I watched the movie “Game Change” which follows John McCain’s 2008 Presisential campaign from his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate to his ultimate defeat by Obama. A great movie.
Pailin and the McCain/Palin relationship has many parallels with Parata and her relationship with Key, IMO.
Fantastic film, really shows the grind that campaigning can do. In the end I actually felt sorry for the old bugger McCain, though he still chose her, so not that sorry.
Ought to be a bottom line that foreign corporates are not allowed to sue New Zealand if they think that we are hindering their ability to rape and plunder by exercising our democratic right to rule our country.
The first translated means she’s miffed that the Nats aren’t including her or Labour in the negotiations. The second kinda suggests that Pharmac is the only thing they’re really fixated on and everything else is on the table.
Been interesting following the Apple vs Samsung patents battle, gives an idea on what’s in store when the Nats adopt the US patent laws via the TTPA.
Today’s ‘paper was saying one of Apple’s patents is zooming an image by tapping the screen with finger. Zooming with a click of the mouse has been around since long before the iphone so it should never been accepted as a patent just on prior use grounds.
Agreed. The Nats are supporting software patents which would be a disaster for the local software industry. Anytime someone gets moderately successful they’ll attract the attention of the US patent trolls & be subjected to lawsuits.
There’s really nothing you can patent in software, copyright covers it not patents.
An employer could make employees redundant, but it had to be for a legitimate reason, the employment law specialist said.
“It looks like they possibly made him redundant, although it doesn’t look like the positions have gone.”
All employers needed to follow the proper process when making staff redundant, including giving reasons and consulting with the affected workers, he said.
Well, not really. If this gets taken to the tribunal, the employer will lose. If there was a few months between employing more and making redundancies, they would be ok.
You bet me to it. Gonna be a PG in here somewhere…but win the battle, lose the war b/c the company could go under due to the cost of compensation. Why can’t employers get things right?
in haste, told him he had to sign a four-month fixed-term and back-dated contract on the spot or he would not be kept or paid.
Somehow this seems like it was inevitable. The beneficiary advocacy service in Auckland has had its funding cut.
Service manager Karen Pattie said the service needed about $100,000 annually and would cease operations within three weeks without further funding.
Ms Pattie said the service, which currently served 400 clients, had been one of the victims in the Government’s decision to cut funding for agencies providing advocacy work.
The push was now for the work to be delivered through Work and Income staff and ensuring beneficiaries were “accountable” for receiving their benefits.
emboldening mine.
Hey, let’s go the wholoe hog and save money by having the prosecution represent the defense in the criminal justice system. Employers could advocate for aggrieved employees in industrial disputes…..
This idea has huge potential for the government in so many areas.
Later this month climate change sceptic an English lord, Chris Moncton, a former adviser to Margret Thatcher will be traveling around New Zealand giving public debates on climate change. He starting in Northland, which is no surprise given the Governments intentions to mine & drill in the region.
I would like to know who is sponsoring this English Toff? The Government? Mining & drilling companies? Keys rich mates? ACT? Just who is behind this guys visit?
Also was mining & drilling our national parks really plan A of the Government till public outrage, including the thousands who marched in protest ‘stalled’ their intentions & was asset sales plan B? And are we seeing the reverse plans with mining & drilling being the plan B now?
Are we being feed more lies by Key as he has said if asset sales were foiled there was no plan B?
Thanks QoT armed with that info we will be heading along to the bar where Lord Haw-Haw is performing and heckle him and his mates. Should be entertaining may even take some rotten eggs just in case the ACT crew front up.
I would like to know who is sponsoring this English Toff? The Government? Mining & drilling companies? Keys rich mates? ACT? Just who is behind this guys visit?
It’ll be the Climate Science Coalition and I want to know how much he’s being paid. It seems his job these days is nothing but getting paid huge amounts to lie about climate science.
Hard to find out about that sort of thing these days. Conservatives are too ashamed to do it publicly. In 2007, some US outfit going by the name Heartland Institute channelled funds to bozos here like the New Zealand Climate “Science” Coalition. NZCSC member Owen McShane received $US25,000. while member Terry Dunleavy received $US45,000. That’s what a quick search shows up anyway. Last year there was a bit of an issue when the Heartland Institute went particularly rabid so other corporates stepped up. I think it would be reasonable to suspect that Lord Monkeybrain is on the billionaire denialist gravy train, the cash circuitously making its way down to the clowns like him.
Mind you, New Zealand has its own clowns, chief among them Auckland University Associate Professor Chris De Freitas. Should I be surprised to see the New Zealand Fox News Herald continue to give space to him, as recently as today? Perhaps not.
Ian Wishart is also involved. It’s the basic wingnut welfare crew, wouldn’t be surprised t find that under all the ‘brought to you by’ fluff is a handout from Gibbs.
Datacom was just as bad. They did nurses pay. At north shore where my wife worked for 2 years, not once was her pay right. She complained to the union rep. Did it hit the headlines, did the union make a fuss, not likely. The difference, the nurses union was led by Liala Harrell there was a l
Labour Government, and she was sweating on her list position with the Labour party?
No mention of your wife complaining to the boss, Addison. In your summary, it’s all the union’s fault for some reason. What years are we talking about?
my my, that is a glaringly obvious example of Ministerial manipulation to gain the desired outcome. i.e: Talent 2’s positing of a messiah vendor we lovingly call NovaPay
one thing i still wonder is, if NovaPay was about to make Talent2 so much money, why did banksie jump ship ?
Yep, which was why I asked Addison the years he was talking about. I was hoping to award Addison the stupidity trifecta: getting the relevant Nurses Organisation National Secretary wrong, putting Laila in the wrong party, and claiming the bosses mistakes were the fault of the union. However, I note from Addison’s contributions over the weekend that he doesn’t like answering direct questions. Presumably because the answers would show the vast void that is his factual ignorance is filled by hot air, right wing talking points and anti-worker prejudice.
Rubbish trp I always try and answer questions unless they are of a personal nature and go too far. I have had very little argument against my opinions, usually just the copout of playing the man not the ball. If you want a sensible debate try doing it without insulting those who offer opinions contrary to your own. Or are you of the view that chanting Maggie out over and over is a sensible debate(perhaps Key Out in a Kiwi context)
I don’t give a flying one about your opinions, Addison. I and others have simply demonstrated this morning (and on Saturday) that you don’t know what you are talking about. Every supposed fact in your wee rant this morning has been disproven.
The thing is, you are entitled to put your opinions forward and promote the ideas and philosophies behind them. You’ll find plenty of healthy debate. But when you claim as fact things that are not fact round here, you will be shredded everytime.
To summarise:
Datacom’s problems did make the media. You said they didn’t.
Laila Harre did not hide the Datacom issue because of personal ambition as you falsely claimed. She was never on Labour’s list, she was, in fact, an MP for a party born in opposition to the LP.
Laila Harre did not even work for the NO at the time you claim she did.
How about you just come out and say “I got all that wrong. Sorry”?
I looked at the comment, including the misspelling of Laila’s name and the required incorrect fact every sentence. I was considering writing a reply or a note to point this out preemptively. But then I thought that people would be in wanting to play at squashing this guy’s ego soon enough. Why should I spoil the fun? 😈
2001 to 2002,and yes she did complain to her line manager and was told to refer the complaint to the Union rep. And if you read my post a bit more carefully I am not blaming the union or the Labour government, the fault lay with datacom. The poing is that the unions are all over nova pay and National but were ominously silent over datacoms faults. I am suggesting Harre was quiet because she didn’t want to rock her Labour Party mates whilste she was angling for her party place. A new twist to the old line; the working class can kiss my ass, I have a list seat at last!;-)
not at all. not blaming the union for the pay mess up. Blaming the union for their inaction about the matter. PS I apologise I did not realise Harre resigned from Labour in 1989. Therefore cannot blame her inaction for political ambitions.
Cool, so Harre, who was not NO Nat Sec at the time, kept quiet about an issue she was unaware of to keep her mates in the party she left in disgust years earlier happy? How is life on Planet Key? Oxygen on short supply?
i call BS Addison, you have one isolated example, well i also have relatives and friends in that industry and recently talked with them specifically on the NovaPay issue, as the health sector seemed to handle the complicated task with competence and certitude. Each and every one of the half dozen i spoke to said the occassional blip happened , as it does in any payroll, and would be resolved in reasonable timeframes. They also made a point of mentioning that there is no comparison to the over-arching scale of the Talent2 / Novapay swindle that has been played on NZ Education.
Lucky them, but pay matters were a joke at Northsore when my wife was there over a 2 year period. They were always corrected but it was a fortnightly occurrence.
‘Open Letter/ OIA request to NZ Prime Minister John Key – how can the Government ‘get a good price for Mighty River Power, when thousands ‘Switch Off Mercury Energy’?
Dear Prime Minister,
Please be advised of the founding aim of the ‘Switch Off Mercury Energy’ community group, of which I am a Spokesperson:
“MINUTES(CONFIRMED) FOUNDING MEETING OF ‘SWITCH OFF MERCURY ENERGY’
15 August 2012 Grey Lynn Community Centre 510 Richmond Rd Grey Lynn.
HELP STOP THE PRIVATISATION OF MIGHTY RIVER POWER BY SWITCHING OFF MERCURY ENERGY! (100% owned by Mighty River Power)
AIM: To help stop the privatisation of public assets – particularly the proposed privatisation of the first of the electricity State-Owned Assets (SOEs), Mighty River Power, by FOCUSING ON getting 100,000 customers to SWITCH OFF Mercury Energy (100% owned by Mighty River Power). Fewer customers equals less profits which equals a less attractive investment and jeopardises the Governments proposed agenda.
“Let me make it quite clear. If the Government doesn’t get a good price – the Government isn’t going to sell” (Tony Ryall, Minister of SOE’s 17/6/2012 NBR
The Government has no right to sell our public assets.
PRECEDENT: In 2008, Contact Energy (already privatized) doubled their directors fees and raised their prices 12%.In 6 months, more than 40,000 customers switched from Contact Energy and their profits were halved.
1) Please confirm that the publicly-stated position stated by the Minister of State-Owned Eneterprises Tony Ryall, is unchanged:
“Let me make it quite clear. If the Government doesn’t get a good price – the Government isn’t going to sell” (Tony Ryall, Minister of SOE’s 17/6/2012
2) Please provide the information which confirms HOW a ‘good price’ for Mighty River Power is/has been calculated.
3) Please provide the information which confirms WHO has/is responsible for the calculation of a ‘good price’ for Mighty River Power.
