Sure, there is plenty of debate about whether the levels being treated as requiring remediation are right or not, but BM’s basic point is entirely valid – it doesn’t get there by itself.
& then they bill you $30,000+ for the test! Add it up, 600 houses tested, 200 ‘infected’, is that $20,000,000 for the testing? 600 x 30,000 equals 20,000,000? Jeebus, someone is making a pretty penny out of misery.
Yep and that’s all that National need to know to consider it a success. Their actions have nothing to do with the health and well being of the country but are solely for the further enrichment of their rich mates.
HNZ making money from Meth testing – now thats a silly assertion.
Seriously Gangnam Style, so you think that HNZ went to the tenant and said “Hey lady. hey dude, theres traces of Meth in your house so can you kindly flick $30,000 from one of your term deposits to cover it?
And the tenants said “sure, we have so many term deposits that I will break one today and fix you up.”
Get real.
What actually happens is that HNZ gets no money, and then wastes a further chunk of money setting lawyers onto the ex tenant who has no money.
And then HNZ have to fix or demolish the house, and lose more money.
No independent oversight into the tests, real estate agents performing the tests, using the same swab over the whole house to get the result, same chemicals used in some cleaning solvents & fly spray, plus the desired need from HNZ to get people out of their houses. The amount of money involved is obscene & does not smell right, it’s basically “blank cheque policy”, I thought righties were against that kind of thing? Ecept when it’s punish the poor, then there is an endless money flow.
“plus the desired need from HNZ to get people out of their houses.”
That’s the one that interests me. Is there a clear chain of command coming from the people that want houses vacated and sold? Or is it that it’s just now entrenched in the culture of HNZ that houses are assets to be realised, so this is the shit they do as a matter of course? Not so much intentionally (we’ll get rid of tenants and sell the houses), but the idea being that the housing stock is more important than the people.
HNZ making money from Meth testing – now thats a silly assertion.
That wasn’t the assertion. It was pretty obvious that HNZ was spending lots of money resulting in profiteers making lots of money. This means that everything you said was a lie.
Congratulations to Venezuela’s Socialist rulers. They have now reached the stage of forced labour to combat the food shortages that their rule has brought about.
Congratulations to the US and their band of EU comrades – as declared many years ago, they have defeated Afghanistan and Iraq and ended the war on terror.
A war that nobody even knew existed, (the main terrorists from 9/11 were from Saudi, the West’s BFF in the region). Go figure!
Well-placed sources in the Government say the Land Information survey on foreign buyers was delayed while Ministers re-wrote the survey questions, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.
“I’m told the survey was delayed by Cabinet while Ministers – including Steven Joyce –interfered with the way the questions were framed.
“This is pure political manipulation and it has all the hallmarks of a Steven Joyce special.
“It would have been so easy to simply ask home buyers if they were citizens or residents. But instead the Government produced a convoluted set of questions that made nine months of data collection effectively useless.
“National has got itself into another housing fiasco by deliberately designing a survey to muddy the water and confuse the public debate about the impact of foreign buyers in the real estate market.
Then the entire National Party caucus needs to be placed in jail now. We simply cannot allow this level of corruption.
The thinking of the more Machiavellian liars and deceivers is essentially egotistical and focused on their wants and needs. They tend to think that they are entitled to do whatever is in their interests, regardless of the consequences on others. When caught out, they often shrug off the lies they use to cover-up what they have done, with the excuse that “everybody lies”. This argument assumes that all lies are the same; and if all lies are the same and everybody lies, then effectively this argument implies that the truth doesn’t matter.
The problem Draco, if this is true, that Steven Joyce has manipulated survey questions to suit his own needs, to paint a rosier picture of foreign investment in property, then nothing will happen.
For eight years, after fiasco, after false reporting, after denial of scientific fact and academic reasoning, after questionable to put it mildly, corrupt to put it more succinctly “deals” such as the Saudi sheep farm, the granting of millions of $$$ of “Pacific aid money” to a wealthy National Party donor, after turning a blind eye to the families of the victims of Pike River mine, after walking away from hurting Cantabrians, after pulling funding from essential health services such as Women’s refuge, after introducing cruel sanctions to suffering vulnerable beneficiaries whose children pay the price, after our PM not only getting away with but being supported in his physical and psychological assault of a woman – and all of this in front of an international media to watches on in horror (Remember “Il Cretino!!! The Italian papers cried)……….
Nothing will happen.
I’m sorry to be pessimistic. It’s why I no longer comment as much as I used to. All ideas come to nothing – or at least they are stewing and building while our country is on hold, hopefully the latter.
Watch and wait and we will see that nothing will come of this, like everything before it.
S. Most readers will be familiar with your approach: Act all innocent about a topic you are fully aware of, bait the reader by asking a question and then go into an attack on the reader whilst defending the indefensible.
