A must read – Andrew Gunn’s brilliant satire on Mike Hosking in the Dominion Post. It’s worth reading over and over and over again. Andrew Gunn will not be on Hosking’s invitation to a barbecue at his mansion any time soon.
It's probably a good thing that Nostradumbass can't see far enough to realise he needs to not piss off the military. Especially if he's got any ideas of staying on after the voters reject him or he reaches the end of the time allowed by the constitution.
I would like to know who he did cc to on his email. Apparently it was a lot (over 10) he would have known his job was on the line and some people would not of wanted to make the hard call like he did.
Not sure if Trump will want him charged with something. Hope that Captain Crozier does not lose his military severance.
Everyone wants a hero in a time of crisis. But while Cuomo has certainly been willing to play the part (convincingly enough that a few folks even want him to run for president), what he’s done away from the cameras is telling: using $2/hour prison labor to rebottle hand sanitizer, refusing to release elderly and sick incarcerated persons from Riker’s Island, and slashing Medicaid rather than raising taxes on the 0.01 wealthiest New Yorkers. These aren’t the sorts of measures that would save lives in this crucial moment, and they certainly won’t prevent future crises from happening.
Hmmm, you have been commenting here for over 3 years.
When you viewing the content that you’re citing/quoting, go to the address bar at the top and highlight the address (AKA URL, it usually starts with “https://***** “), copy it, and paste it into your comment.
A question: for a while there was talk of a UBI being introduced – even temporarily – to ease people through this crisis. That talk seems to have subsided.
Setting aside whether people think it's a good or a bad idea, has anyone heard anything more on this? Or was it more of a twiteratti idea, floated by some and quickly lost sight of?
Nothing that I have seen. But I’d also say that there really isn’t and hasn’t been enough time to plan it even if it was on the table. To implement it would months if not years just in the software alone.
For what it happening now, you’re limited to existing channels.
Working for families is specific to a group. It has rules and a database attached to implement it.
What is the system for people who are not in working for families? Because WFF is a specific kind of tax code with a system and data store created specifically for the set of rules for that.
Remember that working for families took more than a year to implement on the old computer, and anecdotally almost as long on the new system.
They probably won’t have as much internal programming wiring to do. But they still have to get all of the other supporting systems in place. Then they have to load millions of data points into the system.
Basically plan on it taking at least a year once the policy is laid down. To do anything less is essentially guaranteed to make it fail.
Not to mention that there would have to be a pretty strong political debate. Personally I remain quite unconvinced that a UBI is a particularly good system for delivering any kind of useful outcome, and I have been reading about mutually contradictory versions here for a decade.
Sounds more like a religious slogan than something that is implementable into something useful for the whole of our society.
I’m also picking that the announcement of any specific UBI proposal will immediately trigger a war between the supporters of it because no proposal is going to satisfy any of its supporters. And that is before the skeptics get to look at it.
Supposedly START is faster to update than FIRST was, but a key difference here would be that the database is everyone or all natural persons, not an application process for a subset with specific criteria.
Agree that long term UBI needs a different debate to a short term grant. Perhaps a simpler option then is to increase benefits and other support so unemployment doesn't hurt so much.
Another option would be to hand out some one-off grants. That could be managed through income tax refunds – just make the minimum refund $1000, or $1000 for income < a figure TBD.
Agree that long term UBI needs a different debate to a short term grant. Perhaps a simpler option then is to increase benefits and other support so unemployment doesn't hurt so much.
That would be my pick – an existing channel.
That could be managed through income tax refunds..
That really isn't an existing channel.
I haven't filed a income tax statement in more than two decades. I haven't needed to. PAYE, witholding taxes, and these days even the close balance between costs and revenue on my rented out apartment haven't required me to.
Every 2-3 years I rough cut my possible tax return as an exercise and it winds up with trivial amounts that the government would have to return to me. I write it off as just another donation like – well – my taxes.
It simply isn't even worth my time to calculate or dispute or even to try to figure out how to avoid with all of the aggravating fiddling. If I want to change tax systems, I'll usually just advocate for it rather than waste the tax departments time.
While I'm sure that the IRD is aware of a few of my bank accounts, they have no idea of where to place refunds. They certainly don't have a tax refund process for a whole swath of people like me who are usually reasonably well paid, don't have significiant periods of unemployment, and who haven't felt that it is worth their time wrangling fewer taxes through refunds.
There will also be a whole range of people who don’t file returns because their income is too low to make it worthwhile.
