Open mike 04/03/2012

36 comments on “Open mike 04/03/2012 ”

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1. Jenny 1

   4 March 2012 at 7:26 am

   Hone Harawira’s multi-party delegation to the Mayor.

   Could a multi-party effort settle the ports dispute?

   A good idea by Harawira to end the Ports dispute. Will he get buy in from any of the political parties for it?

   Mana Party leader Hone Harawira is approaching leaders of Labour, NZ First and the Greens.
   “Len’s the mayor so he has a big influence on decisions down at the ports,” Mr Harawira said on Thursday.
   “I’m proposing that the leaders of parties who have expressed support for the workers get together.”

   None of the political parties approached by Harawira, that had expressed support for the workers, have as yet responded to his call.

   If Harawira’s multiparty delegation to the Mayor, does get buy in from the Greens, Labour and New Zealand First, it would be hard for Mayor Brown to ignore and blithely carry on doing nothing.

   The Mayor has boasted that he could settle this dispute if he so chose.

   `The real challenge if I step into this, we have six other companies that we own that manage Auckland assets, like Watercare and Auckland Transport.
   “Every time they have a problem, do I step myself into that?

   Council Transcript PDF

   The Mayor’s excuse for not intervening is spurious at best. ie that if he intervened in the Ports dispute, he would have to interfere in every other labour management dispute.

   Well maybe he should.
   And even if as a rule, he shouldn’t, this is not just any regular labour/Management dispute. The potential damage to the region if the dispute continues is immense . If the Mayor continues to stand aloof and let the damage that this dispute could do to the Auckland region continue, it could be well argued that it is a dereliction of his duty as Mayor.
2. Carol 2

   4 March 2012 at 7:33 am

   So who leaked these? Which Nat insider? An MP? A worker in Nat offices?

   http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6519680/Heartland-backlash-over-Crafar-farm-fallout

   The Sunday Star-Times has obtained emails sent to Key around the time his government agreed to sell the 16 farms to Chinese interests.

   Dozens of National backers told Key he had lost their votes over the sale, among them party members and farmers.
   • Kotahi Tane Huna 2.1

     4 March 2012 at 7:35 am

     Looks like New Zealand has a mole in the National Party.
     • Carol 2.1.1

       4 March 2012 at 7:53 am

       So maybe the claims by Nat MPs and journos of racism/xenophobia by people who are opposed to the Crafar farms sale were being racist, were initially targeting disaffected Nat supporters?
       • Kotahi Tane Huna 2.1.1.1

         4 March 2012 at 8:08 am

         Perhaps the explanation is more in the realms of the recent Daily Mail story about how low intelligence, racism and conservative political beliefs go hand-in-hand.
         So the Nat MPs and journos would be used to hearing low-grade prejudice in their day-to-day interactions with the faithful and this would no doubt “colour” their response.

         Or perhaps this release of emails is a way to justify back-pedalling on the sale: “screw the ideologues, we’re going to get torn apart by the voters”.

         Or perhaps it’s The Hollow Men redux.

         Or perhaps some other thing I haven’t thought of.
         • Morrissey 2.1.1.1.1

           5 March 2012 at 5:50 pm

           So the Nat MPs and journos would be used to hearing low-grade prejudice in their day-to-day interactions with the faithful and this would no doubt “colour” their response.

           Just listen to a few hours on NewstalkZB, with Hosking, Smith, Watson, Williams and Woodham. Occasionally, a caller is nearly as truculent and ill-informed as the host.
       • Salsy 2.1.1.2

         4 March 2012 at 9:07 am

         Star-Times has now learned the farms were advertised for sale individually in China and Singapore.

         The advertisements, in the South China Morning Post and Singapore’s Straits Times, emerged in documents released to the Sunday Star-Times by the Overseas Investment Office under the Official Information Act.The ads read: “One of the largest and most highly anticipated rural portfolios to ever come to the market in New Zealand is presented for sale. A significant opportunity to invest in New Zealand’s rural and dairy sector. Farms are for sale individually or as a portfolio.”

