The Shearer bid has the backing of a powerful faction within caucus, including outgoing leader Phil Goff and deputy Annette King, and party strategist Trevor Mallard.
But that team may also be counselling Mr Robertson – seen by many in the party as a future leader – to hold back from announcing his intentions until the largely untested Mr Shearer vies with Mr Cunliffe in a series of television debates. Later, they will hit the hustings at meetings with Labour rank and file.
Mr Robertson could still emerge as a contender if Mr Shearer’s bid falls over. However, his rival seemed to gain momentum on Thursday after Mr Parker’s shock withdrawal.
But Camp Cunliffe were back on an even keel yesterday and are understood to have spent the day crafting a direct pitch to grassroots members about a radical plan for change after Labour’s election thumping.
That will pit them against the party’s old guard, whom they will paint as no longer representing the new generation of activists.
It seems to me that if Cunliffe gets to lead Labour, by countering the media, astroturfer and centrist/right-leaning campaign against them, he is well on the way to mounting a credible challenge for a Labour-led government in 2014.
Good move to characterise the apparent “newness” of Shearer, as a new face for the old guard. And to indicate an inclusive, non-factionalist party by signalling a front bench role for Shearer in a Cunliffe-led Labour caucus.
That will pit them against the party’s old guard, whom they will paint as no longer representing the new generation of activists.
Anyway in an MMP environment would that really be a bad thing?.
I know nobody here will agree but NZ needs to have it’s two main parties just on either side of central you can’t have the country lurching one way or the other every three,six, nine years.
The wastage is immense, the people hate it and the country never moves forward because we are in a constant state of change all the time.
This is why Shearer must lead the Labour party as he will pull Labour back to the center where the majority of the votes are.
Cunliffe should take the activists, the union delegates and form his own party, then he could form a coalition with the Labour lead Shearer party.
That would make a pretty powerful block.
It is extremely hard to be clear about what people mean by the term “centre” and in fact they tend to mean different things. Key & his cronies tend to mean assuaging fears while continuing with the neoliberal project, and pulling back where there is danger of losing popularity. Dunne seems to define it as some sort of golden mean, while supporting Key’s policies.
When a Labour person is described as “more centrist” I often have no idea as to whether this means that they have little time for identity politics (as seems to be the case with Damian O’Connor) or whether they think that our best bet is to find some accommodation with neoliberal economics, perhaps at the expense of the already poor. Or something else again.
Colloquially the term often simply means “me” – as in those fatter than me are fat, those older than me are old, etc. Someone mentioned a few days ago (I cannot remember who) that NZers tend to see themselves as middle class, often against the evidence, which adds another layer of occlusion to the term.
To me being centrist doesn’t mean always having middle of the road views and always supporting middle of the road policies. Rather, it’s a starting point where I hope I’ll look properly at both sides of an issue and decide what I think is best from there.
Being centrist means I can still support social policies and I can still support capitalist policies instead of feeling bound to lean one way or the other.
I try to pick the best of whatever policies are proposed, and look for the best ways of implementing them.
This approach can be fair to those in need of assistance, and fair to those who work harder.
PG you have defended Nationals policies at all costs during the campaign now you are defending the ever reducing popularity of the one man band Unbalanced Follicles you have no principles so nothing to defend boring people to death.Your 160 odd and i mean ODD votes in Dunedin North they must have been so fed up with you harassing them they gave you their vote to get rid of you . I don’t imagine you have that many family or friends.
I haven’t defended National policies at all costs.
Most candidates of both Dunedin electorates (there were 16) and all MPs I talked to (3/4) indicated support for what I’m initiating in Dunedin.
The fact that I get abused by a handful of off-topic posters here is no reflection on what sort of reception I have got elsewhere, especially around Dunedin.
Why the ignorant speculation on family and friends? Do you them to be put off Labour for good as well? I’m surprised how much nastiness there is on political blogs, doesn’t seem to be a great way to attract support.
Yes, but the terms “centre” tells me nothing about the criterion on which you base your idea of what is best. Nothing about the position from which you determine what is in the balance.
Dunne seems to define it as some sort of golden mean…
Dunne and the rest of UF have fallen into what I call the Myth of the Middle
These people who have so fallen take two positions, label them extremes and then say that the answer to all our woes is in the middle. These are the people who have taking the truism Everything in moderation – even moderation to heart (although they seem to have missed the warning at the end) and will oppose doing anything that they see as radical.
The thing is that they can claim any position as radical and what they want as the “middle”. Of course, if you need a radical change plotting a middle course doesn’t help either and we need radical change. Continuing with failed capitalism isn’t doing us any favours.
Are give you a clue mate – its the electorate which decides whether or not Labour is a main party. And having done signficantly better than Bill English’s 20.9% I suggest that Labour still has a broad base to rebuild from.
If the party goes the way you want it to, I doubt Labour would be able to scrape together 10%.
Your political views probably represent about 5% of the population.
If they went radical left I suspect that they’d be able to pick the majority of the people who didn’t vote. They may lose a few centrists and neo-liberals but, IMO, they’d actually have more votes (and probably members) after.
Brett, at best your political views only represent 1% of the population – the top 1% who want to rule us all in a dictatorship. You just don’t realise it.
sorry cv but i disagree – centre on the voter identifier matrix is defined by a ever shifting double peak extremely wide and flat bell curve. people base there vote and identity on a wide range of aspects not just left right centre..and more importnantly the double dip centre if not really in the middle but a dynamic flux situation with outliers, and falloff tails to the right and left.
then each electrorate is different as well that why its importnant the local labour candiate go after both perosnal and party vote based on the elctrorate bias i.e damian oconnor,grant robertson.
Brett you know the left block came within a whisker of vicTory and with special votes low majorities in some seats the left may still win though unlikely with up to five seats hanging by a thread it could cause an over hang.
Brett you are obviously a Tory and one of your main weapons through out hisTory has been to divide and conquer with any means possible
Can’t wait for Winnie to have his cup of tea under parliamentary privilege The thin Teflon will be worn somewhat more and the yellow press will be exposed some what more
Brett this is MMP and its left block verses right the right has less versatility now National has all the power.
The wastage is immense, the people hate it and the country never moves forward because we are in a constant state of change all the time.
Although I don’t agree with the premise of your argument that Shearer is more centrist than Cunliffe, you make a good point about the financial cost of our political process whereby one party makes huge changes that the other party will simply change back when they gain power. Both National and Labour are guilty of this dysfunction. However it is more to do with our hierarchical structuring and an outdated mode of representation.
The solution is to allow the public to vote directly on policy with parties being advocates for their respective policies. The stability of the general public is preferable to the combative and wasteful political process that is clearly failing to engage many New Zealander’s in decision making.
That would be a terrible thing – there’s no upside to it! I keep hearing that it would be oh-so-secure, linked to everyone’s online banking etc – but not everyone does online banking (it took me years to decide that it was probably safe.) My son just told me about a colleague of his who has – along with her husband, just been wiped out by a hacker – $50 000… Luckily their bank is reimbursing them. But safe is relative! I just watched last night, the curiously passionless documentary ‘Hacking Democracy’, about Diebold and the 2004 election – although Kerry had proof that the Bushites stole the election with the connivance of Diebold, he caved, and whilst some of his supporters were angry, most Americans shrugged and said “meh’, which is what I mean about passionless. If Americans won’t stick up for themselves, it’s absolutely true that New Zealanders won’t. On-line voting would see us more completely fried than we already are.
perception perception and more perception – just give me an honest leader someone not so tied up in party spin and poli speak and i will give you one million voters
Perhaps we could have some basics explained here.
Brett, you could start by telling us what
“…the country never moves forward …” actually means.
Are you suggesting that every enactment of every piece of legislation is taking the country forward. In whose perspective, and where or what is this future exactly?
We already had that a few years ago. Labour held the centre, and the Alliance held the more socialist left. Then both Anderton and McCarten got too stubborn for their own good, and look where we are now.
If the Alliance had held itself together, the period of 2002-08 would have seen a lot more left policies than there actually was. Remember: Kiwibank was an Alliance initiative and now has support across the political spectrum (I think even Don Brash was lukewarm on selling it). Same with paid perental leave.
In addition, the Greens would have been able to focus on environmental issues, rather than try and be a socialist party as well.
Ever so funny, ha ha ha. If politics is just another RWC circus for the right, then it makes sense that we’re only aspiring to muddle through. That’s why prison building, more motorways and National Standards are apparently all the political outcomes we need. Dinemic. Dig more coal.
Labour has always aired its dirty linen in public . Thats good democracy at work ,not like National Act who do nearly all their dirty deal behind closed doors.Unfortunately Act has done its dirty dealings in public recently and has now been absorbed back into National.
