Mr Allen said his salary was set by the State Services Commission after a thorough performance review process.
“And I’ve never done a job for the money.”
Foreign Affairs:
“The increase took Mr Allen’s salary to between $620,000 and $630,000 a year.”
“”And I’ve never done a job for the money.”
“He did not think it was a bad look to take the increase, saying the changes at Mfat were necessary and beneficial for New Zealand.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/employment/news/article.cfm?c_id=11&objectid=10850797
Meridian Energy:
“Former Meridian Energy chief executive Tim Lusk was paid $1.37 million, including more than $800,000 in bonuses, during his last six months with the state-owned power company.
Mr Lusk’s pay during a period when Meridian’s profits fell sharply was disclosed in its annual report, which also revealed the company’s generous pay to other top executives.”
“Mighty River chief executive Doug Heffernan – already one of the highest-paid bosses on the Government’s payroll – is to receive a $500,000 bonus after steering the company through its partial privatisation next year.”
“Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said Dr Heffernan’s retention bonus was “incredible”.
“Who’s going to pay for it? Electricity consumers. It’s yet another cost to the Government’s privatisation programme.”
Dr Norman said the bonus came at a time when many New Zealanders were struggling.
“Dr Norman said the bonus came at a time when many New Zealanders were struggling.
“We’ve already got a problem with massive inequality, and part of that is because of the overpaying of top-end wages.” ”
In order to highlight these goings-on to the wider public the Greens should announce similar increases to the lowest paid. Announce that the minimum wage will rise by the same amount that the top paid people in NZ have received over the last ten years.
Just counting down the days myself, am leaving New Zealand fairly soon; have the air tickets booked. If things are better after the 2014 election i.e. National is out, then I will likely return. I am going to stay with family, because there are no jobs or future for me here as a young person.
I wish i could afford to leave this country with it’s Mickey Mouse Political system, and the grasping greedies in power. And it’s not going to get any better, with the stutterer, and the Fat controller, in charge of the Labour Party. No i reckon we are going to be stuck with Key and co for at least another 3 years. And that will be a disaster.
Not out of touch, so much as so bent, there is no other possible outcomes
“And I’ve never done a job for the money.
Translation – I’m being dropped into the positions I have because in my past there are *things* being used agaisnt me, which is why I am sitting at the top of MfAT – My job is to make sure the changes are rammed through, my past ensures I will implement the instructions!
I have shown a few of these articles to my friends in the states, to them the level of corruption and waste is astounding; and they live in a country where there are big lobby groups.
“The secrecy surrounding the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) has been given a resounding thumbs down in a Consumerlink poll conducted in mid-November”, according to Professor Jane Kelsey, a critic of the TPPA who commissioned the poll.
Almost two out of three New Zealanders think the contents of the latest and biggest free trade agreement should be made public before the negotiations are completed and any deal is signed.
The simplistic, to the point of being spin, analysis by the MSM of the recent polls continues.
They started trumpeting that Labour + Greens would beat National 48% to 44%, but there is no second thought given to NZ First, who slipped to just 4% in the polls. That’s sufficient for their vote to be entirely written off when considering seats, but is a rather unlikely electoral result, especially given their recent polling in Roy Morgan.
If you put NZFirst in at 5% and allocate them seats, the entire situation shifts dramatically. But nary a mention of that by the MSM. I guess they figure the public has such short attention spans that they couldn’t understand a hypothetical outcome (and yet other times they happily provide them – go figure).
I have to say it’s pretty unfair to criticise the media for reporting on the polls as they actually exist, rather than adjusting for what they might think ought to have happened instead.
Take a poll, report on the results of the poll.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if NZF has dropped below 5, and won’t be surprised if they stay there either.
Yes weka. Instead, nary anything was said about NZFirst. Nor the potential for the 4% threshold change to allow them back in.
My other point is that they just take a poll and then act like if an election was held, that’s what the results would be. They don’t look at past polls except the most recent and compare to that one. They (TV1/TV3) don’t look at other polls published by other media outfits and comment on whether they agree or not. At the end they state the margin of error, but it’s pretty clear that even the senior political editors don’t *truly* understand what it means (read Nate Silver to get an idea).
You’re kind of ignoring the constraints they are operating under. You’ve got a few minutes to report on a poll that you and a polling outfit have conducted. You ahve to pitch it at people who don’t understand stats, and get their news from 6 o’clock bulletins.
“Nate Silver” isn’t a magic spell. There is a reason he did what he did in a specialist blog (not even the print edition) on the NYT website.
The only substantive thing in that about NZ First is quotes from Key.
2. Not really sure what you mean by “Nate Silver” not being a magic spell. I simply meant that as an illustration for why I don’t believe the senior political editors truly understand what the “margin of error” is, and yet they dutifully report it at the end of every story about polls. This is evidenced by the fact that if they get a poll that shows a big shift compared to the previous poll (as has happened a couple of times this year already), they don’t try and do any analysis on it or temper with it by references to the poll’s margin of error or about the method used to generate the poll as anyone who was interested in honestly reporting on the polls would (as Nate Silver does), instead they try and justify the move with sound-bite and vapid analysis of ‘recent political events’ even if there really isn’t much of interest that had happened.
The Greens have given Labour/Shearer plenty of time and opportunity to distance themselves from Jones’ attacks. Nothing happened, so now they’re fully entitled to hit back.
Shearer (or his puppeteers) seem to think they can go through two more years just treating Green votes as a free ticket to the Treasury benches. They’d better wake up.
I’d prefer Labour to have the lions share of the left vote with the Greens making up the numbers.
The less chance of the Greens moon bat economic policies seen the light of day, the better it is for NZ.
Facts are, the Greens are considered extremist nut bars by a good proportion of the voting public, in my view it doesn’t help Labour if they’re seen as being too cosy with the Greens.
Having Jones lob a few shells into the Greens camp helps to alleviate those concerns
Problem is that Russel Norman will make such Green policy demands of Labour that cannot be acceptable to them.
Without acceeding to these demands Labour will not be able to govern.
Not as pretty picture.
It’s National and Act that are the true nutjobs. Their economics are truly delusional and require that the country impoverish itself to allow a few people to have more money in the bank. Labour aren’t much better although they, at least, seem to finally be waking up to what the scientists are saying as far as the environment goes.
Most of the Greens economic ideas seem to be geared up around the peak oil.
One thing I have learnt is that nothing is set in stone, to bet everything on some future event is foolish in the extreme.
A future event that happened 5 or 6 years ago. And, yes, I’m quite aware of fracking and unconventional oil. Suffice to say, I don’t think they’ll get the type of return that the pro-oilers expect and they will, of course, trash the environment even more. 4 degrees is catastrophe, 6 degrees is Hell. We’re on track for the former and the unconventional oils will put us on track for the latter.
Again, you show just how disconnected from reality you are.
Not the actual peak oil event , the after effects of peak oil.
Having some guy running for parliament who is so certain that the world economy is going to collapse in the near future and believes that the best way forward for NZ is detaching us from the global economy and in the process destroying the NZ economy is criminal.
If Norman takes us down that path there will be hell to pay.
Um, why would broadening the NZ economy, making it independent of oil supplies and protecting the environment (the part that the economy can’t do without) destroy the economy?
No we won’t, our dollar will be worth dirt, the only one doing well will be wheelbarrow manufacturers, every one else will be fucked.
And thus push us to develop technologies and other stuff that develops society here rather than importing. We won’t be fucked but be in a new boom times according to standard economic theory. Of course, standard economic theory is BS anyway and is just a justification for capitalism and the undermining of society.
