International employers group declare declare class war, by turning a blind eye to the murder, torture and arrest of trade unionists.
New Zealand employers join an international cabal of employers refusing to denounce, (or even let them be identified) human rights abusers, for murdering, torturing and arresting workers for organising. Instead, grizzling about “employer abuse” in countries like Venezuela.
What a bunch of scumbags
When the rich and powerful start posing as victims……
…..History shows, the vulnerable and downtrodden of the world need to be afraid.
This filthly behaviour needs to be openly condemned, combated and most importantly… DEFIED!.
Phil OReilly needs to learn that when working people are being abused and tortured and exploited that New Zealander trade unionists when called on, will not ignore it, no matter how much he would wish they would.
What they metaphorically do, is sharpen the knife and hold it to their own throats, then go round looking for things to bump into.
It amazes me how employers today hold fast to anachronistic patriarchial power plays and ignore the conflict they attract to themselves when they do; a conflict that will end their businesses as they know it. Imagine consciously entering into a battle of several fronts, outnumbered, with no communication pathways at all with the enemy; in an environment where your allies give you no practical support and have an active interest in you being wiped out. Even if you win, you’ll need new slaves and then your next battle will be with well armed competitors. The Old People would call it “death ground”, where there is no choice but to die or win, only this modern version has no chance of being won.
And while this is going on, employers also want to pontificate about “knowledge” and swapping ideas and value and progress and innovation. Spell it out as many times as you like, patriarchial tradition blinds them to the fact that being at war with the population, with your employees, isn’t good business sense. One man at the top, ruling them all, is neither good business sense or strategically viable once that end is reached. Yet that is what the fight is all about. As they once said in the old days, the old patriarchial days:“Courage, that spoils for a fight is immature”. It all falls on deaf ears.
And for NZ to be involved in it, saying the things they do from the comfort of our – compared to global events – relatively benign environment; does the cowardice have no end? Why think when you can kill. Why kill when you can support killers. It’s easier, but not very profitable or smart and it certainly doesn’t engender envy.
“The endorsement of the Government’s direction is perhaps the most remarkable since it reflects the state of the economy and the Government’s response”
-Either the polls are complete spin, or people are complete morons….I would suspect both!
With all the opportunities to drive the hammer down, where is the opposition, who is the opposition.
What we are seeing is the result of and owned political stage, where the actors simple play their role.
Who are these editors who love to fellate John Key…John is that you self fellating in your spare time!
And isn’t it funny how the focus has changed. Now for “The parents need to know how THEIR CHILD is doing” read “how THE SCHOOL is performing”
“Mr Key said the Minister of Education told him data was not up to scratch – “it’s extremely patchy and in different formats and that will make it very difficult to interpret – but over time the Government hopes it will be more consistent because the purpose of having information is to give parents a better sense of how their school is performing”.
Parents wanting to know how their children are doing – this is such a strange comment that they – pollies – come out with regularly. It reminds me of that knee-jerk phrase from the time of the Iraq war, always referred to with ‘weapons of mass destruction’.
About the reports from school, they were always there for me as a parent, and also time to speak to the teachers made available by the school, and apart from that the option of requesting a personal interview for discussion when felt necessary. All this other sh…t I
think is about the idea that teachers need harrassing to do a good job, which probably includes in the parents mind, instilling their child with some standards of behaviour and strength of character as well as high marks from deep motivated study that the school should oversee. So how the schools seem to be achieving that becomes the important issue. The concern and effort is all directed outward to the education servants not inward by the parents looking at adding value to their child raising.
And I notice a lack of self responsibility in other ways and wonder if many, not all, parents lay it on others at all ages. The thing I have noticed is how, too many, mothers and fathers with toddlers let them run far ahead of them on a street. Backing out, a driver would never see them, they would not show through the rear window, or if the child reaches a corner before the parent it might just run right into a car. The parent calls out trying to control it, but it seems ineffectual and slack parenting care to me. And as a driver, it would be terrible if I caused injury and I know who would be regarded at fault. It would be me and not the casual parent.
And I notice a lack of self responsibility in other ways and wonder if many, not all, parents lay it on others at all ages. The thing I have noticed is how, too many, mothers and fathers with toddlers let them run far ahead of them on a street
Yes, I have seen that! The ineffectual bleating of the child’s name, ignored, is as you say – worse!
Yes and smarmy weldon has also been swallowing rural publications that were hostile to listing Fonterra so they could ‘leverage’ their business to their own end.
The NZX is in poor shape because he hasn’t given it credibility and rigour as a transparent market in his time at the helm. He’s watched feltex, finance companies, sky city and other shaky affairs like Richmond meats being taken by PPCS and done nothing making the NZX an international joke.
Jokes on us with our power companies going onto it as his and keys banker mates line up for the spoils it has always been a plaything for the connected 1% not the everyday punter who will lose as they aren’t in the 1% club.
Conman Key says increasing the price of alcohol won’t solve the problem.
YEAH RIGHT
same argument as tobacco industry puts up!
ShonKey and Nactional are in the alcohols back pocket
The requirement is to be unimpaired by drugs or alcohol at work. But drug testing does not do this, it tests whether there is any residual thc in a persons system, NOT whether they are impaired by drugs or alcohol. The two things are completely different.
Why has this glaring and fundamental flaw not been raised?
Methinks a benficiary or disgruntled worker should take winz or their employer to court to test it and correct it.
VTO, If you were about to travel on an aircraft and another passenger told you that they had spent the previous night with the aircraft pilot, drinking large quantities if alchohol, would you be happy to travel?
Anyone in any service has a responsibility to those for
whom they are providing the service.
They are expected to be free of any self inflicted injury.
Using any drug, including alcohol, results in a self inflicted injury.
Self inflicted injuries have been a problem for 100’s of years. Why does this generation think that it is so clever and so knowledgeable?