A prickly subject as Cacti Kate would say.
Anyway, righties, I’d be far more worried about who will lead National than Labour at the moment. Key has already asked party leaders if he can step down (closed door meeting, Marie Quinn and others in attendance). Who will replace him. I’m delighted that Labour has a bevy of potential leaders. Far better than National who literally have nobody palatable.
@Tigger-when/where did you hear about Key possibly stepping down?
And you are correct, it is a real plus that Labour is spoilt for choice as regards potential leaders, whereas National is definitely ‘leader lite.’
Early on in his term as PM I thought I’d read his CV to see how long he typically stayed in roles. It’s one of the things I look at when I interview people, because their past behaviour indicates how long they might stay in the role they are being interviewed for.
From what I could see most of John Key’s roles have lasted two or three years, and his longest in any role is about five years. If he does two full terms as PM it will be the longest he has ever stuck at one role, so on this basis I think it is unlikely he will be leader of the National Party for an election in late 2014.
Given that righties play on emotional voters how is Cunliffe going to help Labour, he’ll make an excellent Finance Minister but to beat the right the Labour party need to grab voters by their emotional tails.
Goff had trouble with putting gst off, cgt on, threshold free into any emotional terms.
Universal tax cut, healthy fairer tax system.
Well who the hell are you to comment on the Labour Party.It appears to me that every damm Tory ,rightwing nutter and those Right-wing
columnists /Bloggers like Holmes .Garner ,Farrar and all the rest of the of the Right -Wing neo fascists know better than the Labour Party itself . My message to this cunning lot is piss of look after your own sleazy party .Labour is well able to manage its own affairs.
I mentioned a few days back that Garner said there was going to be a blood bath over the leadership .he is looking a bit green ,Because the leadership is being run very well and involving grass roots members . Its certainly run more democratically than the Nats BRT dominated Leader elections. Remember “No Brash no Money ‘ a couple of elections ago
I don’t. Hiding everything from view is normal behaviour of the RWNJs in their attempt to create a dictatorship with them in control. Actually involving everybody else is how you build a community that governs itself.
So let me understand this. Long ago Maori sold their assets cheap to foreigners.
Now MSM believe that Maori Party will survive politically by working with National in any shape or form?
I thought Maori had more integrity, but no, they still want to work with National.
which is perplexing since shoring up National only makes the inevitable collapse worse for Maori.
well my opinion is it is ttrime to get rid of leighton smith from newstalk zb.
this monster is a cretin of the first order.
all last week he used his position to denigrate the candidates for the NZLP leader.
then he got stuck into Helen Clarke, the United Nations and last but not least the president of the unites states Barack Obama.
there is nothing nice about this person but yet he keeps spewing his filth and ignorance all over us daily.
no wonder kiwis are so messed up. on one hand they are told they are wonderful people because they won the world cup but on the other this fountain of bile runs rampant every day.
time to make some radical changes in this country starting with the pinheads in the media.
Goebells Smith finished me with ZB talkback.
Right wing (virtually Fascist) slants on everything.
Laws finished me with the other talkback lot.
Why is the Labour leadership battle being fought so publicly when the only media coverage is certainly prejudiced against the left?
And why are the National groupies all favouring Shearer?
This is what I think, it publicly airs the winners and losers and if anything build future stories about factionalism in Labour.
Not to mention, yet once again, the focus is all on Labour for the wrong reasons, and National just gets to cruise along without any scrutiny – you would think last term would have taught them something.
The “TV debates” were pure hubris, they should have kept it at a grass roots level and then come from that with unity or at least the perception of it.
I think, for a Labour leadership team to be successful, they have to find a way of dealing with, or operating successfully inspite of, the right wing MSM and astroturfers. These right wingers will try to undermine Labour and their leader, however they go about things.
So the leadership contest is a kind of baptism of fire.
“And why are the National groupies all favouring Shearer?”
At a guess I would say that because his efforts have sought the complete opposite end of theirs, they consider his achievements to be totally worthless, so he too is totally worthless. At the centre of their thinking is the rule that anything not like them is wrong and worthless – the sneers follow from there.
I am merely a spectator to the LP leadership process, but I would like to emphasise that just because National want Shearer, it should have no bearing at all on the decision of the LP and it’s members to choose as they see fit.
Every Thursday since October 13 I’ve driven 20 minutes up the highway with my Rolleiflex camera and a handful of film and asked the activists at Occupy Los Angeles their greatest hope for a positive outcome in this global movement toward change
WOW! Terrific idea and commitment.
Thank you Joe for something wonderful that I would not have seen or ‘heard’ if it were not for you. Thanks too to all the occupiers for sharing their hopes and occupying for change.
‘Blowing the whistle’ on Transparency International’s 2011 ‘Corruption Perception Index’ – where NZ is ‘perceived’ to be the least corrupt country in the world.
In my considered opinion, as a GENUINE ‘anti-corruption’ campaigner – if NZ is perceived to be the ‘least corrupt country in the world’ then Transparency International’s ‘Corruption Perception Index’ is not worth the paper upon which it is written.
As a delegate – I personally distributed about 400 copies of the following ‘NZ Corruption Reality Checklist’ amongst the 1200 delegates from 135 countries who were represented at the 2010 Transparency International 14th International Anti-Corruption Conference which I attended in Bangkok last year.
(Funded by donations received from fellow concerned citizens who support the work I am doing as an ‘anti-corruption’ campaigner.)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
CORRUPTION REALITY CHECKLIST – NEW ZEALAND
1. Has NZ ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption? ……… NO
2. Does NZ have an independent anti-corruption body tasked with educating the public and PREVENTING corruption? ……. NO
3. Do NZ’s laws ensure transparency in the funding of candidates for elected public office and political parties at central government level? …………………. NO
4. Do NZ Members of Parliament have a ‘Code of Conduct’? NO
5. Do NZ Local Govt elected reps have a ‘Code of Conduct’? ……. YES
6. Is it an offence for NZ Local Govt elected reps to breach the ‘Code of Conduct’? NO
7. Is there a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Local Govt elected reps? …………………NO
8. Is there a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Central Govt staff responsible for procurement? ……………… NO
9. Is there a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Local Govt staff responsible for procurement? ………. NO
10. Is there a lawful requirement for details of ‘contracts issued’ – including the name of the contractor; scope, term and value of the contract to be published in NZ Central Govt Public Sector, and Local Govt (Council) Annual Reports so that they are available for public scrutiny?……. NO
11. Is it a lawful requirement that a ‘cost-benefit analysis’ of NZ Central Govt public finances be undertaken to substantiate that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in-house’ is cost-effective for the public majority? ………NO
12. Is it a lawful requirement that a ‘cost-benefit analysis’ of NZ Local Govt public finances be undertaken to substantiate that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in-house’ is cost-effective for the public majority? ………NO
13. Does NZ have a legally-enforcable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary? ……NO
14. Are all NZ Court proceedings recorded, and audio records made available to parties who request them?……………NO
15. Is there a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’? …. NO
16. Is there a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ ‘Register of Lobbyists’ at Central Govt Ministerial level? ………… NO
17. Is there a legal requirement at NZ Central and Local Govt level for a ‘post-separation employment quarantine ‘ period’ from the time officials leave the public service to take up a similar role in the private sector?………………NO
18. Is it a lawful requirement that it is only a binding vote of the public majority that can determine whether public assets held at NZ Central Govt or Local Govt level are sold; or long-term leased via Public-Private –Partnerships? …………………. NO
19. Is it unlawful in NZ for politicians to knowingly misrepresent their policies prior to election at central or local government level? …………………………. NO
20. Do NZ laws promote and protect individuals, NGOs and community-based organisations who are ‘whistleblowing’ against ‘conflicts of interest’ and corrupt practices at central and local govt level and within the judiciary? ……………………………. NO
Transparency International is a global civil society coalition leading the fight against corruption. It compiles a number of measures of different aspects of corruption including the Corruption Perceptions Index, the Global Corruption Barometer, and the Bribe Payers Index. Information on Transparency International can be found at http://www.transparency.org and detailed information on the Corruption Perceptions Index can be found at http://www.transparency.org/cpi
Transparency International New Zealand is the local chapter of Transparency International and is an independent registered charity. Information on TI-NZ, including New Zealand’s performance in the Global Corruption Barometer and the As Good As We Are Perceived? report can be found at http://www.transparency.org.nz
The Convention entered into force on 14 December 2005, in accordance with its article 68 (1). For each new State or regional economic integration organization becoming a party to the Convention, the Convention enters into force on the thirtieth day after the date of deposit by such State or organization of the relevant instrument.
