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.
From some quarters, incessant scaremongering. From others, it’s a full-on tilt into touching the alarmist buttons a little too readily (uncertain times make for very captive audiences with this angle of attack). The (so-called) Opposition (and merely regarding them as that seems to be a far looser term now ...
National Party leader - Judith CollinsElections often bring out the best and worst in politicians. Some rise to the occasion and provide us with a clear vision for the future. While others wallow in resentment and controversy, over-relying on attack politics to try to attain the interest of voters.That’s been ...
The attempts to sabotage Corbyn's leadership seems likely to do more damage than Corbyn supposedly ever could have done, even if all the stories about him were true:I was reluctant to say anything but this is too important, the full story needs to be told.Don’t let anyone ever tell ...
Good day to everyone. I’ve been asked by Mr Thinks to come here and talk to you all about my concerns regarding the government response to Covid-19. We’ve been living through this pandemic for, what seems like, years. Years and years and years. Why else would the National Party have ...
‘Good Economics for Hard Times’ should be on your reading list. New Zealand does not have a Minister of Labour. It has Ministers of Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety but there is no minister with responsibility for the labour market. That responsibility was abolished in 2012 when ...
Back in the Kyoto era, the international climate change regime included a Clean Development Mechanism to fund emissions reduction projects in developing nations. Essentially someone would certify that a project - e.g. building a windfarm, or installing energy-efficient lightbulbs - would reduce emissions over and above "business-as-usual". The project would ...
As the classic MMP cartoon goes, just look at who is against it. Yesterday, the Hamilton City Council voted to use STV for its next two local body elections. The move was initially opposed by deputy mayor Geoff Taylor. The reason? Because a voting system which provided accurate representation and ...
On Wednesday evening (which in Parliament’s weird world technically was still Tuesday because urgency had been taken and so time stood still), MPs united to remove a pretty terrible piece of law from our statute books. No real fanfare or fireworks accompanied this action. Indeed, I didn’t even know about it ...
By Geoffrey Miller Prominent refugee advocate Murdoch Stephens says he is disappointed by Judith Collins’ reaction to Immigration New Zealand’s decision to grant refugee status to Kurdish-Iranian writer Behrouz Boochani. Judith Collins told media last month that “there’s a lot of concern in New Zealand about what they see as ...
Hello all. Judith here to talk about how National are going to take the election in September. The National Party prides itself its unity and cohesion. We are working together to deliver for New Zealanders. First of all, ee are a strong team. We are a very strong team. Our ...
Parliament has just begun the adjournment debate, signalling the effective end of this Parliament. So it seems like an appropriate time to assess Labour's term in office. Unfortunately, its a pretty dismal assessment. Labour campaigned on one thing: change. Not just a change in who got the top jobs and ...
Our climate change policies are insufficient to achieve our goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, according to independent assessor Climate Action Tracker: New Zealand won’t be carbon neutral by 2050 without much stronger policies, says an independent analysis by Climate Action Tracker. The non-profit highlighted a lack of active ...
That was clearly a huge explosion. Just after the explosion, we see a cloud of ‘fog’ moving outwards at high speed. This is a shockwave, rather similar to that which causes a sonic boom. The ‘fog’ is caused by water condensing from the atmosphere in areas of intense low pressure ...
Can we postpone this year’s election? Quite frankly, the political parties don’t seem ready for it, and aren’t about to offer voters the necessary policy choices for the unprecedented times we’re in. We’ve ended up with a campaign focused on scandal, personality and leadership, with a policy void that’s worse ...
It is the last sitting day of Parliament, and the last question time before the House is dissolved. So, are there any questions about the damning findings of the Hit and Run inquiry, and how the government plans to bring the military back under democratic control? Of course not. ...
Property speculator - John KeyThe National Party must be in dire straits to have to rely on John Key to campaign on their behalf. Not only has the former PM been in the news claiming the recently released unemployment figures aren’t accurate, the fool has also been promoting the opening ...
Nothing Too Drastic: Few would dispute that the Left, today, are few in number. Is their failure to make the public aware of and act upon the manifest failures of the present system attributable to their lack of active energy and intelligence? Or, is it simply because the Left’s ideas ...
by Don Franks This talk was given to the Wellington Anti Capitalist Alliance, fifteen years ago. The ultimate weapons of mass destruction so far seen on this planet have been used just twice, 60 years ago this month. August 6 and August 9 1945 witnessed the US atomic bombing ...
