While more state houses is the priority (greatest need) there are budget cost barriers to this being the sole emphasis.
Kiwi Build is limited by lack of demand – how many first home buyers are there and how many of them can afford new homes?
They can fix this by extending it to those whose first home is a flat or apartment and who intend to start a family – equity into a first family home. Also rent to buy and shared equity (debt is cheap and people are paying the money back – so the cost is an asset in the books) – which gets around people struggling to get a deposit together.
They should also consider
1. those unsold being used as emergency housing for those on state house waiting lists
2. the empty nesters looking to downsize before they retire (but these should be considered only if there is not sufficient uptake from first family home buyers – behind them the landlord class).
"KiwiBuild buyers of studio and one-bedroom homes will be able to sell or rent their property after one year instead of three.".
.so not really a Home..more a nice opportunity for investors, who may well be couples who then want to move on to a family home. However what is even the point of the government encouraging this sort of thing? How is this helping anyone struggling to find secure housing? How is this recalibration an out of control housing market.
This is simply stoking the fire of NZers obsession with making money via property….
There are two of us older folk who can't see how this is right, I haven't re-watched it having seen it last night but there seemed to be "reasons", rather than need, that means tax payer monies are off, eventually, to various people's pockets from housing.
While there will be cases that are genuinely deserving the principal and immediate aim looks to be retain a home and preserve as much capital in it to hand out in your will.
Specific steps look to have been taken to achieve eligibility for a housing benefit. How many of these "arrangements" either similar to this, or via trusts to retain property ownership, are there that keep tax payer funding away from the most vulnerable NZers?
Yes that was a curious item. Not enough information to make is possible to deduce exactly what other options were available to this person as his circumstances changed in the last few years. I suspect a range of options, which would not have needed housing assistance.
The principle of needing to be mortgage free at retirement, if at all possible, should still be the goal for all New Zealanders. This will not be impossible for a large cohort both today and into the future.
I agree after watching that item it was possible to concoct a number of ways to make that something some people would choose to do over what most only think of and that is to rid themsleves of the mortgage.
We live in Tauranga and have witnessed a number of ways that those in the building sector used their access to "land" that was more than the normal plot "size" to maximise gain, pre there being any curbs on that, and how a "family" situation was exercised to exploit it. In short a lot of "young" people have "built" and sold property since 2015-16 or have occupancy and/or ownership, pending possible sale.
This has probably given people ideas, and also trusts pre elders moving to rest homes is another way that the tax payer can be funding some people's "inheritances".
so..helen clark has confirmed (on rnz/m-report) that she was unable to move on reforming cannabis laws in 2002/05 gummints – 'cos they both had a coalition agreement insisting on no reform –
this at the insistance of peter (fucken) dunne..
let's not forget that fact..eh..?
and maybe the next time the media wheel him out as some elder-statesman/expert on cannabis – he could be asked about that..?
and of course clark is gilding the lily somewhat here..
Yep, Dunne is a repulsive creature. I well remember the time he even said there was no way whatsoever even medicinal use of cannabis would be considered, EVEN IF THE EVIDENCE SUPPORTED IT.
Classic stupidity from a classically stupid little man.
There were a couple of OK suggestions coming in on MR feedback this morning @ Mr Ure.
Things like standard pre-consented designs (which would have to have a variety of foundation types associated with them depending of terrain/geology etc.)
But also things like prefabrication, modular designs, council control-freakery over things like tiny homes, container homes, etc.
But you know ………. "Rome wasn't built in a day". It'll need an "emergency" rather than a "crisis" probably. On one of my regular jaunts north, I did notice how quickly new housing sprang up around Waiouru Army base not so long ago.
I think the critical thing was that mum and dad paid only 20 or 25 % of dads income for his State Advances loan for a new house in 1946 as limited by law. It was a quinea a week or 21 shillings and when they eventually paid it off 30 years later it was still only $2.20 cents a week.
It had only 3 power points, an attached but " öutside "toilet, with night cart collection for the first few years, it was 1954 before the street was tarsealed , 2 bedrooms and a "sunroom ", no insulation ( in the SI at that ) and only 62 sq metres, about the size of a double bedroom these days. OMG, how would a snowflake millenial cope with such appalling conditions now. They were just so proud and glad they had a house. Before the war it was almost impossible to get such a thing as a mortgage. The section cost 80 pounds, the house 450 pounds, and his pay was 5 pounds about the same as 80% of the population and the whole lot cost 106 weeks gross pay. Try doing that today, the equivilant would be about 600 weeks pay.
And more importantly the Govt of the day did not have to cope with every permanently aggravated dickhead who could climb on a social media soapbox berating everything they tried to do.
Ah yep ….. thems were the days eh? Me dear ole dad used to have to walk five miles to school everyday, and five miles home again. We were lucky to have shoes when I was a kid, and when we did, mum would have to put cardboard in them when the soles wore out.
Oh how things have improved with the advent of consumerism and the cheap imported multi-plug box. (as it happens, I'm just reconditioning one in between comments)
He lived in very easy times didn't he? My dad had to walk 10 miles uphill to school and another 10 miles uphill on the return trip. That was while he milked 90 cows both before and after school. He then did his homework by the light of a candle. They bred 'em tough in those days.
hmm reminds me of something my Gran used to say… 'when men were men and woman chopped the firewood' she was a tough nut bringing up a bunch of kids in the back of Apiti…
I think his point was something to do with how tough parents had to do it, and we don't know how lucky we are these days – probably as some sort of justification for our children having to be worse off than we were.
Not sure. Perhaps Adrian should answer for Himself.
I don’t suppose he’d be prepare to take any responsibility for the inevitable outcome of the consumerism and ideology that’s now in play.
(God, when I think back, and in the context of history, OH how I did it so bloody tuff! – We really DON’t know how lucky we are eh?).
Where’s Wayne when you need him to offer us all some sage advice
The point being that it was a lot easier for a government to get a roof ( and thats about all ) over a familys head and huge subdivisions could be commandeered into existance and fuck all nimbys in sight.
And as for the current generation as any real estate agent or builder will tell you a large proportion of them today want everything right now with flash as rat with a gold tooth kitchens and bathrooms or two. No wonder houses are bloody expensive.
Also as far as I can remember councils were really glad to have houses being built and families moving in so the council paid for all the services as well as roading and reserve contributions etc and not lump the full cost of such on to the price of a section inflating its price by astronomical amounts. Councils were content to get that stuff paid for over the following decades.
They might have been cold and small on barren sections but they were pretty bloody good for the day and bugger all people were whinging who got into one and most are still standing today.