Imagine having to try to build a refund system for what will be (conservatively) half of the working population who never file returns nor receive refunds.
Kiwisaver would probably be a wider spread – but what good does sticking refunds in there do for the day-to-day.
As of last year, all taxpayers receive a personal tax summary (income statement is the legal term) if they are not IR3 filers, so the mechanism is there now to do that if government really wants to. If you didn't get a refund or a bill, either IRD don't have a current bank a/c (but Kiwisaver transfers from providers to IRD normally include a standard bank a/c number, so they might have that) or you owed them <$20 so it was written off automatically.
Couple that with an advertising campaign, and it might work. Probably the easiest method would be to increase the Independent Earner Tax Credit since that already exists, so income parameters can be adjusted, rather than having to add something new to the system.
Probably easier to just pay higher benefits/TAS though.
Considering what I view as pointed minority faux outrage over example setting, bike rides, bubble bursting and not following advice, and noting the increase of insulting bad language being used here over the past week, like calling others wankers, twats and cunts, maybe a stronger adherence to the edict of be kinder to each other may be in order.
It appears the tests have a problem with producing a lot of false negatives. Possibly especially among the asymptomatic. So while they are still resource constrained and not yet even testing all those presenting with symptoms, it's easy to see how it's not considered worthwhile testing those without symptoms.
Conventional diagnostic tests for the novel coronavirus may give false-negative results about 30% of the time, meaning people with an active COVID-19 infection still test negative for the disease, according to news reports.
…
In one scenario, the initial swab sample may not always collect enough genetic material to provide an accurate test. This problem may arise more often in patients who do not show many symptoms at the time of their test, the Globe reported. In addition, the standard nasopharyngeal swab, wherein a long instrument is wriggled and rotated to the very back of the nasal cavity, can be both difficult for clinicians to perform and uncomfortable for patients to endure, Krumholz wrote.
Yup. The tests developed in Germany ain't flash on the false negative front. But they're 100% accurate on the positive result side.
By the reasoning you present, then trace, track and test ain't gonna happen, and if there's no testing, then Shelter in Place ain't going to have the desired outcome and we'll wind up in the same place as we would have with a Social Distancing strategy. (ie – ~ 70% infection rate)
So the question comes down to whether people who are asymptomatic but worried are more likely to adequately self isolate than 30% who are asymptomatic but infected and received an all-clear.
I believe the result of a negative is relayed as "not found" (some such wording at any rate) – this from a friend who was tested. So not an unequivocal "all clear".
False negatives are a problem for screening tests because people treat it like an all-clear. False positives are a problem for diagnostic tests because they result in unnecessary treatment.
Copy that. Your friend is typical of literally every person ever tested, therefore you must be correct. Yay.
And there are very few tests with zero false positives. I'm sure you checked out the ROC charts on the German test before making that claim, though, so yay for you again.
I couldn't say whether they are typical or atypical. I can only relay their reaction to being given a test result that was worded in such a way as to preserved a measure of uncertainty in their mind.
On the German test, I'm simply repeating what Michael Osterholm (infectious disease epidemiologist, regents professor, and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. ) has said regards its sensitivity – given his field of expertise I thought it reasonable enough to take him at his word, but hey…
As for your comment about the German test, what was the good professor's exact comment? ISTR Roche was touting 95% accuracy, not perfection. Or was Osterholm talking about some other German-developed testing protocol?
So the question comes down to whether people who are asymptomatic but worried are more likely to adequately self isolate than 30% who are asymptomatic but infected and received an all-clear.
The bit I think is lacking is that people living in the same house should be physically distancing within the household if one of them has tested positive. But I don't think that is what is happening? It's a problem if any of them are going out to work.
I think there are guides on physically distancing from flatmates etc, but yeah – if someone in your house is infected, probably don't go to work would be my thinking. No matter what you do, you could well end up infecting other essential workers.
I would like to be more optimistic but I cannot be at this stage. It is the pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic cases as well as the false negative cases and the people not properly isolating who have it that bothers me.
A depiction of a silly person showing their economic model doesn't work. It works how it's supposed to work, how the market has determined it works.
Somewhere down the line when she finds it's not working in the way she wants it to be working she's demanding it change to operate in a different way. Of course in the current awful situation no-one's going to tell her to get off the grass especially the guy she's interviewing. She doesn't get it and even if she were told she probably still wouldn't get it.