All they are doing is demonstrating that only-children and children from small families are immature and self-centered. That is what modern birth control is doing for the world.
Obviously there is a lot more to the subject. If it could be described and solved on one page, there would not be a problem.
When people start using drugs, where does one “draw the line”? This has always been a problem.
If you have a solution, perhaps you could offer it.
Regards
John72, I think you missed my point, which is this …
Just because a person has smoked dope or drunk booze at some random earlier point, it does not mean they are under the influence.
Pot stays in the system long long long after there is any effect. All it does is measure whether somebody has smoked it some point over the previous three weeks. Alcohol disappears much quicker.
If you are right and anyone who has been smoking or drinking the previous three weeks was not allowed to provide a service, do you know what would happen????? All the buses, planes, cars, taxis, foresters, bankers, wankers, accountants, mummies, daddies, cleaners, builders, diggers, miners, politicians, … would stop. Stop.
Except for those teatotallers out there.
Over to you though – if that is what you want. Anyone who has smoked or drunk in the last whatever and irrelevant but immaterial time period is not allowed to provide a service then so be it. But it would be a world history first. Puritanical in the extreme.
I do have a solution. It is carry out an “under the influence” test, not a “have you indulged recently” test. The test must be whether a person is under the influence – that is it. Like a blood test for alcohol, which is pretty good. The drug test does nothing of the sort.
Makes sense to me. I would say though that alcohol testing does show current impairment (or at least current blood alcohol levels that are assumed to equate to impairment). That’s why police use it and it stands up in court. Cannabis is the tricky one because it is so widely used and as you say there is not test that shows current levels that equate to impairment.
I was interested to hear that legalise cannabis advocate from Timaru say on National Radio that she smoked while driving buses for a living, and considered that she had no impairment (which got The Panel twitching). I think it is likely that some people can in fact smoke small amounts of cannabis and not be impaired, but unfortunately someone else could smoke the same amount of the same cannabis and be impaired. It’s complex. I also think that some people are not affected over the long term by cannabis use and others are. I don’t know how one would test that.
btw, read this the other day…
As reported in my first installment of the Cannabis Chronicles on Sunday, I had been asked by Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich to help determine whether, and how, marijuana impairs driving. He recruited more than two dozen police officers from various Southern California agencies and the CHP to bear witness and study the differences between driving while high and driving while drunk.
Apparently … and this is fascinating … Back In The Day everything was fine and no one got high on the job because there weren’t as many only children, which I suppose is logical because then there was less disposable income to spend on booze for the kids?
Whatever the case, clearly it’s all feminism’s fault and if bitches got back in the kitchen society would be pure and wholesome again.
QoT, self-inflicted injury has been a problem for 100’s of years. We now have a generation that is less prepared to accept responsibility for it’s actions.
No one has ever been perfect. I am suggesting that standards are changing.
It is sanctimonious to suggest that they are only changing for the better.
So many of today’s youth are only concerned about self satisfaction.
There have always been people living in hardship and poverty and there still are people living under bridges or in cars.
Why do people on a Student Loan, Solo Mother Benefit, Old Age Benefit, etc., need money for drugs?
Why does anyone need drugs? They did not need it 100 years ago. Some might have used it but the world did not need them.
They do not need the drugs. The money spent on drugs goes to the rich?
If you think that you NEED drugs, you have a problem. Life is an adventure for so many people who never touch drugs. Grow up and move on.
Once you become trapped by drugs, you are locked into a habbit and it becomes difficult to go out and explore the world. Grow up and move on.
J72 a 100+ years a go good spin NZ women were fed up with their husbands coming home drunk (alcohol NZ’s Most dangerous Drug after tobacco)and beating them and their children up.
So they banned alcohol through temperance to try and deal with the problem.
No problems for 100’s of years YEAH RIGHT.
NZ has a problem with legal and illegal drugs and always has.
In your small dream world drugs are not addictive if that were the case there wouldn’t be a problem.
You are so right, John, these stoopid yoof just don’t understand how good they have it. They should just … stop being biologically addicted to things! And stop having such desperate existences that brain-chemistry-altering is a pretty attractive option!
Also, Socrates put it better than you. Which could be telling, if you wanted to actually get off that high horse.
Draco,You are quoting out of context. Are you illiterate or just baiting me?
The rest of your comment is personal criticism. Is the the monotor setting the standard of The Standard?
No I didn’t. You said something about small families and then went on about drug abuse being due to birth control. You failed to say what this had to do with drug testing.
Mind you, it’s a shame that the (mostly) good people at the Crown Law Office have been tarnished by a combination of this Government and their previous, incompetent, eager-to-please his masters, Leader (now a High Court Judge)
“Mr Key said the Minister of Education told him data was not up to scratch – “it’s extremely patchy and in different formats and that will make it very difficult to interpret – but over time the Government hopes it will be more consistent because the purpose of having information is to give parents a better sense of how their school is performing”.
Isn’t it funny how the focus has changed. Now for “The parents need to know how THEIR CHILD is doing” read “how THE SCHOOL is performing”
I have heard pollies say in a self-congratulatory way how easy it is for businesses to set up in NZ. This is a good thing and shows how smart people going forward behave in government by cutting pesky bureaucratic controls.
And just what standards are we prepared to drop to do business and made a buck. Note the background to the agent for buying the Crafar farms. Is this the sort of business person we want to be dealing with. Tongans were criticised for selling passports to raise capital, what are we up for in the drive by some to make squids (for themselves)?
I have waited in vain,of course!, for some comment by the loud mouth Garth McVicar regarding the road rage hit by the Parnell resident millionaire who twice ran over a man in a moment of road rage. Just imagine if this angry driver had been Brown or unemployed the Sensible Sentence Chairperson would have been uttering his vitriolic mouthing on all media channels . However let us not forget how he championed the white business man who knifed a young Maori tagger to death , McVicar thought that was ok.Its time this loudmouth was shut up completely .