And Phillip, there is no burgeoning small house movement, it is a tiny proportion of the housing market, its size inflated by dopey TV programmes. and BTW, try and get one through any mad controlling rapacious bloody council.
there are also a lot of the younger generation who are quite happy to live in apartments/studios – near city centres – rather than being in some blighted suburb..
what you say was true a cple of yrs ago – but change is happening fast in that area..
and tiny/pre-fab etc have a whole new appeal/audience..
Interesting that you mentioned pre-fab, thats as old as European settlement , a lot of the mid to late 1800s post offices, police stations, schools and even churches were prefabs cut and made near where the timber was milled and even shipped between islands. Apparently the kitsets for the Police station in Havelock and a church in Stoke got mixed up in transit from the middle of the North Island . Its obvious when you look at them.
I was under the impression that a lot of the very small apartments in Auckland in particular are inhabited by uni students and new young immigrants from Asia where apartment living in cities is the norm. I don't think people live in them for long when families start to grow.
You’re a bit behind the times. Something like just a third of all households have children and it is falling.
Increasingly young adults are intending to not have kids and this has been a trend for a very long time.
Census figures show that 15 per cent of women who were born in 1965 had not had children by the time they were 40.
Allowing for about 7 per cent of women who are biologically infertile, Statistics NZ experts Bill Boddington and Robert Didham estimated in 2007 that voluntary childlessness increased from less than 1 per cent of women born in 1936 to almost 10 per cent of women born 30 years later.
“For those born just 10 years later in 1975, indications are around one in four may remain childless,” they said.
“Studies suggest that few women consciously make the decision to remain childless early in life. On the contrary, deciding not to have children happens as a consequence of other life events, like education, career, mortgages, change in family and partners.
This is pretty much what I observe in my apartment block. Most of the people amongst the 61 apartments are singletons or couples. There is just one child that I’m aware of.
Obviously I don’t know everyone in there. But the turnover of renters and owners-occupiers is pretty low these days. But of the 30% of under 35s that I know in there, very few are planning on having kids. The people over 35, couples or singles (including me), simply haven’t had kids and aren’t planning to. They also decided that quite some time ago.
I was under the impression that a lot of the very small apartments in Auckland in particular are inhabited by uni students and new young immigrants…
The average age of people in my block would be late 40s. The apartments are about 51 square metres. This isn’t abnormal for single room apartments. Single bedroom small apartments from what I have seen tend to be owner-occupied by older people and couples – not younger people. It is a life style that allows you to spend a lot of time working and doing your own thing(s).
Most of the 2-3 bedroom small apartments are usually younger people flatting. You still do find younger couples in one bedroom apartments, but increasingly they’re being priced out.
Phillip Ure @ 4
They also commandeered existing homes (most built between the two wars) and gave some servicemen the chance to purchase them over time by way of a rent subsidy. My father was one of them. He secured a 4 bed-roomed bungalow in Mt Albert and it became the family home. It's still standing and looking better than ever.
So, the idea of a so-called rent to buy scheme is definitely not new.
Most houses built in the 1950's would likely fail to meet building requirements now days. Also many of the houses may have been commissioned by the Government but they were built by the private sector.
Insulation would be a fail, but most houses from that era were solidly built. Sure, there are materials differences and maybe some new structural or fire requirements, but they weren't slapped up cheaply. Before the days of nail guns and suchlike, too.
"Most houses built in the 1950's would likely fail to meet building requirements now days"
So why are people still living in them, buying and selling them? As McFlock says the only thing these houses would fail on is insulation, and that's easily remedied.
They will still be standing long after your modern chip board / custom wood abomination that was built yesterday has degraded into a pile of mush.
So what is they were built by the private sector? Are you claiming that's a bad thing?
They were built by the private sector – Keith Hays, Neil, et al and financed through state advances loans from the government.
Do you have a reason why this couldn't be done today?
Currently renovating a circa 1910 bungalow, including removing gib and retrofitting membrane and installing insulation. Desconstructing the house in this way allows you to see how very skilled the original builders were. Using the same wood for weatherboards, architraves, scotias and windowsills. Barge board and window design, allowed for window flashing to be a flat, easily installed piece of metal. Nothing overly complicated, but very professional simple design. With the installation of R3.4 insulation in the walls, ceiling batts installed in the roof, and underfloor installation, the use of floorlength thermal curtains and pelmets should do the job of making this a home warm enough to live in without excessive heating use.
Since we are trying to do this on a limited budget, are also buying materials from TradeMe. Recent purchase was wooden cabinets for the kitchen, purchased from a property in Epsom due for demolition. Built 16 years ago, and needed to be demolished, it was an impressive spectacle, but one where the bones were riddled with materials utilised badly and unable to be rectified at all.
The old houses that are still standing, are the ones that managed to do so for fifty to a hundred years.
@ Robert – do we have working examples in NZ of swale/small earthwork systems for drought and flood prevention? Work similar to the Mulloon Institutes Natural Sequence Farming
If this is the quality of thinking (as expressed in the attached 'debate) then there is no wonder the world is as dysfunctional as it currently is….'heavyweight' my arse.
No!!! as the new Government are being ‘stymied by National planted stool pigeons inside our agencies.
Why? – firstly because National wanted to ruin every plan the Labour coalition had set up to benefit us all and look ‘winnable for the 2020 election’.
National had a dark plan as they have quietly ‘collectively been sabotaging’ and undermining the Labour/Coalition Government for the last 20 months with ‘every underhanded scheming’ to have those planted bureaucrats to wreck every plan labour/coalition had used that had even looked viable, that may have helped labour look good.
The obvious use of “bullying by Steven Joyce has been employed now, shows that Joyce has been the architect of this undermining of Government by acting against the citizens interests while also destroying the well being and health of the majority of the people.
It was only a matter of time before the rot had to show as coming out of the old rotting carcass of the old National Party as we all knew instinctively that putting Simon Bridges up as the “temporary leader was just a ploy when the big leader was lurking behind the curtains, that is Steven Joyce all over again.
Good example was the Cancer Agency release a few days ago . This was a policy in Labours manifesto at the 2017 election.
As a government they took until now to come up with a workable policy and funding.
National knew about the election promise and their mates in the public service would have passed on the outline earlier this year.
So the Nats play politics with cancer sufferers, try to steal the thunder – and this was after doing nothing for 9 years, indeed scrapping their own plan back in 2013
I see, from the Economist, that the development of infrastructure projects in the UK is nearly as stuffed up as are the ones the current New Zealand Government is proposing.
"HS2, a planned high-speed railway between London and Birmingham, faces delays of up to five years, Britain’s transport minister said. Britain’s biggest infrastructure project may now not move passengers until 2031. The expected cost has risen from £62bn ($75bn) to £81bn-88bn. A second phase, reaching Manchester and Leeds, has been delayed too; patient commuters can expect services in 2035-40."