4) Please provide the information which confirms that has/is responsible for the calculation of a ‘good price’ for Mighty River Power, are independent, and professionally competent, and do not have any untoward ‘ conflicts of interest’ / vested interests in the sale of Mighty River Power.
5) Please confirm that you are aware of your statutory duties arising from the Public Records Act 2005
(a)to provide for the continuation of the repository of public archives called the National Archives with the name Archives New Zealand (Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga); and
(b)to provide for the role of the Chief Archivist in developing and supporting government recordkeeping, including making independent determinations on the disposal of public records and certain local authority archives; and
(c)to enable the Government to be held accountable by—
(i)ensuring that full and accurate records of the affairs of central and local government are created and maintained; and
(ii)providing for the preservation of, and public access to, records of long-term value; and
(d)to enhance public confidence in the integrity of public records and local authority records; and
(e)to provide an appropriate framework within which public offices and local authorities create and maintain public records and local authority records, as the case may be; and
(f)through the systematic creation and preservation of public archives and local authority archives, to enhance the accessibility of records that are relevant to the historical and cultural heritage of New Zealand and to New Zealanders’ sense of their national identity; and
(g)to encourage the spirit of partnership and goodwill envisaged by the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi), as provided for by section 7; and
(h)to support the safekeeping of private records.
Yours sincerely,
Penny Bright
A Spokesperson for the Switch Off Mercury Energy community group.
I am one who has been surprised by the government’s and Key’s continued popularity in spite of all of the problems they have encountered and which are chronicled at length here.
So I was very interested last night to meet for the person time a person of the class responsible for the phenomenon.
Most people I know are now and have always been right wing. I know fewer people who are and have always been left wing. Here, I am exposed to the rabid left, who I never encounter in the real world.
But last night I met a devoted John Key fan. A 50 year old gay man of modest means who had voted Labour his whole life until 2008 and, indeed, had been a card carrying member and volunteered and canvassed for them in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
He has voted National the last two elections and does not regret it. His vote was essentially for Key who he remains very taken with. Part of the appeal, it seems, is the story of the struggle from modest circumstances to great wealth and then public service.
This is only an anecdote and, as such, has very limited value. But I found it very interesting to meet for the first time such a person.
Jesus Mary and Joseph I am agreeing with Gormless Fool.
Key has a very good back story and a lot of charm. To counter him Labour needs a leader who will outpoint him in an area. He needs to be smarter or gutsier or more passionate or be able to speak better but he needs to be different.
Shearer is not that person.
I also agree with Caleb Morgan that the dominant clique in the Labour Caucus is one that prefers Key to Cunliffe (or Chauvel or Dalziel or anyone of the left) to be next Prime Minister.
I don’t know why the Govt uses the likes of Deloittes for IT consultancy, they’re grossly overpriced and since a lot of IT work is labour charges the Govt is paying far too much for IT outsourcing.
Deloittes are principally an accounting firm and I wouldn’t hire accountants to advise me on IT stuff, don’t know why they get so much Govt work when we’ve got the likes of Datacom who are genuinely IT people.
Just how do Deloitte *win* all those juicy central/local government contracts, and service agreements etc!
They’re feasting aggresively on the public purse, at all levels, all around the country’s, local/central bodies!
One needs to investigate little snippets like the following statement:
Following a claim that Housing NZ corporate services director Roy Baker was a relative of a senior manager at Deloitte, former Housing NZ chairman Pat Snedden called then housing minister Phil Heatley to assure him any conflicts of interest had been properly managed. The conflict of interest had been declared.
Tracking the relationships and work history, of former and current Deloitte employees, is a good place to start!
Four Housing NZ executives, including Baker, left the corporation in 2009 and set up a private consultancy that named the ETP’s British software supplier, Northgate, as a partner
On Morning report Goff raised some issues. Deployment was two months longer than usual, (which may have increased fatigue), additional training required for the deployment was cut short by two weeks and an inquest is required.
I hope that Goff also gets a full independent inquiry. The ANZAC Day airforce deaths were suppose to be investigated by the Labour Department, not just by the airforce. The army are not independent.
Your eyes will roll at this. Chris Hipkins put up a story on Red Alert called CONTEMPT FOR DEMOCRACY on Saturday here http://tinyurl.com/cdekas6
Yesterday Chris deleted comments asking him if he thought the title was a bit hypocritical because he has been so criticized for his reaction to the democracy remits at the NZ Labour conference. Trevor
or Clare might have done the deleting…
My comment never got through. I wasn’t even getting smart. I just said I thought it might be better to take critics on. Still in moderation or deleted though?!
I have screen captures of two other comments that were deleted. Anyone know how to post screen captures here at TS…
I had seen TS comments saying how Red Alert is censored like mad but I had not seen it myself. Do MP’s think you can censor voters when they go to vote? Daft.
There is a high degree of moderation at Red Alert. There has to be, otherwise you’d have trolls from both all directions spending much of their time slagging the MP’s and drowning out discussion. The problem is, as you point out, that the moderation often drowns out actual comments.
I can testify that as a moderator after reading hundreds of thousands of comments here (and previous net experiences) with an enormous variety of trolling approaches, that after a while everything starts to look “deeply suspicious”. It is actually quite hard to restrain yourself from just moderating everything and stifling actual discussion.
The local equivalent is trying to tell us how to run our site or telling us what we should write. It is a very fast way to picking up a ban and if repeated, a fast way to lose the ability to comment here. Why? Because we’re doing the damn job and critics who are not are usually just a pain in the arse because they are not. We just tell them that they need time to start up and run their own site where they can run it the way they like – including getting their own audience. And attacking authors personally is just not tolerated at all because while there are a lot of commentators, there are only a relatively few people with both the skills in writing and who are willing to be authors.
Basically it is house rules when it comes to moderation at various sites. As a commentator you kind of have to live with them.
I think everyone here is kind of aware of the moderation policies at RA
And to be fair to Red Alert, I posted a comment a few months ago suggesting Clare Curren should apologise for bullying CV and I was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t moderated in any way.
Helen Kelly’s criticism of the lack of care for forest workers safety is really needed. It seems to me though that there is a barrier in NZ to insisting on safety regulations and controls backed by law and regular inspections.
This morning’s comment from an adventure tourism spokesperson on the man falling and dying at an adventure business referred to businesses being very concerned and setting standards. It sounded to me that they are left to get on with it, perhaps after drawing up plans but saying and knowing isn’t doing.
What we need is a feisty little shit from the Department of Labour and Safety going round asking questions, checking the equipment and generally setting the owner’s teeth on edge. Instead we get growing risky behaviours from owners and avoidable deaths that amount to manslaughter by wilful neglect of owners and their staff. Owners should spend some time in jail if any fault can be found. A month for each fault perhaps. Faults of frayed ropes, poor maintenance, lax controls and methods, etc.
yes, also on the rise on RNZ
-Aukland house prices continuing up the spiral
-Aussie climate on “steroids” now
anyway,
some parting shots for The Village round-heads across the bow (eggs and omelettes and all that butter, i know, lets call it a master-craftsman class)
subjective self-identification is the outcome of subjection to a pre-existing order that includes language, law, admin, production, distribution, and exchange.
Husband, and cultivate and tailor a world to your proclivities and context.
1. World-making heart- and-mind. heart-and-mind shaping world. think and speak a novel world into being. way-making=also affection-an epistemology of caring. empathetic feeling. tick
2.it is sage not to coerce; disseminate teachings that go beyond what can be said. binaries require other for completion. enable each participant to contribute fully to “dramatic” performance.tick
3. keep the “hawkers” of knowledge at bay. celebrate the bravery, patience and kindness of the ordinary person. allow character of community to emerge synergistically out of associated living.
tick
4.way-making of undetermined nature; swinging gateway of experience opens and novelty emerges spontaneously. experience is appropriate object of awe and deference. tick
5.not institutionalized morality but superior communal morality. tick
6. the fecundity of emptiness. tick
7.withdraw, yet out in front.through unselfishness needs met. nature / Christ as mentor. persons perceived, needs met.tick
8.dwell in places loathed by crowds. giving authoritatively. speak credibly. act timely. water flows everywhere. tick
9. retire from excess. how to manage fullness; a measure of ignorance to cope with intelligence that vies with wisdom. humility to cope with accomplishments. a measure of timidity to cope with courage pervading an entire age. measure of frugality to cope with wealth that fills the four seas.
tick
10. the nature of the world is to transform. real wisdom-shaping penetrating insight into the present moment engaging with the unique circumstances at play. tick
12. easier to satiate the abdomen, difficult to satiate the wandering eye through which the spirit can leak away. distractions. no crime more onerous than greed. no misfortune more devastating than avarice. no calamity with more grief than insatiability. know when enough is enough= satisfaction. tick
13. value anxieties. those who value care of own body more than running the world can be entrusted with the world; begrudging person= authority of the world; worldly favour-patronage will be followed by disgrace as favour “withdrawn”. faithful with little, self, then faithful with responsibilities and world. value ones’ person and love ones’ person in thorough-going integration with ones’ field of experience. tick
14. hold tightly to way-making in the present to manage what happens now to understand where it began in the distant past= the draw-string of way-making. master draws me forward a step at a time, broadens my culture, disciplines my behaviour through the observance of ritual propriety; even if I wanted to quit, I could not.-Yan Hui (we supported a Mob hui after church; is broad)
tick
15. reluctance as at a winters’ stream crossing. vigilance towards surrounding neighbours.dignified as an invited guest. yielding as ice to thaw. solid like un-worked wood. murky like muddy waters when stilled clear. settled when agitated comes to life. not seek fullness, remaining hidden and unfinished. tick
-epistemology of feeling in which the quality of understanding is a function of the immediacy and intensity of what is felt. way always under construction. many hands at work. a punctuation of consummating events, as paragraphs yet a never-ending story. tick
16. reversion-returning to the root, is what is called equilibrium. common sense- accommodation-tolerance -kingliness . tian cumulative cultural legacy focused by the spirit and spirituality of those who have come before. the way made is enduring, not self divided against self. s. like a mirror; not see things off or go to meet them. respond without storing anything up thus not injured by the myriad transformations they undergo. not passive or quiet but synergistically and organically responsive. accommodation is the source of fullness of strength, influence timeliness and efficacy. extension through deference, trunk branches from the roots. tick
17. during periods of decadence and social decline philosophers arise to proclaim the obvious of exacerbating problems by institutionalizing artificial alternatives, dominion, principalities and powers- educated morality and its vocabulary of ” right and wrong” “good and evil”. tick
20. Preferable to the marble 😉 of learning is the rich temple of immediate experience and unmediated feeling.
Do I really care what others think of me? I don’t think so. the worm has turned; Time for some
Wood Oil. (I would not be surprised if National gets another term or not) There’s some newsology for yas’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noology
What a great country? By l*ck it is! Go luck yourselves out.