For his trouble of doing what life has taught him to do, make money, he's called a traitor. Apparently though patriotism is a big thing, the most important thing. How did that go for career civil servants in the impeachment thing when patriotism had them coming forward looking after their country? This silly woman was probably calling them traitors too.
They don't want globalisation, they want to be self-sufficient. They want American companies operating off-shore making millions through cheap labour and also want to export stuff to other countries. Why don't they put a wall around the whole place? That'll stop masks escaping.
Never been one for Bill Maher. But it has been interesting watching chat shows without the studio audience, and the subtle changes to delivery that entails. The Daily Show is doing some interesting stuff, and John Oliver is largely doing the usual lol.
Not sure what 'NZ widlife' could be road kill, except possibly kiwi in parts of Northland where the numbers have increased with effective predator control recently. The only roadkill on NZ roads are introduced mammals like possums, rabbits and hedgehogs. That means they are probably surviving more and with probably next to no predator control being done, could be an environmental disaster in the making. Noticed the seagulls were looking hungry up at Waitangi the last week with no tourists chucking them chips or sandwichs to eat. The one place that will definitely benefit by hugely reduced traffic will be in Oz where some roads are normally splattered by dead wombats, wallabies, echidnas etc.!
Yes,I did. It's somewhat of a hodgepodge of an article, but the general message is that nature is getting a bit of a reprieve in may places in varied ways, even the climate. NZ's a bit of a outlier because of the pressure from non-native species. I would have thought that marine life generally will benefit from far fewer amateur fishers and boaties out on the water.
Ok, I couldn’t quite tell from your previous comment @ 19.1 if you had read it.
For example, the opening paragraph of the article is:
Scientists are expecting subtle changes in New Zealand wildlife behaviour during these extraordinary times but are frustrated that fieldwork is banned and they can only observe within their bubbles. [my italics]
See the connection to what I quoted @ 19?
In national parks and other conservation areas, human presence is usually low, not including the Great Walks and the like. But 1080 operations have reportedly ceased and there will be knock-on effects from this.
This relates to the “predator control” and the “environmental disaster in the making” in NZ that you mentioned @ 19.1.
The piece also touches on the balance between native and non-native species here in NZ in the last two paragraphs.
Taken together, it is a large-scale ‘experiment’ without observers in the field. I think this could be a missed opportunity to learn from because the ‘experiment’ will hopefully be short-lived.
Having spoken to the culpability of the CCP frequently, I'm going to balance the books with Joe Rogan talking with Eric Weinstein on what is happening in the USA. I've started the link at 14:22 and the next 40 min is probably the guts of it:
These are obviously concerning reports but it also poses the question…why do countries like the US, France Germany and Canada need to import masks from China?
indeed…i can understand that cost may be a factor in using chinese supply but find it difficult to believe that advanced economies arnt capable of their own production especially given we appear to have the capability here
Grateful here in NZ small businesses actually got the govt subsidies. This didn't happen in the US for the most part which all but guarantees widespread failures.
We don't know how lucky we are.
Does the disclosure of what companies received money breach privacy?
World count of approximately 10,000,000 cases by mid April. We are blessed to have a government that acted comparatively early, although there is a desperate need for harsh consequences.
I am trying to not look forward more than a day about the distress Covid-19 is causing. Some governments are just not prepared. The situation has become cruel in Ecuador, dead left out in the street and dead in the homes. I knew this would occur in countries with few resources.
I personally would have chosen Nandy. Maybe next time.
Already those who rage-quit the party when Corbyn was leader are starting to come crawling back, expecting to just pick up where they left off in 2015.
I just remembered your good links ecomaori and I will remember to keep checking to see what music you have heard lately. So I hope you will keep putting it up. Thanks. Kia ora ongoing.
You are reporting positives – gives me a lift, so thanks for telling about the good.
I think that the road sight in Te Taitokerau should be examined by archaeological people before any roads are built. Why are they doing that while the lock down is in place Shady.
I think that the parents should not stress to much if there tamariki are not receiving education resources.
Water problems in Auckland That's part of global warming predictions.
If a business person was running the country he would have waited till the Rinos had run Aotearoa over before making big moves that has big financial effects there way of thinking is money before humanity.
You can't help but try and politicise the virus issue. We have to put people's lives first.
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 15, 2024 thru Sat, December 21, 2024. Based on feedback we received, this week's roundup is the first one published soleley by category. We are still interested in ...
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ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...
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The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...