After I noticed that my name had been taken yet again in vain by my friendly antagonist Tom Hunter over at No Minister, I went over to see what the fuss was about. Nothing much, but then I discovered a post about the Operation Burnham Inquiry by Psycho Milt. I ...
The COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 was extended today, until December 1st or the tenth sitting day following the resumption of Parliament after the election. It seems like a necessary extension. While we currently have eradicated the virus in New Zealand, it is still banging at the door, and ...
One of the government's key policies - extracted by NZ First as part of its coalition agreement - is the "Provincial Growth Fund": $1 billion a year spent on creating jobs in rural New Zealand. Yesterday the Auditor-General issued a report on the fund, finding that it lacks transparency, and ...
The Warehouse, one of New Zealand's biggest retailers, has decided to stop selling coal. Good. Coal is a dirty, polluting fossil fuel, and the less of it we have out there, the better. Retailers choosing not to sell it sends a clear message that this is not a fuel we ...
The labour market statistics have been released, and they show that unemployment actually dropped last quarter. All told, there are 111,000 unemployed - 15,000 fewer than when the government took office. But before anyone thinks that the pandemic hasn't put people out of work, remember that this is for ...
Judy KavanaghI’m OK with wearing a CovidCard. But are you? There’s no point me doing it alone.The author modelling a (fake) CovidCard. I didn’t know much about the CovidCard proposal until I read Dave’s latest blog post. You would wear the card visibly on your person. It ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhy can’t I use the battery from my electric car ...
As many good things come in threes (as the saying goes), we are happy to announce a third partnership between Skeptical Science and other websites. Fakebook.eco in Brazil is joining Klimafakten.de in Germany and Nauka o Klimacie in Poland to leverage translated rebuttal material and to make the information readily available in other ...
This interview on RNZ with Ross Tucker, the scientist who headed a review of transgender athletes playing in women’s rugby, discusses the findings of the review and what it means for women in sports. The review that World Rugby undertook had a broad range of independent experts and included a ...
Siouxsie WilesThe restrictions in place for metropolitan Melbourne now are in some ways stricter than those that were in force during New Zealand’s COVID-19 lockdown. A curfew is in place and most people have to wear masks when they leave their home – neither of which happened in New ...
On Friday the Hit and Run inquiry delivered a devastating report which found that NZDF had systematically misled Ministers over civilian deaths. The report called into question civilian control of the military (and indeed, military control of the military), a fundamental principle of our democracy. So you'd expect our politicians ...
Let's Do This Again: What else can Jacinda do in a political environment so bereft of imagination and courage but seek a continuance? If she trades upon the extraordinary personal qualities that she has, miraculously, carried with her into the office of Prime Minister, then I, for one, will offer ...
How corrupt are the New Zealand Police? This corrupt: On 10 February 2019, Police attended a family harm incident. The suspect attempted to run the attending officers over in a driveway with his car, narrowly missing them, before fleeing the scene. A short pursuit followed, ending when the suspect stopped ...
Parliament's triennial Review of Standing Orders was released today, and it contains a number of welcome, if minor, improvements. The ones that caught my are: A move to encourage "pre-legislative engagement" - the government consulting widely on legislation before it is introduced - by promising easier passage (e.g. with ...
Lauren Vargo, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonGlaciers around the world are melting — and for the first time, we can now directly attribute annual ice loss to climate change. We analysed two years in which glaciers in New Zealand melted the most in at least four ...
Caroline Shaw, Anja MizdrakE-bikes are everywhere. Sales are booming and predicted to overtake sales of new cars in a few years. There were three times as many e-bikes and e-scooters imported into NZ in 2019 alone as there are e-cars in the entire country. You can’t go out in ...
New Zealand First is facing a difficult struggle to get re-elected, but Josh Van Veen, who was once a researcher for Winston Peters, argues that there is still a very significant section of cultural conservatives who oppose mass immigration and political correctness and might yet be won back over to ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk Many Americans these days seem unable to avoid controversy on practically any topic, so why not embrace the discord and wade into the especially volatile arena of nuclear energy? Advocates claim it’s the only way to meet global climate goals, ...
Can we trust New Zealand’s military? There must now be serious doubt, given the landmark report released on Friday concluding the investigation into allegations made in the book Hit and Run by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson about a 2010 SAS killing raid in Afghanistan. The most recent Colmar Brunton ...
