Just reflecting on the widely held opinion that the next election is a cake walk what with political 'capital' built up in PM Ardern, engagement news and the kerfuffle around the leadership of National party.
Going back two and a half years, there is no way the most strident Labour fan could have envisioned this scenario.
Therefore it is quite possible the same could happen again. After a couple of leadership coups eg Collins, Woodhouse, Adams, Mitchell, a candidate like Upston, Ngaro or Dean, or my pick, someone from outside of politics currently, can come in and sweep all before them.
The coalition needs to look at their statements leading into the election and put them into action.
OMG…. if they have to resort to Dean they may as well give up and go home. Has that MP achieved anything in 4 1/2 terms. Apart from falling for a di-hydrogen monoxide hoax once.
Impressive business career. Finance Minister, maybe, but not really the right sort of charisma for political leader. Is probably on track for international roles after his current one so why would he settle for replacing Bill English or Steven Joyce?
It doesn't matter that Shane Jones is NZ First. Any good he/they achieve can be undone electorally in one brain numbingly dumb speech/spiel.
It's all about the easiest to create negative thing, perception. There is already a 'dishonourable' list with Clare Curran, Twyford, Mahuta, Jackson whose actions, words, for right or wrong, have had the affect of chopping down the tree or at least ring-barking it.
So the option of having sea transport is lessening. Our government has abandoned the domestic economy in order to export and then we can buy all the wonderful things available from the world with our export dollars. That is, those in employment at a living wage. We have stopped making things for ourselves.
But then, because of the reciprocal nature of our trading system we have an open economy, and overseas people who have bigger purses than us, can buy wonderful things here, like houses, desirable land and very desirable water.
Now we have to decide whether we are going to spend our money buying imported goods, which are no longer made here, or go without – mend and save – and try to gather a deposit to buy a shoe-box or a big car to live in as the housing market prices have been pushed up by our wealthier export customers.
Is that a wise way to run a country? Even the relatively well off people are finding that the house they can obtain loan money to buy, drains more than half of their weekly or monthly earnings. And how do we supply necessities and have a thriving economy if we can’t export our produce. We will still be able to export services. But the reciprocal system will be broken. The overseas buyers will still come here and buy us up, we will be at survival mode and be tenants in what was our own land. I think John Key was expressing concern about that at one time while facilitating the process. Was it wise to leave him to play his smirking Prime Minister role for so long?
I saw a bunch of 18 year old redwoods today far bigger than Pinus radiata at 25 years (when they cut).
Too big for today's mills, no market (here) as everything is pine. Then there's the people growing natives, too scared to try large scale in case they're not allowed to realise the crop…
So we can't sell exotic timber except pine locally, we can't grow natives that would sell because we might not be allowed to sell them. Pine pine did someone say pine.
We can grow far better trees but… crops must be clonal for markets. And you got to have a market. Assessing a stand of a couple hundred trees for the tree keepers (good clones) is a couple hundred thousand dollars…
Who's got that laying around.
The market that's supposed to help little guys (trickle trickle) has us locked out. I guess you could grow pine…
F'n travesty. No variety in the market means no resilience to vagaries in the market. A bug, a bacteria, a fungi, an oomycete, an emerging player, a reticent buyer…
I had a look through Lincoln University offerings to see what they had on tree diversity. I couldn't find stuff. Pine.. But what about growing for carbon credits. Money for keeping them in the ground?
And having a range of trees for specialist use, furniture etc, masts; picking them out by helicopter and making big $$ from the few.
Someone would have to live in the area as they would attract thieves. Guns might be appropriate for rangers in this case.
There must be markets for other trees. Reasonably fast growing and not requiring the same treatment as softwood, resinous pines.
Pine tree economy is flawed as the cost to us for the road damage from using trucks is horrendous and driving the country broke and Ports tell us that the port virtually has to give no charge to using every log shipped from their Ports now as there is no money it it.
So we taxpayers pay to maintain n the Ports that have to allow free transport overseas from their Port, and we pay to keep the roads maintained from trucking the logs to the Port.
We are being screwed every day by this mindless false economy we are in now no thanks to national setting this all up for the export potential of a false economy in pine trees.
So the tories get decimated and, instead of being the recipient of a mass of disgruntled voters wrath, labour themselves also take a hammering. Not really the look of a government in waiting.
"Have Labour gained a whole bunch of seats? No. But the media effort to conflate Labour’s minor losses with the complete trouncing the Conservatives have taken is totally dishonest."
The results aren't in dispute, are they? What is, is how labour lost big and didn't benefit from the tory backlash, casting doubt on their ability to form a government after the next general election. It doesn’t seem they are resonating well with the public.
Without a brexit agreement, the longer Farrage's brexit party and the ukip stay in the game seems to be Corbyn's only hope of sneaking in to power at present, by default. Having the lib dems bounce back will take seats off May, but then labour could well lose out in 3 way electorates, and those tactically voting where they are in 3rd place. Not that positive, and certainly not much to shout about against a most unpopular ruling party.
Lucky for labour it's first past the post and not mmp, otherwise they'd be screwed with, on current polling, only scoring in the low 30s.
Yep, shared significant losses. Consider where labour were losing hardest, take in the big picture, add context, and the story behind the numbers makes more sense.
Well I'm definitely not downplaying labours losses, nor what it potentially means for them going forward electorally as a party who can still lose on the night as the most divided tory party in a generation shart it's pants.
So in rejecting the claims of propaganda and biassed media reporting in covering this poll, looking in to the stories behind the numbers (such as why labour shed votes to the lib dems in swings of around 8%), and going deeper behind a banner headline (why the major opposition party didn't pick up conservative protest votes when it needs them in these electorates to become government), I am also happy to leave it to the readers to decide whose spinning and for why.
yes we humans are one of the first to be extinct I fear.
The planet is nearing the end as the Ross Sea ice shelf is about to disappear and our sea levels will rise dramatically.
The oxygen content in the atmosphere is sinking every month now so how long can we survive without oxygen in our air?
We daily see brand new trucks on our roads all hauling freight that used to go by rail, increasing the carbon levels as we speak, so we are a menace to ourselves alright.
Rapid melting of the world’s largest ice shelf linked to solar heat in the ocean
Date:
April 29, 2019
Source:
University of Cambridge
Summary:
An international team of scientists has found part of the world’s largest ice shelf is melting 10 times faster than the overall ice shelf average, due to solar heating of the surrounding ocean surface.
Not much hope for our children now but to flee to a “survival bunkers” like they are probably building up high on the safety of the te-ureweras up in the hills when the end comes.
This would be the third such environmental catastrophe in the Waihi area. Not only would this toxic* mound of waste cover over 178H of agricultural land rendering it useless and presenting an eyesore for generations to come, there are other considerations to be taken into account as well.
The [already existing] two tailings dams near Waihi are some of the largest structures in the country.
Size of Martha Mine Waihi tailings dam compared to Mount Eden suburbs Auckland
Should either of these dams fail in an earthquake, we could be facing potentially New Zealand’s worst ever environmental disaster, and loss of life and livelihoods on a significant scale.
Therefore it is perfectly reasonable to ask the question – would these structures withstand a large earthquake? The question is even more pertinent because –
the Kaikoura quake unleashed thousands of huge landslides
a new GNS Science report on the nearby Kerepehi fault suggests a 7.4 magnitude earthquake is possible near Waihi, and also estimates that the interval between large quakes is 1000 years rather than 6000-8000 years as previously assumed.
the catastrophic failure of a tailings dam in Brazil in 2015 was due in part to a very small 2.6Mw quake acting as a triggering mechanism for the dam collapse
Coromandel Watchdog have been fighting this crap from the miners for years now. We don't need any more fucking gold. There has been 170,000 of tonnes of the stuff mined and locked up in safes such as Fort Knox, and elsewhere already. So it's already there if ever it is needed for any useful purpose. To get enough gold for a single wedding ring you have to drill though 250 tonnes of rock, pulverize it, then chemically treat it. Such activity now is simply madness.
*Tailings are the major wastes produced from gold extraction and they contain high amounts of heavy metals (HM). These metals leach out in an uncontrolled manner into surrounding environments on exposure to water or through dispersal by wind. The presence of elevated concentrations of HM in the environment is a serious health issue worldwide due to their non-degradative nature which makes them persistent and thereby exert long-term effects on the ecosystem
Fascists peacefully swamped by large crowd, cancel planned march through Liverpool.
When only a small counter protest turn up, the fascists sensing weakness, will not hesitate to use violence to intimidate and smash them over.
What made the difference between a small counter protest and large counter protest was leadership.
A far-right group has abandoned plans to march through Liverpool after members were visibly outnumbered by counter-demonstrators, including the mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson….
….“Peaceful people power chased the fascists off our streets,” Anderson, a Labour politician, said, adding that he wanted to “show these people they are not welcome in this city”….
…..“I want it to be peaceful, but I want people to be out on the streets saying they are not welcome in our city,” Anderson told the Liverpool Echo prior to the march. “Some people on Twitter have said to me: ‘What about free speech?’ Well that comes with a responsibility not to espouse hate.