“I’d prefer Labour to have the lions share of the left vote with the Greens making up the numbers.”
BM, I addressed this already. You’re a right winger. Of course you want the more-right-wing party to have more say than the less-right-wing party.
This site, on the other hand, is run for the benefit of the (small “l”) labour movement. It’s for people who want to promote left-wing ideas. It’s for people who’s interests are the opposite of your interests.
I’m starting to like the look of Shearer,the way he eviscerated Cunliffe was indeed pleasing, once he brings back Tamahere and shit cans all the liberals, I may be tempted to vote Labour.
I’m starting to like the look of National. I like the way Key dealt with that fucking grasshopper.
As soon as he gets rid of all the right-wingers, corporate crooks, dirty fed farmers, authoritarians, populist lightweights, neoliberals, neocons, religious extremists, homophobes, racists, misogynists and enablers, I’ll totes think about giving them a tick.
I never thought I would see the day arrive so soon when I would be in broad agreement with Russel Norman’s comments.
He has indeed been gracious in giving the Shearer-Robertson leadership time to respond. There should have been more than enough hours, days and weeks for them to receive internal polling and focus groups from left, right & centre.
“Deafening silence” is generous and charitable. Comatose or persistent vegetative state would be more apt.
What say thee Shane Jones? Or are your clear conflicts and compromised positions too great for someone like you to overcome? Perhaps Labour needs a bigger man instead of wee man Jones.
The mistreatment of crews working on foreign chartered vessels has been well documented; they are essentially slave labour. The National Government has taken far too long to start to address this and Mr Jones played a part in allowing this disgrace to happen in the first place.
The Greens Strike Back
Now, we need all the parties on the left to say what they’re going to do about this slavery.
Pollies and technocrats whinge about ‘boohoo not enough time to do the things that really need to be done’ and all I hear is ‘whah whah no one agrees with me that these things actually do need to be done, and I can’t be arsed convincing them, or my convincing attempts have all failed’
Pollies in NZ have a very easy time of it. No executive veto, no second house, a court system that is respectful of parliamentary sovereignty.
The only thing holding them back from doing things is the threat of not being re-elected, the arg’s for a 4 year term mostly revolve around diluting that.
Yep p’s b and that equates to accreting more power to their offices. Such a move is in the completely wrong direction. The power needs to be heading back to the people, not away from the people. As such, I advocate for 2 year terms.
You might want to read up on the US congress and how the 2 year terms pretty much deadlock their system and prevent any real work from being done, since they’re effectively permanently campaigning and fundraising.
That’s not the electoral system’s fault. If it was, it would have always been thus.
Senators have a six year term, and lo and behold, they have become more and more obstructive and partisan over the last couple of decades. Perhaps we should give them a ten year term?
“Senators have a six year term, and lo and behold, they have become more and more obstructive and partisan over the last couple of decades. Perhaps we should give them a ten year term?”
Or perhaps, 6 years is too long, 2 years is too short, and they should split the difference and make it 4? Much like the presidency already is?
I suspect the problem in the US is that the congress has largely given up its role as being a check on the presidency; the system has become parliamentary in reality with the President’s party doing what it can to support the Presidency, and the other party opposing.
The constitution is basically 100 years or so out of date. If you look back, for most of its history the US parties have not been ideological, you had conservatives and reformers in both parties. Getting things done meant forming cross-party coalitions, rather then getting party based majorities.
Starting in the late sixties, and accelerating after Reagan, the parties have become more homogenised and internally coherent, and thus, partisan in their dealings with the presidency.
There is very little of their supposed “real work” that I rate.
Alternatively, longer terms on the sole proviso that referendums are held and followed on all main planks of change.
The power must be driven back to the people, not towards the politicians and their paymasters. Why on earth would anyone want to give the politicians more power?
I would easily and willingly agree to a 4 year term if there were improved provisions for binding referenda.
Failing that, 3 years vs 4 years term, I’m mostly undecided although slightly leaning toward 4 years. One big difference between us and the rest of the world (which largely has longer terms) is our unicameral system, so there’s that.
So TVNZ screened the documentary about a *concerned jurer* from the Bain trial, and raised *questions* around the topic of compenation about 8/9 days ago, now we see This from Stuff
HERE is some angles about the TVNZ *documentary* from LF.
Moral of the Hobbit fiasco. When the high dollar, and Movie company financial troubles set to destroy your movie, and you go to the tax payer to bail youself out, remember that your brand, in a time of global depression could be hurt by the anti-union-low-wages attack of the government of the day.
Unless of course, here’s the moral, you lead characters have big hairy feet and pointed ears.
Without further ado, here are this years Tumeke NZ Blogger Alignment Awards 2012, with much referencing to Wiki for the Dungeons & Dragons alignment descriptions.
As Gareth Morgan and Susan Guthrie the other day pointed out in another outstanding missive, farmers who rely on irrigation to support stock, who grow crops or vegetables, or practice dairy farming with industrial intensity… “reap private benefit from their activity but pay very little to cover the environmental damage they cause, some of it irreversible, the rest requiring clean-up which the general public has to pay for. The natural injustice in this is a no-brainer”.
There’s really not much to say about it – you really can’t pick and choose your facts.
Not only do WE have to pay to clean up the shit from their business…
WE also have to pay for them to create it in the first instance. For example, taxpayers are forking out $400million to help with irrigation projects. Another for example, Central Plains Water gets locans form old lady ratepayers in the Selwyn District to forward their private irrigation schemes.
It is simply disgusting.
How about some farmers out there step up and explain …………….
Who needs to bring Paul Henry back from across the ditch when Labour has opened its doors, taken in a talking disaster and given him party membership ?
John Key says the government will not rule out using legislation to overrule Commerce Commission recommendations for wholesale broadband pricing.
Yep, the government seems to be more concerned with a private companies profit than the best interests of the country.
And just think, if we hadn’t deregulated and sold off Telecom then we would a) be several billion dollars better off, b) have most of the country already on FttH c) not having these regulatory issues and d) not have a government more concerned with the interests of a private company over the interests of the country.
Dr Wright, a 52-year old Christchurch GP who has been working as locum GP in Rangiora, was sentenced to 150 hours of community work on October 25 for receiving $18,300 from ACC that he was not entitled to.
In the dual meaning of the initials G.C, this guy has the negative nicely covered off!
Read Colonial vipers item at 8 and lots of 1’s at 2.19 pm on the USA direction.
This reminded me of a future talker on 9toNoon this morning:
09:40 Trends shaping the future of the world economy and what this will mean for NZ
The executive editor of The Economist, Dr Daniel Franklin. He is in New Zealand as a guest of Massey University and is delivering the keynote address at the new New Zealand Forum, which will discuss New Zealand’s future. Daniel is also the editor of Megachange: The World in 2050, a book published this year about the mega-trends shaping the future of the globe.
Don’t know what I think about him – have to listen again.
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Dalmeet Singh ChawlaIn 2008, psychologists proposed that when humans are shown an unfamiliar face, they judge it on two main dimensions: trustworthiness and physical strength. These form the basis of first impressions, which may help people make important social decisions, from who to vote for to how long a ...
Claas Kirchhelle, University of Oxford; Adam Roberts, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and Andrew Singer, Centre for Ecology & HydrologyAntibiotics are among the most important medicines known to humankind, but we are running out of this crucial resource. Decisive action is needed if we are to retain access to ...