Couldn’t agree more Rosie. Don’t worry about being pessimistic , it’s perfectly logical with the way things are being run in this world. It’s a bloody uphill battle when the majority of our dumbed down population are actively coerced to accept that…. war is peace…..freedom is slavery …. ignorance is strength.
What I’ve found particularly disturbing lately is joining faceblab for the first time, and seeing just how disconnected from NZ’s and the world’s current state of affairs some folks are. It’s like there is a concrete wall between them and the most basic knowledge about the seriousness of our socio-political problems. Maybe they like it this way. I don’t know.
Listening to Nick Smith avoiding the simple question was rather amusing. He thinks we are all stupid and don’t know the difference between a tax resident and an actual resident. My parents are tax residents only because they have a savings account here (and they pay tax on it) so they will not need to bring cash with them when they come to visit. Still doesn’t turn them into a NZ resident.
I don’t know what the questions are but how difficult can it be to ask ‘are you holding a: a. Student visa b. Temporary work visa c. NZ permanent resident d. None of the above’
He was also saying many got it wrong or didn’t answer at all! Well then, get back to them and demand an answer.
On Tuesday Richard Hanna, a three-term Republican became the first Republican in Congress to say he will vote for Hillary Clinton.
Referring to Trumps attacks on the Khan parents..Hanna asked, “Where do we draw the line? I thought it would have been when he alleged that U.S. Sen. John McCain was not a war hero because he was caught,”. . . ..
I believe Trump evaded joining the armed forces because of a foot defect but when questioned later couldn’t remember which foot.
I believe Trump evaded joining the armed forces because of a foot defect but when questioned later couldn’t remember which foot.
He’s lost track of his lies.
For many years, Mr. Trump, 70, has also asserted that it was “ultimately” the luck of a high draft lottery number — rather than the medical deferment — that kept him out of the war.
Continue reading the main story
But his Selective Service records, obtained from the National Archives, suggest otherwise. Mr. Trump had been medically exempted for more than a year when the draft lottery began in December 1969, well before he received what he has described as his “phenomenal” draft number.
Because of his medical exemption, his lottery number would have been irrelevant, said Richard Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service System, who has worked for the agency for three decades.
[..]
In a 2011 television interview, Mr. Trump described watching the draft lottery as a college student and learning then that he would not be drafted.
“I’ll never forget; that was an amazing period of time in my life,” he said in the interview, on Fox 5 New York. “I was going to the Wharton School of Finance, and I was watching as they did the draft numbers, and I got a very, very high number.”
But Mr. Trump had graduated from Wharton 18 months before the lottery — the first in the United States in 27 years — was held.
Oh dear. Trump has got a memory that is just as defective as poor old Kris Faafoi. I’m sure people recall his remarkable ability to remember things that happened when he was only a few months old.
Trump remembers things before they happened. Still what can one expect. They are both politicians.
Its just like getting people to understand that they and the time in their life is of the same value as the time of the persons life next to them.
20 hrs from my life is 20 hrs from my life.
20hrs from your life is 20 hrs from your life
20hrs from the coffee ladies life is 20 hrs from the coffee ladies life.
20 hrs from the guy who cleans toilets life is 20 hrs from the guy who cleans toilets life.
20hrs is 20 hrs
Once we strip away the false value system and understand that money is in many ways a false value system then we can start to build a world that enables people to live their life in the best way possible. One where we make the best use of technology to enable them to do so……
Consider that our current system is – you have to work in order to earn tokens (money) so that you can pay to survive. That’s what our system is.
Consider that the majority will not have enough to retire.
Consider that taking into account getting ready for work and travelling to and from work most people spend 60 – 70 hrs per week on work related activities. Over a lifetime that’s 60 or 70 hrs per week x 48 weeks per year (taking out 4 weeks for holidays – consider that in ours system too out of 52 weeks in a year you get to have 4 of those where you don’t have to work. WOW 4 weeks!!!!! Thankyou so much for my 4 weeks out of 52 where I don’t have to work). Lets say you live to 80 but like most people you can’t afford to retire so you spend 60 years doing that and we wont even factor in things like relationship break ups or losing your job and the fact that if those things happen to you then shit gets a lot harder for you or anyone else in that position.
Right so you have 60 hrs x 48 weeks x 60 years
So in the current system you are going to have to work 172,800 hrs of your life so that you can pay to live on this planet.
If you like we can add school onto that too. With school you get about 11 weeks off per year and you spend say an 1.5 hrs getting ready, travelling to and from school but lets just make it 2hrs in case you get homework.
Your at school from 9 – 3.30 so that’s 6.5 hrs per day plus 2hrs or 42.5 hrs per week.
So 42.5 hrs x (52 weeks – 11 weeks you get off is 39 weeks) x lets say 13 years for school
So 13 x 42.5 x 39 = 21 547.5hrs
Then lets add in sleep cause athough its nice you’re not really living you’re at best having a cool dream so if you life for 80 years lets say 8rs sleep (cause that’s what you’re supposed to get
Which is 8 hrs x 365 days of the year x 80 years = 233,600 hours sleeping.