I have waited in vain,of course!, for some comment by the loud mouth Garth McVicar regarding the road rage hit by the Parnell resident millionaire who twice ran over a man in a moment of road rage
Strange! Why would Key say he didn’t cry when he left Merrill Lynch? You don’t cry when you leave somewhere voluntarily. Was he given the boot? Is this another bit of “I forget” on the CV ?
NZ uses 149700 barrels per day and has a production of 1700000 which is %3 of 554640500 total barrels, not 43% of domestic oil demand.
The MED does have a fine print note on page 44 about how they didn’t count the oil consumption for non-energy use. So the 43% domestic oil demand is well off base. But is a great feel good figure.
So NZ is using 149700 barrels of oil a day, of which the MED day 1424657 are used in non energy related stuff. That seems a bit strange.
The verdict is in, Ewen McDonald has been found not guilty, and Scott’s father gets to make a 3 minute speech on the news.
Seriously!
Ever since the Scott Guy murder happened, the media have been completely obsessed (just as with the ‘Blenheim friends’ in 1998-9… Why? That’s what I don’t get. No other person on trial for murder has ever been treated so kindly and gently by the media, and whereas lower class people on trial are referred to by solely their surname, Ewen McDonald has always been referred to by his full name. The victim is ‘Mr McDonald. The media have been blatting on and on about the huge public interest, people elbowing each other aside at the door of the public gallery etc – I believe this is because the media were telling them it was a big deal! It was hardly fascinating in and of itself… 🙂
Is it a class thing? That’s the only thing I can think of… they must either be rich, or related to someone important.
Let’s hope we don’t have a week of post-mortems!
The huge public interest was indeed because the media was making such a big deal out of it. Every night on TV for the past 3 weeks (at least) it has been the No.1 item because they wanted to turn it into a sensational whodunnit melodrama. Why? Because they are an attractive looking white middle class family with close associations to the National Party – the born to rule party.
In other words it isa class thing. I have made a point of turning off the TV every night at 6pm until the trial was over. Unfortunately I think you are right. We will now have to put up with nightly post-mortems for the next week at least.
I sympathise deeply with the wife’s distress etc., but she made a statement this evening which left me staggered. She said something to the effect: “it is terrible to think something like this could happen in NZ.” What about the many hundreds – thousands – of NZers who have lost husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, friends as a result of murder or manslaughter. Don’t they count because many of them are poor or brown – or maybe because they support the wrong political side?
I’m reminded of the murder of the Trade Unionist back in the 1970s (I think) at a time when
the Cold War was pretty much at it’s zenith. The murderer(s) were never caught or so we were told. I would not be surprised if the police at the time were told or were gently nudged into… not conducting a full blown investigation.
Found this piece on Wikipedia. The Trade Union murder was 1984 – shortly before the 84′ snap election.
Wellington Trades Hall bombing
On 27 March 1984, a suitcase bomb was left in the foyer of the Trades Hall in Wellington. The Trades Hall was the headquarters of a number of trade unions, and it is most commonly assumed that they were the target of the bombing, although other theories have been put forward. Ernie Abbott, the building’s caretaker, was killed when he attempted to move the suitcase, which is believed to have contained three sticks of gelignite triggered by a mercury switch.[6] To this day, the perpetrator has never been identified. Those elements of the New Zealand Police responsible for preventing and investigating such crimes were headquartered in the building across the street.
Surprise, surprise. The police never arrested anybody. Don’t kid me ‘the establishment’ didn’t have a pretty good idea whodunnit.
“Because they are an attractive looking white middle class family with close associations to the National Party – the born to rule party.”
What associations, Anne?
I think the intense media interest was because of the nature of the case, which, as I’ve said before, is quite Shakespearean. Or possibly biblical, if you are that way inclined. A family divided, prodigal son, etc.
I understand they were a farming family associated with the National Party. Indeed one of the Guy siblings was recently a National Party candidate.
Do you honestly believe that : given commensurate circumstances the intense media interest would have been anything like as intense if the family had been either:
a) black or brown.
b) relatively underprivileged.
Ah it is such a long way down on that roller coaster and it’s time to fasten the seat belts for another downward screamer,
Manufacturing data from the US,Europe,and, China has all three of the big economic powerhouses showing a slow down,
In a quixotic turn New Zealand’s manufacturing figures have shown a 1% rise but joyful times it ain’t as weak prices for dairy showed that export earnings from that 1% rise in manufacturing fell 400 million dollars for the period,
Ah we all just have the love the global free trade played out upon the level playing field right…
Thanks Slippery for such wonderful words of knowledge and leadership, having our Prime Minister comment on anything of a factual nature is a fraught experience akin to opening an empty suitcase seeking enlightenment,
On 3 news there was a piece of how a number of nations are engaging in naval exercises with the US navy along with New Zealand and how our contribution Te Kaha has been forbidden docking rights at the Pearl Harbor naval facility and instead must dock elsewhere at a civilian wharf,
Attempting to throw off criticism that NZ and it’s navy are being deliberately snubbed by the US over our Nuclear ships ban Slippery dropped the clanger that naval exercises take place at sea,
Nah i don’t believe that, i was always of the opinion that naval exercises took part in sone really big bath-tubs with plastic model ships.
After listening again to the Prime Ministers voice inflections i can only add that the closet isn’t locked wee John, you can come out now if you want…
Are the USA Navy and associates actually refusing Te Kaha a place to dock alongside the others taking part in their war games? Probably they don’t have enough facilities for the team that they have drummed up. But the USA can hold onto vindictive attitudes for a long time. They have kept Cuba at the end of a bargepole for how many years – about fifty? There’s no fury like that of a hegemonic country scorned.
Lord Adair Turner, head of the Financial Services Authority (on whose watch the Libor rate-rigging took place), has just condemned the scandal – and admitted that the true scale of City wrongdoing is much greater.