“ha ha ha said the laughing gnome…”
now, where’d i secrete my Crossbow and bolts.
“guess I’ll see you, yes I’ll see you, see you on the other-side.”
This morning on Radio NZ this USA woman was interesting. She has been thoughtful and politically aware since a young age. She said that she considers the USA to be a pluralism of wealthy groups not a democracy.
10-11am: Feature interview – Cisco Systems co-founder and Jane Austen expert Sandy Lerner
I put item about Sandy Lerner on OpenMike 3/3 by mistake. I tried to delete it because I wanted it to go in today’s only, but the delete function doesn’t work and neither does my edit function.
I have just heard Mike Williams criticise the Labour Party… saying they need to spend less time on the internal infighting and more time attacking the government. Two minutes later following a question by Lyn Freeman on the subject of Charles Chauvel’s speech, he is belittling Chauvel and accusing him of having a tantrum (I paraphrase) when he made exactly the same point.
He claims Charles Chauvel has done himself no good by saying what he did
This isn’t the first time Williams has contradicted himself like this and it won’t be the last. The man is shaping up to be even more of a ‘fake’ leftie than Josie Pagani.
He also claimed Shearer’s reshuffle was very fair. The MPs who Shearer promoted deserved it and were the best performers in the party (words to that effect anyway). He intimated those who were demoted were simply not good enough, and he’s sorry to have to say this blah blah… but they simply didn’t come up to scratch. So, we take it from the guru himself that David Cunliffe and Lianne Dalziel were just not up to it folks .
Why are types such as Williams, *allowed* on the radio you think..
Forget buying into the charade around the re-shuffle, and empty spaces like Williams commenting on it, these are all just pawns in a game, the game is called, *distract/fool the public*!
Age old game, which is still working wonders it seems!
Bryce Edwards: Opposition is failing NZ voters, low polls a threat to Shearer
Dr Edwards says voters don’t see enough difference between the two major parties to bother shaking up the status quo.
“I think we are looking at what political scientists call democratic deficit, where voters are turned off politics because they just can’t see meaningful differences between political parties and reasons to vote either way.
“At the last election we had the lowest turnout in about 100 years – it could be even worse at the next election because people just don’t see the point.”
its ANARCHY i tells ya, ANARCHY! (have you seen the ways in which people are choosing to die these days? Hemlock would be a lot more gentle; they are even falling out of the sky. very sad, particularly these young people driving themselves into the wall)
Agree that it is a travesty that Mike Williams continues to be used as a Labour Party commentator – Charles was only calling it like it is. If the hierarchy don’t like the infighting, manage it, don’t just try to ignore it. They are missing the first fundamental rule of politics! Doesn’t bode well for Government
Yes Anne, when Williams says “less time on the internal infighting and more time attacking the government” he apparently isn’t talking about the leadership cartel around Shearer who have been responsible for all the leaking, backstabbing, media bitching and vote spying, and who are supposed to be the ones responsible for fighting the government.
he’s talking about those dumb-bunny members and conference delegates who had the effrontary to think they were deserving of a say in the leadership of the parliamentary party. I mean the parliamentary party belongs to us – the elite – not them. They have no right to poke their noses into our business. We decide what’s good for us the party not them.
As for the bunch of treacherous MPs who had the gall to back the members. We have no choice but to continue to punish them until they show contrition and promise they will never betray us the party again.
A problem with prescribing “less time on the internal infighting and more time attacking the government” is the diminishing range of issues over which a forthright attack on the government would enjoy the full backing of the present Labour caucus. Even following the prescription may well reveal us as “the enemy within,” should our critique of the government fail to be sufficiently circumscribed and nuanced.
If Cunliffe is so hopeless – why is he trouncing every other Labour MP on YouTube’s Inthehouse channel at the moment? Seems to me, he’s the only performing with any talent in the House, for a start.
[lprent: Don’t dick about with your handles. Each handle has to be approved the first time it is used. Try using too many and we’ll conclude that you are deliberately wasting our time and ban you. Read the policy about wasting moderators time. ]
I gave up on whaleoil to many biggots and rednecks. Sadly giving up here to many socialist facist thugs who are left overs from from the 30s in Germany, and think socialism is about having the power to ban opposition.
Goodby and good luck I am sure you will do wonders for the political LEFT IN nz
No, you’re giving up because virtually everything you’ve written here has been shown to be bullshit.
And enough of the dramatic exits, everyone knows you’ll be back in no time with a new name and a new back story to peddle the same old lies and propaganda.
That’s a pity. You screwed yourself up today big time, but you’ve made a few neo-lib arguments that National’s opposition parties need to be prepared to counter in the spin wars.
Help me, help me, help me sail away,
Well give me two good reasons why I oughta stay.
‘Cause I love to live so pleasantly,
Live this life of luxury,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime …
upon reflection, I do find it somewhat illuminating that Addison reckons some here want to ban opposition, and that’s why he chooses to withdraw.
Secondly, I also think it’s a bit of an alien concept for me to not get worked up and passionate about politics. Even basic roading policies have a good chance of being life or death decisions. Yes, the mods here keep a handle on threats etc, but with a wide range of folk of course a bit of personal abuse or the occasional f-bomb will occur, especially if one acts like a dick. To expect a prim and proper “Midsomer Murders”-style conversation about policies that might e.g. kill kids (or simply choose which people will die, but hopefully a lower number than plan B) is pretty unrealistic.
I’ve been following the “New” Left wing blog the Daily Blog for a couple of days and I have come to the conclusion that it’s just another version of Pundit (with more pictures) staying well within the expected paradigm and I suspect it will fall by the way side soonish. I have also been following something of what is happening in Italy and while our “Lefty/Greeny” politicians are talking about money printing and the first victims of using prisoners as cheap labor are presenting themselves I thought I’d put a link here for those of you who want to know how it’s done in Italy. Enjoy!
Julia Hartley Moore on Jim Mora was saying with approval that one of the good things that the government has done is enabled free cello lessons somewhere in her manor. This morning I listened on Radionz to a worker on a benefit advocacy group which may have to close (it’s the only one for a huge area of Auckland) because the government has withdrawn the $50,000 part of the $100,000 they need and they can’t provide the service without it.
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...
Why do so many people mistrust the police? Because they pull shit like this:The police are flouting the rules on breath testing, carrying out tests in people's homes to catch them out sometimes up to two hours after they were ...
I have been reading and listening to the aftermath of Trump’s comments about the four female first term Democratic representatives, all of whom are “people of color.” I found the US coverage interesting both as evidence of partisanship and the ...
The Herald reports that the housing shortage / bubble has hit a new level:New Zealand is short of 130,000 homes, the tally having risen lately by 30,000, two economists say. Jarrod Kerr and Jeremy Couchman, Kiwibank economists said: "This time ...
Milk producer Fonterra is one of New Zealand's biggest coal-users, using it to power all its South Island (and a few of its North Island) dairy factories. They'd previously "committed" to not building any new coal boilers after 2030. Now, ...
The proposed Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill treats biogenic methane emissions differently from all other carbon emissions. The latter are to be measured net so that emissions from fossil fuels can be offset by carbon stored in trees. ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...
Yesterday the government released its discussion document on action on agricultural emissions. As sadly usual, it proposed enormous subsidies for farm emissions, including for nitrogen-based fertiliser. This is a huge mistake. In addition to being one of the chief drivers ...
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act (this replaced their previous plans to hold a secret consultation with handpicked people). 285 people submitted on ...
Always Playing Catch-Up: Throughout the 1970s, the purchasing power of the ordinary worker’s pay packet – the only meaningful measure of his or her wealth – was being eaten away every passing year by seemingly inexorable rises in the cost-of-living. ...
The Interim Climate Change Committee's report on Action on agricultural emissions: Evidence, analysis and recommendations was finally released today, and as you might guess from the title, it is recommending that we actually act, rather than let farmers keep ...
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...
Agriculture is our biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for 48% of the total. It follows that meeting any credible emissions reduction target requires cutting agricultural emissions, most likely by having fewer cows. But National thinks people shouldn't be ...
How scummy is the UK Home Office? This scummy:The Home Office lied to EU member states to remove victims of human trafficking and modern slavery in breach of European law, according to whistleblowers. Legal experts have said the practice is ...
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...
“We wuz robbed!” is the classic cry of the disappointed losers of a closely contested sporting contest – it is very much to the credit of the Black Caps that we heard no such sentiment from them following the stunning ...
The Youth Parliament is being held this week, and some of the youth MPs are campaigning for a lower voting age:Molly Doyle, 17, is one Youth MP who wants this to change. She is part of a non-partisan campaign run ...
Up till now, Australia has made its living by digging up coal and exporting it to other countries, destroying the global climate in the process. But now they have a new option: exporting solar power:The desert outside Tennant Creek, deep ...
Later this month, thousands of people are expected to march to parliament as part of the #HandsOffOurTamaraki movement. At its heart, the movement is about preserving whānau and demanding that the state stop removing children from their whānau, hapū and iwi. ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh The recent statements made by the former FARC commander, Carlos Lozada (legal name Julian Gallo), where, from his seat in Congress, he praised the Colombian Army demonstrate how low the farianos have sunk. Lozada began by ...
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...
Last month I talked about the no-fly movement: people who refuse to fly or limit it to absolute necessity to avoid destroying the climate. Now, that movement has a somewhat surprising new member: Dutch airline KLM:Dutch airline KLM has launched ...
In the 1960's, humanity faced a terrible threat: global thermonuclear war. Nuclear weapons were uniquely destructive and dangerous, and if more countries got them, the logic of MAD and the pre-emptive strike would put us on a hair-trigger to destruction. ...
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...
Matariki has been and gone, but this year we saw a couple of op-eds arguing that it should be a public holiday, replacing the foreign monarch's fake birthday. And now, New Zealand Republic - a group which campaigns for an ...
The discussion on the quality of economic advice, which we reported last week, has spilled over into a discussion about whether so many senior appointments should be of non-New Zealanders. Recall I discussed the failure to develop career paths within ...
When Nicky Hager revealed US footage of the Operation Burnham raid, obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, one of the obvious questions was whether Ministers had seen it - and in particular, whether they'd been told that it ...