I think that National’s break-point will be when the Budget gets presented to the House. The Party’s response and its Leader’s delivery will seal their fate for the next Election. Even the opinion pieces of Political Editors are getting boringly predictable in style and substance but they still do their job as click-bait <sigh>.
Here's hoping. Nothing I'd like more than to see the current National Party crop to self-destruct.
Having just watched "The Nation", what worries me is that there's a fair few issues where Labour/the Coalition are not even picking the low hanging fruit (apologies – I'm still pivoting going forward from the other day). Simon Wilson had a point – to do with the interaction between departments (in this case IRD and MSD) and the Ministers responsible – this to do with the case of a rape victim. From what I could see, even under current legislation, this matter could at least be partially resolved even if, as Sepuloni said, there would be no retrospective compensation.
Then there are things such as worker exploitation (BOTH immigrant and citizen) which could be at LEAST improved by Ministerial and Ministry intervention.
Then there are NZTA fuckups, insurance issues, etc, etc., etc. that may start to really piss off an impatient electorate if the Coalition doesn't pick up the pace (especially where some basic resolution doesn't require law changes).
Even IF and THOUGH the gNats are in most part to blame for a lot of it all, it won't stop them from scoring a few hits if some of this 'low hanging fruit' isn't dealt with.
/agreed – even with a heavy workload. And possibly a failure of Ministerial-Department/Ministry Head interaction if and when there are roadblocks – even given all that 'impartiality of officials'.
And then there's a rabid media to contend with, many of whom will still be stirring as much shit as possible in their dying days, but I doubt whether even the likes of JC would be giving a free ride over the example(s) given above.
As we have seen in the past, when the time is right, even a very mildly lefty government can be taken down by outrage over light-bulbs. This is the world we live in – a dominion of lies ruled over by money.
But the light-bulbs are symbolic of other matters that there are doubts about; they just act as a marker, virtue-signalling.*
It could mean there are the Left looking down, fussing over every little thing while the parade passes by.
It could mean there are the Left trying to be the Knight on the White Charger saving people who didn't want that.
It could be there are the Left fulminating over something, and ready to turn our lives upside down as they did when they brought in the Free-Market and No Regulation.
It could mean there are the people who are going to make us take our medicine which they have prescribed and no-one we know considers we are even sick, but they always know best.
It could mean that Labour presses an anti-authority nerve in those who are happy to pursue their own ends and let someone else clean up any messes left. What me clean up. I employ people to do that for me, and anyway others have done it too, why pick on me/us to behave well, make changes that aren't proven 100% worthwhile.
Examples of possible effects of new light bulb changes. In myself I thought of the cost of buying two new light bulbs at possibly $7 each compared to incandescent ones at $1 each. When people are really poor they can't afford to make such forward-moving gestures. Cut out incandescents and it would be back to candles. So I hoped that Labour could cut its crusading zeal down to what was okay for the precariat working and not working classes which used to be their spine.
*Virtue-signalling:
the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one’s good character or the moral correctness of one’s position on a particular issue.
“it’s noticeable how often virtue signalling consists of saying you hate things”
Regulating energy-efficient lightbulbs and showers was symbolic of the fundamental changes we need to make for the climate – and we have seen in the decade since that how far many people are prepared to go to keep their heads firmly planted in the sand.
If making those small changes was never going to have any effect, you might be able to claim it was 'virtue signalling'. That's just a bad-faith phrase from the dolts of the US right.
It was what it was. As you say it was symbolic of changes we needed to make, and that they would not recognise the difficulties that very low income people faced, because they don't care to apply their minds to da little peeps. Fact – fact.
And don't forget the “Fart Tax” AB when some farmer/Nat MP drove his tractor up parliament steps. Everybody laughed. Such a good joke against the Clark government.
Not laughing now are they, although not nearly enough has been done about it.
Labour should turn all that puerile stuff back on National – and those who fell for it – simply because they deserve it.
Fair comments. I think it would be great if somebody more familiar with it does a (guest) post on the different areas of responsibility of departmental CEOs, for example, for operational matters, and the Ministers. As far as I know, Ministers don’t hire the staff in their Ministries.
If we commenters care about what is happening to people in NZ and the world then we can't walk away from a forum like this that attempts to bring matters to scrutiny. It is good if people don't get nagged at all the time, if they have a point they should be considered. But it may need altering when some of its aspects are challenged. The view as to rightness can be different depending on the perspective. If the challenger does not have a worthy point and is unrelenting there is the choice of ignoring them, or uncovering their perspective and showing it as unreasonable. Also sometimes when you disagree with someone, it is still possible to see their greater good overall.
Those who want to state a case and think that they are totally right, need to stay on and at least hear and have short discussions about other people's POV. Veutoviper is a concerned and informed person and could be expected to stick around not walk away.
But some I think have 20th century perceptions. These have to alter somewhat – we can't think in exactly the same mode as the past, our future is changing and our approach must also – we know that life may become extremely uncomfortable. I worry as I read stories from the holocaust, from past times; we haven't made the great strides in managing our human life, emotions and desires, goals and outcomes, as we should. Therefore we have to think more deeply, nothing is absolutely certain, judgments have to be made., sometimes interim. Kindness and practicality must be hand in hand. For everyone who gives up, there are a thousand who will never understand that particular POV, and vice versa. It is important for the thinking, to assess their own thoughts and try to understand others who haven't experience or imagination.
You might be interested in RNZ's "The House" a week or so back (31/3/2019 i THINK).
Briefly deals with various powers vested in Ministers and Departmental CEO's and down the chain – regulatory authority etc. which allows for a degree of flexibility when conditions change or in unforeseen circumstances.
Things CAN get done quite quickly when necessary – as we have just seen. For example: in the case of the Christchurch terrorist attack, visa changes to allow family members of victims to come to NZ were implemented within a couple of weeks.
And yes re Ministers and hiring of staff (which is as it should be probably), but there are ways and means – Ministers making it clear what expectations are, etc.
And let's not pretend the old nudge nudge wink wink shit hasn't been happening – especially during the gNat's last reign, OR things like abuse of the OIA system, OR the use of Thompson & Clark – clearly unacceptable behaviour for the public service to be involved in. Sanctions are available for that sort of thing BUT for political will and who has been licking who's arse (Sorry to be blunt, but that's what it amounts to).
Deliberate under-resourcing in some areas (for example) of those responsible for monitoring tertiary education, or visa compliance (James Casson aside), or monitoring the state of some of those immigration 'advisors' suited the last gNat junta very well. Priorities CAN be adjusted in many cases to ensure the sort of shit "The Nation" covered, or exploitation doesn't/didn't happen.
Thanks, I might have a look later although I’m keen to write a post (on a different topic). In any case, I don’t feel comfortable to write a meaningful post on departments and ministries, for example.
It is a most peculiar article. She starts off with acomment about the donations to National soaring while Labours were paltry.
Donations in the 12 months to December soared past $700,000, no doubt fuelled by worried business donors gearing up to fight employment law changes and a widely anticipated capital gains tax (even if it ultimately didn't happen). Labour's were a paltry $173,343 by comparison.
It's once the donations dry up that you know a leader's date with the guillotine is near.
Somehow this is meant to be interpreted as National are in trouble? Shouldn't it mean, if her remark about "donations drying up" is correct it is Labour that is in trouble?
Still it is a pretty typical Watkins piece. Bugger the facts. She loves Ardern.
An insightful view on how we used to police bad behaviour on our roads by someone who knows.
Makes me wonder whether our terrible road toll could be reduced if we returned to the old style of traffic policing, by a specialist force of dedicated officers with a passion for road safety and saving lives on the road, as their sole mission.
….More seriously, Kearns laments that the old cop-motorist dynamic was altered by the merger.
“Guys in my era joined the Ministry of Transport because we had a passion for road safety and an ideal of saving injuries and lives. That ethos wasn’t carried over at the time of the merger.”….
…… “Probably just 20% of people who were stopped were given tickets.” The rest were spoken to about what they were doing, encouraged to do better and sent on their way. According to Kearns, the police did not share that attitude, being used to dealing with criminals.
And what say you liked being a traffic cop? You’d joined up to be a traffic cop. If you’d wanted to be a regular cop, you’d have signed up for that instead.
I was told something interesting by a friend who was part of the emergency response to the Tasman forest fire and was talking to a top Tasman cop. He said the previous National government had little interest in road safety, their sole focus was on keeping traffic, and of course commerce in the form of trucking, moving as quickly as possible. He is very pleased to see the coalition government's focus firmly back on policing for safer roads.
Yes, and that is a great example of getting on with change – immediate Budget action, clear announcement by Minister, results on the ground spreading already. Glad to hear those who have to respond to safety failures are noticing improvement.
Ae! And they have this weird idea that double lanes in both directions will naturally allow it all to happen (when the average NuZillner has yet to come to terms with merging like a zip and still drives like it's all a competition, in between checking the latest beep or blip or bell sound that comes across their cell phone).
Hence we have the likes of that absolute white baby elephant fuckup between Papamoa and Paengaroa (incidentally, where some of the worst worker exploitation, immigrants and others involved in bullshit tertiary education and other little scams reside and where Cassons try to justify their race shism), but where the occasional logging truck, gNat and orchid owner roams free
That's a good 'wonder' Jenny H. The cops now seem too centred on vehicle crime, perhaps it gets their figures up to the target set; another idea stop high targets and concentrate on outcomes of projects for improvement.
