until Parliament is required to ratify it.
That’s a consequence of the fact that it’s negotiated behind closed doors. Many people who don’t like that seem oblivious to the reason for it, namely that if we debate it in the open all the other parties will know what our bottom lines are, giving them an advantage over us.
As for free trade deals, Closer Economic Relations with Australia seems to be a good one. They say NAFTA is bad for Mexico, but they also say it’s good for Canada, and I think Mexico’s economy might be suffering more because of the, y’know, death squads than the free trade deals. I understand our FTA with China is helping cushion us from the GFC.
Nonetheless, I will be implacably opposed to any agreement that weakens Pharmac and I’ll be looking very cynically at anything that impacts internet freedom, such as it is.
The TPPA was on my list of things to do until Wikileaks proved that our negotiating team are trustworthy.
I think in matters involving other countries and matters that have of such long term consequences to people of the the country and agreements that cannot be easily stopped at will, a simple majority in parliament should not be enough. There should be at least a 67% (2/3) approval of MPs, in my opinion.
That sort of % should also apply for constitutional and other very important issues such as change of flag, legalising of cannabis,
becoming a republic etc for example.
The TPPA was on my list of things to do until Wikileaks proved that our negotiating team are trustworthy.
Please remind me – which Minister is the NZ negotiating team directed by? What has led you to place so much of your trust in this National Government Minister?
In your response to your comment saying NAFTA has benefited Canada.
“Canada has become a noticeably more unequal society in the free trade era. Real incomes declined for the large majority of Canadians in the 1990s; they increased only for the top fifth. Employment became more insecure and the social safety net frayed.
While productivity has grown—rapidly in some sectors—wages have not, a trend mirroring the de-linking that has taken place in the U.S. But the overall productivity gap with the U.S. has not narrowed as free trade proponents predicted; rather, it has widened recently.
Successive waves of corporate restructuring—bankruptcies, mergers, takeovers, and downsizing—have been accompanied by public sector restructuring—downsizing, deregulation, privatization, and offloading of state responsibilities. Public sector spending and employment have declined sharply, and publicly owned enterprises in strategic sectors such as energy and transportation have been transferred en masse to the private sector.”
“NAFTA has also been used to weaken Canada’s sovereignty and promote its economic assimilation by the United States. It has led to greater pressure on Canada and Mexico to conform to U.S. foreign policy objectives.”
“The experience of Canadian farmers clearly demonstrates that more trade does not necessarily translate into more prosperity. The National Farmers Union points out that, since 1988, agricultural exports have almost tripled, but net farm income (adjusted for inflation) has fallen by 24%. ”
I already answered that – I’m telling you what I think, Phil. This notion of yours that they’ll fold…what’s stopping them already?
It’s right there in plain(ish) English at Wikileaks – the USA vs. everybody else at the table including NZ.
The people who have serious skin in this game are importers and exporters. If anyone loses big it will be them. Farmers, for example.
The National Party’s support base, in other words.
Let’s look at this another way. If trade terms with the USA are shit then I can go hawk my wares in China instead. There’s absolutely no purpose in anyone selling anyone else out: it’s Underpants Gnomes stuff
Sell out.
???
Profit!
Perhaps you think the officials involved will all take a nice fat bribe? Shares in Oravida?
It comes down to one simple fact that nobody seems to understand – we don’t need the agreement. We don’t even need the FTAs and WTO that we’re presently signed up with. Not for trade.
Of course, as has been said time and time again – this really isn’t a FTA, it’s a free capitalism agreement. More about the easy movement of money across borders, the easy purchasing of land by anybody and the implementation of IP laws that will restrict innovation and prevent competition.
So, the fact that the IP proposals, like most of the other clauses, have two or more separate versions that differ markedly on the details is irrelevant?
Do you think Helen Clark sent our negotiating team in there with no bottom lines? Or do you think National have shifted our bottom lines?
Do you think that the CER with Australia is a bad idea too?
No, I’m not planning for some future scenario. I just think expecting our negotiators to betray us is the sort of behaviour that deserves betrayal, and I still want to read the eventual agreement they present to us to sign up to before I make my mind up about it.
And that’s the point. 600 corporates have had more oversight of the proposals than our elected representatives. The US government is controlled by corporate lobbyists ( sadly this pattern is beginning to emerge here…Collins, Williamson, Key)
The TPP not democratic and I can’t believe any progressive party would ever support it. If Labour support it, then they are still follow the neoliberal cult of unrestrained capitalism.
Clearly people should vote Mana or Green to ensure this does not happen.
So, the fact that the IP proposals, like most of the other clauses, have two or more separate versions that differ markedly on the details is irrelevant?
I believe that IP law needs significant overhaul and shouldn’t be entrenched before that overhaul happens and the TPPA will entrench them.
Do you think Helen Clark sent our negotiating team in there with no bottom lines? Or do you think National have shifted our bottom lines?
I’d say that National have changed the bottom lines – that’s generally what happens when a government is changed. That said, I don’t think that Labour should have started the negotiations either.
Do you think that the CER with Australia is a bad idea too?
Yes. All we need to do is to set up our own rules of trade and make sure that they are about trade. This free movement of money that we’ve got is destroying us but doing wonders for the already rich.
There’s a real manipulation of the Bollard quote by the NZ Herald article.
Headline:
TPP deal on cards this month: Bollard
Highlighted quote in big print in the middle of the article:
“What I see is the possibility that something gets initialled late May … and at that stage it is all out on the table.”
Alan Bollard, Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation executive director
Full quote, including an omitted part, in the article is much more ambivalent:
“What I see is the possibility that something gets initialled late May — I just don’t know if they will make it — and at that stage it is all out on the table,” he said.
Yes the Herald has turned the whole story round with the heading.
About 4 key factors mentioned in the detail of the story that will prevent it…US congress, China, Australia, Japan
Good to see the Japanese actually care about their citizens to protect key industries, so much so they see them as ‘sacred.’
Pity we don’t share the same attitude.
One of the reason that organised crime has taken such massive hold in some areas of Mexico is the unemployment and economic destruction of many farming and provincial areas resulting from NAFTA. Tens or hundreds of thousands of small and medium scale family type farms closed down or were bankrupted as subsidised big corporate US agricultural products flooded into Mexico.
It meant that there was a major vacuum which criminal organisations moved in and filled. Economic abandonment made it hard to resource law enforcement properly and made it easy for corruption of public servants and officials to take hold.
But you would have to know some historical context to understand that, which is not necessary if all you want to do is flip a quick, meaningless quip.
I’ll save the next quick quip for when I have a better understanding of the context, CV, but from your description it looks like the Mexicans got shafted.
As for the TPPA, if we ever see a document put up for ratification, I’ll be surprised and on the look-out for fishhooks. Although I am looking forward to DtB’s response too.
As for the TPPA, if we ever see a document put up for ratification
Well, the parts of it which need legislative chances will be put up under urgency as a fait accompli with no negotiable clauses, and the rest of it which doesn’t need to go through parliament (eg just requires regulatory changes) will have already been signed up to and be a done deal.
No, that’s not the problem with Oravida. The problem there is that Collins used her government position to improve her own family’s financial position.
..end the danse macabre…just decriminalise/regulate/tax the safest intoxicant of all..eh..?
..(and the misleading/lies about pot continue unabated..even a supposed ‘serious’ website like slate has published bullshit claiming you have ‘to smoke at least 15 grams’ to die from a cannabis overdose..(!?)
..bloody hell..!..that’s only a half an oz…!
..and were that true..myself (and many others) should be dead many times over..
..to become the first ever to die from smoking cannabis..
..and guess which corporate/access-media outlet has jumped to reprint this tripe..?
..yep..!..long that bastion of clear/accurate information on the cannabis-issue..
..you sneer at ‘the paper’ as being the only evidence produced..which it is not..
..and as for the findings of that ‘paper’..
..what do you disagree with here..?
“..“The core ideology of conservatism stresses resistance to change – and justification of inequality
and is motivated by needs that vary situationally and dispositionally to manage uncertainty and threat” –
Jost and his co-authors wrote in the abstract.
These are not merely American phenomena, –
-nor is there any reason to think they’re particularly modern. .”
Want to know what a major Wellington employer has done to a friend of mine?
This is second hand, so some minor details may be incorrect, but…
They are highly qualified, including having a relevant PhD in their area and has good performance reviews for seven years, but the employer has decided that casualising the workforce suits them in retaining “flexibility”. Consequently, this friend has had to reapply for their job every four months, sometimes not knowing if they have any until three days before work starts.
Several years ago they suffered bullying at another workplace which the employer realised was indefensible and decided not to contest, instead giving a large out-of court settlement on condition of anonymity.
Naturally this person has been diagnosed with stress-induced anxiety and is prone to triggering.
Early this year, they noticed tremors. Then they had a severe episode of illness, taking two days off work for the first time in seven years.
Then a few personal tragedies occurred – a sibling’s cancer returned and a close friend died suddenly. Then they were hit by a car while on a pedestrian crossing and concussed. The employer was informed of this, the anxiety and the triggering.
The employer decided that this was an excellent time for a performance review and so surveyed this person while they were still impaired by the effects of their concussion.
They also demanded meetings for Mondays on Friday afternoons, refusing to reveal the agenda, allowing my friend to stew over the weekend.
Eventually my friend’s Union extracted partial information, but the employer refused to reveal any true detail of some supposed “complaints” or the alleged complainants.
Not long after, my friend’s tremors became convulsions and they were hospitalised and spent a week being treated under sedation. They were warned that the convulsions could have become seizures in which they might have suffered harm or even death.
After leaving hospital and facing months of medication still to come, the employer informed them that they needn’t apply for any more work.
Also, they’re not the only one to have a generally similar experience with this employer.
This is a profession is stereotyped as one of the most progressive. It isn’t.
Computer programming I’d guess, the industry is sadly rife with dudebro’s, libertarians of the non-civil type and other such fun that causes issues if you have disabilities, are female or anything else the founder/owner/etc can’t understand or doesn’t like.
I’m being deliberately obscure bearing in mind lprent’s care about attracting the beady eyes of lawyers.
In any case, the exact profession or workplace is less important than the effects and abuse of casualisation. My friend’s exact experience may be unique, but the general quality of it is not.
I’m sorry to hear about your friend’s experiences and subsequent illness. How are they doing now, and where are they at ?- no need to answer if you don’t want to.
I am hoping that their Union, if taking a personal grievance against the employer will use the Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Act 2002, which requires the employer to take all practicable steps to prevent illness arising from stress and to reduce harm from stressors. This is my botched wording and not the wording from the Act. I’ve done a super quick google and can’t find the appropriate phrasing relevant to your friend’s case, only the epic length Act itself and I don’t have time to do a proper search right now, sorry. I might be able to come back to it later
Also I wonder did the employer offer your friend access to EAP: Employee Assistance Programmes? I’m guessing they didn’t but they should have.. Several large corporate employers do provide this service. There’s a couple of organisations in Wellington providing this service.
I once did an essay on the impact of of work on the well being of NZ workers. From my learnings I found that we are not as proactive as other comparable countries in preventing stress related illness. Sadly this seems to reflected in example after example of work stress related illness in real life (including my own when I had a breakdown in 2010 due to my work situation and ended up on meds to cope and help me recover).
All the best for your friend’s recovery. I hope they can find justice – they should never been put at such risk, especially as they had others stressors to cope with in their personal life.
However, my – and their – point that they want made known is just how bad casualisation has become and how cynically it is abused by employers. It affects older, qualified professionals as much as the 90-day rule affects younger, unqualified people.
My friend suspects that a standard regime change is happening – a new senior person has been appointed and a number of new faces are replacing familiar ones. Apparently it’s a move by him to get his own team, no matter how inexperienced, to take over.