So to recap
Work 172,800 hrs
School 21 547.5hrs
Sleep 233,600 hours
Total 427,947.5 hrs of your life doing those activities
In a life of 80 years your total hours on the planet is 700,800hrs
Minus 427,947.5 hrs
Then out of 700,800rs you get a grand total of 272,852.5 hrs to actually experience and live the life you want to…….
But that doesn’t take into account cooking cleaning and all the other stuff you have to do to live
So 272,852.5 hrs – cleaning cooking going to the supermarket etc. etc. to live the life you want to live…….
If you have enough money…..
But that’s ok because at least your worth more than the coffee lady and the toilet cleaner right?
Or we could have a system where we use IT to enable the human experience here on this planet by ensuring that everyone has a smartphone and/or tablet and can connect to product hubs and service hubs (which already exist) and you could maybe need to work
Then we still have sleep 233,600hrs
We still have school (but without the homework because who really wants homework!!!???). 16,477.5hrs
Work say 20 hrs per week for say 20 years of your life and be able to work from home in many cases or at least not have the levels of peak hour traffic we have now and you could work (including an 1.5 hours travel time and getting ready) 26,400 hrs
So then the equation becomes 276,477.5hrs of your life spent working sleeping or at school (and 233,600 hrs is spent sleeping)
Out of your 700,800hrs of life.
Leaving you to 424,322.5 hrs of your life where you can experience and do whatever you want to do…….
And in this world with technology as an enabler, money no longer has to be a barrier to overcome.
But you do have to give up the notion that the hours of your life are more valuable that the lady who makes your coffee or the guy who cleans your toilets…..
if your wondering wtf at the above.
its basically that by changing the system and using technology in far better ways you could get 17 years of your life back that 99% of people wont get with the current system.
what worries me Scott is your saying it took 12 minutes to read what coffeeconnoiseur wrote …………… and unlike porn you probably don’t even understand it.
Good on you for spending the hour and a half to type your reply though ……
He took bribes from a firm and gave preference in contracts to that firm in return.
Is there any possibility that the firm offering the bribes and taking the bribe-induced contracts is guilty of wrong-doing and can also be brought before a court?
Stephen James Borlase, who had run private contractor Projenz, faces eight charges of bribing George and Noone and four of doctoring the number of hours claimed to have been worked in invoices to Council.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, “Auckland Transport boss pleads guilty to corruption charges”.
The reason there is no public transport in Auckland is that there is a toxic corrupt and incompetent culture in AT supported by the toxic culture from the Super City of fiefdoms at the council.
My guess is that they got a small fish, in a very large pond of corruption.
The types of decisions AT loves making… thanks for destroying our city AT!
Auckland transport is planning to build a massive road in South Auckland that would destroy hundreds of our homes, cut a swathe through communities and destroy irreplaceable native bush known as ‘Grahams Bush.’ Auckland Transport wants to build this road to improve traffic congestion and make roads for yet to be built houses – at the cost of existing houses and communities!
But The Tree Council has lodged an appeal with the Environment Court against the decision by Auckland Transport to accept the Notices of Requirement recommended by Commissioners on behalf of the consent authority for the Redoubt Road-Mill Road corridor upgrade. Now they need your help: http://bit.ly/1y7VQoJ
Looks like Corbyn might not be such a shoe-in in the UK if 25% of his 25Gbp supporters are banned. On the bright side – Labour will keep their money thank you very much.
Isn’t the question on leader really about who might stand the best chance of helping the party to win an election?
The current Labour MPs are in a good position to judge who helps their electoral chances, and are motivated by self-interest to do so. By contrast the membership may enjoy having a leader who says things they like to hear, but that is hardly going to help reach out to the middle voters who decide elections. Preaching to the converted can only get you so far.
Labour have the same problem here with Little, and the selection method that put him in his job.
Except polling suggests that the Leaders favoured by the Blairite/Brownite sections of the PLP have proven no more popular (and often demonstrably less popular) with both Labour voters and voters in general than Corbyn. Whether it be Eagle and Smith this year or Cooper and Kendal last year.
Corbyn has certainly received some very poor personal ratings from voters over the last year – it’s just that the PLP plotters’ candidates are held in even lower regard.
Hmm Shamubeel is the same economist that has told Kiwis for the last 10 years that there was going to be a housing crash each year, renting was a better investment than owning your own home (as homes in Auckland increased $1000 per week) and that immigration has nothing to do with the property boom.
Yep, have to go with Little on this one, there is not going to be any affordable houses for Kiwis with the unitary plan, the affordable options were deleted, they are designed for new arrivals as the new migrants, as they don’t like old Kiwi villas and bungalows and want new apartments and McMansions and gardens are not popular as clearly a waste of space that you can cram some more people into.