Turner told the FSA’s public meeting this morning that the full investigation into what went wrong will take years.
Here’s the key quotes:
The LIBOR scandal has caused a huge blow to the reputation of the banking industry. The cynical greed of traders asking their colleagues to falsify their LIBOR submissions so that they could make bigger profits – has justifiably shocked and angered people, in particular when we are facing hard economic times provoked by the financial crisis.
But sadly it is clear that the behaviours evidenced in the LIBOR case were not, in the years before the crisis, confined to this specific area of financial activity.
My bolding. Rumour is the Barclay’s COO is next on resignation watch.
The piece on Compliance not for Banks yesterday plus Alex cartoon that hit the nail as usual – it started me wondering – if the financial people start mea culpa’ing where will it end and will the
financial people ever find their mojos again? Forbes comment on mojos –
What’s more, mojo is often tied to emotions like pride in a job done well, endurance at sticking with something, satisfaction or a feeling of contributing to something greater than ourselves.
Though along with the above, the adherence to rules of engagement with clients and seekers of financial advice would be an excellent thing.
For some reason it made me think of Lewis Caroll and the Walrus and the Carpenter and the way they encouraged tender naive oysters to walk with them and then enjoyed eating them with bread and butter.
In the meantime, the Walrus and the Carpenter wake from their gluttony sadly.
“I weep for you,” the Walrus said:
“I deeply sympathize.”
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.
“O Oysters,” said the Carpenter,
“You’ve had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?’
But answer came there none–
And this was scarcely odd, because
They’d eaten every one.
Diamond is now free to speak without restraint at tomorrow’s Treasury committee hearing. He’ll be dropping the Bank of England in it, according to the Guardian. They suggest that Barclay’s were given the nod to go ahead with the LIBOR manipulation by senior staff at the B of E.
His Lordship can wring His pink little fingers in abject horror for as long as he likes, but, that will neither clean up or out the criminality of those in the City of London’s financial ‘Firms’,
Neither will such crocodile tears stop the International criminality of the Global Banking System, as is done to any conspiracy of cheap crooks whether they deal in mere 1000’s of dollars or mega-millions, billions, or, trillions, the Banks themselves should be seized lock stock and barrel as being the proceeds of criminal behaviour,
Until such time as the extent of such criminal offending is known in it’s totality and recompense, redress,restitution,and, suitable punishment meted out and served by both the individuals and institutions then we all are simply awaiting the next round of economic chaos caused by these people who are not a minority offending alone for personal gain but are institutional criminal organizations,
They may be masquerading behind the legitimate facade of ‘business’ but show us any such criminality in the history of the Western World that has brought the whole concept of Western civilization as we know it a hairsbreadth away from going back to the future of creating debt bonds a mere whisker away from the point where we re-trade these as debt bombs…
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Lol. NZ news sites are a bit slow on it… I’ve found out more about it sooner on here and Facebook from family in Wellington. Old media needs to get it’s act together.
The first I knew of it was Radio NZ this morning – after numerous items about Fielding and the Scott Guy soap opera…
What mad priorities! The public relations woman in Fielding spoke as if the trial had been something like the Christchurch earthquake. “We’ll get through it” she said bravely. I felt a bit sick when I heard that.
The latest review says that it was magnitude 7 depth of 230 km. Heard a boffin talk about the possible 8 expected within the next fifty years. One of a series about 300 years apart.
More news that Key was deeply embedded in banking scandal BBC world radio
Investment bankers that didn’t play the game were sacked given 5 mins notice to clean out office space.
Key smiling assassin was the enforcer so must have been in on it
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
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 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
In 1995, Sally Clark went out on her own in a bold and unorthodox attempt to join an illustrious group of equestrian riders conquering the world. In the days of glovebox road maps, brick cell phones, and the hit song How Bizarre, Clark refused to follow Sir Mark Todd, Blyth ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Beaglehole, Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago niphon/Getty Images The number of people accessing medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Aotearoa New Zealand increased significantly between 2006 and 2022. But the disorder is still under-diagnosed and ...
To celebrate the start of New Zealand music month, we look back at the best local tuneage that managed to weasel its way into Hollywood productions. There’s nothing quite like the thrilling zap of recognition when New Zealand weasels its way into a glamorous Hollywood production. Crack open a Tui ...
People trust other people more than institutions. So how can the media gain that trust through journalists without losing what’s important about the institution? Anna Rawhiti-Connell reflects on two years of curating the news for The Bulletin.Amonth ago, armed cops descended on my neighbourhood as calls to “lock your ...
NONFICTION 1 The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)’ This is the hottest book in New Zealand, number one with a bullet in its first week, selling more than any overseas title, and demand is so huge that it’s already been reprinted. A ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 3 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
A warning – suicide is discussed in this podcast New Zealand’s own long-running soap Shortland Street doesn’t hesitate to kill off its much-loved characters. But would TVNZ dare to kill off our favourite soap? That’s the fear as times get tough in television – even though it’s been pointed out ...
International employers group declare declare class war, by turning a blind eye to the murder, torture and arrest of trade unionists.
New Zealand employers join an international cabal of employers refusing to denounce, (or even let them be identified) human rights abusers, for murdering, torturing and arresting workers for organising. Instead, grizzling about “employer abuse” in countries like Venezuela.
What a bunch of scumbags
When the rich and powerful start posing as victims……
…..History shows, the vulnerable and downtrodden of the world need to be afraid.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/7208334/Employer-stance-at-ILO-forum-hypocritical
This filthly behaviour needs to be openly condemned, combated and most importantly… DEFIED!.
Phil OReilly needs to learn that when working people are being abused and tortured and exploited that New Zealander trade unionists when called on, will not ignore it, no matter how much he would wish they would.
What they metaphorically do, is sharpen the knife and hold it to their own throats, then go round looking for things to bump into.