Things That Make You Go - Hmmmm: “All right. Let me come at this another way. I’m guessing that what you’ve got in that box contains names, dates, bank account numbers – all the details you need to put Winston Peters and Jacinda Ardern squarely in the cross-hairs. So, the first ...
Coasters Turn Out In Droves: It’s precisely the widening gulf between those with actual experience of things like guns, chainsaws and drilling machines, and those who regulate their use, that accounts for the angry crowd at Greymouth’s Messenger Park on Sunday, 17 November 2019. In the rarefied atmosphere where decisions ...
There are perennial arguments about the circumstances of the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, and in particular whether more than one shooter is required by the evidence (such as the Zapruder film). Those who know little about physics frequently claim that the sharp backwards motion of JFK’s head as ...
Apparently, some people enjoy washing their cars. Each to his or her own, I suppose. I mean, some people like duck shooting, some people follow Coronation Street, and some people’s idea of a good day out is to sit on a grass bank at Seddon Park and watch cricket all ...
Last week we learned that New Zealand First had apparently tried to enrich itself from public office, with a dodgy forestry company linked to a number of NZ First figures sticking its hand out repeatedly for government money. Today in Question Time Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had his ...
Finally, governments seem slowly to be beginning to act on climate change. But its not enough. While they're publicly signing up to targets, they're planning to destroy the world by continuing fossil fuel extraction:The world’s nations are on track to produce more than twice as much coal, oil and gas ...
Stuff has begun interviewing NZ First's secret donors, and it turns out that its as bad as we expected. They start with racing industry figure Garry Chittick, who is predictably grumpy about NZ First's coalition choices. Meanwhile, I'm looking at the list of pork NZ First has effectively given its ...
Stag At Bay: Twelve years ago, Winston Peters was still robust enough to come back from the political crucifixion which his political and media enemies had prepared for him. In his seventies now, the chances of a second resurrection are slim. We should, therefore, prepare for the last gasp of ...
Satellites pass over NZ all the time (literally). Here I focus on the 187 Planet Labs ‘Dove’ Earth-imaging satellites, and I show that one can determine in advance where they will be, enabling scientists on the ground to correlate their environmental and other data collection with opportunities to get imaging ...
The Council of Disobedient Women has learned that the Prefect of Aro Valley has been promoted to a new role with the blessing of the Pope of Wellington. Softy Jejune Parson has been appointed Mother Superior of Woke Wellington for the work she has been doing calling out heretics, ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, has called for awareness to be raised and more stringent biosecurity checks to be put in place for African Swine Fever (ASF), a widespread virus that is uncontrolled in most of Asia and a serious ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Human Rights A critical step has been taken to end gender based violence against women and girls in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Human Rights Jenny Marcroft MP has welcomed the passing of the first reading of the Crimes (Definition of Female ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says it's time to recognise market forces haven't led to the expected reduction in Māori smoking rates and try a new approach. The Party had recently invoked the agree to disagree clause in their Coalition Agreement with the Labour Party, and will not support ...
Live from the Whanganui Opera House, on the final day of the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Jacinda Ardern announced the largest investment in school property in 25 years. ...
The Coalition Government will be banning foreign donations to political parties and candidates, ahead of next year’s general elections. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament and passed under urgency – emphasising the need for such restrictions to safeguard our democracy. The bill introduces a new requirement that party secretaries and ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones opened Taipā's $19 million bridge recently, improving transport infrastructure in the Northland region. The two-lane bridge is 107m long with a 2.5m-wide shared walking and cycling path, and will reduce the congestion that the old one-lane bridge was notorious for. The project had also included ...
The Overseas Investment Office have rejected the application of Mercury Agriculture LP, which is 92 per cent controlled by Canadian interests, to purchase more than 2000 hectares of South Canterbury and Otago land. Mercury wanted to buy 2000ha at Rangitata, 1494ha near Ashburton, 816ha near Cromwell and 212ha near Temuka. ...
This weekend was Labour's 103rd Party Conference! We welcomed over 500 of our Labour whānau in red to Whanganui, where we reflected on the last two years in Government, and looked ahead to 2020 and beyond. We know the long-term challenges facing New Zealand won't be tackled overnight, but we're making ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced that the Provincial Growth Fund will invest $9.6 million to seal the final unsealed section of State Highway 43 from Stratford to Taumarunui. The Minister said sealing the 12-kilometre gravel section of the highway – also called the “Forgotten World Highway” - through ...
Former Finance Minister and former chair of the Tax Working Group, Sir Michael Cullen, has voiced his support for New Zealand First’s decision to oppose the planned increase in tobacco excise tax. In an interview with The Weekend Collective, he said that increasing the price was no longer effective in ...
Māori are natural storytellers. On the marae we use stories to tell our history, to teach the next generation life lessons and to let people know, in our most creative of ways, who we are and where we have come from. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First has invoked the ‘Agree to Disagree’ provisions of the Coalition Agreement because it cannot support the announced 11.46 percent increase in the tobacco excise from 1 January 2020. “Studies show that the automatic tobacco excise increases are having less effect ...
Taupō-based company Geo40 has made a breakthrough in extracting near battery-grade lithium from geothermal fluid which its says could be a gamechanger. Its chief executive John Worth said the earth mineral was highly prized, with battery-grade lithium selling for US$10,000 (NZ$15,600) a tonne. Geo40 was founded in 2010 to find ...
Crown research institute AgResearch Ltd, as part of its Future Footprint plan, had intended to relocate top scientists and support staff — particularly those focused on sheep genetics and genomics — from Invermay to Lincoln. However, those plans seem to have been shelved at the request of the Coalition Government. ...
Ten engineering firms in Southland are receiving a total of $2.13 million in Provincial Growth Fund funding to lift productivity and create new jobs. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced in Invercargill that the 10 engineering and manufacturing firms would receive funding to assist them with buying equipment that ...
The number of new residents to New Zealand is the lowest it has been in nearly two decades and it has earned the ire of the immigration industry. The industry alleges that 'Trump-style extreme vetting' is being put in place aimed at keeping a lid on immigration numbers. June Ranson, ...
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is one step closer to modernising its fleet after the United States State Department recently approved the sale of five new C-130J Hercules aircraft to New Zealand. Arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, in Fort Worth, Texas, will provide the aircraft, but as a "foreign military ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones wants to create a log barging facility at Hicks Bay and turn the area into a Special Economic Zone. The move would be part of protecting New Zealand's forests from being depleted by India and China, he said. It follows his announcement last week to strengthen ...
New Zealand First supports the changes recommended by the Winter Grazing Taskforce to improve animal welfare outcomes through the winter months, and the establishment of a pan-sector action group to implement them. New Zealand First Primary Industries Spokesperson Mark Patterson says the report highlights areas of concern about the animal ...
Former prime ministers Helen Clark and Sir John Key, formerly from the Labour and National parties respectively, have joined forces in support of New Zealand First’s plan to relocate Auckland's port to Whangārei. While Ms Clark and Sir John spent their political careers on opposite sides of the political divide, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is in Japan for the Foreign Ministers' meeting of the G20 grouping of countries as one of nine "invited" countries. He has used the opportunity to cast a spotlight on the plight of Pacific countries, calling out countries which still offered subsidies or Government assistance to ...
It's been a great week of progress: we've celebrated Children's Day, we've made communities safer with 1800 new police, and we've seen almost 90% of eligible schools take up Government funding to scrap school donations - taking pressure off the families of more than 416,000 students. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Forestry The Government will further strengthen New Zealand’s wood processing sector as part of our focus on ‘value over volume’ in our forestry industry, Forestry Minister Shane Jones says. Minister Jones will today meet with forestry representatives in Northland to signal new measures to help the ...