         The most explosive element in that article for me is the revelation that the farms were marketed either individually or as a lot to Asian buyers only. Why in hell, would they not be marketed to Kiwis in that way also? Im moving all my banking from Westpac on Monday to Kiwibank. Any Kiwis who find this outrageous should do the same.
         • Treetop 2.1.1.2.1

           4 March 2012 at 3:17 pm

           Why can’t the Crafar farms be leased to who ever is prepared to put up the cash (individually or in lots)?
           • Colonial Viper 2.1.1.2.1.1

             4 March 2012 at 3:19 pm

             No reason, apart from the fact the NATs are happy to sell them outright in order to keep Chinese investors happy.
             • Treetop …

               4 March 2012 at 3:22 pm

               Thought as much.
   • marsman 2.2

     4 March 2012 at 9:17 am

     National also lied about the farms having to be sold as one lot. They advertised them for sale individually in China and Singapore. See the stuff article in Carol’s post 2.
   • Fortran 2.3

     4 March 2012 at 1:10 pm

     Carol

     Michael Fay’s PR company leaked them to knock the price down so he can make a few millions.
     • Colonial Viper 2.3.1

       4 March 2012 at 1:17 pm

       So according to you, how did Michael Fay illegally access the PM’s emails? Surely that’s an imprisonable offence eh?
3. Pete George 3

   4 March 2012 at 8:08 am

   David Clark is advertising for an “Issues Assistant” for his Dunedin North electorate office.

   …this role is predominantly issues – and events – based with a focus on social media and community networking…

   Don’t know if this is done elsewhere, but if implemented well it will be a positive way of improving community communication in both directions.
   • just saying 3.1

     4 March 2012 at 9:49 am

     I expect you are polishing your CV as we speak Pete.

     It would be great if one of our many Dunedin commenters did get this job. I’m sure many are well-qualified.
   • shorts 3.2

     4 March 2012 at 1:45 pm

     gareth hughes used twitter and facebook in his search for an assistant, again with a focus on using social media in the brief – probably coupled with traditional job placement services

     All our MPs and other elected officials should use these (generally free) services to connect with the people as not everyone watches TV nor buys tabloids (refer to the many who didn’t vote)
4. tc 4

   4 March 2012 at 8:11 am

   Probably a case of the old guard coming up against the ‘mine drill and sell whatever you can and privatise anything that makes someone a buck’ neo liberal new guard.

   Waking up the real agenda far too late like the sheeple of NZ who still swallow the garbage that it’s all global factors, labours fault, weve no choice as theres no other option…..anyone who understood the hollowmen knows the real agenda….sell out NZ to your backers as the market is the only solution.
   • Kotahi Tane Huna 4.1

     4 March 2012 at 8:22 am

     I think they (the “old guard”) have been aware of the agenda for a long time, but they have to pick their battles.
5. Ed 5

   4 March 2012 at 8:27 am

   Stuff have a “poll”asking “Are charter schools a good thing”. With 75% currently against, and given it is on the same page as the “Heartland” story above, I wonder how long it will stay on the website . . .
6. Campbell Larsen 6

   4 March 2012 at 9:14 am

   Anyone else noticed the ad for Queenstown on the stuff homepage?

   “World class cycleways”….

   “Being taken for a ride is a good thing…amongst such spectacular scenery…..”

   Lol
7. rosy 7

   4 March 2012 at 12:09 pm

   Blacklist workers , with the aid of police information and MI5, because they’re vocal about health & safety or are staunch union members? Not in a modern democracy, surely …

   It may come too late for many of the families devastated by the blacklisting of some 3,200 construction workers deemed too leftwing and troublesome for work on building sites. Indeed the following day, Dave Smith, the 46-year-old engineer whose tribunal heard the admission, went on to lose his claim for compensation from one of the firms involved in the blacklisting. As an agency worker, the tribunal decided, he didn’t have the right to claim compensation for loss of income, although there was an admission from construction giant Carillion that two of its subsidiaries had “penalised” Smith for being a trade unionist.

   But the testimony of David Clancy, investigations manager at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), giving evidence in the court, was clear. Clancy told the tribunal he believed that some of the information in the files used to blacklist workers “could only be supplied by the police or the security services”.

