CYPS, CYFS, “I’ve just taken over your case and can’t comment on what has happened before ”
I have seen both sides of state involvement in my family. A National Women’s social worker’s report to CYPS contained an error that lead to two years of intervention by an agency that I found had “powers the Gestapo would envy”. They could arrive unannounced anytime at home, work, in the street. Their intrusive accusatory actions made the first two years of my sons life Kafkaesque.
Some years later when our family was struggling CYFS as they had become turned up again. Dread turned to gratitude as a genuinely wonderful social worker made the system work for us.
Sitting down at a cafe I read the front page of the Herald. Then I read it again, but this time reading between the lines. No one deserves to be treated like that, and it doesn’t take a 1100 page report to do something about it.
“I have just been handed your case and can’t comment on what happened before ” is the real problem something needs to be done about
Latest TPP News
“U.S. Formally Tables ‘5+3’ Years Exclusivity Period For Biologics Drugs
ATLANTA — The United States has formally tabled here to other Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries a proposal that would require parties to grant five years of data exclusivity for biologics drugs and impose an additional three years of “post-market surveillance,” in the first official sign that it is willing to drop its 12-year market exclusivity demand.”
This is virtually the 8 years it has been vying for all along. Say NO, Tim!
“Amari Sees Glimmer Of Hope As Dairy Makes Progress; Obama Calls Turnbull
ATLANTA — Akira Amari, the Japanese minister for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), said late Thursday (Oct. 1) that negotiations continue to be extremely difficult but that he is beginning to see a glimmer of hope that a deal can get done here, as negotiators opted to extend the meeting at least through Saturday amid signs of progress on dairy market access.'”
“TPP means ‘ugly compromises’
He (Tim Groser) said it was clear there was a “massive push” to do the deal.
“It’s got the smell of a situation we occasionally see which is that on the hardest core issues, there are some ugly compromises out there.
“And when we say ugly, we mean ugly from each perspective – it doesn’t mean ‘I’ve got to swallow a dead rat and you’re swallowing foie gras.’ It means both of us are swallowing dead rats on three or four issues to get this deal across the line.”
“On the issue of Helen Clark’s comments about the TPP – she said it was unthinkable New Zealand wouldn’t be part of the deal – he said she had added a crucial rider – “provided the deal was good”.
Mr Groser said he did not take Labour or its leadership for granted on TPP.
“They haven’t got a position on TPP and I fully respect that and if I were in their shoes, I wouldn’t have a position either because I would say ‘I don’t know what the deal is.’ That is a perfectly rational position to take.”
Email Audrey
@audreyNZH
Audrey Young Audrey Young is the New Zealand Herald’s political editor.
TPP means ‘ugly compromises’
5:00 AM Saturday Oct 3, 2015
Save
Like on Facebook
35
Tweet on Twitter
7
Post on LinkedIn
0
+1 on Google+
1
Politics Trade
Tim Groser says the negotiations are going round the clock. Photo / NZME
Tim Groser says the negotiations are going round the clock. Photo / NZME
Trade Minister Tim Groser says countries deeply immersed in TPP negotiations understand that dairy has to be resolved to New Zealand’s satisfaction before a deal can be done.
“At least people understand that this has got to be done and they can’t just ignore our small country because we are small,” he told the Weekend Herald.
He also extended a goodwill gesture to Labour, saying he respected the fact it had not taken a position on TPP and that was “perfectly rational”.
Mr Groser was speaking from Atlanta where ministers of the 12 countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership have extended their meeting for another 24 hours.
He said he had spoken to Prime Minister John Key in New York several times over the past few hours.
And I’ve got highly confidential but very clear political guidelines from the Prime Minister about what I should be doing.
Tim Groser
▾ Advertising ▾
Close ad
Play
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration Time 0:15
Loaded: 0%Progress: 0%0:00
00:00
Mute
He had a team of about 15 with him “working their proverbials off” around the clock and some of the key stakeholders such as the chairman of Fonterra, John Wilson and the chairman of Dairy Companies of New Zealand. He said it was an achievement to get dairy on the list of the final three issues that had to be dealt with because it was not there at the Maui ministerial meeting at the end of July.
“I felt under as intense pressure as I have ever felt in the last 30 years as a New Zealand negotiator because I felt completely and totally isolated,” he said. “Now everyone understands that New Zealand is not going to be pushed out of this negotiation and the issues that would push New Zealand out of this negotiation, which is dairy … this has got be solved in a way that New Zealand can live with.”
He said the negotiations were going around the clock and he was just about to try and get a couple of hours’ sleep until he was called for another session.
He said it was clear there was a “massive push” to do the deal.
“It’s got the smell of a situation we occasionally see which is that on the hardest core issues, there are some ugly compromises out there.
“And when we say ugly, we mean ugly from each perspective – it doesn’t mean ‘I’ve got to swallow a dead rat and you’re swallowing foie gras.’ It means both of us are swallowing dead rats on three or four issues to get this deal across the line.”
The outstanding issues are dairy, autos, and IP on pharmaceuticals, especially biologics – medicines made from organisms.
On the issue of Helen Clark’s comments about the TPP – she said it was unthinkable New Zealand wouldn’t be part of the deal – he said she had added a crucial rider – “provided the deal was good”.
And that was the same position the Government had.
“I think it has been extremely helpful in terms of uniting New Zealand that our former Prime Minister has said what she said.”
Mr Groser said he did not take Labour or its leadership for granted on TPP.
“They haven’t got a position on TPP and I fully respect that and if I were in their shoes, I wouldn’t have a position either because I would say ‘I don’t know what the deal is.’ That is a perfectly rational position to take.”
But as a point of general principle, what Helen Clark had said was the essential truth: “Provided we can deliver what makes sense from an overall New Zealand Inc perspective, it would be a nightmare for New Zealand to be excluded from it.”
Terrifying Paul. Of course if we were not signatories we could be crushed by the multinationals. Excluded from all and everything as retaliation for not being party to TPP. Rock and hard place?
If you look to the right of the screen (I make it about level with comment 3, but that may change), you will see that very graphic that you’ve posted (just above the accumulated Atmospheric CO2 graphic). The people who regularly visit this site are not the ones who may be unaware of this.
I get that you’re passionate about this, and it is a daunting problem requiring urgent action. But you are coming off as a bit too eager, which may be counterproductive.
Hmm graphic seems to have changed (was the accumulated energy one). Can’t edit now, so disregard previous comment. Though I still contend that discussing is better than proclaiming is a better way to get your point across.
How is encouraging people to pass on message about TPP too eager? By that definition, Jane Kelsey is too eager by far!
The Labour Party is equivocal about the TPP and is not communicating its dangers enough to the people of NZ.
Still a neoliberal party, sadly.
“Of course if we were not signatories we could be crushed by the multinationals. Excluded from all and everything as retaliation for not being party to TPP. Rock and hard place?”
Ianmac, can you please give some examples of why this would be a problem?
Latest TPP News
Froman, Robb Meet On IP Ahead Of CN Meeting, Ministerial Plenary
ATLANTA — U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb on Friday afternoon (Oct. 2) were holding a bilateral meeting to discuss the controversial issue of the exclusivity term for biologics drugs, in what could be a pivotal moment for whether a broader Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal comes together here.
Levin Says ‘May 10’ Applies To Biologics, Signals Opposition To ‘5+3’
ATLANTA — House Ways & Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) on Friday (Oct. 2) strongly signaled that he opposes the new U.S. proposal for an eight-year market exclusivity term for biologics drugs in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) because it goes beyond the so-called “May 10” agreement that he negotiated with the George W. Bush administration. http://insidetrade.com/
Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich) is Ranking Member of the Committee on Ways and Means, which has sole jurisdiction over trade policy in the House.
I don’t think nsd is a sleep hobbit. I think he is aware of the issues but don’t think they are a concern. He’s not ignorant, he’s just comfortable with the globalisation agenda.
I’ve been fairly open about my position on the TPPA.
Succinctly I believe we should only enter an agreement if it offers good access for our key horticultural/agricultural exports into North America and Japan, I’m doubtful that it will hence i wouldn’t be in a hurry to sign up.
I’ve also read a lot of pap on the internet regarding loss of sovereignty and immediate privatisation of everything from healthcare through to water which is frankly drivel.
I’ve also read a lot of pap on the internet regarding loss of sovereignty and immediate privatisation of everything from healthcare through to water which is frankly drivel
Claiming to know it is drivel is an ironic position ?
Some of the comments have been ridiculous, such as suggesting we are going to no longer have a predominantly publicly funded healthcare or education system or that PHARMAC would cease to exist under an agreement that a NZ government would enter into are absurd.
Time you woke up to the fact that this is not a free trade deal that we are being asked to sign up to. Its a “rolling out of the red carpet” for offshore corporates to come in and wreck the country, its sovereignty and its economy for their own benefit.
This is not rocket science. Read the literature that is available, including the copious ‘writings on the wall(s)”.
ISDS provisions that remove a Government’s ability to legislate for the National interest with any provisions which conflict with foreign private corporate interest.
For example, re Nationalising banks, rail or power will be forever impossible. Pretty scary when you look at what corporations are doing in the US, over similar provisions between States.
Even our current support for Dairy would be considered outside the treaty provisions.
Actually re-nationalising things would be the least impacted by the new rules. Labour re-nationalised kiwirail by buying it – and apparently paying way too much in the process. Corporates would be fine with the asset being bought fair and square for more than it’s market value.
Worth reading, dated 2 Oct 2015 from Stiglitz and Hersh
“For starters, consider what the agreement would do to expand intellectual property rights for big pharmaceutical companies, as we learned from leaked versions of the negotiating text. Economic research clearly shows the argument that such intellectual property rights promote research to be weak at best. In fact, there is evidence to the contrary: When the Supreme Court invalidated Myriad’s patent on the BRCA gene, it led to a burst of innovation that resulted in better tests at lower costs. Indeed, provisions in the TPP would restrain open competition and raise prices for consumers in the US and around the world – anathema to free trade.”
In fact, there is evidence to the contrary: When the Supreme Court invalidated Myriad’s patent on the BRCA gene, it led to a burst of innovation that resulted in better tests at lower costs.
That’s been obvious for awhile. In fact, patents are actually there to prevent competition and thus they must decrease innovation. And when you look at these types of results we can see that cooperation would lead to even more innovation but it would prevent a few people becoming rich. Of course, it’s not the people doing the innovation that are becoming rich but the shareholders in the corporations.
If the deal is so important that it is “unthinkable” that New Zealand should not be in it then it should also be “unthinkable” that the people should be left completely uninformed about it. In a democracy highly important matters are supposedly decided by an informed citizenry.
Or are we not a democracy but simply a state ruled by a paternalistic elite who are so sure that they know what is best for us – and are so scared of our ‘ignorance’ – that they ensure we, ‘the people’, play no part in forming our social and economic destiny?
All elites through history have shown, by their egregious behaviour if not by their oh-so-patronising utterances, that they disdain the capacities of ‘the masses’ to rule themselves.
While I never liked Clark she has this dead right. We elect governments to negotiate ongoing development of free trade. The FTAs were her great achievement. The idea that you could do this publicly is absurd.
Hopefully the TPPA is the dawn of a new era of globalisation.
‘Publically’ and total secrecy are two ends of a long continuum. There has been no official information provided over these negotiations – apart from vacuous comments about how ‘well’ it was going.
Hillary’s knighthoods, both of them, were of course awarded by the Brits, and had nothing at all to do with New Zealand.
That will probably make them more palatable to Anglophiles such as the commenters on this blog.
I think that Audrey Young was trying to address that misrepresentation in her article I linked to above when she wrote :
“On the issue of Helen Clark’s comments about the TPP – she said it was unthinkable New Zealand wouldn’t be part of the deal – he said she had added a crucial rider – “provided the deal was good”.
Australia’s Trade Minister, Andrew Robb says “I came to lower protection so I get frustrated if we are talking about increasing protection in the case of biologics or see no reduction in other areas,” Mr Robb told the newspaper in Atlanta. “Something has to give.”
This is NOT a FREE TRADE Agreement.
I too want to see Labour NOT compromising. TPPA No Way is my bottom line while ISDS included.
I think that posturing politicians from countries dealing with TPPA feel that their personal stature and manhood is on the line. Are they up to this tough bargaining or are they wooses? What they are bargaining away doesn’t matter it is the winning a point that gives them a buzz.
That sort of attitude is no doubt behind Oz Trade Minister Andrew Robb. Thinking of infamous Rolf Harris, his song about the man supported on three points comes to mind. Nickname for Robb – ‘Jake the Peg, with a wooden leg’?
When Groser utters “ugly compromises” he really means “ugly sacrifices”; the choice of words is, as always, very important and one needs to pay special attention to the spin that comes from our Government and that is so helpfully (!) spread through and by our MSM as we all know all too well.
Groser has also been quoted saying “… it would be a nightmare for New Zealand to be excluded from it.” This emotive and scaremongering statement offers no relevant information whatsoever either.
As with any (important) decision one needs to look at all aspects and examine the consequences of going ahead as well as of not going ahead – not making a decision is still making a decision. The fact that this either involves “ugly compromises” – that are unnamed – or “a nightmare for New Zealand” – also unspecified – should raise alarm bells with any rational person.
Please note the focus – the focus of the MSM and therefore our focus – has been directed and drawn to the issues dairy, autos, and IP on pharmaceuticals. No word on all the other areas that are possibly even more far-reaching so we have to assume that these ‘dead rats’ have already been stuffed down our throats well and truly.
BTW, IMO the ‘average Kiwi’ has very little understanding of and thus very little interest in IP on biologics and other ‘technicalities’ that are covered in the putative TPPA.
Well there has been another massacre by another lone gunman in the USA.
I’m sorry but but this type of event is no longer news for me: it’s a incredibly sad commentary. The news would be if something, other than further relaxing gun laws, was done.
“Russia has made good on its commitment to start fighting Islamic State in Syria from the air. Russia is also establishing a coalition to protect the legal government in Damascus. This has caused an uproar in Washington. Can the Kremlin and the White House fight terrorists in tandem? CrossTalking with Patrick Henningsen, James Carafano, and Marwa Osman.”
Of the over 500 candidates at the last election, maybe only 5 would have spoken about the impossibility of kiwi Saver surviving more than a few more years.
Politicians are a byproduct of an ignorant dumb down populace, we get what we deserve.
And 3 replies with no link yet ?
OPEN LETTER TO JOSIE PAGANI
Saturday 3 October 2015
Dear Josie Pagani,
Two and a half weeks ago on this forum, I asked you to answer two questions:
1.) In the light of your support for the destruction of Afghanistan, do you support the invasion of the United States and Great Britain, the bombing and obliteration of British and American schools, hospitals, power stations and churches, and the killing of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of American and British civilians?
2.) Can you explain your statement that Hezbollah and Hamas are anti-Semitic?
Can you explain your statement that Hezbollah and Hamas are anti-Semitic?
Will mainstream ever allow open discussion about Semitic people and their origins ?
That ‘antisemitism’ became terminology which could perversely be levered against those who have Semitic DNA, is testament to the level of control held over communication, language and its primary forms
It didn’t become terminology. It became a definition which has nothing to do with DNA. In its simplest form Antisemitism means hatred of Jews. It doesn’t mean hatred of Semites.
It’s perhaps an unfortunate use of a word but that’s not exactly uncommon, a great many legal definitions don’t match the description of the word(s) used either.