The casualisation of the labour force is poisonous, insidious and being taken up all around the globe.
Just a local example, also Wellington, is of a not for profit organisation who I a short contract with last year. None of the positions are permanent, they are all fixed term. At the end of your term the job is re advertised and you re apply for it. They were also users of the 90 day Act. Quite amazing really, the hypocrisy, given their “social values” mission and presence in the community, and the otherwise good work they do.
As for the company your friend worked for, their short sighted approach may lead to a drop in standards of their service, (what ever their industry is) that they are delivering to their client. The would be manager may find the loss of skilled experienced staff will lead to the loss of quality work and to unhappy clients. I hope she or he see’s the errors in the end, but most likely won’t, those self advancing types usually don’t.
I would hope though, that your friend’s Union would be willing to pursue a personal grievance. Sounds to me like they have good grounds to.
@ Rhino
This sounds like a rerun of something that happened to a friend of mine in the tertiary education sector about 4 years ago … and in retrospect “it’s a move by him to get his own team, no matter how inexperienced, to take over” is exactly what it was all about – as well as enabling the ‘Joyce-ing’ of the entire sector.
Real partisan control-freak stuff!
Further evidence how how poor the NZ Herald is at framing a story.
The headline is ‘Cheaper power bills this winter., accompanied by a happy punter smiling by an electrical heater.
Given the breezy and cheerful headline, you might think that this was because the electrical companies haven’t stopped rotting NZers and declared a price freeze. You know something of be for to NZ citizens.
However, the detail in the story tells of something else.
Cheaper prices are down to climate change, not that you’d catch a paper that promotes Chris de Freitas ever using that term.
To quote the Herald rag…
“The cheerful outlook has been put down to sea surface temperatures being warmer for 16 consecutive months.”
Climate change …warming sea temperatures…cheerful
Apparently dozens of pro-Russian militia and pro-Russian civilians who had taken over a government building in Odessa died due to fire and smoke inhalation when Ukrainian forces attacked the offices.
Odessa is critical to Ukraine now as I understand that it is their last remaining major sea port.
The IMF has told the unelected Ukrainian “government” that their multi-billion dollar bail out deal will be reviewed if they lose control of the eastern side of the country = if you want your money, move your military in, now.
Consultants believe that major military action may cause Russia to cut off some or all oil exports to the EU, leading to a major oil price spike = global recession.
A NATO deputy head is quoted as saying that Russia is no longer acting as a partner of NATO and will have to now be treated more like an adversary.
To me it seems like the oligarchs in the west are deliberately poking away at a hornet’s nest.
A comment by Sanctuary made over at Dimpost that is very funny and deserves to be repeated.
““…Let me qualify that. It’s an impossible task this time around. Short of a miracle nothing Labour can do can win them this election…”
And yo, the Lord spake. And across kingdom of Maurice of Pakuranga a big, gay rainbow of corruption did shine. Thus the Lord looked at the raiments of corruption and smiled, for they were juicy and entangled the PM. And across the land the left did rejoice, and raise hosannas of praise to lord for his miracle of Maurice, and small things with raffia detail were put to one side, all the better to spread on the blogsphere the miraculous works of the Lord.”
“…The questions caused extraordinary contretemps within the department. To their shame, no one – Labour, the Greens or the media – had ever asked such questions before. The poor officials had to start from scratch. …”
Some of us have asked questions about ‘corporate welfare’ before – missed this Mathew?
Thursday, 3 November 2011, 5:28 pm
Press Release: Penny Bright
PRESS RELEASE: Independent Candidate for Epsom Penny Bright:
“How many billion$ of public monies could be saved by ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’?
3 November 2011
Where’s National’s ‘corporate welfare’ reform?
Which of the maor political parties are pushing for ‘corporate welfare’ reform and shrinking the long-term dependency of the private sector on our public monies?
Where is the ‘devilish detail’ at both local and central government level – which shows EXACTLY where our public rates and taxes are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors?
Why aren’t the names of the consultant(s)/ contrators(s) – the scope, term and value of these contracts, published in Council or central government Annual Reports – so this information on the spending of OUR public monies is available for public scrutiny?
Where are the publicly-available ‘Registers of Interests’ for those local government elected representatives, and staff responsible for property and procurement, in order to help guard against possible ‘conflicts of interest’ between those who ‘give’ the contracts and those who ‘get’ the contracts?
When Auckland Council is not upholding the LAW (Public Records Act 2005 and Local Government Act 2002) and telling residents and ratepayer exactly where our public monies are being spent on consultants and private contractors, and when statutory ‘third party Public Watchdogs’ are NOT doing their jobs and holding them to account – what is a CITIZEN to do?
Meekly tug one’s forelock and become a mindless, compliant ‘ca$h cow’ ?
Sorry – WRONG woman.
I’m making a stand which is upholding YOUR lawful rights to ‘open, transparent and democratically-accountable’ local government.
One day – you’ll get it.
Hopefully sooner rather than later?
Actually rates revolts are not unheard of in the Auckland region.
Have some of you had an effective frontal lobotomy and forgotten the 2003 rates revolt against the ARC, which thousands of Aucklanders joined?
Maybe these ‘brain fades’ which are currently very fashionable at the highest levels of government are contagious?
This market cult you belong to fascinates me, SSLands. Has it ever made a mistake?
What you remind me of more than anything is a young member of a Moscow aligned Communist Party, many years ago. A member of a more Beijing aligned Communist Party asked him what were the procedures if the leaders headed off down the wrong path and made some revisionist deviation or other. He was unable to accept that this could actually ever happen.
I much preferred him to you. Subjectively at least, he stood against privilege, poverty, corruption, and racism. He was human.
Yes srylands belongs to a ciult alright and unlike those utopian ones ..it appears not to care not one jot about anyone else but the individual.
Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ offers a grim vision when put along the ideas of Rosa Luxembourg.
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, or the baker, that we expect dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.
The bizarre thing here is that, at the time Smith was writing, this simply wasn’t true. Most English shopkeepers were still carrying out the main part of their business on credit, which meant that customers appealed to their benevolence all the time. Smith could hardly be unaware of this. Rather, he is drawing a utopian picture.
Debt: The first 5000 years by David Graeber
So, yeah, it is a utopian view just one that’s rather nasty and removes all human contact.
Draco, you’re as bad as the free marketeers in ignoring Smiths other famous book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) in which the philosopher explicitly sets out the individual’s responsibilities to their community.
The problem with that critique is that modern society isn’t based around Smith’s previous work. In fact, we seem to have a tendency to ignore philosophers unless they allow the sociopaths to accumulate wealth and to rule.
And yes, I’m also quite aware that srylands and redbaiter would be calling Smith a dirty stinking commy for his attitude towards the poor despite the fact that their attitude is based upon his work.
Is that why he has been so silent on the Williamson story?
“Liu hired consultancy group Exceltium, run by political consultant Matthew Hooton, to lobby the Government over the business immigration rules.”
Well I guess the person who wrote this must be reeeaaalllly cynical:
Led by Managing Director Matthew Hooton, Exceltium uses its combination of intellect, experience and networks to design strategy-led communications programmes that shift opinions and policies to support the business plans of our clients.
If the RW trials are going to be so prevalent with their predictably self-centred, self-advancing views then time can be better spent on reading people who do attempt thought rather than different way of parrotting I’m OK – You’re Not OK and you and your opinion and your needs and wants are of no importance.
Joe 90 and others are great at giving links.
This is one that was supplied here. Chris Trotter on David Parker’s newly announced economic ideas. These will be game changers for us having untold advantages as Chris puts it. http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/
And Brian Easton on Distribution and poor people struggling and sliding down the plughole,
and on data stats in Been Counter. Seeing that many journalists don’t understand the figures they very artfully quote, perhaps the rest of us who haven’t studied stats etc. should bring our knowledge up to speed to bridge the ignorance gap. http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/2014/03/been-counters/
Thank you Tracey your regular comments are informative.
I think that Bryan Gould makes some important points about the difficulties our exporters have and these should be repeated here.
Exporting successfully is an expensive business. Unless margins are good enough to make possible the spending needed to cover all the additional costs, such as freight and commissions, to develop the overseas market through promotion and after-sales service, and to provide the re-investment needed for product development so as to keep pace with foreign competition, it is not worth the effort.
No wonder so many of our potential exporters don’t try or give up quickly.
Even our most successful exporters pay a price for the dollar’s overvaluation – ask our dairy farmers. Export profits are lower than they would be if the dollar was at a more competitive level. Even our best firms – let alone those who are struggling at the margin – are therefore less able in the long run to keep pace with foreign competitors who don’t have to face the same currency headwind.
At the same time, we prepare to enjoy the consumer and import boom that accompanies the huge volume of bank-created credit that is fuelling the rise in house prices in Auckland in particular.
Glad to see that getting an airing in the MSM.
And from Brian Easton:
So while the revision does not change my views, it confirms that New Zealand is in the top half of the OECD for inequality, whereas three decades ago we were in the bottom half.
Yep, three decades of neo-liberalism has left us worse off.
It’s not all bad news. After all if you are in the top 5% to 10% you are noticeably better off, and if you are in the elite top 0.1%, you are winning the world with tens of millions of gains. The peasants, well, they can eat cake and buy their PS3s on hire purchase.
Serious questions over money and influence in National
Thursday, 1 May 2014, 2:12 pm
Press Release: Green Party
In my considered opinion, as an ‘Anti-corruption Public Watchdog’ – Minister of Justice Judith Collins is CORRUPT – has misled both the House and the NZ public over her role in promoting the interests of her friends’ and husband’s private company Oravida, and must be stood down as a Minister – FORTHWITH.
I predict that this may happen on Monday 5 May 2014 – if not before ………..
I would love to be a fly on the wall of the National Auckland Regional Convention which is taking place in Auckland this weekend. No doubt Williamson – and Collins – will be hot topics for discussion …..
Was thinking that too veutoviper and was wondering if there would be a piece on the 6pm news, “Collins resigns!”. She really is holding on by her fingernails, super strong glossily painted shellac fingernails.
Last night I saw TV3’s ‘on the street’ piece and maybe it was just the editing, but it looked decidedly like many in his electorate were turning away from Williamson now, regardless of how well they thought he had done in the past.
An article supporting something you said the other day phillip, along the lines of animal testing on synthetics only being part of a very large problem, just in NZ alone. On the front page of the Dom Post today:
Yes, I recall you mentioned something about that once phillip, the SPCA’s involvement in supply of animals to labs. That information, is that inside information or is there documented evidence of it happening or having once happened?
And a question I had the other day to you, that you may not have seen, was regarding Massey University’s (Palmy) animal testing. I had heard somewhere that they were the largest animal testing facility in NZ, testing commercial domestic products such as cleaners and cosmetics as well as medical research as they might be expected to undertake. Is this your understanding, that they are the largest?
Labs who do any significant experimental or chemical trial work on animals usually need several, to several dozen, of the exact same species and age of animal.
So no, I’d say that the SPCA would not be where they go for their test subjects (in the main).
The murder of Sarwen Lata occurred on 25th November 2013, a street away from where I live. The story of her relationship with her husband is very sad and even sadder because she is one of many women who have been killed by partners or ex partners who they protection orders against. Sarwen was killed the day after white ribbon day.