New Zealand First are celebrating the announcement of an investment of $3.5 million into five new trapping devices. These are a range of bait and trap devices, all designed to be left unattended for long periods of time. NZ First conservation spokesperson Jenny Marcroft says that this latest development will ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Conservation New Zealand First is proud to announce the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) has allocated $3.5 million to develop innovative predator control approaches which will reduce the need for repeated 1080 use. $19.5 million of PGF funding was announced for Predator Free 2050 Limited in February ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Police New Zealand First is proud to have delivered on a key Coalition Agreement commitment to adding 1800 new frontline police, with the graduation of Recruit Wing 332 in Porirua today. Law and Order Spokesperson Darroch Ball says increasing police numbers and boosting their resources was one ...
Clayton Mitchell, Spokesperson for Consumer Affairs The ‘wheel clamping’ Bill that will cap clamper fees to $100 passed its third readinginParliament today. New Zealand First welcomes The Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Bill to combat predatory wheel clamping behaviour in what is currently a largely unregulated business. Cowboy clampers are: gouging ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its first reading in Parliament. “Today’s progress takes serious action on the mental health and addiction crisis the country is facing,” says New Zealand First Health Spokesperson Jenny Marcroft. “The re-establishment ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries Today the Government announced the delivery of the promise to protect New Zealand interests by applying a new National Interest Test to the sales of our most sensitive and high risk assets to overseas buyers. This further strengthening of the Overseas Investment Act will ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced further support as the Government of Samoa responds to a serious measles outbreak. “New Zealand will deploy a further 18 vaccination nurses, bringing the total to 30 working in Samoa over the next ...
The Coalition Government is delivering on its promise to protect New Zealanders’ interests by applying a new national interest test to the sales of our most sensitive and high-risk assets to overseas buyers. Under current Overseas Investment Act (OIA) rules, assets such as ports and airports, telecommunications infrastructure, electricity and ...
Rt Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First Allegations raised this morning by Stuff Limited / Fairfax concern a party matter but I am confident that New Zealand First has operated within electoral laws, now and for the last 27 years. Declarable donations were declared to the Electoral Commission. Our ...
The chairman of the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISCS) working group, Wayne Brown, has hit back at critics of his group’s recommendations to relocate the Ports of Auckland cargo operations to Whangarei’s deepwater port of Northport. The working group's recommendation to close Auckland waterfront to all but cruise ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Fletcher Tabuteau, is travelling to Germany, Poland, Austria, and Spain next week to bolster New Zealand’s political and trade relationships in Europe. While in Spain, Mr Tabuteau will represent New Zealand at the 14th Asia-Europe (ASEM) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Madrid. “New Zealand strongly supports ...
“I’ve spoken to Minister Faafoi, who has apologised for his poor handling of this issue,” Jacinda Ardern said. “I have confidence in Kris as a hardworking and effective Minister, but this should have been dealt with in a much clearer manner, and I’ve made my views on that very clear ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters met with Tongan Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa in Wellington today. The pair signed a Statement of Partnership setting out joint priorities for cooperation out to 2023. “We welcomed Prime Minister Tu'i'onetoa on his first visit to New Zealand as Prime Minister. Tonga ...
The Minister of Police Stuart Nash says his sympathies are with the family of a man who died after being shot by Police in Kurow. “Initial reports are that Police were called by a family member to help the man who was threatening to harm himself,” Mr Nash says. “However ...
Healthier waterways, better productivity and farmer wellbeing are front and centre in a new project involving more than 1000 Southland farmers and growers. Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor today announced that the Thriving Southland Change and Innovation Project is the first region-wide extension programme supported by the $229 million Sustainable ...
Work to look after nature and restore freshwater quality in Te Hoiere/Pelorus River catchment is getting a significant boost, thanks to new Government funding support Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage announced in Canvastown today. “Every New Zealander should be able to swim in their local river without getting sick, and ...
Eight Queen’s Counsel have been appointed under a process that includes the new criterion of a commitment to improving access to justice, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. “The new criterion was included this year. It emphasises that excellence and leadership in the profession can be seen through a wider, community ...
Onslow College in Wellington will get 20 new classrooms for more than 400 students, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. The much-needed investment will relieve growth pressure the school has been experiencing for some time. Seven existing classrooms which have deteriorated over time will also be replaced, bringing the total ...
More than 250 young New Zealanders will add international experience to their education, thanks to the latest Prime Minister’s Scholarships for Asia (PMSA) and Latin America (PMSLA), Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. This round of scholarships supports 252 recent graduates or current students to undertake study, research or internships ...
Consumers will benefit from a more competitive, transparent retail fuel market as a result of changes the Government will be making in response to the findings of the Commerce Commission’s study of the fuel sector. “We accept the Commission’s findings and, as the Prime Minister has said, we’re ready to ...
Five new cancer medicines have now been funded this year, meaning thousands of people have more treatment options PHARMAC has today announced that it has approved two new medicines for funding – fulvestrant for breast cancer and olaparib for ovarian cancer. This follows earlier decisions on advanced lung cancer treatment alectinib, ...
The Minister of Local Government, Hon Nanaia Mahuta says the Government will consider making changes to local electoral legislation before the 2022 elections to fix the problems that have arisen where elections are settled by a coin toss. The Minister says the recount process in the Murupara- Galatea ward at ...
New Zealand will sign up to new international maritime regulations to reduce ship emissions and lift air quality around ports and harbours, Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter announced today. Subject to completion of the Parliamentary treaty examination process, New Zealand will sign up to Annex VI of MARPOL, an ...
New legislation to transform our urban areas and create sustainable, inclusive and thriving communities will tomorrow be introduced to Parliament, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford said. “The Urban Development Bill gives Kāinga Ora-Homes and Communities the tools it needs to partner with councils, communities, mana whenua and private developers to ...
Today’s launch of He taonga te Tamaiti: Every child a taonga: The Early Learning Action Plan 2019-2029 provides the foundation for long-lasting changes to early learning, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. “Early learning will be one of the Government’s top education priorities going into 2020,” Chris Hipkins said. ...
Major decisions made by the Government will now be considered under a climate change lens, Minister for Climate Change James Shaw announced today. “Cabinet routinely considers the effects of its decisions on human rights, the Treaty of Waitangi, rural communities, the disability community, and gender – now climate change will ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced the appointment of Māori education specialist Dr Wayne Ngata and Business NZ head Kirk Hope to the Board of the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC). Dr Alastair MacCormick has been reappointed for another term. “Wayne Ngata, Kirk Hope and Alastair MacCormick bring a great deal ...
The next phase of the Pike River Re-entry project is underway, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little says. “Fresh air will be pumped into the Pike River Mine drift this week, following acceptance of the plan for re-entry beyond the 170m barrier by New Zealand’s independent health and ...
New Zealand consumers will have greater certainty about their insurance cover when they need to make claims as a result of proposed government changes. “Insurance is vitally important in supporting consumers and businesses to be financially resilient when unexpected events happen,” Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Kris Faafoi said. ...
The Crown is providing an opportunity for the hapu of Ngāpuhi to rebuild its framework from the ground up for collective negotiations to deal with its historical Treaty claims, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little and Minister for Māori Development Nanaia Mahuta announced today. The Crown is also ...
