82% in a poll reject foreign ownership of our land. (btw, the chinese do not let foreigners own their land)
“A UMR Research survey, commissioned by a North Island farmer group trying to buy the in-receivership Crafar dairy farms against a Chinese bid, showed 82 per cent of 500 respondents believed foreign ownership of farms and agriculture land was a “bad thing”. Only 10 per cent believed it a “good thing” and 8 per cent were unsure. ”
But deceptive bastard Bill English deceptively confuses the issue of foreign ownership of land with foreign investment in business…. “We recognise the important contribution foreign investment can make to New Zealand”
Foreigners can invest in business, they just cannot own land. It is a fundamental so that we are owners of the land on which we live. An absentee landlord is weak for the entire community. Tenant communities are weak – examples abound, domestically and internationally.
Foreign investors can lease land. There are plenty of instruments for dealing with a business which requires land to operate on without having to own the land.
Why do they want to own it anyway? They claim they are incvesting in the business, not the land… rats smell.
This splitting of the two issues should be raised with the public…. foreign investment in business is entirely different from foreign ownership of land.
Land should be nationalised and users no more than leaseholders held to public account for its conservation.
That would give the right something to think about.
It would also give the left something to think about.
Well, yep, that’s further along the spectrum but definitely worthy of consideration.
Another colossal benefit of either idea is that land prices would fall, which means less of our daily toil has to go into paying for the land on which we walk and rest, leaving more available for actual real costs like food, housing, health, etc. And I challenge anybody to explain how that is not a good thing …..
I also challenge anybody to explain how high and rising land prices is a good thing ….
A majority of voting NZers will not sanction it, however, until they become landless serfs (which is probably about 3 or 4 generations away at the rate we’re going). The “Quarter Acre King” meme is too deeply programmed as a kind of “New Zealand Dream” . For settlers coming here in the mid-19thC, cheap land was a solution to the problem of land unavailability in Britain. But it was ultimately an evasion not a solution to this problem, because the same set of problematic values got imported. It all began when common land in England began to be enclosed in the 15thC.
For settlers coming here in the mid-19thC, cheap land was a solution to the problem of land unavailability in Britain. But it was ultimately an evasion not a solution to this problem, because the same set of problematic values got imported.
I remember reading Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series and in one of the books she mentioned the same problem (although, as she’s a RWNJ, she classed the problem of the rich sons not having any land to rule over). Her “solution” was opening up of the massive Southern Continent which, as you point out, just puts problem off for a few more generations.
It all began when common land in England began to be enclosed in the 15thC.
Privatisation of the commons was certainly part of the problem and needs to be addressed but the bigger one is actually uncontrolled population growth. Excess population growth will always result in too little land but the capitalists want it anyway because it’s from the work of others that capitalists get their wealth and the more people there are the more wealth they’ll have.
So John Key wants this campaign to be all about economic credibility.
He should rethink this. After all his Government:
1. Has overseen two recent credit rating downgrades.
2. Is responsible for the biggest budget deficit in the country’s history.
3. Intends to sell assets to pay for operating costs.
4. Has at various times said that the asset sale proceeds will be used to reinvest, to pay down debt or to pay for operating costs.
5. Has not taken the income dividend out of the financial forecasts even though it has included the sale proceeds in the same forecasts.
6. Has allowed for a billion dollars of savings on operating expenses in the latest budget even though the government does not know where these savings may come from.
7. Failed to convince IRD to accept in its entirety its financial forecasts.
Key is quickly becoming the worst overseer of the economy since Rob Muldoon.
And if Labour nails its presentation of its costings he is in trouble this election.
A tax free threshold basically simplifies a number of welfare policies that
sees many getting benefits in and out of work, you simply can’t have missed
the obvious that working for families won’t cost as much if it doesn’t have
tax removed, similarly benenit. fact is a bennie pays 20% tax unlike a
bennie in OZ, so when some bennie fraudster is caught they are actually
force to pay back not only the amount they stolen but the tax they
paid on it unlike in Oz. Weird that, bennies pay more tax, suffer stiffer
penulaties if they steal than in Oz, and if they move to oz they aren’t
even afforded welfare!!! who stacked those decks!
I’m talking about UF’s policy of splitting the income of a parent with children with their partner for tax purposes. Eg instead of being taxed on your $100k income, it would be split between your partner and yourself and only taxed as if you earned $50k each.
This was posted on the Standard recently from a contributor from an Asian country, and deserves better coverage as many people take astrology seriously.
“I’ve been catching up with a few Feng Shui masters and astrologers here, including those who do their castings based on the Vedic system.
Key is inauspicious for National and for New Zealand. Given his birthdate/year and his face reading (Mian Xiang) and if he clings on to power, there will be another lot of bad news arising before Christmas 2011.
Am told that Goff has castings that are better for the country as his aura is that of a guardian (as compared with Key’s being a parasite).
If astrology is your thing, good luck with your vote.”
National claims that partial asset sales will bring in 5 – 7 billion (and have already banked this money in their forcasts to return to surplus).
Labour claims that these same assets brought in $900m in dividends last year
National claims that the average is more like $300m
I’m no rich financial trader so I might have my figures wrong, but:
1. If the assets bring in $300m a year, and they are going to sell half, investors will be sharing $150m in dividends per year.
2. At a 5% p.a. return that makes them worth $3b (not 5 or 7). At less than 5% then a savings account is better for these (mythical?) ‘mum and dad’ investors with billions in the bank, and there are plenty of investment oppurtunities that can return more than this.
3. Some have argued that private ownership is more efficient and would make more money than they do now, the implication being that its worth paying over the odds because the power companies will make much more money with shareholders than they do at the moment.
4. Even if it was true that private run companies are more efficient and make more money the Government is retaining a controlling stake. Won’t this negate the effects of private ownership? Either the Government already has the capability to run these assets more efficiently (and could return more money to the government coffers as Labour is arguing) or is already doing the best job possible and $300m on average is what investors can expect see point number 2.
In short, who is going to be buying these assets? And are they really going to be looking to put $5 – 7bn into them and be happy with their investment making 2.1% a year?
I only skimmed through the article you linked to bu doesn’t the bit below impact real returns on an annual basis…… I could have misread.
“During the year Meridian sold the Tekapo A and B power stations on the upper Waitaki to Genesis Energy in a reshuffling of the state-owned enterprise’s generation portfolios intended to boost retail competition.
Of the $830 million sale price, the Government receives a special dividend of $531 million, boosting the total dividend to the Crown for the year to $685 million.”
his regular opinion pieces in the local paper were most irritating, so I stopped even reading them for “alternative points of view”. Not worth it, and frequently missing the main point (which generally involved caring about those who are less well off)
propagandist kerr no real economic facts to back his BS All he has proved is those with money and power have a bigger say in the running of it and us citizen should shut up work for next to nothing and be grateful.
Phone team MacMillan, ask for a test drive, can you bring it to my work; drive car badly for an hour or so, then politely ask about who they sponsor and when they admit national tell them where they can stick their car.
A couple of local businesses have National hoardings, tempted to do similar!