Sounds about what we can expect from the hypothetical rail service being talked about from Auckland to Wellington, or the roads around Wellington that Twyford was gaily announcing the other day had been "approved" but that work couldn't possibly be started until at least 2028. Even the local Labour MPs were a bit shocked by that announcement apparently.
fake news – workers or executive? cos they ain't the same in my book
headline
Pay freeze for 6000 Fonterra workers
story
Embattled dairy co-operative Fonterra has slapped a pay freeze on its top-earning executives.
Chief executive Miles Hurrell has emailed staff that all salaried employees on individual contracts earning more than $100,000 will not be getting annual pay increases in the year ahead.
According to the 2018 financial report, more than 6000 of Fonterra's 22,000 staff were on salaries of $100,000 and over.
Perhaps you haven’t realised that engineering staff are in very short supply throughout the economy? Fonterra employs a shitload of engineers – probably about half of their staff are engineers of one form or another. It is all of that having to keep food carrying and processing equipment clean as well as dealing with high temperatures and a awful lot of equipment.
But no of course. You’re probably not really aware of anything at all about the working economy… Not something that I have ever noticed you having any understanding of.
I guess I should head off to work rather than commenting on that topic further.
He wanted the appeal heard before his death so the media wouldn't be posting headlines about "sex abuser Peter Ellis" having died. So, naturally Stuff posts a headline saying "sex abuser Peter Ellis" has died. Fuck you, Stuff.
EDIT: “I assume” that was the reason – didn’t hear him say so.
Not the least the parents who caused the hysteria in the first place. Be it on their heads that an innocent man's life was curtailed well before his time.
Interesting you never hear a squeak out of any of them now.
Did any of these people watch the original Terminator flick?
Two US military experts have proposed giving artificial intelligence control over the nuclear launch button. @mchorowitz weighs in on the risks: "…training an algorithm for early warning means that you’re relying entirely on simulated data.” https://t.co/szRrKG6N7Lpic.twitter.com/it62C27Y9q
— Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (@BulletinAtomic) September 1, 2019
Consecutive weeks of marches and protests and now they fold? The cynic in me says this is a sop and the PRC will carry on disappearing whoever they think is a trouble maker.
Hong Kong’s chief executive is to announce the formal withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill that sparked weeks of unrest, finally meeting a key demand of the protest movement.
Carrie Lam has called a meeting of pro-Beijing politicians for later on Wednesday afternoon, at which she will describe the full withdrawal of the bill as “a gesture… to cool down the atmosphere”, the South China Morning Post quoted a source as saying.
Ms. Warren’s new climate plan explicitly adopts ideas from Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, who focused his presidential campaign on combating climate change but dropped out last month after it became clear he was unlikely to qualify for the next primary debate.Ms. Warren met with Mr. Inslee last week in Seattle, according to two people familiar with their discussions.
“While his presidential campaign may be over, his ideas should remain at the center of the agenda,” Ms. Warren wrote in her new climate plan.
Mr. Inslee released six detailed climate plans, totaling over 200 pages, which were widely praised by environmental policy experts for their rigor. He said he hoped they would help “raise the ambition” of other candidates’ climate policies, and he has since had conversations with several candidates about how to incorporate his ideas into their plans, said his former campaign spokesman, Jared Leopold.
In her new proposal, Ms. Warren adopts Mr. Inslee’s plan to eliminate planet-warming emissions from power plants, vehicles and buildings over 10 years, and adds an additional $1 trillion in spending to subsidize that transition. The spending would be paid for, she says, by reversing the Trump administration’s tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations.
Currently Elizabeth Warren is running neck and neck with Bernie Sanders in Second place behind Joe Biden. She has been gaining in popularity across the board and on a favourability score she actually leads Biden and Sanders with a rating of around 55%. Head to head with Trump the polls show she would win the must win States as well. Certainly with the current Trade War Trump is shedding support from his base – particularly in the Farming States where farmers are now overall Billions in debt – despite his $12B handout (mostly unsurprisngly going to large corporate farmers and not the smaller farmers who are now in serious strife).
Elizabeth is on a par with Sanders wrt progressive policies and stands out as having a well developed policy package. This latest announcement simply underlines her determination to initiate positive change in America if given the chance,
Whilst I would tend to agree with you and I have used many examples of such in my statistics classes of yore there is growing realisation that Trump – despite an election war chest of around $24 Billions is steadily loosing favour across the country. Daily, GOP representatives are standing down, and will not seek reelection in 2020. That is not the behaviour of politicians who can see an easy run for the next hurdle.
Furthermore, there is polling being carried out almost every day by a variety of pollsters. For the past 2 years Trump's approval rating has remained fairly steady at a tad over 40% while his disapproval rating hovers at around 53 – 54%. That means his favourability rating is negative and at least -10% to -14%. That is not the rating of a successful politician, and in most circumstances does not auger well for reelection.
His Trade War with China is also not going well, and with rising prices on many commodities, that is not winning him any favours, There is also the fear of an imminent recession, and the majority of Americans think that should such occur it rests solely on the "policies" of Trump – at least 60% think he will be to blame. The average American has not had any substantial benefit from his tax cuts to the rich, so that has not curried favour either, and his inability to build even 1 mile of new Wall shows him to be incapable on that front as well. There is also growing resentment on the treatment of undocumented migrants, many who have been in the country for many years, raised families, and are productive law abiding members of society with natural born US children or partners. The breaking up of such families is seen now by many in the rural communities in which they live as highly unjust and is only cheered on by the ultra -right factions who are not representative of the majority of fair minded Americans who are appalled by the current ICE raids.
Sure he drags in his faithful followers at his incomprehensible rallies – but time and again crowd sizes are over reported and now he simply preaches to the faithful, He is not gaining support, and what support he had is slowly draining away as the reality of his bluster sinks in.
BTW I don't comment on here as frequently as I have in the past because, most of my on-line time now is spent following American politics.
When might the government reinstate funding for night classes & other adult community education programmes that the former National-led government canned ~10 years ago?
Ideally get this done before the 2020 election. Wouldn't cost too much; annual budget's likely less than the cost of the flag referenda.
"Reinstate funding for programmes – like night classes – that support adult learners to adapt to the changing world." https://www.labour.org.nz/education
One more Russian diplomat died, the eighth in the past three years. 68-year-old Sergei Kirpichenko, Russian Ambassador to Egypt, died today in a Cairo hospital. https://t.co/TqcLLT4uWN via @Vedomosti
TRANSCRIPT OF FINAL MINUTES OF CALL BETWEEN HERALD REPORTER MATT NIPPERT AND DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER WINSTON PETERS:
MN: So, to the best of your knowledge, New Zealand First have not talked with Lang about him donating? Is that what you're saying?