Status: Signatories: 140 ,Parties: 154.
Authoritative status information on treaties deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, including the United Nations Convention against Corruption, is available on the United Nations Treaty Collection.
We don’t do too well on the ‘corruption reality’ check list do we ? Perhaps we are a banana republic after all?
Thanks for all your ‘watchdogging’ Penny. You are one brave,principled lady.
Rethink opposing asset sales and a Capital Gains Tax, welfare reform, National Standards.
Apparently, in Armstrongs world, voters don’t care about asset sales and parents like National Standards. Polls on the issues suggest otherwise.
A CGT isn’t necessary and looking at ways of alleviating poverty (anything other than make/compel people to be work ready in the absence of jobs) is unpopular.
Labour also has some ‘1/2 baked ideas’ amongst its policies.
I guess there is a difference between mimicing the ‘do nothing’ ‘grab bag’ of ideas run by the current Government, in order to be elected short term, and actually doing some hard thinking about the countries future needs.
What Armstrong hasn’t bothered to factor in are the economic, social and environmental turmoil we are going to experience in the next 10 years. Doing nothing may have been most popular this year but won’t do much to help NZ in 5 years time. If Armstrong thinks that things are going to quickly default to pre 2008 conditions and be benign enough for a do nothing neo-liberalism to remain popular, I suggest he is deluded.
Rather than lurch toward the brand of neo-liberal ‘grab bag’ politics, Labour needs to continue doing thinking about appropriate long term answers to the questions now being posed. The 2011 election manifesto was a good start.
Mister Armstrong can no doubt continue to be a cheer leader for brand ‘do nothing’.
Well, well, why so silent during the election campaign Brian Gaynor? What a disgrace!
How many would have voted for JokyHen if they had seen this sort of commentary?
“…Key and Finance Minister Bill English have a reputation for being prudent financial managers yet their three-year deficit of $35.5 billion
compares with a $35.6 billion surplus by the previous Labour Government
and a $5.7 billion surplus by the 1990 to 1999 National Government…”
“…But the best way to look at Government debt is as a percentage of GDP. The last two Labour Governments reduced Government debt as a percentage of GDP but only one of the three National Governments – the Bolger/Shipley Administration – has produced a similar result…”
In addition to various wild shootings in Wairoa amongst weekend activities, fires in the far north, asians being blown sky high in the Urerewas, …
There are without doubt incidents of rampant violence in the face of authority going on more and more. Has anybody else noticed this? And what does it mean? And should we all of us buy guns? Like the US government? Or even our government? Do we follow our leaders in declaring war? Or do we circle the wagons?
A bit of a wobble in Nelson guessing more than 4. Centred in Wellington I think – that place needs a shake-up. 5.7 40 km from Wellington towards Picton.
Like domestic assaults I suppose. Depends on the reporting. And we are much more aware since Ch CH. In the past I might have just noticed tonight’s earthquake but now I worry that it is a signal in Marlborough that might be a flow on effect from a more serious quake elsewhere.
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Northern Ireland is the Alabama of the UK: a backwards region where women and gay people are denied fundamental rights. But Westminster has just decided to fix that:MPs have voted resoundingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to ...
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Ranjit Kauri, The Dancing Maharani and Other Stories, Swansea, Head and Heart, 2019, £6.99; reviewed by Don Franks Working people are not the same country to country. Our struggles for a better life take place in surroundings of very different ...
Let's Do Them! All Jacinda Ardern has to do to clinch the 2020 General Election is frighten the bejesus out of the electorate by describing in the most graphic terms imaginable what will happen to all the positive beginnings her ...
It may be that we have all misinterpreted the somewhat surprising “bromance” between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. It has been all too easy to assume that it is Kim who is cosying up to Trump rather than the ...
by Michael Roberts So the full circle is completed. The corrupt pro-business conservative New Democracy party in Greece that was ousted by the anti-capitalist Syriza party in 2015 has been returned to office in yesterday’s general election, with an outright ...
When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
Back in May the government released its Zero Carbon Bill. While much of the bill was welcome, there was one big exception: it contained a secrecy clause, requiring the Climate Change Commission to maintain secrecy over practically everything it does. ...
by Phil Duncan This past week has marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Stonewall Inn riots in Christopher Street, New York, the event generally regarded as kicking off the gay liberation movement. Quite a few articles have ...
Southland - land of coal-burning dairy farmers - has become the first region in the country to explicitly vote against declaring a climate emergency. Their reason? They didn't want to "devalue" the word "emergency". Its an argument addressed powerfully in ...
New Zealand has a problem with police chases: officers going after fleeing drivers like rabid dogs, without any consideration for proportionality or public safety, often with fatal results. And according to an in-depth article in the Guardian today, the UK ...
The first full week of the firearms buy-back and amnesty has produced a strong turnout as events roll out nationwide for the first time. “Momentum is slowly starting to build as community collection events are held across the entire country, ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
Media statement on behalf of Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie and Donna Marie Tai Tokerau Hall: Māori Television has admitted publishing false allegations about former High Court justice, Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie, and his wife, Donna Hall, and it has ...
Announcement today by the Prime Minister of further gun law reform is being shrouded by fear, so that scrutiny of the law is seen as an affront to the victims of the horror attack in March. The Prime Minister acknowledged ...
Misgivings about the practicality and cost of a firearms register is likely to dominate feedback from rural areas on the second round of proposed Arms Act amendments, Federated Farmers says. ...
School Strike 4 Climate NZ organisers Sophie Handford and Raven Maeder delivered a clear message to over 600 local government mayors, chairs, chief executives and councillors at the recent LGNZ conference : make climate change a priority. ...
The Police Association, Te Aka Hāpai backs the government’s emphasis on public safety as the driver of its second tranche of amendments to New Zealand’s firearms law, announced today. ...
The growing housing shortage crisis about more than supply and demand- it is about inequity. Recently released analysis by Kiwibank shows that last year’s “severe” shortage of housing has worsened, with the shortfall growing from 100,000 to 130,0000 ...
One of the country’s largest district health boards has a severe shortage of hospital specialists, says the senior doctors’ union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is joining opposition to possible regulations on the strength of nicotine vaping liquid. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “The Government would certainly benefit from regulations on the strength ...
The Meat Industry Association (MIA) is calling for significant changes to the Zero Carbon Bill with a new analysis using the Government’s preferred modelling indicating that the proposed methane targets are excessive if all other gases go to net zero. ...
Victoria University Feminist Organisation and ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa, in conjunction with the VUW Feminist Law Students, Organise Aotearoa, Fem Force, and with the support of VUW Student Association announced they are sponsoring a march ...
With the Government's firearm buyback scheme starting to draw over 30,000 police man hours away from fighting crime, the safety of law abiding citizens is being compromised. ...
Social Credit Party leader Chris Leitch is calling on the sale of Westland Milk to Chinese company Yili to be put on hold pending an approach to the Government by Westland Milk for funding assistance. ...
Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa seems intent on ensuring the Government’s vaping legislation will heavily target flavours and nicotine levels – a move that would be completely counterproductive to helping Kiwis quit smoking and achieving ...
A new website has launched in response to recent RNZ reporting about Police in Dunedin unlawfully entering people’s homes and breath-testing them. “I was disgusted when I saw what they cops were doing in Dunedin. Their behaviour undermines all of ...
The Head of the New Zealand Maori Council has called for the Government to hold an immediate investigation into the global cosmetics company Sephora after they were caught dumping waste hundreds and thousands of waste paper products embedded with ...
Hundreds of whanau and Maori leaders gathered at a hui in Mangere last weekend where they voted unanimously for an inquiry into Oranga Tamariki. The historic meeting called for a child welfare framework to be developed by Maori, for Maori. ...
Simon Shepherd: The government says its agreement with farmers, that they should pay for agricultural emissions, is historic. But there's no agreement on how. One proposal says farmers should pay a 5 per cent emissions tax. Another suggests farmers ...
The O’Brien Institute for Public Health at Calgary University has just released their report on fluoridation. This institute has, up to now, been staunchly in favour of fluoridation. However, yesterday, with regards to fluoride’s effect on the brain, ...
July 19 (BusinessDesk) - The government is looking to tighten control and impose harsher penalties after the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak revealed cracks in the country's stock management system. ...
Kia Anga Mua Ngā Hapū o Ngāpuhi (KAM) has reached a pivotal milestone following a hui yesterday at Waitangi with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Government spent $133,530 on producing its ‘Wellbeing Budget’ document, a cost blowout largely driven by spending on graphic design and photography. The $133,530 price tag compares to $86,268 ...