The silly Herald says ACT obtained 1,072 party votes last time but should have mentioned that John Riddell, ACT’s candidate, only obtained 482. A lesser number although still relevant.
Interesting that ACT are still running in Palmerston North. Clearly, the right are conceding that Iain Lees Galloway is going to retain the seat for Labour. New Plymouth is also interesting and the withdrawal there suggests that the Nat’s polling is showing that Andrew Little has his nose in front. Given that there were only 100 or so votes in it last time, it could be the last seat to be decided, with specials making the difference.
Coverage of last night’s Christs College debate by Jon Hardfelt or whatever and Small Vernon in the Christchurch Press was unbelievably biased in favour of Key, ‘ journalism’ reminiscent of Fox News.
Journalism… That’s a laugh! I’d like someone to do a detailed analysis of their language but couldn’t stomach reading their partisan fabrications again. Maybe they were at a different debate.
I once knew a sub editor on a Christchurch newspaper who was so right wing he couldn’t help inserting his sometimes unconscious but usually conscious prejudices into any headlines to do with Helen Clark.The partisan saga continues.
On the inside pages of today’s Press there is a carefully selected unflattering photo of Goff together with a couple of Christ’s boy sycophants assuring us that Key ‘won’ the debate….Surely not something to do with the $$$$millions previously gifted to private schools by Key?
This paper is so blatantly partisan that Fairfax has to be renamed Fairfox!
Good on Goff for fronting for a debate up at the bastion of those ‘born to rule.’
I wonder if Key would front up for a debate at Aranui High school. Ha! Not likely.
the $17 billion lie KEY made up has come back to bight Key he is constantly lying.All the radio statios today are getting phil goffs rebuttal labour borrowing $2.6 billion more than national but paying off debt sooner and holding onto income generating assets
Don’t tell me you didn’t expect it… the US has been providing New Zealand’s MSM with plenty of propaganda to try and justify yet another one of their unjust invasions for a long time now.
Instead, Obama administration staff briefed privately almost immediately that a military response was not being contemplated, not even sending more naval vessels to the Gulf or announcing new military manoeuvres in the region.
No, the US sending more naval vessels into the Gulf would just be giving Iran more targets.
Then there’s the obvious point. If Iran is attacked Iran will turn off the oil to pretty much everyone except possibly China which is where they’ll be buying up to date military hardware.
The USA is already bankrupt and has been decades. The reason why this hasn’t been a problem is because the governments of the rest of the world have been ignoring this fact, kowtowing to the lone “super-power”.
John Key’s Wall Street ‘BANK$TER’ background publicly exposed.
Penny Bright
Independent Candidate for Epsom
Campaigning against ‘white collar’ crime, corruption (and its root cause – privatisation), and ‘corporate welfare’.
Today, National announced they will continue the same policy that was announced prior to the 2008 election… which means no increase in funding for the arts. However without any increase to match inflation, such policy amounts to a cut…
two things here.
New Zealanders know that only the Labour Party can do a fair deal rebuilding Christchurch.
If National get their hands on it, it will all be corrupt and jobbery.
and
There is no leaders debate.
the moderators are not letting the debates develop.
too many ad breaks and opinions from the sidelines.
and the commentators, especailly claire robinson, are telling the viewers what to do before they text the online polls.
You have to watch these people because they are very sneaky while pretending to be objective.
fire claire robinson.
NOW!
According to figures published by the Social Security Administration on October 20, the median income for American workers in 2010 was $26,364, not much more than the official poverty level of $22,025 for a family of four. Given that a family making even twice the official poverty level faces real hardship and insecurity, it is no exaggeration to say that the SSA report shows that the “poor,” by any reasonable definition, constitute the absolute majority of the American people.
On the other side of the spectrum, a Congressional Budget Office study released October 25 shows that the richest 1 percent of US households saw a 275 percent increase in their income between 1979 and 2007 and more than doubled their share of the national income. While the income of this layer nearly tripled, the income of the middle 60 percent of the population rose only 40 percent over 28 years, and the income of the poorest 20 percent rose by only 18 percent.
Some other revealing statistics:
The unemployment rate for workers aged 55 or older has doubled since 2007, and the average period spent jobless has tripled. One-third of employed workers 65 and older make less than $11 an hour, while the rates of poverty and food stamp dependence have increased sharply for this sector of the population.
The dollar amount of student loans taken out in 2010 topped $100 billion, the largest ever total for a single year, and total student loan debt has passed the $1 trillion mark in 2011, exceeding the total of credit card debt. Students are borrowing twice as much as they did only ten years ago to pay for their college education.
Never be a debtor be. The only debt anyone could argue have is a
mortgage but even that is dumb when job insecurity is hailed as
the goal. Retraining essentially is a way to push costs onto
employees and allow employers to push down wages, retraining
for what exactly? another shallow career that has no value
in the economy. Watered down professional class directly
part of the demolishing of the middle classes. Money talks
and money men went negative, shifting risk onto the masses
when we were promised they’d produce positive outcomes,
they have in fact left the world in a worst state. how is
it we are the fifth best place to live, not because we did
anything, but becuase so much of the world ran its affairs
like John Key does, same thinking same dismal economic
Asked this two days ago, no response!
Anyone care to comment on the legal status of the following?
1) National banners nailed on to the fences of public reserves? (Is it legal for my local MP to have around 50 banners nailed to the retaining walls of roads, fences on public reserves? If I was selling a car, promoting an event or anything else similar I suspect the council would not be impressed – can I ask the council to get them removed?)
2) National MP’s agents sending out recommendations to government departments to purchase this programme? http://www.eatforkeeps.com/
I know in my electorate that before a sign can be erected on a persons property, they have to sign a declaration showing where the sign will be situated . This is lodged with the council for the duration of the campaign period . From what i understand councils can vary on rules and periods of display times.
There used to be signage on council reserves, but not anymore in my electorate . It would be worth ringing up the council to check on the guidelines .
I particularly like the graphs on p.9 and 10; look at the employment rates from 2001 – 2008 and then look at the decline – did something happen to mess things up?
Look again – you mean there was a dip in June 07, returning to 66% by mid 08, then down to 64% – it rose from 62% to 66% during nine years, dropped 2% in three – you figure the relationship.
every bloody year the morwesters arrive in force and smash by beautiful vanilla essenced wisteria to smithereens. Even the roses and their delicate petals get ripped and strewn all through the house.
Lol. I’m not a gardener, but my parents would commisserate. They’re replacing oft-destroyed trellis with corrugated iron for a similar reason. Hopefully the roses will be able to deal with the tin.
Yes – they’re slowly returning to normal after the abysmal start that was the Nat’s opening address. A bit like a student in evening-wear creeping through the botanic gardens on a Sunday morning, the walk of shame” that they hope nobody will notice.
The tory owners of the Herald and Stuff are whipping their journos into a frenzy as well. A lot of subtle spin going on (okay, some of it isn’t so subtle as well). Funny how they’re giving Key lots of air on Labour’s costings when they haven’t hounded him and English on their shonky, shonky figures.