It’s perhaps an unfortunate use of a word but that’s not exactly uncommon, a great many legal definitions don’t match the description of the word(s) used either
“NDP government would not adhere to a TPP deal, Mulcair says in letter”
NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is serving notice that a New Democratic Party government would not consider itself bound by the terms of a major Pacific Rim trade deal which the ruling Conservatives are negotiating right now in Atlanta.
He says the Conservative government has no mandate to agree to the big changes that a Trans-Pacific Partnership deal would bring about.
The NDP Leader’s announcement is well timed in that it comes as a TPP deal appears increasingly likely to be reached shortly by the 12 Pacific Rim countries including Canada which are gathered in Atlanta.
Where we are, and where we are heading, using all the modern day apps and the internet, via smart phone, tablets, laptops or whatever. This ‘News Hour Extra’ program offered by the BBC World Service (from yesterday) offers some insight.
I am very concerned how so many blindly trust the technology we almost all use daily now, the future looks more Orwellian than I ever dreaded to think before.
Indigenous woman speaks truth to sociopaths and refuses them entry onto ancestral lands to frack. Sociopath speaks with forked tongue.
“I’m not protesting, I’m not demonstrating, I’m occupying our homelands”
“Meaningful consultation and consent is when you’ve sat down and got our permission and you’ve never done that”.
“You’re pushing, pushing for all that money, but you’re not going to be able to eat that money. You have all that money in your bank account and you’re destroying the planet”
Auckland property is not driven by overseas buyers,
Yet “Chinese property investors are rapidly disappearing from the auction room, says the boss of Auckland’s biggest real estate agency”
And “Thompson did not believe the drop off was related to the Labour-sparked row over foreign ownership and predicted Chinese investors would return to the market within the next couple of months.” http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11519706
id this the same man who only a few months was quoted as saying
Barfoot & Thompson chief Peter Thompson acknowledged that there were many Chinese buyers but disagreed with Labour’s analysis.
“We know there’s been a large portion of Asians buying property but there’s no way to tell if they’re one of three categories: NZ born, foreign-born NZ citizens or foreign-born foreign citizens. If you asked me about Asian non-residents, I’d probably say between 5 and 8 per cent.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11478719
Funny how in just over 2 months mr Thompson can now say that the lack of these buyers IS now affecting the market 😜
Who is the more violent and despicable character: Bill Clinton or Chris Brown?
It’s a no-brainer, of course, but for some reason Kim Hill seems confused.
Radio NZ National, Saturday 3 October 2015
During her interview this morning with the chattery writer and “theatre-maker” Stella Duffy, Kim Hill brought up the vexed question of our brave and principled government’s refusal to let Chris Brown into New Zealand. Both of them seemed to think this little exercise in highly selective morality was acceptable. I sent Kim the following email….
The Chris Brown hypocrisy
Dear Kim,
We gave Bill Clinton a state reception and lionized him. Next to Clinton, Chris Brown is Albert Schweitzer.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
After the 11 o’clock news, Kim Hill read out my email and then replied on air: “D’ya think, Morrissey? When did Bill Clinton whack a woman, or anybody else?”
As she spoke, her voice took on a hard-edged and imperious tone, to underline how irritated she was at my impugning of the reputation of the saintly former president.
I replied thusly….
Dear Kim,
While Clinton’s predatory behaviour toward women is notorious and well documented, he has not to my knowledge ever “whacked” a woman. So, in that respect, he has the advantage over Chris Brown.
However, Chris Brown was not involved in the bombing of pharmaceutical plants and television stations; neither did he preside over a “sanctions” regime that led to the deaths of more than half a million Iraqi children.
And Chris Brown did not write in apparent high seriousness that unarmed Palestinian protestors executed by the IDF were “killed in crossfire”.
So, yes, Chris Brown hit at least one woman, and his rap lyrics are despicable, but there is simply no comparison between him and a major criminal like Bill Clinton.
Good point.
There was a certain tone of derision in Kim’s voice.
Think she didn’t realise the crimes Clinton committed.
He’s the equivalent of Tony Balir in the UK.
Latest TPP News
TPP Countries Set Deadlines For Final Tariff, NCM Offers; Plenary Pushed Back
ATLANTA — Amid an intense push to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), negotiators have set deadlines for final offers on tariffs and non-conforming measures of 4 a.m. and 10 a.m., respectively, on Saturday (Oct. 3), according to informed sources. http://insidetrade.com/ paywalled
“For the 11 countries besides the U.S. that are involved in the TPP, current data exclusivity protections range from zero (Brunei) to eight years (Japan). Under the Obama Administration’s current proposal, participating countries would increase those periods to match the US standard of 12 years.
Curiously, this proposal directly contradicts the administration’s ongoing domestic efforts to lower the period of data exclusivity. Since the ACA passed, the Obama administration has repeatedly proposed reducing it to seven, arguing that this would save Medicare $4.4 billion over the next decade. Some have noted that, once the 12-year period is enshrined in the TPP, it will become significantly more difficult to change it through the US legislative process.
Furthermore, imposing US standards on the 11 member countries would inevitably restrict competition at the global level, and many patient advocacy and international humanitarian organizations have argued that doing so would undermine the efforts of US global health initiatives like the Vaccine Alliance and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which rely on price competition to manage program costs.”
The latest publicised offer was 5+3 = 8 years (reduced from the 12 in the article.
Sigh, this has been discussed on this blog a number of times now.
Firstly the biological drugs make up a small percentage of the medicines that are used, secondly the biological medicines that are currently funded by PHARMAC are contracted and the prices will not change, thirdly whether the eight years of data exclusivity will impact on the patents, thirdly funding or availability of any of the new medicines that haven’t yet got to NZ is open to debate, but on PHARMAC’s previous success rate in getting these medicines at a very good deal even when under patent I’m not overly concerned.
Again, I believe the biggest issue will be access for our agricultural/horticultural products into North America and Japan which I would be amazed if there’s anything worthwhile.
@northshoredoc I have been under the impression that biological drugs would be used increasingly in the future but I am prepared to be proven wrong. I agree with your view on the minimal access improvements however.
The most commonly used biologic is GE insulin, followed by the TNFs and certain cancer meds we have excellent access to insulin at present and to TNFs both at very competitive prices despite in the case of TNFs still being under patent.
Access to cancer biologics could be better but the current prices preclude them being easily available.
Given the veil of secrecy surrounding the TPP negotiations, it is not clear whether tobacco will be excluded from some aspects of ISDS. Either way, the broader issue remains: Such provisions make it hard for governments to conduct their basic functions – protecting their citizens’ health and safety, ensuring economic stability, and safeguarding the environment.
Imagine what would have happened if these provisions had been in place when the lethal effects of asbestos were discovered. Rather than shutting down manufacturers and forcing them to compensate those who had been harmed, under ISDS, governments would have had to pay the manufacturers not to kill their citizens. Taxpayers would have been hit twice – first to pay for the health damage caused by asbestos, and then to compensate manufacturers for their lost profits when the government stepped in to regulate a dangerous product.
It should surprise no one that America’s international agreements produce managed rather than free trade. That is what happens when the policymaking process is closed to non-business stakeholders – not to mention the people’s elected representatives in Congress.
An interesting aside – there has been talk and action taken to exclude high sugar drinks from being sold in hospitals around the country, and perhaps in taxing these drinks, like tobacco, to make them less palatable to the general public. Under the ISDS provisions of TPPA, who’d put money against the idea of Cocoa Cola or Pepsi taking our government to an overseas judicial process to – a) get any legislation reversed or b) to claim compensation for restraint of trade?
Your scenario is hypothetical. The New Zealand Government has ruled out such a tax. But that aside, it is no bad thing to have an international judiciary enforcing free trade. You should applaud it.
The tax on tobacco in New Zealand simply hurts the poor, including the children of the poor. Uneducated people smoke more. They also have lower incomes. When I see fat people and their fat kids at the supermarket buying 12 litres of coke, they don’t look too bright or wealthy. Why penalise them more by taxing them?
Latest TPP News
Guajardo Hopeful Of Deal After Australia, U.S. Report IP Progress At Plenary
ATLANTA – Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal here on Friday evening (Oct. 2) expressed hope that a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal can be reached by Saturday, but said the United States and Australia were still working to overcome the key hurdle of the monopoly period for biologic drugs.
NDP Leader Says Harper TPP Deal Not Binding On New Government
Tom Mulcair, the leader of Canada’s New Democrat Party (NDP), on Friday (Oct. 2) warned that any new government he may form if he wins the Oct. 19 federal election will not consider itself bound by a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal that that current Prime Minister Stephen Harper may strike before then. http://insidetrade.com/
Thanks very much for the ongoing updates. The situation is very much worrying me but have a lot of other things to do at present which prevent me from researching myself. So, really appreciate your comments here with useful links.
Is there anybody out there who can help me – we don’t have a Sky subscription and are missing some of the key games of the RWC – we did manage to get BBC Wales on the internet the other day and listened to a wonderful live radio commentary on the Wales/England game and are now trying to find a TV/radio station in the UK who may give a radio commentary live on the England/Australia game tomorrow – so far we are having no luck cruising through the UK TV/Radio stations – is there a geek out there who can help us – my partner is pretty good at finding stuff on the net – I think NZ are mean as hell not putting on free to air TV or even radio for that matter, games which are crucial or just going to be down to the wire games in the competition for folk who, for reasons of their own, don’t want the crap Sky puts on and hate the way they deny us the fun of seeing some of the more important games. Not everybody wants to go to a pub and try to watch the game through the noise etc.
As an aside the AB’s are looking sluggish and flat – and, other than Argentina haven’t even had a real top side to slug it out with – fun and games ahead.
Thanks Nadis – just logged on – 25 minutes to go for the England/Australia game – my partner and I will endeavour to to download hola – I knew there would be somewhere out there in the ether who would come to our assistance. Enjoy the game.
Back again Nadis – thanks so much, mission accomplished, the geek in my household got us on line and the two of us sat back and watched the game – the English coach looked sick as a dog at the end, can’t help but feel sorry for the team – with the Australian kicker I think Dan Carter might not feel so good either – Foley I think his name was – my can he kick goals. I knew somebody out there would help us!!! Enjoy the rest of the tournament – I know we will.
Opposition teams were nervous about the prospect of facing an All Blacks haiku.
England coach Stuart Lancaster said his team were perfectly relaxed when the All Blacks perform their blood curling, throat slitting haka, but the thought of facing Richie McCaw, Ma’a Nonu, and co reciting Japanese poetry was absolutely terrifying.
I’m sure it does. But I’m also fairly sure that you don’t understand the various complexities that lead to some people being larger than others, and that your sense of fairness is also based on prejudice (how is it fair for a smaller boned, short person to pay less for travel than a larger boned, tall person?).
While it might be “fair” that someone who requires more av-gas to transport them pays more, I expect the extra effort required to implement such a Naki-system would be uber-stupid.
“That system is done for every trademe parcel sent through the post. Honestly, its not that much effort.”
Except that NZPost changed their system a few years ago to volumetric so now it’s laborious and complicated. Plus, isn’t it NZPost that’s bleeding profit because it does stupid shit like this? Not a good example.
“(how is it fair for a smaller boned, short person to pay less for travel than a larger boned, tall person?).”
It costs the airline more in fuel to carry bigger people.
So it is fair that they pay more for their flight
Yes, it’s “fair”, and uber-stupid. Anyone with half a brain would think to themselves about how the booking system would work and how the check-in procedure would have to change, and conclude that only a right wing nut job could be responsible for such stupidity.
It’s a signal from the market: right wing policy shills make terrible economic decisions, and you can make a buck concealing their incompetence, S Rylands.
A couple of twitter feeds from Atlanta TPP talks for anyone interested.
1. Burcu Kilic@burcuno
Patent geek, digital rights advocate, IP scholar, lawyer, globetrotter and wannabe photographer; Public Citizen’s Global Access to Medicines Program
From newstalk zb
“Recent comments made by Trade Minister Tim Groser have concerned the Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Ian Powell.
“Well when Tim Groser as trade minister began talking about having to swallow a dead rat and knowing that medicines is still one of the big contentious issues still outstanding in the trade negotiations, we became extremely alarmed.”
Shameless State Department propaganda masquerading as news;
Poor old Simon Shepherd doesn’t even bat an eyelid as he reads the tripe he’s handed.
TV3 News, Saturday 3 October 2015
They try to maintain those poker faces, but occasionally television news readers will register their discomfort at having to read out some offensive or ludicrous item. Last year, at the height of the Gaza massacre, Peter Williams grimaced and looked unhappy after reading out a piece of low propaganda that might have been written by someone at the Israeli consulate. At other times, Simon Dallow, Hillary Barry, Wendy Petrie and even Susan Wood have frowned, averted their eyes or paused meaningfully to indicate what they think of their scripts. I’ve even seen newsreaders from that cartoonishly bad Murdoch outlet Fox News blanch at some of the crap they’re expected to read.
However, I have never seen any such redeeming signs of conscience from TV3’s owlish, ineffably pompous Simon Shepherd. He doesn’t seem to have a skeptical bone in his body. Nothing fazes him, apparently—not even the preposterous State Department talking points (i.e., lies) he was handed to read out this evening.
At 6:20 p.m. Shepherd furrowed his brow, narrowed his eyes, pursed his lips and attempted to look REALLY serious….
SIMON SHEPHERD:[speaking in an ominous tone, summoning up all the gravitas he can manage] President Putin says he’s bombing ISIL targets but, as ITV’s Jack Fisher reports, NOBODY believes him….
It turns out that “ITV’s Jack Fisher” is trying even harder than Simon Shepherd to show how serious he is—unfortunately for his viewers, however, he’s not serious about being a journalist.
What Fisher is serious about is parroting the official talking points of the Obama regime. He speaks gravely of “President Obama’s DAMNING assessment of Russia’s actions”, before cutting to a ludicrously brief edited comment from Dr. Domitilla Sagramoso of Kings College London. The purpose of showing Dr Sagramoso has nothing to do with analysis; rather, it is to provide at least the appearance of authority to what even the hapless slaves at ITV will know perfectly well is nothing more than a crude piece of propaganda. After Dr Sagramoso’s eight seconds of input, it’s back to Jack Fisher for the almost comically ironic peroration, once again in that faux sérieux style…
JACK FISHER, ITV:[sombrely, to convey how serious he is] People will remember Russia’s protracted wars in Chechnya and Afghanistan and wonder: WHERE will it all end?”
Then it’s back to Simon Shepherd, still trying to look as though he’s serious.
‘We are told they may be close to reaching a final deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) in Atlanta, and longer monopolies for Big Pharma over biologic medicines is the final sticking point’, according to Professor Jane Kelsey, who is in touch with people on the ground in Atlanta.
The US is insisting on eight years total monopoly protection. Several countries are holding firm. But there are real fears New Zealand could cave.
Trade Minister Tim Groser.
Trade Minister Groser is quoted in this morning’s Herald as saying every country will have to swallow multiple dead rats to finalise the deal in an ‘ugly compromise’.
‘In New Zealand’s case, the dead rat seems to be a dairy for medicines deal’, said Professor Kelsey. ‘If this happens, we can expect the Minister to hail the “net benefits” of the TPPA to New Zealand, playing up supposed gains to dairy exports that remain to be seen, and playing down New Zealand’s agreement to longer monopoly protection for biologics.’
‘But the stark reality is that any such deal to close the TPPA would cost New Zealander’s lives.’
Health economists calculate that every added year of protection for biologics would cost New Zealand many tens of millions of dollars in current spending, and much more in the future as more biologics come on stream.
‘Future New Zealand governments would have to stump up hundreds of millions of dollars more to Pharmac.