Also run stats counting all reasonably serious accidents and stop concentrating on the death toll. That stat only indicates a complete failure by traffic police to show care for people and polite interaction on the roads instead a simple end-of-life statistic for the books.
(An idea – have projects like for a period ask people to drive differently coming to roundabouts by slowing by about 10 kms so allowing others to move onto the road space in the few seconds that a slower entry would provide. See if over a six month period, what might be called cautious courtesy driving would lower accidents, and facilitate traffic movement. Too many people drive at full speed into a roundabout which is unwise, and reduces others entry-openings.)
I travel the east coast highway two from Napier to Tauranga often and have seen so many large potholes on these narrow winding single lane roads caused by heavy trucks all the time now and these potholes are so large that if you don't swerve to avoid them you will damage your steering system.
I have had 6 steering repairs in two years all caused by hitting large potholes.
That is one issue. then there are speeding drivers always trying to force slow drivers to speed up, and that is another problem..
The Government cant afford to keep fixing the damages the trucks are causing now so we need to see government increase the use of the roads by those trucks, in a "user Pays" policy.
Clearly the 'heavier longer trucks' HPMV are far too heavy for our light weighted 'soft roads' now.
all those parts for repairs on your car would have quite possibly been transported by truck to your repairer.
Trucks are on the road because of customer demand for goods. If you dont consume anything, then the trucks have nothing to transport, so wont be on the road.
if we eliminate HPMV, these would be replaced by around 20% more trucks.
They’re coming from all over the world Joe, from both sides of the political divide. Nothing to do with Keefe whoever the hell that nobody is .
“Meanwhile, George, an American fighting on the Ukrainian side, described those he fought with as having “the same hatred for Russia or the same kind of sense of nationalism”.
Could be you Joe
“Anti-imperialists, anti-fascists, and those on the far left come to defend the pro-communist separatists and defend the autonomous regions from what they see as global imperialism.”
NZ rugby has dug it's own hole, & cancelled out the aspects of the game that allowed NZ's natural talent to thrive at the game in a way that summed up to the display of a national heritage like no where else in the world. The aspects of the game that gave the All Blacks a long standing distinguished dynanism are thrown away and can't come back, and the hole will avalanche in more and more, as can not be sustained.
Now a diplomatic security risk everytime run on the field for NZ i'm afraid too; an illustration being the prestige to Russia's ( a heavily armed nation) image it's overall diplomatic handling of the recent successful soccer world cup gave it, to the division and acrimony the ABs have associated to NZ on such stages in recent times in relation to the rest of the game.
Black Ferns rugby can be a new story for NZ instead.
New Zealand took the 2011 RWC not because of any "natural talent" but because of the refusal of the "referee" to penalize the home team's blatant cheating throughout that farcical final.
File it under swings and roundabouts Mozza, it balances the ledger for Barnes being overwhelmed on the '07 match were France went unpenalised for a half and scored a try with a forward pass.
File it under swings and roundabouts Mozza, it balances the ledger for Barnes being overwhelmed on the '07 match
Nonsense. On stilts. He made two errors—he missed two forward passes, one leading to a try for the All Blacks, one to a try for the Tricolors. His couple of honest errors are not in the same universe as Craig Joubert’s refusal to even warn, let alone penalize, the flagrant and systematic cheating by the All Blacks in that infamous farce four years later.
France went unpenalised for a half …
They did not infringe. That's why.
…. and scored a try with a forward pass.
So did New Zealand. Luke McAlister's try followed a forward pass. I recommend you watch the match some time.
The All Blacks were imploding due to another episode of poor management of our rugby talents in the deserved French upset, and it would have happened one way or another.
The more recent final against the Wallabies was also poor referring but by then no one was paying attention, & despite the rigged deck, the aussies were only a James O'Connor type player break away from over coming them anyway, which isn't surprising given the Georgia pool game would be the poorest AB team performance in any world cup.
poor management of our rugby talents in the deserved French upset
What do you mean by "poor management"? They simply lost a football match. The French were too good for them.
The more recent final against the Wallabies was also poor referring
???? There was nothing in that final to match the non-performance by Joubert in 2011. The only terrible refereeing in the 2015 tournament was in the Australia-Scotland match. The “referee” was…. Craig Joubert.
If things had gone the Wallabies way in terms of referring in crucial stages in that game, they could have broken the ABs, who they were otherwise clinging onto by their fingernails in staying in the match.
Heh, it's great to be the only one right eh mozza.
Try (see what I did there) this on for size…
"They did not infringe…"
The video had three different angles and featured statistical breakdowns of lineouts, scrums, penalties, tackle counts, territory and possession. On those statistics, the All Blacks dominated. They had an overwhelming 73 per cent territorial advantage, winning 166 rucks to France's 42 and making only 73 tackles compared with France's 331.
They didn't infringe. They defended grimly. It's hard to beat a French team that's really determined. Unless you've got a "referee" like Andre Watson or Craig Joubert.
Ha ha ha ha ha! Good one, M'bird! I think you meant to say "could fit in a Brobdingnabian's thimble."
Of course, a quick sashay through this writer's oeuvre will show you that I've commented on rugby and other sports at an elevated and thoughtful level* for many years now.
And let's face it: even someone who knows as little about the game as, say, a Herald rugby writer or a Radio Sports opinion-vomiter like Martin "Moron" Devlin or Tony "Boot Boy" Veitch knows that the All Blacks were beaten fair and square by the Tricolors in 2007, and that they were allowed to cheat flagrantly throughout that farcical RWC final four years later.
Otago v Waikato is not a local derby. Auckland v. Counties is a local derby.
Interesting to see how readily you resort to derogatory language: dismissing what I say as "braying." Have you considered a career in talk radio perhaps?
No it's not. A derby game is between two teams from the same town, or adjacent towns. Auckland-Counties or Auckland-North Harbour or Otago-Southland are derby games.
Similarly, Manchester United v. Man. City and AstonVilla v. Birmingham, and Arsenal v. Chelsea are derbies, but Liverpool v. Arsenal is not.
Grant Nisbett? He's certainly superior to Ian "Smithy" Smith and Justin Marshall *, but on this he's as slapdash as they are.
I'm happy to use the franchise names, but I'm not going to accept the extirpation of the provincial names. It's the Wellington Hurricanes, and the Auckland Blues, and the Waikato Chiefs.
And it's the Natal Sharks and the Johannesburg Lions, not the "South African Sharks" and "South African Lions."
And yes, you're correct, it's the Canterbury Crusaders. Need to change that vile name, of course, but whatever it is, it'll still be Christchurch's team. BTW, how come the Crusaders never played a game against the famous London team Saracens?
Yes, you're correct about the Hurricanes not being only a Wellington team. Manawatu and Hawkes Bay are important parts of the team, and so was Taranaki. And, no, I haven't forgotten the Wairarapa, Horowhenua, Whanganui, etc. But the major urban area is Wellington, and that's where most of the home games are played.
Similarly, the Boston Red Sox represent not only the Boston urban area but all of the states of New England. Only a mental pygmy such as a New Zealand Rugby boss would be persuaded to dispense with the word "Boston" however.
Opinion – The battles over welfare are in large part a dispute about whether people who find themselves relying on social security are principally in need of punishment or support….
More generally, as the report notes, there is very little evidence that sanctions achieve their claimed effects of getting people back into work. They are just as likely to force people out of the system altogether or into reliance on criminal activities or unsustainable borrowing.
In contrast to the harsh overseer model, the experts' report is an attempt to put a nurturing, caring assistant at the heart of the welfare system. It centres the system on whakamana tāngata – "restoring dignity to people so they can participate meaningfully with their families and communities"…
The experts' report does not, as some hoped, spell out a completely new and coherent plan for a 21st century welfare system. It does not sketch out a fully future-proofed welfare system. It represents big change, not transformational change.
But then, like most of this government's working groups, Cindy Kiro and her team were not given the time and resources to deliver on broader ambitions. What they have produced, though, is still immensely important.
And Jeremy Pie – On the UK State of the nation report.
Social mobility in UK has stalled. In 2010 Cameron set up Social Mobility Commission but it resigned en masse a year after Theresa May had said she would do great stuff in fixing injustices. They said that the Government was too focussed on Brexit to do anything.
Please at least add quote marks when you use a mix of yours and someone else's words like that – better still, click the ["] button on the editor toolbar so the quoted paragraph becomes indented.
Oh hell. Now I won't pass the adaptive test for understandability. I'm a failure at communication. I'm teetering on the edge of not commenting here and leaving it to the snobs.
Our world is coming to an end but our sentence construction, our syntax is what really catches the eye and the mind.
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality.
Open your eyes,
Look up to the skies and see,
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
Because I'm easy come, easy go,
Little high, little low,
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me.
The statue is one of three copies of a marble statue that was made for the Captain Cook Brewery in Newmarket, Auckland in the early 1880s…
He's also not wearing the correct uniform – the blog states he is "not wearing the uniform of a British naval officer, nor does his uniform resemble that of any other European naval uniforms. The uniform has been described as 'Italian' in style."