Northern Ireland is the Alabama of the UK: a backwards region where women and gay people are denied fundamental rights. But Westminster has just decided to fix that:MPs have voted resoundingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to ...
There's a problem with "synthetic cannabis", and not just the one you think. It's the name.We're in the midst of a wave of news stories that link synthetic drugs to serious harm, through deadly road accidents and accidental overdoses (which ...
Ranjit Kauri, The Dancing Maharani and Other Stories, Swansea, Head and Heart, 2019, £6.99; reviewed by Don Franks Working people are not the same country to country. Our struggles for a better life take place in surroundings of very different ...
Let's Do Them! All Jacinda Ardern has to do to clinch the 2020 General Election is frighten the bejesus out of the electorate by describing in the most graphic terms imaginable what will happen to all the positive beginnings her ...
It may be that we have all misinterpreted the somewhat surprising “bromance” between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. It has been all too easy to assume that it is Kim who is cosying up to Trump rather than the ...
by Michael Roberts So the full circle is completed. The corrupt pro-business conservative New Democracy party in Greece that was ousted by the anti-capitalist Syriza party in 2015 has been returned to office in yesterday’s general election, with an outright ...
When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
Back in May the government released its Zero Carbon Bill. While much of the bill was welcome, there was one big exception: it contained a secrecy clause, requiring the Climate Change Commission to maintain secrecy over practically everything it does. ...
by Phil Duncan This past week has marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Stonewall Inn riots in Christopher Street, New York, the event generally regarded as kicking off the gay liberation movement. Quite a few articles have ...
Southland - land of coal-burning dairy farmers - has become the first region in the country to explicitly vote against declaring a climate emergency. Their reason? They didn't want to "devalue" the word "emergency". Its an argument addressed powerfully in ...
New Zealand has a problem with police chases: officers going after fleeing drivers like rabid dogs, without any consideration for proportionality or public safety, often with fatal results. And according to an in-depth article in the Guardian today, the UK ...
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...
Holly Lawford-Smith is a senior lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Melbourne. She’s currently writing a book about radical feminism. This article appeared on Feminist Current Academics should be standing together in defence of universities’ fundamental values: the ...
The Otago Daily Times has an in-depth article about the future of wind energy in New Zealand, and it is looking bright:The news that wind will play the leading role in New Zealand’s energy future was put up in lights ...
If the sight of schoolkids striking for a future has been filling you with hope, good news: they want you to join them on September 27:Students will take to the streets again demanding action on climate change, and this time ...
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...
I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...
To express concern about foreign ownership and control in New Zealand is often to invite accusations of xenophobia and economic illiteracy. It is worthwhile, therefore, to rehearse the grounds for that concern, and to explore the various forms it can ...
It must be a day ending in Y because the Guardian - remember when it used to be a good paper1 - is running another spurious story about Corbyn's leadership being threatened over anti-Semitism.The headline the Guardian runs is: "MPs tell ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Jun 23 through Sat, June 29, 2019 Editor's Pick When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez met Greta Thunberg: 'Hope is contagious'Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
July 19 (BusinessDesk) - The government is looking to tighten control and impose harsher penalties after the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak revealed cracks in the country's stock management system. ...
Kia Anga Mua Ngā Hapū o Ngāpuhi (KAM) has reached a pivotal milestone following a hui yesterday at Waitangi with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Government spent $133,530 on producing its ‘Wellbeing Budget’ document, a cost blowout largely driven by spending on graphic design and photography. The $133,530 price tag compares to $86,268 ...
Kahungunu Māori Language Awards. Nominations closed on 5 July 2019, and were judged by the Senior Management Team of Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated. The judges wish to acknowledge the very high calibre of all nominations received making it a very ...
High Court of Australia Judge, Justice Stephen Gageler, will address recent criticism of court judgment delays in Australia, at the University of Canterbury (UC) on 23 July at 6.15pm. ...
This summary is provided to assist in the understanding of the Inquiry’s proceedings but does not constitute the official record. The full Minute is available at the link below. ...
The Tertiary Education Commission is laying charges under section 292A of the Education Act 1989 against three individuals for making a false representation for the purpose of receiving, or continuing to receive, free tertiary education from a tertiary education ...
New Zealand food businesses today welcomed a trio of new food safety tools, designed to make it faster, easier and more affordable to follow the rules and keep consumers safe. ...
AUT research shows that Māori children are almost four times more likely than those of European descent to be placed out of home by child protection services ...
The Government announced today that grants of up to $2,500 for energy efficient heaters are now available as part of the Government’s Warmer Kiwi Homes programme. ...
Fonterra’s use of coal has been the target of numerous grassroots campaigns in recent years. Last year 350 Aotearoa affiliated groups, Fossil Free Aoraki and 350 Nelson launched a petition dismissing the dairy giant’s initial target of no new ...
Information sessions on proposals for The Medicinal Cannabis Scheme take place in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch over the next fortnight. The sessions are open to anyone with an interest in learning more about the proposed scheme. ...
“Our children are our most vulnerable, most innocent victims and we do not want to see any more children harmed by these ‘known sex offenders’. The safety of our community must be the paramount consideration.” ...
“The announcement that Fonterra will immediately stop installing any new coal boilers or increasing capacity to burn coal is the signal that the biomass fuel supply industry welcomes” said Brian Cox, Executive Officer of the Bioenergy Association. ...
18 July 2019-- Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA) today welcomed Fonterra’s commitment to build no new coal plants, a “no brainer” for the climate crisis the world faces. The group has been urging this transition for six years now and ...
The increase in demand for cage-free eggs is set to continue according to animal rights organisation SAFE, who says the egg industry should expect this and prepare. ...
Wellington, New Zealand – 350 Pacific made a formal submission to the New Zealand Government’s Environment Parliamentary Select Committee on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, led by the Pacific Climate Warriors (PCWs) based in ...
There used to be a school of thought on the centre right side of politics that the best way to neuter the Greens as a political force would be to let them have a spell in government. Then, according to ...
Today (18 July) is Nelson Mandela International Day when the United Nations highlights the importance of humane conditions of imprisonment. In New Zealand our prisons are overcrowded and understaffed. At 214 prisoners per 100,000 people, we have the fifth ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa will take legal action over the lengthy delay in implementing pay increases for teachers. Novopay announced yesterday that teachers would have to wait until 11 September to see pay increases that they won when they settled ...
EDS has filed its submission on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill. The Bill sets targets for greenhouse gas reductions, provides for the government to set a series of carbon budgets, and sets up a new, independent, Climate ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has identified an absurd case of mission creep at Wellington City Council: the decision to spend $21,750 on two Consumer NZ investigations into different brands of bike lights. ...
The Motor Trade Association is welcoming the release of the Government’s new draft road safety strategy. MTA Chief Executive Craig Pomare says the association is pleased to see vehicle safety has been made a priority in the Road to Zero ...
The Department of Conservation continue to repeat the same old story about attacks on staff and how it is affecting their role in protecting our precious wildlife. NZ herald https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12249704 ...
The government's silence on the fact that the country's second-largest milk processor is on the brink of becoming 25% Chinese Government owned has been deafening. ...
School Strike 4 Climate NZ welcomes the coalition Government’s endeavour to take action on reducing agricultural emissions but is disappointed at the weak stance that the Government has taken on the issue. ...
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has issued a formal warning under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT Act) to seven reporting entities within the Regus Management Limited (RNZML) designated business ...
The Northland Regional Council (NRC) has voted to exclude all GM/GE precautionary provisions in its regional plan, despite years of community engagement showing support for such protection. There is a sense of betrayal following the way the NRC Chairman ...
New Zealand’s ‘mission-driven’ charities working in international aid are showing early signs of changing the way they work, in particular prioritising building the capacity and resilience of local communities to do their own development. ...
Teachers will have to wait until 11 September for pay increases won as part of their collective agreement negotiations settled in June, according to an update sent to schools today from Novopay. ...
July 16 (BusinessDesk) - Energy Minister Megan Woods says the government “won’t die in a ditch” if its goal of 100 percent renewable electricity generation isn't reached by 2035. ...
The Electricity Networks Association (ENA) is welcoming the Government’s response to the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) Report released today. Graeme Peters, chief executive of the ENA, said one of the key recommendations, endorsed by the ...
An article* published this month in the Journal of Health Organization and Management raises questions over the way health board members are elected and whether the boards are even needed. ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa's kindergarten teacher members will vote on a proposed settlement to their collective agreement after four days of negotiations with the Ministry of Education and kindergarten employers. ...
Vector has today welcomed the ICCC’s report on Accelerated Electrification . Vector agrees that accelerating the electrification of transport and process heat will play a major role in reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Initiatives to ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Porirua City Council to cancel its underwriting of a proposed Canadian-led privately owned adventure park slated for public land after a similar project created a huge liability for Christchurch ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero welcome the Interim Climate Change Committee’s (ICCC’s) reports: Accelerated Electrification and Action on agricultural emissions ; which were finally released by the Government today, almost three months ...
Fish & Game New Zealand notes the announcement today that the Government and the intensive agriculture leadership have reached a ‘historic consensus’ and are exploring using a formal sector-government agreement instead of bringing agriculture ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on Accelerated Electrification was released today by the Minister for Energy and Resources, Hon Dr Megan Woods. ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report Action on agricultural emissions was released today by the Minister for Climate Change, Hon James Shaw and the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Damien O’Connor. ...
Please find attached embargoed copies of two media statements from the Interim Climate Change Committee http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1907/Embargoed_Interim_Climate_Change_Committee_Accelerated_electrification_MEDIA_STATEMENT.pdf ...
Greenpeace Executive Director, Dr Russel Norman, has reacted with disbelief that the Government’s latest climate proposal includes an option for dairy to voluntarily deal with their emissions over the next six years. ...
This week’s “Youth Parliament” is an expensive waste of time that promotes taxpayer-funded junketeering, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “We shouldn’t be training kids on the joys of the trough,” says Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones admitted on Q+A tonight that the state of New Zealand’s infrastructure planning is “dismal” and the government needs to get on with building “rather than writing more reports about it.” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini discusses the week in politics with Michelle Grattan – one with a reduced pace, despite the 24 ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand, with the interview available as both audio and ...
Jacinda Ardern’s Melbourne trip wrapped up with nothing to show on longstanding trans-Tasman concerns, but was a potent reminder of her international appeal. ...