In New Zealand, we've just had the report of the Hit and Run inquiry, which found that a New Zealand led raid had accidentally killed civilians, including a child. meanwhile, around the same time, the British SAS was conducting its own raids in Afghanistan, and theirs were a hell of ...
In addition to establishing a process for setting emissions reductions plans, the Zero Carbon Act established a process for managing the risks of climate change. The first part of this is the preparation of regular risk assessments, looking at the risks to our economy, society, environment, and ecology. The first ...
Over on The spinoff, Amnesty International's Meg de Ronde has a response to Friday's release of the Hit and Run report. And in response to Attorney-General David Parker's claim that the government was being "transparent" by releasing the report, its titled "we shouldn’t have to work this hard to get ...
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Rising Seas Could Menace Millions Beyond Shorelines, Study FindsAs climate change raises sea levels, storm surges and high tides will ...
There's an election next month, so you'd be expecting political parties to be telling us what they stand for and what they'd do if they'd win. But while the Greens have given us a detailed policy platform, and National has talked about roads and austerity, Labour, currently leading the polls ...
"Who's youse accusin' of innference?" Without the timely intervention of a team of top American political consultants and campaign experts, Boris Yeltsin would never have won his second term as President of the Russian Federation. The Russians waited 20 years to return the favour.WHEN IT COMES to the disinformation game, ...
As polling day in the American presidential election draws closer, things are looking bad for Donald Trump. The polls show that he is tracking well behind his Democrat rival. Most people assume that the President will be striving might and main to avoid what looks increasingly likely to be a ...
Our health professionals do an amazing job. Image credit: Wikipedia – Cardiac surgery. Finally, I have got back to these rankings. A long period in hospital and computer problems meant the June 2020 rankings were abandoned. Now, with a new personal defibrillator implanted in my chest and a new hard ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, July 26 through Sat, Aug 1, 2020Editor's ChoiceThe four types of climate denier, and why you should ignore them allThe shill, the grifter, the egomaniac and the ideological ...
Over the last few days, reports have emerged of people travelling from New Zealand and testing positive for Covid-19 upon arrival at their destination. First in South Korea and now in Australia. What might these positive tests mean?They’re false-positives As Toby Morris and I have explained before, there are ...
Former National Minister - Wayne MappYou could tell that the Hit and Run book by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson was right on the money by the way former National Party Minister of Defence, Wayne Mapp, reacted to its now largely vindicated claims.Even though the recent inquiry into ...
So, the Hit and Run inquiry has reported back, and found some appalling shit at NZDF and NZSIS. And while they quibble a few of the details - the name of a dead child - they basicly uphold Hager and Stephenson's version of events. The SAS went to those villages. ...
We are failing to think though the interdependencies in an economy. We miss economist Bryan Philpott (1921-2000). I miss him personally – we used to have such great discussions – but this column is about how the nation misses his economic experience and wisdom. We tend to ...
Michelle Boag - LeakerThe Heron report (PDF) was released yesterday, and it was a bit disappointing to say the least. It correctly found that former National Party president Michelle Boag and National Party MP Hamish Walker were politically motivated in leaking peoples private medical information, but didn’t look further into ...
Adam Smith, Massey UniversityA recent global assessment of shark populations at 371 coral reefs in 58 countries found no sharks at almost 20% of reefs and alarmingly low numbers at many others. The study, which involved over 100 scientists under the Global FinPrint project, gave New Zealand a good ...
On different trajectories and from different ends of the political spectrum, last night’s One News/Colmar Brunton poll has the Green Party and ACT converging around the five percent mark. And, as odd as it may sound, they head into the election campaign with a lot in common.Putting the Greens and ...
Janet Stephenson, University of OtagoA proposed multibillion-dollar project to build a pumped hydro storage plant could make New Zealand’s electricity grid 100% renewable, but expensive new infrastructure may not be the best way to achieve this. New Zealand’s electricity generation is already around 80% renewable, with just over half ...
Truth In Advertising: Labour, it would seem, is the party that knows nothing about running the economy right up until the moment that it does. HOW DID LABOUR acquire its reputation for being a poor economic manager? As with most things political and historical, it’s a long story.In the beginning, the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Government rulemakers looking to decide how much money to spend to avoid adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere need a good estimate of what a warming climate will cost in social damages, for example through more extreme weather events. That point makes ...