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I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
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Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
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Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
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Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
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The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
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Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
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Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
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A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
ByKoroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) says impending bad weather for Port Vila is now the most significant post-quake hazard. A tropical low in the Coral Sea is expected to move into Vanuatu waters, bringing heavy rainfall. Authorities have issued warnings to people ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...
The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...
Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes.Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...
Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...
By 1News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and 1News reporters A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week. The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Scully, Professor in Modern History, University of New England Bunker.Image courtesy of Michael Leunig, CC BY-NC-SA Michael Leunig – who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” – was the ...
The House - On Parliament's last day of the year, there was the rare occurrence of a personal (conscience) vote on selling booze over the Easter weekend. While it didn't have the numbers to pass, it was a chance to get a rare glimpse of the fact ...
A new poem by Holly Fletcher. bejeweled log i was dreaming about wasps / wee darlings that followed me / ducking under objects / that i was fated to pickup / my fingers seeking / and meeting with tiny proboscis’s / but instead / i wake up / roll sideways ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Hui, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne Versta/Shutterstock Australians are exposed to some of the highest levels of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the world. While we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Terry, Professor of Business Regulation, University of Sydney Michael von Aichberger/Shutterstock Even if you’ve no idea how the business model underpinning franchises works, there’s a good chance you’ve spent money at one. Franchising is essentially a strategy for cloning ...
If something big is going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If there’s one episode of Shortland Street you should watch each year, it’s the annual Christmas cliffhanger. The final episode of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William A. Stoltz, Lecturer and expert Associate, National Security College, Australian National University US President-elect Donald Trump has named most of the members of his proposed cabinet. However, he’s yet to reveal key appointees to America’s powerful cyber warfare and intelligence institutions. ...
Announcing the top 10 books of the the year at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37) The phenomenal Irish writer is the unsurprising chart topper for 2024 with her fourth novel that, much like her first ...
The virus may scear you – but capitalism's latest round of failure and ever growing monopolies should make you mad.
Do you mean 'scare' or 'scar'?
And by 'mad' to you mean insane, or angry?
And which monopolies are you speaking of?
My poor spelling skills again – scare.
angry
🙂
all of the meanings work, though, in that context. 🙂
Which failures and monopolies are you thinking of in particular ?
Have you got your head in the clouds Stunned Mullet?
No one is unemployed.
There is no bailout
Everything is fine
You must have misunderstood my question… or I misunderstood what you were trying to say.
I thought there were some particular monopolies you were concerned about ?
…and not sure how capitalism or indeed any particular 'ism' is to blame for the current crisis.
Nothing is wrong in Stunned Mullets world.
I never pointed our particulars.
You seem to be avoiding the economic crisis for some odd reason, you know 600 people lost their jobs today.
That had nothing to do with the economic structure we live under ah Stunned Mullet??!?
A must read – Andrew Gunn’s brilliant satire on Mike Hosking in the Dominion Post. It’s worth reading over and over and over again. Andrew Gunn will not be on Hosking’s invitation to a barbecue at his mansion any time soon.
Link?
The Mike Hoskin satire-its actually David Slack if this is the same one. I love the way they find it necessary to tell you it is satire at the end.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/inspire-me/120717536/mike-hosking-loves-a-bath-bomb?fbclid=IwAR0Dh-oBmWmBooW9sQiXC95uoK57d8dLDELtYgA8wmzkfDQEsPV0bKtHuyY
This is probably the one Reality meant: https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/the-dominion-post/20200404/281904480286046 Was on Stuff this morning but must have been too hot for them.
Even better than the one I posted. Superb
Probably show up on Stuff later.
Mutiny in the mking.
https://twitter.com/AmberSmithUSA/status/1246052144115077120
It's probably a good thing that Nostradumbass can't see far enough to realise he needs to not piss off the military. Especially if he's got any ideas of staying on after the voters reject him or he reaches the end of the time allowed by the constitution.
Yep and US has just passed 30k new cases today!!!
I would like to know who he did cc to on his email. Apparently it was a lot (over 10) he would have known his job was on the line and some people would not of wanted to make the hard call like he did.
Not sure if Trump will want him charged with something. Hope that Captain Crozier does not lose his military severance.
Fighting for every life.
/
Everyone wants a hero in a time of crisis. But while Cuomo has certainly been willing to play the part (convincingly enough that a few folks even want him to run for president), what he’s done away from the cameras is telling: using $2/hour prison labor to rebottle hand sanitizer, refusing to release elderly and sick incarcerated persons from Riker’s Island, and slashing Medicaid rather than raising taxes on the 0.01 wealthiest New Yorkers. These aren’t the sorts of measures that would save lives in this crucial moment, and they certainly won’t prevent future crises from happening.