Pricing agricultural emissions first at the processor level - such as Fonterra - rather than right down at farm level stacks up as a gap measure says Catherine Leining. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Children and Technology, Western Sydney University Instagram is running a social media experiment in Australia and elsewhere to see what happens when it hides the number of likes on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Cross, Research Fellow, Curtin University Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter here, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au. Billabongs in the northern Kimberley are welcome ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling You’ve probably heard that this week marks 50 years since humans first set foot on the Moon – a feat that still boggles the mind given ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Gentilin, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University As strange as it might sound, whistleblowers in Australia have reason to rejoice – so long as they are in the private sector. Thanks to new ...
The fourth season of Queer Eye drops today on Netflix. Sam Brooks reflects on his difficult relationship with the show, and where it sits in mainstream culture.For depressingly many people, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an introduction not just to ...
The collapse of a multi-billion dollar deal to sell AMP's life insurance division to a British company for $3.6 billion is the fault of the companies, according to the Reserve Bank. ...
A poem by Miramar poet Geoff Cochrane.Channel HoppingStupa or Stuka?Weet-Bix or Welsh rabbit?Galactic aerodrome or Matchbox truck?*I’m young in my dreams, still young.*Beautiful Keanu’s wearing shades—antique shades with iodine-coloured lenses.*I’m young in my dreams, still young,and I still have some ...
For the month of July, Josie Adams is taking on the challenge of being low-waste. That means minimising plastics, emissions, and even recyclables. Each week we release her diary. This is week two.Read week one here.I’ll be honest, week two ...
By Royson Willie in Port Vila Two Vanuatu Daily Post journalists were literally given a pat-down by the police criminal investigation unit yesterday over a story they had written about the vehicle of the Chairman of the Public Service ...
By Gorothy Kenneth in Port Moresby Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape will visit Australia this weekend for a week-long state visit and the Bougainville independence referendum in less than three months is expected to be high on ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
Wtf did we just watch?That sound you heard was a million furries screaming in ecstasy as their fantasy and everyone else’s nightmare came to life in the form of the first trailer for the live action version of Cats.Is it ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo (Bloomsbury, $35)Fucking ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
As we mark the fiftieth anniversary the July 20th Moon landing Dr Nick Long reflects on what that's meant for New Zealand and considers the space 'gold rush' ahead. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Griebsch, Specialist and Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Medicine, University Veterinary Teaching Hospital Sydney, Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney Recently reported cases of the often fatal bacterial infection ...
My selection of the eight best morning news links from here and overseas, along with eight lunchtime lean-back long reads. Also, the full list of links, including Jacinda Ardern's trip to Australia, the big emissions report, Fonterra's coal move and a new ...
Heaven is a place on earth, and June is saving the world one ’80s pop hit at a time. Tara Ward recaps season 4, episode 9 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Praise be, for there was a tiny bit of good news ...
Finance companies say they shouldn’t have to be ‘fit and proper’ even though in some cases they charge more than the planned clampdown on high cost lending. A group of finance companies that charges well over the government’s proposed cap on ...
An ANZ shareholder is demanding the bank disclose more information about the sale of an Auckland residential property to its former chief executive and his family. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentForeign Affairs and trade Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The new, ...
Tara Ward sets out on a valiant quest to find the best apple in Aotearoa. The idea that every apple is a good apple is fake news. We’ve all got stories about shit experiences with apples, when it looked good on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Sarkissian, Operations Scientist, CSIRO The role Australia played in relaying the first television images of astronaut Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the Moon 50 years ago this July features in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lyndal Sleep, Research Fellow, Griffith University In Australia’s social security laws, the “couple rule” is used to determine if a person is in a relationship, tying access to Centrelink payments to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Walker, Lecturer (Management), Victoria University of Wellington We live in a society obsessed with performance. For both young and old, competitions, awards and rankings are an inescapable feature of life. How ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan O’Connell, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne One-third of all preschools may lack a qualified teacher in the next four years if nothing changes, my new modelling shows. Currently, half of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirsty Volz, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Of all the mantras for modernism, the one I think most befitting for Australian mid-century modern houses is L’esprit Nouveau – The New Spirit. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Skifield snowmaking a sign of the future, vaccination rates fall alarmingly, and construction industry encouraged to lower emissions.Snowmaking has saved the ski industry from disaster this year, after the weather ...
Joel Rindelaub explains why it's so important for those weighing on climate science to be transparent about their funding sources and conflicts of interest. ...
Neil Armstrong may have been the first man on the moon, but if we define the ‘space race’ as spaceflight capability, the Soviets won it hands down, writes Jennifer Frost. ...
Our government and leaders are (still) divided on the question of compulsory te reo Māori. Who’s for it, who’s against it, and who’s flip flopping around in the middle?Under article two of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the government pledges to ...
When teenagers today are being called upon to solve the problems of tomorrow, why aren’t they given the right to participate in democracy? Fourteen-year-old Oli Morphew makes the case for lowering the voting age. If you’re going to deprive someone of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, La Trobe University Australia’s relations with China will be further complicated by the news that Australian citizen Yang Hengjun is set to be charged with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Kyne, Senior Research Fellow in conservation biology, Charles Darwin University More than 28,000 species around the world are threatened, according to the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics, Centre For Applied Philosophy & Public Ethics (CAPPE), Charles Sturt University Two Australian universities, University of Technology Sydney and Curtin University, are conducting internal reviews of ...
Open mike 04/03/2013 
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...3 hours ago
This week, in the wake of National's opposition to even talking about reducing agricultural emissions and Simon Bridges' refusal to recognise that there is a climate emergency, I've been saying that National is unfit to govern. And it looks like ...5 hours ago
Something I missed: not only did Youth MPs declare a climate emergency; they also launched a campaign to lower the voting age to 16:Youth Parliament week in Parliament has seen the establishment of Make it 16, a campaign to ...8 hours ago
I have been reading and listening to the aftermath of Trump’s comments about the four female first term Democratic representatives, all of whom are “people of color.” I found the US coverage interesting both as evidence of partisanship and the ...1 day ago
The proposed Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill treats biogenic methane emissions differently from all other carbon emissions. The latter are to be measured net so that emissions from fossil fuels can be offset by carbon stored in trees. ...2 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...2 days ago
2 days ago
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...3 days ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...3 days ago
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http://www.hbo.com/movies/game-change/index.html
Hekia Parata and John Key.
I watched the movie “Game Change” which follows John McCain’s 2008 Presisential campaign from his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate to his ultimate defeat by Obama. A great movie.
Pailin and the McCain/Palin relationship has many parallels with Parata and her relationship with Key, IMO.
Fantastic film, really shows the grind that campaigning can do. In the end I actually felt sorry for the old bugger McCain, though he still chose her, so not that sorry.
http://iforce.co.nz/i/uaa0wf32.ivg.jpg
What sort of mine is this, and where is it located?
No idea, but what an amazing photo.
Reverse image search indicates a diamond mine in Northern Canada.
Here’s a shot of it in winter:
http://www.diavik.ca/ENG/media/1157_photo_listing_1544.asp
Cheat 😛
As shown on Whaleoil yesterday
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2013/03/photo-of-the-day-153/
What is Labour’s stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership?
Whatever he said…..unless trevor disagrees
Goff strongly pro TPPA, AFAIK
Ought to be a bottom line that foreign corporates are not allowed to sue New Zealand if they think that we are hindering their ability to rape and plunder by exercising our democratic right to rule our country.
Ought to be a bottom line that the NZ govt cannot sign agreements that the public, including other political parties, doesn’t know about.
The only thing I could find was this vague piece by Maryan street:
http://www.labour.org.nz/node/3254
and this:
http://www.labour.org.nz/node/4334
“The only thing I could find was this vague piece by Maryan street:
http://www.labour.org.nz/node/3254”
and this:
http://www.labour.org.nz/node/4334”
Not a lot is it.
The first translated means she’s miffed that the Nats aren’t including her or Labour in the negotiations. The second kinda suggests that Pharmac is the only thing they’re really fixated on and everything else is on the table.
Been interesting following the Apple vs Samsung patents battle, gives an idea on what’s in store when the Nats adopt the US patent laws via the TTPA.
Today’s ‘paper was saying one of Apple’s patents is zooming an image by tapping the screen with finger. Zooming with a click of the mouse has been around since long before the iphone so it should never been accepted as a patent just on prior use grounds.
There’s so many patents around like that now it’s just not funny and they’re all being used to stiffle innovation and make money from nothing.
Agreed. The Nats are supporting software patents which would be a disaster for the local software industry. Anytime someone gets moderately successful they’ll attract the attention of the US patent trolls & be subjected to lawsuits.
There’s really nothing you can patent in software, copyright covers it not patents.
Make of this what you will, apparently a Kaiapoi Labourer had to train prisoners who took his job after he was laid off:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/rebuilding-christchurch/8376234/Labourers-lose-jobs-to-prisoners
Another good reason to join a union.
Well, not really. If this gets taken to the tribunal, the employer will lose. If there was a few months between employing more and making redundancies, they would be ok.
I was pointing out that the union would know the laws whereas often the employee often doesn’t. It’s that point about specialisation.
Not to mention unions being far more likely to have the resources to support taking cases to the tribunal than an individual.
You bet me to it. Gonna be a PG in here somewhere…but win the battle, lose the war b/c the company could go under due to the cost of compensation. Why can’t employers get things right?
in haste, told him he had to sign a four-month fixed-term and back-dated contract on the spot or he would not be kept or paid.
Should have signed it and the document being completely incriminating in itself, taken the employer to court.
Yep. heard that across the wire alex
Great little article in the Guardian: “How shaming the poor became a new bloodsport!”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/03/blame-poor-poverty-barbara-ellen
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10868943
Somehow this seems like it was inevitable. The beneficiary advocacy service in Auckland has had its funding cut.
Service manager Karen Pattie said the service needed about $100,000 annually and would cease operations within three weeks without further funding.
Ms Pattie said the service, which currently served 400 clients, had been one of the victims in the Government’s decision to cut funding for agencies providing advocacy work.
The push was now for the work to be delivered through Work and Income staff and ensuring beneficiaries were “accountable” for receiving their benefits.
emboldening mine.
Hey, let’s go the wholoe hog and save money by having the prosecution represent the defense in the criminal justice system. Employers could advocate for aggrieved employees in industrial disputes…..
This idea has huge potential for the government in so many areas.
We used to have that sort of system, back before the Magna Carta. That should give you some idea as to how far back in time National want to take us.
We could even make MPs accountable, especially for screw ups. Lets start with Novopay…
Later this month climate change sceptic an English lord, Chris Moncton, a former adviser to Margret Thatcher will be traveling around New Zealand giving public debates on climate change. He starting in Northland, which is no surprise given the Governments intentions to mine & drill in the region.