Gotta give the punters what they want!
Lucky the council planners have left a few streets free of intensification for the prominent New Zealand rich listers, so they don’t have to have their leafy large waterfront sites, decimated.
I mean with supply and demand – has anyone looked at how many people in the world there are to buy our houses? We allow anyone to buy here from Russia, to the middle east to the EU.
Thanks for the supply and demand lesson Shamubeel. sarc.
“Lianjia, which has more than 6000 branches in over 25 cities in China, will co-list Ray White’s New Zealand and Australian and properties in Mandarin on its websites.
The exposure to Lianjia’s audience – about 260 million Chinese buyers – will provide Ray White with the leverage into China and, more importantly, fulfil the organisation’s strategy of becoming more diverse and a brand that is more attractive to the Chinese community. …”
That NZ real estate companies are now direct marketing to cheap Chinese money makes me think there will never be a soft correction in NZ housing.
No matter what happens with the continuation of stagnant wages, a slower economy, further job losses, interest rate rises, there will always be direct marketing by the likes of Ray White to cheap Chinese money, and those people will delight in picking at the bones of of New Zealand society.
More and more New Zealanders want to live in smaller houses and apartments, especially in the younger and older age groups. People want to live within walking or cycling distance of the places that they travel to most often. Most people are happy with mixed-use development, putting homes close to offices, shops, parks, schools and public transport routes.
So, giving the people what they want is the complete opposite of what you think that they want.
Read how a recent Democratic House Rep’s net worth has gone up by millions in the last 6 years
While we have often heard that members of Congress, who are not only exempt from insider trading oversight, are also ardent daytraders we had never seen it in action.
Until now.
The following publicly filed monthly Periodic Transaction Report by Democrat Congresswoman, Judy Chu, shows us just how pervasive daytrading is not only for algos, but for those who supposedly are paid to serve their constituents. What is interesting is the size of the trades – between $1,000 and $15,000 each, this is not some novice, penny pincher; what is even more interesting are the underlying securities of choice: volatile, and levered, calls and puts on not only the S&P500, but also on some of the most volatile securities out there, such as the VIX.
Good. Fucking NIMBYs opposing everything except their own activities.
… the proposal drew the ire of nearby neighbours, who said property prices, quality of life and even, possibly, health would be negatively affected by the installations.
I guess we should be grateful they at least put the word “possibly” in there – if it was cellphone towers the health-destroying woo would pretty much be taken for granted.
Mr Pickford, whose Pryde Rd property would be about 800m from the turbines, said he had “had a gutsful”.
That’s one motherfucker of a wind turbine, if it can be “intrusive and visually dominant” over a property 800 meters away. Are we building them the size of Auckland’s Sky Tower now?
I was just looking at that as well. The change on the weekend was to shift it from not working due to a problem with the fragment part of the cache not working. So I shifted it to using jQuery to fetch it,
It is odd. Had a query this morning about it still not appearing. First time I looked at it this evening it didn’t show. Now it is showing.
As Draco says @13.1 maybe after I have left a comment.
I’ll have a look at it ‘soonish’. But since I haven’t left work yet, soonish may be the weekend.
[lprent: Moved to OpenMike because it has nothing to do with trade. Banned for 4 weeks for simple diversion trolling. I’m trying to make myself the most disliked moderator by trolls and the most beloved by anyone who has ascended above your grunting level. BTW: How am I doing in this popularity contest? You can answer in 4 weeks. ]
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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 ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
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 ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
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 ...
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Such an admirable leader.
Owen Jones meets Jeremy Corbyn again.
Parallels for NZ Paul?
Hardly, very bland, career politician it’s the medias fault, missing millions will save me , same script different country
HNZ knows its meth test are not fit for purpose, but will still evict tenants, in fact it will increase testing. Wankers, complete & utter wankers.
Don’t smoke meth or let other people smoke meth in your state house, problem solved.
If you can’t do that, go live on the street.
Grow a brain mate, think a bit harder, the tests are proven to be flawed, just as much meth are on your banknotes in your wallet.
Sure, there is plenty of debate about whether the levels being treated as requiring remediation are right or not, but BM’s basic point is entirely valid – it doesn’t get there by itself.
I would place as much faith in your problem solving ability as I would Nek Minut Smith.
or HNZ could insist on proper testing guidelines that actually mean something
christ BM – use your brain for a damn change – stop sticking up for scammers
& then they bill you $30,000+ for the test! Add it up, 600 houses tested, 200 ‘infected’, is that $20,000,000 for the testing? 600 x 30,000 equals 20,000,000? Jeebus, someone is making a pretty penny out of misery.
Yep and that’s all that National need to know to consider it a success. Their actions have nothing to do with the health and well being of the country but are solely for the further enrichment of their rich mates.
HNZ making money from Meth testing – now thats a silly assertion.