They’re even republishing articles that they’ve already published before. Lazy spin isn’t going to win elections NZ Herald… room full of typing monkeys who can’t do basic math.
FYI – given that mainstream media seem a bit allergic to publicising this issue? 🙂
Perhaps monies saved by ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’ on ‘corporate welfare’ would help release more public monies for ‘social welfare’ – including the cost of superannuation?
________________________________________________________________________
PRESS RELEASE: Independent Candidate for Epsom Penny Bright:
“How many billion$ of public monies could be saved by ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’?
3 November 2011
Where’s National’s ‘corporate welfare’ reform?
Which of the maor political parties are pushing for ‘corporate welfare’ reform and shrinking the long-term dependency of the private sector on our public monies?
Where is the ‘devilish detail’ at both local and central government level – which shows EXACTLY where our public rates and taxes are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors?
Why aren’t the names of the consultant(s)/ contrators(s) – the scope, term and value of these contracts, published in Council or central government Annual Reports – so this information on the spending of OUR public monies is available for public scrutiny?
Where are the publicly-available ‘Registers of Interests’ for those local government elected representatives, and staff responsible for property and procurement, in order to help guard against possible ‘conflicts of interest’ between those who ‘give’ the contracts and those who ‘get’ the contracts?
Where’s the ‘transparency’?
Given that New Zealand is ‘perceived’ to be the least corrupt country in the world – along with Denmark and Singapore, according to Transparency International’s 2010 ‘Corruption Perception Index – shouldn’t we arguably be the most transparent?
Going back a step – where are the New Zealand ‘cost-benefit’ analyses which prove that the old ‘Rogernomic$ mantra – public is bad – private (contracting) is good’ can be substantiated by FACTS and EVIDENCE?
At last – someone – somewhere has actually done some substantial research – which proves the opposite.
That ‘contracting out’ services that were once provided ‘in-house’ is actually TWICE as expensive.
“USA Project On Government Oversight (POGO)[1] decided to take on the task of doing what others have not—comparing total annual compensation for federal and private sector employees with federal contractor billing rates in order to determine whether the current costs of federal service contracting serves the public interest.
Based on the current public debate regarding the salary comparisons of federal and private sector employees, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO)[1] decided to take on the task of doing what others have not—comparing total annual compensation for federal and private sector employees with federal contractor billing rates in order to determine whether the current costs of federal service contracting serves the public interest.
The current debate over pay differentials largely relies on the theory that the government pays private sector compensation rates when it outsources services. This report proves otherwise: in fact, it shows that the government actually pays service contractors at rates far exceeding the cost of employing federal employees to perform comparable functions.
POGO’s study analyzed the total compensation paid to federal and private sector employees, and annual billing rates for contractor employees across 35 occupational classifications covering over 550 service activities. Our findings were shocking—POGO estimates the government pays billions more annually in taxpayer dollars to hire contractors than it would to hire federal employees to perform comparable services. Specifically, POGO’s study shows that the federal government approves service contract billing rates—deemed fair and reasonable—that pay contractors 1.83 times more than the government pays federal employees in total compensation, and more than 2 times the total compensation paid in the private sector for comparable services. ”
The implications of this both nationally and internationally are HUGE.
If NZ central government figures are comparable with those of USA Federal Government – could the current NZ $82 billion central government spend be sliced in half by $40 billion ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’?
Which political parties / candidates are focussing on the SPENDING of public monies, rather than debt and borrowing?
If central and local govt departments /SOEs / CCOs / Crown Research Institutes are all defined as ‘PUBLIC- BENEFIT ENTITIES’ as defined under NZ Equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards (“NZ IFRS”) – then their primary objective is to provide services and facilities for the community as a social benefit rather than make a financial return.
So – how come so many services that USED to be provided ‘in-house’ are now contracted out to the private sector – whose primary objective is most certainly to ‘make a financial return’?
What magic is this that transforms public (ratepayer and taxpayer) monies into private profit?
WHERE IS THE NZ EQUIVALENT OF ‘POGO’ the USA ‘Project On Government Oversight ‘ which has just completed first-ever research which proves that private contractors cost twice as much as ‘in-house’ providers of Federal Government services?
HOW MUCH MONEY could be saved in NZ at central and local government by cutting out all the private ‘piggies in the middle’ with their greedy snouts in our public troughs?
Why aren’t the statutory ‘third party’ Public Watchdogs, as well as other major political parties demanding this accountability?
How much public money at central and local government level could be saved by ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’?
Who else is even asking this question?
Penny Bright
Independent Candidate for Epsom (nomination accepted today 🙂
Campaigning against ‘white collar crime’, corruption (and its root cause – privatisation) and ‘corporate welfare’.
“Anti-corruption campaigner”.
Attendee: Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference 2009
Attendee: Transparency International’s 14th IACC 2010
What magic is this that transforms public (ratepayer and taxpayer) monies into private profit?
In economic terms it (private profit) is called a dead-weight loss as monies given for one purpose are subsumed to another in cases like this just to make an individual richer. In real terms it’s private tax on our public monies.
The government doing the job in house is more efficient than getting contractors in part time. The part time contractors have to charge to cover their own over-heads and the times that they’re not working which pushes the costs up. A government employee working in the normal building that the government owns (if they really are looking for efficiency and cost saving they’re owning and not renting (which would be another example of private tax on our public monies)) on the other hand just has to paid their normal weekly pay.
Everything about private contractors to do government jobs and privatisation in general is about shifting more of the communities wealth into private hands. There’s no benefit achieved (in fact there’s often a decrease in service) but it always costs more.
What the fuck are you worried about Farrar? They’ve shored up this tory lot for three years, why use them as a whistle for racists to get stuck into MMP? Oh that’s right, you’re a whore to FFP and National.
Have come home and read many of the comments and that is a lot of interesting reading!
Body talk. Last night when Phil started his remarks about the young Morgan not paying any tax, it seemed to me that John Key suddenly stared at the ground. Often when people do that it is an indicator of guilt. Maybe. S’pose we will never know how much tax Key pays on his millions.
A fantastic report about fracking causing earthquakes on 3 News tonight. Labours upcoming environment policy announcement will be one to watch. I’m interested to see the balance Labour has between our environment and industry.
With the majority of people recently polled saying the environment is their number one concern, it looks like Labour is playing their cards well while National are just reacting with spin.
Reminding everyone that there is a debate with Bill English, David Cunliffe, Russel Norman, Pita Sharples and Stephen Whittington. Starting at 7pm on Radio Live tonight, dont think its being streamed or Televised.
And last night on Campbell Live John interviewed Paula Bennett on Beneficiary reforms. He pointed out that nothing had changed in three years and that John Key’s statement on the subject was identical to that he made in 2008. Campbell pinned Bennett down quoting her words back to her and she just sort of grunted. He gave good weight to the question and pointed out that nothing had or would change.
This good interviewing is why Key and others do not usually appear before JC. http://ondemand.tv3.co.nz/Campbell-Live-Wednesday-November-2-2011/tabid/59/articleID/4584/MCat/73/Default.aspx (Part 1 of Wednesdays Campbell Live.)