Kahungunu Māori Language Awards. Nominations closed on 5 July 2019, and were judged by the Senior Management Team of Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated. The judges wish to acknowledge the very high calibre of all nominations received making it a very ...
High Court of Australia Judge, Justice Stephen Gageler, will address recent criticism of court judgment delays in Australia, at the University of Canterbury (UC) on 23 July at 6.15pm. ...
This summary is provided to assist in the understanding of the Inquiry’s proceedings but does not constitute the official record. The full Minute is available at the link below. ...
The Tertiary Education Commission is laying charges under section 292A of the Education Act 1989 against three individuals for making a false representation for the purpose of receiving, or continuing to receive, free tertiary education from a tertiary education ...
New Zealand food businesses today welcomed a trio of new food safety tools, designed to make it faster, easier and more affordable to follow the rules and keep consumers safe. ...
AUT research shows that Māori children are almost four times more likely than those of European descent to be placed out of home by child protection services ...
The Government announced today that grants of up to $2,500 for energy efficient heaters are now available as part of the Government’s Warmer Kiwi Homes programme. ...
Fonterra’s use of coal has been the target of numerous grassroots campaigns in recent years. Last year 350 Aotearoa affiliated groups, Fossil Free Aoraki and 350 Nelson launched a petition dismissing the dairy giant’s initial target of no new ...
Information sessions on proposals for The Medicinal Cannabis Scheme take place in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch over the next fortnight. The sessions are open to anyone with an interest in learning more about the proposed scheme. ...
“Our children are our most vulnerable, most innocent victims and we do not want to see any more children harmed by these ‘known sex offenders’. The safety of our community must be the paramount consideration.” ...
“The announcement that Fonterra will immediately stop installing any new coal boilers or increasing capacity to burn coal is the signal that the biomass fuel supply industry welcomes” said Brian Cox, Executive Officer of the Bioenergy Association. ...
18 July 2019-- Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA) today welcomed Fonterra’s commitment to build no new coal plants, a “no brainer” for the climate crisis the world faces. The group has been urging this transition for six years now and ...
The increase in demand for cage-free eggs is set to continue according to animal rights organisation SAFE, who says the egg industry should expect this and prepare. ...
Wellington, New Zealand – 350 Pacific made a formal submission to the New Zealand Government’s Environment Parliamentary Select Committee on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, led by the Pacific Climate Warriors (PCWs) based in ...
There used to be a school of thought on the centre right side of politics that the best way to neuter the Greens as a political force would be to let them have a spell in government. Then, according to ...
Today (18 July) is Nelson Mandela International Day when the United Nations highlights the importance of humane conditions of imprisonment. In New Zealand our prisons are overcrowded and understaffed. At 214 prisoners per 100,000 people, we have the fifth ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa will take legal action over the lengthy delay in implementing pay increases for teachers. Novopay announced yesterday that teachers would have to wait until 11 September to see pay increases that they won when they settled ...
EDS has filed its submission on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill. The Bill sets targets for greenhouse gas reductions, provides for the government to set a series of carbon budgets, and sets up a new, independent, Climate ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has identified an absurd case of mission creep at Wellington City Council: the decision to spend $21,750 on two Consumer NZ investigations into different brands of bike lights. ...
The Motor Trade Association is welcoming the release of the Government’s new draft road safety strategy. MTA Chief Executive Craig Pomare says the association is pleased to see vehicle safety has been made a priority in the Road to Zero ...
The Department of Conservation continue to repeat the same old story about attacks on staff and how it is affecting their role in protecting our precious wildlife. NZ herald https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12249704 ...
The government's silence on the fact that the country's second-largest milk processor is on the brink of becoming 25% Chinese Government owned has been deafening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Martin Parkinson, secretary of the Prime Minister’s department, has cleared Christopher Pyne and Julie Bishop of breaching the government’s code of ministerial standards with their ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentForeign affairs – Australia Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Ardern in ...
Sam Brooks reviews the second season of Big Little Lies, which generated as much social media conversation as its first season did critical acclaim, for better and worse.Light spoilers for the second season of Big Little Lies.Big Little Lies felt like the ...
ANALYSIS:By David Robie Indonesia recently hosted a bold public relations window-dressing expo in Auckland presenting itself as a “Pacific” nation while attempting to provide an unconvincing impression of normality in the two Melanesian provinces known collectively as West ...
Taxing vacant land would be too complex to implement and achieve little - it would be better for the Government to push local councils to implement rates based on land value rather than capital value. ...
The Māori Affairs Select Committee has recommended that anyone wanting to use the word 'Parihaka' for commercial purposes must get permission from the Parihaka Papakainga Trust. ...
European politics is a strange business. Where voters can choose candidates, who disappear after the elections. Where right-wing governments nominate left-sounding candidates. ...
Ruby Porter’s debut novel, Attraction, is a lucid, layered story of three young women on a road trip across the North Island. It’s one of the best books we’ve read this year. Here, Ruby writes about her grandmother – who ...
ByRNZ Pacific West Papuan fighters have killed an Indonesian soldier in a renewed threat to Jakarta’s road project there. State news agency Antara reported the hit-and-run attack on Saturday took place in Nduga regency, where pro-independence forces are ...
In 2003 the Silver Ferns won the Netball World Cup, breaking the Australian Diamonds’ 16-year winning streak. In 2019, they’ve just done the same thing. Leana de Bruin was a rookie in that 2003 team, and talked to The Spinoff ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Associate Professor, Criminology and Justice Studies, RMIT University A Perth man who pleaded guilty to distributing an intimate image of his ex-girlfriend without her consent has been sentenced to a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Piero Moraro, Lecturer in Criminal Justice, Charles Sturt University The Morrison government has introduced new legislation responding to recent protests by animal rights activists in Australia. The bill –named The Criminal Code ...
One of the many unspoken rules of British life is that when one is drinking at the pub with others, one buys rounds. For the naive New Zealander, it’s stressful AF, says Elle Hunt.At the pub one Friday night in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David King, Senior Lecturer, The University of Queensland Dry, moist, productive, hacking, chesty, whooping, barking, throaty. These are just some of the terms people use to describe their cough. While we’re deep ...
What if you could grow a house from seed or 3D print a new subdivision in a week? The housing sector is ripe for disruption – could technology be the magic bullet we need?Jo Aitken sounds like she’s pitching an ...
The architect of the incredible turnaround the Silver Ferns have enjoyed is now off-contract. So now that the World Cup has been won, how can Netball NZ keep Noeline Taurua on the books? Radio NZ’s Ravinder Hunia recounts the journey ...
By RNZ Pacific Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape wants Australia to close the detention centre it has been running on PNG’s Manus island for six years. According to Australian media, Marape has asked Canberra to give him ...
More must be done to tackle critical skill shortages in project management and leadership, the head of the Registered Master Builders Association says. ...
Fifteen tracks, 22 guests, one album. The Spinoff Music listens to Ed Sheeran’s No. 6 Collaborations Project and considers why each track really shouldn’t work – and the sometimes surprising reasons why they do.1. Beautiful People – KhalidKhalid and Ed ...
Emily Writes on her journey from reasonable trepidation to sweet love for the video game Minecraft.It was barely a week after I said to my sister “I don’t let the boys play any games” that my children’s Minecraft obsession began. ...
New Zealanders with life-shortening congenital conditions will have early access to their KiwiSavers after a man with Down Syndrome convinced the government to change the rules. ...
Sephora store employees may have swept some confetti down Auckland city’s drains on Saturday, and people got angry… at an entire generation. On Saturday, French cosmetics giant Sephora opened its first New Zealand store on Auckland’s Queen Street. Excited makeup enthusiasts ...
More than 20,000 Aucklanders don’t have access to regular showers or the ability to wash their clothing. Alice Webb-Liddall tags along on a shift with Orange Sky, who are giving homeless people back these basic needs.On an overcast Friday morning ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Senior Fellow, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University If the first week of the 46th Parliament was heavily ceremonial – dominated by the new governor-general, a raft of first-time MPs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, La Trobe University In a world run ragged by multiple crises and an unravelling of American global leadership, military confrontation in the Gulf poses risks ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Craig Dalton, Conjoint Senior Lecturer School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle Over recent months, the news has been saturated with headlines claiming we’re experiencing a “killer flu season”. Researchers ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Richard Braczkowski, PhD Candidate – Wildlife Cameraman, The University of Queensland Last week saw the release of the rebooted The Lion King, an attempt to capitalise on the billion-dollar success of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Fenner, Associate Professor at UNSW Art & Design, UNSW Over the past few weeks, artists from around Australia have been creating small artworks depicting the endangered black-throated finch and sending them ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Craig Campbell, Associate Professor, University of Sydney New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian made a “captain’s call” in recent months that raised the ire of many parents, teachers and education groups. She ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Beer, Dean, Research and Innovation, University of South Australia Australia’s biggest city is abuzz with news of yet another housing development declared unsafe for human habitation. This time it is apartments ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Many claim leadership positions around farming emissions, concerns rise about deported gang members in small towns, and superyacht predictions panned.Now apologies if you feel like this is repetition – we did ...