Seriously Gangnam Style, so you think that HNZ went to the tenant and said “Hey lady. hey dude, theres traces of Meth in your house so can you kindly flick $30,000 from one of your term deposits to cover it?
And the tenants said “sure, we have so many term deposits that I will break one today and fix you up.”
Get real.
What actually happens is that HNZ gets no money, and then wastes a further chunk of money setting lawyers onto the ex tenant who has no money.
And then HNZ have to fix or demolish the house, and lose more money.
“And then HNZ have to fix or demolish the house, and lose more money.”
If every p contaminated place in the country had to be fixed or replaced i would bet that every motel and hotel in the country will need work.
No independent oversight into the tests, real estate agents performing the tests, using the same swab over the whole house to get the result, same chemicals used in some cleaning solvents & fly spray, plus the desired need from HNZ to get people out of their houses. The amount of money involved is obscene & does not smell right, it’s basically “blank cheque policy”, I thought righties were against that kind of thing? Ecept when it’s punish the poor, then there is an endless money flow.
“plus the desired need from HNZ to get people out of their houses.”
That’s the one that interests me. Is there a clear chain of command coming from the people that want houses vacated and sold? Or is it that it’s just now entrenched in the culture of HNZ that houses are assets to be realised, so this is the shit they do as a matter of course? Not so much intentionally (we’ll get rid of tenants and sell the houses), but the idea being that the housing stock is more important than the people.
“HNZ making money from Meth testing – now thats a silly assertion.”
i dont think that assertion was ever made – reads to me like GS is pointing the finger at the testing industry
That wasn’t the assertion. It was pretty obvious that HNZ was spending lots of money resulting in profiteers making lots of money. This means that everything you said was a lie.
Where is all the meth coming from??? What happened to JK’s war on P?
Bit the dust like all his ideas that could be helpful to society.
Congratulations to Venezuela’s Socialist rulers. They have now reached the stage of forced labour to combat the food shortages that their rule has brought about.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/07/venezuela-new-regime-effectively-amounts-to-forced-labour/
I guess many of them would starve if Venezuela had a more “free market” economy. Would that be preferable?
Congratulations to Somalia’s free market Libertarian government. The civil war is now in its thirtieth year.
Congratulations to communist China, propping up western ‘free market’ countries, party time!
Congratulations to the social democracies in Europe and Scandinavia, demonstrating how false Gosman’s premise is, and it’s the only one he’s got 😆
Congratulations to New Zealand whose rock-star economy is dependent on immigration and an out of control property boom.
Congratulations to the US and their band of EU comrades – as declared many years ago, they have defeated Afghanistan and Iraq and ended the war on terror.
A war that nobody even knew existed, (the main terrorists from 9/11 were from Saudi, the West’s BFF in the region). Go figure!
Congratulations to Gosman – wannabe Ahmadinejad of the Key kleptocracy.
What a brilliant “Congratulations” thread there. It must be a ‘device’ with a special name or something.
Was about to add some Cliff Richards……..
If this is true:
Then the entire National Party caucus needs to be placed in jail now. We simply cannot allow this level of corruption.
EDIT:
Categories of Lies – White Lies, Grey Lies, and Black Lies
Describes National to a ‘T’.
The problem Draco, if this is true, that Steven Joyce has manipulated survey questions to suit his own needs, to paint a rosier picture of foreign investment in property, then nothing will happen.
For eight years, after fiasco, after false reporting, after denial of scientific fact and academic reasoning, after questionable to put it mildly, corrupt to put it more succinctly “deals” such as the Saudi sheep farm, the granting of millions of $$$ of “Pacific aid money” to a wealthy National Party donor, after turning a blind eye to the families of the victims of Pike River mine, after walking away from hurting Cantabrians, after pulling funding from essential health services such as Women’s refuge, after introducing cruel sanctions to suffering vulnerable beneficiaries whose children pay the price, after our PM not only getting away with but being supported in his physical and psychological assault of a woman – and all of this in front of an international media to watches on in horror (Remember “Il Cretino!!! The Italian papers cried)……….
Nothing will happen.
I’m sorry to be pessimistic. It’s why I no longer comment as much as I used to. All ideas come to nothing – or at least they are stewing and building while our country is on hold, hopefully the latter.
Watch and wait and we will see that nothing will come of this, like everything before it.
“the granting of millions of $$$ of “Pacific aid money” to a wealthy National Party donor”
I must have missed this. Who is this person you are referring to?
S. Most readers will be familiar with your approach: Act all innocent about a topic you are fully aware of, bait the reader by asking a question and then go into an attack on the reader whilst defending the indefensible.
You know perfectly well who I’m talking about.
looking for another sugar daddy?
😀
Couldn’t agree more Rosie. Don’t worry about being pessimistic , it’s perfectly logical with the way things are being run in this world. It’s a bloody uphill battle when the majority of our dumbed down population are actively coerced to accept that…. war is peace…..freedom is slavery …. ignorance is strength.