WP: [Pause] Well, look, if a member of my party was at the racecourse one day, interpreted a conversation with him it's quite possible. But to the best of my knowledge the course on which you're going at the moment is fruitless: We have not received any money from the Wolf, as I know him as.
MN: I guess the outstanding question remains is: If this donation were offered by him, would you accept it?
WP: An outstanding question? Who do you think you're talking to? You're going to have a hypothetical, and put it to me as an outstanding question? Bulldust mate. Where do you get off? Where do you get off with that arrogant attitude? "The question remains". For you?
MN: He says he's considering donating to NZ First. Would you accept the donation? It's pretty simple.
WP: You're going to slide mate, from facts to bullshit. Right? You're not going to be able to slide from facts, with a modicum of detail, to flat-out bullshit and speculation.
MN: So you would take the money? Or you wouldn't?
WP: Get a brain mate. That's not the alternative answer, is it?
MN: It's a very straightforward question, Winston.
WP: It's not a straightforward question. It's some silly, smart-arse question by somebody who should know a whole lot better.
MN: I'm just trying to figure out where this is going.
WP: It's not going anywhere, because it started nowhere. It's built on the premise you're going to write an article, based on nothing. Because you've got a charade of details you're going to put out there. That's what it's based on.
MN: It's based on Mr Lang telling me he was planning to donate to you.
WP: Good god, what a flimsy peg you're trying to hang your story on. God.
MN: Well, I'll flick it to my editors and see if they agree with me.
WP: They probably will, the bloody morons.
MN: Winston, are you hanging up on me?
[CALL TERMINATED BY WP]
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NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
Dairy prices increased by 3.9% across the board at the latest Fonterra global auction. The lift followed rises of 1.3% and 4.3% in the December auctions which took dairy prices to their highest level in 11 months, defying those analysts who believed Covid-19 had disrupted dairy markets. In the latest ...
America's Cup team American Magic has spoken publicly after their boat Patriot capsized when on its way to their first win of the Challenger Selection Series yesterday. Patriot dramatically capsized yesterday, becoming temporarily airborne before crashing back into the water and tipping. The boat, helmed by New Zealander Dean Barker, could not be ...
It’s a seemingly age old question: why do Auckland’s beaches become unswimmable after every single downpour? Stewart Sowman-Lund investigates.Ah, the beach. A staple of the New Zealand summer. Unless, of course, you’re based in Auckland and it’s raining. The start of 2021 has been a lot like every other New ...
We have opened a book, among members of the Point of Order team, on how long it will be before the PM offers to sort out the land dispute at Wellington’s Shelly Bay and (to win the double) how much the settlement will cost taxpayers. Just a few weeks ago ...
Breakfast TV news is back for 2021, and Tara Ward got up early to watch. “Thank god it’s almost Christmas,” John Campbell said during the opening minutes of Breakfast’s premiere episode of the year. “2021’s been rough so far. I’m buggered”. We’re all buggered, to be fair, but I’m worried that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Pearson, Professor of Journalism and Social Media, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Griffith University The blame for the recent assault on the US Capitol and President Donald Trump’s broader dismantling of democratic institutions and norms can be ...
Despite a popular and unifying leader of the governing party, divisions both in policy and culture will test the progressive movement, writes Peter McKenzie.‘I think we’re confused.” Marlon Drake is an organiser for the Living Wage Movement. His job takes him all over Wellington, trying to convince businesses to increase ...
Covid-19 Recovery Minister Chris Hipkins says vaccinations should be available to the public by the middle of the year, but other countries are prioritised. ...
It’s as true now as it ever has been: nowhere else offers an education experience like that of Dunedin. But rather than resting on their laurels, the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic have plans to make the city an even more inspiring place for students.From high in the summit ...
Haggis, neeps and tatties and whisky may not be a traditional spread for a summer gathering in NZ, but trust Auckland city councillor and Kiwi-Scot Cathy Casey on this one. Gie it laldy! Rule one: Hold it on (or near) January 25Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759. Since the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University It could be argued artificial intelligence (AI) is already the indispensable tool of the 21st century. From helping doctors diagnose and treat patients to rapidly advancing new drug discoveries, it’s our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Professor, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University Through recent natural disasters, global upheavals and a pandemic, Australia’s political centre has largely held. Australians may have disagreed at times, but they have also kept faith with governmental norms, eschewing the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Seale, Associate professor, UNSW Health workers are at higher risk of COVID infection and illness. They can also act as extremely efficient transmitters of viruses to others in medical and aged care facilities. That’s why health workers have been prioritised to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jim Orchard, Adjunct Lecturer, Monash University Last week, somewhat overshadowed by the events in Washington, the Democrats took control of the US Senate. The Democrats now hold a small majority in both the House and the Senate until 2022, giving President-elect Joe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mittul Vahanvati, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University Heatwaves, floods, bushfires: disaster season is upon us again. We can’t prevent hazards or climate change-related extreme weather events but we can prepare for them — not just as individuals ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mandie Shean, Lecturer, School of Education, Edith Cowan University Starting school is an important event for children and a positive experience can set the tone for the rest of their school experience. Some children are excited to attend school for the first ...
Some families in emergency housing are reporting their children are becoming emotionally distressed because of their living conditions. Demand for emergency accommodation has escalated this past year with the number of emergency housing grants increasing by half. Data showed nearly 10,000 people were given an Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant between ...
Summer reissue: Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden are back for a second season of On the Rag, and where better to start than with the mysterious, exhausting world of wellness?First published June 23, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
With few Covid-19 infections and negiligible natural immunity, New Zealand faces being a victim of its own success when it is left till last to get the vaccines, argues Dr Parmjeet Parmar. ...
Steve Braunias reports on a literary cancelling. The Corrections department has refused to allow Jared Savage's best-selling book Gangland inside prison on the grounds that it "promotes violence and drug use". An inmate at Otago Corrections Facility in Dunedin was sent a copy of the book – but it was ...
New data from the CTU’s annual work life survey shows a snapshot of working people’s experiences and outlook heading out of 2020 and into the new year. Concerningly 42% of respondents cite workplace bullying as an issue in their workplace - a number ...
The dramatic capsize of American Magic brought out the best in the America's Cup sailing fraternity. But, Suzanne McFadden asks, what does it mean to the crippled New York Yacht Club campaign and to the Prada Cup? It was a scene as unreal as it was calamitous. Right at the moment the ...
An international player, selector and self-confessed cricket stats nerd, Penny Kinsella has now played a hand in recording the rich history of the women's game in New Zealand. Penny Kinsella’s cricketing career was perched on the cusp of change for the White Ferns. “My first tour to Australia, we ...
The current number of members of parliament is starting to get too low for the job we expect them to do, argues Alex Braae. As a general rule, with the possible exception of their families, nobody likes backbench MPs. But it’s nevertheless time we accepted that parliament should have more of ...