The one thing that has stayed in my mind that is particularly upsetting was that in the last hours of her life no body helped her. The one call to 111 came from her. Although neighbours heard screaming, the only call that was made came from the victim:
You can see in the video above that Sarwen’s house is very close to other houses, all around. Her particular house is plaster clad, as all the houses around her are too, they were all built at the same time. The walls are thin and none of those houses are double glazed in that part of the development. Why on earth did no one pick up the phone? When Singh broke the ranch slider glass surely that would have woken people and they should have been on to 111 straight away. For the record this is the most unfriendly neighbourhood I have lived in but surely the instinct to help when someone’s life is in danger would take over any social indifference? What the fuck is wrong with people?
Tragic. He was a classic high risk for murder-suicide and it’s very difficult to protect partners from men like him. Not sure what the answer is – protection orders won’t work with people who are intent on killing and then taking their own life. If we had effective mental health services it might help but in the absence of effective therapy for potential killers, the only way to be reasonably sure of protecting women is to relocate them – maybe with new identities.
Yes, it is so tragic because her death could have quite possibly been prevented if effective mental health intervention was available to Singh combined with or at least greater safety options being provided by the state to victims of domestic violence, as you suggest.
Socially, I wondering why her neighbours didn’t keep an eye out for her and why weren’t they there for her? Why didn’t they call 111 when given the nature of the tight cluster of thinned walled homes they would have clearly heard what was going on?
Rosie
I suggest that the reason why neighbours didn’t come forward was just because they are so tightly packed and with thin walls. The only way you can have privacy, personal space and peace of living in that case, is to ignore the constant noises and talking around you.
It is a defence mechanism necessary for everyone who would otherwise be vicariously living in other people’s ups and downs. Usually if becoming involved they would end up being soundly cursed by both or all participants who they will be continuing to live beside, and need to be on equable terms with.
There is a big strain on people who are really strangers trying to live in badly designed housing in close confines..
Rosie
This would have been a good point that remained in archived under domestic violence if you had put it in the thread about williamson and domestic violence. Comments like this with links are useful for later reference.
We’ve been taught, over generations, that other peoples business isn’t our business. The last thirty years of neo-liberalism has pretty much cemented that home.
The John Key-led National Ltd™ government’s blitzkrieg against the New Zealand environment is beginning to pay off for at least one mining company with close connections to it.
The so-called Environmental Protection Authority has just given the go ahead to foreign-owned Trans Pacific Resources to commence the first stage of a massive sea-bed mining operation right smack in the middle of a Maui dolphin habitat and migatory route for blue whales. Of the 4850 submissions to the EPA on the application, 4842 were opposed including those from local Iwi, environmenal groups, and fishing companies. In effect, the EPA rules governing the application for the mining consent prevent adequate input and usurp democracy while also ensuring that scientific evidence, tangata whenua concerns, and public opinion are secondary considerations to spreadsheet fantasies cooked up by unaccountable corporates.
Having made the rules to support their corporate masters, National Ltd™ further tilted the field in favour of Trans Tasman Resources when Environment Minister Amy Adams denied legal aid to small, volunteer organisations with a stake in the outcome. At the same time, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment handed the mining compnay a $25 million “innovation” grant.
The current consent, also granted by MoBIE, covers some 22 to 36 kilometres off the coast of Patea, in the Exclusive Economic Zone. It is the first stage of a much larger operation being planned by Trans Tasman Resources which is seeking to mine an additional 66 kilometres in the area. The larger application is currently going through a marine consent process being handled by a Board of Inquiry appointed by the EPA. The public notice of the application had to be re-issued because the original notice – surprise surprise – did not have all the required documentation. This delay has squeezed all the timelines for consideration of the application but – suprise surprise – Trans Tasman Resources’ timetable for commencing the raising of capital is still set for June 2014.
While it touts itself as a “New Zealand Company”, Trans Tasman Resources’ Board of Directors is the usual gaggle of international industrial henchmen one might expect, but there is a New Zealander there: none other than former National Ltd™ Prime Minister Jenny Shipley.
The New Zealand companies office record of shareholders shows that 58 percent of Trans Tasman Resources is owned by two Dutch investment companies. The largest New Zealand shareholders appear to be Benjamin Clarke Langdon and Gregor John Barclay who, between them, hold 4.88% – but not in their own names. Their Trans Tasman Resources shares are held by Minvest Securities (New Zealand) Limited which, in turn, is owned by Claymore Trustees Ltd which, in turn, is owned by Sheet Investments Ltd in which Langdon and Barclay hold 50% each. Seems legit . . . doesn’t it? Fuck knows what corporate veils have been pulled over the other Trans Tasman Resources’ shareholding entities in order to protect investors for any form or any accountability should it be required.
Jenny Shipley
You can read a lot into her dealings since 2005.
From wiki
“In 2007, Shipley joined the financial services firm Source Sentinel.
Shipley also has business interests in China and is currently on the board of the China Construction Bank.
According to Companies Office records, Jack Chen, Jenny Shipley and another investor founded a business together in 2004 called New Zealand Pure & Natural. Mr Chen quit as a director a year later but only quit his shareholding in 2010. Mr Chen was instrumental in promoting the ‘Chinese Business Roundtable Council’ in NZ, and set up a new political party in NZ, before being forced to resign due to fraud and corruption charges being laid in Hong Kong.
In 2010 the China Construction Bank agreed to help finance a proposal by May Wang [also known as Hao May] and Jack Chen [also known as Chen Keen] to invest in the New Zealand dairy industry by taking over the Crafar Farms.
Since 2009, Shipley has chaired the Genesis Energy Limited board.
In December 2012 Shipley resigned from the board of directors of Mainzeal Property & Construction which later went into receivership on 6 February 2013. At mid-day on 5 February 2013 she was one of four independent directors who resigned from the board of Mainzeal Group Limited. Both Mainzeal Property & Construction (MPCL), and Mainzeal Group Limited are part of the Richina group, controlled and majority owned by Yan Ci Lang (Richard Yan). “
In effect, the EPA rules governing the application for the mining consent prevent adequate input and usurp democracy…
Which, of course, is what the function of the EPA always was. Its name is the exact opposite of its purpose and that purpose is to fast track business.
While it touts itself as a “New Zealand Company”, Trans Tasman Resources’ Board of Directors is the usual gaggle of international industrial henchmen one might expect, but there is a New Zealander there: none other than former National Ltd™ Prime Minister Jenny Shipley.
Cronyism runs deep in National.
Their Trans Tasman Resources shares are held by Minvest Securities (New Zealand) Limited which, in turn, is owned by Claymore Trustees Ltd which, in turn, is owned by Sheet Investments Ltd in which Langdon and Barclay hold 50% each. Seems legit . . . doesn’t it?
It’s probably many things. First it would hide and protect the owners and, most likely, it’s also a tax dodge.
What mechanism are you suggesting is employed as a “tax dodge”.
Just a hunch. We keep hearing about these people who have lots of nested companies which seem to pay very little tax. And I’m sure you’ve heard of the Loss Attributing Qualifying Company – A company specifically set up to run at a loss that can be written off against other income.
What is not sensible about that?
Sounds good but they don’t seem to be protecting the environment.
MBIE’s New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals have just given Trans Tasman Resources a twenty year permit to extract ironsand off the coast of Patea. This is before the EPA hearings have even concluded, which just goes to show how much they don’t care about the consultation process. That’s how assured of a pro-industry decision from the EPA they are as well. New Zealands EPA is pretty much copied from the United States’ EPA, which is well known for making many decisions which have had a negative impact on the environment and people’s health.
Is there any way that long-term and irreversible damage to the seabed, and the consequences of turbidity pollution from ironsand dredging can be made as visible to the NZ public as say the breach of a toxic tailings dam or marine oil spill?
Am I wrong to have a gut feeling that this is sanctioning of environmental vandalism?
I think you’re right. Kiwis Against Seabed Mining has some good resources on their webpages. It’s a high volume, low value operation that shifts a lot of sand, but where it can’t be seen. There are studies showing that dunes, beaches, waves, and river mouths near the mining areas can be drastically changed. None of this seems to matter to NAct at all, as long as someone makes a buck.
While all facts are facts, it is sometimes useful to know exactly what they are. It can be easier to build a local movement to protect a beach if you can point to something slightly more detailed than “organised death and destruction”. When I learned how to give lectures and seminars, I was advised to spend the first five or ten minutes telling the audience stuff they were familiar with. The conclusion comes at the end.
You know what really boggles my mind?
“What’s that?”
Well I’ll tell you.
The amount of posters at places like Kiwiblog who call The Greens “Luddites” for being anti deep-sea drilling and the like. It boggles the mind because developing new technologies for energy is the complete opposite of being a Luddite whereas the continued embrace of old world technology is pure Ludditism.
Er, actually I think the point is that while the Greens may be in favour of new forms of energy, they are also very much in favour of reducing energy consumption as a whole, which can be classed as ludditism.
A safe renewable low cost energy source will see energy use skyrocket Lanthanide, that is the end goal of any alternative to fossil fuels and their derivations.
Just another indication of the different planet on which National operates. This from the DomPost today:
“Post-Budget speech requires big budget
It might be called the Budget, but there is nothing budget about the price of tickets to Prime Minister John Key’s May 16 post-Budget speech at Auckland’s SkyCity Convention Centre.
A seat at the event, organised by the Trans-Tasman Business Circle together with AUT University, QBE Insurance and Westpac, will require a looser fiscal policy than Finance Minister Bill English is planning.
They cost a taxing $375+GST for members, and $550+GST for non-members.”
When I saw that today I looked for information of a dollar destination nature, but found nothing.
Does any one know where the ticket returns, actually go ?
It’s not like the PM gets an appearance fee or anything.
It’s unlikely SkyCity would be charging much for the room.
In this day and age, does any one know why these post-budget speeches are not broadcast to a national audience?
Very good questions. SkyCity for a post-budget speech at a fairly high cost? More of the infiltration of business, especially big money, into government.
That is fucking bullshit – Michael Cullen always gave post budget speeches to a business audience in each of the main centres, and sometimes in Sydney or Melbourne – do you think they were free?
yes shitlands, they were either free or had only some minimal charge, after all Finance Ministers/DPMs already get very well paid to explain their Budgets to the public.
As for getting a grip, you need to stop gripping yours.
As you obviously have no answers to some very simple and fair questions, you choose to throw around irrelevancies. Is that all you have for your contributions?
Karol’s comment is clearly not making mention of any party, neither is mine. Both are general observations of the reality at hand. Some people are actually capable of isolating their political allegiances from their due consideration of the long term situation and how it relates to the ever changing society we inhabit.
I accept that you struggle with that concept.
And if you read what I wrote srylands, there is no judgement made or opinion given other than an interest in where a sizeable bundle of topical cash ends up, and maybe it is time speeches like this were streamed to the people who pay the PM’s salary. In a post budget environment, especially in an election year, many people would like to see what the Prime Minister says if his performance is worth 500 bucks a ticket.
$375 for an event like this is bog standard. You pay $500 to send one of your staff to any kind of half-day professional seminar. A two day conference at sky city (or any conference centre in wellington or auckland is typically $3,000 + GST.
Why do you think the price is high? If there is any profit it will simply cross subsidise the other TTBC events.
To paraphrase Helen Clark – I am amazed that you are amazed.
$500 for any kind of half day professional seminar?
Not for lots of stuff in the health sector.
Not for lots of stuff in IT.
Not for lots of foreign policy/IR stuff.
Have heard some really good stories about NetHui sessions. Can you imagine srylands trying to wrap his head around the dialogues on collaborative thinking that are generated at NetHui ?
even this single line from their promotional material is probably enough to fry his cerebellum
” It’s a collaborative, multistakeholder gathering where we all set the agenda.”
$500 clams for a seat at a government speech? Sounds like normal business to me…but then I heard from right wing peeps that govts shouldn’t be in the business of doing business.
Yet this govt seems to do a lot of “business”, especially behind closed doors.