Yet this year the National government refused to fund even the modest budget increase Pharmac sought to meet rising costs.’
‘Cancer sufferers in Atlanta described the biologics provision as a “death sentence clause”.
Do Prime Minister Key and Minister Groser want that recorded as their legacy?’
URGENT! Attention NZ Prime Minister John Key!
Scanned petition forms re: TPPA
Prime Minister
John Key
Please be advised that attached are nearly 300 signatures of people who have signed the following petition:
“To Prime Minister John Key
MP for Helensville
We, the undersigned:
Are deeply concerned that as a key advocate for the ‘Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), you are a shareholder in the Bank of America, as detailed in the 2015 MPs Register of Financial Interests
(Pg 29)
“Rt Hon John Key (National, Helensville)
2 Other companies and business entities
……………………………………………………….
Bank of America – banking”
We see this as a serious ‘conflict of interest’, given that big banks like the Bank of America, stand to benefit, and profit from this pro-corporate TPPA.
If this National Government, which you lead, does not ‘walk away’ from the secretive, undemocratic, ‘Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement’ (TPPA), then we pledge to campaign vigorously amongst our friends, families, neighbours and workmates, for the voting public to ‘walk away’ from National.”
Increasing numbers of the voting public are becoming aware of your shareholding in the Bank of America, and are wondering just whose ‘national interest’ are you serving?
The ‘national (public) interest’ of New Zealand, or the ‘national (corporate) interest’ of the United States of America?
If the Bank of America benefits from the TPPA – then how will this not serve your personal self-interest. as a shareholder in the Bank of America?
Yours sincerely,
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
Burcu Kilic @burcuno 13m13 minutes ago
Biologics is now the only potential deal-breaker, #TPP Ministerial may be extended again. Stay strong Australia, Chile, Peru & Malaysia!
Latest TPP News
TPP Ministerial May Be Extended Again As U.S., Australia Still At Odds On Biologics
ATLANTA – Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries are on the verge of extending the ministerial meeting here at least into Saturday evening (Oct. 3), after the United States and Australia overnight were unable to reach a deal on the monopoly protection period for biologics drugs, according to informed sources. http://insidetrade.com/
An absolute must read about biologics and the TPP. Why has Tim Groser folded on this fight? You need to read the whole article because it is excellent. It is outrageous that US are pushing this extension. Greed!
Is TPP the Most Progressive Trade Agreement in History? Not If You Need Access to Affordable Medicines
The May 10th Agreement struck the right balance between the need to promote innovation and the need to protect public health. TPP must meet the standards set in the May 10th Agreement. Right now it does not. It should not be loaded up with new anticompetitive provisions when governments struggle to manage health care costs.
Richard Madan @RichardMadan 8m8 minutes ago
The 12 trade ministers just agreed to stay longer in Atlanta if required; unlikely #TPP deal will be signed today at this point #cdnpoli
Only this
chard Madan @RichardMadan 22h22 hours ago
Trade Min @HonEdFast: Canada “pushing back” against efforts to open up dairy industry to foreign competition #TPP
I think that US are not letting the dairy be sorted until the biological dead rat is swallowed.
“Australia, along with others such as New Zealand and Chile, have been unwilling to offer more than five years protection for the medicines since longer terms will push up the cost of state-subsidized medical programs.
The impasse is holding up a deal on dairy trade, the main other sticking point in the talks”. http://au.investing.com/news/commodities-news/pacific-trade-talks-bogged-down-over-pharmaceuticals-9335
Last week the Wall Street Journal published an article ‘The Dangerous Denial of Sex by two scientists Colin Wright and Emma Hilton. Write is an evolutionary biologist at Penn State and Hilton is a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester. It is well worth reading the article in full. Here ...
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...
Winston Peters - Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the NZ First PartyWe all know that politics can be pretty messy at times. Just look at the Dirty Politics saga in New Zealand, the misgovernment of the Australian bushfires or the recent Trump impeachment debacle in the US. In a ...
Last Monday SpaceX launched another clutch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing up to 300 the number of these units intended to bring 5G internet to the whole globe. In this post I present a movie showing how all 300 such satellites will be zipping around our planet over ...
The recent floods in Southland have highlighted the issue of Rio Tinto's illegal toxic waste dump in Mataura. But according to Newsroom, there's an even worse mess in Ruakaka near Whangarei:A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to ...
It’s amazing just how many attack ads $100,000 buys you these days. The National Party has really been going to town lately, with their latest Twitter campaign making a number of questionable and blatantly false assertions, one being that poverty has worsened under the Labour led Government.The National Party's claim ...
OMV's exploratory drilling in the Great South Basin has failed to find oil. Good. Firstly, because we can't afford to burn the oil and gas we've already found, so there's just no point looking for more. And secondly, because offshore, deep-water drilling poses a risk of an environmental catastrophe, which ...
The government has announced it will strengthen whistleblower protections. The major change is "allowing people to report serious wrongdoing direct to an external authority if they wish", which fixes one of the big flaws in the Act. At present, whistleblowers must generally make their disclosure direct to the body they ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bruce Lieberman CARLSBAD, CA. – When it comes to paying the electric bill, most people don’t give it a second thought – it’s something that in effect is “baked in.” But across California and several other states, local governments increasingly are ...
Excerpts from Being and Being Bought, by Kajsa Ekis Ekman, Spinifex Press, 2013. Part 4 Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book. This is the fourth part of a synopsis and brief commentary of the book by Daphna ...
The Democracy Virus: China’s authoritarian political system enables a level of social surveillance and control that liberal democratic societies cannot match. The Chinese Government makes full use of the latest digital technology to both punish – and reward – its citizens. The plans it formulates cannot be challenged, or hindered. Where ...
Another day, another IPCA report on criminal conduct by policy. This time they kicked a child in the head when he was handcuffed:Police chased him and yelled out for him to stop. When he turned to face the police, he threatened them with a hammer. That's when the officers tasered ...
The investigation of two of the five parties in Parliament for fraud around their election donations has pushed the issue of party funding back into the spotlight. And while there are obvious things we can do to tighten up the donations regime - a much lower declaration threshold, realtime disclosure ...
While the south of New Zealand has been struggling with too much rain in recent days, here in the north we are so very short of it (though Saturday’s forecast looks promising). Basically, we have had almost none since Christmas.As someone who relies on rain to wash the car, ...
Former National Party MP Jami-Lee RossIt comes as no surprise that Jami-Lee Ross has been named as one of the defendants in the X2 $100,000 National Party donations case currently before the courts. Click bait journalists who were chaffing at the bit to discredit the former senior whip had already ...
Stand Clear! Winston Peters is encouraging voters to think of RNZ as belonging to “The Media Party”. He wants them to see it as a politically partisan institution with its own, vicious attack-dogs in the electoral fight. If he succeeds, it will be, and probably should be, the end of ...
"You're going to need a longer runway" Gratton et al explore the ongoing effects of upward-creeping temperatures on aviation in Greece in the period since 1955 at a range of airports in that country. For longer runways impacts are measurable but with little impact on operations. For airports with shorter runways, ...
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...
Former National Party chief whip Jami-Lee Ross is one of the four people charged over National's multiple fraudulent donations. How unsurprising. Meanwhile, just days ago National leader Simon Bridges was trying to pretend the charges were nothing to do with his party. Yeah, right. When your chief whip effectively publicly ...
If you've been watching FYI for a while, you'll have noticed that the police have a bad habit of demanding ID from requesters. They have apparently been repeatedly told to stop doing this by the Ombudsman, but we all know what law enforcement thinks of the law, so thye keep ...
Collateral Damage: For the Green Phoenix to be reborn, the funeral pyre so patiently assembled by its identity politicians over the course of many fractious years – but with growing intensity over the past three – first has to be ignited. The terrible probability, of course, is that, in setting ...
If you follow politics in New Zealand you've likely noticed that the right wing have been going on and on about the Coalition Government failing to reduce poverty. In fact they’ve been incessantly claiming, in the absence of any conclusive data, that poverty has been getting worse.Yesterday, NewstalkZB reported:Mike Hosking: ...
The Herald reported over the weekend that an Auckland business owner is being targeted with asset forfeiture laws over a workplace death:A workplace fatality has seen police use a law usually associated with drugs and organised crime to seize millions of dollars in assets from a business owner because of ...
Just days after talking about how people feel "squeezed" and promising tax and service cuts as a "solution", National is talking about cancelling a rise in the minimum wage if elected: National is considering scrapping the Government's planned minimum wage increase if it wins this year's election, the party's finance ...
Nobody thinks about the next century anymore. That at least is Sci-Fi writer William Gibson’s observation (in this BBC 4 short interview, starting at 1:43:50 ). He calls it “Futures Fatigue”, but isn’t judgemental about it. Gibson notes that in the 20th century speculation about the 21st (and beyond) was common. Now ...
A Labour government desperate for the numbers crawls into bed with Winston Peters. Winston ignores the law and secretly takes money under the table from someone. When it is exposed just months out from an election, he is investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. That's what happened back in 2008. ...
So the Serious Fraud Office has another secret $100,050 National Party donation before the Courts in a major scandal that looks set to quash any chances Simon Bridges had of winning the 2020 election.Yesterday, Newsroom reported:The Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...
Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanHousing policy is building up to be the key election issue again. In this blog I reflect on the importance of the role of the New Zealand Government in improving access to affordable housing. I look at what the Government has been doing to increase quality public housing ...
Writing on The Spinoff, Danyl Mclauchlan argues that we have a vacuum in our political system, in that there is no longer an anti-establishment party anymore:I think there’s a vacuum in our political system. There are obvious problems with the status quo but no real critics offering reform. It’s a ...
Stuff today has a piece about the government discovering it has been oversubsidising polluters for a decade under the Emissions Trading scheme:The Government is pledging to urgently fix an issue within the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), after it emerged some polluters are likely being over-compensated with taxpayer-funded carbon credits. [...] ...
The Marlborough District Council, tired of public scrutiny, wants to increase the amount it charges for LGOIMA requests:The cost of requesting official information from Marlborough's government agency could almost double after a jump in "fishing expeditions". Charges could be raised from $60 to $100 an hour for information supplied by ...
When Winston Peters was caught money laundering donations and stalking journalists, the Greens were conspicuous by their silence. It was another example of how getting along with their government partners was eroding their values and their own reputation. It was obviously unsustainable, and so now James Shaw has finally spoken ...
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...
With over 69,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths, here’s your round-up of the latest coronavirus news. New disease and virus have now officially been named On the 11th February, the WHO Director General announced a new name for the disease: COVID-19 which is short for coronavirus disease 2019. The naming ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 9, 2020 through Sat, Feb 15, 2020 Editor's Pick ANALYSIS-Climate change opens up 'frontier' farmland, but at what cost to the planet?Climate change could expand farmland globally by ...
After cross-examination Jones knew he would lose the defamation case he took against film maker Renae Maihi. That’s why he threw in the towel. The weight of evidence was clearly against the old tycoon with the defense presenting fifty articles to confirm Jones’ racist views.Being unable to harass somebody into ...
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre.(Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...
Ruth Cunningham, Charlotte Paul, Andrew MoorePublic health responses to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 require us to draw on our common humanity and be explicit about our values. Recognising this will help us make good decisions in difficult situations so that, for example, the need to impose restrictive measures ...
The Helen Clark Foundation has released its report on the housing crisis, and found that house-hoarders are to blame for it:Property investors are to blame for New Zealand's high house prices, a new research paper published by the Helen Clark Foundation says. [...] McArthur said previous attempts to address housing ...
The Abortion Legislation Committee has reported back on the Abortion Legislation Bill and recommended that it be passed with some amendments. Unfortunately, the latter include even more hoops to jump through for those seeking abortions after 20 weeks, including a time-wasting requirement to consult a second doctor. No-one casually seeks ...
Brexit is likely to be a disaster for the UK (how sad, never mind). But now that they're out of the EU, the latter has finaly taken the opportunity to blacklist one of their key tax havens:The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is to be put on an EU ...
I’m not quite sure of what to make of the new figures for COVID-19 (as we must now call the novel coronavirus – though I’m not sure the capitalisation is correct) from Hubei province:Image from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51495484The spike yesterday is a consequence of a using a different way of ...
Bob Jones has dropped his defamation case against Renae Maihi. Good. But at the same time, it perfectly exposes what the case was all about: not protecting Jones' reputation, but punishing someone who had dared to criticise him, and deterring others from doing the same. This rich pompous asshat dragged ...
As I've done for the past few years, I'm curating and presenting The Listening Lounge, the talk programme at Splore. On the morning of Saturday the 22nd at the Living Lounge stage, the korero goes like this.Yes, we're talking about drugs again, not just because I'm professionally interested in drug ...
What Were They Thinking? RNZ's CEO Paul Thompson (left) and Jim Mather, Chairman of the RNZ Board of Governors, attempt to justify the debacle arising out of their attempt to downgrade RNZ Concert to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee at Parliament on Thursday, 13 February 2020.WHAT IS ...
Dame Tariana Turia with former PM John KeyWhat is it about Tariana Turia’s grudge against the Labour Party? Not content with attacking the Government over Whānau Ora funding, which was increased by $80 million in 2019, she has now made it personal by saying that Jacinda Ardern is out of her ...
Back in 2017, right after being elected, Jacinda Ardern promised that there would be no new mines on conservation land. Since then, her government has done nothing to make that happen, and now the policy has been officially "parked" for the election:West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor says the "no new ...
So the guy who advocated for public burning and beheading feels offended because someone called him a racist!Perhaps Bob Jones hasn't heard of the very old saying; Live by the sword, die by the sword?I mean for someone who often writes opinionated nonsense about Maori; this is a ridiculous case ...
The government today announced a major support package aimed at reducing homelessness. A thousand new transitional housing places, more support for people to find homes (or not lose them in the first place), all good stuff. The one problem with it is that they're going to start charging people in ...
Courtroom Drama: There is no off-switch in a courtroom. Neither is it possible to turn the page in disgust. Ill-formed and ill-defended opinions will be exposed ruthlessly and unapologetically. As Shakespeare put it: “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.” Sometimes the ...
As of today, the novel coronavirus spreading in China is called COVID-19. Why does it matter? Around the office, we’ve had several conversations over the past few weeks about how 2019-nCoV needed its own name. First, it was getting annoying calling it by the above designation, and ‘novel coronavirus’ doesn’t ...
by Philip Ferguson Last month B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, reported: “In 2019, Israeli security forces killed 133 Palestinians, including 28 minors. Of the casualties, 104 were killed in the Gaza Strip, 26 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and three within ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Arms (Firearms Prohibition Orders) Amendment Bill (No 2) (Brett Hudson)Its basicly more "tough on crime" nonsense (its already illegal for unlicensed people to own guns) designed to wedge NZ First against its arsehole base. ...
In 2015 the world agreed to the Paris Agreement to fight climate change. Each country would offer a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) "that it intends to achieve", and "pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving [it]". And every five years, they'd improve on it, ratcheting up ambition until ...
In theory, the emissions trading scheme should reduce emissions. Making polluters pay for permits to pollute lets them save money by reducing pollution, giving them a financial incentive to do the right thing. But right from the start the ETS was broken with a system of free allocation, so polluters ...
Irish voters went to the polls on Saturday in parliamentary elections, and perhaps delivered a political revolution. Since independence, Irish politics has been dominated by two parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Basicly patronage networks with indistinguishable policies, their cleavage isn't ideology, but who killed whose father or grandfather in ...