I would like to know who is sponsoring this English Toff? The Government? Mining & drilling companies? Keys rich mates? ACT? Just who is behind this guys visit?
Also was mining & drilling our national parks really plan A of the Government till public outrage, including the thousands who marched in protest ‘stalled’ their intentions & was asset sales plan B? And are we seeing the reverse plans with mining & drilling being the plan B now?
Are we being feed more lies by Key as he has said if asset sales were foiled there was no plan B?
Why the fuck would anyone want to listen an english lord?
Anyone in such circles cannot by default be trusted one little bit.
VTO it’s a debate ‘not’ a lecture cobber.
Fair enough but the point still stands.
What qualifications make him worth listening to or debating, especially given that his position as a lord starts him in a negative position?
Well, if it helps, while Monckton is a viscount, he’s not actually a member of the House of Lords, as he is known to claim.
Dammit, links aren’t showing again. Should be:
Thanks QoT armed with that info we will be heading along to the bar where Lord Haw-Haw is performing and heckle him and his mates. Should be entertaining may even take some rotten eggs just in case the ACT crew front up.
It’ll be the Climate Science Coalition and I want to know how much he’s being paid. It seems his job these days is nothing but getting paid huge amounts to lie about climate science.
.
Hard to find out about that sort of thing these days. Conservatives are too ashamed to do it publicly. In 2007, some US outfit going by the name Heartland Institute channelled funds to bozos here like the New Zealand Climate “Science” Coalition. NZCSC member Owen McShane received $US25,000. while member Terry Dunleavy received $US45,000. That’s what a quick search shows up anyway. Last year there was a bit of an issue when the Heartland Institute went particularly rabid so other corporates stepped up. I think it would be reasonable to suspect that Lord Monkeybrain is on the billionaire denialist gravy train, the cash circuitously making its way down to the clowns like him.
Mind you, New Zealand has its own clowns, chief among them Auckland University Associate Professor Chris De Freitas. Should I be surprised to see the New Zealand Fox News Herald continue to give space to him, as recently as today? Perhaps not.
Ian Wishart is also involved. It’s the basic wingnut welfare crew, wouldn’t be surprised t find that under all the ‘brought to you by’ fluff is a handout from Gibbs.
Yes Gibbs fits in there nicely he may try to use this as a platform to reignite ACT through this characters roadshow?
We could even make MPs accountable, especially for screw ups. Lets start with Novopay…
Datacom was just as bad. They did nurses pay. At north shore where my wife worked for 2 years, not once was her pay right. She complained to the union rep. Did it hit the headlines, did the union make a fuss, not likely. The difference, the nurses union was led by Liala Harrell there was a l
Labour Government, and she was sweating on her list position with the Labour party?
No mention of your wife complaining to the boss, Addison. In your summary, it’s all the union’s fault for some reason. What years are we talking about?
MAF – More Addison Fiction
quite correct CV – it’s fiction that Datacom stuff-ups never hit the headlines.
Here we go – Datacom featured twice in two days:
From the Otago Daily Times February 15 2008 – Datacom’s payroll problems plague schools
From Scoop February 14 2008
hey joe, busted link, goes to nowhere land
Yes – unfortunate that the edit function is not working – see Prism @ 17 – otherwise I would have fixed it. Here’s the link:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0802/S00155.htm
[lprent: I have three plugins with conflicting JQueries. Trying to get them to a common compatible version is a pain. ]
my my, that is a glaringly obvious example of Ministerial manipulation to gain the desired outcome. i.e: Talent 2’s positing of a messiah vendor we lovingly call NovaPay
one thing i still wonder is, if NovaPay was about to make Talent2 so much money, why did banksie jump ship ?
and see page 2 on this site:
http://old.nzei.org.nz/site/nzeite/files/rou%20rou/RR_2008_06.pdf
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/1111/payroll-problem-plagues-schools
Or just remove the apostrophe at the end of the link.
I didn’t say datycom never hit the headlines. I am saying Harre didn’t rock Labours boat because she was looking after NO1 not her union members.
And what you are saying is rubbish. Harre was busy being an Alliance MP at the time your wife was working at North Shore hospital.
Harre was not connected with the Labour Party.
Yep, which was why I asked Addison the years he was talking about. I was hoping to award Addison the stupidity trifecta: getting the relevant Nurses Organisation National Secretary wrong, putting Laila in the wrong party, and claiming the bosses mistakes were the fault of the union. However, I note from Addison’s contributions over the weekend that he doesn’t like answering direct questions. Presumably because the answers would show the vast void that is his factual ignorance is filled by hot air, right wing talking points and anti-worker prejudice.
Rubbish trp I always try and answer questions unless they are of a personal nature and go too far. I have had very little argument against my opinions, usually just the copout of playing the man not the ball. If you want a sensible debate try doing it without insulting those who offer opinions contrary to your own. Or are you of the view that chanting Maggie out over and over is a sensible debate(perhaps Key Out in a Kiwi context)
Get fucked addison.
All you ever write here is anecdata about your own life (lolz).
You don’t get to complain about people “not playing the ball” when all you have presented is the man.
there we go again your first line says it all
No, it doesn’t. You need to read further than that.
I think we might be getting to the problem though…
I don’t give a flying one about your opinions, Addison. I and others have simply demonstrated this morning (and on Saturday) that you don’t know what you are talking about. Every supposed fact in your wee rant this morning has been disproven.
The thing is, you are entitled to put your opinions forward and promote the ideas and philosophies behind them. You’ll find plenty of healthy debate. But when you claim as fact things that are not fact round here, you will be shredded everytime.
To summarise:
Datacom’s problems did make the media. You said they didn’t.
Laila Harre did not hide the Datacom issue because of personal ambition as you falsely claimed. She was never on Labour’s list, she was, in fact, an MP for a party born in opposition to the LP.
Laila Harre did not even work for the NO at the time you claim she did.
How about you just come out and say “I got all that wrong. Sorry”?
I looked at the comment, including the misspelling of Laila’s name and the required incorrect fact every sentence. I was considering writing a reply or a note to point this out preemptively. But then I thought that people would be in wanting to play at squashing this guy’s ego soon enough. Why should I spoil the fun? 😈
he’s a disease i tells ya, a disease
the more dense a tory’s shell is, the more it protects their over-inflated ego.
2001 to 2002,and yes she did complain to her line manager and was told to refer the complaint to the Union rep. And if you read my post a bit more carefully I am not blaming the union or the Labour government, the fault lay with datacom. The poing is that the unions are all over nova pay and National but were ominously silent over datacoms faults. I am suggesting Harre was quiet because she didn’t want to rock her Labour Party mates whilste she was angling for her party place. A new twist to the old line; the working class can kiss my ass, I have a list seat at last!;-)
“did the union make a fuss, not likely. ”
“I am not blaming the union”
communication 101: these are what are known as contradictory statements
not at all. not blaming the union for the pay mess up. Blaming the union for their inaction about the matter. PS I apologise I did not realise Harre resigned from Labour in 1989. Therefore cannot blame her inaction for political ambitions.
Did you ever thank the union for the excellent pay and conditions your wife enjoyed in the first place?
Course not, that’s all down to the benevolence of the bosses.
But not paying wages correctly and on time, that’s the fucking union’s job eh?
was your wife a member of the union, btw?
Cool, so Harre, who was not NO Nat Sec at the time, kept quiet about an issue she was unaware of to keep her mates in the party she left in disgust years earlier happy? How is life on Planet Key? Oxygen on short supply?
I stand coorected,i didn’t know she left Labour in 1989. Aplogies for that.
And how about all the other factual inaccuracies, care to apologise for those too?
i call BS Addison, you have one isolated example, well i also have relatives and friends in that industry and recently talked with them specifically on the NovaPay issue, as the health sector seemed to handle the complicated task with competence and certitude. Each and every one of the half dozen i spoke to said the occassional blip happened , as it does in any payroll, and would be resolved in reasonable timeframes. They also made a point of mentioning that there is no comparison to the over-arching scale of the Talent2 / Novapay swindle that has been played on NZ Education.
Lucky them, but pay matters were a joke at Northsore when my wife was there over a 2 year period. They were always corrected but it was a fortnightly occurrence.
that a person’s pay would be in error every fortnight for two years does beggar belief, sure you are not exaggerating just a tad?
Yes addison, no doubt there were thousands of others this was happening to as well as your made up wife, but the union kept it all secret.
Because that’s what they do, unions. They exist to make sure no-one finds out about workers not getting paid.
FFS can we get some better tr0lls please?
4 March 2013
‘Open Letter/ OIA request to NZ Prime Minister John Key – how can the Government ‘get a good price for Mighty River Power, when thousands ‘Switch Off Mercury Energy’?
Dear Prime Minister,
Please be advised of the founding aim of the ‘Switch Off Mercury Energy’ community group, of which I am a Spokesperson:
“MINUTES(CONFIRMED) FOUNDING MEETING OF ‘SWITCH OFF MERCURY ENERGY’
15 August 2012 Grey Lynn Community Centre 510 Richmond Rd Grey Lynn.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
HELP STOP THE PRIVATISATION OF MIGHTY RIVER POWER BY SWITCHING OFF MERCURY ENERGY! (100% owned by Mighty River Power)
AIM: To help stop the privatisation of public assets – particularly the proposed privatisation of the first of the electricity State-Owned Assets (SOEs), Mighty River Power, by FOCUSING ON getting 100,000 customers to SWITCH OFF Mercury Energy (100% owned by Mighty River Power). Fewer customers equals less profits which equals a less attractive investment and jeopardises the Governments proposed agenda.
“Let me make it quite clear. If the Government doesn’t get a good price – the Government isn’t going to sell” (Tony Ryall, Minister of SOE’s 17/6/2012 NBR
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/govt-wont-sell-assets-if-it-cant-get-good-price-ryall-ck-121435
The Government has no right to sell our public assets.
PRECEDENT: In 2008, Contact Energy (already privatized) doubled their directors fees and raised their prices 12%.In 6 months, more than 40,000 customers switched from Contact Energy and their profits were halved.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/droughts/news/article.cfm?c_id=180&objectid=10590906&pnum=0 ……………”
____________________________________________________________________________________
Please provide the following information:
1) Please confirm that the publicly-stated position stated by the Minister of State-Owned Eneterprises Tony Ryall, is unchanged:
“Let me make it quite clear. If the Government doesn’t get a good price – the Government isn’t going to sell” (Tony Ryall, Minister of SOE’s 17/6/2012
2) Please provide the information which confirms HOW a ‘good price’ for Mighty River Power is/has been calculated.