Blogger and political consultant ‘Bomber’ Bradbury denies exclusion of pro-marijuana party from poll was his call.
A blogger and political consultant to Mana and the Internet Party has warned he will not support closer ties with the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party.
This comes after ALCP leaders questioned Martyn “Bomber” Bradbury’s editing of The Daily Blog platform, and his links to the legal highs organisation the Star Trust.
Campaigners for legalisation of natural marijuana believe they have been getting a bad deal.
Bradbury is a longtime supporter of real cannabis, but lately has written several posts sympathetic to the synthetic highs industry.
Other liberal campaigners and blogs such as Public Address have supported a legal foundation for the legal highs industry, and lamented the decision to amend the Psychoactive Substances Act that will force 41 legal high products off the market, pending safety tests. But Bradbury is different because as well as having a high media profile, where he promotes himself as champion of the common man, other media have revealed he is also a political consultant to both the Mana Party and the Internet Party.
The danger is the commercial roles might become enmeshed.
Dak v dak
ALCP deputy leader Abe Gray – a botany lecturer at Otago University – says Bradbury has cut comment in The Daily Blog and excluded the party from a poll on the site.
Bradbury acknowledges bad vibes between himself and the ALCP, but says its exclusion from the Daily Blog poll was not decided by him.
Friction with the left wing blogger appears to reflect a rift between the natural cannabis people and the well-resourced legal highs industry.
………………………..
‘Dirty, filthy’
Star Trust director Grant Hall confirms Bradbury’s comment that he does not have a commercial relationship with the trust. “The reason you may have heard this rumour is because he interviewed some of the guest speakers [at a Star Trust conference in March], researched the questions for the political debate and hosted the political panel on the day.
“Beyond that he has no role with the trust and does no work for us currently.”
Bradbury was unhappy when asked about his ties to the legal highs industry, and sent a terse letter to ALCP leader Julian Crawford for talking to the Herald.
He said: “I worked for the Star Trust as the convener of their recent conference, my association with them has nothing whatsoever to do with your none [sic] inclusion in the poll. We only have parties on that poll with a chance of entering Parliament. The ALCP has no chance of entering Parliament.
“This type of deceitful smearing has helped make up my mind in terms of any advice to the IP and Mana in terms of broadening their alliance to include ALCP,” he said. Bradbury criticised Crawford for “dirty, filthy tactics”.
……………………
Wonder how much ‘Star Trust’ paid Martyn Bradbury to ‘convene’ their recent conference?
Did Martyn Bradbury ever do any (paid) work for Star Trust?
I’d ask Bradbury directly these questions on HIS ‘Daily Blog’ – but he blocked me – when I refused to back down as an Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Beware folks!
Follow the dollar…..?
In my considered opinion there are a lot of PHONIES out there …..
Paula Bennett says the problems faced by Writehanded.org blogger Sarah Wilson are an “isolated incident” and there is no need to change the policies or procedures at Work and Income (WINZ).
She goes on to suggest that Sarah Wilson has a “distorted perception of reality” ie Sarah Wilson and others who complain have a mental illness that makes her delusional due to the stress of her situation. (FYI minister assuming someone has a disability is a little known form of discrimination but it still fits the criteria of human rights abuse – check the handy HRC website).
“We work with some people that are at the most challenging and distressing times in their lives and their perception of how they’re dealt with can sometimes be not perhaps the reality if they were in a different frame of mind.”
With 295,000 people on welfare, she had much more to think about than Wilson, she said, and she saw no need to make changes as a result of what Wilson had said. ”
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An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
This article shows up a few interesting and pertinent points.
NZ is sadly pimping for Obama’s TPP.
What was promised at Hawaiian golf game?
Funny John Campbell wasn’t taken to the holiday house Key actually goes to each summer.
So this is what happens to Reserve Bank Governors? They work for the globalist agenda.
The TPP, despite the upbeat headline, isn’t going to happen.
Japan and Australia are ensuring this is not occurring, while we play lapdog to US corporate interests.
“A sticking point has been Japanese reluctance to open market access in the “sacred” agricultural sectors — rice, wheat, beef, pork, sugar and dairy products. The recent visit to Japan by US President Barack Obama failed to deliver a major breakthrough on that front..”
“It is possible a Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal will be thrashed out by the end of the month, says Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) executive director Alan Bollard.” The key word here is possible. Not probable or likely.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11248586
Just as a sidebar, it depresses me to see what neo-liberal zealots we have become in the world.
how can we not be seen as ‘the bad guys’..?
..given as we help america spy on the rest of the world..
..and are eager spear-carriers/suppliers of mercenaries.. for their forays into third world countries..
..their extended program of ‘regime-change’…
..of course we will eagerly offer to sell out all our interests/sovereignty to the americans..
..our political leaders are whores…
..(and it may be timely to repeat the warnings of/from former tory prime minister of australia..malcom fraser..
..who has urged his country to break all those implicating-ties with america..)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38031.htm
Paul, can you quote the part that shows we’re pimping for the US TPP?
“A sticking point…” Not the only sticking point.
The docs available at Wikileaks tell a different story. Unless I’m missing something.
the fact that we are among the group for an ‘ambitious, high quality agreement.’ In other words a totally open global market for corporate predators to maximise their profits in.
“Bollard said another question was whether, if the TPP negotiations arrived at a “mediocre” outcome, New Zealand and some other TPP partners keen on an ambitious, high quality agreement would sign up to it anyway. “I wouldn’t know.”
Well I suppose it depends what the manifestations of ambition and high quality are, but the fact is (cf: Wikileaks) NZ’s negotiating stance has not been aligned with that of the US. Far from it.
Flatly opposed would be a better description.
In which case why does Obama delegate leadership of the TPP to Key when he couldn’t make it?
Because neither of them are on their respective negotiating teams? Our negotiating team was established and briefed by the fifth Labour cabinet, by the way.
Not a party political point on my behalf.
Merely think that signing the TPP would impact badly in the country’s sovereignty as NAFTA did to Mexico, Canada and the US.
Depends what the final version looks like. I don’t see any value in going all Chicken Little over something we haven’t seen.
Yes and the whole deal will not be see till it’s signed.
So, no thanks. I prefer not to sign deals over which I have no oversight. Surely this allies to country’s citizens as well.
Or do you implicitly trust that our leaders have ordinary NZ citizens best interests at the top of their list?
The events of the 1984 – 1993 would suggest we would be wise not to trust that.
Um, the whole deal will not be seen until Parliament is required to ratify it.
That’s a consequence of the fact that it’s negotiated behind closed doors. Many people who don’t like that seem oblivious to the reason for it, namely that if we debate it in the open all the other parties will know what our bottom lines are, giving them an advantage over us.
As for free trade deals, Closer Economic Relations with Australia seems to be a good one. They say NAFTA is bad for Mexico, but they also say it’s good for Canada, and I think Mexico’s economy might be suffering more because of the, y’know, death squads than the free trade deals. I understand our FTA with China is helping cushion us from the GFC.
Nonetheless, I will be implacably opposed to any agreement that weakens Pharmac and I’ll be looking very cynically at anything that impacts internet freedom, such as it is.
The TPPA was on my list of things to do until Wikileaks proved that our negotiating team are trustworthy.
I think in matters involving other countries and matters that have of such long term consequences to people of the the country and agreements that cannot be easily stopped at will, a simple majority in parliament should not be enough. There should be at least a 67% (2/3) approval of MPs, in my opinion.
That sort of % should also apply for constitutional and other very important issues such as change of flag, legalising of cannabis,
becoming a republic etc for example.
Please remind me – which Minister is the NZ negotiating team directed by? What has led you to place so much of your trust in this National Government Minister?
are you seriously advocating a ‘let’s wait to see what it contains’..?
..given this tory govt wd ram it thru under urgency faster that you can say ‘ye sir!’..?
..are you serious..?
oh..!..hang on..!..that’s the labour policy..eh..?
..to wait and see..
..so i guess you must be following that line..?
Nope. Not following anyone’s “line” – I just thought about it for a while. I’ve outlayed some of my reasoning above.
i read yr ‘reasons’..
..gonna save yr/any regrets for post-deal..eh..?
No, for pre-ratification. Is that even a word?
If parliament were significantly split over it I can’t see it surviving an election.
Both Labour and National MPs will vote for it.
In your response to your comment saying NAFTA has benefited Canada.
“Canada has become a noticeably more unequal society in the free trade era. Real incomes declined for the large majority of Canadians in the 1990s; they increased only for the top fifth. Employment became more insecure and the social safety net frayed.
While productivity has grown—rapidly in some sectors—wages have not, a trend mirroring the de-linking that has taken place in the U.S. But the overall productivity gap with the U.S. has not narrowed as free trade proponents predicted; rather, it has widened recently.
Successive waves of corporate restructuring—bankruptcies, mergers, takeovers, and downsizing—have been accompanied by public sector restructuring—downsizing, deregulation, privatization, and offloading of state responsibilities. Public sector spending and employment have declined sharply, and publicly owned enterprises in strategic sectors such as energy and transportation have been transferred en masse to the private sector.”
“NAFTA has also been used to weaken Canada’s sovereignty and promote its economic assimilation by the United States. It has led to greater pressure on Canada and Mexico to conform to U.S. foreign policy objectives.”
“The experience of Canadian farmers clearly demonstrates that more trade does not necessarily translate into more prosperity. The National Farmers Union points out that, since 1988, agricultural exports have almost tripled, but net farm income (adjusted for inflation) has fallen by 24%. ”
http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/NAFTA@7/ca.html
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National_Office_Pubs/lessons_from_nafta.pdf
Sounds horribly familiar, doesn’t it?
NAFTA has benefited the Canadian elite. FIFY
+1
‘flatly opposed’..?
..in words/posturing only..
..but ready and willing to bend like a reed in the wind..
..and to sell us all down the river..
Well that’s the fear, isn’t it. Just that when we got a look at the secret papers they showed that our team is on our side.
bullshit..!..oan..
words/postures are cheap/easy to strike..
..when push comes to shove..
..they’ll fold like an origami-class..
(can i ask..are you involved in the labour party..?..
..you are so pushing the official party line..
..it begs the question..)
I already answered that – I’m telling you what I think, Phil. This notion of yours that they’ll fold…what’s stopping them already?
It’s right there in plain(ish) English at Wikileaks – the USA vs. everybody else at the table including NZ.
The people who have serious skin in this game are importers and exporters. If anyone loses big it will be them. Farmers, for example.
The National Party’s support base, in other words.
Let’s look at this another way. If trade terms with the USA are shit then I can go hawk my wares in China instead. There’s absolutely no purpose in anyone selling anyone else out: it’s Underpants Gnomes stuff
Sell out.
???
Profit!
Perhaps you think the officials involved will all take a nice fat bribe? Shares in Oravida?
no..it’s ideological..
..that neolib/rand-ite free-trade bullshit…
..that they believe in so fervently..key..and all of them..
..rewarding those who ‘deserve’ it..ie..rich/corporates..
..those who have ‘skin in the game’…
..national barriers/priorities don’t matter to these pricks..
..just rewarding the ‘deserving’..and punishing/taking away from the ‘undeserving/the parasites’..
..just business as usual for these pricks..
..but anyway..
..the upcoming environmental/climate-change shitstorm will flush all of that away..
..and tho i cd say if u don’t want a tpp..vote this govt out..
..but the official labour line is pretty much in sync with what you argue..eh..?
..so little/not much hope to be had from that quarter..?
..and i am/yr answer was unclear…did you confirm that you are not part of the labour party..?
I’m not a member of any party. My views align mostly with Labour. And Mana. And The Greens. Depends which policy.