A Bill enabling referendums to be held with the 2020 General Election has passed its third reading. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Act is important for upholding the integrity of New Zealand’s electoral process. “The Government has committed to holding a referendum on legalising recreational cannabis at the next ...
The first release of public information on the two referendums to be held at next year’s General Election was made today with an informative new Government website going live. Additionally, the draft Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill has been released, showing the strict controls on cannabis that will apply if ...
The Government is taking action to protect New Zealand from foreign interference in our elections by banning foreign donations to political parties and candidates, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament this afternoon and passed under urgency. “There’s no need for anyone other than New ...
Governments and tech companies are holding a two-day workshop, hosted by YouTube/Google in Wellington, to test the Christchurch Call Shared Crisis Response Protocol. The workshop aims to refine and strengthen the response in the event of a terrorist attack with online implications. Companies, governments, civil society experts and NGOs will ...
The new independent Cancer Control Agency has formally opened today, delivering on the Government’s plan to improve cancer care in New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Health David Clark marked the occasion by announcing the membership of the Advisory Council that will be supporting ...
Small businesses who deal with government departments are set to be paid faster and have improved cash flow as a result, under a new strategy released today. The Government is backing recommendations from the Small Business Council (SBC) and has agreed to implement three initiatives immediately to support business and ...
The Education and Training Bill 2019, introduced in Parliament today, proposes the biggest education changes in decades and is an important step towards improving success for all our learners, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. “The Bill’s rewrite of education legislation is long overdue. Indeed one Education Act, parts of which ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio will travel to Bali to represent New Zealand at the 12th Bali Democracy Forum that will be held on the 5-6 December. “The Forum is a valuable opportunity for Asia-Pacific countries to share experiences and best practice in building home-grown democracy and fostering ...
A package of new and expanded technology and other tools will encourage responsible camping and help communities and local councils better manage freedom camping this summer, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. “Our Government has been investing to improve the freedom camping experience for everyone because we want to support ...
The government is laying the groundwork to understanding our genes – work that can help us tackle some of our biggest health challenges, like heart disease and diabetes, says Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods. $4.7 million has been invested in the Genomics Aotearoa Rakeiora programme. The programme will ...
Nearly every state schools will receive a capital injection next year valued at $693 per student to bring forward urgent school property improvements, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. The one-off cash injection is the first project to be announced from the Government’s infrastructure package ...
The Government has decided to bring forward major investments in New Zealand’s infrastructure to future proof the economy. “Cabinet has agreed to a significant boost to infrastructure investment. I have directed the Treasury to help bring together a package of projects that can be brought into the Government’s short and ...
It is a great pleasure to be with you today in Whanganui. Like the Prime Minister I grew up with the TV clip of Selwyn Toogood booming “What do you say Whanganui, the money or the bag?” to an unsuspecting ‘It’s in the Bag’ audience. For those under the age ...
New Zealand’s newest Great Walk, the Paparoa Track, was officially opened in Blackball today by the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage alongside the family members of the Pike 29 and Ngāti Waewae. Local mayors and MP for the West Coast Hon Damien O’Connor were also in attendance. “Paparoa National Park ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark turned the first sod of earth on the infrastructure works for the new P-8A Poseidon fleet at RNZAF Base Ohakea today. “The Coalition Government’s investment in Ohakea will ensure the Royal New Zealand Air Force can manage, maintain and task the new fleet efficiently ahead ...
Civil Defence Minister Hon Peeni Henare today announced the establishment of the new National Emergency Management Agency from 1 December 2019. The National Emergency Management Agency will replace the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management. It will be an autonomous departmental agency, hosted by the Department of the Prime ...
New Zealand tertiary students with top grades and a passion for space will once again be offered the opportunity to work with the world’s best and brightest at NASA, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Recipients of the New Zealand Space Scholarship are nominated by the Ministry of Business, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further support to Samoa in the wake of an ongoing measles outbreak in the country. Additional medical supplies and personnel, including a third rotation of New Zealand’s emergency medical assistance team (NZMAT), further nurse vaccinators, intensive care (ICU) specialists and Samoan-speaking medical professionals, will ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says new data showing a sharp drop in the number of people who can’t afford to visit their GP is a sign of real progress. One year after the Government made it cheaper for about 600,000 Kiwis to visit their doctor, results of the New ...
The Trade for All Advisory Board has released its recommendations for making New Zealand’s trade policy deliver for all New Zealanders. The report was today welcomed by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. “Trade is crucial to this country’s economy and well-being, and the benefits need to flow to all ...
Analysis - The government's first crack at cannabis legislation runs into trouble, a foreign donations bill is rammed through Parliament and a select committee refuses to listen to former NZ First officeholders. ...
Dr Ben Jansen is Oceania's leading prescriber of cannabis medicines, and a co-founder of the Hemp Foundation.org.nz “I’d like to thank the Labour Party and Chris Woodney. Thanks to his policy remit at Labours national conference, and Labours full support, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Soong, Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education Practice, School of Education, University of South Australia Australian 15 year olds were around three and a half years behind their counterparts in China in maths, according to the OECD’s latest results for education systems ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dimitri Perrin, Senior Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology More than a year ago, the world was shocked by Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui’s attempt to use CRISPR technology to modify human embryos and make them resistant to HIV, which led to the birth ...
Cabinet minister Kris Faafoi has apologised to the Prime Minister for his messages to Jason Kerrison regarding an immigration case, but will not lose his job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Meyrick, Professor of Creative Arts, Flinders University The decision to merge the Department of Communications and the Arts with Transport, Infrastructure and Regional development (dropping the “Arts” entirely) ends a year in which Australian politics has been deeply confused over its ...
A historic referendum on independence has been completed in Bougainville. Johnny Blades of RNZ was there. People in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville have voted in an historic independence referendum. The long-anticipated referendum is the ultimate provision of 2001’s Bougainville Peace Agreement, which followed a brutal, protracted ...
Dairy farmers had some Xmas cheer this week, as dairy giant Fonterra told them the forecast payout would be the fourth-highest-ever, at the mid-point of its farmgate milk price range. The $7.30kg/ms means the cash payout for the season will reach $11.2bn, a rise of about $400m from the earlier forecast. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland When you find dinosaur skeletons, how can you tell how old the dinosaur was? Like, if the skeleton is from a child dinosaur or an adult dinosaur? – Henry, aged 8. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) has had to clarify the law with Police and receive their reassurance that while the amnesty for ammunition was not extended to 20 December, Police will act as if it has been. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa by Chris McDowall & Tim Denee (Massey University Press, $70)Superlative ...
This week a petition with more than 15,000 signatures was presented at parliament to Nicola Willis, MP and opposition spokesperson for Early Childhood Education. Also attending were Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick and Hon Nikki Kaye. ...
It’s that time of year again when, for the third year running, a new A Christmas Prince movie is released. Sam Brooks was in front of a TV screen for the latest instalment’s debut on Netflix last night, and here catalogues the many stupid, wild, and wildly stupid things he ...
One of the most highly rated members of Jacinda Ardern’s Cabinet is under pressure over assurances given in relation to an immigration case. How bad could it get, asks Toby Manhire.There has never been a New Zealand prime minister more engaged with contemporary homegrown music than Jacinda Ardern. She’s forever ...
Kris Faafoi, Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media; Minister ofCommerce and Consumer Affairs;Minister of Government Digital Services; Associate Minister forHousing; MP for Mana.The latest allegations of a corruption scandal involving a Cabinet minister suggests this government is far too loose when it comes to providing access to power ...