Oz Rugby has an $8B budget hole this year – (not sure when they get this years World Cup money) and face a payout of $4M on Folau's contract if their termination is seen as a breach.
They have only one option – given Cheika says he will not be selected even if still on contract, refuse to pay him a penny and drag this through the courts if they have to. Even if they still payout – better later than now. But more likely – given he would be unable to play and would have no guarantee of ever receiving any money – he would be forced to seek to leave the contract so he can be paid to play elsewhere.
The IAAF has a rule whereby women competitors must have a testosterone level below "5" (the norm is .2 to 1.5), for events between 400m and the mile, but not shorter distances or field events.
It seems as if their rule applies only to distances which only one specific athlete competes.
Given the said extra testosterone gives athletes an advantage in shorter distances and field events the most (which is why males and females have taken drugs for these events way more often than for the 800m and 1500m) their rule is inexplicable.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State University asked a judge Wednesday for permission to publicly share information about a confidential state medical board investigation involving the team doctor accused of decades-old sexual misconduct against more than 150 former students.
I notice the new self appointed elite of NZ journalism has decided to freely name the Christchurch murderer, even going so far as to promote him and his home town in backwater Australia.
What a disgraceful rag that Herald is.
Edit: I looked a bit deeper into the writer of this promotion piece, Caroline Meng-Yee, and it turns out she’s bee in trouble before for dressing as slain Sophie Elliot at a fancy dress birthday party in 2011.
Meng-Yee had fake blood on her arms and Sophie’s name tagged to her top, which had a photograph of Sophie’s killer and ex-boyfriend, Clayton Weatherston, 35, pinned to it.
I wouldn't be surprised if their reasoning is that the inevitable outrage will suck in a bunch of eyeballs. They'll come out with some freedom bullshit and that'll reel in Trotsker and co.
Reading about this Meng-Yee character made me feel sad. There are some verifiable scumbags writing for publications and the banner under which they publish legitimises their horrible nature.
She seems like one of those women who gets turned on by serial murderers. Her promotional piece on the Australian suggests that.
It's a horrible thought but I wonder if the Herald is softening the ground for a full push on trial coverage where they hope to make hundreds of thousands of dollars creating a circus based on the misery of this malevolent event.
(e) Meng-Yee is experienced, yet she dressed up as the slain victim in a case she covered presumably in order to promote herself and her agenda. I think the Herald are quite happy to have this sociopath cover the very worst terror attack in this country since the land wars.
That reporter was trusted with the coverage of the Sophie Elliot murder. A psychopathic murder by a person very similar in character to the Christchurch mass murderer and she dressed up as the victim three short years later?
I guess she'll be happy wearing a bloodied hijab to her next fancy dress ball!
No excuses for that disgusting behaviour no matter how many years ago. From the link above
"Meng-Yee did not respond to Sunday Star-Times inquiries but in 2009 she spoke to Metro about her work. The article said when Meng-Yee arrived at the newspaper she claimed her aim was to "lower the bar".
The story went on to disclose that Meng-Yee did not write many of the articles that appeared under her name, instead working closely with other writers to ready them for publication, and that she worked with TV journalist Genevieve Westcott on 60 Minutes, where the pair were nicknamed the pitbull and the pekingese."
As I have said before: As they try to escape from behind it in an effort to get noticed, the paywall will encourage a race to the bottom by NZ Herald journalists.
And as many here have posited, the Herald will the most likely only allow the most venal, (like Hosking), to be outside the paywall. This will further increase the downward pressure on Herald journalists as they compete to be more like Hosking.
The Herald will no longer be the journal of record. That task will fall to free to air and on line Public Service Broadcaster, RNZ.
In face of the climate crisis, amongst our official leaders. It almost seems, that courageous leadership is a forgotten art.
And when our official leaders shrink back from taking the lead; No matter, that they have no rank, or title, or official position the, leadership will fall to the one who leads
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Are you deeply passionate about sharing Māori stories? We’re on the hunt for an experienced writer/editor to lead coverage in our Ātea section.Ātea is a deeply valued section of The Spinoff site, offering Māori perspectives and insights across politics, current affairs and culture. We are thrilled to be looking ...
By Aisha Azeemah in Suva With the lights on one of his sneakers blinking as he ran through the gallery, a little boy looked up at several works of art. One of them was a sculpture of his grandfather: the man who changed how we see the Pacific — Epeli ...
WHAT: Uber drivers are holding a rally outside the Court of Appeal in Wellington tomorrow, as the company begins its appeal against 2022’s Employment Court verdict (in a case taken jointly by FIRST Union and E tū) that four drivers were permanent ...
Just reflecting on the widely held opinion that the next election is a cake walk what with political 'capital' built up in PM Ardern, engagement news and the kerfuffle around the leadership of National party.
Going back two and a half years, there is no way the most strident Labour fan could have envisioned this scenario.
Therefore it is quite possible the same could happen again. After a couple of leadership coups eg Collins, Woodhouse, Adams, Mitchell, a candidate like Upston, Ngaro or Dean, or my pick, someone from outside of politics currently, can come in and sweep all before them.
The coalition needs to look at their statements leading into the election and put them into action.
OMG…. if they have to resort to Dean they may as well give up and go home. Has that MP achieved anything in 4 1/2 terms. Apart from falling for a di-hydrogen monoxide hoax once.
Di-hydrogen monoxide reminds me of when microwaves were a new thing.
Some larrikin sold a microwave cleaner concentrate.
Put in a bowl, run microwave until liquid boils, wipe out oven.
The concentrate?…di-hydrogen monoxide
Chris Liddell might be one to watch. High flying business career overseas, currently serving the Fraud from Fifth Avenue.
Impressive business career. Finance Minister, maybe, but not really the right sort of charisma for political leader. Is probably on track for international roles after his current one so why would he settle for replacing Bill English or Steven Joyce?
That's exactly the kind of comment I would have made about John Key in 2001.
Key was always a self-promoter in a way Liddell does not seem to be. Liddell leans backwards rather than forwards in interviews.
It doesn't matter that Shane Jones is NZ First. Any good he/they achieve can be undone electorally in one brain numbingly dumb speech/spiel.
It's all about the easiest to create negative thing, perception. There is already a 'dishonourable' list with Clare Curran, Twyford, Mahuta, Jackson whose actions, words, for right or wrong, have had the affect of chopping down the tree or at least ring-barking it.
Yes that is right.
Yeah, nothing is a given.
National might even figure out how to make friends.
The downfall of our ridiculous food system begins. Extreme waves, some > 20m being recorded. Overall wave action increasing.
Soon the shipping will only be seasonal. Then, uninsurable…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/112447503/extreme-waves-are-getting-higher-in-the-antarctic-ocean-study-finds
Off to a tree cropping workshop today. EXCITED!
So the option of having sea transport is lessening. Our government has abandoned the domestic economy in order to export and then we can buy all the wonderful things available from the world with our export dollars. That is, those in employment at a living wage. We have stopped making things for ourselves.
But then, because of the reciprocal nature of our trading system we have an open economy, and overseas people who have bigger purses than us, can buy wonderful things here, like houses, desirable land and very desirable water.
Now we have to decide whether we are going to spend our money buying imported goods, which are no longer made here, or go without – mend and save – and try to gather a deposit to buy a shoe-box or a big car to live in as the housing market prices have been pushed up by our wealthier export customers.
Is that a wise way to run a country? Even the relatively well off people are finding that the house they can obtain loan money to buy, drains more than half of their weekly or monthly earnings. And how do we supply necessities and have a thriving economy if we can’t export our produce. We will still be able to export services. But the reciprocal system will be broken. The overseas buyers will still come here and buy us up, we will be at survival mode and be tenants in what was our own land. I think John Key was expressing concern about that at one time while facilitating the process. Was it wise to leave him to play his smirking Prime Minister role for so long?
Greywarshark
We are being lead down the path to oblivion.
Holy Balls Batman
I saw a bunch of 18 year old redwoods today far bigger than Pinus radiata at 25 years (when they cut).
Too big for today's mills, no market (here) as everything is pine. Then there's the people growing natives, too scared to try large scale in case they're not allowed to realise the crop…
So we can't sell exotic timber except pine locally, we can't grow natives that would sell because we might not be allowed to sell them. Pine pine did someone say pine.
We can grow far better trees but… crops must be clonal for markets. And you got to have a market. Assessing a stand of a couple hundred trees for the tree keepers (good clones) is a couple hundred thousand dollars…
Who's got that laying around.
The market that's supposed to help little guys (trickle trickle) has us locked out. I guess you could grow pine…
F'n travesty. No variety in the market means no resilience to vagaries in the market. A bug, a bacteria, a fungi, an oomycete, an emerging player, a reticent buyer…
NZ forestry has all its eggs in one basket.
I had a look through Lincoln University offerings to see what they had on tree diversity. I couldn't find stuff. Pine.. But what about growing for carbon credits. Money for keeping them in the ground?
And having a range of trees for specialist use, furniture etc, masts; picking them out by helicopter and making big $$ from the few.
Someone would have to live in the area as they would attract thieves. Guns might be appropriate for rangers in this case.
There must be markets for other trees. Reasonably fast growing and not requiring the same treatment as softwood, resinous pines.