And Phil, yes as I said I share your concerns and yet the secret documents tend to allay rather than support them.
It comes down to one simple fact that nobody seems to understand – we don’t need the agreement. We don’t even need the FTAs and WTO that we’re presently signed up with. Not for trade.
Of course, as has been said time and time again – this really isn’t a FTA, it’s a free capitalism agreement. More about the easy movement of money across borders, the easy purchasing of land by anybody and the implementation of IP laws that will restrict innovation and prevent competition.
So, the fact that the IP proposals, like most of the other clauses, have two or more separate versions that differ markedly on the details is irrelevant?
Do you think Helen Clark sent our negotiating team in there with no bottom lines? Or do you think National have shifted our bottom lines?
Do you think that the CER with Australia is a bad idea too?
Genuine questions.
CER was a free trade agreement. The TPPA is not. It is a US corporate rights agreement.
The TPPA isn’t a single coherent document yet so pronouncements about what it is or isn’t are premature.
So you think that the TPPA is primarily a free trade agreement in the same vein as CER, then? I use that example because you brought it up.
I presume you are soft-backing the TPPA because you think that Labour will eventually vote for it.
No, I’m not planning for some future scenario. I just think expecting our negotiators to betray us is the sort of behaviour that deserves betrayal, and I still want to read the eventual agreement they present to us to sign up to before I make my mind up about it.
And that’s the point. 600 corporates have had more oversight of the proposals than our elected representatives. The US government is controlled by corporate lobbyists ( sadly this pattern is beginning to emerge here…Collins, Williamson, Key)
The TPP not democratic and I can’t believe any progressive party would ever support it. If Labour support it, then they are still follow the neoliberal cult of unrestrained capitalism.
Clearly people should vote Mana or Green to ensure this does not happen.
I believe that IP law needs significant overhaul and shouldn’t be entrenched before that overhaul happens and the TPPA will entrench them.
I’d say that National have changed the bottom lines – that’s generally what happens when a government is changed. That said, I don’t think that Labour should have started the negotiations either.
Yes. All we need to do is to set up our own rules of trade and make sure that they are about trade. This free movement of money that we’ve got is destroying us but doing wonders for the already rich.
Gonna digest that for a while 🙂
There’s a real manipulation of the Bollard quote by the NZ Herald article.
Headline:
Highlighted quote in big print in the middle of the article:
Full quote, including an omitted part, in the article is much more ambivalent:
Yes the Herald has turned the whole story round with the heading.
About 4 key factors mentioned in the detail of the story that will prevent it…US congress, China, Australia, Japan
Good to see the Japanese actually care about their citizens to protect key industries, so much so they see them as ‘sacred.’
Pity we don’t share the same attitude.
Dreadful newspaper.
You missed another factor: NZ’s opposition to among other things, US demands around patents and copyright.
Oh, and I don’t know about protecting industries – isn’t that the problem with Oravida – but we’re not offering to dismantle Pharmac any time soon.
Ask Mexico’s farmers about ‘free trade’ agreements.
… or the Mexican government about their dealings with Metalclad.
Yeah, and for god’s sake don’t mention the cartels. People get murdered for less.
One of the reason that organised crime has taken such massive hold in some areas of Mexico is the unemployment and economic destruction of many farming and provincial areas resulting from NAFTA. Tens or hundreds of thousands of small and medium scale family type farms closed down or were bankrupted as subsidised big corporate US agricultural products flooded into Mexico.
It meant that there was a major vacuum which criminal organisations moved in and filled. Economic abandonment made it hard to resource law enforcement properly and made it easy for corruption of public servants and officials to take hold.
But you would have to know some historical context to understand that, which is not necessary if all you want to do is flip a quick, meaningless quip.
I’ll save the next quick quip for when I have a better understanding of the context, CV, but from your description it looks like the Mexicans got shafted.
As for the TPPA, if we ever see a document put up for ratification, I’ll be surprised and on the look-out for fishhooks. Although I am looking forward to DtB’s response too.
Well, the parts of it which need legislative chances will be put up under urgency as a fait accompli with no negotiable clauses, and the rest of it which doesn’t need to go through parliament (eg just requires regulatory changes) will have already been signed up to and be a done deal.
No, that’s not the problem with Oravida. The problem there is that Collins used her government position to improve her own family’s financial position.
Just my little joke: the party of the free market selling favours to individual companies.
the organisers of some british music festivals have banded together to warn young people about the dangers of legal-highs…
“..Experts from the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths said that in 2012 there were 68 deaths relating to legal highs..”
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/may/02/music-festivals-website-blackout-highlight-risks-legal-high-drugs
..end the danse macabre…just decriminalise/regulate/tax the safest intoxicant of all..eh..?
..(and the misleading/lies about pot continue unabated..even a supposed ‘serious’ website like slate has published bullshit claiming you have ‘to smoke at least 15 grams’ to die from a cannabis overdose..(!?)
..bloody hell..!..that’s only a half an oz…!
..and were that true..myself (and many others) should be dead many times over..
..to become the first ever to die from smoking cannabis..
..and guess which corporate/access-media outlet has jumped to reprint this tripe..?
..yep..!..long that bastion of clear/accurate information on the cannabis-issue..
..the nz herald..
(no real surprises there..eh..?..)
It’s clearly destroyed the syntax, grammar, and linguistic structural parts of your brain forever.
nah..!..university did that..
..cured me of my slavery to your model of ‘syntax, grammar, and linguistic structural’ etc..etc..
..universities will do that..
..not ‘destroyed’ there..ad..just different..
..eh..?
..(and..hic..!..what’s yr poison..?..
..i’ll betcha my drug causes less brain-damage than yr drug..eh..?..)
..and after decades of smoking more than you can poke a stick at..
..i went to university..and got a masters degree..with hons..
..now..had i spent decades drinking more booze than you can poke a stick at..
..i’d be kinda drooling about now..
..so..y’know..!
..yr talking absolute shite..eh..?
That’s just the drugs talking.
what’s yr favourite drug..there..ad..?
..is it a ‘legal-high’..?
..old skool..?..or nu skool..?
The problem with using different language to everyone else, as has been pointed out to you, is that no one else understands you.
no..i am actually using the same language..
..and if the absence of capital letters/commas/paragraphs renders english into a foreign language for you..
.you clearly have some comprehension-issues going on..
..did you understand that..?
Capitals, commas and paragraphs are part of the language. By leaving them out you change the language.
Agreed.
no they aren’t..they are punctuation/formatting..
..they change the language not a jot..
..you had may as well say a hubcap is a car..
Masters degree, with honours? Yawn. Who hasn’t?
[Big Bang Theory – one of the best lines]
Joyce?
[Monty Python – One of the best spinners]
“..Conservatives – Evil – and Psychopathy: Science Makes the Link!
You knew it was true.
Now research proves it!..”
http://www.alternet.org/conservatives-evil-and-psychopathy-science-makes-link
Unpublished conference papers are many things, and “proof” isn’t one of them.
We don’t need science to tell us that right wing authoritarian and social dominance philosophies are evil though.
slightly ‘bendy’ of you there..
..you sneer at ‘the paper’ as being the only evidence produced..which it is not..
..and as for the findings of that ‘paper’..
..what do you disagree with here..?
“..“The core ideology of conservatism stresses resistance to change – and justification of inequality
and is motivated by needs that vary situationally and dispositionally to manage uncertainty and threat” –
Jost and his co-authors wrote in the abstract.
These are not merely American phenomena, –
-nor is there any reason to think they’re particularly modern. .”
..what is there to sneer at in that..?
..what is the reason/logic behind yr plaint..?
Not sneering. I read the article. The answers to your questions are in my comment at 3.1
Want to know what a major Wellington employer has done to a friend of mine?
This is second hand, so some minor details may be incorrect, but…
They are highly qualified, including having a relevant PhD in their area and has good performance reviews for seven years, but the employer has decided that casualising the workforce suits them in retaining “flexibility”. Consequently, this friend has had to reapply for their job every four months, sometimes not knowing if they have any until three days before work starts.
Several years ago they suffered bullying at another workplace which the employer realised was indefensible and decided not to contest, instead giving a large out-of court settlement on condition of anonymity.
Naturally this person has been diagnosed with stress-induced anxiety and is prone to triggering.
Early this year, they noticed tremors. Then they had a severe episode of illness, taking two days off work for the first time in seven years.
Then a few personal tragedies occurred – a sibling’s cancer returned and a close friend died suddenly. Then they were hit by a car while on a pedestrian crossing and concussed. The employer was informed of this, the anxiety and the triggering.
The employer decided that this was an excellent time for a performance review and so surveyed this person while they were still impaired by the effects of their concussion.
They also demanded meetings for Mondays on Friday afternoons, refusing to reveal the agenda, allowing my friend to stew over the weekend.
Eventually my friend’s Union extracted partial information, but the employer refused to reveal any true detail of some supposed “complaints” or the alleged complainants.
Not long after, my friend’s tremors became convulsions and they were hospitalised and spent a week being treated under sedation. They were warned that the convulsions could have become seizures in which they might have suffered harm or even death.
After leaving hospital and facing months of medication still to come, the employer informed them that they needn’t apply for any more work.
Also, they’re not the only one to have a generally similar experience with this employer.
This is a profession is stereotyped as one of the most progressive. It isn’t.
THAT is what it means to be in the precariat.
What profession?
Computer programming I’d guess, the industry is sadly rife with dudebro’s, libertarians of the non-civil type and other such fun that causes issues if you have disabilities, are female or anything else the founder/owner/etc can’t understand or doesn’t like.
Not IT.
I’m being deliberately obscure bearing in mind lprent’s care about attracting the beady eyes of lawyers.
In any case, the exact profession or workplace is less important than the effects and abuse of casualisation. My friend’s exact experience may be unique, but the general quality of it is not.
That friend sounds like he needs a whole lot of love and care and rest.
🙂 +1
+1
Hi rhinocrates.
I’m sorry to hear about your friend’s experiences and subsequent illness. How are they doing now, and where are they at ?- no need to answer if you don’t want to.
I am hoping that their Union, if taking a personal grievance against the employer will use the Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Act 2002, which requires the employer to take all practicable steps to prevent illness arising from stress and to reduce harm from stressors. This is my botched wording and not the wording from the Act. I’ve done a super quick google and can’t find the appropriate phrasing relevant to your friend’s case, only the epic length Act itself and I don’t have time to do a proper search right now, sorry. I might be able to come back to it later
Also I wonder did the employer offer your friend access to EAP: Employee Assistance Programmes? I’m guessing they didn’t but they should have.. Several large corporate employers do provide this service. There’s a couple of organisations in Wellington providing this service.
This is one of them:
http://www.vitae.co.nz/Vitae-employee-assistance-programme-home/
I once did an essay on the impact of of work on the well being of NZ workers. From my learnings I found that we are not as proactive as other comparable countries in preventing stress related illness. Sadly this seems to reflected in example after example of work stress related illness in real life (including my own when I had a breakdown in 2010 due to my work situation and ended up on meds to cope and help me recover).
All the best for your friend’s recovery. I hope they can find justice – they should never been put at such risk, especially as they had others stressors to cope with in their personal life.
Thank you Rosie, I’ll pass that on.
However, my – and their – point that they want made known is just how bad casualisation has become and how cynically it is abused by employers. It affects older, qualified professionals as much as the 90-day rule affects younger, unqualified people.
My friend suspects that a standard regime change is happening – a new senior person has been appointed and a number of new faces are replacing familiar ones. Apparently it’s a move by him to get his own team, no matter how inexperienced, to take over.
The casualisation of the labour force is poisonous, insidious and being taken up all around the globe.