JERUSALEM — Israel’s summertime protest movement, which was occupying “Wall Street” before it was cool, can now celebrate their first major tangible success.
At a Sunday cabinet meeting the government approved the restructuring of Israel’s tax system, shifting a few degrees of the social burden onto corporations and the very rich.
On Monday, during the opening day of the winter session of parliament after a three-month summer break, legislators received the new tax plan for approval, alongside a lengthy list of demands for financial reform and social justice that were nonexistent when the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, was last in session and which have been catapulted to the forefront of a pre-electoral year.
As lawmakers gathered it became clear that Likud, the party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hoped the government’s imprimatur of approval on significant changes in taxation would shift credit from the young protest leaders to the party itself.
More bank profits while the economy stagnates and unemployment increases.
The largest bank in New Zealand made a $1.085 billion profit even as lending contracted.
How is it that the financial sector, which is the cause of the GFC, is making record profits while the majority of people are seeing wages and salaries decreasing?
And yesterday, sulky pants decided to write another pathetic post in yet another failed attempt to discredit Trevor Mallard, by claiming he couldn’t spell…
I sort of feel sorry for Cam. He overwhelmingly strikes me as someone on the wrong side of the political paradigm. He has a weird vulnerability, and too much anger… I used to enjoy his strange friendship with Bomber and how they seemed to get on despite hating each others politics.. Until Bomber accused him of being a right wing gun totin’ fundy.. He put his sulky pants on then too.. http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/tag/citizen-a/
Does anyone know if National have paid for the music they are using in their TV adverts?
It appears to be The Feelers – Stand Up and be Counted, and royalties should be paid for that.
You all remember how embarrassing and costly it was for National last election when they used Coldplay Clocks without permission, and they had to withdraw tens of thousands of DVDs.
Well I’m not an expert on The Feelers and have not got a recording of the National Advert.
But knowing that last election National had a complete idiot adviser who made slight changes to a Coldplay song then all the Nats said there was no similarity, maybe they’ve done it again.
I read that the feelers were glad of the money National was paying for their music. Claimed to be non-political though, (where have I heard that before?)
But yeah, their music is naff, and is a perfect match for the purpose it is being put to.
Yeah Nah VoR. It’s purely a business deal that is negotiated between the Feelers admin and the Natz… I don’t think the band has an opinion, although some have speculated that they are happy to make some cash.
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In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With the unembarrassed audacity parties show as an election nears, the government has stolen the opposition’s policy to ban foreign investors buying established homes. Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Housing Minister Clare O’Neil have announced ...
The Jewish Council’s proposals are divisive, contrary to New Zealand’s human rights framework, and ignore the rights of other ethnic minorities in Aotearoa. ...
"This is shocking, and astounding," says Augusta Macassey-Pickard, spokesperson for the group. "We knew that this process was rushed, and flawed, but this is another level of compromised." ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific presenter/Bulletin editor Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark maintains that Cook Islands, a realm of New Zealand, should have consulted Wellington before signing a “partnership” deal with China. “[Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown] seems to have signed behind the backs of his own ...
COMMENTARY:By Saige England Mediawatch on RNZ today strongly criticised Stuff and YouTube among other media for using Israeli propaganda’s “Outbrain” service. Outbrain is a company founded by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) military and its technology can be tracked back to a wealthy entrepreneur, which in this case could ...
Luxon said protesters linked to Destiny Church "went too far" by disrupting Pride events in Auckland, while church leader Brian Tamaki said he told protesters, "I want you to storm the library they're in." ...
Hundreds of engineers are losing their jobs and leaving our shores due to infrastructure project delays, creating "significant" risk to our nation's development, says the head of New Zealand's engineering body. ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown says the deal with China “complements, not replaces” the relationship with New Zealand after signing it yesterday. Brown said “The Action Plan for Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) 2025-2030” provides a structured framework for engagement between the Cook Islands ...
The government should not set military style academies into youth justice law, the children's commissioner says, despite its first bootcamp getting a glowing report. ...
The infamous over-the-suit T-shirt worn by the PM at a Parliament barbecue has gone on sale to raise funds for children living in poverty, in a TradeMe auction. ...
Once upon a time it was all about being an astronaut, a firefighter or doctor; but these days kids have their sights set on becoming vloggers or YouTubers.That’s according to a 2019 study by Lego that surveyed 3000 children between the ages of eight to 12 from the US, the ...
MONDAYSheriff Seymour rode slowly down the main street of Dodge on his faithful white horse Atlas Network.He liked what he saw.Children were being fed free lunches prepared by kind people who collected the scraps from an offal rendering plant.“Very strongly flavoured liver, such as ox liver, can be soaked overnight ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. From the moment I started high school and realised almost every other girl in my year was at least partially interested in what the boys were up to, I realised that I would be single for life. The feeling wasn’t one of ...
The Pacific profiles series shines a light on Pacific people in Aotearoa doing interesting and important work in their communities, as nominated by members of the public. Today, Selina Alesana Alefosio.All photos by Geoffery Matautia.On a bright Sunday morning from her grandparent’s home in Pito-one, I spoke with ...
The White Lotus star reflects on her life in TV, including the local ad reference that doesn’t work in Australia, and her bananas co-star on Neighbours.Morgana O’Reilly was scrolling her phone next to her sleeping son on an idle Saturday morning when she got the call confirming that she ...
Claire Mabey explores the pros and cons of puff quotes on book covers.In January, Publishers Weekly put out an article by Sean Manning – publisher of Simon & Schuster’s flagship US imprint – in which he said he’d “no longer require authors to obtain blurbs for their books”.The ...
New Zealand’s Entomological Society is hosting its annual bug of the year contest. Here are some of the insects in the running. For some reason – perhaps humans’ inherent competitiveness, the idealisation of democracy, the need to demarcate winners and losers – one of the best ways to get people ...
A journey along the border, with words and illustrations by Bob Kerr.The Spinoff Essay showcases the best essayists in Aotearoa, on topics big and small. Made possible by the generous support of our members.The Sunset Limited leaves Union Station New Orleans on time at nine in the morning. We ...
Neville Peat is the 2024 recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in nonfiction. He’s written 56 books, mostly on natural history; this excerpt is from The Falcon and the Lark: A New Zealand High Country Journal, first published in 1992. The falcon wintering on the Rock and ...
It was a light-hearted gesture Greta Pilkington will be forever grateful for – thanks to an Aussie rival who jumped in when the Olympic sailor couldn’t be at her own graduation.Pilkington, then 20, had been leading a double life – while qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the ILCA ...
I was born in the back of my grandfather’s ute, by an overgrown windbreak in a remote place called Wahi-Rakauyou can’t find on a map. I was born a girl but given the man’s name Harvey, as my dad always wanted a violent-minded boy to one day help him ...
“We’re not here to interfere in people’s property rights,” Ngāi Tahu’s Te Maire Tau has told the High Court.Tau, a historian, Upoko (traditional leader) of Ngāi Tūāhuriri, and a university professor of history, is the lead witness in a case designed to force the Crown to recognise the tribe’s rangatiratanga ...