It amazes me how employers today hold fast to anachronistic patriarchial power plays and ignore the conflict they attract to themselves when they do; a conflict that will end their businesses as they know it. Imagine consciously entering into a battle of several fronts, outnumbered, with no communication pathways at all with the enemy; in an environment where your allies give you no practical support and have an active interest in you being wiped out. Even if you win, you’ll need new slaves and then your next battle will be with well armed competitors. The Old People would call it “death ground”, where there is no choice but to die or win, only this modern version has no chance of being won.
And while this is going on, employers also want to pontificate about “knowledge” and swapping ideas and value and progress and innovation. Spell it out as many times as you like, patriarchial tradition blinds them to the fact that being at war with the population, with your employees, isn’t good business sense. One man at the top, ruling them all, is neither good business sense or strategically viable once that end is reached. Yet that is what the fight is all about. As they once said in the old days, the old patriarchial days:“Courage, that spoils for a fight is immature”. It all falls on deaf ears.
And for NZ to be involved in it, saying the things they do from the comfort of our – compared to global events – relatively benign environment; does the cowardice have no end? Why think when you can kill. Why kill when you can support killers. It’s easier, but not very profitable or smart and it certainly doesn’t engender envy.
Mark Ames: The Left’s Big Sellout.
If Helen Clark did nothing else, she restored the country’s trust in its government and John Key has been careful to maintain it. Long may it last.
“The endorsement of the Government’s direction is perhaps the most remarkable since it reflects the state of the economy and the Government’s response”
-Either the polls are complete spin, or people are complete morons….I would suspect both!
With all the opportunities to drive the hammer down, where is the opposition, who is the opposition.
What we are seeing is the result of and owned political stage, where the actors simple play their role.
Who are these editors who love to fellate John Key…John is that you self fellating in your spare time!
.
Heh! Tim Grosser was bleating on the other day about “enemies within” disrupting the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign . . . neck minit:
Tim, Tim, Tim . . . NO U !!!111!!!
So the National Standards data are ‘ropey’
Who would have expected that.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10816964
Is that door they open to let in national testing? Now that would cause a real shit fight.
And isn’t it funny how the focus has changed. Now for “The parents need to know how THEIR CHILD is doing” read “how THE SCHOOL is performing”
“Mr Key said the Minister of Education told him data was not up to scratch – “it’s extremely patchy and in different formats and that will make it very difficult to interpret – but over time the Government hopes it will be more consistent because the purpose of having information is to give parents a better sense of how their school is performing”.
“Mr Key said the Minister of Education told him data was not up to scratch
But he was told that last year.
I wonder if a trial would have helped?
Parents wanting to know how their children are doing – this is such a strange comment that they – pollies – come out with regularly. It reminds me of that knee-jerk phrase from the time of the Iraq war, always referred to with ‘weapons of mass destruction’.
About the reports from school, they were always there for me as a parent, and also time to speak to the teachers made available by the school, and apart from that the option of requesting a personal interview for discussion when felt necessary. All this other sh…t I
think is about the idea that teachers need harrassing to do a good job, which probably includes in the parents mind, instilling their child with some standards of behaviour and strength of character as well as high marks from deep motivated study that the school should oversee. So how the schools seem to be achieving that becomes the important issue. The concern and effort is all directed outward to the education servants not inward by the parents looking at adding value to their child raising.
And I notice a lack of self responsibility in other ways and wonder if many, not all, parents lay it on others at all ages. The thing I have noticed is how, too many, mothers and fathers with toddlers let them run far ahead of them on a street. Backing out, a driver would never see them, they would not show through the rear window, or if the child reaches a corner before the parent it might just run right into a car. The parent calls out trying to control it, but it seems ineffectual and slack parenting care to me. And as a driver, it would be terrible if I caused injury and I know who would be regarded at fault. It would be me and not the casual parent.
If the parents really want to know how their child is doing they’ll go down to the school and ask. Anything else is bollocks.
Yes, I have seen that! The ineffectual bleating of the child’s name, ignored, is as you say – worse!
Former Chief Executive Mark Weldon recently sold $12.5 million worth of shares in NZX, shares he had accumulated during his reign.
Of course the NZX is in that bad shape that we have to dump strategically vital publicly owned assets into it so that it works better.
A more effective metaphor for how the sale of power shares will enrich the already wealthy I cannot imagine.
Any one know how much Weldon raised from the rich Listers for Christchurch?
If I remember he took time off.
The scheme was announced with great fanfare, and then it disappeared and has not been heard of since.
The asset sales seem to be to be more about benefiting the NZX rather than anything else.
Oops appeared twice …
Yes and smarmy weldon has also been swallowing rural publications that were hostile to listing Fonterra so they could ‘leverage’ their business to their own end.
The NZX is in poor shape because he hasn’t given it credibility and rigour as a transparent market in his time at the helm. He’s watched feltex, finance companies, sky city and other shaky affairs like Richmond meats being taken by PPCS and done nothing making the NZX an international joke.
Jokes on us with our power companies going onto it as his and keys banker mates line up for the spoils it has always been a plaything for the connected 1% not the everyday punter who will lose as they aren’t in the 1% club.
Conman Key says increasing the price of alcohol won’t solve the problem.
YEAH RIGHT
same argument as tobacco industry puts up!
ShonKey and Nactional are in the alcohols back pocket
Drug testing is a pile of horse shit.
The requirement is to be unimpaired by drugs or alcohol at work. But drug testing does not do this, it tests whether there is any residual thc in a persons system, NOT whether they are impaired by drugs or alcohol. The two things are completely different.
Why has this glaring and fundamental flaw not been raised?
Methinks a benficiary or disgruntled worker should take winz or their employer to court to test it and correct it.
Here’s my take on it! What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
VTO, If you were about to travel on an aircraft and another passenger told you that they had spent the previous night with the aircraft pilot, drinking large quantities if alchohol, would you be happy to travel?