Just a local example, also Wellington, is of a not for profit organisation who I a short contract with last year. None of the positions are permanent, they are all fixed term. At the end of your term the job is re advertised and you re apply for it. They were also users of the 90 day Act. Quite amazing really, the hypocrisy, given their “social values” mission and presence in the community, and the otherwise good work they do.
As for the company your friend worked for, their short sighted approach may lead to a drop in standards of their service, (what ever their industry is) that they are delivering to their client. The would be manager may find the loss of skilled experienced staff will lead to the loss of quality work and to unhappy clients. I hope she or he see’s the errors in the end, but most likely won’t, those self advancing types usually don’t.
I would hope though, that your friend’s Union would be willing to pursue a personal grievance. Sounds to me like they have good grounds to.
And people wonder why NZ managers are some of the worst in the world.
@ Rhino
This sounds like a rerun of something that happened to a friend of mine in the tertiary education sector about 4 years ago … and in retrospect “it’s a move by him to get his own team, no matter how inexperienced, to take over” is exactly what it was all about – as well as enabling the ‘Joyce-ing’ of the entire sector.
Real partisan control-freak stuff!
Workplace bullying: what it is, how to recognise it, myths, facts, costs, and why me?
http://www.bullyonline.org/
Your friend could wall paper a wall at work with the info on this link. Very empowering and every type of bullying is discussed.
An excellent link. Tim Field (who passed away some years ago) was a real pioneer in this area.
And he was very approachable. I had reason to have an email exchange and he was most helpful. His material is authentic and accurate.
Further evidence how how poor the NZ Herald is at framing a story.
The headline is ‘Cheaper power bills this winter., accompanied by a happy punter smiling by an electrical heater.
Given the breezy and cheerful headline, you might think that this was because the electrical companies haven’t stopped rotting NZers and declared a price freeze. You know something of be for to NZ citizens.
However, the detail in the story tells of something else.
Cheaper prices are down to climate change, not that you’d catch a paper that promotes Chris de Freitas ever using that term.
To quote the Herald rag…
“The cheerful outlook has been put down to sea surface temperatures being warmer for 16 consecutive months.”
Climate change …warming sea temperatures…cheerful
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11248655
Sigh, NZ Herald. Thanks for the banner story of a wealthy family having a squabble, but can we get it decently edited please.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11248684
The editor of the Herald thinks it’s more important than the events in the Ukraine.
Embarrassing.
Apparently dozens of pro-Russian militia and pro-Russian civilians who had taken over a government building in Odessa died due to fire and smoke inhalation when Ukrainian forces attacked the offices.
Odessa is critical to Ukraine now as I understand that it is their last remaining major sea port.
The IMF has told the unelected Ukrainian “government” that their multi-billion dollar bail out deal will be reviewed if they lose control of the eastern side of the country = if you want your money, move your military in, now.
Consultants believe that major military action may cause Russia to cut off some or all oil exports to the EU, leading to a major oil price spike = global recession.
A NATO deputy head is quoted as saying that Russia is no longer acting as a partner of NATO and will have to now be treated more like an adversary.
To me it seems like the oligarchs in the west are deliberately poking away at a hornet’s nest.
Odessa is also quite to the west of Ukraine. Close to Moldovan border.
+1
They want a war to distract from irritating things like this.
cuckoo
If you don’t believe wars are used by governments to distract people from serious domestic issues, you really do need to read up on a bit of history.
Actually, I think that’s El nino. Of course, it’s possible that it’s been exaggerated by Climate Change.
Some people call me Maurice
Love that. Although it will never be the same again…
lolololol
A comment by Sanctuary made over at Dimpost that is very funny and deserves to be repeated.
““…Let me qualify that. It’s an impossible task this time around. Short of a miracle nothing Labour can do can win them this election…”
And yo, the Lord spake. And across kingdom of Maurice of Pakuranga a big, gay rainbow of corruption did shine. Thus the Lord looked at the raiments of corruption and smiled, for they were juicy and entangled the PM. And across the land the left did rejoice, and raise hosannas of praise to lord for his miracle of Maurice, and small things with raffia detail were put to one side, all the better to spread on the blogsphere the miraculous works of the Lord.”
Lets hope that big gay rainbow of nact corruption illiminates the sheeple.
Granny and the rest will continue to spin faster then one of those turbines they flogged to their backers.
Maurice, john, judith, pansy, blinky, richard, dullards like jamie lee and slimy bridges as the next generation.
Focus in execution and keeping it simple should see these puppetts turfed off the teasury benches.
gold!
the nation has done an excellent piece on the need to tackle obesity..
..starting with a tax on sugary-drinks…
..let’s hope this becomes an election-issue here…
..(mana is shown to have the strongest anti-sugar policies..
..national and act oppose them..
..labour is sitting on the fence..)
and phillip mills is hanging this govt out to dry..
..over their climate-change denial/inaction..
(sigh..!..but he is a dairy-pimp..)
..and lisa owen gets political-question of the week..
..when she asks mills just how green/different from national..
..labour are..
..(given labour are for drilling/mining/fracking..etc..etc..)
one quarter of all nzers will have diabetes in 15 yrs..
..(with the rise in just the last ten yrs kinda mindboggling..)
..(with the rates much higher amongst maori/p.i…)
..and of course..one of the first things nact/dunne/maori party did when coming to power..
..was to open the floodgates for junk/unhealthy-food/sugar-laden drinks to be sold from school tuckshops..
..something to do with ‘freedom/individual choice’..as i seem to remember them arguing it..
..at the time..
(and i should repeat..this is an excellent piece of journalism from the nation..
..no ‘face’ fronting it..just a tight voiced-over mini-doco..laying out all the facts..
..they should enter it in the annual media awards..it is that good..)
Joyce blocks answers on corporate welfare
Matthew Hooton | WEEKEND REVIEW
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/joyce-blocks-answers-corporate-welfare-bd-155317
“…The questions caused extraordinary contretemps within the department. To their shame, no one – Labour, the Greens or the media – had ever asked such questions before. The poor officials had to start from scratch. …”
Some of us have asked questions about ‘corporate welfare’ before – missed this Mathew?
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1111/S00095/wheres-nationals-corporate-welfare-reform.htm
‘Where’s National’s ‘corporate welfare’ reform?
Thursday, 3 November 2011, 5:28 pm
Press Release: Penny Bright
PRESS RELEASE: Independent Candidate for Epsom Penny Bright:
“How many billion$ of public monies could be saved by ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’?
3 November 2011
Where’s National’s ‘corporate welfare’ reform?
Which of the maor political parties are pushing for ‘corporate welfare’ reform and shrinking the long-term dependency of the private sector on our public monies?
Where is the ‘devilish detail’ at both local and central government level – which shows EXACTLY where our public rates and taxes are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors?
Why aren’t the names of the consultant(s)/ contrators(s) – the scope, term and value of these contracts, published in Council or central government Annual Reports – so this information on the spending of OUR public monies is available for public scrutiny?
Where are the publicly-available ‘Registers of Interests’ for those local government elected representatives, and staff responsible for property and procurement, in order to help guard against possible ‘conflicts of interest’ between those who ‘give’ the contracts and those who ‘get’ the contracts?
Where’s the ‘transparency’?
……”
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
Penny – markets will determine whether consultants give value for money. Also it is a bit rich you complaining about value from rates.
Why is that?
I am a CITIZEN not a SLAVE.
When Auckland Council is not upholding the LAW (Public Records Act 2005 and Local Government Act 2002) and telling residents and ratepayer exactly where our public monies are being spent on consultants and private contractors, and when statutory ‘third party Public Watchdogs’ are NOT doing their jobs and holding them to account – what is a CITIZEN to do?
Meekly tug one’s forelock and become a mindless, compliant ‘ca$h cow’ ?
Sorry – WRONG woman.
I’m making a stand which is upholding YOUR lawful rights to ‘open, transparent and democratically-accountable’ local government.
One day – you’ll get it.
Hopefully sooner rather than later?
Actually rates revolts are not unheard of in the Auckland region.
Have some of you had an effective frontal lobotomy and forgotten the 2003 rates revolt against the ARC, which thousands of Aucklanders joined?
Maybe these ‘brain fades’ which are currently very fashionable at the highest levels of government are contagious?
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
Yeah well maybe you have made your point, and it is time to fold. Just saying. But it is your call.
Penny, on Planet SSLands, everyone is a slave to the markets!
Ignore him and keep up the good work 🙂
It really is so sad that you still believe this delusion.
This market cult you belong to fascinates me, SSLands. Has it ever made a mistake?
What you remind me of more than anything is a young member of a Moscow aligned Communist Party, many years ago. A member of a more Beijing aligned Communist Party asked him what were the procedures if the leaders headed off down the wrong path and made some revisionist deviation or other. He was unable to accept that this could actually ever happen.
I much preferred him to you. Subjectively at least, he stood against privilege, poverty, corruption, and racism. He was human.
A human with independent thought; not a careerist cult member.
Yes srylands belongs to a ciult alright and unlike those utopian ones ..it appears not to care not one jot about anyone else but the individual.
Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ offers a grim vision when put along the ideas of Rosa Luxembourg.
Debt: The first 5000 years by David Graeber
So, yeah, it is a utopian view just one that’s rather nasty and removes all human contact.
Draco, you’re as bad as the free marketeers in ignoring Smiths other famous book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) in which the philosopher explicitly sets out the individual’s responsibilities to their community.
The problem with that critique is that modern society isn’t based around Smith’s previous work. In fact, we seem to have a tendency to ignore philosophers unless they allow the sociopaths to accumulate wealth and to rule.
And yes, I’m also quite aware that srylands and redbaiter would be calling Smith a dirty stinking commy for his attitude towards the poor despite the fact that their attitude is based upon his work.
Curiously enough, only those economic and philosophical ideas which are helpful to the goals of the 0.1% power elite get any airtime and sponsorship.
One question….Why has Matthew Hooton attacked Steven Joyce?
Is Matthew in the Judith Collins faction?
Matthew speaks on behalf of whomever pays for his services.
Is that why he has been so silent on the Williamson story?
“Liu hired consultancy group Exceltium, run by political consultant Matthew Hooton, to lobby the Government over the business immigration rules.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11224055
I think that is really cynical. He always strikes me as balanced, fair commentator. The media could do with more like him.
“.. He always strikes me as balanced, fair commentator..”
go on..!..yr having a laff..!..eh..?
..you joker..!
“.. He always strikes me as balanced, fair commentator..”
Bahahaha PMSL you’re so funny
Well I guess the person who wrote this must be reeeaaalllly cynical:
No fair Felix, bringing facts into it. Now S Rylands will have to go and read The Fountainhead again.
Says a lot.
Somebody is getting the pink slips ready for the National party at this very moment.
If the RW trials are going to be so prevalent with their predictably self-centred, self-advancing views then time can be better spent on reading people who do attempt thought rather than different way of parrotting I’m OK – You’re Not OK and you and your opinion and your needs and wants are of no importance.
Joe 90 and others are great at giving links.
This is one that was supplied here. Chris Trotter on David Parker’s newly announced economic ideas. These will be game changers for us having untold advantages as Chris puts it. http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/
Bryan Gould on our economy and Reserve Bank.
Bryan Gould: Reserve Bank fiddling as exchange rate burns exporters
9:30 AM Friday Apr 4, 2014
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bryan-gould/news/article.cfm?a_id=804&objectid=11231702
And Brian Easton on Distribution and poor people struggling and sliding down the plughole,
and on data stats in Been Counter. Seeing that many journalists don’t understand the figures they very artfully quote, perhaps the rest of us who haven’t studied stats etc. should bring our knowledge up to speed to bridge the ignorance gap.
http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/2014/03/been-counters/
thanks greyw
Thank you Tracey your regular comments are informative.