Once again the Aotearoa Bike Challenge is on us, and once again I’m participating. In principle this is not hard because it does not represent a significant switch in behavior for me. I already bike nearly every day. The Bicycle The fascinating thing about cycling is the realisation that this ...
Lately there has been a great deal of misinformation regarding the origins and purpose of Skeptical Science. As John Cook wrote nearly a decade ago, Skeptical Science is primarily a website that debunks climate misinformation with peer-reviewed science. Despite the ever-worsening impacts from climate change, with record after record being broken in ...
Under Attack: By sacking not only RNZ Concert’s presenters, but also its producers and librarians, and reducing the station to an automated purveyor of classical music in-between parliamentary broadcasts, RNZ’s CEO, Paul Thompson, wasn’t simply announcing an operational shake-up, he was declaring war on one of the most important guardians of ...
Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Australian smoke plume sets recordsThe recent wildfires in Australia sent one of ...
The Global Protest to #FightInequality was powerful – thankyou and what next? Dear allies, We started the decade with a huge protest to #FightInequality that was heard around the world, including the 1% at Davos. Watch and share the highlights on facebook and twitter. A huge thank you. Together we ...
The Ministry of Health have announced a package that might ensure NZ will never experience another measles epidemic. While at the time of writing the details are still limited it appears that the important limitations in our current programme have been acknowledged and the intent is to address them. Great ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael BakerIn this blog we briefly summarise our assessment of the highly uncertain new coronavirus threat. Given its potential to become a severe and prolonged global pandemic, a precautionary response now means activating all components of our pandemic plan, with a particular focus on ‘keep ...
When Labour was running for election, Jacinda Ardern famously said that climate change was "my generation's nuclear free moment". The implication was that her government would take the problem seriously, and act swiftly to reduce emissions. The reality:New Zealand will emit a million more tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2020 ...
James Renwick is Professor of Physical Geography at Victoria University of Wellington. He studied at Canterbury and the University of Washington and has worked on diverse aspects of climate science, including global atmospheric circulation and Antarctic sea ice. In December 2019 he was appointed to the New Zealand Climate Change ...
by Philip Ferguson Exit polls are showing a three-way virtual tie between the main parties in the south of Ireland. Sinn Fein, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are all on just over 22%. FG on 22.4, SF on 22.3, FF on 22.2. Exit polls indicate that over 30% of 18-24 ...
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order Newly released Police data shows once again the number of fleeing drivers have continued to skyrocket with a record 512 incidents occurring in December – almost tripling the number of incidents occurring just ten years ago, says New Zealand First Law and ...
While the Provincial Growth Fund has provided $2 million to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia, Regional Economic Minister Shane Jones said he is greatly concerned that there are “issues” in implementing the projects. The Minister said the immediate solution was to pipe water from a bore ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland NZ First is calling on Rio Tinto to accept its responsibilities to the Southland community and enable the immediate removal of the toxic Aluminium Dross from the Mataura Paper Mill site. New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland, Mark Patterson ...
The Coalition Government has announced that a further $500,000 will be given to help residents in Southland and Otago to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. It follows prior government assistance of $200,000 earlier this month where the Southland Mayoral Relief Fund received $100,000 to support communities impacted by ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking about the recent droughts in the Northland region and what the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is doing to alleviate its impact. The PGF recently announced a funding of $2 million for temporary water supplies to Kaikohe and Kaitaia, ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First spokesperson for Labour and Industrial Relations Unemployment and wage growth numbers released by Stats NZ today demonstrate a labour market in good shape with unemployment falling to 4.0%, the underutilisation rate falling to an 11 year low, and wage growth at a 10-year high ...
Hon. Ron Mark, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence Ron Mark, welcomes the official opening of Te Rau Aroha, a new museum at Waitangi Treaty Grounds as part of our Coalition Agreement. “It is a great honour to be part of an effective Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime MinisterGood morning,Let us start with important acknowledgements.First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service of our country.Second, special guest Robert ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand will look to build on its relationship with the United Kingdom and recommit to the European Union, after the country officially left the continental union recently. The Minister said New Zealand already cooperates closely with Britain on defence and security issues and has ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is delivering on its commitment to unlock the potential of Māori-owned land with investments up and down the country making a genuine difference to communities, Regional Economic Development Shane Jones says.At Waitangi last year, the Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister The Government is placing temporary entry restrictions into New Zealand on all foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through mainland China to assist with the containment of the novel coronavirus and to protect New Zealand and the Pacific Islands from the disease. This ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little will travel to Berlin tomorrow to represent New Zealand at a high-level summit on nuclear disarmament. This year, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) celebrates 50 years since it entered into force. “New Zealand’s proud record and leadership on nuclear disarmament is unwavering, so it’s important we are present ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit two of New Zealand’s most important Pacific partners, Fiji and Australia, next week. The visit to Fiji will be the first by a New Zealand Prime Minister in four years and comes during the 50th anniversary of Fijian independence and diplomatic relations between our ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little and New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball, have today announced the appointment of the Chief Commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the location, and the membership of the Establishment Advisory Group. Colin Carruthers QC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of the CCRC for an ...
Māori Development Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor co-announced the first horticultural finalists for the Ahuwhenua Trophy celebrating excellence in the Māori agricultural sector. The three finalists are Ngai Tukairangi Trust from Mt Maunganui, Otama Marere Trust from Tauranga, and Hineora Orchard Te Kaha 15B Ahuwhenua ...
A new kete of resources to strengthen support for students with dyslexia will provide extra tools for the new Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) as they start in schools, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Minister launched the kete in Wellington this morning, at the first of three induction ...
The Government continues to make progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the First Reading of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill and its referral to the Social Services and Community Select Committee. “Now is the opportunity for landlords, tenants and others who want ...
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Hon James Marape will visit New Zealand from 21-25 February, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “New Zealand and Papua New Guinea have a warm and friendly relationship. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Marape here and strengthening the relationship between our two countries,” ...
Thousands of children have begun receiving a free lunch on every day of the school week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The Government’s free and healthy school lunch programme is under way for 7,000 students at 31 schools in Hawke’s Bay / Tairāwhiti and Bay of Plenty / Waiariki, extending ...
The Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni today announced a new approach that continues to broaden the Government’s social sector focus from a narrow, investment approach to one centred on people and wellbeing. Minister Sepuloni said redefining the previous approach to social investment by combining science, data and lived experience ...
The Government is strengthening the Protected Disclosures Act to provide better protection for whistle blowers, Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins said today. “The Protected Disclosures Act is meant to encourage people to speak up about serious wrongdoing in the workplace and protect them from losing their jobs or being ...
Nǐn hǎo (Hello in Mandarin). Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (Happy New Year in Mandarin) Néi Hóu (Hello in Cantonese). Sun Nin Fai Lok (Happy New Year in Cantonese) Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you for your invitation to attend this celebration today. I would like to acknowledge ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ngā ...
Tougher penalties for gun crime are a step closer with the passage of firearms reform legislation through another stage in Parliament. The Arms Legislation Bill has tonight passed its Second Reading. “The changes have one objective - to prevent firearms falling into the wrong hands,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Introduction Mr Speaker We all know why we are here today. It has been a long journey. The journey did not actually begin on 15 March 2019. It began on 30 June 1997. Almost 23 years ago, Justice Sir Thomas Thorp told us what was wrong with our firearms legislation. ...
The Government’s work to put trades and vocational education back on the agenda took another major step forward today with the passing of the Education (Vocational Education and Training Reform) Amendment Bill, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. “This is a watershed day for trades and vocational education. These law changes formalise ...
Speeding up the return of Christchurch regeneration activities to local leadership is behind the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament today by Minister Megan Woods. “As we approach nine years since the February 2011 earthquake in Canterbury, and with the transition to local leadership well underway, the time ...
Hundreds of New Zealanders and international visitors will be able to get back out into nature with the Milford Track partially reopening next week, after extensive assessments and repairs, the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. The popular Great Walk has been closed since 3 February after an extreme ...
Up to 110 new EV chargers nationwide in cities and regions 50 electric vehicles for ride-sharing The Government is helping deliver more infrastructure and options for low emissions transport through new projects, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. Tauranga, Nelson, Levin, New Plymouth and Oamaru are just some ...
New Zealanders are increasingly better off under this Government as wages rise and families have more disposable income, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as ...
All New Zealanders need to have their voices heard at work to ensure we have an inclusive and productive economy. Today we introduce a Bill to do this for workers in the New Zealand screen industry, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “The Screen Industry Workers Bill will ...
The Government has announced further help for the Southland and Otago regions to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. “I’ve approved Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG), making $500,000 available to help with the clean-up in Fiordland, Southland, and the Clutha district in Otago,” Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said. ...
Following the announcement that more than 340 schools will be funded to run events promoting vocational education, the Government has announced it will fund a further 257 events to be run by employers and industry. “These industry-run events will allow more than 30,000 students to connect with more than 2,000 ...
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...
A Government programme to wipe out pea weevil has achieved a world first, with Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor today announcing the successful eradication of the noxious pest from Wairarapa. This means the nearly four-year ban on pea plants and pea straw was lifted today. Commercial and home gardeners can again grow ...
Southland residents hit by flooding caused by heavy rainfall can now access help finding temporary accommodation with the Government activating the Temporary Accommodation Service, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare announced today. “The Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help ...
“Is that it?” That’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s response to Simon Bridges’ much-hyped economic speech today. “Simon Bridges just gave the most over-hyped and under-delivered speech that I can remember during my time in politics,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s not surprising. Simon Bridges literally said on the radio this morning ...
A trial deployment of the Police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch will test whether the aircraft would make a significant difference to crime prevention and community safety. “The Bell 429 helicopter will be based in Christchurch for five weeks, from 17 February to 20 March,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. “The ...
The Government has kept up the pace of its work to promote New Zealand’s trade interests and diversify our export markets, with visits to Fiji and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. Building momentum to bring the PACER Plus trade and development agreement ...
The Coalition Government’s investment in a strong border and disrupting transnational organised crime produced record results for stopping drugs in 2019, says Minister of Customs Jenny Salesa. The illegal drugs were seized at the New Zealand border by Customs, and overseas by Customs’ international border partners before the drugs could ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off construction of a separated cycleway alongside Tamaki Drive. A two-way separated cycleway will be built along the northern side of Tamaki Drive, between the Quay Street Cycleway extension and Ngapipi Road. There will be a separate walking path alongside. Phil Twyford said giving ...
Owner-occupiers of unit and apartments living in earthquake-prone buildings will have certainty about the financial support they’ll be eligible for with the release of criteria for an upcoming assistance scheme, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. The Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme will help unit owners facing ...
Temporary restrictions on travel from China will remain in place as a precautionary measure to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The restrictions which prevent foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China from entering New Zealand have been extended for a further 8 days. This position ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today that Tairāwhiti rangatahi will benefit from an investment made by the Government’s He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) scheme. The funding will go to the Tautua Village, Kauneke programme and the Matapuna Supported Employment Programme which will fund 120 rangatahi over two years. “Both programmes work ...
All parents and caregivers need to ensure that their children go to school unless they are sick, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin said today. “The school attendance results for 2019 show, across the board, a drop in the number of students going to school regularly,” the Minister says. “Apart from ...
A Deed of Settlement agreeing redress for historical Treaty claims has been signed by the Crown and Moriori at Kōpinga Marae on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) today, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Moriori have a tradition of peace that extends back over 600 years. This settlement ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today with Māori King Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII officially opened the country’s newest road, the $384 million Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway. The 15km four-lane highway with side and central safety barriers takes State Highway 1 east of Huntly town, across lowlands and streams ...
The rapid uptake of life-saving new hepatitis C medicine Maviret since it was funded by PHARMAC a year ago means the elimination of the deadly disease from this country is a realistic goal, Health Minister David Clark says. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus which attacks the liver, proving fatal ...
Kaupapa Māori will underpin the Government’s new plan to deal with homelessness announced by the Prime Minister in Auckland this morning. “Māori are massively overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness, so, to achieve different outcomes for Māori, we have to do things very differently,” says the Minister of Māori Development ...
1000 new transitional housing places delivered by end of year to reduce demand for emergency motel accommodation. Introduce 25% of income payment, after 7 days, for those in emergency motel accommodation to bring in line with other forms of accommodation support. Over $70m extra to programmes that prevents those at ...
The Labour Party says it has received money from two of the people facing charges in relation to National Party donations but says they were above board. ...
New Zealand First’s action to halt the introduction of a ‘feebate’ scheme designed to support the nation’s transition to low-emission vehicles is a leap back into the industrial age, says Drive Electric Chairman Mark Gilbert. “While ...
Staff expenses at the Reserve Bank – which have increased by an average 4.4% a year since 2009/11 – surged by 14.8% in the 12 months to 2018/19. Total staff numbers increased by an average 3.4 a year during those nine years but shot up by 19 in 2018/19 from ...
The Socialist Equality Group is holding a protest rally on Sunday February 23 in Wellington to demand freedom for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Sunday 23 February, 3:00pm Cuba Street (Left Bank intersection) ...
By Felipe F. Salvosa II in Manila ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Lopez Katigbak has broken his silence amid the controversy over renewal of the Philippine TV giant’s broadcast franchise, which expires in one month. Katigbak, in a video posted on the ABS-CBN News site and aired over flagship ...
RNZ management wants to grow a youth audience without having to build a costly new platform. Anna Dean offers a bunch – none of which involves scrapping RNZ Concert.Over the next few weeks RNZ National Concert staff are set to take part in strategy workshops focused on “growth in audience reach, ...
Today LockerRoom brings you the first episode of Pure As, a mini documentary series on the Silver Ferns' personal journeys to World Cup glory. So much of the magic and composure Silver Ferns captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio brings to the netball court today was learned from years of sitting on the ...
"He was an energy vacuum, a shit magnet, a waste of skin": a black comedy by Nelson writer Grant Smithies. The stars he saw were blue, green, golden. Little lights swam around slowly, then went out one by one. His face felt hot. His left eye wasn’t working. And ...
Yes, it’s still summer and, en route to that final festival or beach bolt-hole, the season of the road trip. Here Spinoff Art co-editor Mark Amery runs down some of the best North Island contemporary art stopovers, and the mavericks behind them. We cross the Cook Strait next year, promise.Back ...
The Star Wars prequels are universally regarded as the nadir of the franchise, but at least they gave us spinoff series The Clone Wars, writes Sam BrooksNobody likes the Star Wars prequels. Though that statement is slightly hyperbolic, it’s not far from the truth. Even if you can make a ...
Jai Breitnauer on what happens when male role models start disappearing from a child’s life.Recently, we saw a ghost from the past. Once a regular visitor to our home, there just after the birth of our first child and a constant presence for more than a decade, this individual disappeared ...
Dragon Quest: Your Story feels like an hour-and-a-half-long highlight reel of an adventure spanning dozens of hours, but it’s damn fun, writes Felix Walton.One of Netflix’s current hustles seems to be grabbing movies with little to no hope of a wide release and publishing them as “Netflix Originals.” The latest ...
The Ministry of Education is proposing a number of changes to NCEA Level One, including the merging of several subjects to be phased in over the next five years. Felix Walton looks into how, and why, these changes are happening.Why are they changing things now?They aren’t changing things now, per ...
Pacific Media Centre Chinese authorities are systematically harassing Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups even after they have left the country, according to new testimonies gathered by Amnesty International. Uyghur New Zealanders were among those interviewed, despite the threat of further intimidation. The case studies, published online today, reveal ...