Against all odds, the Silver Ferns have won netball's World Cup for the first time in 16 years. And fittingly, one of the legends of the game sealed their incredible victory. ...
What are you getting out of your daily commute? University of Auckland Associate Professor Kim Dirks considers the health implications for getting from A to B. ...
If Beijing’s actions have any bearing on what will happen when the agreement of ‘one country, two systems’ expires, the Hong Kong people are unlikely to succumb quietly. ...
Six things councils can do right now to make the ’emergency’ worth more than the paper it’s written on.Councils are declaring climate emergencies across the country, but with only a decade to cut carbon emissions in half, it’s time for ...
Newsroom literary editor Steve Braunias passes his verdict on the annual list of the 100 favourite books of New Zealanders who filled out a Whitcoulls form. ...
Orchestral music performance is an art form, but how do you engage with something you’ve never experienced before? Samiyah Alghamdi and Anna Knox attend NYO Celebrates in Wellington and unpack what they hear.The National Youth Orchestra and the National Youth ...
Open mike 03/12/2011 
In the wake of the March 15 mass-murder, the government moved swiftly to ban semi-automatic firearms, weapons for which there is really no case for being allowed to own in New Zealand. and now, it has announced phase two of ...10 hours ago
I have been unimpressed with Western corporate media coverage of the tensions involving Iran in the Straits of Hormuz. They repeat the line that Iran is the source of current tensions, that it is a major sponsor of terrorism, that ...2 days ago
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Much like Tuvalu, the manmade climate change Cult love to tell people the Maldives is almost totally underwater. In fact the dishonest Maldives Govt d on the same bandwagon, believing they would receive billions of dollars aid from other Countries ...2 days ago
As the entry on Wikipedia shows (and no, one doesn’t necessarily have to regard Wikipedia as the be-all and end-all of truth, because it isn’t on a great many things, to agree with the following): “…a fallacious argument that concludes ...2 days ago
by Daphna Whitmore The story of how the world awoke to a big injustice is starting to be told. The Pacific Games held this month in Samoa is another chapter. On the podium was Laurel Hubbard, the giant transgender weightlifter, ...3 days ago
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...3 days ago
Something I missed: not only did Youth MPs declare a climate emergency; they also launched a campaign to lower the voting age to 16:Youth Parliament week in Parliament has seen the establishment of Make it 16, a campaign to ...4 days ago
The proposed Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill treats biogenic methane emissions differently from all other carbon emissions. The latter are to be measured net so that emissions from fossil fuels can be offset by carbon stored in trees. ...5 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...5 days ago
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On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...7 days ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...7 days ago
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...2 weeks ago
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The first full week of the firearms buy-back and amnesty has produced a strong turnout as events roll out nationwide for the first time. “Momentum is slowly starting to build as community collection events are held across the entire country, ...18 hours ago
Media statement on behalf of Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie and Donna Marie Tai Tokerau Hall: Māori Television has admitted publishing false allegations about former High Court justice, Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie, and his wife, Donna Hall, and it has ...7 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Martin Parkinson, secretary of the Prime Minister’s department, has cleared Christopher Pyne and Julie Bishop of breaching the government’s code of ministerial standards with their ...1 hour ago
Sam Brooks reviews the second season of Big Little Lies, which generated as much social media conversation as its first season did critical acclaim, for better and worse.Light spoilers for the second season of Big Little Lies.Big Little Lies felt like the ...6 hours ago
Cross-party consensus on gun law reform was a one-time wonder. ...7 hours ago
ANALYSIS: By David Robie Indonesia recently hosted a bold public relations window-dressing expo in Auckland presenting itself as a “Pacific” nation while attempting to provide an unconvincing impression of normality in the two Melanesian provinces known collectively as West ...7 hours ago
Taxing vacant land would be too complex to implement and achieve little - it would be better for the Government to push local councils to implement rates based on land value rather than capital value. ...7 hours ago
The Māori Affairs Select Committee has recommended that anyone wanting to use the word 'Parihaka' for commercial purposes must get permission from the Parihaka Papakainga Trust. ...8 hours ago
European politics is a strange business. Where voters can choose candidates, who disappear after the elections. Where right-wing governments nominate left-sounding candidates. ...9 hours ago
A decade on from his darkest hour, can the NZ First leader again defy the odds and keep his political career alive? ...9 hours ago
Ruby Porter’s debut novel, Attraction, is a lucid, layered story of three young women on a road trip across the North Island. It’s one of the best books we’ve read this year. Here, Ruby writes about her grandmother – who ...9 hours ago
By RNZ Pacific West Papuan fighters have killed an Indonesian soldier in a renewed threat to Jakarta’s road project there. State news agency Antara reported the hit-and-run attack on Saturday took place in Nduga regency, where pro-independence forces are ...10 hours ago
In 2003 the Silver Ferns won the Netball World Cup, breaking the Australian Diamonds’ 16-year winning streak. In 2019, they’ve just done the same thing. Leana de Bruin was a rookie in that 2003 team, and talked to The Spinoff ...10 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Associate Professor, Criminology and Justice Studies, RMIT University A Perth man who pleaded guilty to distributing an intimate image of his ex-girlfriend without her consent has been sentenced to a ...10 hours ago
The second tranche of proposed far-reaching changes includes a gun register, tighter licensing rules, and five-year licences. ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Piero Moraro, Lecturer in Criminal Justice, Charles Sturt University The Morrison government has introduced new legislation responding to recent protests by animal rights activists in Australia. The bill –named The Criminal Code ...11 hours ago
One of the many unspoken rules of British life is that when one is drinking at the pub with others, one buys rounds. For the naive New Zealander, it’s stressful AF, says Elle Hunt.At the pub one Friday night in ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David King, Senior Lecturer, The University of Queensland Dry, moist, productive, hacking, chesty, whooping, barking, throaty. These are just some of the terms people use to describe their cough. While we’re deep ...12 hours ago
The government is planning an overhaul of biosecurity funding, but a lack of detail is making farming sectors nervous. ...12 hours ago
What if you could grow a house from seed or 3D print a new subdivision in a week? The housing sector is ripe for disruption – could technology be the magic bullet we need?Jo Aitken sounds like she’s pitching an ...13 hours ago
The architect of the incredible turnaround the Silver Ferns have enjoyed is now off-contract. So now that the World Cup has been won, how can Netball NZ keep Noeline Taurua on the books? Radio NZ’s Ravinder Hunia recounts the journey ...13 hours ago
By RNZ Pacific Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape wants Australia to close the detention centre it has been running on PNG’s Manus island for six years. According to Australian media, Marape has asked Canberra to give him ...14 hours ago
More must be done to tackle critical skill shortages in project management and leadership, the head of the Registered Master Builders Association says. ...14 hours ago
Emily Writes on her journey from reasonable trepidation to sweet love for the video game Minecraft.It was barely a week after I said to my sister “I don’t let the boys play any games” that my children’s Minecraft obsession began. ...16 hours ago
Sephora store employees may have swept some confetti down Auckland city’s drains on Saturday, and people got angry… at an entire generation. On Saturday, French cosmetics giant Sephora opened its first New Zealand store on Auckland’s Queen Street. Excited makeup enthusiasts ...17 hours ago
More than 20,000 Aucklanders don’t have access to regular showers or the ability to wash their clothing. Alice Webb-Liddall tags along on a shift with Orange Sky, who are giving homeless people back these basic needs.On an overcast Friday morning ...18 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ashlee Curtis, Research Fellow, School of Psychology, Deakin University The Victorian government introduced 24-hour public transport on Friday and Saturday nights in Melbourne from January 1 2016. Services mostly run every hour ...18 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Senior Fellow, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University If the first week of the 46th Parliament was heavily ceremonial – dominated by the new governor-general, a raft of first-time MPs ...19 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Richard Braczkowski, PhD Candidate – Wildlife Cameraman, The University of Queensland Last week saw the release of the rebooted The Lion King, an attempt to capitalise on the billion-dollar success of ...19 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Fenner, Associate Professor at UNSW Art & Design, UNSW Over the past few weeks, artists from around Australia have been creating small artworks depicting the endangered black-throated finch and sending them ...19 hours ago
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Team Cunliffe is staging a fight back.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6079460/Cunliffe-cleanout-needed-now
It seems to me that if Cunliffe gets to lead Labour, by countering the media, astroturfer and centrist/right-leaning campaign against them, he is well on the way to mounting a credible challenge for a Labour-led government in 2014.