I think that Bryan Gould makes some important points about the difficulties our exporters have and these should be repeated here.
Exporting successfully is an expensive business. Unless margins are good enough to make possible the spending needed to cover all the additional costs, such as freight and commissions, to develop the overseas market through promotion and after-sales service, and to provide the re-investment needed for product development so as to keep pace with foreign competition, it is not worth the effort.
No wonder so many of our potential exporters don’t try or give up quickly.
Even our most successful exporters pay a price for the dollar’s overvaluation – ask our dairy farmers. Export profits are lower than they would be if the dollar was at a more competitive level. Even our best firms – let alone those who are struggling at the margin – are therefore less able in the long run to keep pace with foreign competitors who don’t have to face the same currency headwind.
Quoting Bryan Gould:
Glad to see that getting an airing in the MSM.
And from Brian Easton:
Yep, three decades of neo-liberalism has left us worse off.
It’s not all bad news. After all if you are in the top 5% to 10% you are noticeably better off, and if you are in the elite top 0.1%, you are winning the world with tens of millions of gains. The peasants, well, they can eat cake and buy their PS3s on hire purchase.
Looks like Judith Collins is cruising for a political BRUISING when Parliament sits again Tuesday 6 May 2014?
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1405/S00039/emerging-evidence-has-justice-minister-in-deeper-mire.htm
Emerging Evidence Has Justice Minister in Deeper Mire
Friday, 2 May 2014, 5:05 pm
Press Release: New Zealand First Party
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1405/S00034/judith-collins-briefing-request-the-final-straw.htm
Judith Collins briefing request the final straw
Friday, 2 May 2014, 3:12 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1405/S00012/serious-questions-over-money-and-influence-in-national.htm
Serious questions over money and influence in National
Thursday, 1 May 2014, 2:12 pm
Press Release: Green Party
In my considered opinion, as an ‘Anti-corruption Public Watchdog’ – Minister of Justice Judith Collins is CORRUPT – has misled both the House and the NZ public over her role in promoting the interests of her friends’ and husband’s private company Oravida, and must be stood down as a Minister – FORTHWITH.
I predict that this may happen on Monday 5 May 2014 – if not before ………..
Penny Bright
I would love to be a fly on the wall of the National Auckland Regional Convention which is taking place in Auckland this weekend. No doubt Williamson – and Collins – will be hot topics for discussion …..
Was thinking that too veutoviper and was wondering if there would be a piece on the 6pm news, “Collins resigns!”. She really is holding on by her fingernails, super strong glossily painted shellac fingernails.
Even if Collins gets the boot, she will only get her job back after the election. Just like Williamson will…
Last night I saw TV3’s ‘on the street’ piece and maybe it was just the editing, but it looked decidedly like many in his electorate were turning away from Williamson now, regardless of how well they thought he had done in the past.
If I was running National Williamson would be convinced (bribed if need be) to stand down and Craig would be gifted Pakuranga
Not that I agree with what Craig says but as a junior partner he can easily be ignored
If National had any ethical standards Williamson would have been stood down and charges laid.
An article supporting something you said the other day phillip, along the lines of animal testing on synthetics only being part of a very large problem, just in NZ alone. On the front page of the Dom Post today:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/10004053/87-000-animals-die-in-one-year-as-part-of-scientific-testing
aye rosie..
..an interesting/grotesque aspect of all that..
..is that the spca sign-off on/’approve’ all that animal torture/killing..
..and i dunno if they still do..
..but the spca used to supply/sell(?) animals to the vivisection-‘labs’/torture-centres..
..the animal gulag..
..knowing these facts/realities means the sight of cuddly’ ol’ bob kerridge ‘cuddling’ his ‘cuddly’ puppies..for the fawning-media..
..actually makes my skin fucken crawl…
..his fingers are dripping with the blood/suffering of all of those tortured then killed animals..
..his fingers signed off on all that..
..and over the years his fingers held the torture/death-pen…millions of them..
..how does he fucken sleep at nite..?
..don’t their screams keep him awake..?
Yes, I recall you mentioned something about that once phillip, the SPCA’s involvement in supply of animals to labs. That information, is that inside information or is there documented evidence of it happening or having once happened?
And a question I had the other day to you, that you may not have seen, was regarding Massey University’s (Palmy) animal testing. I had heard somewhere that they were the largest animal testing facility in NZ, testing commercial domestic products such as cleaners and cosmetics as well as medical research as they might be expected to undertake. Is this your understanding, that they are the largest?
rosie..
..i dunno if massey is the largest or not..but it will be up there..
..and re spca supply of animals to labs..?
..i know that used to happen..’cos i once liberated a dog from a courier van..
..and i liberated it because it was on it’s way from the spca to auckland rail station..
..destination..vivisectors in wellington..
..and i said ‘no fucken way!’..and tucked her under my arm..and hoofed it..
..so instead of a shortened/tortured life..followed by death..
..she was much loved..
..and lived to be 14 yrs old..
..so..’cos of that.. i know that they did..
..i don’t know if they still do..
Onya for rescuing the diggety phillip and just too shocking for words that the SPCA were involved in such a trade…..Really troubling in many ways.
+1 way to go Phil.
Labs who do any significant experimental or chemical trial work on animals usually need several, to several dozen, of the exact same species and age of animal.
So no, I’d say that the SPCA would not be where they go for their test subjects (in the main).
The murder of Sarwen Lata occurred on 25th November 2013, a street away from where I live. The story of her relationship with her husband is very sad and even sadder because she is one of many women who have been killed by partners or ex partners who they protection orders against. Sarwen was killed the day after white ribbon day.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/10004052/Stalker-husband-defied-protection-orders
The one thing that has stayed in my mind that is particularly upsetting was that in the last hours of her life no body helped her. The one call to 111 came from her. Although neighbours heard screaming, the only call that was made came from the victim:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/9442238/Screams-heard-before-body-found
You can see in the video above that Sarwen’s house is very close to other houses, all around. Her particular house is plaster clad, as all the houses around her are too, they were all built at the same time. The walls are thin and none of those houses are double glazed in that part of the development. Why on earth did no one pick up the phone? When Singh broke the ranch slider glass surely that would have woken people and they should have been on to 111 straight away. For the record this is the most unfriendly neighbourhood I have lived in but surely the instinct to help when someone’s life is in danger would take over any social indifference? What the fuck is wrong with people?
Tragic. He was a classic high risk for murder-suicide and it’s very difficult to protect partners from men like him. Not sure what the answer is – protection orders won’t work with people who are intent on killing and then taking their own life. If we had effective mental health services it might help but in the absence of effective therapy for potential killers, the only way to be reasonably sure of protecting women is to relocate them – maybe with new identities.
Yes, it is so tragic because her death could have quite possibly been prevented if effective mental health intervention was available to Singh combined with or at least greater safety options being provided by the state to victims of domestic violence, as you suggest.
Socially, I wondering why her neighbours didn’t keep an eye out for her and why weren’t they there for her? Why didn’t they call 111 when given the nature of the tight cluster of thinned walled homes they would have clearly heard what was going on?
Rosie
I suggest that the reason why neighbours didn’t come forward was just because they are so tightly packed and with thin walls. The only way you can have privacy, personal space and peace of living in that case, is to ignore the constant noises and talking around you.
It is a defence mechanism necessary for everyone who would otherwise be vicariously living in other people’s ups and downs. Usually if becoming involved they would end up being soundly cursed by both or all participants who they will be continuing to live beside, and need to be on equable terms with.
There is a big strain on people who are really strangers trying to live in badly designed housing in close confines..
Rosie
This would have been a good point that remained in archived under domestic violence if you had put it in the thread about williamson and domestic violence. Comments like this with links are useful for later reference.
Thanks Warbs. I might do that later. Haven’t had a chance to read that post yet.
We’ve been taught, over generations, that other peoples business isn’t our business. The last thirty years of neo-liberalism has pretty much cemented that home.
‘
The John Key-led National Ltd™ government’s blitzkrieg against the New Zealand environment is beginning to pay off for at least one mining company with close connections to it.
The so-called Environmental Protection Authority has just given the go ahead to foreign-owned Trans Pacific Resources to commence the first stage of a massive sea-bed mining operation right smack in the middle of a Maui dolphin habitat and migatory route for blue whales. Of the 4850 submissions to the EPA on the application, 4842 were opposed including those from local Iwi, environmenal groups, and fishing companies. In effect, the EPA rules governing the application for the mining consent prevent adequate input and usurp democracy while also ensuring that scientific evidence, tangata whenua concerns, and public opinion are secondary considerations to spreadsheet fantasies cooked up by unaccountable corporates.
Having made the rules to support their corporate masters, National Ltd™ further tilted the field in favour of Trans Tasman Resources when Environment Minister Amy Adams denied legal aid to small, volunteer organisations with a stake in the outcome. At the same time, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment handed the mining compnay a $25 million “innovation” grant.
The current consent, also granted by MoBIE, covers some 22 to 36 kilometres off the coast of Patea, in the Exclusive Economic Zone. It is the first stage of a much larger operation being planned by Trans Tasman Resources which is seeking to mine an additional 66 kilometres in the area. The larger application is currently going through a marine consent process being handled by a Board of Inquiry appointed by the EPA. The public notice of the application had to be re-issued because the original notice – surprise surprise – did not have all the required documentation. This delay has squeezed all the timelines for consideration of the application but – suprise surprise – Trans Tasman Resources’ timetable for commencing the raising of capital is still set for June 2014.
While it touts itself as a “New Zealand Company”, Trans Tasman Resources’ Board of Directors is the usual gaggle of international industrial henchmen one might expect, but there is a New Zealander there: none other than former National Ltd™ Prime Minister Jenny Shipley.
The New Zealand companies office record of shareholders shows that 58 percent of Trans Tasman Resources is owned by two Dutch investment companies. The largest New Zealand shareholders appear to be Benjamin Clarke Langdon and Gregor John Barclay who, between them, hold 4.88% – but not in their own names. Their Trans Tasman Resources shares are held by Minvest Securities (New Zealand) Limited which, in turn, is owned by Claymore Trustees Ltd which, in turn, is owned by Sheet Investments Ltd in which Langdon and Barclay hold 50% each. Seems legit . . . doesn’t it? Fuck knows what corporate veils have been pulled over the other Trans Tasman Resources’ shareholding entities in order to protect investors for any form or any accountability should it be required.
Welcome to John Key’s brighter future, everyone.
There are not many in NZ called Gregor John Barclay
in fact, only one who links back to any of the companies listed.
His lawyer bio says he was admitted to the bar at CHCH, which suggests a South Island connection in his younger days.
Relative of Todd perhaps?
Jenny Shipley
You can read a lot into her dealings since 2005.
From wiki
“In 2007, Shipley joined the financial services firm Source Sentinel.
Shipley also has business interests in China and is currently on the board of the China Construction Bank.
According to Companies Office records, Jack Chen, Jenny Shipley and another investor founded a business together in 2004 called New Zealand Pure & Natural. Mr Chen quit as a director a year later but only quit his shareholding in 2010. Mr Chen was instrumental in promoting the ‘Chinese Business Roundtable Council’ in NZ, and set up a new political party in NZ, before being forced to resign due to fraud and corruption charges being laid in Hong Kong.
In 2010 the China Construction Bank agreed to help finance a proposal by May Wang [also known as Hao May] and Jack Chen [also known as Chen Keen] to invest in the New Zealand dairy industry by taking over the Crafar Farms.
Since 2009, Shipley has chaired the Genesis Energy Limited board.