A victim of the Generate KiwiSaver hack is considering legal action to seek compensation for stress and the risk of identity theft. One of the 26,000 KiwiSavers who had personal information, including their physical address, IRD number, bank statements and identification, stolen by an unknown third party has sought advice ...
Healthcare appliance manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has upped its profit forecasts for the third time this year, with increased sales off the back of the coronavirus. The company now expects a full year net profit of between $260 and $270 million, up 1.9 percent on its previous forecast. Chief ...
Power company Genesis Energy has taken a significant financial hit and lowered its guidance, because of lower hydro generation and gas shortages. Net profit for the six months ended December fell 81.4 percent to $9.2 million, from slightly lower revenue of $1.3 billion. Lower inflows for its hydro power stations ...
Kiwibank's first half profit is down on flat revenue growth and increased operations and compliance costs. The New Zealand-owned bank's net profit fell 18 percent to $51 million in the six months to December, compared with the year earlier's $62m. "As expected the bank faced rising operating costs due to ...
The New Zealand Bar Association has urged Parliament to balance carefully the need to reform legislation in respect of sexual violence with the need to ensure that only the guilty are convicted. The Association told the Justice Select Committee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan talks with Assistant Professor Caroline Fisher about the week in politics, including the extension of the coronavirus travel ban, the royal commission into the bushfires, and labor’s stance on a compulsory superannuation guarantee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Steen, Professor of Midwifery, University of South Australia In a new parenting podcast, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, said she used hypnobirthing techniques to help her get through severe morning sickness – a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum. She also used the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samuel Alexander, Research fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne This article is the first in a three-part series on radical ideas to solve the environmental crisis. As the Productivity Commission confirmed this week, Australia’s economy has enjoyed uninterrupted growth for ...
The Nats are accusing Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor of being slow to act on a tuberculosis outbreak in Hawke’s Bay. Is it a fair cop? OSPRI confirmed an outbreak in Hawke’s Bay in April last year, but a disease management response wasn’t put in place until October, National agriculture spokesman ...
Porirua City Council is scratching its head on how it's going to meet the costs of a $2 billion bill to bring its water network up to scratch over the next two to three decades. ...
The sentencing of Grace Millane’s killer to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years marks the end of a judicial process that can only have been extremely harrowing for her family. They had already experienced the loss of their daughter, ...
Twenty years ago, Auckland’s streets were ruled by diesel-hating narcs. Josie Adams looks back at the short-lived 0800 SMOKEY campaign.For five chaotic weeks in 2000, the Auckland Regional Council experimented with extreme, multi-level peer pressure. The goal: to get cleaner-burning fuel into Auckland cars. The method: turning citizens against each ...
The National Party donations scandal that had nothing to do with the National Party was the big news of the week. James Elliott has some thoughts on that. Simon Bridges has climbed into double digits as preferred Prime Minister in the latest political polling which is significant for two reasons. ...
He thought he’d moved on, but the news the Holden brand was being killed off hit Trevor McKewen harder than he expected. Here he reminisces about a youthful infatuation that never quite burned out.A part of me died this week and I didn’t see it coming.Holden has shut up shop ...
Today the unnamed man found guilty of murdering Grace Millane was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 17. “One person has been locked away but are New Zealand women any safer?” asks White Ribbon Manager Rob McCann. “We certainly ...
Pacific Media Watch An Australian federal court decision upholding the legality of the police raid on the Sydney headquarters of the national public broadcaster ABC last June has dealt a major blow to the protection of journalists’ sources and poses a grave danger for the future of public interest ...
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 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20)What is going on, Auckland? Is it just ...
A poem by US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.The FightThe rising sun paints the feet of night-crawling enemies. And they scatter into the burning hills. I have fought each of them. I know them by name. From before I could speak. I’ve used every weapon. To make them retreat. Yet they ...
A string of toy companies are facing legal action for selling unsafe toys that pose choking hazards for young children. Yesterday, Cinevan International was fined $81,000 and another four companies are before the courts. Businesses have been using a sticker on the packaging saying 'not suitable for children under three' ...
The Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee, Gareth Hughes, is calling for public submissions on the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, which was referred to the committee on 20 February 2020. The Residential Tenancies Act ...
ANALYSIS:By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has embarked on a state visit to New Zealand. It is the first visit to New Zealand by a sitting PNG prime minister since Marape’s predecessor Peter O’Neill’s trip in 2013. Marape, who rolled O’Neill ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentDonations scandals Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Who are the people at the centre of the SFO political donation row? Collette ...
Policyholders fear the sale of AMP LIfe to a Bermuda-based 'zombie fund guru' could leave them stranded because a legal gap means the FMA is powerless to protect them ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide When booking a luxury cruise, you generally expect relaxation and enjoyment, not forced quarantine and distress. Unfortunately, for the thousands of vacationers trapped on cruise ships in Asia the past month, what started as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Courtney Hempton, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University The Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board has this week published a report detailing the first six months of the legislation in action in Victoria. The report reveals 52 people legally ended their lives from the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Blanca del Rosal Rabes, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Swinburne University of Technology Brain temperature is implicated in many common conditions including stroke, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and headaches. Changes in brain temperature can indicate there is a disease developing, but researchers ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese will commit a Labor government to adopting a target of zero net emissions by 2050, in a speech titled “Leadership in a New Climate” to be delivered on Friday. The opposition leader’s embrace ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy N. W. Jackson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Venom Research Unit, University of Melbourne This is an article from I’ve Always Wondered, a series where readers send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. Send your question to alwayswondered@theconversation.edu.auWho would ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamen Franklen Gussen, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology In 1971, a Time magazine article, titled “Should New York City Be the 51st State?”, observed: States have not only short-changed and hamstrung their cities but are themselves the least creative ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ida Kubiszewski, Associate professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Labor’s treasury spokesman, Jim Chalmers, wants to follow New Zealand’s example and introduce a “wellbeing budget” alongside the traditional budget that stresses economic growth, when Labor is next in office. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona Andreallo, Honorary research fellow, University of Sydney A sea of oversized hair bows bobs through primary school gates each morning. It might be dismissed as a harmless children’s fad but big bows are back, driven by current fashions, tween influencers and ...
The Government of New Zealand has recognized that the country is facing a housing crisis, said Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, at the end of her visit to the country . “While the Government has taken important steps ...
Survey results released today by the Helen Clark Foundation and the New Zealand Drug Foundation show that support for cannabis legalisation grows when people know more about the proposed legislation. When respondents were asked how they would vote ...
In today’s edition: Views on cannabis legalisation could hardly be tighter, the Papua New Guinea PM arrives in NZ, and bad light threatens cricket on the radio.A new poll published this morning finds that 46% of those surveyed would vote yes, and 44% no, with 10% undecided. That’s a markedly different ...
Actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand Te Atamira, a long-time champion of the arts, and te reo Māoriis the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year for 2020. Mark Jennings reports on the night that honours the best of us. What does it mean to be a New Zealander? The question was posed by ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias.FICTION 1 In the Clearing by JP Pomare (Hachette, $34.99) All next week at ReadingRoom is devoted to this brilliant thriller inspired by Australian cult The Family, led by ...
‘A life-changing experience’, ‘The greatest of the great! It must be experienced!’, ‘That show with the dancing lady on the billboard.’ Shen Yun ads are impossible to avoid, but what on earth is it?So what is Shen Yun?According to the Shen Yun website: “It is a brilliant artistic revival ...
Dr Amanda Landers discusses the stigma associated with palliative care and why the field deserves recognition Scalpels are a powerful tool in medicine, but words can be just as mighty. Some medical specialties are easy to comprehend - they cut, stitch, unblock, restart or fix. Others are just too hard ...
A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to the attention of authorities, the poorly stored solvents remain a fire and environmental risk. While Government agencies struggled to get a polluter to clean up his mess, up to one million ...
Georgia Hale's tireless and compassionate work, using her sport of rugby league to create opportunities for many different communities, has earned her the title of Young New Zealander of the Year. As soon as she left high school, Georgia Hale began working with children with intellectual disabilities. It changed her ...
A new, "true green" party hoping to break into Parliament at this year's election has been hit by resignations and allegations of questionable conduct, Newsroom's political editor Sam Sachdeva reports Fledgling political party Sustainable New Zealand has been rocked by a flurry of resignations and allegations of questionable behaviour by its ...
"To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters who hear the music bubbling within, please speak up. We need to hear your voices." These are the words of Hildur Guðnadóttir, who recently accepted the Oscar for best original score for the film Joker at the 92nd ...
A rare visit by a prime minister of Papua New Guinea to New Zealand highlights a strong friendship, but one which could be closer, writes Johnny Blades for RNZ.Papua New Guinea’s James Marape has embarked on a state visit to New Zealand. It’s the first visit to New Zealand by ...
Plant-based food producers ‘stigmatise and demonise’ traditional agriculture, according to Jones, but those working in the new industry say it should be seen as an opportunity, not a threat. NZ First minister Shane Jones’ suggestion that plant-based food must be “stopped in its tracks” has been labelled concerning, negligent and anti-competitive ...
The prospect of going to the Red Planet is possibly a step closer with the US President's State of the Nation speech, in which he promises we will land there. The chances of anything coming from Mars - according to the 1978 Jeff Wayne musical War of the Worlds - are ...
Jennifer Ward-Lealand’s dedication to acting, directing and te ao Māori saw her named the 2020 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year at a special dinner in Auckland last night. Alice Webb-Liddall speaks to her about how she hopes to nurture the future of the craft that has given her so ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Seen as a political narrative, the Morrison government’s handling of the coronavirus (COVID-19) fits the patterns of its approaches on border security and anti-terrorism. Stressing the central imperative is to “keep Australians safe”, it has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The coronavirus is presenting a major threat to Australia’s education export industry, which is highly dependant upon the China market, and a huge challenge to the universities. Phil Honeywood, CEO of the International Education Association ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The corona virus is presenting a major threat to Australia’s education export industry, which is highly dependant upon the China market, and a huge challenge to the universities. Phillip Honeywood, CEO of the International Education ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stacey L Rowe, PhD candidate, Monash University Today’s evacuation of about 180 passengers from the cruise ship Diamond Princess to serve another period of quarantine back in Australia has raised questions about the best way to control spread of the coronavirus. The ...
Open mike 03/10/2015 
Open mike is your post.
Last week the Wall Street Journal published an article ‘The Dangerous Denial of Sex by two scientists Colin Wright and Emma Hilton. Write is an evolutionary biologist at Penn State and Hilton is a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester. It is well worth reading the article in full. Here ...2 hours ago
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...3 hours ago
Winston Peters - Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the NZ First PartyWe all know that politics can be pretty messy at times. Just look at the Dirty Politics saga in New Zealand, the misgovernment of the Australian bushfires or the recent Trump impeachment debacle in the US. In a ...8 hours ago
Last Monday SpaceX launched another clutch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing up to 300 the number of these units intended to bring 5G internet to the whole globe. In this post I present a movie showing how all 300 such satellites will be zipping around our planet over ...20 hours ago
The recent floods in Southland have highlighted the issue of Rio Tinto's illegal toxic waste dump in Mataura. But according to Newsroom, there's an even worse mess in Ruakaka near Whangarei:A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to ...1 day ago
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bruce Lieberman CARLSBAD, CA. – When it comes to paying the electric bill, most people don’t give it a second thought – it’s something that in effect is “baked in.” But across California and several other states, local governments increasingly are ...1 day ago
The Democracy Virus: China’s authoritarian political system enables a level of social surveillance and control that liberal democratic societies cannot match. The Chinese Government makes full use of the latest digital technology to both punish – and reward – its citizens. The plans it formulates cannot be challenged, or hindered. Where ...1 day ago
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...3 days ago
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...6 days ago
...2 weeks ago
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...1 day ago
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...1 week ago
Justice Minister Andrew Little will travel to Berlin tomorrow to represent New Zealand at a high-level summit on nuclear disarmament. This year, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) celebrates 50 years since it entered into force. “New Zealand’s proud record and leadership on nuclear disarmament is unwavering, so it’s important we are present ...5 hours ago
The Labour Party says it has received money from two of the people facing charges in relation to National Party donations but says they were above board. ...33 mins ago
New Zealand First’s action to halt the introduction of a ‘feebate’ scheme designed to support the nation’s transition to low-emission vehicles is a leap back into the industrial age, says Drive Electric Chairman Mark Gilbert. “While ...2 hours ago
Staff expenses at the Reserve Bank – which have increased by an average 4.4% a year since 2009/11 – surged by 14.8% in the 12 months to 2018/19. Total staff numbers increased by an average 3.4 a year during those nine years but shot up by 19 in 2018/19 from ...5 hours ago
By Felipe F. Salvosa II in Manila ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Lopez Katigbak has broken his silence amid the controversy over renewal of the Philippine TV giant’s broadcast franchise, which expires in one month. Katigbak, in a video posted on the ABS-CBN News site and aired over flagship ...10 hours ago
RNZ management wants to grow a youth audience without having to build a costly new platform. Anna Dean offers a bunch – none of which involves scrapping RNZ Concert.Over the next few weeks RNZ National Concert staff are set to take part in strategy workshops focused on “growth in audience reach, ...10 hours ago
Today LockerRoom brings you the first episode of Pure As, a mini documentary series on the Silver Ferns' personal journeys to World Cup glory. So much of the magic and composure Silver Ferns captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio brings to the netball court today was learned from years of sitting on the ...13 hours ago
"He was an energy vacuum, a shit magnet, a waste of skin": a black comedy by Nelson writer Grant Smithies. The stars he saw were blue, green, golden. Little lights swam around slowly, then went out one by one. His face felt hot. His left eye wasn’t working. And ...13 hours ago
Peter Griffin looks past the rollercoaster ride that is cryptocurrency to find out its true potential. ...1 day ago
A victim of the Generate KiwiSaver hack is considering legal action to seek compensation for stress and the risk of identity theft. One of the 26,000 KiwiSavers who had personal information, including their physical address, IRD number, bank statements and identification, stolen by an unknown third party has sought advice ...1 day ago
Apple is the latest tech firm to warn that Kiwis may lose access to streaming content if a new parental guidance law goes ahead. ...1 day ago
Healthcare appliance manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has upped its profit forecasts for the third time this year, with increased sales off the back of the coronavirus. The company now expects a full year net profit of between $260 and $270 million, up 1.9 percent on its previous forecast. Chief ...1 day ago
Power company Genesis Energy has taken a significant financial hit and lowered its guidance, because of lower hydro generation and gas shortages. Net profit for the six months ended December fell 81.4 percent to $9.2 million, from slightly lower revenue of $1.3 billion. Lower inflows for its hydro power stations ...1 day ago
Kiwibank's first half profit is down on flat revenue growth and increased operations and compliance costs. The New Zealand-owned bank's net profit fell 18 percent to $51 million in the six months to December, compared with the year earlier's $62m. "As expected the bank faced rising operating costs due to ...1 day ago
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has landed the first blow in the demolition of a leaky St John call centre in Auckland. ...1 day ago
The National Party donations scandal that had nothing to do with the National Party was the big news of the week. James Elliott has some thoughts on that. Simon Bridges has climbed into double digits as preferred Prime Minister in the latest political polling which is significant for two reasons. ...1 day ago
A string of toy companies are facing legal action for selling unsafe toys that pose choking hazards for young children. Yesterday, Cinevan International was fined $81,000 and another four companies are before the courts. Businesses have been using a sticker on the packaging saying 'not suitable for children under three' ...1 day ago
The number of 14 and 15 year olds who have tried cannabis has fallen by more than a quarter. ...1 day ago
Paid parking on weekends looks set to stay, as Wellington Mayor Andy Foster struggles to find support for his agenda around the council table. ...1 day ago
Southland cleanup highlights climate change threat - Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage; and new taskforce to look at Wellington water issues. ...1 day ago
Policyholders fear the sale of AMP LIfe to a Bermuda-based 'zombie fund guru' could leave them stranded because a legal gap means the FMA is powerless to protect them ...1 day ago
Over the next three weeks Rod Oram will be cycling the length of New Zealand ...2 days ago
Actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand Te Atamira, a long-time champion of the arts, and te reo Māori is the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year for 2020. Mark Jennings reports on the night that honours the best of us. What does it mean to be a New Zealander? The question was posed by ...2 days ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias. FICTION 1 In the Clearing by JP Pomare (Hachette, $34.99) All next week at ReadingRoom is devoted to this brilliant thriller inspired by Australian cult The Family, led by ...2 days ago
Dr Amanda Landers discusses the stigma associated with palliative care and why the field deserves recognition Scalpels are a powerful tool in medicine, but words can be just as mighty. Some medical specialties are easy to comprehend - they cut, stitch, unblock, restart or fix. Others are just too hard ...2 days ago
A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to the attention of authorities, the poorly stored solvents remain a fire and environmental risk. While Government agencies struggled to get a polluter to clean up his mess, up to one million ...2 days ago
Georgia Hale's tireless and compassionate work, using her sport of rugby league to create opportunities for many different communities, has earned her the title of Young New Zealander of the Year. As soon as she left high school, Georgia Hale began working with children with intellectual disabilities. It changed her ...2 days ago
A new, "true green" party hoping to break into Parliament at this year's election has been hit by resignations and allegations of questionable conduct, Newsroom's political editor Sam Sachdeva reports Fledgling political party Sustainable New Zealand has been rocked by a flurry of resignations and allegations of questionable behaviour by its ...2 days ago
"To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters who hear the music bubbling within, please speak up. We need to hear your voices." These are the words of Hildur Guðnadóttir, who recently accepted the Oscar for best original score for the film Joker at the 92nd ...2 days ago
The prospect of going to the Red Planet is possibly a step closer with the US President's State of the Nation speech, in which he promises we will land there. The chances of anything coming from Mars - according to the 1978 Jeff Wayne musical War of the Worlds - are ...2 days ago
Leaked emails show a 'summer of sewage' has broken the confidence of councillors in the region's shared water services company ...2 days ago
CYPS, CYFS, “I’ve just taken over your case and can’t comment on what has happened before ”
I have seen both sides of state involvement in my family. A National Women’s social worker’s report to CYPS contained an error that lead to two years of intervention by an agency that I found had “powers the Gestapo would envy”. They could arrive unannounced anytime at home, work, in the street. Their intrusive accusatory actions made the first two years of my sons life Kafkaesque.