The experience in the Brazilian city of Manaus reveals how mistaken, and dangerous, the herd-immunity-by-infection theory really is. As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop ...
As New Zealand gears up to fight climate change, experts warn that we need to actually reduce emissions, not just plant trees to offset our greenhouse gases. ...
A nationwide poll has found majority support for the government to continue to closely monitor abortions in New Zealand and the reasons for it, despite the Ministry of Health recently suggesting that there is not a use for collecting much of this information. ...
The out-of-control growth in gangs, gun crime, and violent gang activity is exposing our communities to dangerous levels of violence that will inevitably end in tragedy, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The recent incidents of people being shot and ...
Successive governments have paid lip service to our productivity challenge but have failed to deliver. It's time to establish a Productivity Council charged with prioritising efforts. ...
Understanding the connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long Covid’ might be helpful in treating symptoms that doctors will find all too easy to dismiss.When people began to report signs of “long Covid”, characterised by a lack of full recovery from the virus and debilitating fatigue, I recognised their stories. ...
Nadine Anne Hura, who never considered herself an artist, reflects on what art and making has taught her.I couldn’t clean or cook or wash the clothes, but I could sew. That’s a lie, I’m a terrible sewer, but I left work early to fossick around in the $1 bin of ...
Summer reissue: In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020.First published September 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
Lucy Revill’s The Residents is a blog about daily life in Wellington that has morphed into a stylish, low-key coffee-table book featuring interviews and photographic portraits of 38 Wellingtonians. In this extract, Revill profiles Eboni Waitere, owner and executive director of Huia Publishers. The Residents features names like Monique Fiso ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
All the best to the government today in their relaunch of Kiwibuild.
A very interesting test for the new Minister.
While more state houses is the priority (greatest need) there are budget cost barriers to this being the sole emphasis.
Kiwi Build is limited by lack of demand – how many first home buyers are there and how many of them can afford new homes?
They can fix this by extending it to those whose first home is a flat or apartment and who intend to start a family – equity into a first family home. Also rent to buy and shared equity (debt is cheap and people are paying the money back – so the cost is an asset in the books) – which gets around people struggling to get a deposit together.
They should also consider
1. those unsold being used as emergency housing for those on state house waiting lists
2. the empty nesters looking to downsize before they retire (but these should be considered only if there is not sufficient uptake from first family home buyers – behind them the landlord class).
Or they could say…
.so not really a Home..more a nice opportunity for investors, who may well be couples who then want to move on to a family home. However what is even the point of the government encouraging this sort of thing? How is this helping anyone struggling to find secure housing? How is this recalibration an out of control housing market.
This is simply stoking the fire of NZers obsession with making money via property….
There are two of us older folk who can't see how this is right, I haven't re-watched it having seen it last night but there seemed to be "reasons", rather than need, that means tax payer monies are off, eventually, to various people's pockets from housing.
While there will be cases that are genuinely deserving the principal and immediate aim looks to be retain a home and preserve as much capital in it to hand out in your will.
Specific steps look to have been taken to achieve eligibility for a housing benefit. How many of these "arrangements" either similar to this, or via trusts to retain property ownership, are there that keep tax payer funding away from the most vulnerable NZers?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/meet-papamoa-pensioner-rebelling-against-mortgage-free-mindset
Yes that was a curious item. Not enough information to make is possible to deduce exactly what other options were available to this person as his circumstances changed in the last few years. I suspect a range of options, which would not have needed housing assistance.
The principle of needing to be mortgage free at retirement, if at all possible, should still be the goal for all New Zealanders. This will not be impossible for a large cohort both today and into the future.
I agree after watching that item it was possible to concoct a number of ways to make that something some people would choose to do over what most only think of and that is to rid themsleves of the mortgage.
We live in Tauranga and have witnessed a number of ways that those in the building sector used their access to "land" that was more than the normal plot "size" to maximise gain, pre there being any curbs on that, and how a "family" situation was exercised to exploit it. In short a lot of "young" people have "built" and sold property since 2015-16 or have occupancy and/or ownership, pending possible sale.
This has probably given people ideas, and also trusts pre elders moving to rest homes is another way that the tax payer can be funding some people's "inheritances".
so..helen clark has confirmed (on rnz/m-report) that she was unable to move on reforming cannabis laws in 2002/05 gummints – 'cos they both had a coalition agreement insisting on no reform –
this at the insistance of peter (fucken) dunne..
let's not forget that fact..eh..?
and maybe the next time the media wheel him out as some elder-statesman/expert on cannabis – he could be asked about that..?
and of course clark is gilding the lily somewhat here..
as she didn't have to go with that toe-rag..
she shafted the greens – remember..?
'history' is such a moveable feast – isn't it..?
Why do these people keep coming out of the woodwork? Both Peter and Helen should disappear from the public eye. They both left politics.
Yep, Dunne is a repulsive creature. I well remember the time he even said there was no way whatsoever even medicinal use of cannabis would be considered, EVEN IF THE EVIDENCE SUPPORTED IT.
Classic stupidity from a classically stupid little man.
Old dunny had to clear the way for his sons synthetic drugs imports . Lest we forget.
yep..!..his cynicism is/was breathtaking…
and now he dares to come out and fucken pontificate on the subject..
and the media afford him gravitas..?
(i’m looking at you – radio new zealand – you of all people – should bloody well know better…eh..?
just-stop-it..!..)
Anderton was also a bit of a dick about drugs, as I recall.
yep..!..he sure was..a total reactionary..
I agree about the selective memory. She made her choice and it was known.
another interesting historical-fact that came out of morning report..during a discussion on kiwibuild..
is that post ww2 – facing a similar crisis from returning soldiers needing housing –
nz built 10,000 state houses a year..
the obvious question being – why the fck can't we do that now..?
and an obvious answer would have to be that curse of neoliberal incrementalism – which is the philosophical-under-pinning of this govt..
and why does every ‘fix’ from them have at least a year to wait before they happen..?
the latest example being the (so-called) crack down on the money-lenders…
the usury they practice will be curtailed a bit (but not until next yr..(!)
what the fuck is up with that..?
The illusion of change: Put a future time stamp on promises and hope they are forgotten as the news cycle changes multiple times before the dates hit.
there is some truth in what you say..
and of course the apogee of that delayed-gratification tactic from labour was their first announcement of free uni-study..
dunno if ppl remember – but that first iteration of this – the policy was to kick in in their second term of gummint..
we had to elect and re-elect them first..
at the time i remember falling on the floor – laughing at their cheek/nerve..
and wondering if they could top that..
There were a couple of OK suggestions coming in on MR feedback this morning @ Mr Ure.