The National Party cannot credibly critique the Government’s hikes to fuel tax while it refuses to commit to reversing these hikes, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “Simon Bridges has lambasted ...
Newspaper staff were among those to express dismay and fury during the frenzy of denunciations that followed publication of an ill-considered cartoon about Samoa and the measles epidemic. The Spinoffrecorded their reactions under the heading ODT cartoonist infuriates his colleagues with Sāmoa measles epidemic ‘joke’. It also reproduced the ...
New Zealand Police Association condemns comments made by People Against Prisons Aotearoa following the fatal police shooting of an armed man who had made threats of suicide. ...
A new poem by Harry Ricketts. The Writing Life You want to write.You want to be published.You want to be read. You want to be a cult figure.You want to be reviewed.You want to write. You want to win prizes.You want to be anthologised.You want to be read. You want to be taught in schools ...
As Christmas is near, it’s time to set the record straight on some of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of employment law that apply to the festive season. ...
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.Kris Faafoi immigration case Fiona Connor and Tova O’Brien (Newshub): ‘I’m on it bro’: Messages show Kris Faafoi offering help to ...
The Minister of Local Government Nanaia Mahuta has announced changes to prevent Māori wards being voted down by referendums are off the table, saying she believes such a change is not possible within the coalition. ...
It’s officially the festive season, and what does that mean? An office Secret Santa with a budget of $20 and you’ve picked your boss. Instead of settling for a bottle of average wine and a ribbon, follow our essential guide on what to get those unique workmates.At last year’s Secret ...
The shooting of a suicidal man in Southland shows that police armament is dangerous, says criminal justice group People Against Prisons Aotearoa. The shooting comes just over a month into the controversial trial of heavily armed police teams in 3 regions ...
The Prime Minister should deal urgently with reports Cabinet Minister Kris Faafoi offered to help a friend over an immigration case, National Party leader Simon Bridges says. ...
The families of top former All Blacks are likely to donate their loved ones’ brains to research so the effect of head impacts in sport can be studied. ...
A woman who went on a Tinder date with the man who murdered Grace Millane tells her story, and issues a warning to other women to trust their instincts when something doesn’t feel right.First published on Newshub.co.nzI went on a date with Grace Millane’s killer while her body lay in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gottfried Lechner, Associate Professor and Director of the Institute for Telecommunications Research, University of South Australia, University of South Australia Satellites are becoming increasingly important in our lives, as they help us meet a demand for more data, exchanged at higher speeds. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Terry Goldsworthy, Associate Professor in Criminology, Bond University According to the latest figures, homicides in Australia are at historic lows and compare well against international trends. So what do the trends tell us and why is the homicide rate in Australia declining? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy O’Rourke, Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture, The University of Queensland Welcome to the next article in our Designing Hospitals series, where we explore how architecture and design shape our hospitals and medical centres. Today, we look at what Indigenous people tell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW The latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results are bad news for Australian students, parents, employers and policymakers. Pretty much everyone. Australian 15-year-olds are now below the OECD average in mathematics, and our results in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Clode, Senior Research Fellow in Creative Writing, Flinders University It is only mid-November but we have to walk early to avoid the heat. A northerly wind picks up clouds of dust and pollen, sending dirty billows across the paddocks. The long ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Changes coming to fuel market, anti-vaxxer arrested in Samoa, and banks told to hold more capital.New recommendations to increase competition in the fuel market have been made by the Commerce Commission, reports the NZ Herald. Their conclusion is that it isn’t competitive ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by ReadingRoom literary editor Steve Braunias. ...
An alliance of top researchers is trying to keep New Zealand ahead of complex health challenges from overuse of antibiotics, threats to freshwater quality and emerging infectious diseases. ...
The birthplace of the Labour Party is once again at the forefront of a new movement, this time harnessing the power of the collective to step away from coal towards a low carbon future.Blackball is a small place with a huge history. This week the town, 29 kilometres from Greymouth, ...
Life expectancy is increasing all the time, and now actuaries and retirement experts say young people need far more information on what they’ll need to do with their money if they live to 100. Don’t worry, we’re here to help. The message from the Retirement Income Interest Group of the New ...
German politician Joschka Fischer has had a remarkable career. From street violence and helping to set up the Green party, he matured into the foreign minister and vice-chancellor of a united Germany, serving until 2005. His understanding of power politics led him to support the use of force in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison said it with a straight face, and repetition for emphasis. “I’m very pleased, very pleased, with the performance of all of my ministers,” he declared on Thursday. This ringing if unconvincing universal endorsement ...
PARENTS AROUND THE WORLD PLEA FOR URGENT CLIMATE ACTION 222 parents groups from 27 countries have released a heartfelt joint plea calling on negotiators at this year’s UN climate summit – COP25 – in Madrid to push for ambitious and urgent ...
Government proposals to overhaul insurance contract laws should make the whole process of taking out insurance easier and simpler to understand for consumers, says Financial Advice New Zealand. ...
Despite New Zealand First lobbying hard at the Cabinet table, the Finance Minister says the case to move Auckland's port operations north has not yet been made. ...
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Open mike 03/12/2012 
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GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, VIETNAM!!! Hey, this is not a test! This is rock-‘n’-roll! Time to rock it from the Delta to the DMZ!
Out of touch political elite raise their own salaries, while forcing the rest of us to suffer austerity measures and job cuts: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/employment/news/article.cfm?c_id=11&objectid=10850797
Yeah, right.
Just putting together a few articles:
Foreign Affairs:
“The increase took Mr Allen’s salary to between $620,000 and $630,000 a year.”
“”And I’ve never done a job for the money.”
“He did not think it was a bad look to take the increase, saying the changes at Mfat were necessary and beneficial for New Zealand.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/employment/news/article.cfm?c_id=11&objectid=10850797
Meridian Energy:
“Former Meridian Energy chief executive Tim Lusk was paid $1.37 million, including more than $800,000 in bonuses, during his last six months with the state-owned power company.
Mr Lusk’s pay during a period when Meridian’s profits fell sharply was disclosed in its annual report, which also revealed the company’s generous pay to other top executives.”
“But the year to June was not a good one for Meridian, New Zealand’s largest power company. Its net profit fell from $303.1 million to $74.6 million.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wages-and-salaries/news/article.cfm?c_id=277&objectid=10844284
Mighty River Power:
“Mighty River chief executive Doug Heffernan – already one of the highest-paid bosses on the Government’s payroll – is to receive a $500,000 bonus after steering the company through its partial privatisation next year.”
“Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said Dr Heffernan’s retention bonus was “incredible”.
“Who’s going to pay for it? Electricity consumers. It’s yet another cost to the Government’s privatisation programme.”
Dr Norman said the bonus came at a time when many New Zealanders were struggling.
“We’ve already got a problem with massive inequality, and part of that is because of the overpaying of top-end wages.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wages-and-salaries/news/article.cfm?c_id=277&objectid=10841749
“Dr Norman said the bonus came at a time when many New Zealanders were struggling.
“We’ve already got a problem with massive inequality, and part of that is because of the overpaying of top-end wages.” ”
In order to highlight these goings-on to the wider public the Greens should announce similar increases to the lowest paid. Announce that the minimum wage will rise by the same amount that the top paid people in NZ have received over the last ten years.
These are the times we live in kiwicommie.
Just counting down the days myself, am leaving New Zealand fairly soon; have the air tickets booked. If things are better after the 2014 election i.e. National is out, then I will likely return. I am going to stay with family, because there are no jobs or future for me here as a young person.