   I was appalled to read this (although I don’t know why I was also surprised). 44 construction & allied trades firms not liking workers standing up to bad practices, and for the right to negotiate, so are totally deprived of work. Note the person bringing the lawsuit a lost payout because he was employed as a contractor.

   And not only construction firms, An academic targeted for his work on health & safety in the oil industry (no indication of who might have sought the banning) shows the information-gathering could be widespread.
   • locus 7.1

     4 March 2012 at 12:31 pm

     Absolutely unbelievable. Who funded this ‘Consulting Association’? This academic was targeted from 1988 to 1996 because he wanted to improve the safety of offshore rigs.
     • Jenny 7.1.1

       4 March 2012 at 12:45 pm

       …..because he was employed as a contractor.

       rosy

       Tony Gibson of POAL, claims he doesn’t know why MUNZ is opposed to contracting out.

       But, presumably he knows why he wants it.

       What’s the bet, that the reason Gibson supports contracting out and the union opposes it, are one and the same reason.

       To get rid of all union members.
   • Uturn 7.2

     4 March 2012 at 12:42 pm

     We have it here too – it’s called, having “references”.
     • prism 7.2.1

       4 March 2012 at 6:21 pm

       About union busting. – There was a talk this morning on the role of the Scots in taking new ideas to the world amongst them the idea of forming unions to stop working for penury

       I didn’t know about the other side of Andrew Carnegie, the one behind the philanthropist. He employed a union breaker in his steel works and absented himself on a holiday in Scotland for some months. There was violence and the unions lost and their wages went downhill with other steelwork owners following – a situation that remained for 40 years. This is as I remember it from Radionz talk this morning which you might like to listen to – just look for Sunday’s listings.
     • rosy 7.2.2

       4 March 2012 at 11:46 pm

       We have it here too – it’s called, having “references”
       Dunno – last I saw, references didn’t require dossiers put together by police and national intelligence agencies just because employer groups were concerned about H&S on a building site.
8. Kotahi Tane Huna 8

   4 March 2012 at 1:16 pm

   Unemployed brothers and sisters, salvation is here.

   He’s a funny sort of a rooster, this Key fellow.
9. DH 9

   4 March 2012 at 2:46 pm

   One of the reasons I stopped giving to the big charities…

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10789631

   There doesn’t seem to be many real charities around any more. Sally Annes get my dosh occasionally & the odd small charity but even the Red Cross has lost its appeal to me. Who do others here give to & do they know how much of their donation actually reaches those who need it?
   • Colonial Viper 9.1

     4 March 2012 at 3:00 pm

     Everytime I give to charity nowadays I do it as directly as possible e.g. direct deposit into the charity’s own named bank account.
10. Dave Kennedy 10

    4 March 2012 at 3:49 pm

    The National Government often talks about balance, the balance between the environment and the economy and the balance between the economy and wages. I do not disagree with this statement but I feel extremely unbalanced at the moment. http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/unions-and-balance.html
    • Draco T Bastard 10.1

      4 March 2012 at 4:48 pm

      National, just like most economists, wouldn’t know what the economy was in the first place and thus wouldn’t know what the balance should be.
      • Dave Kennedy 10.1.1

        5 March 2012 at 12:06 am

        Or like many conservative governments, they hark to the past to find models for the future. The time of mass slavery appeals as does the industrial revolution powered by coal, poor pay and minimal health and safety regulations.
        • rosy 10.1.1.1

          5 March 2012 at 1:01 am

          most economists, wouldn’t know what the economy was in the first place and thus wouldn’t know what the balance should be

          Overwhelmingly true, but I’d exclude Jeffery Sachs from that list of economists.
          • Dave Kennedy 10.1.1.1.1

            5 March 2012 at 5:44 pm

            Interesting link, thanks Rosy.
11. aj 11

    4 March 2012 at 3:59 pm

    NZ music icons Split Enz had a song feature in Shameless (UKTV) on Thursday night. I nearly fell out of my chair.
    Anyone who watchs this program probably shares my surprise.
12. rosy 12

    4 March 2012 at 11:56 pm

    And how about that Wellington Declaration being shown up for the PR stunt it was by wikileaks latest offerings? Harsh truths there…

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