Page 6
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/28461-nefd-2017-report-pdf
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/news-and-resources/open-data-and-forecasting/forestry/new-zealands-forests/
"The number of owners with less than 40 hectares is difficult to estimate, but is likely to be over 10,000"
And there's a pie graph. A fucking pie graph. Go NZ Govt.
Yes WTB.
Pine tree economy is flawed as the cost to us for the road damage from using trucks is horrendous and driving the country broke and Ports tell us that the port virtually has to give no charge to using every log shipped from their Ports now as there is no money it it.
So we taxpayers pay to maintain n the Ports that have to allow free transport overseas from their Port, and we pay to keep the roads maintained from trucking the logs to the Port.
We are being screwed every day by this mindless false economy we are in now no thanks to national setting this all up for the export potential of a false economy in pine trees.
The reply function is still very hit and miss . I'm on a samsung xcover4.
Hey wags, I have the same problem on my huawei, however when using Brave rather than Chrome I have no problem.
I thought there was there an election in the UK recently. Cant find any results.
Or was I imaging it?
HA L ocal sections. Found it!!!
https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/ceeqy0e9894t/england-local-elections-2019
Final Councils Conservative 93 Labour 60 | Councillors similar proportions
Note Change on last election: Conservative Councils -44 Councillors -1334
Labour Councils -6 Councillors -82.
Residents Association Councils 2 Greens 0
Councillors RA 119 (+49) Greens 265 (+194)
So Greens are accepted at grass roots level
Lib dems gained 700 councillors – basically doubled their representation.
Ran on an exit the brexit campaign.
I jumped right over the Lib Dems – meant to put them in.
They just about doubled. Seemed to have mopped up Tory disdain. Liberal Democrat:
Councils: Total18 +/-+10
Councillors: Total1350 +/-+703
Thanks BBC for nice clear chart.
Thanks BBC for nice clear chart.
You really are a True Believer.
https://off-guardian.org/2019/05/03/uk-local-election-propaganda-significant-losses-for-both-sides/
So the tories get decimated and, instead of being the recipient of a mass of disgruntled voters wrath, labour themselves also take a hammering. Not really the look of a government in waiting.
And you say true believer lol
For every seat Labour lost, the Tories lost 14.
"Have Labour gained a whole bunch of seats? No. But the media effort to conflate Labour’s minor losses with the complete trouncing the Conservatives have taken is totally dishonest."
The results aren't in dispute, are they? What is, is how labour lost big and didn't benefit from the tory backlash, casting doubt on their ability to form a government after the next general election. It doesn’t seem they are resonating well with the public.
Without a brexit agreement, the longer Farrage's brexit party and the ukip stay in the game seems to be Corbyn's only hope of sneaking in to power at present, by default. Having the lib dems bounce back will take seats off May, but then labour could well lose out in 3 way electorates, and those tactically voting where they are in 3rd place. Not that positive, and certainly not much to shout about against a most unpopular ruling party.
Lucky for labour it's first past the post and not mmp, otherwise they'd be screwed with, on current polling, only scoring in the low 30s.
Agreed, the results are indisputable.
If, as you say, "Labour lost big",
then the Tories lost big big big big big big big big big big big big big big.
Decimated,I wrote.
And if labour have lost councils and councillors during that time, then the reports of shared significant losses are indeed accurate.
If 14-to-1 is your idea of "shared" losses, then bags I get first choice after you've cut the cake.
Carry on spinning.
Yep, shared significant losses. Consider where labour were losing hardest, take in the big picture, add context, and the story behind the numbers makes more sense.
And spinning, for who?
Seems you're talking up Labour losses – that’s your focus, no?
I’m attempting to provide a quantitative representation of (relative) losses which might form the basis for objective analyses.
Labour: Losers
Tories: Losers Losers Losers Losers Losers Losers Losers Losers Losers Losers Losers Losers Losers Losers
Regarding the beneficiaries of 'spin', happy for readers to judge.
libdems: winners winners winners winners winners winners winners
Well I'm definitely not downplaying labours losses, nor what it potentially means for them going forward electorally as a party who can still lose on the night as the most divided tory party in a generation shart it's pants.
So in rejecting the claims of propaganda and biassed media reporting in covering this poll, looking in to the stories behind the numbers (such as why labour shed votes to the lib dems in swings of around 8%), and going deeper behind a banner headline (why the major opposition party didn't pick up conservative protest votes when it needs them in these electorates to become government), I am also happy to leave it to the readers to decide whose spinning and for why.
Great to see Minister Sage push back successfully on the Waihi Oceania Gold tailing dam investment.
That will have taken political hard work within this government.
Given Labour's history in Waihi it would be hard not to support mining in a mining town.
Tough decision for a government, but great standup Minister Sage.
Yes Ad but the big issue is this.
yes we humans are one of the first to be extinct I fear.
The planet is nearing the end as the Ross Sea ice shelf is about to disappear and our sea levels will rise dramatically.
The oxygen content in the atmosphere is sinking every month now so how long can we survive without oxygen in our air?
We daily see brand new trucks on our roads all hauling freight that used to go by rail, increasing the carbon levels as we speak, so we are a menace to ourselves alright.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190429111835.htm
Rapid melting of the world’s largest ice shelf linked to solar heat in the ocean
Date:
April 29, 2019
Source:
University of Cambridge
Summary:
An international team of scientists has found part of the world’s largest ice shelf is melting 10 times faster than the overall ice shelf average, due to solar heating of the surrounding ocean surface.
Not much hope for our children now but to flee to a “survival bunkers” like they are probably building up high on the safety of the te-ureweras up in the hills when the end comes.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1705/S00487/te-kawa-o-te-ureweras-draft-released.htm
Sounds like it's a problem that's going to solve itself cleany.
This would be the third such environmental catastrophe in the Waihi area. Not only would this toxic* mound of waste cover over 178H of agricultural land rendering it useless and presenting an eyesore for generations to come, there are other considerations to be taken into account as well.
https://teggtalk.wordpress.com/2016/11/30/how-earthquake-safe-are-the-mine-tailings-dams-at-waihi/
Coromandel Watchdog have been fighting this crap from the miners for years now. We don't need any more fucking gold. There has been 170,000 of tonnes of the stuff mined and locked up in safes such as Fort Knox, and elsewhere already. So it's already there if ever it is needed for any useful purpose. To get enough gold for a single wedding ring you have to drill though 250 tonnes of rock, pulverize it, then chemically treat it. Such activity now is simply madness.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5129257/
This is the way to do it.
The key was leadership
Fascists peacefully swamped by large crowd, cancel planned march through Liverpool.
When only a small counter protest turn up, the fascists sensing weakness, will not hesitate to use violence to intimidate and smash them over.
What made the difference between a small counter protest and large counter protest was leadership.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/nov/03/liverpool-runs-far-right-marchers-out-of-town
Ha! I heard, "Bye bye".
Love it! Thank-you Jenny.
I think that National’s break-point will be when the Budget gets presented to the House. The Party’s response and its Leader’s delivery will seal their fate for the next Election. Even the opinion pieces of Political Editors are getting boringly predictable in style and substance but they still do their job as click-bait <sigh>.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/112458922/nationals-sinking-feeling-after-jacinda-ardern-springs-engagement-news
Here's hoping. Nothing I'd like more than to see the current National Party crop to self-destruct.
Having just watched "The Nation", what worries me is that there's a fair few issues where Labour/the Coalition are not even picking the low hanging fruit (apologies – I'm still pivoting going forward from the other day). Simon Wilson had a point – to do with the interaction between departments (in this case IRD and MSD) and the Ministers responsible – this to do with the case of a rape victim. From what I could see, even under current legislation, this matter could at least be partially resolved even if, as Sepuloni said, there would be no retrospective compensation.
Then there are things such as worker exploitation (BOTH immigrant and citizen) which could be at LEAST improved by Ministerial and Ministry intervention.
Then there are NZTA fuckups, insurance issues, etc, etc., etc. that may start to really piss off an impatient electorate if the Coalition doesn't pick up the pace (especially where some basic resolution doesn't require law changes).
Even IF and THOUGH the gNats are in most part to blame for a lot of it all, it won't stop them from scoring a few hits if some of this 'low hanging fruit' isn't dealt with.
It's a failure of cabinet leadership to not make immediate fixes because you are waiting to implement longer-term change.
/agreed – even with a heavy workload. And possibly a failure of Ministerial-Department/Ministry Head interaction if and when there are roadblocks – even given all that 'impartiality of officials'.
And then there's a rabid media to contend with, many of whom will still be stirring as much shit as possible in their dying days, but I doubt whether even the likes of JC would be giving a free ride over the example(s) given above.
They may get beyond Christ-levels of forgiveness, yes. 🙂
As we have seen in the past, when the time is right, even a very mildly lefty government can be taken down by outrage over light-bulbs. This is the world we live in – a dominion of lies ruled over by money.
But the light-bulbs are symbolic of other matters that there are doubts about; they just act as a marker, virtue-signalling.*
It could mean there are the Left looking down, fussing over every little thing while the parade passes by.
It could mean there are the Left trying to be the Knight on the White Charger saving people who didn't want that.
It could be there are the Left fulminating over something, and ready to turn our lives upside down as they did when they brought in the Free-Market and No Regulation.