I wish i could afford to leave this country with it’s Mickey Mouse Political system, and the grasping greedies in power. And it’s not going to get any better, with the stutterer, and the Fat controller, in charge of the Labour Party. No i reckon we are going to be stuck with Key and co for at least another 3 years. And that will be a disaster.
Its called hush money in old language.
Not out of touch, so much as so bent, there is no other possible outcomes
Translation – I’m being dropped into the positions I have because in my past there are *things* being used agaisnt me, which is why I am sitting at the top of MfAT – My job is to make sure the changes are rammed through, my past ensures I will implement the instructions!
I have shown a few of these articles to my friends in the states, to them the level of corruption and waste is astounding; and they live in a country where there are big lobby groups.
Yeah its reached staggeringly obvious, decades back.
NZ – *Perceived* least corrupt country/100% Pure, and so on!
Come join the revolution. Contributers required for free web-based paper on the Northshore.
http://northshorefreepress.wordpress.com/
Worth a read:
The simplistic, to the point of being spin, analysis by the MSM of the recent polls continues.
They started trumpeting that Labour + Greens would beat National 48% to 44%, but there is no second thought given to NZ First, who slipped to just 4% in the polls. That’s sufficient for their vote to be entirely written off when considering seats, but is a rather unlikely electoral result, especially given their recent polling in Roy Morgan.
If you put NZFirst in at 5% and allocate them seats, the entire situation shifts dramatically. But nary a mention of that by the MSM. I guess they figure the public has such short attention spans that they couldn’t understand a hypothetical outcome (and yet other times they happily provide them – go figure).
I have to say it’s pretty unfair to criticise the media for reporting on the polls as they actually exist, rather than adjusting for what they might think ought to have happened instead.
Take a poll, report on the results of the poll.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if NZF has dropped below 5, and won’t be surprised if they stay there either.
They could report on the NZF drop and what its implications are.
Yes weka. Instead, nary anything was said about NZFirst. Nor the potential for the 4% threshold change to allow them back in.
My other point is that they just take a poll and then act like if an election was held, that’s what the results would be. They don’t look at past polls except the most recent and compare to that one. They (TV1/TV3) don’t look at other polls published by other media outfits and comment on whether they agree or not. At the end they state the margin of error, but it’s pretty clear that even the senior political editors don’t *truly* understand what it means (read Nate Silver to get an idea).
Simplistic analysis that borders on spin.
You’re kind of ignoring the constraints they are operating under. You’ve got a few minutes to report on a poll that you and a polling outfit have conducted. You ahve to pitch it at people who don’t understand stats, and get their news from 6 o’clock bulletins.
“Nate Silver” isn’t a magic spell. There is a reason he did what he did in a specialist blog (not even the print edition) on the NYT website.
1. Fairfax has no such time constraints on their articles: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8025925/Polls-have-Labour-closing-in-on-Nats
The only substantive thing in that about NZ First is quotes from Key.
2. Not really sure what you mean by “Nate Silver” not being a magic spell. I simply meant that as an illustration for why I don’t believe the senior political editors truly understand what the “margin of error” is, and yet they dutifully report it at the end of every story about polls. This is evidenced by the fact that if they get a poll that shows a big shift compared to the previous poll (as has happened a couple of times this year already), they don’t try and do any analysis on it or temper with it by references to the poll’s margin of error or about the method used to generate the poll as anyone who was interested in honestly reporting on the polls would (as Nate Silver does), instead they try and justify the move with sound-bite and vapid analysis of ‘recent political events’ even if there really isn’t much of interest that had happened.
See this analysis, which is much more informative than anything I’ve seen offered by MSM so far: http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/left-and-right-neck-and-neck-in-poll-of-polls
Andrew Geddis nit-picks the 4% threshold prediction in the comments below and gets a sensible reply from the author.
Norman smack bang whallop:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10851514
Nice. 🙂
Good on Russel.
The Greens have given Labour/Shearer plenty of time and opportunity to distance themselves from Jones’ attacks. Nothing happened, so now they’re fully entitled to hit back.
Shearer (or his puppeteers) seem to think they can go through two more years just treating Green votes as a free ticket to the Treasury benches. They’d better wake up.
I don’t see an issue with Shane Jones having a go at the Greens.
Labour != Greens.
You may not but Labour should do. From what I’ve seen on here the Labour members certainly understand.
Who gives a fuck whether you see it, BM.
You don’t support Labour OR the Greens. You don’t want EITHER to succeed.
I’d prefer Labour to have the lions share of the left vote with the Greens making up the numbers.
The less chance of the Greens moon bat economic policies seen the light of day, the better it is for NZ.
Facts are, the Greens are considered extremist nut bars by a good proportion of the voting public, in my view it doesn’t help Labour if they’re seen as being too cosy with the Greens.
Having Jones lob a few shells into the Greens camp helps to alleviate those concerns
Funny, I always thought the “extremist” nutbars were the ones who think that infinite economic growth on a finite planet is the way to go.
And that letting the very wealthy hoard even more money and resources while others go without, is a good idea.
BM
Problem is that Russel Norman will make such Green policy demands of Labour that cannot be acceptable to them.
Without acceeding to these demands Labour will not be able to govern.
Not as pretty picture.
And what makes you think that Labour can govern with Shearer at any time??
I reckon Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd, could govern better than Shearer or Key.
It’s National and Act that are the true nutjobs. Their economics are truly delusional and require that the country impoverish itself to allow a few people to have more money in the bank. Labour aren’t much better although they, at least, seem to finally be waking up to what the scientists are saying as far as the environment goes.
The Greens are going to bet the house on peak oil, that’s the problem.
So, planning for the downturn in available fossil fuels is bad?
Yeah, I’d say that proves that you RWNJs are completely divorced from reality.
Most of the Greens economic ideas seem to be geared up around the peak oil.
One thing I have learnt is that nothing is set in stone, to bet everything on some future event is foolish in the extreme.
What, like returning to surplus by 2014-15?
A future event that happened 5 or 6 years ago. And, yes, I’m quite aware of fracking and unconventional oil. Suffice to say, I don’t think they’ll get the type of return that the pro-oilers expect and they will, of course, trash the environment even more. 4 degrees is catastrophe, 6 degrees is Hell. We’re on track for the former and the unconventional oils will put us on track for the latter.
Again, you show just how disconnected from reality you are.
Not the actual peak oil event , the after effects of peak oil.
Having some guy running for parliament who is so certain that the world economy is going to collapse in the near future and believes that the best way forward for NZ is detaching us from the global economy and in the process destroying the NZ economy is criminal.
If Norman takes us down that path there will be hell to pay.
Um, why would broadening the NZ economy, making it independent of oil supplies and protecting the environment (the part that the economy can’t do without) destroy the economy?
Most everything of ‘getting ready for the effects of peak oil’ is about using energy more efficiently.
If it never happens, you’re still better off.
No we won’t, our dollar will be worth dirt, the only one doing well will be wheelbarrow manufacturers, every one else will be fucked.
I guess Norman can always escape back to Oz if his theory turns out to be shit, tough luck for any one else.
You’re demented old chap. Have a lie down.
And thus push us to develop technologies and other stuff that develops society here rather than importing. We won’t be fucked but be in a new boom times according to standard economic theory. Of course, standard economic theory is BS anyway and is just a justification for capitalism and the undermining of society.
“I’d prefer Labour to have the lions share of the left vote with the Greens making up the numbers.”
BM, I addressed this already. You’re a right winger. Of course you want the more-right-wing party to have more say than the less-right-wing party.