Pacific Media Watch Trump administration officials barred two Associated Press (AP) reporters from covering White House events this week because the US-based independent news agency did not change its style guide to align with the president’s political agenda. The AP is being punished for using the term “Gulf of Mexico,” ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific Presenter/Bulletin editor France’s top diplomat in the Pacific region says talks around the “unfreezing” of New Caledonia’s highly controversial electoral roll are back on the table. The French government intended to make a constitutional amendment that would lift restrictions prescribed under the Nouméa Accord, which ...
By bringing these global voices to the fight for free expression in New Zealand, we’ll continue to protect and expand our culture of free speech, says Nathan Seiuli, the Free Speech Union's Events Manager. ...
The issue is no longer a hypothetical one. US President Donald Trump will not explicitly suggest death camps, but he has already consented to Israel’s continuing a war that is not a war but rather a barbaric assault on a desolate stretch of land. From there, the road to annihilation is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cecelia Cmielewski, Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University To be selected as the artist and curator team to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale is considered the ultimate exhibition for an artistic team. To have your selection rescinded, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity Australia Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia is bearing down on the northwest coast of Australia and is likely to make landfall early Friday evening. It’s a monster storm of great concern to Western Australia. ...
82% in a poll reject foreign ownership of our land. (btw, the chinese do not let foreigners own their land)
“A UMR Research survey, commissioned by a North Island farmer group trying to buy the in-receivership Crafar dairy farms against a Chinese bid, showed 82 per cent of 500 respondents believed foreign ownership of farms and agriculture land was a “bad thing”. Only 10 per cent believed it a “good thing” and 8 per cent were unsure. ”
But deceptive bastard Bill English deceptively confuses the issue of foreign ownership of land with foreign investment in business…. “We recognise the important contribution foreign investment can make to New Zealand”
Foreigners can invest in business, they just cannot own land. It is a fundamental so that we are owners of the land on which we live. An absentee landlord is weak for the entire community. Tenant communities are weak – examples abound, domestically and internationally.
Foreign investors can lease land. There are plenty of instruments for dealing with a business which requires land to operate on without having to own the land.
Why do they want to own it anyway? They claim they are incvesting in the business, not the land… rats smell.
This splitting of the two issues should be raised with the public…. foreign investment in business is entirely different from foreign ownership of land.
My vote swings on it. 2c. Actually, 2,000,000c.
Land should be nationalised and users no more than leaseholders held to public account for its conservation.
That would give the right something to think about.
It would also give the left something to think about.
Well, yep, that’s further along the spectrum but definitely worthy of consideration.
Another colossal benefit of either idea is that land prices would fall, which means less of our daily toil has to go into paying for the land on which we walk and rest, leaving more available for actual real costs like food, housing, health, etc. And I challenge anybody to explain how that is not a good thing …..
I also challenge anybody to explain how high and rising land prices is a good thing ….
This is a good general approach.
A majority of voting NZers will not sanction it, however, until they become landless serfs (which is probably about 3 or 4 generations away at the rate we’re going). The “Quarter Acre King” meme is too deeply programmed as a kind of “New Zealand Dream” . For settlers coming here in the mid-19thC, cheap land was a solution to the problem of land unavailability in Britain. But it was ultimately an evasion not a solution to this problem, because the same set of problematic values got imported. It all began when common land in England began to be enclosed in the 15thC.
I remember reading Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series and in one of the books she mentioned the same problem (although, as she’s a RWNJ, she classed the problem of the rich sons not having any land to rule over). Her “solution” was opening up of the massive Southern Continent which, as you point out, just puts problem off for a few more generations.
Privatisation of the commons was certainly part of the problem and needs to be addressed but the bigger one is actually uncontrolled population growth. Excess population growth will always result in too little land but the capitalists want it anyway because it’s from the work of others that capitalists get their wealth and the more people there are the more wealth they’ll have.
So John Key wants this campaign to be all about economic credibility.
He should rethink this. After all his Government:
1. Has overseen two recent credit rating downgrades.
2. Is responsible for the biggest budget deficit in the country’s history.
3. Intends to sell assets to pay for operating costs.
4. Has at various times said that the asset sale proceeds will be used to reinvest, to pay down debt or to pay for operating costs.
5. Has not taken the income dividend out of the financial forecasts even though it has included the sale proceeds in the same forecasts.
6. Has allowed for a billion dollars of savings on operating expenses in the latest budget even though the government does not know where these savings may come from.
7. Failed to convince IRD to accept in its entirety its financial forecasts.
Key is quickly becoming the worst overseer of the economy since Rob Muldoon.
And if Labour nails its presentation of its costings he is in trouble this election.
And if they don’t nail their costings?
Petey
The costings have been done and I am assured are bulletproof. Perception of course is everything.
If not the perception will be that National and Labour are both pushing dodgy figures.
Does UF have costings on it’s tax-splitting bribe for working families?
The one where many families will get $5,000-6,000/year and some will get up to $9,000?
More tax cuts for the well-off. Pity John Key already ruled out more tax cuts.
A tax free threshold basically simplifies a number of welfare policies that
sees many getting benefits in and out of work, you simply can’t have missed
the obvious that working for families won’t cost as much if it doesn’t have
tax removed, similarly benenit. fact is a bennie pays 20% tax unlike a
bennie in OZ, so when some bennie fraudster is caught they are actually
force to pay back not only the amount they stolen but the tax they
paid on it unlike in Oz. Weird that, bennies pay more tax, suffer stiffer
penulaties if they steal than in Oz, and if they move to oz they aren’t
even afforded welfare!!! who stacked those decks!
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I’m talking about UF’s policy of splitting the income of a parent with children with their partner for tax purposes. Eg instead of being taxed on your $100k income, it would be split between your partner and yourself and only taxed as if you earned $50k each.
This was posted on the Standard recently from a contributor from an Asian country, and deserves better coverage as many people take astrology seriously.
“I’ve been catching up with a few Feng Shui masters and astrologers here, including those who do their castings based on the Vedic system.
Key is inauspicious for National and for New Zealand. Given his birthdate/year and his face reading (Mian Xiang) and if he clings on to power, there will be another lot of bad news arising before Christmas 2011.
Am told that Goff has castings that are better for the country as his aura is that of a guardian (as compared with Key’s being a parasite).
If astrology is your thing, good luck with your vote.”
I’m not one for astrology, but there’s no denying that Key is a bad luck PM.
No, Key is not a “bad luck” PM, that implies that it’s all out of his control.
He’s just a bad PM, full stop.
With a bit of bad luck fu on top of it all! 🙂
+1
jinxed key
I probably didn’t need astrology to tell me Key’s a parasite.
I’m confused:
National claims that partial asset sales will bring in 5 – 7 billion (and have already banked this money in their forcasts to return to surplus).
Labour claims that these same assets brought in $900m in dividends last year
National claims that the average is more like $300m
I’m no rich financial trader so I might have my figures wrong, but:
1. If the assets bring in $300m a year, and they are going to sell half, investors will be sharing $150m in dividends per year.