Good move to characterise the apparent “newness” of Shearer, as a new face for the old guard. And to indicate an inclusive, non-factionalist party by signalling a front bench role for Shearer in a Cunliffe-led Labour caucus.
Good. Seriously exploring radical plans for change are probably more important than who heads the eventual changes.
Good move to characterise the apparent “newness” of Shearer, as a new face for the old guard.
That’s an interesting (and valid) twist.
The Labour party is going to split in two.
Old Labour vs New Labour.
I don’t think so but post vote behaviour will be important. Cunliffe has offered Shearer a front bench position, Shearer so far has not done the same.
Along what grounds Brett?
Anyway in an MMP environment would that really be a bad thing?.
I know nobody here will agree but NZ needs to have it’s two main parties just on either side of central you can’t have the country lurching one way or the other every three,six, nine years.
The wastage is immense, the people hate it and the country never moves forward because we are in a constant state of change all the time.
This is why Shearer must lead the Labour party as he will pull Labour back to the center where the majority of the votes are.
Cunliffe should take the activists, the union delegates and form his own party, then he could form a coalition with the Labour lead Shearer party.
That would make a pretty powerful block.
More like the Nats should get rid of the neo-libs so they’re more centrist. The centre has moved way to right in the last decade or so
It is extremely hard to be clear about what people mean by the term “centre” and in fact they tend to mean different things. Key & his cronies tend to mean assuaging fears while continuing with the neoliberal project, and pulling back where there is danger of losing popularity. Dunne seems to define it as some sort of golden mean, while supporting Key’s policies.
When a Labour person is described as “more centrist” I often have no idea as to whether this means that they have little time for identity politics (as seems to be the case with Damian O’Connor) or whether they think that our best bet is to find some accommodation with neoliberal economics, perhaps at the expense of the already poor. Or something else again.
Colloquially the term often simply means “me” – as in those fatter than me are fat, those older than me are old, etc. Someone mentioned a few days ago (I cannot remember who) that NZers tend to see themselves as middle class, often against the evidence, which adds another layer of occlusion to the term.
To me being centrist doesn’t mean always having middle of the road views and always supporting middle of the road policies. Rather, it’s a starting point where I hope I’ll look properly at both sides of an issue and decide what I think is best from there.
Being centrist means I can still support social policies and I can still support capitalist policies instead of feeling bound to lean one way or the other.
I try to pick the best of whatever policies are proposed, and look for the best ways of implementing them.
This approach can be fair to those in need of assistance, and fair to those who work harder.
PG you have defended Nationals policies at all costs during the campaign now you are defending the ever reducing popularity of the one man band Unbalanced Follicles you have no principles so nothing to defend boring people to death.Your 160 odd and i mean ODD votes in Dunedin North they must have been so fed up with you harassing them they gave you their vote to get rid of you . I don’t imagine you have that many family or friends.
I haven’t defended National policies at all costs.
Most candidates of both Dunedin electorates (there were 16) and all MPs I talked to (3/4) indicated support for what I’m initiating in Dunedin.
The fact that I get abused by a handful of off-topic posters here is no reflection on what sort of reception I have got elsewhere, especially around Dunedin.
Why the ignorant speculation on family and friends? Do you them to be put off Labour for good as well? I’m surprised how much nastiness there is on political blogs, doesn’t seem to be a great way to attract support.
Wait for Peter Dunne to vote for National’s policies at all costs.
Pete G when are you going to come out and take a principled stance as a United First candidate against asset sales.
Yes, but the terms “centre” tells me nothing about the criterion on which you base your idea of what is best. Nothing about the position from which you determine what is in the balance.
It depends entirely on the issue.
In reality I think most people vote more on personality and perceived trust than they do on some theoretical claimed ideological position.
I always thought a centrist was someone who could not make up their mind!
I always thought you didn’t understand.
I always knew you did not have a sense of humor.
He who walks in the centre of the road gets knocked down.Late Nye Bevin .1946
Dunne and the rest of UF have fallen into what I call the Myth of the Middle
The thing is that they can claim any position as radical and what they want as the “middle”. Of course, if you need a radical change plotting a middle course doesn’t help either and we need radical change. Continuing with failed capitalism isn’t doing us any favours.
Especially when it is a crony cartel capitalism driven by financial fraud.
+1 Couldn’t have put it better myself.
lololololol
you have no understanding of the Labour Party.
Chasing votes in the centre is someone else’s job, not Labour’s.
Then they shouldn’t be a main party.
Says who? Says you? And on what basis?
Are give you a clue mate – its the electorate which decides whether or not Labour is a main party. And having done signficantly better than Bill English’s 20.9% I suggest that Labour still has a broad base to rebuild from.
If the party goes the way you want it to, I doubt Labour would be able to scrape together 10%.
Your political views probably represent about 5% of the population.
If they went radical left I suspect that they’d be able to pick the majority of the people who didn’t vote. They may lose a few centrists and neo-liberals but, IMO, they’d actually have more votes (and probably members) after.
Brett, at best your political views only represent 1% of the population – the top 1% who want to rule us all in a dictatorship. You just don’t realise it.
sorry cv but i disagree – centre on the voter identifier matrix is defined by a ever shifting double peak extremely wide and flat bell curve. people base there vote and identity on a wide range of aspects not just left right centre..and more importnantly the double dip centre if not really in the middle but a dynamic flux situation with outliers, and falloff tails to the right and left.
then each electrorate is different as well that why its importnant the local labour candiate go after both perosnal and party vote based on the elctrorate bias i.e damian oconnor,grant robertson.
Brett you know the left block came within a whisker of vicTory and with special votes low majorities in some seats the left may still win though unlikely with up to five seats hanging by a thread it could cause an over hang.
Brett you are obviously a Tory and one of your main weapons through out hisTory has been to divide and conquer with any means possible
Can’t wait for Winnie to have his cup of tea under parliamentary privilege The thin Teflon will be worn somewhat more and the yellow press will be exposed some what more
Brett this is MMP and its left block verses right the right has less versatility now National has all the power.
Exactly. Labour up 2% on 29% and National down 2% on 46% and Key would have been toast.
with 1 million non voters what 1/3 not voting – hardly a represenation of the electrorate
Brett
Although I don’t agree with the premise of your argument that Shearer is more centrist than Cunliffe, you make a good point about the financial cost of our political process whereby one party makes huge changes that the other party will simply change back when they gain power. Both National and Labour are guilty of this dysfunction. However it is more to do with our hierarchical structuring and an outdated mode of representation.
The solution is to allow the public to vote directly on policy with parties being advocates for their respective policies. The stability of the general public is preferable to the combative and wasteful political process that is clearly failing to engage many New Zealander’s in decision making.
+1
That’s why I’m so in favour of online voting. It’d make it easy to have the discussion and vote on policies.
That would be a terrible thing – there’s no upside to it! I keep hearing that it would be oh-so-secure, linked to everyone’s online banking etc – but not everyone does online banking (it took me years to decide that it was probably safe.) My son just told me about a colleague of his who has – along with her husband, just been wiped out by a hacker – $50 000… Luckily their bank is reimbursing them. But safe is relative! I just watched last night, the curiously passionless documentary ‘Hacking Democracy’, about Diebold and the 2004 election – although Kerry had proof that the Bushites stole the election with the connivance of Diebold, he caved, and whilst some of his supporters were angry, most Americans shrugged and said “meh’, which is what I mean about passionless. If Americans won’t stick up for themselves, it’s absolutely true that New Zealanders won’t. On-line voting would see us more completely fried than we already are.
perception perception and more perception – just give me an honest leader someone not so tied up in party spin and poli speak and i will give you one million voters
Perhaps we could have some basics explained here.
Brett, you could start by telling us what
“…the country never moves forward …” actually means.
Are you suggesting that every enactment of every piece of legislation is taking the country forward. In whose perspective, and where or what is this future exactly?
We already had that a few years ago. Labour held the centre, and the Alliance held the more socialist left. Then both Anderton and McCarten got too stubborn for their own good, and look where we are now.
If the Alliance had held itself together, the period of 2002-08 would have seen a lot more left policies than there actually was. Remember: Kiwibank was an Alliance initiative and now has support across the political spectrum (I think even Don Brash was lukewarm on selling it). Same with paid perental leave.
In addition, the Greens would have been able to focus on environmental issues, rather than try and be a socialist party as well.