Some years later when our family was struggling CYFS as they had become turned up again. Dread turned to gratitude as a genuinely wonderful social worker made the system work for us.
Sitting down at a cafe I read the front page of the Herald. Then I read it again, but this time reading between the lines. No one deserves to be treated like that, and it doesn’t take a 1100 page report to do something about it.
“I have just been handed your case and can’t comment on what happened before ” is the real problem something needs to be done about
Latest TPP News
“U.S. Formally Tables ‘5+3’ Years Exclusivity Period For Biologics Drugs
ATLANTA — The United States has formally tabled here to other Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries a proposal that would require parties to grant five years of data exclusivity for biologics drugs and impose an additional three years of “post-market surveillance,” in the first official sign that it is willing to drop its 12-year market exclusivity demand.”
This is virtually the 8 years it has been vying for all along. Say NO, Tim!
“Amari Sees Glimmer Of Hope As Dairy Makes Progress; Obama Calls Turnbull
ATLANTA — Akira Amari, the Japanese minister for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), said late Thursday (Oct. 1) that negotiations continue to be extremely difficult but that he is beginning to see a glimmer of hope that a deal can get done here, as negotiators opted to extend the meeting at least through Saturday amid signs of progress on dairy market access.'”
http://insidetrade.com/ paywalled
“TPP means ‘ugly compromises’
He (Tim Groser) said it was clear there was a “massive push” to do the deal.
“It’s got the smell of a situation we occasionally see which is that on the hardest core issues, there are some ugly compromises out there.
“And when we say ugly, we mean ugly from each perspective – it doesn’t mean ‘I’ve got to swallow a dead rat and you’re swallowing foie gras.’ It means both of us are swallowing dead rats on three or four issues to get this deal across the line.”
“On the issue of Helen Clark’s comments about the TPP – she said it was unthinkable New Zealand wouldn’t be part of the deal – he said she had added a crucial rider – “provided the deal was good”.
Mr Groser said he did not take Labour or its leadership for granted on TPP.
“They haven’t got a position on TPP and I fully respect that and if I were in their shoes, I wouldn’t have a position either because I would say ‘I don’t know what the deal is.’ That is a perfectly rational position to take.”
Email Audrey
@audreyNZH
Audrey Young Audrey Young is the New Zealand Herald’s political editor.
TPP means ‘ugly compromises’
5:00 AM Saturday Oct 3, 2015
Save
Like on Facebook
35
Tweet on Twitter
7
Post on LinkedIn
0
+1 on Google+
1
Politics Trade
Tim Groser says the negotiations are going round the clock. Photo / NZME
Tim Groser says the negotiations are going round the clock. Photo / NZME
Trade Minister Tim Groser says countries deeply immersed in TPP negotiations understand that dairy has to be resolved to New Zealand’s satisfaction before a deal can be done.
“At least people understand that this has got to be done and they can’t just ignore our small country because we are small,” he told the Weekend Herald.
He also extended a goodwill gesture to Labour, saying he respected the fact it had not taken a position on TPP and that was “perfectly rational”.
Mr Groser was speaking from Atlanta where ministers of the 12 countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership have extended their meeting for another 24 hours.
He said he had spoken to Prime Minister John Key in New York several times over the past few hours.
And I’ve got highly confidential but very clear political guidelines from the Prime Minister about what I should be doing.
Tim Groser
▾ Advertising ▾
Close ad
Play
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration Time 0:15
Loaded: 0%Progress: 0%0:00
00:00
Mute
He had a team of about 15 with him “working their proverbials off” around the clock and some of the key stakeholders such as the chairman of Fonterra, John Wilson and the chairman of Dairy Companies of New Zealand. He said it was an achievement to get dairy on the list of the final three issues that had to be dealt with because it was not there at the Maui ministerial meeting at the end of July.
“I felt under as intense pressure as I have ever felt in the last 30 years as a New Zealand negotiator because I felt completely and totally isolated,” he said. “Now everyone understands that New Zealand is not going to be pushed out of this negotiation and the issues that would push New Zealand out of this negotiation, which is dairy … this has got be solved in a way that New Zealand can live with.”
He said the negotiations were going around the clock and he was just about to try and get a couple of hours’ sleep until he was called for another session.
He said it was clear there was a “massive push” to do the deal.
“It’s got the smell of a situation we occasionally see which is that on the hardest core issues, there are some ugly compromises out there.
“And when we say ugly, we mean ugly from each perspective – it doesn’t mean ‘I’ve got to swallow a dead rat and you’re swallowing foie gras.’ It means both of us are swallowing dead rats on three or four issues to get this deal across the line.”
The outstanding issues are dairy, autos, and IP on pharmaceuticals, especially biologics – medicines made from organisms.
On the issue of Helen Clark’s comments about the TPP – she said it was unthinkable New Zealand wouldn’t be part of the deal – he said she had added a crucial rider – “provided the deal was good”.
And that was the same position the Government had.
“I think it has been extremely helpful in terms of uniting New Zealand that our former Prime Minister has said what she said.”
Mr Groser said he did not take Labour or its leadership for granted on TPP.
“They haven’t got a position on TPP and I fully respect that and if I were in their shoes, I wouldn’t have a position either because I would say ‘I don’t know what the deal is.’ That is a perfectly rational position to take.”
But as a point of general principle, what Helen Clark had said was the essential truth: “Provided we can deliver what makes sense from an overall New Zealand Inc perspective, it would be a nightmare for New Zealand to be excluded from it.”
If the deal is not done tomorrow, there will be one last chance, at Apec in the Philippines in November.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11522953
‘TPP on verge of breakthrough’
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11523161
As Gordon Campbell predicted.
A sad day for NZ people if this happens.
We won’t know whether it is a sad day, happy day or a meh day until the final deal is tabled.
We have been softened up for a shoddy deal that removes our sovereignty.
Sounds like you’re an apologist for the 0.001%.
🙄
Some education for those with rolling eyes.
Terrifying Paul. Of course if we were not signatories we could be crushed by the multinationals. Excluded from all and everything as retaliation for not being party to TPP. Rock and hard place?
So may people are unaware of this.
Please pass on to everyone you know.
Paul
If you look to the right of the screen (I make it about level with comment 3, but that may change), you will see that very graphic that you’ve posted (just above the accumulated Atmospheric CO2 graphic). The people who regularly visit this site are not the ones who may be unaware of this.
I get that you’re passionate about this, and it is a daunting problem requiring urgent action. But you are coming off as a bit too eager, which may be counterproductive.
Hmm graphic seems to have changed (was the accumulated energy one). Can’t edit now, so disregard previous comment. Though I still contend that discussing is better than proclaiming is a better way to get your point across.
How is encouraging people to pass on message about TPP too eager? By that definition, Jane Kelsey is too eager by far!
The Labour Party is equivocal about the TPP and is not communicating its dangers enough to the people of NZ.
Still a neoliberal party, sadly.
@ ianmac
The difference is, signing the deal will give multinationals the international legal authority, thus strengthening their ability too.
“Of course if we were not signatories we could be crushed by the multinationals. Excluded from all and everything as retaliation for not being party to TPP. Rock and hard place?”
Ianmac, can you please give some examples of why this would be a problem?
Latest TPP News
Froman, Robb Meet On IP Ahead Of CN Meeting, Ministerial Plenary
ATLANTA — U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb on Friday afternoon (Oct. 2) were holding a bilateral meeting to discuss the controversial issue of the exclusivity term for biologics drugs, in what could be a pivotal moment for whether a broader Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal comes together here.
Levin Says ‘May 10’ Applies To Biologics, Signals Opposition To ‘5+3’
ATLANTA — House Ways & Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) on Friday (Oct. 2) strongly signaled that he opposes the new U.S. proposal for an eight-year market exclusivity term for biologics drugs in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) because it goes beyond the so-called “May 10” agreement that he negotiated with the George W. Bush administration.
http://insidetrade.com/
Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich) is Ranking Member of the Committee on Ways and Means, which has sole jurisdiction over trade policy in the House.
On previous form its a shitty deal, and we won’t know how shitty for a while.
But north shore doc is too much of a sleepy hobbit to care.
As long as we get a panda.
Or change the flag.
Who cares about sovereignty!
I don’t think nsd is a sleep hobbit. I think he is aware of the issues but don’t think they are a concern. He’s not ignorant, he’s just comfortable with the globalisation agenda.
I’ve been fairly open about my position on the TPPA.
Succinctly I believe we should only enter an agreement if it offers good access for our key horticultural/agricultural exports into North America and Japan, I’m doubtful that it will hence i wouldn’t be in a hurry to sign up.
I’ve also read a lot of pap on the internet regarding loss of sovereignty and immediate privatisation of everything from healthcare through to water which is frankly drivel.
What do you think about Jane Kelsey’s work on this?
I think Jane’s done some sterling work but see comes from a different ideological perspective on trade than myself.
that’s pretty much what I meant above.
I’ve also read a lot of pap on the internet regarding loss of sovereignty and immediate privatisation of everything from healthcare through to water which is frankly drivel
Claiming to know it is drivel is an ironic position ?
Hardly.
Some of the comments have been ridiculous, such as suggesting we are going to no longer have a predominantly publicly funded healthcare or education system or that PHARMAC would cease to exist under an agreement that a NZ government would enter into are absurd.
northshoredoc:
Time you woke up to the fact that this is not a free trade deal that we are being asked to sign up to. Its a “rolling out of the red carpet” for offshore corporates to come in and wreck the country, its sovereignty and its economy for their own benefit.
This is not rocket science. Read the literature that is available, including the copious ‘writings on the wall(s)”.
🙄 instead of writing silly bombast Murray why don’t you offer concrete examples of how that will occur
ISDS provisions that remove a Government’s ability to legislate for the National interest with any provisions which conflict with foreign private corporate interest.
For example, re Nationalising banks, rail or power will be forever impossible. Pretty scary when you look at what corporations are doing in the US, over similar provisions between States.
Even our current support for Dairy would be considered outside the treaty provisions.
“for example, re Nationalising banks, rail or power will be forever impossible.”
Excellent.
Hope you like paying the power bills, when they are all owned by one US utilities corporation..
How much of a rise since Bradford, again.
The reality disconnect on the right wing is now almost total.
Fucklands is master of his own destiny, so no misfortune will ever befall him.
A conceit common amongst tories.
re Nationalising banks, rail or power will be forever impossible..
Rubbish – and S Rylands can choke on it – you just have to decide whether to compensate for losses or withdraw from the TPPA.
Actually re-nationalising things would be the least impacted by the new rules. Labour re-nationalised kiwirail by buying it – and apparently paying way too much in the process. Corporates would be fine with the asset being bought fair and square for more than it’s market value.
Worth reading, dated 2 Oct 2015 from Stiglitz and Hersh
“For starters, consider what the agreement would do to expand intellectual property rights for big pharmaceutical companies, as we learned from leaked versions of the negotiating text. Economic research clearly shows the argument that such intellectual property rights promote research to be weak at best. In fact, there is evidence to the contrary: When the Supreme Court invalidated Myriad’s patent on the BRCA gene, it led to a burst of innovation that resulted in better tests at lower costs. Indeed, provisions in the TPP would restrain open competition and raise prices for consumers in the US and around the world – anathema to free trade.”
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trans-pacific-partnership-charade-by-joseph-e–stiglitz-and-adam-s–hersh-2015-10#KuP0YYzqc5LgOZ7M.01
TTP is anti free trade in crucial areas.
That’s been obvious for awhile. In fact, patents are actually there to prevent competition and thus they must decrease innovation. And when you look at these types of results we can see that cooperation would lead to even more innovation but it would prevent a few people becoming rich. Of course, it’s not the people doing the innovation that are becoming rich but the shareholders in the corporations.
“We won’t know whether it is a sad day, happy day or a meh day until the final deal is tabled.”
That this kind of trade deal can be done in secret without telling the people makes it a sad day irrespective of what the final deal is.
Exactly.
If the deal is so important that it is “unthinkable” that New Zealand should not be in it then it should also be “unthinkable” that the people should be left completely uninformed about it. In a democracy highly important matters are supposedly decided by an informed citizenry.
Or are we not a democracy but simply a state ruled by a paternalistic elite who are so sure that they know what is best for us – and are so scared of our ‘ignorance’ – that they ensure we, ‘the people’, play no part in forming our social and economic destiny?
All elites through history have shown, by their egregious behaviour if not by their oh-so-patronising utterances, that they disdain the capacities of ‘the masses’ to rule themselves.
It is no different now.
+1
The actions of the governments over the TPPA are the actions of dictators.
While I never liked Clark she has this dead right. We elect governments to negotiate ongoing development of free trade. The FTAs were her great achievement. The idea that you could do this publicly is absurd.
Hopefully the TPPA is the dawn of a new era of globalisation.