What I’ve found particularly disturbing lately is joining faceblab for the first time, and seeing just how disconnected from NZ’s and the world’s current state of affairs some folks are. It’s like there is a concrete wall between them and the most basic knowledge about the seriousness of our socio-political problems. Maybe they like it this way. I don’t know.
It’s been an eye opener for sure.
Good to read you again Rosie !
Kia ora North 🙂
Listening to Nick Smith avoiding the simple question was rather amusing. He thinks we are all stupid and don’t know the difference between a tax resident and an actual resident. My parents are tax residents only because they have a savings account here (and they pay tax on it) so they will not need to bring cash with them when they come to visit. Still doesn’t turn them into a NZ resident.
I don’t know what the questions are but how difficult can it be to ask ‘are you holding a: a. Student visa b. Temporary work visa c. NZ permanent resident d. None of the above’
He was also saying many got it wrong or didn’t answer at all! Well then, get back to them and demand an answer.
There is hope….
On Tuesday Richard Hanna, a three-term Republican became the first Republican in Congress to say he will vote for Hillary Clinton.
Referring to Trumps attacks on the Khan parents..Hanna asked, “Where do we draw the line? I thought it would have been when he alleged that U.S. Sen. John McCain was not a war hero because he was caught,”. . . ..
I believe Trump evaded joining the armed forces because of a foot defect but when questioned later couldn’t remember which foot.
Disney couldn’t write this script.
” couldn’t remember which foot.”
The one that’s always in his mouth would be my guess.
Ha! No it was just one foot, not two.
He’s lost track of his lies.
For many years, Mr. Trump, 70, has also asserted that it was “ultimately” the luck of a high draft lottery number — rather than the medical deferment — that kept him out of the war.
Continue reading the main story
But his Selective Service records, obtained from the National Archives, suggest otherwise. Mr. Trump had been medically exempted for more than a year when the draft lottery began in December 1969, well before he received what he has described as his “phenomenal” draft number.
Because of his medical exemption, his lottery number would have been irrelevant, said Richard Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service System, who has worked for the agency for three decades.
[..]
In a 2011 television interview, Mr. Trump described watching the draft lottery as a college student and learning then that he would not be drafted.
“I’ll never forget; that was an amazing period of time in my life,” he said in the interview, on Fox 5 New York. “I was going to the Wharton School of Finance, and I was watching as they did the draft numbers, and I got a very, very high number.”
But Mr. Trump had graduated from Wharton 18 months before the lottery — the first in the United States in 27 years — was held.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/donald-trump-draft-record.html?_r=2
Oh dear. Trump has got a memory that is just as defective as poor old Kris Faafoi. I’m sure people recall his remarkable ability to remember things that happened when he was only a few months old.
Trump remembers things before they happened. Still what can one expect. They are both politicians.
Aww, alwyn has a Labour done did it too moment….
/
what Labour did it in the States too?
damn that party is coming around.
Actually, it’s more that he’s got a memory just Like John Keys – it changes in relation to what he thinks is in his best interests.
Otherwise known as lying.
Brill’ !
Maybe alwyn is suffering from Keyzheimers disease …………. it’s like Alzheimer ……. but allows the infected person to choose what they forget.
Its just like getting people to understand that they and the time in their life is of the same value as the time of the persons life next to them.
20 hrs from my life is 20 hrs from my life.
20hrs from your life is 20 hrs from your life
20hrs from the coffee ladies life is 20 hrs from the coffee ladies life.
20 hrs from the guy who cleans toilets life is 20 hrs from the guy who cleans toilets life.
20hrs is 20 hrs
Once we strip away the false value system and understand that money is in many ways a false value system then we can start to build a world that enables people to live their life in the best way possible. One where we make the best use of technology to enable them to do so……
Consider that our current system is – you have to work in order to earn tokens (money) so that you can pay to survive. That’s what our system is.
Consider that the majority will not have enough to retire.
Consider that taking into account getting ready for work and travelling to and from work most people spend 60 – 70 hrs per week on work related activities. Over a lifetime that’s 60 or 70 hrs per week x 48 weeks per year (taking out 4 weeks for holidays – consider that in ours system too out of 52 weeks in a year you get to have 4 of those where you don’t have to work. WOW 4 weeks!!!!! Thankyou so much for my 4 weeks out of 52 where I don’t have to work). Lets say you live to 80 but like most people you can’t afford to retire so you spend 60 years doing that and we wont even factor in things like relationship break ups or losing your job and the fact that if those things happen to you then shit gets a lot harder for you or anyone else in that position.
Right so you have 60 hrs x 48 weeks x 60 years
So in the current system you are going to have to work 172,800 hrs of your life so that you can pay to live on this planet.
If you like we can add school onto that too. With school you get about 11 weeks off per year and you spend say an 1.5 hrs getting ready, travelling to and from school but lets just make it 2hrs in case you get homework.