It could mean there are the people who are going to make us take our medicine which they have prescribed and no-one we know considers we are even sick, but they always know best.
It could mean that Labour presses an anti-authority nerve in those who are happy to pursue their own ends and let someone else clean up any messes left. What me clean up. I employ people to do that for me, and anyway others have done it too, why pick on me/us to behave well, make changes that aren't proven 100% worthwhile.
Examples of possible effects of new light bulb changes. In myself I thought of the cost of buying two new light bulbs at possibly $7 each compared to incandescent ones at $1 each. When people are really poor they can't afford to make such forward-moving gestures. Cut out incandescents and it would be back to candles. So I hoped that Labour could cut its crusading zeal down to what was okay for the precariat working and not working classes which used to be their spine.
*Virtue-signalling:
the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one’s good character or the moral correctness of one’s position on a particular issue.
“it’s noticeable how often virtue signalling consists of saying you hate things”
Regulating energy-efficient lightbulbs and showers was symbolic of the fundamental changes we need to make for the climate – and we have seen in the decade since that how far many people are prepared to go to keep their heads firmly planted in the sand.
If making those small changes was never going to have any effect, you might be able to claim it was 'virtue signalling'. That's just a bad-faith phrase from the dolts of the US right.
It was what it was. As you say it was symbolic of changes we needed to make, and that they would not recognise the difficulties that very low income people faced, because they don't care to apply their minds to da little peeps. Fact – fact.
And don't forget the “Fart Tax” AB when some farmer/Nat MP drove his tractor up parliament steps. Everybody laughed. Such a good joke against the Clark government.
Not laughing now are they, although not nearly enough has been done about it.
Labour should turn all that puerile stuff back on National – and those who fell for it – simply because they deserve it.
Fair comments. I think it would be great if somebody more familiar with it does a (guest) post on the different areas of responsibility of departmental CEOs, for example, for operational matters, and the Ministers. As far as I know, Ministers don’t hire the staff in their Ministries.
Where’s veutoviper?
She walked Incognito. I don't know why but suspect someone or some people here offended her.
There are a tiny handful of commenters on this site who make a career out of trying to offend regulars.
If we commenters care about what is happening to people in NZ and the world then we can't walk away from a forum like this that attempts to bring matters to scrutiny. It is good if people don't get nagged at all the time, if they have a point they should be considered. But it may need altering when some of its aspects are challenged. The view as to rightness can be different depending on the perspective. If the challenger does not have a worthy point and is unrelenting there is the choice of ignoring them, or uncovering their perspective and showing it as unreasonable. Also sometimes when you disagree with someone, it is still possible to see their greater good overall.
Those who want to state a case and think that they are totally right, need to stay on and at least hear and have short discussions about other people's POV. Veutoviper is a concerned and informed person and could be expected to stick around not walk away.
But some I think have 20th century perceptions. These have to alter somewhat – we can't think in exactly the same mode as the past, our future is changing and our approach must also – we know that life may become extremely uncomfortable. I worry as I read stories from the holocaust, from past times; we haven't made the great strides in managing our human life, emotions and desires, goals and outcomes, as we should. Therefore we have to think more deeply, nothing is absolutely certain, judgments have to be made., sometimes interim. Kindness and practicality must be hand in hand. For everyone who gives up, there are a thousand who will never understand that particular POV, and vice versa. It is important for the thinking, to assess their own thoughts and try to understand others who haven't experience or imagination.
FYI @ Incognito.
You might be interested in RNZ's "The House" a week or so back (31/3/2019 i THINK).
Briefly deals with various powers vested in Ministers and Departmental CEO's and down the chain – regulatory authority etc. which allows for a degree of flexibility when conditions change or in unforeseen circumstances.
Things CAN get done quite quickly when necessary – as we have just seen. For example: in the case of the Christchurch terrorist attack, visa changes to allow family members of victims to come to NZ were implemented within a couple of weeks.
And yes re Ministers and hiring of staff (which is as it should be probably), but there are ways and means – Ministers making it clear what expectations are, etc.
And let's not pretend the old nudge nudge wink wink shit hasn't been happening – especially during the gNat's last reign, OR things like abuse of the OIA system, OR the use of Thompson & Clark – clearly unacceptable behaviour for the public service to be involved in. Sanctions are available for that sort of thing BUT for political will and who has been licking who's arse (Sorry to be blunt, but that's what it amounts to).
Deliberate under-resourcing in some areas (for example) of those responsible for monitoring tertiary education, or visa compliance (James Casson aside), or monitoring the state of some of those immigration 'advisors' suited the last gNat junta very well. Priorities CAN be adjusted in many cases to ensure the sort of shit "The Nation" covered, or exploitation doesn't/didn't happen.
Thanks, I might have a look later although I’m keen to write a post (on a different topic). In any case, I don’t feel comfortable to write a meaningful post on departments and ministries, for example.
That thing by Watkins was a snore-fest. Could have been written a year ago and no-one would know the difference.
Exactly! It still managed to attract 480 comments!? Comments have now been closed on the article, but this is why they keep writing these snore fests.
It is a most peculiar article. She starts off with acomment about the donations to National soaring while Labours were paltry.
Somehow this is meant to be interpreted as National are in trouble? Shouldn't it mean, if her remark about "donations drying up" is correct it is Labour that is in trouble?
Still it is a pretty typical Watkins piece. Bugger the facts. She loves Ardern.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47yuiPK01kg
Harp music 🙂
An insightful view on how we used to police bad behaviour on our roads by someone who knows.
Makes me wonder whether our terrible road toll could be reduced if we returned to the old style of traffic policing, by a specialist force of dedicated officers with a passion for road safety and saving lives on the road, as their sole mission.
https://www.noted.co.nz/life/life-in-nz/when-traffic-cops-used-to-rule-new-zealand-roads/
Food for thought at least.
I was told something interesting by a friend who was part of the emergency response to the Tasman forest fire and was talking to a top Tasman cop. He said the previous National government had little interest in road safety, their sole focus was on keeping traffic, and of course commerce in the form of trucking, moving as quickly as possible. He is very pleased to see the coalition government's focus firmly back on policing for safer roads.
Yes, and that is a great example of getting on with change – immediate Budget action, clear announcement by Minister, results on the ground spreading already. Glad to hear those who have to respond to safety failures are noticing improvement.
Ae! And they have this weird idea that double lanes in both directions will naturally allow it all to happen (when the average NuZillner has yet to come to terms with merging like a zip and still drives like it's all a competition, in between checking the latest beep or blip or bell sound that comes across their cell phone).
Hence we have the likes of that absolute white baby elephant fuckup between Papamoa and Paengaroa (incidentally, where some of the worst worker exploitation, immigrants and others involved in bullshit tertiary education and other little scams reside and where Cassons try to justify their race shism), but where the occasional logging truck, gNat and orchid owner roams free
That's a good 'wonder' Jenny H. The cops now seem too centred on vehicle crime, perhaps it gets their figures up to the target set; another idea stop high targets and concentrate on outcomes of projects for improvement.
Also run stats counting all reasonably serious accidents and stop concentrating on the death toll. That stat only indicates a complete failure by traffic police to show care for people and polite interaction on the roads instead a simple end-of-life statistic for the books.
(An idea – have projects like for a period ask people to drive differently coming to roundabouts by slowing by about 10 kms so allowing others to move onto the road space in the few seconds that a slower entry would provide. See if over a six month period, what might be called cautious courtesy driving would lower accidents, and facilitate traffic movement. Too many people drive at full speed into a roundabout which is unwise, and reduces others entry-openings.)
Speed bumps at roundabout entries grazy. That'll slow the funkers down.
Immediately effective – and cheaper than "asking" people.
Fair comment Jenny.
I travel the east coast highway two from Napier to Tauranga often and have seen so many large potholes on these narrow winding single lane roads caused by heavy trucks all the time now and these potholes are so large that if you don't swerve to avoid them you will damage your steering system.
I have had 6 steering repairs in two years all caused by hitting large potholes.
That is one issue. then there are speeding drivers always trying to force slow drivers to speed up, and that is another problem..
The Government cant afford to keep fixing the damages the trucks are causing now so we need to see government increase the use of the roads by those trucks, in a "user Pays" policy.
Clearly the 'heavier longer trucks' HPMV are far too heavy for our light weighted 'soft roads' now.
.
all those parts for repairs on your car would have quite possibly been transported by truck to your repairer.
Trucks are on the road because of customer demand for goods. If you dont consume anything, then the trucks have nothing to transport, so wont be on the road.
if we eliminate HPMV, these would be replaced by around 20% more trucks.
Erik Prince tried to train James O’Keefe’s undercover ninnies, but the instructor threw in the towel because the group wasn’t capable of learning.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/erik-prince-set-up-intel-training-for-project-veritas-james-okeefe-report
Thwarted young men seeking extreme adventure learn the hard way in trouble spots like Ukraine.
They don't want to be bossed round by warlord oligarchs like Prince
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-04/ukraine-foreign-fighters-meger/11054728
Then they come back home…
Thwarted young men my arse. These fuckers are aboard the wingnut welfare train with O'keefe himself reportedly raking in an estimated $300k in 2017.