3) Please provide the information which confirms WHO has/is responsible for the calculation of a ‘good price’ for Mighty River Power.
4) Please provide the information which confirms that has/is responsible for the calculation of a ‘good price’ for Mighty River Power, are independent, and professionally competent, and do not have any untoward ‘ conflicts of interest’ / vested interests in the sale of Mighty River Power.
5) Please confirm that you are aware of your statutory duties arising from the Public Records Act 2005
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2005/0040/latest/DLM345536.html
Purposes of Act
The purposes of this Act are—
(a)to provide for the continuation of the repository of public archives called the National Archives with the name Archives New Zealand (Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga); and
(b)to provide for the role of the Chief Archivist in developing and supporting government recordkeeping, including making independent determinations on the disposal of public records and certain local authority archives; and
(c)to enable the Government to be held accountable by—
(i)ensuring that full and accurate records of the affairs of central and local government are created and maintained; and
(ii)providing for the preservation of, and public access to, records of long-term value; and
(d)to enhance public confidence in the integrity of public records and local authority records; and
(e)to provide an appropriate framework within which public offices and local authorities create and maintain public records and local authority records, as the case may be; and
(f)through the systematic creation and preservation of public archives and local authority archives, to enhance the accessibility of records that are relevant to the historical and cultural heritage of New Zealand and to New Zealanders’ sense of their national identity; and
(g)to encourage the spirit of partnership and goodwill envisaged by the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi), as provided for by section 7; and
(h)to support the safekeeping of private records.
Yours sincerely,
Penny Bright
A Spokesperson for the Switch Off Mercury Energy community group.
http://www.facebook.com/SwitchOffMercuryEnergy/info
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
I am one who has been surprised by the government’s and Key’s continued popularity in spite of all of the problems they have encountered and which are chronicled at length here.
So I was very interested last night to meet for the person time a person of the class responsible for the phenomenon.
Most people I know are now and have always been right wing. I know fewer people who are and have always been left wing. Here, I am exposed to the rabid left, who I never encounter in the real world.
But last night I met a devoted John Key fan. A 50 year old gay man of modest means who had voted Labour his whole life until 2008 and, indeed, had been a card carrying member and volunteered and canvassed for them in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
He has voted National the last two elections and does not regret it. His vote was essentially for Key who he remains very taken with. Part of the appeal, it seems, is the story of the struggle from modest circumstances to great wealth and then public service.
This is only an anecdote and, as such, has very limited value. But I found it very interesting to meet for the first time such a person.
Jesus Mary and Joseph I am agreeing with Gormless Fool.
Key has a very good back story and a lot of charm. To counter him Labour needs a leader who will outpoint him in an area. He needs to be smarter or gutsier or more passionate or be able to speak better but he needs to be different.
Shearer is not that person.
I also agree with Caleb Morgan that the dominant clique in the Labour Caucus is one that prefers Key to Cunliffe (or Chauvel or Dalziel or anyone of the left) to be next Prime Minister.
http://cutyourhair.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/where-is-christchurch-in-the-labour-reshuffle/
A preference to be in charge of a losing Labour Party, as opposed to being not in control of a winning Labour Party?
Yep, that seems to be it. Apparently, the ABCs think having power in the party is more important than the party or the country.
FIFY
I mean real, as opposed to virtual. No offence to the rabid left intended.
There are those who get into cargo cult very, very easily.
These deals are annoying & becoming too common….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/8376186/Questions-raised-over-Deloitte
I don’t know why the Govt uses the likes of Deloittes for IT consultancy, they’re grossly overpriced and since a lot of IT work is labour charges the Govt is paying far too much for IT outsourcing.
Deloittes are principally an accounting firm and I wouldn’t hire accountants to advise me on IT stuff, don’t know why they get so much Govt work when we’ve got the likes of Datacom who are genuinely IT people.
Just how do Deloitte *win* all those juicy central/local government contracts, and service agreements etc!
They’re feasting aggresively on the public purse, at all levels, all around the country’s, local/central bodies!
One needs to investigate little snippets like the following statement:
Tracking the relationships and work history, of former and current Deloitte employees, is a good place to start!
Open the door, let them in, then join them!
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10868979
Coroner who declined inquest into death of gay soldier made submission against gay marriage.
First, WTF was he doing making a submission?
Second, his decision needs to be reviewed.
Yeah, that is pretty galling.
On Morning report Goff raised some issues. Deployment was two months longer than usual, (which may have increased fatigue), additional training required for the deployment was cut short by two weeks and an inquest is required.
I hope that Goff also gets a full independent inquiry. The ANZAC Day airforce deaths were suppose to be investigated by the Labour Department, not just by the airforce. The army are not independent.
Ah. Now THAT begins to smell…
Your eyes will roll at this. Chris Hipkins put up a story on Red Alert called CONTEMPT FOR DEMOCRACY on Saturday here http://tinyurl.com/cdekas6
Yesterday Chris deleted comments asking him if he thought the title was a bit hypocritical because he has been so criticized for his reaction to the democracy remits at the NZ Labour conference. Trevor
or Clare might have done the deleting…
My comment never got through. I wasn’t even getting smart. I just said I thought it might be better to take critics on. Still in moderation or deleted though?!
I have screen captures of two other comments that were deleted. Anyone know how to post screen captures here at TS…
I had seen TS comments saying how Red Alert is censored like mad but I had not seen it myself. Do MP’s think you can censor voters when they go to vote? Daft.
Labour MPs certainly think that they can censor and censure Labour Party members for speaking their mind.
There is a high degree of moderation at Red Alert. There has to be, otherwise you’d have trolls from both all directions spending much of their time slagging the MP’s and drowning out discussion. The problem is, as you point out, that the moderation often drowns out actual comments.
I can testify that as a moderator after reading hundreds of thousands of comments here (and previous net experiences) with an enormous variety of trolling approaches, that after a while everything starts to look “deeply suspicious”. It is actually quite hard to restrain yourself from just moderating everything and stifling actual discussion.
The local equivalent is trying to tell us how to run our site or telling us what we should write. It is a very fast way to picking up a ban and if repeated, a fast way to lose the ability to comment here. Why? Because we’re doing the damn job and critics who are not are usually just a pain in the arse because they are not. We just tell them that they need time to start up and run their own site where they can run it the way they like – including getting their own audience. And attacking authors personally is just not tolerated at all because while there are a lot of commentators, there are only a relatively few people with both the skills in writing and who are willing to be authors.
Basically it is house rules when it comes to moderation at various sites. As a commentator you kind of have to live with them.
I think everyone here is kind of aware of the moderation policies at RA
And to be fair to Red Alert, I posted a comment a few months ago suggesting Clare Curren should apologise for bullying CV and I was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t moderated in any way.
Helen Kelly’s criticism of the lack of care for forest workers safety is really needed. It seems to me though that there is a barrier in NZ to insisting on safety regulations and controls backed by law and regular inspections.
This morning’s comment from an adventure tourism spokesperson on the man falling and dying at an adventure business referred to businesses being very concerned and setting standards. It sounded to me that they are left to get on with it, perhaps after drawing up plans but saying and knowing isn’t doing.
What we need is a feisty little shit from the Department of Labour and Safety going round asking questions, checking the equipment and generally setting the owner’s teeth on edge. Instead we get growing risky behaviours from owners and avoidable deaths that amount to manslaughter by wilful neglect of owners and their staff. Owners should spend some time in jail if any fault can be found. A month for each fault perhaps. Faults of frayed ropes, poor maintenance, lax controls and methods, etc.
yes, also on the rise on RNZ
-Aukland house prices continuing up the spiral
-Aussie climate on “steroids” now
anyway,
some parting shots for The Village round-heads across the bow (eggs and omelettes and all that butter, i know, lets call it a master-craftsman class)
subjective self-identification is the outcome of subjection to a pre-existing order that includes language, law, admin, production, distribution, and exchange.
Husband, and cultivate and tailor a world to your proclivities and context.
1. World-making heart- and-mind. heart-and-mind shaping world. think and speak a novel world into being. way-making=also affection-an epistemology of caring. empathetic feeling. tick
2.it is sage not to coerce; disseminate teachings that go beyond what can be said. binaries require other for completion. enable each participant to contribute fully to “dramatic” performance.tick
3. keep the “hawkers” of knowledge at bay. celebrate the bravery, patience and kindness of the ordinary person. allow character of community to emerge synergistically out of associated living.
tick
4.way-making of undetermined nature; swinging gateway of experience opens and novelty emerges spontaneously. experience is appropriate object of awe and deference. tick
5.not institutionalized morality but superior communal morality. tick
6. the fecundity of emptiness. tick
7.withdraw, yet out in front.through unselfishness needs met. nature / Christ as mentor. persons perceived, needs met.tick
8.dwell in places loathed by crowds. giving authoritatively. speak credibly. act timely. water flows everywhere. tick
9. retire from excess. how to manage fullness; a measure of ignorance to cope with intelligence that vies with wisdom. humility to cope with accomplishments. a measure of timidity to cope with courage pervading an entire age. measure of frugality to cope with wealth that fills the four seas.
tick
10. the nature of the world is to transform. real wisdom-shaping penetrating insight into the present moment engaging with the unique circumstances at play. tick
12. easier to satiate the abdomen, difficult to satiate the wandering eye through which the spirit can leak away. distractions. no crime more onerous than greed. no misfortune more devastating than avarice. no calamity with more grief than insatiability. know when enough is enough= satisfaction. tick
13. value anxieties. those who value care of own body more than running the world can be entrusted with the world; begrudging person= authority of the world; worldly favour-patronage will be followed by disgrace as favour “withdrawn”. faithful with little, self, then faithful with responsibilities and world. value ones’ person and love ones’ person in thorough-going integration with ones’ field of experience. tick
14. hold tightly to way-making in the present to manage what happens now to understand where it began in the distant past= the draw-string of way-making. master draws me forward a step at a time, broadens my culture, disciplines my behaviour through the observance of ritual propriety; even if I wanted to quit, I could not.-Yan Hui (we supported a Mob hui after church; is broad)
tick
15. reluctance as at a winters’ stream crossing. vigilance towards surrounding neighbours.dignified as an invited guest. yielding as ice to thaw. solid like un-worked wood. murky like muddy waters when stilled clear. settled when agitated comes to life. not seek fullness, remaining hidden and unfinished. tick
-epistemology of feeling in which the quality of understanding is a function of the immediacy and intensity of what is felt. way always under construction. many hands at work. a punctuation of consummating events, as paragraphs yet a never-ending story. tick
16. reversion-returning to the root, is what is called equilibrium. common sense- accommodation-tolerance -kingliness . tian cumulative cultural legacy focused by the spirit and spirituality of those who have come before. the way made is enduring, not self divided against self. s. like a mirror; not see things off or go to meet them. respond without storing anything up thus not injured by the myriad transformations they undergo. not passive or quiet but synergistically and organically responsive. accommodation is the source of fullness of strength, influence timeliness and efficacy. extension through deference, trunk branches from the roots. tick
17. during periods of decadence and social decline philosophers arise to proclaim the obvious of exacerbating problems by institutionalizing artificial alternatives, dominion, principalities and powers- educated morality and its vocabulary of ” right and wrong” “good and evil”. tick
here, have some ‘morality”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_morality
20. Preferable to the marble 😉 of learning is the rich temple of immediate experience and unmediated feeling.
Do I really care what others think of me? I don’t think so. the worm has turned; Time for some
Wood Oil. (I would not be surprised if National gets another term or not) There’s some newsology for yas’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noology
What a great country? By l*ck it is! Go luck yourselves out.