Your at school from 9 – 3.30 so that’s 6.5 hrs per day plus 2hrs or 42.5 hrs per week.
So 42.5 hrs x (52 weeks – 11 weeks you get off is 39 weeks) x lets say 13 years for school
So 13 x 42.5 x 39 = 21 547.5hrs
Then lets add in sleep cause athough its nice you’re not really living you’re at best having a cool dream so if you life for 80 years lets say 8rs sleep (cause that’s what you’re supposed to get
Which is 8 hrs x 365 days of the year x 80 years = 233,600 hours sleeping.
So to recap
Work 172,800 hrs
School 21 547.5hrs
Sleep 233,600 hours
Total 427,947.5 hrs of your life doing those activities
In a life of 80 years your total hours on the planet is 700,800hrs
Minus 427,947.5 hrs
Then out of 700,800rs you get a grand total of 272,852.5 hrs to actually experience and live the life you want to…….
But that doesn’t take into account cooking cleaning and all the other stuff you have to do to live
So 272,852.5 hrs – cleaning cooking going to the supermarket etc. etc. to live the life you want to live…….
If you have enough money…..
But that’s ok because at least your worth more than the coffee lady and the toilet cleaner right?
Or we could have a system where we use IT to enable the human experience here on this planet by ensuring that everyone has a smartphone and/or tablet and can connect to product hubs and service hubs (which already exist) and you could maybe need to work
Then we still have sleep 233,600hrs
We still have school (but without the homework because who really wants homework!!!???). 16,477.5hrs
Work say 20 hrs per week for say 20 years of your life and be able to work from home in many cases or at least not have the levels of peak hour traffic we have now and you could work (including an 1.5 hours travel time and getting ready) 26,400 hrs
So then the equation becomes 276,477.5hrs of your life spent working sleeping or at school (and 233,600 hrs is spent sleeping)
Out of your 700,800hrs of life.
Leaving you to 424,322.5 hrs of your life where you can experience and do whatever you want to do…….
And in this world with technology as an enabler, money no longer has to be a barrier to overcome.
But you do have to give up the notion that the hours of your life are more valuable that the lady who makes your coffee or the guy who cleans your toilets…..
if your wondering wtf at the above.
its basically that by changing the system and using technology in far better ways you could get 17 years of your life back that 99% of people wont get with the current system.
What worries me is that I just spent 0.2 hours reading that. This is 0.2 hours I’m never getting back.
what worries me Scott is your saying it took 12 minutes to read what coffeeconnoiseur wrote …………… and unlike porn you probably don’t even understand it.
Good on you for spending the hour and a half to type your reply though ……
Someone gets it!
Radio news and the Herald (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11686368) both say today that an employee of a public authority has pleaded guilty to charges of taking bribes.
He took bribes from a firm and gave preference in contracts to that firm in return.
Is there any possibility that the firm offering the bribes and taking the bribe-induced contracts is guilty of wrong-doing and can also be brought before a court?
Yup.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, “Auckland Transport boss pleads guilty to corruption charges”.
The reason there is no public transport in Auckland is that there is a toxic corrupt and incompetent culture in AT supported by the toxic culture from the Super City of fiefdoms at the council.
My guess is that they got a small fish, in a very large pond of corruption.
The types of decisions AT loves making… thanks for destroying our city AT!
Auckland transport is planning to build a massive road in South Auckland that would destroy hundreds of our homes, cut a swathe through communities and destroy irreplaceable native bush known as ‘Grahams Bush.’ Auckland Transport wants to build this road to improve traffic congestion and make roads for yet to be built houses – at the cost of existing houses and communities!
But The Tree Council has lodged an appeal with the Environment Court against the decision by Auckland Transport to accept the Notices of Requirement recommended by Commissioners on behalf of the consent authority for the Redoubt Road-Mill Road corridor upgrade. Now they need your help: http://bit.ly/1y7VQoJ
yep Grahams Bush has been fighting for a while now.
Small potatoes here, but maybe the main course will be even tastier.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11686355
A tax-evading tradie has been banned from practising because of his tax-evasion practices. Now for the big cheeses in the tax evasion menu. Yum!
Looks like Corbyn might not be such a shoe-in in the UK if 25% of his 25Gbp supporters are banned. On the bright side – Labour will keep their money thank you very much.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/02/labour-leadership-jeremy-corbyn-quarter-supporters-barred-voting
Isn’t the question on leader really about who might stand the best chance of helping the party to win an election?
The current Labour MPs are in a good position to judge who helps their electoral chances, and are motivated by self-interest to do so. By contrast the membership may enjoy having a leader who says things they like to hear, but that is hardly going to help reach out to the middle voters who decide elections. Preaching to the converted can only get you so far.
Labour have the same problem here with Little, and the selection method that put him in his job.