2. At a 5% p.a. return that makes them worth $3b (not 5 or 7). At less than 5% then a savings account is better for these (mythical?) ‘mum and dad’ investors with billions in the bank, and there are plenty of investment oppurtunities that can return more than this.
3. Some have argued that private ownership is more efficient and would make more money than they do now, the implication being that its worth paying over the odds because the power companies will make much more money with shareholders than they do at the moment.
4. Even if it was true that private run companies are more efficient and make more money the Government is retaining a controlling stake. Won’t this negate the effects of private ownership? Either the Government already has the capability to run these assets more efficiently (and could return more money to the government coffers as Labour is arguing) or is already doing the best job possible and $300m on average is what investors can expect see point number 2.
In short, who is going to be buying these assets? And are they really going to be looking to put $5 – 7bn into them and be happy with their investment making 2.1% a year?
Meridian made $659.9M profit in the last year, by itself.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/2011-financial-results/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503017&objectid=10747012
I only skimmed through the article you linked to bu doesn’t the bit below impact real returns on an annual basis…… I could have misread.
“During the year Meridian sold the Tekapo A and B power stations on the upper Waitaki to Genesis Energy in a reshuffling of the state-owned enterprise’s generation portfolios intended to boost retail competition.
Of the $830 million sale price, the Government receives a special dividend of $531 million, boosting the total dividend to the Crown for the year to $685 million.”
Colonial, try this link. You’ll get to read something by an extremely bright man.
http://rogerkerr.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/the-truth-about-privatisation-14-dividends/
I’d recommend reading some of the other references there as well.
Anything written by Roger Kerr is designed to benefit Roger Kerr and no one else.
his regular opinion pieces in the local paper were most irritating, so I stopped even reading them for “alternative points of view”. Not worth it, and frequently missing the main point (which generally involved caring about those who are less well off)
propagandist kerr no real economic facts to back his BS All he has proved is those with money and power have a bigger say in the running of it and us citizen should shut up work for next to nothing and be grateful.
This whole thing is a hoodwink and the media are complicit. We need far more analysis, instead they’re shilling for Key.
You’re right to be confused. That’s how National like it.
I have a further question I might ask John Key myself (though I doubt he’ll answer).
Is he going to be buying shares in these assets?
Is there video or audio of last night’s debate anywhere?
Team McMillan BMW donates $35,000 to National
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/campaign-trail/5898672/Campaign-donations-favour-the-Right
Money rolls into Right Wing parties
And not much into Labour, since they allow their donors details to be laid bare to anybody that feels like looking.
Which is exactly how it should be so that corruption can more easily be detected. NAct don’t like this idea though as they’re inherently corrupt.
BTW, As businesses are not people and don’t vote they shouldn’t be donating to political parties at all.
Phone team MacMillan, ask for a test drive, can you bring it to my work; drive car badly for an hour or so, then politely ask about who they sponsor and when they admit national tell them where they can stick their car.
A couple of local businesses have National hoardings, tempted to do similar!
ACT and National Gaming It: ACT steps down in Waitakere and New Plymouth to give NATs clear run
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10763541
The silly Herald says ACT obtained 1,072 party votes last time but should have mentioned that John Riddell, ACT’s candidate, only obtained 482. A lesser number although still relevant.
More relevant of course since candidates not standing would logically only be handing across their personal vote.
So is this more tory spin or just poor journalism? I’m picking the former.
Interesting that ACT are still running in Palmerston North. Clearly, the right are conceding that Iain Lees Galloway is going to retain the seat for Labour. New Plymouth is also interesting and the withdrawal there suggests that the Nat’s polling is showing that Andrew Little has his nose in front. Given that there were only 100 or so votes in it last time, it could be the last seat to be decided, with specials making the difference.
unexpected earthquake observation #007;
All the recent immigrants leave and go back home. England will have experienced a recent reverse influx.
http://www.tumeke.blogspot.com/
Finally – protest music. Love this song. Hope it gets airplay.
Debate
Coverage of last night’s Christs College debate by Jon Hardfelt or whatever and Small Vernon in the Christchurch Press was unbelievably biased in favour of Key, ‘ journalism’ reminiscent of Fox News.
Journalism… That’s a laugh! I’d like someone to do a detailed analysis of their language but couldn’t stomach reading their partisan fabrications again. Maybe they were at a different debate.
I once knew a sub editor on a Christchurch newspaper who was so right wing he couldn’t help inserting his sometimes unconscious but usually conscious prejudices into any headlines to do with Helen Clark.The partisan saga continues.
On the inside pages of today’s Press there is a carefully selected unflattering photo of Goff together with a couple of Christ’s boy sycophants assuring us that Key ‘won’ the debate….Surely not something to do with the $$$$millions previously gifted to private schools by Key?
This paper is so blatantly partisan that Fairfax has to be renamed Fairfox!
Good on Goff for fronting for a debate up at the bastion of those ‘born to rule.’
I wonder if Key would front up for a debate at Aranui High school. Ha! Not likely.
FauxFax?
FairFaux?
Maybe “unfairfax?”
Or ‘fair balanced and full of b***sIt!’
fearfix
Yeah the right wing nickname for Vernon Small isn’t ‘comrade’ for nothing…
the $17 billion lie KEY made up has come back to bight Key he is constantly lying.All the radio statios today are getting phil goffs rebuttal labour borrowing $2.6 billion more than national but paying off debt sooner and holding onto income generating assets
Good grief!
Tell me it’s not so. A war with Iran is all the world needs.
The sooner the US cuts itself loose from Israel, the better.
Exactly!
Puddleglum, that was precisely my thoughts when I heard this news on ALjazeera this morning – very scary.
Don’t tell me you didn’t expect it… the US has been providing New Zealand’s MSM with plenty of propaganda to try and justify yet another one of their unjust invasions for a long time now.
No, the US sending more naval vessels into the Gulf would just be giving Iran more targets.
Then there’s the obvious point. If Iran is attacked Iran will turn off the oil to pretty much everyone except possibly China which is where they’ll be buying up to date military hardware.
War with Iran will bankrupt USA. If they go convention not Nuke that is.
They’ve been 10 years in th 5th poorest country in the world with no progress, the last few months the bloodiest.
Iran will fight back hard, and will likely be joined by Iraq having brought them
onside via Sadar.
Will the f16’s end up being used against their master?
The USA is already bankrupt and has been decades. The reason why this hasn’t been a problem is because the governments of the rest of the world have been ignoring this fact, kowtowing to the lone “super-power”.
YouTube video link
March on banks – Queen street Auckland – 29 October 2011
ANZ financing Lockheed-Martin cluster munition exposed
National bank occupied
John Key’s Wall Street ‘BANK$TER’ background publicly exposed.
Penny Bright
Independent Candidate for Epsom
Campaigning against ‘white collar’ crime, corruption (and its root cause – privatisation), and ‘corporate welfare’.