For the brief duration of this scrap, maybe. But its one of those necessary things.
Yes but more importantly its hugely entertaining to watch
Ever so funny, ha ha ha. If politics is just another RWC circus for the right, then it makes sense that we’re only aspiring to muddle through. That’s why prison building, more motorways and National Standards are apparently all the political outcomes we need. Dinemic. Dig more coal.
Just say no especially this early
Labour has always aired its dirty linen in public . Thats good democracy at work ,not like National Act who do nearly all their dirty deal behind closed doors.Unfortunately Act has done its dirty dealings in public recently and has now been absorbed back into National.
A prickly subject as Cacti Kate would say.
Exactly. Labour need to do this.
Anyway, righties, I’d be far more worried about who will lead National than Labour at the moment. Key has already asked party leaders if he can step down (closed door meeting, Marie Quinn and others in attendance). Who will replace him. I’m delighted that Labour has a bevy of potential leaders. Far better than National who literally have nobody palatable.
@Tigger-when/where did you hear about Key possibly stepping down?
And you are correct, it is a real plus that Labour is spoilt for choice as regards potential leaders, whereas National is definitely ‘leader lite.’
“Key has already asked party leaders if he can step down (closed door meeting, Marie Quinn and others in attendance)”
Got any links for this, or is this from personal sources?
Early on in his term as PM I thought I’d read his CV to see how long he typically stayed in roles. It’s one of the things I look at when I interview people, because their past behaviour indicates how long they might stay in the role they are being interviewed for.
From what I could see most of John Key’s roles have lasted two or three years, and his longest in any role is about five years. If he does two full terms as PM it will be the longest he has ever stuck at one role, so on this basis I think it is unlikely he will be leader of the National Party for an election in late 2014.
Given that righties play on emotional voters how is Cunliffe going to help Labour, he’ll make an excellent Finance Minister but to beat the right the Labour party need to grab voters by their emotional tails.
Goff had trouble with putting gst off, cgt on, threshold free into any emotional terms.
Universal tax cut, healthy fairer tax system.
Well who the hell are you to comment on the Labour Party.It appears to me that every damm Tory ,rightwing nutter and those Right-wing
columnists /Bloggers like Holmes .Garner ,Farrar and all the rest of the of the Right -Wing neo fascists know better than the Labour Party itself . My message to this cunning lot is piss of look after your own sleazy party .Labour is well able to manage its own affairs.
I mentioned a few days back that Garner said there was going to be a blood bath over the leadership .he is looking a bit green ,Because the leadership is being run very well and involving grass roots members . Its certainly run more democratically than the Nats BRT dominated Leader elections. Remember “No Brash no Money ‘ a couple of elections ago
@ Carol 6.49am
Good comment Carol. Agree with all your points. Thought the same myself when I read this article earlier.
I was really heartened by Cunliffe’s intelligent ‘fightback’, as well as Nanaia Mahuta’s pertinent shut down of Tamihere’s ignorant remarks yesterday.
Cunliffe and Mahuta could be a formidable team. Just what Labour needs.
Shearer >>> foreign affairs…FTW!!!
Excellent idea pollyw.
I find it very odd that the prospective leaders are being drawn into televised debates, something National and their ministers avoided at all costs.
I don’t. Hiding everything from view is normal behaviour of the RWNJs in their attempt to create a dictatorship with them in control. Actually involving everybody else is how you build a community that governs itself.
Getting to know the other David Labour MP – David Clark.
So let me understand this. Long ago Maori sold their assets cheap to foreigners.
Now MSM believe that Maori Party will survive politically by working with National in any shape or form?
I thought Maori had more integrity, but no, they still want to work with National.
which is perplexing since shoring up National only makes the inevitable collapse worse for Maori.
well my opinion is it is ttrime to get rid of leighton smith from newstalk zb.
this monster is a cretin of the first order.
all last week he used his position to denigrate the candidates for the NZLP leader.
then he got stuck into Helen Clarke, the United Nations and last but not least the president of the unites states Barack Obama.
there is nothing nice about this person but yet he keeps spewing his filth and ignorance all over us daily.
no wonder kiwis are so messed up. on one hand they are told they are wonderful people because they won the world cup but on the other this fountain of bile runs rampant every day.
time to make some radical changes in this country starting with the pinheads in the media.
I refuse to listen to Newstalk ZB – it is offensive all the time!
I tried to make a comment on air once. I got started and then he hung up on me the rude pratt!
me too – twice
This.
National’s privatization dreamland
Despite the National party only gaining 23% of the populations vote, John Key believes National has a mandate to sell off our best performing SOE’s…
NOAA: Arctic settles into new phase – warmer, greener, and less ice.
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/press_conf/ARC2011_finalvisuals.pdf
Goebells Smith finished me with ZB talkback.
Right wing (virtually Fascist) slants on everything.
Laws finished me with the other talkback lot.
Why is the Labour leadership battle being fought so publicly when the only media coverage is certainly prejudiced against the left?
And why are the National groupies all favouring Shearer?
This is what I think, it publicly airs the winners and losers and if anything build future stories about factionalism in Labour.
Not to mention, yet once again, the focus is all on Labour for the wrong reasons, and National just gets to cruise along without any scrutiny – you would think last term would have taught them something.
The “TV debates” were pure hubris, they should have kept it at a grass roots level and then come from that with unity or at least the perception of it.
I think, for a Labour leadership team to be successful, they have to find a way of dealing with, or operating successfully inspite of, the right wing MSM and astroturfers. These right wingers will try to undermine Labour and their leader, however they go about things.
So the leadership contest is a kind of baptism of fire.
“And why are the National groupies all favouring Shearer?”
At a guess I would say that because his efforts have sought the complete opposite end of theirs, they consider his achievements to be totally worthless, so he too is totally worthless. At the centre of their thinking is the rule that anything not like them is wrong and worthless – the sneers follow from there.
I am merely a spectator to the LP leadership process, but I would like to emphasise that just because National want Shearer, it should have no bearing at all on the decision of the LP and it’s members to choose as they see fit.
http://annieappelphotography.blogspot.com/
Every Thursday since October 13 I’ve driven 20 minutes up the highway with my Rolleiflex camera and a handful of film and asked the activists at Occupy Los Angeles their greatest hope for a positive outcome in this global movement toward change
WOW! Terrific idea and commitment.
Thank you Joe for something wonderful that I would not have seen or ‘heard’ if it were not for you. Thanks too to all the occupiers for sharing their hopes and occupying for change.
3 December 2011
‘Blowing the whistle’ on Transparency International’s 2011 ‘Corruption Perception Index’ – where NZ is ‘perceived’ to be the least corrupt country in the world.
http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2011/results/
WHAT UTTER GARBAGE IS THIS??
In my considered opinion, as a GENUINE ‘anti-corruption’ campaigner – if NZ is perceived to be the ‘least corrupt country in the world’ then Transparency International’s ‘Corruption Perception Index’ is not worth the paper upon which it is written.
As a delegate – I personally distributed about 400 copies of the following ‘NZ Corruption Reality Checklist’ amongst the 1200 delegates from 135 countries who were represented at the 2010 Transparency International 14th International Anti-Corruption Conference which I attended in Bangkok last year.