The idea that you could do this publicly is absurd.
Translation: add integrative negotiation to the list of things of which S Rylands is utterly ignorant.
‘Publically’ and total secrecy are two ends of a long continuum. There has been no official information provided over these negotiations – apart from vacuous comments about how ‘well’ it was going.
Groser can practically smell that knighthood now.
lets hope the sword slips
To be fair, knighthoods and damehoods are generally pretty smelly things – probably ‘whiffable’ from quite some distance.
There are, of course, exceptions to that rule in order to keep the general practice acceptable in the public mind (e.g., Sir Ed Hillary, etc.).
Hillary’s knighthoods, both of them, were of course awarded by the Brits, and had nothing at all to do with New Zealand.
That will probably make them more palatable to Anglophiles such as the commenters on this blog.
Interesting facts about Hillary’s knighthoods though I’m not sure what relevance they have for the point I was making.
@ Tautoko Mangō Mata re-…”On the issue of Helen Clark’s comments about the TPP”…
Helen Clark misrepresented !
‘BREAKING: Helen Clark misrepresented on TPPA & why Groser is now sucking up to Labour’
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/10/03/breaking-helen-clark-misrepresented-on-tppa-why-groser-is-now-sucking-up-to-labour/
( why doesn’t this surprise me ?!…the jonkley nacts are desperate creeps)
Labour had better NOT compromise with them!
Chooky
When I saw the byline; Claire Trevett in New York, I suspected something similar in the line of selective quotation. Good to have that confirmed.
Labour would be fools to compromise with the TPPA. Clear resistance to this is a major point of policy difference with NAct.
I think that Audrey Young was trying to address that misrepresentation in her article I linked to above when she wrote :
“On the issue of Helen Clark’s comments about the TPP – she said it was unthinkable New Zealand wouldn’t be part of the deal – he said she had added a crucial rider – “provided the deal was good”.
Australia’s Trade Minister, Andrew Robb says “I came to lower protection so I get frustrated if we are talking about increasing protection in the case of biologics or see no reduction in other areas,” Mr Robb told the newspaper in Atlanta. “Something has to give.”
This is NOT a FREE TRADE Agreement.
I too want to see Labour NOT compromising. TPPA No Way is my bottom line while ISDS included.
I think that posturing politicians from countries dealing with TPPA feel that their personal stature and manhood is on the line. Are they up to this tough bargaining or are they wooses? What they are bargaining away doesn’t matter it is the winning a point that gives them a buzz.
That sort of attitude is no doubt behind Oz Trade Minister Andrew Robb. Thinking of infamous Rolf Harris, his song about the man supported on three points comes to mind. Nickname for Robb – ‘Jake the Peg, with a wooden leg’?
When Groser utters “ugly compromises” he really means “ugly sacrifices”; the choice of words is, as always, very important and one needs to pay special attention to the spin that comes from our Government and that is so helpfully (!) spread through and by our MSM as we all know all too well.
Groser has also been quoted saying “… it would be a nightmare for New Zealand to be excluded from it.” This emotive and scaremongering statement offers no relevant information whatsoever either.
As with any (important) decision one needs to look at all aspects and examine the consequences of going ahead as well as of not going ahead – not making a decision is still making a decision. The fact that this either involves “ugly compromises” – that are unnamed – or “a nightmare for New Zealand” – also unspecified – should raise alarm bells with any rational person.
Please note the focus – the focus of the MSM and therefore our focus – has been directed and drawn to the issues dairy, autos, and IP on pharmaceuticals. No word on all the other areas that are possibly even more far-reaching so we have to assume that these ‘dead rats’ have already been stuffed down our throats well and truly.
BTW, IMO the ‘average Kiwi’ has very little understanding of and thus very little interest in IP on biologics and other ‘technicalities’ that are covered in the putative TPPA.
This comment is already getting too long but I’d like to mention a nice recent article in the Washington Post Why do drug companies charge so much? Because they can.
Well there has been another massacre by another lone gunman in the USA.
I’m sorry but but this type of event is no longer news for me: it’s a incredibly sad commentary. The news would be if something, other than further relaxing gun laws, was done.
The other side of the story:
Mideast alliances
https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/317348-is-syria-russia-us/
“Russia has made good on its commitment to start fighting Islamic State in Syria from the air. Russia is also establishing a coalition to protect the legal government in Damascus. This has caused an uproar in Washington. Can the Kremlin and the White House fight terrorists in tandem? CrossTalking with Patrick Henningsen, James Carafano, and Marwa Osman.”
And why no mention of Saudi’s crimes in Yemen, Mr Key?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/02/us-yemen-rights-idUSKCN0RW1ES20151002
Of the over 500 candidates at the last election, maybe only 5 would have spoken about the impossibility of kiwi Saver surviving more than a few more years.
Politicians are a byproduct of an ignorant dumb down populace, we get what we deserve.
And 3 replies with no link yet ?
[Moved here for being way off topic.] – Bill
OPEN LETTER TO JOSIE PAGANI
Saturday 3 October 2015
Dear Josie Pagani,
Two and a half weeks ago on this forum, I asked you to answer two questions:
1.) In the light of your support for the destruction of Afghanistan, do you support the invasion of the United States and Great Britain, the bombing and obliteration of British and American schools, hospitals, power stations and churches, and the killing of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of American and British civilians?
2.) Can you explain your statement that Hezbollah and Hamas are anti-Semitic?
Could you please answer them?
Can you explain your statement that Hezbollah and Hamas are anti-Semitic?
Will mainstream ever allow open discussion about Semitic people and their origins ?
That ‘antisemitism’ became terminology which could perversely be levered against those who have Semitic DNA, is testament to the level of control held over communication, language and its primary forms
+1
“That ‘antisemitism’ became terminology”….
It didn’t become terminology. It became a definition which has nothing to do with DNA. In its simplest form Antisemitism means hatred of Jews. It doesn’t mean hatred of Semites.
It’s perhaps an unfortunate use of a word but that’s not exactly uncommon, a great many legal definitions don’t match the description of the word(s) used either.
It’s perhaps an unfortunate use of a word but that’s not exactly uncommon, a great many legal definitions don’t match the description of the word(s) used either
Legal ‘definitions’, are deliberate
The Chris Brown hypocrisy
We gave Bill Clinton a state reception and lionized him. Next to Clinton, Chris Brown is Albert Schweitzer.
Kim Hill laughed that comment off on Saturday this morning.
I sent her this
—–Original Message—–
From: Robert [mailto:p………………….
Sent: Saturday, 3 October 2015 11:14 a.m.
To: Saturday
Subject: Bill Clinton
Come on Kim you know Clinton oversaw the death of 500,000 Iraqi children, not to mention Waco ??
But don’t tell the truth.
Robert Atack
Thanks, Robert! You’re a champion.
More TPPA new- from Canada
“NDP government would not adhere to a TPP deal, Mulcair says in letter”
NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is serving notice that a New Democratic Party government would not consider itself bound by the terms of a major Pacific Rim trade deal which the ruling Conservatives are negotiating right now in Atlanta.
He says the Conservative government has no mandate to agree to the big changes that a Trans-Pacific Partnership deal would bring about.
The NDP Leader’s announcement is well timed in that it comes as a TPP deal appears increasingly likely to be reached shortly by the 12 Pacific Rim countries including Canada which are gathered in Atlanta.
The bombshell declaration on Friday promises to make the massive trade agreement a bigger factor in Canada’s 42nd federal election, which is two and a half weeks away. It comes as polls suggest the NDP has dropped to third place in the national race.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ndp-government-would-not-adhere-to-a-tpp-deal-mulcair-says-in-letter/article26631467/
That is the news of the year Tautoko. Thanks for putting up – everybody should note.
Interesting that the only people who want the TPP are those in power.
Where we are, and where we are heading, using all the modern day apps and the internet, via smart phone, tablets, laptops or whatever. This ‘News Hour Extra’ program offered by the BBC World Service (from yesterday) offers some insight.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p033l4k6#play
I am very concerned how so many blindly trust the technology we almost all use daily now, the future looks more Orwellian than I ever dreaded to think before.
Indigenous woman speaks truth to sociopaths and refuses them entry onto ancestral lands to frack. Sociopath speaks with forked tongue.
“I’m not protesting, I’m not demonstrating, I’m occupying our homelands”
“Meaningful consultation and consent is when you’ve sat down and got our permission and you’ve never done that”.
“You’re pushing, pushing for all that money, but you’re not going to be able to eat that money. You have all that money in your bank account and you’re destroying the planet”
Auckland property is not driven by overseas buyers,
Yet “Chinese property investors are rapidly disappearing from the auction room, says the boss of Auckland’s biggest real estate agency”
And “Thompson did not believe the drop off was related to the Labour-sparked row over foreign ownership and predicted Chinese investors would return to the market within the next couple of months.”
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11519706
id this the same man who only a few months was quoted as saying
Barfoot & Thompson chief Peter Thompson acknowledged that there were many Chinese buyers but disagreed with Labour’s analysis.
“We know there’s been a large portion of Asians buying property but there’s no way to tell if they’re one of three categories: NZ born, foreign-born NZ citizens or foreign-born foreign citizens. If you asked me about Asian non-residents, I’d probably say between 5 and 8 per cent.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11478719
Funny how in just over 2 months mr Thompson can now say that the lack of these buyers IS now affecting the market 😜
Who is the more violent and despicable character: Bill Clinton or Chris Brown?
It’s a no-brainer, of course, but for some reason Kim Hill seems confused.
Radio NZ National, Saturday 3 October 2015
During her interview this morning with the chattery writer and “theatre-maker” Stella Duffy, Kim Hill brought up the vexed question of our brave and principled government’s refusal to let Chris Brown into New Zealand. Both of them seemed to think this little exercise in highly selective morality was acceptable. I sent Kim the following email….
The Chris Brown hypocrisy
Dear Kim,
We gave Bill Clinton a state reception and lionized him. Next to Clinton, Chris Brown is Albert Schweitzer.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
After the 11 o’clock news, Kim Hill read out my email and then replied on air: “D’ya think, Morrissey? When did Bill Clinton whack a woman, or anybody else?”
As she spoke, her voice took on a hard-edged and imperious tone, to underline how irritated she was at my impugning of the reputation of the saintly former president.
I replied thusly….
Dear Kim,
While Clinton’s predatory behaviour toward women is notorious and well documented, he has not to my knowledge ever “whacked” a woman. So, in that respect, he has the advantage over Chris Brown.
However, Chris Brown was not involved in the bombing of pharmaceutical plants and television stations; neither did he preside over a “sanctions” regime that led to the deaths of more than half a million Iraqi children.
And Chris Brown did not write in apparent high seriousness that unarmed Palestinian protestors executed by the IDF were “killed in crossfire”.
So, yes, Chris Brown hit at least one woman, and his rap lyrics are despicable, but there is simply no comparison between him and a major criminal like Bill Clinton.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
Good point.
There was a certain tone of derision in Kim’s voice.
Think she didn’t realise the crimes Clinton committed.
He’s the equivalent of Tony Balir in the UK.
—–Original Message—–
From: Robert [mailto:pet
Sent: Saturday, 3 October 2015 11:14 a.m.
To: Saturday
Subject: Bill Clinton
Come on Kim you now Clinton oversaw the death of 500,000 Iraqi children, not to mention Waco ??
But don’t tell the truth.
Robert Atack
Think she didn’t realise the crimes Clinton committed.
She knows perfectly well, actually.
It seems to be part and parcel of the framing – national ‘leaders’ crimes just aren’t remarked upon no matter how much damage has been done.
Latest TPP News
TPP Countries Set Deadlines For Final Tariff, NCM Offers; Plenary Pushed Back
ATLANTA — Amid an intense push to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), negotiators have set deadlines for final offers on tariffs and non-conforming measures of 4 a.m. and 10 a.m., respectively, on Saturday (Oct. 3), according to informed sources.
http://insidetrade.com/ paywalled
@ Morrisey – lets not also forget the thousands of women financially brutalised by Bill Clinton’s welfare reforms…
Peters hits back at Helen Clark’s TPP comment
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11522701
5am tomorrow. The first day of the rest of our lives. When we will be financially crippled by the high prices TPP will bring.
Which high prices are these ?
I think Millsy is referring to the the fact that should the exclusivity term for biological drugs be increased in the TPPA, then the resultant increased medical costs over the years will put a big strain on our health budget. Here is an excerpt from
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/health360/posts/2015/05/19-trans-pacific-partnership-prescription-drugs
“How would the TPP affect data exclusivity?”
“For the 11 countries besides the U.S. that are involved in the TPP, current data exclusivity protections range from zero (Brunei) to eight years (Japan). Under the Obama Administration’s current proposal, participating countries would increase those periods to match the US standard of 12 years.
Curiously, this proposal directly contradicts the administration’s ongoing domestic efforts to lower the period of data exclusivity. Since the ACA passed, the Obama administration has repeatedly proposed reducing it to seven, arguing that this would save Medicare $4.4 billion over the next decade. Some have noted that, once the 12-year period is enshrined in the TPP, it will become significantly more difficult to change it through the US legislative process.
Furthermore, imposing US standards on the 11 member countries would inevitably restrict competition at the global level, and many patient advocacy and international humanitarian organizations have argued that doing so would undermine the efforts of US global health initiatives like the Vaccine Alliance and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which rely on price competition to manage program costs.”
The latest publicised offer was 5+3 = 8 years (reduced from the 12 in the article.
Sigh, this has been discussed on this blog a number of times now.
Firstly the biological drugs make up a small percentage of the medicines that are used, secondly the biological medicines that are currently funded by PHARMAC are contracted and the prices will not change, thirdly whether the eight years of data exclusivity will impact on the patents, thirdly funding or availability of any of the new medicines that haven’t yet got to NZ is open to debate, but on PHARMAC’s previous success rate in getting these medicines at a very good deal even when under patent I’m not overly concerned.
Again, I believe the biggest issue will be access for our agricultural/horticultural products into North America and Japan which I would be amazed if there’s anything worthwhile.
@northshoredoc I have been under the impression that biological drugs would be used increasingly in the future but I am prepared to be proven wrong. I agree with your view on the minimal access improvements however.
The most commonly used biologic is GE insulin, followed by the TNFs and certain cancer meds we have excellent access to insulin at present and to TNFs both at very competitive prices despite in the case of TNFs still being under patent.
Access to cancer biologics could be better but the current prices preclude them being easily available.
“I believe”
We’re trying to deal with facts, not your blind faith.
😆
Right and/or wrong, NSD’s opinion is clearly based on facts.
Read the links provided
“5am tomorrow. The first day of the rest of our lives. When we will be financially crippled by the high prices TPP will bring.”
Chicken little you really should give up the magic mushrooms.
You need to talk to the doc.
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trans-pacific-partnership-charade-by-joseph-e–stiglitz-and-adam-s–hersh-2015-10#KuP0YYzqc5LgOZ7M.01
Given the veil of secrecy surrounding the TPP negotiations, it is not clear whether tobacco will be excluded from some aspects of ISDS. Either way, the broader issue remains: Such provisions make it hard for governments to conduct their basic functions – protecting their citizens’ health and safety, ensuring economic stability, and safeguarding the environment.
Imagine what would have happened if these provisions had been in place when the lethal effects of asbestos were discovered. Rather than shutting down manufacturers and forcing them to compensate those who had been harmed, under ISDS, governments would have had to pay the manufacturers not to kill their citizens. Taxpayers would have been hit twice – first to pay for the health damage caused by asbestos, and then to compensate manufacturers for their lost profits when the government stepped in to regulate a dangerous product.