Anyone in any service has a responsibility to those for
whom they are providing the service.
They are expected to be free of any self inflicted injury.
Using any drug, including alcohol, results in a self inflicted injury.
Self inflicted injuries have been a problem for 100’s of years. Why does this generation think that it is so clever and so knowledgeable?
All they are doing is demonstrating that only-children and children from small families are immature and self-centered. That is what modern birth control is doing for the world.
Obviously there is a lot more to the subject. If it could be described and solved on one page, there would not be a problem.
When people start using drugs, where does one “draw the line”? This has always been a problem.
If you have a solution, perhaps you could offer it.
Regards
John72, I think you missed my point, which is this …
Just because a person has smoked dope or drunk booze at some random earlier point, it does not mean they are under the influence.
Pot stays in the system long long long after there is any effect. All it does is measure whether somebody has smoked it some point over the previous three weeks. Alcohol disappears much quicker.
If you are right and anyone who has been smoking or drinking the previous three weeks was not allowed to provide a service, do you know what would happen????? All the buses, planes, cars, taxis, foresters, bankers, wankers, accountants, mummies, daddies, cleaners, builders, diggers, miners, politicians, … would stop. Stop.
Except for those teatotallers out there.
Over to you though – if that is what you want. Anyone who has smoked or drunk in the last whatever and irrelevant but immaterial time period is not allowed to provide a service then so be it. But it would be a world history first. Puritanical in the extreme.
I do have a solution. It is carry out an “under the influence” test, not a “have you indulged recently” test. The test must be whether a person is under the influence – that is it. Like a blood test for alcohol, which is pretty good. The drug test does nothing of the sort.
Hopefully I have explained myself there…
Makes sense to me. I would say though that alcohol testing does show current impairment (or at least current blood alcohol levels that are assumed to equate to impairment). That’s why police use it and it stands up in court. Cannabis is the tricky one because it is so widely used and as you say there is not test that shows current levels that equate to impairment.
I was interested to hear that legalise cannabis advocate from Timaru say on National Radio that she smoked while driving buses for a living, and considered that she had no impairment (which got The Panel twitching). I think it is likely that some people can in fact smoke small amounts of cannabis and not be impaired, but unfortunately someone else could smoke the same amount of the same cannabis and be impaired. It’s complex. I also think that some people are not affected over the long term by cannabis use and others are. I don’t know how one would test that.
btw, read this the other day…
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/20/local/la-me-1020-lopezcolumn-20101018
vto, I have expanded my thoughts on the use of drugs in a reply to QoT.
John72, this thread is very specifically about drug or alcohol impairment in the workplace.
This thread is not about durg use in society.
But by engaging as if it is, you have fallen straight into the trap, as has pretty much everyone else.
one more time – drug testing does not test alcohol or drug impairment in the workplace.
What has birth control got to do with drug testing? Or, in fact, to do with any of the waffle that you just spouted?
Apparently … and this is fascinating … Back In The Day everything was fine and no one got high on the job because there weren’t as many only children, which I suppose is logical because then there was less disposable income to spend on booze for the kids?
Whatever the case, clearly it’s all feminism’s fault and if bitches got back in the kitchen society would be pure and wholesome again.
I’ll do the kitchen stuff QoT, pick me pick me.
QoT, self-inflicted injury has been a problem for 100’s of years. We now have a generation that is less prepared to accept responsibility for it’s actions.
No one has ever been perfect. I am suggesting that standards are changing.
It is sanctimonious to suggest that they are only changing for the better.
So many of today’s youth are only concerned about self satisfaction.
There have always been people living in hardship and poverty and there still are people living under bridges or in cars.
Why do people on a Student Loan, Solo Mother Benefit, Old Age Benefit, etc., need money for drugs?
Why does anyone need drugs? They did not need it 100 years ago. Some might have used it but the world did not need them.
They do not need the drugs. The money spent on drugs goes to the rich?
If you think that you NEED drugs, you have a problem. Life is an adventure for so many people who never touch drugs. Grow up and move on.
Once you become trapped by drugs, you are locked into a habbit and it becomes difficult to go out and explore the world. Grow up and move on.
Drugs weren’t needed a hundred years ago? No more than now, anyway.
J72 a 100+ years a go good spin NZ women were fed up with their husbands coming home drunk (alcohol NZ’s Most dangerous Drug after tobacco)and beating them and their children up.
So they banned alcohol through temperance to try and deal with the problem.
No problems for 100’s of years YEAH RIGHT.
NZ has a problem with legal and illegal drugs and always has.
In your small dream world drugs are not addictive if that were the case there wouldn’t be a problem.
You are so right, John, these stoopid yoof just don’t understand how good they have it. They should just … stop being biologically addicted to things! And stop having such desperate existences that brain-chemistry-altering is a pretty attractive option!
Also, Socrates put it better than you. Which could be telling, if you wanted to actually get off that high horse.
Draco,You are quoting out of context. Are you illiterate or just baiting me?
The rest of your comment is personal criticism. Is the the monotor setting the standard of The Standard?
I think we’re just intrigued that you seem to think birth control has something to do with drug abuse.
No I didn’t. You said something about small families and then went on about drug abuse being due to birth control. You failed to say what this had to do with drug testing.
Neither, I was pointing out that you’re an idiot.
Snort:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10816925
Mind you, it’s a shame that the (mostly) good people at the Crown Law Office have been tarnished by a combination of this Government and their previous, incompetent, eager-to-please his masters, Leader (now a High Court Judge)
LOL – and snort!
But I agree that not all at Crown Law are idiots; there are actually some exceptionally good people there as well.
However, I now see that Crown Law has contracted out the Kim Dotcom extradition legal work ….
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10816989
NACTIONAL STANDARDS
“Mr Key said the Minister of Education told him data was not up to scratch – “it’s extremely patchy and in different formats and that will make it very difficult to interpret – but over time the Government hopes it will be more consistent because the purpose of having information is to give parents a better sense of how their school is performing”.