Things like standard pre-consented designs (which would have to have a variety of foundation types associated with them depending of terrain/geology etc.)
But also things like prefabrication, modular designs, council control-freakery over things like tiny homes, container homes, etc.
But you know ………. "Rome wasn't built in a day". It'll need an "emergency" rather than a "crisis" probably. On one of my regular jaunts north, I did notice how quickly new housing sprang up around Waiouru Army base not so long ago.
yep..!..and it is all do-able..
all it takes is the political will to make it happen…
waiting….waiting…
It wouldn't surprise me if we import all our No8 wire these days. We've certainly imported a lot of the bureaucracy
I think the critical thing was that mum and dad paid only 20 or 25 % of dads income for his State Advances loan for a new house in 1946 as limited by law. It was a quinea a week or 21 shillings and when they eventually paid it off 30 years later it was still only $2.20 cents a week.
It had only 3 power points, an attached but " öutside "toilet, with night cart collection for the first few years, it was 1954 before the street was tarsealed , 2 bedrooms and a "sunroom ", no insulation ( in the SI at that ) and only 62 sq metres, about the size of a double bedroom these days. OMG, how would a snowflake millenial cope with such appalling conditions now. They were just so proud and glad they had a house. Before the war it was almost impossible to get such a thing as a mortgage. The section cost 80 pounds, the house 450 pounds, and his pay was 5 pounds about the same as 80% of the population and the whole lot cost 106 weeks gross pay. Try doing that today, the equivilant would be about 600 weeks pay.
And more importantly the Govt of the day did not have to cope with every permanently aggravated dickhead who could climb on a social media soapbox berating everything they tried to do.
Ah yep ….. thems were the days eh? Me dear ole dad used to have to walk five miles to school everyday, and five miles home again. We were lucky to have shoes when I was a kid, and when we did, mum would have to put cardboard in them when the soles wore out.
Oh how things have improved with the advent of consumerism and the cheap imported multi-plug box. (as it happens, I'm just reconditioning one in between comments)
But yep, I do take your point.
"Me dear ole dad used to have to walk ……".
He lived in very easy times didn't he? My dad had to walk 10 miles uphill to school and another 10 miles uphill on the return trip. That was while he milked 90 cows both before and after school. He then did his homework by the light of a candle. They bred 'em tough in those days.
hmm reminds me of something my Gran used to say… 'when men were men and woman chopped the firewood' she was a tough nut bringing up a bunch of kids in the back of Apiti…
"the cheap imported multi-plug box. (as it happens, I'm just reconditioning one in between comments) "
You should become one of TS authors ! I love that sort of stuff
@ adrian..
'only 62 sq metres, about the size of a double bedroom these days. OMG, how would a snowflake millenial cope with such appalling conditions now'..
um..!..how does the burgeoning tiny-house movement fit into yr 'snowflake' thesis..?
and no..in those days critics actually stood on soapboxes in public places..
which is where much of the political dialogue we have online now happened..
yr point was..?
I think his point was something to do with how tough parents had to do it, and we don't know how lucky we are these days – probably as some sort of justification for our children having to be worse off than we were.
Not sure. Perhaps Adrian should answer for Himself.
I don’t suppose he’d be prepare to take any responsibility for the inevitable outcome of the consumerism and ideology that’s now in play.
(God, when I think back, and in the context of history, OH how I did it so bloody tuff! – We really DON’t know how lucky we are eh?).
Where’s Wayne when you need him to offer us all some sage advice
The point being that it was a lot easier for a government to get a roof ( and thats about all ) over a familys head and huge subdivisions could be commandeered into existance and fuck all nimbys in sight.
And as for the current generation as any real estate agent or builder will tell you a large proportion of them today want everything right now with flash as rat with a gold tooth kitchens and bathrooms or two. No wonder houses are bloody expensive.
Also as far as I can remember councils were really glad to have houses being built and families moving in so the council paid for all the services as well as roading and reserve contributions etc and not lump the full cost of such on to the price of a section inflating its price by astronomical amounts. Councils were content to get that stuff paid for over the following decades.
They might have been cold and small on barren sections but they were pretty bloody good for the day and bugger all people were whinging who got into one and most are still standing today.
And Phillip, there is no burgeoning small house movement, it is a tiny proportion of the housing market, its size inflated by dopey TV programmes. and BTW, try and get one through any mad controlling rapacious bloody council.
there are also a lot of the younger generation who are quite happy to live in apartments/studios – near city centres – rather than being in some blighted suburb..
what you say was true a cple of yrs ago – but change is happening fast in that area..
and tiny/pre-fab etc have a whole new appeal/audience..
Interesting that you mentioned pre-fab, thats as old as European settlement , a lot of the mid to late 1800s post offices, police stations, schools and even churches were prefabs cut and made near where the timber was milled and even shipped between islands. Apparently the kitsets for the Police station in Havelock and a church in Stoke got mixed up in transit from the middle of the North Island . Its obvious when you look at them.
I was under the impression that a lot of the very small apartments in Auckland in particular are inhabited by uni students and new young immigrants from Asia where apartment living in cities is the norm. I don't think people live in them for long when families start to grow.
You’re a bit behind the times. Something like just a third of all households have children and it is falling.
Increasingly young adults are intending to not have kids and this has been a trend for a very long time.
This is pretty much what I observe in my apartment block. Most of the people amongst the 61 apartments are singletons or couples. There is just one child that I’m aware of.
Obviously I don’t know everyone in there. But the turnover of renters and owners-occupiers is pretty low these days. But of the 30% of under 35s that I know in there, very few are planning on having kids. The people over 35, couples or singles (including me), simply haven’t had kids and aren’t planning to. They also decided that quite some time ago.
The average age of people in my block would be late 40s. The apartments are about 51 square metres. This isn’t abnormal for single room apartments. Single bedroom small apartments from what I have seen tend to be owner-occupied by older people and couples – not younger people. It is a life style that allows you to spend a lot of time working and doing your own thing(s).
Most of the 2-3 bedroom small apartments are usually younger people flatting. You still do find younger couples in one bedroom apartments, but increasingly they’re being priced out.
Phillip Ure @ 4
They also commandeered existing homes (most built between the two wars) and gave some servicemen the chance to purchase them over time by way of a rent subsidy. My father was one of them. He secured a 4 bed-roomed bungalow in Mt Albert and it became the family home. It's still standing and looking better than ever.
So, the idea of a so-called rent to buy scheme is definitely not new.
cool..!..thanks for that historical background..
so of course we can do all those things here/now..
(dunno about you – but i am so tiring of the hand-wringing/meaningless-emoting..and s.f.a. actually happening..)
Most houses built in the 1950's would likely fail to meet building requirements now days. Also many of the houses may have been commissioned by the Government but they were built by the private sector.