But hey, the PowerPoints are great.
https://www.theroot.com/andrew-cuomo-is-trash-1842641091?
I believe that I pointed out Coumo's austerity policies not long after he was first elected as New York governor about a decade ago.
Bearded Git – not the same one. I don’t know if Andrew Gunn’s is on Stuff and I don’t know how to do a link.
Just google it that's how I found it
No worries Reality-see above.
Hmmm, you have been commenting here for over 3 years.
When you viewing the content that you’re citing/quoting, go to the address bar at the top and highlight the address (AKA URL, it usually starts with “https://***** “), copy it, and paste it into your comment.
Kinsley gaffe: when a politician tells the truth – some obvious truth he isn't supposed to say.
A question: for a while there was talk of a UBI being introduced – even temporarily – to ease people through this crisis. That talk seems to have subsided.
Setting aside whether people think it's a good or a bad idea, has anyone heard anything more on this? Or was it more of a twiteratti idea, floated by some and quickly lost sight of?
It already has been to a large extent.
To all the contractors sole traders, business employees and at risk people who cannot work at present.
Nothing that I have seen. But I’d also say that there really isn’t and hasn’t been enough time to plan it even if it was on the table. To implement it would months if not years just in the software alone.
For what it happening now, you’re limited to existing channels.
To implement it would months if not years just in the software alone.
Especially when software designers forget they have an edit function,to resolve mostly duplicated posts.
IRD could pay it easily – they already pay working for families, so they have the system for it
Yep , where theres a will theres a way …. so it appears no will.
Not the same… And rather too simplistic.
Working for families is specific to a group. It has rules and a database attached to implement it.
What is the system for people who are not in working for families? Because WFF is a specific kind of tax code with a system and data store created specifically for the set of rules for that.
Remember that working for families took more than a year to implement on the old computer, and anecdotally almost as long on the new system.
They probably won’t have as much internal programming wiring to do. But they still have to get all of the other supporting systems in place. Then they have to load millions of data points into the system.
Basically plan on it taking at least a year once the policy is laid down. To do anything less is essentially guaranteed to make it fail.
Not to mention that there would have to be a pretty strong political debate. Personally I remain quite unconvinced that a UBI is a particularly good system for delivering any kind of useful outcome, and I have been reading about mutually contradictory versions here for a decade.
Sounds more like a religious slogan than something that is implementable into something useful for the whole of our society.
I’m also picking that the announcement of any specific UBI proposal will immediately trigger a war between the supporters of it because no proposal is going to satisfy any of its supporters. And that is before the skeptics get to look at it.
Supposedly START is faster to update than FIRST was, but a key difference here would be that the database is everyone or all natural persons, not an application process for a subset with specific criteria.
Agree that long term UBI needs a different debate to a short term grant. Perhaps a simpler option then is to increase benefits and other support so unemployment doesn't hurt so much.
Another option would be to hand out some one-off grants. That could be managed through income tax refunds – just make the minimum refund $1000, or $1000 for income < a figure TBD.
That would be my pick – an existing channel.
That really isn't an existing channel.
I haven't filed a income tax statement in more than two decades. I haven't needed to. PAYE, witholding taxes, and these days even the close balance between costs and revenue on my rented out apartment haven't required me to.
Every 2-3 years I rough cut my possible tax return as an exercise and it winds up with trivial amounts that the government would have to return to me. I write it off as just another donation like – well – my taxes.
It simply isn't even worth my time to calculate or dispute or even to try to figure out how to avoid with all of the aggravating fiddling. If I want to change tax systems, I'll usually just advocate for it rather than waste the tax departments time.
While I'm sure that the IRD is aware of a few of my bank accounts, they have no idea of where to place refunds. They certainly don't have a tax refund process for a whole swath of people like me who are usually reasonably well paid, don't have significiant periods of unemployment, and who haven't felt that it is worth their time wrangling fewer taxes through refunds.
There will also be a whole range of people who don’t file returns because their income is too low to make it worthwhile.
Imagine having to try to build a refund system for what will be (conservatively) half of the working population who never file returns nor receive refunds.
Kiwisaver would probably be a wider spread – but what good does sticking refunds in there do for the day-to-day.