(Funded by donations received from fellow concerned citizens who support the work I am doing as an ‘anti-corruption’ campaigner.)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
CORRUPTION REALITY CHECKLIST – NEW ZEALAND
1. Has NZ ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption? ……… NO
2. Does NZ have an independent anti-corruption body tasked with educating the public and PREVENTING corruption? ……. NO
3. Do NZ’s laws ensure transparency in the funding of candidates for elected public office and political parties at central government level? …………………. NO
4. Do NZ Members of Parliament have a ‘Code of Conduct’? NO
5. Do NZ Local Govt elected reps have a ‘Code of Conduct’? ……. YES
6. Is it an offence for NZ Local Govt elected reps to breach the ‘Code of Conduct’? NO
7. Is there a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Local Govt elected reps? …………………NO
8. Is there a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Central Govt staff responsible for procurement? ……………… NO
9. Is there a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Local Govt staff responsible for procurement? ………. NO
10. Is there a lawful requirement for details of ‘contracts issued’ – including the name of the contractor; scope, term and value of the contract to be published in NZ Central Govt Public Sector, and Local Govt (Council) Annual Reports so that they are available for public scrutiny?……. NO
11. Is it a lawful requirement that a ‘cost-benefit analysis’ of NZ Central Govt public finances be undertaken to substantiate that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in-house’ is cost-effective for the public majority? ………NO
12. Is it a lawful requirement that a ‘cost-benefit analysis’ of NZ Local Govt public finances be undertaken to substantiate that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in-house’ is cost-effective for the public majority? ………NO
13. Does NZ have a legally-enforcable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary? ……NO
14. Are all NZ Court proceedings recorded, and audio records made available to parties who request them?……………NO
15. Is there a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’? …. NO
16. Is there a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ ‘Register of Lobbyists’ at Central Govt Ministerial level? ………… NO
17. Is there a legal requirement at NZ Central and Local Govt level for a ‘post-separation employment quarantine ‘ period’ from the time officials leave the public service to take up a similar role in the private sector?………………NO
18. Is it a lawful requirement that it is only a binding vote of the public majority that can determine whether public assets held at NZ Central Govt or Local Govt level are sold; or long-term leased via Public-Private –Partnerships? …………………. NO
19. Is it unlawful in NZ for politicians to knowingly misrepresent their policies prior to election at central or local government level? …………………………. NO
20. Do NZ laws promote and protect individuals, NGOs and community-based organisations who are ‘whistleblowing’ against ‘conflicts of interest’ and corrupt practices at central and local govt level and within the judiciary? ……………………………. NO
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1112/S00005/new-zealand-tops-latest-global-anti-corruption-index.htm
Transparency International is a global civil society coalition leading the fight against corruption. It compiles a number of measures of different aspects of corruption including the Corruption Perceptions Index, the Global Corruption Barometer, and the Bribe Payers Index. Information on Transparency International can be found at http://www.transparency.org and detailed information on the Corruption Perceptions Index can be found at http://www.transparency.org/cpi
Transparency International New Zealand is the local chapter of Transparency International and is an independent registered charity. Information on TI-NZ, including New Zealand’s performance in the Global Corruption Barometer and the As Good As We Are Perceived? report can be found at http://www.transparency.org.nz
The Office of the Auditor General’s report Cleanest public sector in the world: Keeping fraud at bay can be found at http://www.oag.govt.nz/2011/public-sector-fraud/docs/overview-report.pdf
Information on the UN Convention Against Corruption can be found at http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/
http://www.oag.govt.nz/whats-new/2011/corruption-perceptions-index-2011
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/
I-42146 United Nations Convention against C…
See Details 31/10/2003 14/12/2005 Open Multilateral
Signature/ratification status
The Convention entered into force on 14 December 2005, in accordance with its article 68 (1). For each new State or regional economic integration organization becoming a party to the Convention, the Convention enters into force on the thirtieth day after the date of deposit by such State or organization of the relevant instrument.
Status: Signatories: 140 ,Parties: 154.
Authoritative status information on treaties deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, including the United Nations Convention against Corruption, is available on the United Nations Treaty Collection.
[Link to Full Status Page]
http://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=UNTSONLINE&tabid=2&mtdsg_no=XVIII-14&chapter=18&lang=en#Participants
Country
Signature Ratification, Acceptance (A), Approval (AA), Accession (a), Succession (d)
New Zealand 10 Dec 2003
_______________________________________________________________________________
Penny Bright
[email deleted]
We don’t do too well on the ‘corruption reality’ check list do we ? Perhaps we are a banana republic after all?
Thanks for all your ‘watchdogging’ Penny. You are one brave,principled lady.
Young Natz are boring
Six young natz show just how brain dead boring they are in a video negatively endorsing Cunliffe. I transcribed it because the audio is shite!
Yep young Labour would be embarassed if they made something this bad. As an example of how it is really done there is an example here.
For a bit of contrast, here’s the Young Greens video to try to get young people to vote.
W
Well at least they are sticking to the approved script for forcing a meme.
“Dishonesty, disloyalty, and arrogance”.
John Armstrong offers his opinion on some policy changes Labour needs to put in place in order to be electable
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10770511
Rethink opposing asset sales and a Capital Gains Tax, welfare reform, National Standards.
Apparently, in Armstrongs world, voters don’t care about asset sales and parents like National Standards. Polls on the issues suggest otherwise.
A CGT isn’t necessary and looking at ways of alleviating poverty (anything other than make/compel people to be work ready in the absence of jobs) is unpopular.
Labour also has some ‘1/2 baked ideas’ amongst its policies.
I guess there is a difference between mimicing the ‘do nothing’ ‘grab bag’ of ideas run by the current Government, in order to be elected short term, and actually doing some hard thinking about the countries future needs.
What Armstrong hasn’t bothered to factor in are the economic, social and environmental turmoil we are going to experience in the next 10 years. Doing nothing may have been most popular this year but won’t do much to help NZ in 5 years time. If Armstrong thinks that things are going to quickly default to pre 2008 conditions and be benign enough for a do nothing neo-liberalism to remain popular, I suggest he is deluded.
Rather than lurch toward the brand of neo-liberal ‘grab bag’ politics, Labour needs to continue doing thinking about appropriate long term answers to the questions now being posed. The 2011 election manifesto was a good start.
Mister Armstrong can no doubt continue to be a cheer leader for brand ‘do nothing’.
Wonder what Centre-bet odds are for Armstrong getting recognition in the New Years Honours Lists? What the category might be …
Well, well, why so silent during the election campaign Brian Gaynor? What a disgrace!
How many would have voted for JokyHen if they had seen this sort of commentary?
“…Key and Finance Minister Bill English have a reputation for being prudent financial managers yet their three-year deficit of $35.5 billion
compares with a $35.6 billion surplus by the previous Labour Government
and a $5.7 billion surplus by the 1990 to 1999 National Government…”
“…But the best way to look at Government debt is as a percentage of GDP. The last two Labour Governments reduced Government debt as a percentage of GDP but only one of the three National Governments – the Bolger/Shipley Administration – has produced a similar result…”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10770465
I wonder if the wild west is spreading its stench of contagion……
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6081514/Shooting-outside-Tokoroa-police-station
In addition to various wild shootings in Wairoa amongst weekend activities, fires in the far north, asians being blown sky high in the Urerewas, …
There are without doubt incidents of rampant violence in the face of authority going on more and more. Has anybody else noticed this? And what does it mean? And should we all of us buy guns? Like the US government? Or even our government? Do we follow our leaders in declaring war? Or do we circle the wagons?
A bit of a wobble in Nelson guessing more than 4. Centred in Wellington I think – that place needs a shake-up. 5.7 40 km from Wellington towards Picton.
Significant earthquake top of the South 7:20pm 10seconds approx. Hope it is not a more serious one further away?
There it is:
Reference Number: 3620927
NZDT: Sat, Dec 3 2011 7:19 pm
Magnitude: 5.7
Depth: 60 km
Details: 30 km east of Picton
That must be close to Wellington????
Phewee, at least it’s deep. Bloody hell. Are there more quakes or are we just more aware of them? That is )one of( the question.
Here’s the answer: Earthquakes on the Increase.
Like domestic assaults I suppose. Depends on the reporting. And we are much more aware since Ch CH. In the past I might have just noticed tonight’s earthquake but now I worry that it is a signal in Marlborough that might be a flow on effect from a more serious quake elsewhere.
NZ plates are slipping under Oz’s aren’t they? Hope that it is a nice deep quiet settling but sounds like it’s deep enough for plates to be moving.
prism.
Generally true but a little more complicated than that. one section of NZ is overriding he Aussie palte.
http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://modernsurvivalblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/new-zealand-plate-tectonics.jpg&imgrefurl=http://modernsurvivalblog.com/earthquakes/another-quake-rocks-christchurch-new-zealand/&usg=__kFRUj5jt35StouBsg3MgCaCspzQ=&h=342&w=600&sz=84&hl=en&start=2&zoom=1&tbnid=zsLjwjSfLz03oM:&tbnh=77&tbnw=135&ei=_evZTsShDs_jmAWLw4DCCw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dnz%2Bplate%2Btectonics%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D800%26bih%3D346%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Dimvns&itbs=1
Bullshit reporting from TV One
On the TV One six O’clock news tonight, reporter Matt McLean informed us that the shellfish in Tauranga was safe to eat. However there’s still a Waikato District Health Board warning out for Tauranga and other areas saying the shellfish is toxic…
Is it just me, or is the New Zealand cricket team completely and utterly useless?
Yeah it is. They’re bloody average, but you’re the useless one.
They won’t even let you carry the drinks 🙂
This map shows very clearly where to live and where not to live with respect to active fault lines.
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/active-faults/1/1
Note that back in the mid-1800s NZers decided to move the capital to one of the worst possible places.
Christchurch looks pretty safe, eh?
felix.
Until you increase the magnification. And until you remember it was built on a swamp. And until you remember there was a volcano just over the hill.
So all those tiny fine grey lines…?