They’re coming from all over the world Joe, from both sides of the political divide. Nothing to do with Keefe whoever the hell that nobody is .
“Meanwhile, George, an American fighting on the Ukrainian side, described those he fought with as having “the same hatred for Russia or the same kind of sense of nationalism”.
Could be you Joe
“Anti-imperialists, anti-fascists, and those on the far left come to defend the pro-communist separatists and defend the autonomous regions from what they see as global imperialism.”
Then why the fuck did you bother replying to a comment about O’Keefe?
a career opportunity for you.
Put your money where your mouth is
Weak sauce, dope.
Send those chickenhawks Bolton, Pence, and brave, brave Marco Rubio down to Caracas. Let's see how long they last!
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1123346471477219333
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/rugby-world-cup/rwc-2019-japan/112452503/revealed-how-the-all-blacks-coaches-deal-with-injury-setbacks-in-world-cup-year
NZ rugby has dug it's own hole, & cancelled out the aspects of the game that allowed NZ's natural talent to thrive at the game in a way that summed up to the display of a national heritage like no where else in the world. The aspects of the game that gave the All Blacks a long standing distinguished dynanism are thrown away and can't come back, and the hole will avalanche in more and more, as can not be sustained.
Now a diplomatic security risk everytime run on the field for NZ i'm afraid too; an illustration being the prestige to Russia's ( a heavily armed nation) image it's overall diplomatic handling of the recent successful soccer world cup gave it, to the division and acrimony the ABs have associated to NZ on such stages in recent times in relation to the rest of the game.
Black Ferns rugby can be a new story for NZ instead.
New Zealand took the 2011 RWC not because of any "natural talent" but because of the refusal of the "referee" to penalize the home team's blatant cheating throughout that farcical final.
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/mark-reason-new-zealand-deserved-to.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XBqetaCfgo&t=132s
File it under swings and roundabouts Mozza, it balances the ledger for Barnes being overwhelmed on the '07 match were France went unpenalised for a half and scored a try with a forward pass.
File it under swings and roundabouts Mozza, it balances the ledger for Barnes being overwhelmed on the '07 match
Nonsense. On stilts. He made two errors—he missed two forward passes, one leading to a try for the All Blacks, one to a try for the Tricolors. His couple of honest errors are not in the same universe as Craig Joubert’s refusal to even warn, let alone penalize, the flagrant and systematic cheating by the All Blacks in that infamous farce four years later.
France went unpenalised for a half …
They did not infringe. That's why.
…. and scored a try with a forward pass.
So did New Zealand. Luke McAlister's try followed a forward pass. I recommend you watch the match some time.
The All Blacks were imploding due to another episode of poor management of our rugby talents in the deserved French upset, and it would have happened one way or another.
The more recent final against the Wallabies was also poor referring but by then no one was paying attention, & despite the rigged deck, the aussies were only a James O'Connor type player break away from over coming them anyway, which isn't surprising given the Georgia pool game would be the poorest AB team performance in any world cup.
poor management of our rugby talents in the deserved French upset
What do you mean by "poor management"? They simply lost a football match. The French were too good for them.
The more recent final against the Wallabies was also poor referring
???? There was nothing in that final to match the non-performance by Joubert in 2011. The only terrible refereeing in the 2015 tournament was in the Australia-Scotland match. The “referee” was…. Craig Joubert.
Upset…..deserved
If things had gone the Wallabies way in terms of referring in crucial stages in that game, they could have broken the ABs, who they were otherwise clinging onto by their fingernails in staying in the match.
Fair call, my friend. However, the Wallabies were not the victims of orchestrated cheating.
That's the beauty of the game, 2 folk can watch it and see two totally different games.
I see way more ruck penalties when the team from Canterbury plays than my red and black jerseyed friends.
You clearly haven't watched either the 2007 match or the 2011 travesty.
Heh, it's great to be the only one right eh mozza.
Try (see what I did there) this on for size…
"They did not infringe…"
The video had three different angles and featured statistical breakdowns of lineouts, scrums, penalties, tackle counts, territory and possession. On those statistics, the All Blacks dominated. They had an overwhelming 73 per cent territorial advantage, winning 166 rucks to France's 42 and making only 73 tackles compared with France's 331.
….
To clarify, I got that from Wikipedia, wanting to confirm we we're talking about the same game.
They didn't infringe. They defended grimly. It's hard to beat a French team that's really determined. Unless you've got a "referee" like Andre Watson or Craig Joubert.
I imagine what Morrissey knows about rugby you could fit in a Lilliputian's thimble.
Ha ha ha ha ha! Good one, M'bird! I think you meant to say "could fit in a Brobdingnabian's thimble."
Of course, a quick sashay through this writer's oeuvre will show you that I've commented on rugby and other sports at an elevated and thoughtful level* for many years now.
And let's face it: even someone who knows as little about the game as, say, a Herald rugby writer or a Radio Sports opinion-vomiter like Martin "Moron" Devlin or Tony "Boot Boy" Veitch knows that the All Blacks were beaten fair and square by the Tricolors in 2007, and that they were allowed to cheat flagrantly throughout that farcical RWC final four years later.
* At the risk of being immodest.
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/daisycutter-sports-rugby-world-cup.html
You don't know shit from clay on this subject.
That's no argument, my friend. My record speaks for itself. Yours?
Gotta say mozza, I'm with the short tailed shear water on this.
I did watch, let alone live both games.
Currently I am watching the local derby, come half time and find you are still braying.
I reckon it will not stop you having an opinion on this match though.
Otago v Waikato is not a local derby. Auckland v. Counties is a local derby.
Interesting to see how readily you resort to derogatory language: dismissing what I say as "braying." Have you considered a career in talk radio perhaps?
In regards to being derogatory, I acknowledge, withdraw and apologise.
As to blatant cheating, I maintain two people can watch the same game and see two different spectacles. Evidence being this exchange.
In regards to being derogatory, I acknowledge, withdraw and apologise.
Good man, g!
https://media1.tenor.com/images/b54ca60562cd613dfc43bca55a15a3b4/tenor.gif?itemid=7298734
As to blatant cheating, I maintain two people can watch the same game and see two different spectacles. Evidence being this exchange.
You saw the blatant, orchestrated cheating by the All Black forwards in that farcical 2011 RWC Final just as well as everyone else did.
Ha! Were you at kids' sport this morning? Or ever?
What difference does it make?
And now Ben Smith is helped from the field after a sickening collision in a very willing local Derry.
Knee hyper-extended and a chin on shoulder contact…
Otago v Waikato is not a local Derry. Nor is it a local derby. It's a game between two teams separated by several hundred kilometres.
In a competition that spans tens of thousands of kilometeres, chiefs vs highlanders is a local derby.
No it's not. A derby game is between two teams from the same town, or adjacent towns. Auckland-Counties or Auckland-North Harbour or Otago-Southland are derby games.
Similarly, Manchester United v. Man. City and AstonVilla v. Birmingham, and Arsenal v. Chelsea are derbies, but Liverpool v. Arsenal is not.
Yes it is. I will follow the example of Grant Nisbett MNZM and caller of 300 test matches rather than yours.
I note you refuse to use the franchise names. Perhaps a sign of a fondness for a bygone era?
My exception is the team from Canterbury, until they change their name that is what they shall remain.
Grant Nisbett? He's certainly superior to Ian "Smithy" Smith and Justin Marshall *, but on this he's as slapdash as they are.
I'm happy to use the franchise names, but I'm not going to accept the extirpation of the provincial names. It's the Wellington Hurricanes, and the Auckland Blues, and the Waikato Chiefs.
And it's the Natal Sharks and the Johannesburg Lions, not the "South African Sharks" and "South African Lions."
And yes, you're correct, it's the Canterbury Crusaders. Need to change that vile name, of course, but whatever it is, it'll still be Christchurch's team. BTW, how come the Crusaders never played a game against the famous London team Saracens?
* I tangled with that numbskull fifteen years ago….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/bernadine-or-hell-hath-no-fury-aug-29.html
Gotta say for me its the Hurricanes as Wellington isn't the extent of the catchment area.
I am in the Manawatu and struggled to cheer for the Highlanders because of the large number of local players in that team.
Tad churlish perhaps but I am sure I am not the only grumpy one in this discussion.
Yes, you're correct about the Hurricanes not being only a Wellington team. Manawatu and Hawkes Bay are important parts of the team, and so was Taranaki. And, no, I haven't forgotten the Wairarapa, Horowhenua, Whanganui, etc. But the major urban area is Wellington, and that's where most of the home games are played.
Similarly, the Boston Red Sox represent not only the Boston urban area but all of the states of New England. Only a mental pygmy such as a New Zealand Rugby boss would be persuaded to dispense with the word "Boston" however.
Welfare reforms and Max Rashbrooke.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/388468/at-last-welfare-emphasis-will-move-from-punishment-to-support
Opinion – The battles over welfare are in large part a dispute about whether people who find themselves relying on social security are principally in need of punishment or support….
More generally, as the report notes, there is very little evidence that sanctions achieve their claimed effects of getting people back into work. They are just as likely to force people out of the system altogether or into reliance on criminal activities or unsustainable borrowing.