“ha ha ha said the laughing gnome…”
now, where’d i secrete my Crossbow and bolts.
“guess I’ll see you, yes I’ll see you, see you on the other-side.”
Epitaph Writer :
FXDX.
excuse me while I get back to Job.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZXpqhXSDrE 😉
This morning on Radio NZ this USA woman was interesting. She has been thoughtful and politically aware since a young age. She said that she considers the USA to be a pluralism of wealthy groups not a democracy.
10-11am: Feature interview – Cisco Systems co-founder and Jane Austen expert Sandy Lerner
As a founder of Cisco she’d be a multi-millionaire, too…
I read that when she was forced out of Cisco Systems her husband and her liquidated their stock for US$170M.
In the interview she says that she studied communism and marxist economics at univeristy.
I put item about Sandy Lerner on OpenMike 3/3 by mistake. I tried to delete it because I wanted it to go in today’s only, but the delete function doesn’t work and neither does my edit function.
Astonishing!
I have just heard Mike Williams criticise the Labour Party… saying they need to spend less time on the internal infighting and more time attacking the government. Two minutes later following a question by Lyn Freeman on the subject of Charles Chauvel’s speech, he is belittling Chauvel and accusing him of having a tantrum (I paraphrase) when he made exactly the same point.
He claims Charles Chauvel has done himself no good by saying what he did
This isn’t the first time Williams has contradicted himself like this and it won’t be the last. The man is shaping up to be even more of a ‘fake’ leftie than Josie Pagani.
He also claimed Shearer’s reshuffle was very fair. The MPs who Shearer promoted deserved it and were the best performers in the party (words to that effect anyway). He intimated those who were demoted were simply not good enough, and he’s sorry to have to say this blah blah… but they simply didn’t come up to scratch. So, we take it from the guru himself that David Cunliffe and Lianne Dalziel were just not up to it folks .
Beggars belief.
I was also amazed/disgusted by Williams’ comments, Anne. Your summary is spot on.
Here is the link if others did not hear it.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2548073/politics-with-matthew-hooton-and-mike-williams.asx
The discussion on the partial sale of Mighty River is also worth listening to in the link.
—————————-
Also here is the link to the excellent Sandy Lerner interview mentioned by Prism at 16 and 17 above – well worth listening to.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2548070/feature-guest-sandy-lerner.asx
I think I’ll use my limited time this afternoon to listen to Sandy Lerner. Thanks vv.
Williams wanking and Hootons Horseshit Or Sandy Lerner? well thats no contest.
Why are types such as Williams, *allowed* on the radio you think..
Forget buying into the charade around the re-shuffle, and empty spaces like Williams commenting on it, these are all just pawns in a game, the game is called, *distract/fool the public*!
Age old game, which is still working wonders it seems!
Bryce Edwards: Opposition is failing NZ voters, low polls a threat to Shearer
http://www.3news.co.nz/Opposition-failing-voters—Edwards/tabid/1607/articleID/288865/Default.aspx
And what happens when the nation has become so disenfranchised by the *democratic political system*, due to it being completely corrupted!
Take a good look in the rear view mirror!
its ANARCHY i tells ya, ANARCHY! (have you seen the ways in which people are choosing to die these days? Hemlock would be a lot more gentle; they are even falling out of the sky. very sad, particularly these young people driving themselves into the wall)
Agree that it is a travesty that Mike Williams continues to be used as a Labour Party commentator – Charles was only calling it like it is. If the hierarchy don’t like the infighting, manage it, don’t just try to ignore it. They are missing the first fundamental rule of politics! Doesn’t bode well for Government
Yes Anne, when Williams says “less time on the internal infighting and more time attacking the government” he apparently isn’t talking about the leadership cartel around Shearer who have been responsible for all the leaking, backstabbing, media bitching and vote spying, and who are supposed to be the ones responsible for fighting the government.
Correct felixviper:
he’s talking about those dumb-bunny members and conference delegates who had the effrontary to think they were deserving of a say in the leadership of the parliamentary party. I mean the parliamentary party belongs to us – the elite – not them. They have no right to poke their noses into our business. We decide what’s good for
usthe party not them.As for the bunch of treacherous MPs who had the gall to back the members. We have no choice but to continue to punish them until they show contrition and promise they will never betray
usthe party again.A problem with prescribing “less time on the internal infighting and more time attacking the government” is the diminishing range of issues over which a forthright attack on the government would enjoy the full backing of the present Labour caucus. Even following the prescription may well reveal us as “the enemy within,” should our critique of the government fail to be sufficiently circumscribed and nuanced.
Clearly one man’s infighter is another man’s senior whip.
If Cunliffe is so hopeless – why is he trouncing every other Labour MP on YouTube’s Inthehouse channel at the moment? Seems to me, he’s the only performing with any talent in the House, for a start.
[lprent: Don’t dick about with your handles. Each handle has to be approved the first time it is used. Try using too many and we’ll conclude that you are deliberately wasting our time and ban you. Read the policy about wasting moderators time. ]
Average Fortune 500 CEO pay is 200x their median worker
I personally think ~10x to 15x is reasonable. This ratio is common in Japan and various countries in the EU.
http://www.payscale.com/ceo-income
I gave up on whaleoil to many biggots and rednecks. Sadly giving up here to many socialist facist thugs who are left overs from from the 30s in Germany, and think socialism is about having the power to ban opposition.
Goodby and good luck I am sure you will do wonders for the political LEFT IN nz
No, you’re giving up because virtually everything you’ve written here has been shown to be bullshit.
And enough of the dramatic exits, everyone knows you’ll be back in no time with a new name and a new back story to peddle the same old lies and propaganda.
That’s a pity. You screwed yourself up today big time, but you’ve made a few neo-lib arguments that National’s opposition parties need to be prepared to counter in the spin wars.
Help me, help me, help me sail away,
Well give me two good reasons why I oughta stay.
‘Cause I love to live so pleasantly,
Live this life of luxury,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime …
Ray? Is that you ya old crooner?
http://24.media.tumblr.com/f57b0d94ce4e855c44891a68b21abe20/tumblr_mexpafJ5851rouyxzo1_500.gif
Is “addison” the so-called British retiree really gone now? A shame I say, a crying shame.
a little Norman at last
lol
Maybe there’s a fluffy kitten blog Addison would enjoy?
It’s the internet: of course there is
out the bach o’ the shed?
upon reflection, I do find it somewhat illuminating that Addison reckons some here want to ban opposition, and that’s why he chooses to withdraw.
Secondly, I also think it’s a bit of an alien concept for me to not get worked up and passionate about politics. Even basic roading policies have a good chance of being life or death decisions. Yes, the mods here keep a handle on threats etc, but with a wide range of folk of course a bit of personal abuse or the occasional f-bomb will occur, especially if one acts like a dick. To expect a prim and proper “Midsomer Murders”-style conversation about policies that might e.g. kill kids (or simply choose which people will die, but hopefully a lower number than plan B) is pretty unrealistic.
Facist? How dare you. I love all faces equally.
I’ve been following the “New” Left wing blog the Daily Blog for a couple of days and I have come to the conclusion that it’s just another version of Pundit (with more pictures) staying well within the expected paradigm and I suspect it will fall by the way side soonish. I have also been following something of what is happening in Italy and while our “Lefty/Greeny” politicians are talking about money printing and the first victims of using prisoners as cheap labor are presenting themselves I thought I’d put a link here for those of you who want to know how it’s done in Italy. Enjoy!
Where’s the link?
Oh sorry my bad: Here it is Beppe Grillo
Yeah right we all really understand spoken Italian, no sub-titles evident…
As the post states the subtitles start at 0:1:48 into the video but reading English is not one of your fortés either I take it
Didn’t start any minutes into my viewing of the vid, while talking shit is obviously one of your overt skills right…
Subtitles appeared on time but they were in feckin Italian. I used the translate facility and selected English but I just got comedic translations.
Arfamo, you might find this link to be interesting as well. A more nuanced leftist take on what is happening in Italy
http://overland.org.au/blogs/garibaldis-statue/2013/03/this-is-the-new-italy/
Thanks Pascal. That was interesting and thought-provoking.
The Return of the Anti-Christ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Antichrist_%28book%29
(it’s complicated)
The movie was good too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichrist_(film)
Might Just take Your Life
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10868977
coronarias Redig
http://bdeeppurplefanforum.runboard.com/t13386
Julia Hartley Moore on Jim Mora was saying with approval that one of the good things that the government has done is enabled free cello lessons somewhere in her manor. This morning I listened on Radionz to a worker on a benefit advocacy group which may have to close (it’s the only one for a huge area of Auckland) because the government has withdrawn the $50,000 part of the $100,000 they need and they can’t provide the service without it.
We need bread AND roses (or music).
Swiss voters overwhelmingly pass ‘Corporate Fat Cats’ law allowing shareholders to veto excessive corporate pay.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-03/swiss-fat-cats-clobbered-70-just-say-nonneinno-excessive-executive-pay
Fixed the time up. Looks like the ntp.ubuntu.com got a wee bit off.
“you are posting comments too quickly, slow down”
Wtf is this? Are you giving the righties a headstart now?
Inequality visualised.
I’d like to see the figures for NZ represented in that form.
+1
Smile or DIE!!!
RSAnimate video.
+1 Very good. Reality Check time.