In December 2012 Shipley resigned from the board of directors of Mainzeal Property & Construction which later went into receivership on 6 February 2013. At mid-day on 5 February 2013 she was one of four independent directors who resigned from the board of Mainzeal Group Limited. Both Mainzeal Property & Construction (MPCL), and Mainzeal Group Limited are part of the Richina group, controlled and majority owned by Yan Ci Lang (Richard Yan). “
Which, of course, is what the function of the EPA always was. Its name is the exact opposite of its purpose and that purpose is to fast track business.
Cronyism runs deep in National.
It’s probably many things. First it would hide and protect the owners and, most likely, it’s also a tax dodge.
What mechanism are you suggesting is employed as a “tax dodge”. I mean precisely? Or are you simply making shit up? Again.
Also the mission of the EPA is clear:
“Streamlined and strengthened national environmental regulation that protects the environment while enabling economic progress and growth.”
What is not sensible about that?
http://www.epa.govt.nz/Publications/EPA%20SOI%202012.pdf
Just a hunch. We keep hearing about these people who have lots of nested companies which seem to pay very little tax. And I’m sure you’ve heard of the Loss Attributing Qualifying Company – A company specifically set up to run at a loss that can be written off against other income.
Sounds good but they don’t seem to be protecting the environment.
I STRONGLY recommend folks have another read of whistleblower Dr Jacob Cohen’s ‘Murder at Pike River Mine?’ – Chapter 10:
SECRET REASON BEHIND THE REPEAL OF THE FORESHORE AND SEABED ACT: TO EXPLOIT NZ’s VAST MINERAL WEALTH:
http://mistymountain.info/sites/default/files/users/Dan/pdf/Murder%20at%20Pike%20River%20Mine.pdf
Check out the role of Trans Tasman Resources ….
Penny Bright
MBIE’s New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals have just given Trans Tasman Resources a twenty year permit to extract ironsand off the coast of Patea. This is before the EPA hearings have even concluded, which just goes to show how much they don’t care about the consultation process. That’s how assured of a pro-industry decision from the EPA they are as well. New Zealands EPA is pretty much copied from the United States’ EPA, which is well known for making many decisions which have had a negative impact on the environment and people’s health.
Is there any way that long-term and irreversible damage to the seabed, and the consequences of turbidity pollution from ironsand dredging can be made as visible to the NZ public as say the breach of a toxic tailings dam or marine oil spill?
Am I wrong to have a gut feeling that this is sanctioning of environmental vandalism?
I think you’re right. Kiwis Against Seabed Mining has some good resources on their webpages. It’s a high volume, low value operation that shifts a lot of sand, but where it can’t be seen. There are studies showing that dunes, beaches, waves, and river mouths near the mining areas can be drastically changed. None of this seems to matter to NAct at all, as long as someone makes a buck.
http://kasm.org.nz/
Corporate systems of exploitation are systems of organised death and destruction. Facts are facts.
While all facts are facts, it is sometimes useful to know exactly what they are. It can be easier to build a local movement to protect a beach if you can point to something slightly more detailed than “organised death and destruction”. When I learned how to give lectures and seminars, I was advised to spend the first five or ten minutes telling the audience stuff they were familiar with. The conclusion comes at the end.
Yes, that works well.
So is it because the left are pining their hopes on WinstonFirst that no ones mentioning this:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9999622/NZ-First-travel-claims-queried
Maybe people are just waiting till Parliamentary Services return with their answers?
You know, allowing the proper authorities to do their job?
or you could just jump in with hype lines as is your normal routine
You know what really boggles my mind?
“What’s that?”
Well I’ll tell you.
The amount of posters at places like Kiwiblog who call The Greens “Luddites” for being anti deep-sea drilling and the like. It boggles the mind because developing new technologies for energy is the complete opposite of being a Luddite whereas the continued embrace of old world technology is pure Ludditism.
Pure cognitive dissonance right there. Thoughts?
nicely said TC and welcome back
my main thought would be
There is no barrier more dangerous to constructive discussion than cognitive dissonance,
They’re not Luddites, they’re religious extremists.
Evangelical,Muslim,Greens, they’re all cut from the same cloth.
Just for fun, could you please describe the similarities between the three groups as you see them?
Neoliberals, neocons and the pro-feudal power elite should be on any list of deluded self belief.
Not sure you understand the difference between religious belief and ideological belief there chap
Er, actually I think the point is that while the Greens may be in favour of new forms of energy, they are also very much in favour of reducing energy consumption as a whole, which can be classed as ludditism.
The Luddites main point was along the lines of:
‘We must stick with the old inefficient way because jobs’,
innit?
A safe renewable low cost energy source will see energy use skyrocket Lanthanide, that is the end goal of any alternative to fossil fuels and their derivations.
Luddite is not a fair or even relevant label.
Just another indication of the different planet on which National operates. This from the DomPost today:
“Post-Budget speech requires big budget
It might be called the Budget, but there is nothing budget about the price of tickets to Prime Minister John Key’s May 16 post-Budget speech at Auckland’s SkyCity Convention Centre.
A seat at the event, organised by the Trans-Tasman Business Circle together with AUT University, QBE Insurance and Westpac, will require a looser fiscal policy than Finance Minister Bill English is planning.
They cost a taxing $375+GST for members, and $550+GST for non-members.”
When I saw that today I looked for information of a dollar destination nature, but found nothing.
Does any one know where the ticket returns, actually go ?
It’s not like the PM gets an appearance fee or anything.
It’s unlikely SkyCity would be charging much for the room.
In this day and age, does any one know why these post-budget speeches are not broadcast to a national audience?
Very good questions. SkyCity for a post-budget speech at a fairly high cost? More of the infiltration of business, especially big money, into government.
That is fucking bullshit – Michael Cullen always gave post budget speeches to a business audience in each of the main centres, and sometimes in Sydney or Melbourne – do you think they were free?
Get a grip.
yes shitlands, they were either free or had only some minimal charge, after all Finance Ministers/DPMs already get very well paid to explain their Budgets to the public.
As for getting a grip, you need to stop gripping yours.
As you obviously have no answers to some very simple and fair questions, you choose to throw around irrelevancies. Is that all you have for your contributions?
Karol’s comment is clearly not making mention of any party, neither is mine. Both are general observations of the reality at hand. Some people are actually capable of isolating their political allegiances from their due consideration of the long term situation and how it relates to the ever changing society we inhabit.
I accept that you struggle with that concept.
And if you read what I wrote srylands, there is no judgement made or opinion given other than an interest in where a sizeable bundle of topical cash ends up, and maybe it is time speeches like this were streamed to the people who pay the PM’s salary. In a post budget environment, especially in an election year, many people would like to see what the Prime Minister says if his performance is worth 500 bucks a ticket.
So, you are of course going to provide evidence that he charged.
$375 for an event like this is bog standard. You pay $500 to send one of your staff to any kind of half-day professional seminar. A two day conference at sky city (or any conference centre in wellington or auckland is typically $3,000 + GST.
Why do you think the price is high? If there is any profit it will simply cross subsidise the other TTBC events.
To paraphrase Helen Clark – I am amazed that you are amazed.
lol
true believers are easy to fleece.
$500 for any kind of half day professional seminar?
Not for lots of stuff in the health sector.
Not for lots of stuff in IT.
Not for lots of foreign policy/IR stuff.
I guess randian superheroes are just gullible.
shitlands would say that John Key’s $5000 per head dinner tickets were absolutely “bog standard” – to the 0.1%, that is.
NetHui, a 3 day IT conference, costs $40 to attend. That’s for all 3 days, not per day.
So yeah?
Have heard some really good stories about NetHui sessions. Can you imagine srylands trying to wrap his head around the dialogues on collaborative thinking that are generated at NetHui ?
even this single line from their promotional material is probably enough to fry his cerebellum
” It’s a collaborative, multistakeholder gathering where we all set the agenda.”
$500 clams for a seat at a government speech? Sounds like normal business to me…but then I heard from right wing peeps that govts shouldn’t be in the business of doing business.
Yet this govt seems to do a lot of “business”, especially behind closed doors.
FYI – seen this?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11247865
John Drinnan: Making a stand on dope
9:30 AM Friday May 2, 2014
Blogger and political consultant ‘Bomber’ Bradbury denies exclusion of pro-marijuana party from poll was his call.
A blogger and political consultant to Mana and the Internet Party has warned he will not support closer ties with the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party.
This comes after ALCP leaders questioned Martyn “Bomber” Bradbury’s editing of The Daily Blog platform, and his links to the legal highs organisation the Star Trust.
Campaigners for legalisation of natural marijuana believe they have been getting a bad deal.
Bradbury is a longtime supporter of real cannabis, but lately has written several posts sympathetic to the synthetic highs industry.
Other liberal campaigners and blogs such as Public Address have supported a legal foundation for the legal highs industry, and lamented the decision to amend the Psychoactive Substances Act that will force 41 legal high products off the market, pending safety tests. But Bradbury is different because as well as having a high media profile, where he promotes himself as champion of the common man, other media have revealed he is also a political consultant to both the Mana Party and the Internet Party.
The danger is the commercial roles might become enmeshed.
Dak v dak
ALCP deputy leader Abe Gray – a botany lecturer at Otago University – says Bradbury has cut comment in The Daily Blog and excluded the party from a poll on the site.
Bradbury acknowledges bad vibes between himself and the ALCP, but says its exclusion from the Daily Blog poll was not decided by him.
Friction with the left wing blogger appears to reflect a rift between the natural cannabis people and the well-resourced legal highs industry.
………………………..
‘Dirty, filthy’
Star Trust director Grant Hall confirms Bradbury’s comment that he does not have a commercial relationship with the trust. “The reason you may have heard this rumour is because he interviewed some of the guest speakers [at a Star Trust conference in March], researched the questions for the political debate and hosted the political panel on the day.
“Beyond that he has no role with the trust and does no work for us currently.”
Bradbury was unhappy when asked about his ties to the legal highs industry, and sent a terse letter to ALCP leader Julian Crawford for talking to the Herald.
He said: “I worked for the Star Trust as the convener of their recent conference, my association with them has nothing whatsoever to do with your none [sic] inclusion in the poll. We only have parties on that poll with a chance of entering Parliament. The ALCP has no chance of entering Parliament.
“This type of deceitful smearing has helped make up my mind in terms of any advice to the IP and Mana in terms of broadening their alliance to include ALCP,” he said. Bradbury criticised Crawford for “dirty, filthy tactics”.
……………………
Wonder how much ‘Star Trust’ paid Martyn Bradbury to ‘convene’ their recent conference?
Did Martyn Bradbury ever do any (paid) work for Star Trust?
I’d ask Bradbury directly these questions on HIS ‘Daily Blog’ – but he blocked me – when I refused to back down as an Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Beware folks!
Follow the dollar…..?
In my considered opinion there are a lot of PHONIES out there …..
Penny Bright
MUST READ OF THE DAY
Paula Bennett says the problems faced by Writehanded.org blogger Sarah Wilson are an “isolated incident” and there is no need to change the policies or procedures at Work and Income (WINZ).
She goes on to suggest that Sarah Wilson has a “distorted perception of reality” ie Sarah Wilson and others who complain have a mental illness that makes her delusional due to the stress of her situation. (FYI minister assuming someone has a disability is a little known form of discrimination but it still fits the criteria of human rights abuse – check the handy HRC website).
“We work with some people that are at the most challenging and distressing times in their lives and their perception of how they’re dealt with can sometimes be not perhaps the reality if they were in a different frame of mind.”
With 295,000 people on welfare, she had much more to think about than Wilson, she said, and she saw no need to make changes as a result of what Wilson had said. ”
http://www.writehanded.org/blog/2014/05/02/a-bee-in-her-bonnet/