Isn’t it funny how the focus has changed. Now for “The parents need to know how THEIR CHILD is doing” read “how THE SCHOOL is performing”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10816964
( “delete” apparently didn’t work) sorry…
On Radionz http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/109799/nz-shell-companies-favoured-for-money-laundering we are revealed as becoming a haven for rotten criminals overseas doing their nasty money laundering through our compliant complacent naive stupid system of low or non regulation on this important matter of probity and control of business.
I have heard pollies say in a self-congratulatory way how easy it is for businesses to set up in NZ. This is a good thing and shows how smart people going forward behave in government by cutting pesky bureaucratic controls.
And just what standards are we prepared to drop to do business and made a buck. Note the background to the agent for buying the Crafar farms. Is this the sort of business person we want to be dealing with. Tongans were criticised for selling passports to raise capital, what are we up for in the drive by some to make squids (for themselves)?
Don’t cry for me …
Guess what John, not many here will shed a tear either when you have finally moved on
http://jtc.blogs.com/just_left/2008/10/smiling-assassi.html
I have waited in vain,of course!, for some comment by the loud mouth Garth McVicar regarding the road rage hit by the Parnell resident millionaire who twice ran over a man in a moment of road rage. Just imagine if this angry driver had been Brown or unemployed the Sensible Sentence Chairperson would have been uttering his vitriolic mouthing on all media channels . However let us not forget how he championed the white business man who knifed a young Maori tagger to death , McVicar thought that was ok.Its time this loudmouth was shut up completely .
Well said!
Strange! Why would Key say he didn’t cry when he left Merrill Lynch? You don’t cry when you leave somewhere voluntarily. Was he given the boot? Is this another bit of “I forget” on the CV ?
Interesting article on the bankruptcy of libertarianism.
Let It Bleed: Libertarianism and the Workplace.
Related: Fuck me or you’re fired!.
I was reading http://lancewiggs.com/2012/07/02/more-data-on-our-wonderful-energy-system/ and thought the numbers from the MED where off. http://t.co/KhiWFiY9 but that MED PDF is just number juggling.
NZ uses 149700 barrels per day and has a production of 1700000 which is %3 of 554640500 total barrels, not 43% of domestic oil demand.
The MED does have a fine print note on page 44 about how they didn’t count the oil consumption for non-energy use. So the 43% domestic oil demand is well off base. But is a great feel good figure.
So NZ is using 149700 barrels of oil a day, of which the MED day 1424657 are used in non energy related stuff. That seems a bit strange.
Oil use chart: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2174rank.html
The verdict is in, Ewen McDonald has been found not guilty, and Scott’s father gets to make a 3 minute speech on the news.
Seriously!
Ever since the Scott Guy murder happened, the media have been completely obsessed (just as with the ‘Blenheim friends’ in 1998-9… Why? That’s what I don’t get. No other person on trial for murder has ever been treated so kindly and gently by the media, and whereas lower class people on trial are referred to by solely their surname, Ewen McDonald has always been referred to by his full name. The victim is ‘Mr McDonald. The media have been blatting on and on about the huge public interest, people elbowing each other aside at the door of the public gallery etc – I believe this is because the media were telling them it was a big deal! It was hardly fascinating in and of itself… 🙂
Is it a class thing? That’s the only thing I can think of… they must either be rich, or related to someone important.
Let’s hope we don’t have a week of post-mortems!
Well said Vicky 32.
The huge public interest was indeed because the media was making such a big deal out of it. Every night on TV for the past 3 weeks (at least) it has been the No.1 item because they wanted to turn it into a sensational whodunnit melodrama. Why? Because they are an attractive looking white middle class family with close associations to the National Party – the born to rule party.
In other words it is a class thing. I have made a point of turning off the TV every night at 6pm until the trial was over. Unfortunately I think you are right. We will now have to put up with nightly post-mortems for the next week at least.
I sympathise deeply with the wife’s distress etc., but she made a statement this evening which left me staggered. She said something to the effect: “it is terrible to think something like this could happen in NZ.” What about the many hundreds – thousands – of NZers who have lost husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, friends as a result of murder or manslaughter. Don’t they count because many of them are poor or brown – or maybe because they support the wrong political side?
I’m reminded of the murder of the Trade Unionist back in the 1970s (I think) at a time when
the Cold War was pretty much at it’s zenith. The murderer(s) were never caught or so we were told. I would not be surprised if the police at the time were told or were gently nudged into… not conducting a full blown investigation.
Found this piece on Wikipedia. The Trade Union murder was 1984 – shortly before the 84′ snap election.
Wellington Trades Hall bombing
On 27 March 1984, a suitcase bomb was left in the foyer of the Trades Hall in Wellington. The Trades Hall was the headquarters of a number of trade unions, and it is most commonly assumed that they were the target of the bombing, although other theories have been put forward. Ernie Abbott, the building’s caretaker, was killed when he attempted to move the suitcase, which is believed to have contained three sticks of gelignite triggered by a mercury switch.[6] To this day, the perpetrator has never been identified. Those elements of the New Zealand Police responsible for preventing and investigating such crimes were headquartered in the building across the street.
Surprise, surprise. The police never arrested anybody. Don’t kid me ‘the establishment’ didn’t have a pretty good idea whodunnit.
I remember that… and I was not then, and am not now surprised that there has never been a proper investigation. I am very sad though!
“Because they are an attractive looking white middle class family with close associations to the National Party – the born to rule party.”
What associations, Anne?
I think the intense media interest was because of the nature of the case, which, as I’ve said before, is quite Shakespearean. Or possibly biblical, if you are that way inclined. A family divided, prodigal son, etc.
I understand they were a farming family associated with the National Party. Indeed one of the Guy siblings was recently a National Party candidate.