Except polling suggests that the Leaders favoured by the Blairite/Brownite sections of the PLP have proven no more popular (and often demonstrably less popular) with both Labour voters and voters in general than Corbyn. Whether it be Eagle and Smith this year or Cooper and Kendal last year.
Corbyn has certainly received some very poor personal ratings from voters over the last year – it’s just that the PLP plotters’ candidates are held in even lower regard.
Shamubeel Calls Bullshit #2: on Andrew Little’s problem with the Unitary Plan
http://thespinoff.co.nz/auckland-2016/01-08-2016/shamubeel-calls-bullshit-andrew-littles-affordable-housing-complaint/
Hmm Shamubeel is the same economist that has told Kiwis for the last 10 years that there was going to be a housing crash each year, renting was a better investment than owning your own home (as homes in Auckland increased $1000 per week) and that immigration has nothing to do with the property boom.
Yep, have to go with Little on this one, there is not going to be any affordable houses for Kiwis with the unitary plan, the affordable options were deleted, they are designed for new arrivals as the new migrants, as they don’t like old Kiwi villas and bungalows and want new apartments and McMansions and gardens are not popular as clearly a waste of space that you can cram some more people into.
Gotta give the punters what they want!
Lucky the council planners have left a few streets free of intensification for the prominent New Zealand rich listers, so they don’t have to have their leafy large waterfront sites, decimated.
I mean with supply and demand – has anyone looked at how many people in the world there are to buy our houses? We allow anyone to buy here from Russia, to the middle east to the EU.
Thanks for the supply and demand lesson Shamubeel. sarc.
“Lianjia, which has more than 6000 branches in over 25 cities in China, will co-list Ray White’s New Zealand and Australian and properties in Mandarin on its websites.
The exposure to Lianjia’s audience – about 260 million Chinese buyers – will provide Ray White with the leverage into China and, more importantly, fulfil the organisation’s strategy of becoming more diverse and a brand that is more attractive to the Chinese community. …”
That NZ real estate companies are now direct marketing to cheap Chinese money makes me think there will never be a soft correction in NZ housing.
No matter what happens with the continuation of stagnant wages, a slower economy, further job losses, interest rate rises, there will always be direct marketing by the likes of Ray White to cheap Chinese money, and those people will delight in picking at the bones of of New Zealand society.
+ 100% save nz.
Exclusive: The Greens unveil new urban design policy
So, giving the people what they want is the complete opposite of what you think that they want.
Read how a recent Democratic House Rep’s net worth has gone up by millions in the last 6 years
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-02/something-strange-emerges-when-looking-congresswomans-daytrading-records
Hillary was years ahead of that curve
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Rodham_cattle_futures_controversy
Dunedin’s Blueskin Bay wind farm set to appeal to the Environment Court:
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/wind-farm-appeal-opponent-leaving
Good. Fucking NIMBYs opposing everything except their own activities.
… the proposal drew the ire of nearby neighbours, who said property prices, quality of life and even, possibly, health would be negatively affected by the installations.
I guess we should be grateful they at least put the word “possibly” in there – if it was cellphone towers the health-destroying woo would pretty much be taken for granted.
Mr Pickford, whose Pryde Rd property would be about 800m from the turbines, said he had “had a gutsful”.
That’s one motherfucker of a wind turbine, if it can be “intrusive and visually dominant” over a property 800 meters away. Are we building them the size of Auckland’s Sky Tower now?
” Are we building them the size of Auckland’s Sky Tower now?”
At Blueskin Bay the answer is no. They will be less than125 metres high to the tip of the blade. Sky Tower is, I think about 220 metres.
On the other hand it won’t be very long before the largest towers will be greater in height than that. The highest I am aware of at the moment are planned to be 200 metres high. That is a bloody big tower.
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/09/15/hartlepool-highest-wind-turbine-scheme-proposed/
@lprent
Is the ‘Replied’ function still disabled? Not been working for me since the week-end.
The ‘Replies’ tab is working for me but not until after I’ve commented.
I was just looking at that as well. The change on the weekend was to shift it from not working due to a problem with the fragment part of the cache not working. So I shifted it to using jQuery to fetch it,
It is odd. Had a query this morning about it still not appearing. First time I looked at it this evening it didn’t show. Now it is showing.
As Draco says @13.1 maybe after I have left a comment.
I’ll have a look at it ‘soonish’. But since I haven’t left work yet, soonish may be the weekend.
Thanks lprent. No hurry.
Yeah, it’s after you leave a comment that it starts working.
Works after commenting, but stops again if I close / open browser.
JK still the most popular PM in NZ History?
[lprent: Moved to OpenMike because it has nothing to do with trade. Banned for 4 weeks for simple diversion trolling. I’m trying to make myself the most disliked moderator by trolls and the most beloved by anyone who has ascended above your grunting level. BTW: How am I doing in this popularity contest? You can answer in 4 weeks. ]