National Cuts Funding for the Arts
Today, National announced they will continue the same policy that was announced prior to the 2008 election… which means no increase in funding for the arts. However without any increase to match inflation, such policy amounts to a cut…
Bank News………..RNZ news at 11am today.
Westpac & ANZ Bank profits up 41% this year.
Requests for help at NZ food banks up 30%.
I’d say the Aussie banks are winning.
two things here.
New Zealanders know that only the Labour Party can do a fair deal rebuilding Christchurch.
If National get their hands on it, it will all be corrupt and jobbery.
and
There is no leaders debate.
the moderators are not letting the debates develop.
too many ad breaks and opinions from the sidelines.
and the commentators, especailly claire robinson, are telling the viewers what to do before they text the online polls.
You have to watch these people because they are very sneaky while pretending to be objective.
fire claire robinson.
NOW!
A Portrait of America in Decline
Some highlights:
Never be a debtor be. The only debt anyone could argue have is a
mortgage but even that is dumb when job insecurity is hailed as
the goal. Retraining essentially is a way to push costs onto
employees and allow employers to push down wages, retraining
for what exactly? another shallow career that has no value
in the economy. Watered down professional class directly
part of the demolishing of the middle classes. Money talks
and money men went negative, shifting risk onto the masses
when we were promised they’d produce positive outcomes,
they have in fact left the world in a worst state. how is
it we are the fifth best place to live, not because we did
anything, but becuase so much of the world ran its affairs
like John Key does, same thinking same dismal economic
Asked this two days ago, no response!
Anyone care to comment on the legal status of the following?
1) National banners nailed on to the fences of public reserves? (Is it legal for my local MP to have around 50 banners nailed to the retaining walls of roads, fences on public reserves? If I was selling a car, promoting an event or anything else similar I suspect the council would not be impressed – can I ask the council to get them removed?)
2) National MP’s agents sending out recommendations to government departments to purchase this programme? http://www.eatforkeeps.com/
I know in my electorate that before a sign can be erected on a persons property, they have to sign a declaration showing where the sign will be situated . This is lodged with the council for the duration of the campaign period . From what i understand councils can vary on rules and periods of display times.
There used to be signage on council reserves, but not anymore in my electorate . It would be worth ringing up the council to check on the guidelines .
Unemployment rates up (again!!)
http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/document/pdf/201145/HouseholdLabourForceSurveySep11qtr1.pdf
I particularly like the graphs on p.9 and 10; look at the employment rates from 2001 – 2008 and then look at the decline – did something happen to mess things up?
yes forecasts of National easy return for a second term. The body scanners
at Auckland airport have been cliking over something rotten
every conumer lost to au, every renter, every parents whose child was taught by
a teacher, or seen by a doctor, is a loss of more employment to Nz
Well given the decline started in late 07 early 08 it must have been something Helen Clark said. 🙂
Look again – you mean there was a dip in June 07, returning to 66% by mid 08, then down to 64% – it rose from 62% to 66% during nine years, dropped 2% in three – you figure the relationship.
aaaarrrggh !!!!
every bloody year the morwesters arrive in force and smash by beautiful vanilla essenced wisteria to smithereens. Even the roses and their delicate petals get ripped and strewn all through the house.
it’s just not fair.
Lol. I’m not a gardener, but my parents would commisserate. They’re replacing oft-destroyed trellis with corrugated iron for a similar reason. Hopefully the roses will be able to deal with the tin.
Interesting to see the nervous Right commenting today. They must be rattled.
They want numbers, Numbers! Anyone not speaking numbers should be excluded from life!
They want to turn the clock back 50 years to a time when the system wasn’t so obviously flawed. They’d do it right, this time. Please believe them.
They want to gift us our individuality. Oh dear. They just haven’t been watching the news. People have woken up to the fact they already have it.
3 more years, they cry! Because it’s all just a race to the grave with the most toys… and then … nothingness.
They’re so alone, so scared of being individuals.
Yes – they’re slowly returning to normal after the abysmal start that was the Nat’s opening address. A bit like a student in evening-wear creeping through the botanic gardens on a Sunday morning, the walk of shame” that they hope nobody will notice.
The tory owners of the Herald and Stuff are whipping their journos into a frenzy as well. A lot of subtle spin going on (okay, some of it isn’t so subtle as well). Funny how they’re giving Key lots of air on Labour’s costings when they haven’t hounded him and English on their shonky, shonky figures.
They’re even republishing articles that they’ve already published before. Lazy spin isn’t going to win elections NZ Herald… room full of typing monkeys who can’t do basic math.
FYI – given that mainstream media seem a bit allergic to publicising this issue? 🙂
Perhaps monies saved by ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’ on ‘corporate welfare’ would help release more public monies for ‘social welfare’ – including the cost of superannuation?
________________________________________________________________________
PRESS RELEASE: Independent Candidate for Epsom Penny Bright:
“How many billion$ of public monies could be saved by ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’?
3 November 2011
Where’s National’s ‘corporate welfare’ reform?
Which of the maor political parties are pushing for ‘corporate welfare’ reform and shrinking the long-term dependency of the private sector on our public monies?
Where is the ‘devilish detail’ at both local and central government level – which shows EXACTLY where our public rates and taxes are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors?
Why aren’t the names of the consultant(s)/ contrators(s) – the scope, term and value of these contracts, published in Council or central government Annual Reports – so this information on the spending of OUR public monies is available for public scrutiny?
Where are the publicly-available ‘Registers of Interests’ for those local government elected representatives, and staff responsible for property and procurement, in order to help guard against possible ‘conflicts of interest’ between those who ‘give’ the contracts and those who ‘get’ the contracts?
Where’s the ‘transparency’?
Given that New Zealand is ‘perceived’ to be the least corrupt country in the world – along with Denmark and Singapore, according to Transparency International’s 2010 ‘Corruption Perception Index – shouldn’t we arguably be the most transparent?
Going back a step – where are the New Zealand ‘cost-benefit’ analyses which prove that the old ‘Rogernomic$ mantra – public is bad – private (contracting) is good’ can be substantiated by FACTS and EVIDENCE?
At last – someone – somewhere has actually done some substantial research – which proves the opposite.
That ‘contracting out’ services that were once provided ‘in-house’ is actually TWICE as expensive.
“USA Project On Government Oversight (POGO)[1] decided to take on the task of doing what others have not—comparing total annual compensation for federal and private sector employees with federal contractor billing rates in order to determine whether the current costs of federal service contracting serves the public interest.
http://www.pogo.org/pogo-files/reports/contract-oversight/bad-business/co-gp-20110913.html
Executive Summary
Based on the current public debate regarding the salary comparisons of federal and private sector employees, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO)[1] decided to take on the task of doing what others have not—comparing total annual compensation for federal and private sector employees with federal contractor billing rates in order to determine whether the current costs of federal service contracting serves the public interest.
The current debate over pay differentials largely relies on the theory that the government pays private sector compensation rates when it outsources services. This report proves otherwise: in fact, it shows that the government actually pays service contractors at rates far exceeding the cost of employing federal employees to perform comparable functions.