Depends which requirements you're talking about.
Insulation would be a fail, but most houses from that era were solidly built. Sure, there are materials differences and maybe some new structural or fire requirements, but they weren't slapped up cheaply. Before the days of nail guns and suchlike, too.
"Most houses built in the 1950's would likely fail to meet building requirements now days"
So why are people still living in them, buying and selling them? As McFlock says the only thing these houses would fail on is insulation, and that's easily remedied.
They will still be standing long after your modern chip board / custom wood abomination that was built yesterday has degraded into a pile of mush.
So what is they were built by the private sector? Are you claiming that's a bad thing?
They were built by the private sector – Keith Hays, Neil, et al and financed through state advances loans from the government.
Do you have a reason why this couldn't be done today?
Currently renovating a circa 1910 bungalow, including removing gib and retrofitting membrane and installing insulation. Desconstructing the house in this way allows you to see how very skilled the original builders were. Using the same wood for weatherboards, architraves, scotias and windowsills. Barge board and window design, allowed for window flashing to be a flat, easily installed piece of metal. Nothing overly complicated, but very professional simple design. With the installation of R3.4 insulation in the walls, ceiling batts installed in the roof, and underfloor installation, the use of floorlength thermal curtains and pelmets should do the job of making this a home warm enough to live in without excessive heating use.
Since we are trying to do this on a limited budget, are also buying materials from TradeMe. Recent purchase was wooden cabinets for the kitchen, purchased from a property in Epsom due for demolition. Built 16 years ago, and needed to be demolished, it was an impressive spectacle, but one where the bones were riddled with materials utilised badly and unable to be rectified at all.
The old houses that are still standing, are the ones that managed to do so for fifty to a hundred years.
@ Robert – do we have working examples in NZ of swale/small earthwork systems for drought and flood prevention? Work similar to the Mulloon Institutes Natural Sequence Farming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7abgyVMMHA
Or Jeff Lawton's Zaytuna Farm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcgHvYWLs-Q
Or the earthworks projects cropping up in arid/semi-arid regions all over, as illustrated by John D Liu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDgDWbQtlKI
Am finishing up on an article about water and hoped to find some localised examples if they are there…
Great to see Shane Jones going for a much stronger government response to the DIRA legislation and the Fonterra mess.
Titirangi the vesicle of anti vaxxers
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/114994080/in-an-affluent-corner-of-auckland-a-gp-struggles-against-vaccination-disinformation
Yep. For a small suburb we've got waaaaaay more than our fair share of kooks, cranks, nutters and other weirdos.
Strange pets too.
raglan is another hot-spot for anti-vaxxers..
i am walking around looking sideways at ppl…wondering..
asking myself..
'is this one of those feckin' idjits..?'
took me ages to not read 'the testicle of anti-vaxxers' for some reason…
If this is the quality of thinking (as expressed in the attached 'debate) then there is no wonder the world is as dysfunctional as it currently is….'heavyweight' my arse.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/09/02/785708/the-economic-heavyweight-bout-of-the-year
We can ignore physics because of an ever hopeful 'innovation'
Does National deserve to win 2020 Election?
No!!! as the new Government are being ‘stymied by National planted stool pigeons inside our agencies.
Why? – firstly because National wanted to ruin every plan the Labour coalition had set up to benefit us all and look ‘winnable for the 2020 election’.
National had a dark plan as they have quietly ‘collectively been sabotaging’ and undermining the Labour/Coalition Government for the last 20 months with ‘every underhanded scheming’ to have those planted bureaucrats to wreck every plan labour/coalition had used that had even looked viable, that may have helped labour look good.
The obvious use of “bullying by Steven Joyce has been employed now, shows that Joyce has been the architect of this undermining of Government by acting against the citizens interests while also destroying the well being and health of the majority of the people.
It was only a matter of time before the rot had to show as coming out of the old rotting carcass of the old National Party as we all knew instinctively that putting Simon Bridges up as the “temporary leader was just a ploy when the big leader was lurking behind the curtains, that is Steven Joyce all over again.
the new Government are being ‘stymied by National planted stool pigeons inside our agencies.
Wreckers everywhere. Time for a purge.
Good example was the Cancer Agency release a few days ago . This was a policy in Labours manifesto at the 2017 election.
As a government they took until now to come up with a workable policy and funding.
National knew about the election promise and their mates in the public service would have passed on the outline earlier this year.
So the Nats play politics with cancer sufferers, try to steal the thunder – and this was after doing nothing for 9 years, indeed scrapping their own plan back in 2013
Yes, the swamp needs to be drained….wait, have I heard that somewhere before…..
https://conversation.education.govt.nz/conversations/tomorrows-schools-review/
28 June 2019 Taskforce reports back to minister – 2 months ago and nothing has been released into the public domain that I can find
I see, from the Economist, that the development of infrastructure projects in the UK is nearly as stuffed up as are the ones the current New Zealand Government is proposing.
"HS2, a planned high-speed railway between London and Birmingham, faces delays of up to five years, Britain’s transport minister said. Britain’s biggest infrastructure project may now not move passengers until 2031. The expected cost has risen from £62bn ($75bn) to £81bn-88bn. A second phase, reaching Manchester and Leeds, has been delayed too; patient commuters can expect services in 2035-40."
Sounds about what we can expect from the hypothetical rail service being talked about from Auckland to Wellington, or the roads around Wellington that Twyford was gaily announcing the other day had been "approved" but that work couldn't possibly be started until at least 2028. Even the local Labour MPs were a bit shocked by that announcement apparently.
https://m.newsie.co.nz/news/153707-hutt-council-jumps-on-nztas-delayed-melling-interchange-project.html
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/114989445/chris-hipkins-pushes-for-melling-planning-and-consenting
fake news – workers or executive? cos they ain't the same in my book
headline
story
'more than 6000 of Fonterra's 22,000 staff were on salaries of $100,000 and over.'
bloody hell..!
what am i missing here..?
fonterra is a company that collects milk – turns it into milk powder..
and sells that in bulk to the world..
so how the fuck do they justify having 6,000 top-feeders earning a hundred grand + a yr..?
(tempted to go and force-march them all to some milking sheds – to work for minimum wage – as so many workers these top-feeders leech off do..)
Perhaps you haven’t realised that engineering staff are in very short supply throughout the economy? Fonterra employs a shitload of engineers – probably about half of their staff are engineers of one form or another. It is all of that having to keep food carrying and processing equipment clean as well as dealing with high temperatures and a awful lot of equipment.
But no of course. You’re probably not really aware of anything at all about the working economy… Not something that I have ever noticed you having any understanding of.
I guess I should head off to work rather than commenting on that topic further.
Peter Ellis dies before appeal can be heard.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/115536931/convicted-civic-creche-sex-abuser-peter-ellis-dies-while-appealing-convicted
shit.