As of last year, all taxpayers receive a personal tax summary (income statement is the legal term) if they are not IR3 filers, so the mechanism is there now to do that if government really wants to. If you didn't get a refund or a bill, either IRD don't have a current bank a/c (but Kiwisaver transfers from providers to IRD normally include a standard bank a/c number, so they might have that) or you owed them <$20 so it was written off automatically.
Couple that with an advertising campaign, and it might work. Probably the easiest method would be to increase the Independent Earner Tax Credit since that already exists, so income parameters can be adjusted, rather than having to add something new to the system.
Probably easier to just pay higher benefits/TAS though.
Robertson said that it was being considered. I'm picking that we will hear more about it later on.
.
RIP Bill Withers, he had an incredible story. If you haven’t watched this doc yet It's well worth the watch
Considering what I view as pointed minority faux outrage over example setting, bike rides, bubble bursting and not following advice, and noting the increase of insulting bad language being used here over the past week, like calling others wankers, twats and cunts, maybe a stronger adherence to the edict of be kinder to each other may be in order.
Profiles in Leadership. If a self-culling base is what you're after.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-coronavirus-social-distancing-golf_n_5e87c167c5b6cc1e47754e1a
Yeah…
Her son, who lives in a flat with five others, has been self-isolating in a unit next door since he fell sick.
To her shock, none of his flatmates were required to be tested as no one had shown any flu-like symptoms, she said.
"I was just surprised [that's the advice] when he's been living with them all this time and especially when they keep saying: 'Test, test, test'.
But you know what?
"There is no point testing people who don't have symptoms, who are unlikely to have the illness." – David Clark.
It appears the tests have a problem with producing a lot of false negatives. Possibly especially among the asymptomatic. So while they are still resource constrained and not yet even testing all those presenting with symptoms, it's easy to see how it's not considered worthwhile testing those without symptoms.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/false-negative-coronavirus-test-accuracy-rates-worry-experts-report-2020-4?r=US&IR=T
Yup. The tests developed in Germany ain't flash on the false negative front. But they're 100% accurate on the positive result side.
By the reasoning you present, then trace, track and test ain't gonna happen, and if there's no testing, then Shelter in Place ain't going to have the desired outcome and we'll wind up in the same place as we would have with a Social Distancing strategy. (ie – ~ 70% infection rate)
So the question comes down to whether people who are asymptomatic but worried are more likely to adequately self isolate than 30% who are asymptomatic but infected and received an all-clear.
I believe the result of a negative is relayed as "not found" (some such wording at any rate) – this from a friend who was tested. So not an unequivocal "all clear".
Point still stands.
False negatives are a problem for screening tests because people treat it like an all-clear. False positives are a problem for diagnostic tests because they result in unnecessary treatment.
No. My friend isn't treating it as an "all clear". And there are no false positives with the tests being used that were developed in Germany.
Copy that. Your friend is typical of literally every person ever tested, therefore you must be correct. Yay.
And there are very few tests with zero false positives. I'm sure you checked out the ROC charts on the German test before making that claim, though, so yay for you again.
I couldn't say whether they are typical or atypical. I can only relay their reaction to being given a test result that was worded in such a way as to preserved a measure of uncertainty in their mind.
On the German test, I'm simply repeating what Michael Osterholm (infectious disease epidemiologist, regents professor, and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. ) has said regards its sensitivity – given his field of expertise I thought it reasonable enough to take him at his word, but hey…
So your anecdata is irrelevant.
As for your comment about the German test, what was the good professor's exact comment? ISTR Roche was touting 95% accuracy, not perfection. Or was Osterholm talking about some other German-developed testing protocol?
The bit I think is lacking is that people living in the same house should be physically distancing within the household if one of them has tested positive. But I don't think that is what is happening? It's a problem if any of them are going out to work.
I think there are guides on physically distancing from flatmates etc, but yeah – if someone in your house is infected, probably don't go to work would be my thinking. No matter what you do, you could well end up infecting other essential workers.
Screening test vs diagnostic test.
Which also explains why the govt was saying they have sufficient tests, but people are complaining they didn't get tested.
Evidence that the lockdown is working:
1) As per the latest Bloomfield Briefing, the curve is flattening. Very early signs, but that's what we're aiming for, and it's starting to happen.
2) The Spin-Off reports on our reduced contact
Well done New Zealand. Let's keep it up.