In contrast to the harsh overseer model, the experts' report is an attempt to put a nurturing, caring assistant at the heart of the welfare system. It centres the system on whakamana tāngata – "restoring dignity to people so they can participate meaningfully with their families and communities"…
The experts' report does not, as some hoped, spell out a completely new and coherent plan for a 21st century welfare system. It does not sketch out a fully future-proofed welfare system. It represents big change, not transformational change.
But then, like most of this government's working groups, Cindy Kiro and her team were not given the time and resources to deliver on broader ambitions. What they have produced, though, is still immensely important.
And Jeremy Pie – On the UK State of the nation report.
Social mobility in UK has stalled. In 2010 Cameron set up Social Mobility Commission but it resigned en masse a year after Theresa May had said she would do great stuff in fixing injustices. They said that the Government was too focussed on Brexit to do anything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOKLmYF4b20
Then in the USA, he decided that Trump promised change and now people have got it!
Please at least add quote marks when you use a mix of yours and someone else's words like that – better still, click the ["] button on the editor toolbar so the quoted paragraph becomes indented.
Oh hell. Now I won't pass the adaptive test for understandability. I'm a failure at communication. I'm teetering on the edge of not commenting here and leaving it to the snobs.
Our world is coming to an end but our sentence construction, our syntax is what really catches the eye and the mind.
Passive? Or Aggressive? Passive or aggressive? We just don't know.
Sorry, I have just noticed that the whole thing was a quote, not your words at all.
Good. Let's get the history correct – surely truth is important.
Moderator
Any chance of a confirmation that my contribution and a separate email have been received and if it's okay, middling, passing bad, not okay?
I’ll make an enquiry at the back-end.
Ta.
I haven't seen anything. I'll have a look.
Thanks if I haven't done right, I'll do a printout on what I should do next time so I get in the current.
Oz Rugby has an $8B budget hole this year – (not sure when they get this years World Cup money) and face a payout of $4M on Folau's contract if their termination is seen as a breach.
They have only one option – given Cheika says he will not be selected even if still on contract, refuse to pay him a penny and drag this through the courts if they have to. Even if they still payout – better later than now. But more likely – given he would be unable to play and would have no guarantee of ever receiving any money – he would be forced to seek to leave the contract so he can be paid to play elsewhere.
The IAAF has a rule whereby women competitors must have a testosterone level below "5" (the norm is .2 to 1.5), for events between 400m and the mile, but not shorter distances or field events.
It seems as if their rule applies only to distances which only one specific athlete competes.
Given the said extra testosterone gives athletes an advantage in shorter distances and field events the most (which is why males and females have taken drugs for these events way more often than for the 800m and 1500m) their rule is inexplicable.
Labour's Bill Shorten won 'narrowly in last nights leaders debate in Brisbane.
Gym Jordan's in for a rough ride.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State University asked a judge Wednesday for permission to publicly share information about a confidential state medical board investigation involving the team doctor accused of decades-old sexual misconduct against more than 150 former students.
http://www.startribune.com/ohio-state-wants-info-on-96-doc-investigation-made-public/509334551/
I notice the new self appointed elite of NZ journalism has decided to freely name the Christchurch murderer, even going so far as to promote him and his home town in backwater Australia.
What a disgraceful rag that Herald is.
Edit: I looked a bit deeper into the writer of this promotion piece, Caroline Meng-Yee, and it turns out she’s bee in trouble before for dressing as slain Sophie Elliot at a fancy dress birthday party in 2011.
I wouldn't be surprised if their reasoning is that the inevitable outrage will suck in a bunch of eyeballs. They'll come out with some freedom bullshit and that'll reel in Trotsker and co.
Reading about this Meng-Yee character made me feel sad. There are some verifiable scumbags writing for publications and the banner under which they publish legitimises their horrible nature.
She seems like one of those women who gets turned on by serial murderers. Her promotional piece on the Australian suggests that.
sad and sick for me
It's a horrible thought but I wonder if the Herald is softening the ground for a full push on trial coverage where they hope to make hundreds of thousands of dollars creating a circus based on the misery of this malevolent event.
Can't see how that would fit with this: https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/chch-terror/388166/christchurch-mosque-shootings-media-agree-on-trial-coverage-protocols
(e) Meng-Yee is experienced, yet she dressed up as the slain victim in a case she covered presumably in order to promote herself and her agenda. I think the Herald are quite happy to have this sociopath cover the very worst terror attack in this country since the land wars.
It suits them!
That's 8 years ago.
Wow. What an apologist you are. I'm really surprised.
Sense of proportion.
8 years ago..
Are you serious?
Excuse me?
That reporter was trusted with the coverage of the Sophie Elliot murder. A psychopathic murder by a person very similar in character to the Christchurch mass murderer and she dressed up as the victim three short years later?
I guess she'll be happy wearing a bloodied hijab to her next fancy dress ball!
No excuses for that disgusting behaviour no matter how many years ago. From the link above
Makes me give thanks for a paywall.
Hopefully the amount of times that fishwrap (thanks Patricia (I think)), gets quoted.
Awful Auckland centric rag that it is.
As I have said before: As they try to escape from behind it in an effort to get noticed, the paywall will encourage a race to the bottom by NZ Herald journalists.
And as many here have posited, the Herald will the most likely only allow the most venal, (like Hosking), to be outside the paywall. This will further increase the downward pressure on Herald journalists as they compete to be more like Hosking.
The Herald will no longer be the journal of record. That task will fall to free to air and on line Public Service Broadcaster, RNZ.
UK local election results was a case of a plague on both your houses. Looks like Corbyn is not doing as good a job as some might like to paint it.
Nice comment, idiot. Why be such an air-head when you are capable of more?
??????
The fact is that the Conservative Party has been humiliated. Labour, the biggest and most popular party in Europe, has performed far better.
https://off-guardian.org/2019/05/03/uk-local-election-propaganda-significant-losses-for-both-sides/
Looks like Maybot is doing n even shittier job than everyone thought gozzer.
Forty nine years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkg-bzTHeAk
In face of the climate crisis, amongst our official leaders. It almost seems, that courageous leadership is a forgotten art.
And when our official leaders shrink back from taking the lead; No matter, that they have no rank, or title, or official position the, leadership will fall to the one who leads
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRgJ-22S_Rs
Success!
The Democratic Party succeed in finding a candidate worse than Clinton.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/01/biden-sides-trump-bolton-and-pompeo-backing-coup-effort-venezuela?cd-origin=rss&utm_term=Biden%20Sides%20With%20Trump%2C%20Bolton%2C%20and%20Pompeo%20in%20Backing%20Coup%20Effort%20in%20Venezuela&utm_campaign=%27Beautiful%20Trouble%27%20in%20World%20That%20Needs%20It%20Badly%20%7C%20Your%20Week%20in%20Review&utm_content=email&utm_source=Weekly%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&cm_mmc=Act-On%20Software-_-email-_-%27Beautiful%20Trouble%27%20in%20World%20That%20Needs%20It%20Badly%20%7C%20Your%20Week%20in%20Review-_-Biden%20Sides%20With%20Trump%2C%20Bolton%2C%20and%20Pompeo%20in%20Backing%20Coup%20Effort%20in%20Venezuela'>Biden Sides With Trump, Bolton, and Pompeo in Backing Coup Effort in Venezuela
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/05/that-time-joe-biden-lied-about-his-academic-credentials/?utm_source=mj-newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=in-the-mix-2019-05-04Nobody does alternative facts like Donald Trump, except Joe Biden
<a href='https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/30/more-90-democratic-voters-want-2020-candidate-make-climate-action-and-medicare-all?cd-origin=rss&utm_term=More%20Than%2090%2525%20of%20Democratic%20Voters%20Want%202020%20Candidate%20to%20Make%20Climate%20Action%20and%20Medicare%20for%20All%20Top%20Priorities%3A%20Poll&utm_campaign=%27Beautiful%20Trouble%27%20in%20World%20That%20Needs%20It%20Badly%20%7C%20Your%20Week%20in%20Review&utm_content=email&utm_source=Weekly%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&cm_mmc=Act-On%20Software-_-email-_-%27Beautiful%20Trouble%27%20in%20World%20That%20Needs%20It%20Badly%20%7C%20Your%20Week%20in%20Review-_-More%20Than%2090%2525%20of%20Democratic%20Voters%20Want%202020%20Candidate%20to%20Make%20Climate%20Action%20and%20Medicare%20for%20All%20Top%20Priorities%3A%20Poll'>More Than 90% of Democratic Voters Want 2020 Candidate to Make Climate Action and Medicare for All Top Priorities: Poll</a>
<a href='https://www.philly.com/news/joe-biden-2020-campaign-fundraising-democratic-party-20190426.html'>Within hours of announcing his nomination, Joe Biden attends a fund raiser with internet and private health insurer billionaires opposed to 'Net Neutrality, and 'Medicare'</a>
Doesn't the system that puts that long link address under one linked word work any more?
Let me try it out:
<a href=”https://www.elections.org.nz/”>Elections</a>
<a href=’https://www.elections.org.nz/>Elections</a>
<a href=’https://www.elections.org.nz>Elections</a>
Edit: it seems not.
Use the link symbol in the Editor.
Elections