Do you honestly believe that : given commensurate circumstances the intense media interest would have been anything like as intense if the family had been either:
a) black or brown.
b) relatively underprivileged.
The answer is a very definite no.
The verdict was a surprise I have to admit. I almost certainly thought he would be convicted.
Mind you I cannot see him turning up to the Guy Family Christmas dinner this year…
Ah it is such a long way down on that roller coaster and it’s time to fasten the seat belts for another downward screamer,
Manufacturing data from the US,Europe,and, China has all three of the big economic powerhouses showing a slow down,
In a quixotic turn New Zealand’s manufacturing figures have shown a 1% rise but joyful times it ain’t as weak prices for dairy showed that export earnings from that 1% rise in manufacturing fell 400 million dollars for the period,
Ah we all just have the love the global free trade played out upon the level playing field right…
Thanks Slippery for such wonderful words of knowledge and leadership, having our Prime Minister comment on anything of a factual nature is a fraught experience akin to opening an empty suitcase seeking enlightenment,
On 3 news there was a piece of how a number of nations are engaging in naval exercises with the US navy along with New Zealand and how our contribution Te Kaha has been forbidden docking rights at the Pearl Harbor naval facility and instead must dock elsewhere at a civilian wharf,
Attempting to throw off criticism that NZ and it’s navy are being deliberately snubbed by the US over our Nuclear ships ban Slippery dropped the clanger that naval exercises take place at sea,
Nah i don’t believe that, i was always of the opinion that naval exercises took part in sone really big bath-tubs with plastic model ships.
After listening again to the Prime Ministers voice inflections i can only add that the closet isn’t locked wee John, you can come out now if you want…
Are the USA Navy and associates actually refusing Te Kaha a place to dock alongside the others taking part in their war games? Probably they don’t have enough facilities for the team that they have drummed up. But the USA can hold onto vindictive attitudes for a long time. They have kept Cuba at the end of a bargepole for how many years – about fifty? There’s no fury like that of a hegemonic country scorned.
Interesting…
My bolding. Rumour is the Barclay’s COO is next on resignation watch.
The piece on Compliance not for Banks yesterday plus Alex cartoon that hit the nail as usual – it started me wondering – if the financial people start mea culpa’ing where will it end and will the
financial people ever find their mojos again? Forbes comment on mojos –
Though along with the above, the adherence to rules of engagement with clients and seekers of financial advice would be an excellent thing.
For some reason it made me think of Lewis Caroll and the Walrus and the Carpenter and the way they encouraged tender naive oysters to walk with them and then enjoyed eating them with bread and butter.
In the meantime, the Walrus and the Carpenter wake from their gluttony sadly.
“I weep for you,” the Walrus said:
“I deeply sympathize.”
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.
“O Oysters,” said the Carpenter,
“You’ve had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?’
But answer came there none–
And this was scarcely odd, because
They’d eaten every one.
Diamond is now free to speak without restraint at tomorrow’s Treasury committee hearing. He’ll be dropping the Bank of England in it, according to the Guardian. They suggest that Barclay’s were given the nod to go ahead with the LIBOR manipulation by senior staff at the B of E.
His Lordship can wring His pink little fingers in abject horror for as long as he likes, but, that will neither clean up or out the criminality of those in the City of London’s financial ‘Firms’,
Neither will such crocodile tears stop the International criminality of the Global Banking System, as is done to any conspiracy of cheap crooks whether they deal in mere 1000’s of dollars or mega-millions, billions, or, trillions, the Banks themselves should be seized lock stock and barrel as being the proceeds of criminal behaviour,
Until such time as the extent of such criminal offending is known in it’s totality and recompense, redress,restitution,and, suitable punishment meted out and served by both the individuals and institutions then we all are simply awaiting the next round of economic chaos caused by these people who are not a minority offending alone for personal gain but are institutional criminal organizations,
They may be masquerading behind the legitimate facade of ‘business’ but show us any such criminality in the history of the Western World that has brought the whole concept of Western civilization as we know it a hairsbreadth away from going back to the future of creating debt bonds a mere whisker away from the point where we re-trade these as debt bombs…
Go Max and Stacey! Latest Keiser Report lands bullseye after bullseye on Barclays and their governmental and media mates.
Conmankey nothing more than a high flying insider trading bank robber
.
But conspiracies dont exist bad12
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Whoa — just had a bit of a shake here — still having it, things are swaying…
still going….
Wow, decent earthquake! Rocking and rolling for a minute, then a few seconds of swaying motion.
I hope that was all we got. The last thing we need is another Christchurch…
Wellington rocks!!, i fully expect once the big un has done it,s stuff on Te Upoko O Te Ika to be living on an island again…
According to GeoNet:
Magnitude 6.5, Tuesday, July 3 2012 at 10:36 PM (NZST), 60 km south of Opunake.
Well, that was impressive. Have to pick up all my CD’s off the floor; first time I’ve touched ’em in years, ha!
Lol. NZ news sites are a bit slow on it… I’ve found out more about it sooner on here and Facebook from family in Wellington. Old media needs to get it’s act together.
The first I knew of it was Radio NZ this morning – after numerous items about Fielding and the Scott Guy soap opera…
What mad priorities! The public relations woman in Fielding spoke as if the trial had been something like the Christchurch earthquake. “We’ll get through it” she said bravely. I felt a bit sick when I heard that.
The latest review says that it was magnitude 7 depth of 230 km. Heard a boffin talk about the possible 8 expected within the next fifty years. One of a series about 300 years apart.
Felt it here in Christchurch. A bit different then the usual shakers. This was more of a rolling sensation.
More news that Key was deeply embedded in banking scandal BBC world radio
Investment bankers that didn’t play the game were sacked given 5 mins notice to clean out office space.
Key smiling assassin was the enforcer so must have been in on it
Well, he wasn’t sacked anyway.