And Australia…
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/datablog/2020/apr/01/is-australia-flattening-the-coronavirus-curve-look-at-the-charts-
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-australia/australia-gives-free-childcare-as-coronavirus-case-curve-flattens-idUSKBN21J73M
I would like to be more optimistic but I cannot be at this stage. It is the pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic cases as well as the false negative cases and the people not properly isolating who have it that bothers me.
Indeed, neither the room nor the time for complacency!
A depiction of a silly person showing their economic model doesn't work. It works how it's supposed to work, how the market has determined it works.
Somewhere down the line when she finds it's not working in the way she wants it to be working she's demanding it change to operate in a different way. Of course in the current awful situation no-one's going to tell her to get off the grass especially the guy she's interviewing. She doesn't get it and even if she were told she probably still wouldn't get it.
For his trouble of doing what life has taught him to do, make money, he's called a traitor. Apparently though patriotism is a big thing, the most important thing. How did that go for career civil servants in the impeachment thing when patriotism had them coming forward looking after their country? This silly woman was probably calling them traitors too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Wi4yWltXs
They don't want globalisation, they want to be self-sufficient. They want American companies operating off-shore making millions through cheap labour and also want to export stuff to other countries. Why don't they put a wall around the whole place? That'll stop masks escaping.
Good to know Bill Maher will be back on screen tonight (our time).
Looks like a good remote panel line up.
Guests will include Willie Nelson, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, author Max Brooks, Seth MacFarlane and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Never been one for Bill Maher. But it has been interesting watching chat shows without the studio audience, and the subtle changes to delivery that entails. The Daily Show is doing some interesting stuff, and John Oliver is largely doing the usual lol.
Just remember when you buy from Amazon they get to do this.
heh
https://twitter.com/TheDailyShow/status/1246146713523453957
Some mothers do have em:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12322473
Coronavirus: What's happening to NZ wildlife when humans locked down
https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/120759079/coronavirus-whats-happening-to-nz-wildlife-when-humans-locked-down
Not sure what 'NZ widlife' could be road kill, except possibly kiwi in parts of Northland where the numbers have increased with effective predator control recently. The only roadkill on NZ roads are introduced mammals like possums, rabbits and hedgehogs. That means they are probably surviving more and with probably next to no predator control being done, could be an environmental disaster in the making. Noticed the seagulls were looking hungry up at Waitangi the last week with no tourists chucking them chips or sandwichs to eat. The one place that will definitely benefit by hugely reduced traffic will be in Oz where some roads are normally splattered by dead wombats, wallabies, echidnas etc.!
You didn’t read the link, did you?
Yes,I did. It's somewhat of a hodgepodge of an article, but the general message is that nature is getting a bit of a reprieve in may places in varied ways, even the climate. NZ's a bit of a outlier because of the pressure from non-native species. I would have thought that marine life generally will benefit from far fewer amateur fishers and boaties out on the water.
Ok, I couldn’t quite tell from your previous comment @ 19.1 if you had read it.
For example, the opening paragraph of the article is:
See the connection to what I quoted @ 19?
This relates to the “predator control” and the “environmental disaster in the making” in NZ that you mentioned @ 19.1.
The piece also touches on the balance between native and non-native species here in NZ in the last two paragraphs.
Taken together, it is a large-scale ‘experiment’ without observers in the field. I think this could be a missed opportunity to learn from because the ‘experiment’ will hopefully be short-lived.
Having spoken to the culpability of the CCP frequently, I'm going to balance the books with Joe Rogan talking with Eric Weinstein on what is happening in the USA. I've started the link at 14:22 and the next 40 min is probably the guts of it:
https://youtu.be/wf0_nMaQ6tA?t=852
It is high time the rest of the western world got together and stood up to this f*****g fascist bully president and his team of thugs:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52161995
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has started the ball rolling by threatening the current American Administration with threats of his own. [see link]
These are obviously concerning reports but it also poses the question…why do countries like the US, France Germany and Canada need to import masks from China?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bird-flu/news/article.cfm?c_id=560&objectid=12321143
They may want to think twice and run QCs or they may end up with a lemon.
China's coronavirus supplies are being rejected — how do we ensure quality in a pandemic?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-04/china-coronavirus-covid-19-medical-supplies-recalled-regulation/12105110
indeed…i can understand that cost may be a factor in using chinese supply but find it difficult to believe that advanced economies arnt capable of their own production especially given we appear to have the capability here
Grateful here in NZ small businesses actually got the govt subsidies. This didn't happen in the US for the most part which all but guarantees widespread failures.