He wanted the appeal heard before his death so the media wouldn't be posting headlines about "sex abuser Peter Ellis" having died. So, naturally Stuff posts a headline saying "sex abuser Peter Ellis" has died. Fuck you, Stuff.
EDIT: “I assume” that was the reason – didn’t hear him say so.
A fair assumption, I think.
A life destroyed.
Theres more than a few people that need to have a good, long look in the mirror over this but probably won't
Not the least the parents who caused the hysteria in the first place. Be it on their heads that an innocent man's life was curtailed well before his time.
Interesting you never hear a squeak out of any of them now.
Pretty well his entire adult life was ruined before it was curtailed. Barbaric, to my mind.
@ anne..
agreed..
no they wont…and theres still a few convinced he was guilty and all the evidence in the world wont change that belief
RIP Peter Ellis.
I firmly believe he was an innocent man.
Absolutely @uncooked…
Lianne Dalziel's doing just fine, thought you'd like to know that.
Well that's a relief. I hope Goff is OK as well.
Did any of these people watch the original Terminator flick?
Two US military fucknuts more like.
Consecutive weeks of marches and protests and now they fold? The cynic in me says this is a sop and the PRC will carry on disappearing whoever they think is a trouble maker.
Hong Kong’s chief executive is to announce the formal withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill that sparked weeks of unrest, finally meeting a key demand of the protest movement.
Carrie Lam has called a meeting of pro-Beijing politicians for later on Wednesday afternoon, at which she will describe the full withdrawal of the bill as “a gesture… to cool down the atmosphere”, the South China Morning Post quoted a source as saying.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/hong-kong-extradition-bill-china-carrie-lam-protests-latest-a9090966.html
A ray of hope on the Climate Action front in the US:
Elizabeth Warren Unveils $3 Trillion Climate Plan, Embracing Inslee’s Goals
Currently Elizabeth Warren is running neck and neck with Bernie Sanders in Second place behind Joe Biden. She has been gaining in popularity across the board and on a favourability score she actually leads Biden and Sanders with a rating of around 55%. Head to head with Trump the polls show she would win the must win States as well. Certainly with the current Trade War Trump is shedding support from his base – particularly in the Farming States where farmers are now overall Billions in debt – despite his $12B handout (mostly unsurprisngly going to large corporate farmers and not the smaller farmers who are now in serious strife).
Elizabeth is on a par with Sanders wrt progressive policies and stands out as having a well developed policy package. This latest announcement simply underlines her determination to initiate positive change in America if given the chance,
I wouldn't put too much faith in the polls.
There have been lots of good examples of them being useless.
Whilst I would tend to agree with you and I have used many examples of such in my statistics classes of yore there is growing realisation that Trump – despite an election war chest of around $24 Billions is steadily loosing favour across the country. Daily, GOP representatives are standing down, and will not seek reelection in 2020. That is not the behaviour of politicians who can see an easy run for the next hurdle.
Furthermore, there is polling being carried out almost every day by a variety of pollsters. For the past 2 years Trump's approval rating has remained fairly steady at a tad over 40% while his disapproval rating hovers at around 53 – 54%. That means his favourability rating is negative and at least -10% to -14%. That is not the rating of a successful politician, and in most circumstances does not auger well for reelection.
His Trade War with China is also not going well, and with rising prices on many commodities, that is not winning him any favours, There is also the fear of an imminent recession, and the majority of Americans think that should such occur it rests solely on the "policies" of Trump – at least 60% think he will be to blame. The average American has not had any substantial benefit from his tax cuts to the rich, so that has not curried favour either, and his inability to build even 1 mile of new Wall shows him to be incapable on that front as well. There is also growing resentment on the treatment of undocumented migrants, many who have been in the country for many years, raised families, and are productive law abiding members of society with natural born US children or partners. The breaking up of such families is seen now by many in the rural communities in which they live as highly unjust and is only cheered on by the ultra -right factions who are not representative of the majority of fair minded Americans who are appalled by the current ICE raids.
Sure he drags in his faithful followers at his incomprehensible rallies – but time and again crowd sizes are over reported and now he simply preaches to the faithful, He is not gaining support, and what support he had is slowly draining away as the reality of his bluster sinks in.
BTW I don't comment on here as frequently as I have in the past because, most of my on-line time now is spent following American politics.
Cheers for your analysis, Macro clearly more thought than I have given it.
Part of Trumps success first time round wasn't so much folk voting for him, but against his opponent.
When might the government reinstate funding for night classes & other adult community education programmes that the former National-led government canned ~10 years ago?
Ideally get this done before the 2020 election. Wouldn't cost too much; annual budget's likely less than the cost of the flag referenda.
This diplomating business is as dangerous AF.
Oh dear. Sometimes, Winston, a simple 'yes' or 'no' would suffice.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12264368
TRANSCRIPT OF FINAL MINUTES OF CALL BETWEEN HERALD REPORTER MATT NIPPERT AND DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER WINSTON PETERS:
MN: So, to the best of your knowledge, New Zealand First have not talked with Lang about him donating? Is that what you're saying?
WP: [Pause] Well, look, if a member of my party was at the racecourse one day, interpreted a conversation with him it's quite possible. But to the best of my knowledge the course on which you're going at the moment is fruitless: We have not received any money from the Wolf, as I know him as.
MN: I guess the outstanding question remains is: If this donation were offered by him, would you accept it?
WP: An outstanding question? Who do you think you're talking to? You're going to have a hypothetical, and put it to me as an outstanding question? Bulldust mate. Where do you get off? Where do you get off with that arrogant attitude? "The question remains". For you?
MN: He says he's considering donating to NZ First. Would you accept the donation? It's pretty simple.
WP: You're going to slide mate, from facts to bullshit. Right? You're not going to be able to slide from facts, with a modicum of detail, to flat-out bullshit and speculation.
MN: So you would take the money? Or you wouldn't?
WP: Get a brain mate. That's not the alternative answer, is it?
MN: It's a very straightforward question, Winston.
WP: It's not a straightforward question. It's some silly, smart-arse question by somebody who should know a whole lot better.
MN: I'm just trying to figure out where this is going.
WP: It's not going anywhere, because it started nowhere. It's built on the premise you're going to write an article, based on nothing. Because you've got a charade of details you're going to put out there. That's what it's based on.
MN: It's based on Mr Lang telling me he was planning to donate to you.
WP: Good god, what a flimsy peg you're trying to hang your story on. God.
MN: Well, I'll flick it to my editors and see if they agree with me.
WP: They probably will, the bloody morons.
MN: Winston, are you hanging up on me?
[CALL TERMINATED BY WP]
I wonder if Neve is up to date with her shots.
Miaow.