It should surprise no one that America’s international agreements produce managed rather than free trade. That is what happens when the policymaking process is closed to non-business stakeholders – not to mention the people’s elected representatives in Congress.
An interesting aside – there has been talk and action taken to exclude high sugar drinks from being sold in hospitals around the country, and perhaps in taxing these drinks, like tobacco, to make them less palatable to the general public. Under the ISDS provisions of TPPA, who’d put money against the idea of Cocoa Cola or Pepsi taking our government to an overseas judicial process to – a) get any legislation reversed or b) to claim compensation for restraint of trade?
Your scenario is hypothetical. The New Zealand Government has ruled out such a tax. But that aside, it is no bad thing to have an international judiciary enforcing free trade. You should applaud it.
The tax on tobacco in New Zealand simply hurts the poor, including the children of the poor. Uneducated people smoke more. They also have lower incomes. When I see fat people and their fat kids at the supermarket buying 12 litres of coke, they don’t look too bright or wealthy. Why penalise them more by taxing them?
…judiciary…
Is that what you’ve convinced yourself it is? Or are you aware of the differences between ISDS and a justice system and lying anyway?
Why penalise them more by taxing them?
On the one hand S Rylands loves market signals, and on the other, S Rylands hates market signals.
It’s almost as though S Rylands has a career inventing glib gibberish or something.
You can’t enforce free-trade – if you did then it wouldn’t be free-trade.
And it’s not a judiciary – it’s a very small clique of corporate lawyers getting paid to screw over entire countries.
Latest TPP News
Guajardo Hopeful Of Deal After Australia, U.S. Report IP Progress At Plenary
ATLANTA – Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal here on Friday evening (Oct. 2) expressed hope that a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal can be reached by Saturday, but said the United States and Australia were still working to overcome the key hurdle of the monopoly period for biologic drugs.
NDP Leader Says Harper TPP Deal Not Binding On New Government
Tom Mulcair, the leader of Canada’s New Democrat Party (NDP), on Friday (Oct. 2) warned that any new government he may form if he wins the Oct. 19 federal election will not consider itself bound by a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal that that current Prime Minister Stephen Harper may strike before then.
http://insidetrade.com/
Thanks very much for the ongoing updates. The situation is very much worrying me but have a lot of other things to do at present which prevent me from researching myself. So, really appreciate your comments here with useful links.
Is there anybody out there who can help me – we don’t have a Sky subscription and are missing some of the key games of the RWC – we did manage to get BBC Wales on the internet the other day and listened to a wonderful live radio commentary on the Wales/England game and are now trying to find a TV/radio station in the UK who may give a radio commentary live on the England/Australia game tomorrow – so far we are having no luck cruising through the UK TV/Radio stations – is there a geek out there who can help us – my partner is pretty good at finding stuff on the net – I think NZ are mean as hell not putting on free to air TV or even radio for that matter, games which are crucial or just going to be down to the wire games in the competition for folk who, for reasons of their own, don’t want the crap Sky puts on and hate the way they deny us the fun of seeing some of the more important games. Not everybody wants to go to a pub and try to watch the game through the noise etc.
As an aside the AB’s are looking sluggish and flat – and, other than Argentina haven’t even had a real top side to slug it out with – fun and games ahead.
download hola from http://www.hola.org
open hola, click on the itv icon which takes you to http://www.itv.co.uk – watch every game live.
Thanks Nadis – just logged on – 25 minutes to go for the England/Australia game – my partner and I will endeavour to to download hola – I knew there would be somewhere out there in the ether who would come to our assistance. Enjoy the game.
Back again Nadis – thanks so much, mission accomplished, the geek in my household got us on line and the two of us sat back and watched the game – the English coach looked sick as a dog at the end, can’t help but feel sorry for the team – with the Australian kicker I think Dan Carter might not feel so good either – Foley I think his name was – my can he kick goals. I knew somebody out there would help us!!! Enjoy the rest of the tournament – I know we will.
Hmmmmm could be all over for the AB’s tho
http://eveningharold.com/2015/09/30/typing-error-means-all-blacks-will-perform-pre-game-haiku/
However:
I am an All-Black,
That much is self-evident,
What is a haiku?
I think you know 🙂
Professor Dame Sally Davies has a plan…..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3258092/Put-fat-tax-flying-Britain-s-doctor-provokes-fury-outrageous-plan-make-obese-pay-plane-tickets.html
Please…..the Daily Mail is not a reliable source.
It is hate speech.
Professor Dame Sally Davies has a prejudice (and a professionally ignorant one at that).
fify.
Samoa Air are already selling tickets based on the combined weight of the passenger and their luggage. Sounds fair to me.
I’m sure it does. But I’m also fairly sure that you don’t understand the various complexities that lead to some people being larger than others, and that your sense of fairness is also based on prejudice (how is it fair for a smaller boned, short person to pay less for travel than a larger boned, tall person?).
While it might be “fair” that someone who requires more av-gas to transport them pays more, I expect the extra effort required to implement such a Naki-system would be uber-stupid.
That system is done for every trademe parcel sent through the post. Honestly, its not that much effort.
Yes, because passengers are exactly the same as parcels.
🙄
“That system is done for every trademe parcel sent through the post. Honestly, its not that much effort.”
Except that NZPost changed their system a few years ago to volumetric so now it’s laborious and complicated. Plus, isn’t it NZPost that’s bleeding profit because it does stupid shit like this? Not a good example.
“(how is it fair for a smaller boned, short person to pay less for travel than a larger boned, tall person?).”
It costs the airline more in fuel to carry bigger people.
So it is fair that they pay more for their flight
stock units.
Yes, it’s “fair”, and uber-stupid. Anyone with half a brain would think to themselves about how the booking system would work and how the check-in procedure would have to change, and conclude that only a right wing nut job could be responsible for such stupidity.
It is rational. How childish to refer to anyone as a “nut job”!
It’s a signal from the market: right wing policy shills make terrible economic decisions, and you can make a buck concealing their incompetence, S Rylands.
A couple of twitter feeds from Atlanta TPP talks for anyone interested.
1. Burcu Kilic@burcuno
Patent geek, digital rights advocate, IP scholar, lawyer, globetrotter and wannabe photographer; Public Citizen’s Global Access to Medicines Program
https://twitter.com/burcuno?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
2. A trade Reporter, Doug Palmer- has photos of the meetings
https://twitter.com/tradereporter?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Doug Palmer (@tradereporter0
From newstalk zb
“Recent comments made by Trade Minister Tim Groser have concerned the Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Ian Powell.
“Well when Tim Groser as trade minister began talking about having to swallow a dead rat and knowing that medicines is still one of the big contentious issues still outstanding in the trade negotiations, we became extremely alarmed.”
He says leaked documents show the Government hasn’t done enough to protect the cost of our medicines.”
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/medical-specialists-extremely-concerned-about-tpp-risk-to-health-system/
Shameless State Department propaganda masquerading as news;
Poor old Simon Shepherd doesn’t even bat an eyelid as he reads the tripe he’s handed.
TV3 News, Saturday 3 October 2015
They try to maintain those poker faces, but occasionally television news readers will register their discomfort at having to read out some offensive or ludicrous item. Last year, at the height of the Gaza massacre, Peter Williams grimaced and looked unhappy after reading out a piece of low propaganda that might have been written by someone at the Israeli consulate. At other times, Simon Dallow, Hillary Barry, Wendy Petrie and even Susan Wood have frowned, averted their eyes or paused meaningfully to indicate what they think of their scripts. I’ve even seen newsreaders from that cartoonishly bad Murdoch outlet Fox News blanch at some of the crap they’re expected to read.
However, I have never seen any such redeeming signs of conscience from TV3’s owlish, ineffably pompous Simon Shepherd. He doesn’t seem to have a skeptical bone in his body. Nothing fazes him, apparently—not even the preposterous State Department talking points (i.e., lies) he was handed to read out this evening.
At 6:20 p.m. Shepherd furrowed his brow, narrowed his eyes, pursed his lips and attempted to look REALLY serious….
SIMON SHEPHERD: [speaking in an ominous tone, summoning up all the gravitas he can manage] President Putin says he’s bombing ISIL targets but, as ITV’s Jack Fisher reports, NOBODY believes him….
It turns out that “ITV’s Jack Fisher” is trying even harder than Simon Shepherd to show how serious he is—unfortunately for his viewers, however, he’s not serious about being a journalist.
What Fisher is serious about is parroting the official talking points of the Obama regime. He speaks gravely of “President Obama’s DAMNING assessment of Russia’s actions”, before cutting to a ludicrously brief edited comment from Dr. Domitilla Sagramoso of Kings College London. The purpose of showing Dr Sagramoso has nothing to do with analysis; rather, it is to provide at least the appearance of authority to what even the hapless slaves at ITV will know perfectly well is nothing more than a crude piece of propaganda. After Dr Sagramoso’s eight seconds of input, it’s back to Jack Fisher for the almost comically ironic peroration, once again in that faux sérieux style…
JACK FISHER, ITV: [sombrely, to convey how serious he is] People will remember Russia’s protracted wars in Chechnya and Afghanistan and wonder: WHERE will it all end?”
Then it’s back to Simon Shepherd, still trying to look as though he’s serious.
….ad nauseam….
TPPA update! Seen this?
MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –
Source: Professor Jane Kelsey.
Professor Jane Kelsey.
‘We are told they may be close to reaching a final deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) in Atlanta, and longer monopolies for Big Pharma over biologic medicines is the final sticking point’, according to Professor Jane Kelsey, who is in touch with people on the ground in Atlanta.
The US is insisting on eight years total monopoly protection. Several countries are holding firm. But there are real fears New Zealand could cave.
Trade Minister Tim Groser.
Trade Minister Groser is quoted in this morning’s Herald as saying every country will have to swallow multiple dead rats to finalise the deal in an ‘ugly compromise’.
‘In New Zealand’s case, the dead rat seems to be a dairy for medicines deal’, said Professor Kelsey. ‘If this happens, we can expect the Minister to hail the “net benefits” of the TPPA to New Zealand, playing up supposed gains to dairy exports that remain to be seen, and playing down New Zealand’s agreement to longer monopoly protection for biologics.’
‘But the stark reality is that any such deal to close the TPPA would cost New Zealander’s lives.’
Health economists calculate that every added year of protection for biologics would cost New Zealand many tens of millions of dollars in current spending, and much more in the future as more biologics come on stream.
‘Future New Zealand governments would have to stump up hundreds of millions of dollars more to Pharmac.
Yet this year the National government refused to fund even the modest budget increase Pharmac sought to meet rising costs.’
‘Cancer sufferers in Atlanta described the biologics provision as a “death sentence clause”.
Do Prime Minister Key and Minister Groser want that recorded as their legacy?’
– See more at: http://foreignaffairs.co.nz/2015/10/03/jane-kelsey-grosers-ugly-compromise-in-tppa-could-cost-new-zealanders-lives/#.dpuf
Hmmm,…LOL
4 October 2015 – FYI
Please be advised that the following correspondence has just been emailed (together with scanned copies of signed petition sheets) to PM John Key:
________________________________________________________________________________
3 October 2015
URGENT! Attention NZ Prime Minister John Key!
Scanned petition forms re: TPPA
Prime Minister
John Key
Please be advised that attached are nearly 300 signatures of people who have signed the following petition:
“To Prime Minister John Key
MP for Helensville
We, the undersigned:
Are deeply concerned that as a key advocate for the ‘Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), you are a shareholder in the Bank of America, as detailed in the 2015 MPs Register of Financial Interests
(Pg 29)
( http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/mpp/mps/fin-interests/00CLOOCMPPFinInterests20151/register-of-pecuniary-and-other-specified-interests-of )
“Rt Hon John Key (National, Helensville)
2 Other companies and business entities
……………………………………………………….
Bank of America – banking”
We see this as a serious ‘conflict of interest’, given that big banks like the Bank of America, stand to benefit, and profit from this pro-corporate TPPA.
If this National Government, which you lead, does not ‘walk away’ from the secretive, undemocratic, ‘Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement’ (TPPA), then we pledge to campaign vigorously amongst our friends, families, neighbours and workmates, for the voting public to ‘walk away’ from National.”
______________________________________________________________
Please be advised that this is just the start.
Increasing numbers of the voting public are becoming aware of your shareholding in the Bank of America, and are wondering just whose ‘national interest’ are you serving?
The ‘national (public) interest’ of New Zealand, or the ‘national (corporate) interest’ of the United States of America?
If the Bank of America benefits from the TPPA – then how will this not serve your personal self-interest. as a shareholder in the Bank of America?
Yours sincerely,
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
Member Auckland TPPA ‘Call to action’
(ENDS)
______________________________________________________________
………
PS: Here is a new, VERY revealing clip from Wikileaks:
WikiLeaks – The US strategy to create a new global legal and economic system: TPP, TTIP, TISA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw7P0RGZQxQ
TPP update
Burcu Kilic @burcuno 13m13 minutes ago
Biologics is now the only potential deal-breaker, #TPP Ministerial may be extended again. Stay strong Australia, Chile, Peru & Malaysia!
Great summary of US-Australia fight over biologics
http://www.afr.com/news/economy/trade/australia-and-us-battle-over-ip-rights-for-top-selling-drugs-20151002-gjzol2?stb=twt
Latest TPP News
TPP Ministerial May Be Extended Again As U.S., Australia Still At Odds On Biologics
ATLANTA – Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries are on the verge of extending the ministerial meeting here at least into Saturday evening (Oct. 3), after the United States and Australia overnight were unable to reach a deal on the monopoly protection period for biologics drugs, according to informed sources.
http://insidetrade.com/
Also US generic drugmakers body urges USTR to adhere to spirit of TPP accord signed in May
The GPhA says it shares the health cost concerns of the current administration and strongly agrees in principle with proposed exclusivity reductions – extending monopolies on biologic medicines is simply not sustainable.
http://www.thepharmaletter.com/article/us-generic-drugmakers-body-urges-ustr-to-adhere-to-spirit-of-tpp-agreement-signed-in-may
https://twitter.com/simenon for constant update on TPP battle (in Spanish)
An absolute must read about biologics and the TPP. Why has Tim Groser folded on this fight? You need to read the whole article because it is excellent. It is outrageous that US are pushing this extension. Greed!
Is TPP the Most Progressive Trade Agreement in History? Not If You Need Access to Affordable Medicines
The May 10th Agreement struck the right balance between the need to promote innovation and the need to protect public health. TPP must meet the standards set in the May 10th Agreement. Right now it does not. It should not be loaded up with new anticompetitive provisions when governments struggle to manage health care costs.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-sander-/is-tpp-the-most-progressive-trade-agreement-in-history-_b_7461734.html
Richard Madan @RichardMadan 8m8 minutes ago
The 12 trade ministers just agreed to stay longer in Atlanta if required; unlikely #TPP deal will be signed today at this point #cdnpoli
Any word on dairy access?
Only this
chard Madan @RichardMadan 22h22 hours ago
Trade Min @HonEdFast: Canada “pushing back” against efforts to open up dairy industry to foreign competition #TPP
I think that US are not letting the dairy be sorted until the biological dead rat is swallowed.
“Australia, along with others such as New Zealand and Chile, have been unwilling to offer more than five years protection for the medicines since longer terms will push up the cost of state-subsidized medical programs.
The impasse is holding up a deal on dairy trade, the main other sticking point in the talks”.
http://au.investing.com/news/commodities-news/pacific-trade-talks-bogged-down-over-pharmaceuticals-9335