We don't know how lucky we are.
Does the disclosure of what companies received money breach privacy?
World count of approximately 10,000,000 cases by mid April. We are blessed to have a government that acted comparatively early, although there is a desperate need for harsh consequences.
I am trying to not look forward more than a day about the distress Covid-19 is causing. Some governments are just not prepared. The situation has become cruel in Ecuador, dead left out in the street and dead in the homes. I knew this would occur in countries with few resources.
Yes NZ is blessed.
Sir Keir Starmer has been elected as leader of the British Labour Party. Good luck to him, hopefully they can rebuild for the 2024 election.
I personally would have chosen Nandy. Maybe next time.
Already those who rage-quit the party when Corbyn was leader are starting to come crawling back, expecting to just pick up where they left off in 2015.
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU
I just remembered your good links ecomaori and I will remember to keep checking to see what music you have heard lately. So I hope you will keep putting it up. Thanks. Kia ora ongoing.
You are reporting positives – gives me a lift, so thanks for telling about the good.
Kia Ora Newshub.
There are idiots everywhere.
Good on that teacher helping people out during these times.
The Internet is a great way for people to carry on making money.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I think that the road sight in Te Taitokerau should be examined by archaeological people before any roads are built. Why are they doing that while the lock down is in place Shady.
I think that the parents should not stress to much if there tamariki are not receiving education resources.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Am Show.
Water problems in Auckland That's part of global warming predictions.
If a business person was running the country he would have waited till the Rinos had run Aotearoa over before making big moves that has big financial effects there way of thinking is money before humanity.
You can't help but try and politicise the virus issue. We have to put people's lives first.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Newshub.
Its impossible to keep everyone happy during the virus isolation times.
Hope no one is lost in the Cyclone in Vanuatu.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Cool that Iwi checking to make sure there Kaumatua are OK during there weeks of isolation.
Good move starting up there own online Kai delivery service.
I say our government is handling this virus situation well.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora The Am Show.
Aotearoa is lucky that we are a food produceing nation we can feed our Tangata.
What I can believe that you are a cracked record.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Newshub.
Its cool weather these days .
There will be unscrupulous people ripping off people and the government . Kia Kaha.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Someone ripping off the pepe things from a kohanga reo is not on.
Condolences to Jimmy's whanau for their loss.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
I think it's great that The Warehouse is going to donate Easter eggs to familys.
Cool that councils are helping feed their poor people we no who to thank for that phenomenon.
That's the way turn all those logs into timber and other stuff to create local employment just don't ruin our environment in the process.
Ka kite Ano P. S The gloves will come off after isolation
Kia Ora Newshub.
That's good two new channels and laptops being sent out to teach our students and tamariki.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Our government is doing it best to carry on our youth education during isolation.
Its good to see Kiwis working in the horticultural industry like they use to 20 years ago.
A 3rd of Kiwis in Australia could be in harder times kia kaha Whanau.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Am Show.
Hope no lives are lost in Fiji from the Cyclone hitting them.
I remember that incident well it was on the news as well on The Crowd goes wild.
I enjoyed living in my off grid camp till I was under arm bowled by you know who.
😇
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
That's is cool everyone person coming into Aotearoa is going into quarantine.
We know who caused the EQC mess.
I don't think 4 week of UN attended of a golf course will ruin it.???. in Autumn /winter
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Condolences to Huirangi whanau for their loss.
Plenty of vegetables growing on Turanga Nui A Kiwa whenua.
Ka pai to the Iwi koha kia to te tangata.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
It would be good to find symptoms to aid in early detection of the virus.
That's good online church services you can reach a lot of people online.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
5G protest I was baffled when I found out that some people believe that 5G caused the virus how can A radio wave influence A biological virus.??????.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
Yes we are mear mortals on the Mother Earth.
Aotearoa is lucky of our location in the middle of the Pacific.
Awsome our government sending supplies and helping to Vanuatu.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Its good to see our Kaumatua being given groceries during isolation.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
Yes our mokopuna enjoyed their Easter.
That's is awesome those Kiwis being aloud to come home into quarantine.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Good on the Cook Islands government for supporting that golden oldies Netball team.
That's is cool neighbours meeting each other and keeping safe inside there isolation bubble in Rotorua.
Great seeing the regions with a lot tangata whenua getting tested for the virus.
Now is a good time to use the Internet to teach Te reo Maori. Kia kaha Te reo Maori.
Ka kite Ano