This site, on the other hand, is run for the benefit of the (small “l”) labour movement. It’s for people who want to promote left-wing ideas. It’s for people who’s interests are the opposite of your interests.
So why should anyone here care what you think?
Is Labour not left wing?
🙄
Hey BM
If you want to reduce the say of the Greens in the Government after the next election party vote Labour.
I’m starting to like the look of Shearer,the way he eviscerated Cunliffe was indeed pleasing, once he brings back Tamahere and shit cans all the liberals, I may be tempted to vote Labour.
Once he does that, and it looks like he will, then the true name of Labour will be National.
I’m starting to like the look of National. I like the way Key dealt with that fucking grasshopper.
As soon as he gets rid of all the right-wingers, corporate crooks, dirty fed farmers, authoritarians, populist lightweights, neoliberals, neocons, religious extremists, homophobes, racists, misogynists and enablers, I’ll totes think about giving them a tick.
Aye especially if he commits to doing something about poverty and global warming.
Labour’s not National either, but Shane Jones might as well be.
+1. Indeed.
I never thought I would see the day arrive so soon when I would be in broad agreement with Russel Norman’s comments.
He has indeed been gracious in giving the Shearer-Robertson leadership time to respond. There should have been more than enough hours, days and weeks for them to receive internal polling and focus groups from left, right & centre.
“Deafening silence” is generous and charitable. Comatose or persistent vegetative state would be more apt.
+1
Good work Russel.
What say thee Shane Jones? Or are your clear conflicts and compromised positions too great for someone like you to overcome? Perhaps Labour needs a bigger man instead of wee man Jones.
+1 Gob. I find Norman unbearable but even I’m behind him on this.
Quoting article:
The Greens Strike Back
Now, we need all the parties on the left to say what they’re going to do about this slavery.
People who do not know history are destined to repeat it.
4 year term?
Discuss.
I’m unconvinced it’s necessary.
Pollies and technocrats whinge about ‘boohoo not enough time to do the things that really need to be done’ and all I hear is ‘whah whah no one agrees with me that these things actually do need to be done, and I can’t be arsed convincing them, or my convincing attempts have all failed’
Pollies in NZ have a very easy time of it. No executive veto, no second house, a court system that is respectful of parliamentary sovereignty.
The only thing holding them back from doing things is the threat of not being re-elected, the arg’s for a 4 year term mostly revolve around diluting that.
Yep p’s b and that equates to accreting more power to their offices. Such a move is in the completely wrong direction. The power needs to be heading back to the people, not away from the people. As such, I advocate for 2 year terms.
You might want to read up on the US congress and how the 2 year terms pretty much deadlock their system and prevent any real work from being done, since they’re effectively permanently campaigning and fundraising.
That’s not the electoral system’s fault. If it was, it would have always been thus.
Senators have a six year term, and lo and behold, they have become more and more obstructive and partisan over the last couple of decades. Perhaps we should give them a ten year term?
“Senators have a six year term, and lo and behold, they have become more and more obstructive and partisan over the last couple of decades. Perhaps we should give them a ten year term?”
Or perhaps, 6 years is too long, 2 years is too short, and they should split the difference and make it 4? Much like the presidency already is?
I suspect the problem in the US is that the congress has largely given up its role as being a check on the presidency; the system has become parliamentary in reality with the President’s party doing what it can to support the Presidency, and the other party opposing.
The constitution is basically 100 years or so out of date. If you look back, for most of its history the US parties have not been ideological, you had conservatives and reformers in both parties. Getting things done meant forming cross-party coalitions, rather then getting party based majorities.
Starting in the late sixties, and accelerating after Reagan, the parties have become more homogenised and internally coherent, and thus, partisan in their dealings with the presidency.
A scenario for the break up of the USA – John Michael Greer
These posts of his have been very instructive in this general area.
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/how-it-could-happen-part-one-hubris.html
There is very little of their supposed “real work” that I rate.
Alternatively, longer terms on the sole proviso that referendums are held and followed on all main planks of change.
The power must be driven back to the people, not towards the politicians and their paymasters. Why on earth would anyone want to give the politicians more power?
Concentrated power leads directly to this, amongst much more…… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyUagbsg-HI …. lest we forget
I would easily and willingly agree to a 4 year term if there were improved provisions for binding referenda.
Failing that, 3 years vs 4 years term, I’m mostly undecided although slightly leaning toward 4 years. One big difference between us and the rest of the world (which largely has longer terms) is our unicameral system, so there’s that.
50 000 people can trigger a binding referendum in Switzerland.
Despite twice our population.
Time we had democracy also.
So TVNZ screened the documentary about a *concerned jurer* from the Bain trial, and raised *questions* around the topic of compenation about 8/9 days ago, now we see This from Stuff
HERE is some angles about the TVNZ *documentary* from LF.
We need to work out robust ways of working together and managing a future coalition, and not giving free rein to bullying mavericks. http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/greens-want-more-disciplined-labour.html
Moral of the Hobbit fiasco. When the high dollar, and Movie company financial troubles set to destroy your movie, and you go to the tax payer to bail youself out, remember that your brand, in a time of global depression could be hurt by the anti-union-low-wages attack of the government of the day.
Unless of course, here’s the moral, you lead characters have big hairy feet and pointed ears.
The Tumeke NZ Blogger Alignment Awards 2012
Opinion divided on ‘100% Pure’
There’s really not much to say about it – you really can’t pick and choose your facts.
It is in fact worse than that Draco…
Not only do WE have to pay to clean up the shit from their business…
WE also have to pay for them to create it in the first instance. For example, taxpayers are forking out $400million to help with irrigation projects. Another for example, Central Plains Water gets locans form old lady ratepayers in the Selwyn District to forward their private irrigation schemes.
It is simply disgusting.
How about some farmers out there step up and explain …………….
And Tamihere proves that a leopard can’t change its spots.
Yep, just the same old bigoted git – and now a member of Labour and likely to become a candidate.
Don’t you especially love how he waited till she was gone and he was safely ensconced behind his microphone to insult her? That’s very brave.
Who needs to bring Paul Henry back from across the ditch when Labour has opened its doors, taken in a talking disaster and given him party membership ?
John Tamihere = Labour’s in-house Paul Henry.
John Key and Natz are lovin’ it.
Not if Nanaia has her way!
Govt might overrule broadband pricing advice:
Yep, the government seems to be more concerned with a private companies profit than the best interests of the country.
And just think, if we hadn’t deregulated and sold off Telecom then we would a) be several billion dollars better off, b) have most of the country already on FttH c) not having these regulatory issues and d) not have a government more concerned with the interests of a private company over the interests of the country.
Just shows who Key is really working for…
Christchurch GP earned $750,00 for compo assessment work but falsely claimed further $18,300 for expenses.
In the dual meaning of the initials G.C, this guy has the negative nicely covered off!
Read Colonial vipers item at 8 and lots of 1’s at 2.19 pm on the USA direction.
This reminded me of a future talker on 9toNoon this morning:
09:40 Trends shaping the future of the world economy and what this will mean for NZ
The executive editor of The Economist, Dr Daniel Franklin. He is in New Zealand as a guest of Massey University and is delivering the keynote address at the new New Zealand Forum, which will discuss New Zealand’s future. Daniel is also the editor of Megachange: The World in 2050, a book published this year about the mega-trends shaping the future of the globe.
Don’t know what I think about him – have to listen again.
David Cunliffe is attending. Hopefully he will tell us more about it on his facebook site