POGO’s study analyzed the total compensation paid to federal and private sector employees, and annual billing rates for contractor employees across 35 occupational classifications covering over 550 service activities. Our findings were shocking—POGO estimates the government pays billions more annually in taxpayer dollars to hire contractors than it would to hire federal employees to perform comparable services. Specifically, POGO’s study shows that the federal government approves service contract billing rates—deemed fair and reasonable—that pay contractors 1.83 times more than the government pays federal employees in total compensation, and more than 2 times the total compensation paid in the private sector for comparable services. ”
The implications of this both nationally and internationally are HUGE.
If NZ central government figures are comparable with those of USA Federal Government – could the current NZ $82 billion central government spend be sliced in half by $40 billion ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’?
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/budget/2011/estimates/est11sumtab.pdf
Which political parties / candidates are focussing on the SPENDING of public monies, rather than debt and borrowing?
If central and local govt departments /SOEs / CCOs / Crown Research Institutes are all defined as ‘PUBLIC- BENEFIT ENTITIES’ as defined under NZ Equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards (“NZ IFRS”) – then their primary objective is to provide services and facilities for the community as a social benefit rather than make a financial return.
So – how come so many services that USED to be provided ‘in-house’ are now contracted out to the private sector – whose primary objective is most certainly to ‘make a financial return’?
What magic is this that transforms public (ratepayer and taxpayer) monies into private profit?
WHERE IS THE NZ EQUIVALENT OF ‘POGO’ the USA ‘Project On Government Oversight ‘ which has just completed first-ever research which proves that private contractors cost twice as much as ‘in-house’ providers of Federal Government services?
HOW MUCH MONEY could be saved in NZ at central and local government by cutting out all the private ‘piggies in the middle’ with their greedy snouts in our public troughs?
Why aren’t the statutory ‘third party’ Public Watchdogs, as well as other major political parties demanding this accountability?
How much public money at central and local government level could be saved by ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’?
Who else is even asking this question?
Penny Bright
Independent Candidate for Epsom (nomination accepted today 🙂
Campaigning against ‘white collar crime’, corruption (and its root cause – privatisation) and ‘corporate welfare’.
“Anti-corruption campaigner”.
Attendee: Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference 2009
Attendee: Transparency International’s 14th IACC 2010
[email deleted]
In economic terms it (private profit) is called a dead-weight loss as monies given for one purpose are subsumed to another in cases like this just to make an individual richer. In real terms it’s private tax on our public monies.
The government doing the job in house is more efficient than getting contractors in part time. The part time contractors have to charge to cover their own over-heads and the times that they’re not working which pushes the costs up. A government employee working in the normal building that the government owns (if they really are looking for efficiency and cost saving they’re owning and not renting (which would be another example of private tax on our public monies)) on the other hand just has to paid their normal weekly pay.
Everything about private contractors to do government jobs and privatisation in general is about shifting more of the communities wealth into private hands. There’s no benefit achieved (in fact there’s often a decrease in service) but it always costs more.
Farrar doing some lovely racist dog-whistling about the Maori Party potentially holding the balance of power.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/blogs/david-farrar-by-the-numbers/5901028/The-October-polls
What the fuck are you worried about Farrar? They’ve shored up this tory lot for three years, why use them as a whistle for racists to get stuck into MMP? Oh that’s right, you’re a whore to FFP and National.
Have come home and read many of the comments and that is a lot of interesting reading!
Body talk. Last night when Phil started his remarks about the young Morgan not paying any tax, it seemed to me that John Key suddenly stared at the ground. Often when people do that it is an indicator of guilt. Maybe. S’pose we will never know how much tax Key pays on his millions.
A fantastic report about fracking causing earthquakes on 3 News tonight. Labours upcoming environment policy announcement will be one to watch. I’m interested to see the balance Labour has between our environment and industry.
With the majority of people recently polled saying the environment is their number one concern, it looks like Labour is playing their cards well while National are just reacting with spin.
Reminding everyone that there is a debate with Bill English, David Cunliffe, Russel Norman, Pita Sharples and Stephen Whittington. Starting at 7pm on Radio Live tonight, dont think its being streamed or Televised.
And last night on Campbell Live John interviewed Paula Bennett on Beneficiary reforms. He pointed out that nothing had changed in three years and that John Key’s statement on the subject was identical to that he made in 2008. Campbell pinned Bennett down quoting her words back to her and she just sort of grunted. He gave good weight to the question and pointed out that nothing had or would change.
This good interviewing is why Key and others do not usually appear before JC.
http://ondemand.tv3.co.nz/Campbell-Live-Wednesday-November-2-2011/tabid/59/articleID/4584/MCat/73/Default.aspx (Part 1 of Wednesdays Campbell Live.)
Someone’s succeeded.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s summertime protest movement, which was occupying “Wall Street” before it was cool, can now celebrate their first major tangible success.
At a Sunday cabinet meeting the government approved the restructuring of Israel’s tax system, shifting a few degrees of the social burden onto corporations and the very rich.
On Monday, during the opening day of the winter session of parliament after a three-month summer break, legislators received the new tax plan for approval, alongside a lengthy list of demands for financial reform and social justice that were nonexistent when the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, was last in session and which have been catapulted to the forefront of a pre-electoral year.
As lawmakers gathered it became clear that Likud, the party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hoped the government’s imprimatur of approval on significant changes in taxation would shift credit from the young protest leaders to the party itself.
More bank profits while the economy stagnates and unemployment increases.
How is it that the financial sector, which is the cause of the GFC, is making record profits while the majority of people are seeing wages and salaries decreasing?
Worst Blog Post of the Year Award
And yesterday, sulky pants decided to write another pathetic post in yet another failed attempt to discredit Trevor Mallard, by claiming he couldn’t spell…
I sort of feel sorry for Cam. He overwhelmingly strikes me as someone on the wrong side of the political paradigm. He has a weird vulnerability, and too much anger… I used to enjoy his strange friendship with Bomber and how they seemed to get on despite hating each others politics.. Until Bomber accused him of being a right wing gun totin’ fundy.. He put his sulky pants on then too..
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/tag/citizen-a/
Does anyone know if National have paid for the music they are using in their TV adverts?
It appears to be The Feelers – Stand Up and be Counted, and royalties should be paid for that.
You all remember how embarrassing and costly it was for National last election when they used Coldplay Clocks without permission, and they had to withdraw tens of thousands of DVDs.
Given how naff the Feelers are, I imagine they think it’s kewl that Key is a fan.
Well I’m not an expert on The Feelers and have not got a recording of the National Advert.
But knowing that last election National had a complete idiot adviser who made slight changes to a Coldplay song then all the Nats said there was no similarity, maybe they’ve done it again.
I read that the feelers were glad of the money National was paying for their music. Claimed to be non-political though, (where have I heard that before?)
But yeah, their music is naff, and is a perfect match for the purpose it is being put to.
Yeah Nah VoR. It’s purely a business deal that is negotiated between the Feelers admin and the Natz… I don’t think the band has an opinion, although some have speculated that they are happy to make some cash.
Right here right now… fucken epic fail!
You folks are nutters, do any of you actually work?