Below is the list of gender-critical material which appeared on Redline from October 1, 2019 to October 31, 2019. Rainbow Tick threatens to pull Massey’s tick if lesbians are allowed to speak Freer Lives – a gender-critical Marxist site Freer Lives on Violence, debate and Britain’s Gender Recognition Act British ...
Fact Check: New Zealand’s own relationship with China might, however, be salvageable if our own Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was willing to equip its minister, Winston Peters, with a few facts. Legislating for the protection of national security – the very action our Foreign Minister is decrying – ...
I hope we can all agree that charging only certain returning expats for isolation costs is the right call. Instead of a blanket fee, which may have resulted in a small number of Kiwis deciding not to return home because of financial reasons, the Government has chosen to implement a ...
Back at the beginning of this government, the Greens made a foolish decision to support the Electoral Integrity Act - demanded by Winston Peters to keep his own backbench in line as part of his coalition deal with Labour - as an act of good faith within the coalition. It ...
SATURDAY AUGUST 1Artefact (Prime, 7.30pm). The series presented by Dame Anne Salmond screened on Māori Television, but is totally worth revisiting if you saw it the first time. Dame Anne tells the stories of taonga that highlight the history of Aotearoa. Further reading: this 2013 interview with Dame Anne by the lovely ...
Have unions and the Government sold workers short with their attempt at fixing the so-called “Hobbit Law”? Unionist Ian Powell argues that the union movement has been outmanoeuvered, and the Government has agreed to a new piece of anti-worker legislation that retains the principles of the previous National Government’s hated ...
Most of the claims made by anti-fluoride propagandists are simply wrong. Image source:Fluoridation and the ‘sciency’ facts of critics Anti-fluoride propagandists continually cite studies from areas of endemic fluorosis in their arguments against ...
An article in the EETimes suggests that advances in autonomous vehicles are not moving as quickly as expected because those working on them have confused complicated problems with complex ones. Engineering can only take you so far in complex worlds. Complicated systems tend to have fairly predictable inputs, processes and outputs. Complex systems (like ...
Last week, after Judith Collins announced that National would be cruel and vicious to kiwis caught overseas by the pandemic, and rob them at the border if they returned home, Labour looked like it was falling all over itself to cry "me too". But now, it looks like kindness has ...
If entry into New Zealand from abroad is safe, it should be allowed. People arriving from places that are Covid-free, or no more risky than New Zealand, and who get here on flights that do not intersect with risky places, should return to normal travel arrangements. Currently, the Cook ...
Liz SlootenScientists from the University of Otago, working with colleagues from around the world, have found that New Zealand right whales are doing much better than right whales in other parts of the world. The research was published as the feature article in the journal Marine Ecology Progress ...
We've announced that we will expand the Flexi-wage programme to support up to 40,000 more people into work, or to help them start their own business. It's yet another way we're helping keep our economy moving by getting people into work and training. Read on to find out more ...
Business subsidy of on average $7500, and up to $22,000, to hire unemployed New ZealandersUp to 40,000 jobs to be supported by $311 million investment in keeping New Zealanders off the unemployment benefitRing-fenced fund to help unemployed start their own business ...
This week was the last of the 52nd Parliament: a major milestone for our Government and a great opportunity to look back at all the progress we've made for New Zealanders. This week, we increased support for businesses to take on apprentices, improved access to hospital care in Northland, and ...
Kia orana and kia ora koutou katoa. It is a privilege to be able to speak in this adjournment debate and to mark and acknowledge the fact that we are now two years and 10 months into the conclusion of a parliamentary term that has been extraordinary in so many ...
On 1 August, we marked the anniversary of Jacinda Ardern becoming the Leader of the Labour Party. On that day in 2017, Leader Andrew Little nominated Jacinda Ardern to succeed him and lead the party to victory.Now, three years on, we look back at some of the key moments ...
With the June 2020 quarter showing underemployment increasing, the Green Party is calling for a Guaranteed Minimum Income and an increase to the abatement threshold to ensure everyone has a dignified income. ...
We went hard and we went early in our health response to COVID-19, and we did everything we could to cushion the economic impact too. In fact, we can fill every letter of the alphabet with the steps we took to fight COVID-19 and ensure we were in a position ...
Investing in our people, backing businesses, and upgrading infrastructure and housing throughout the country - it's been another week of progress for New Zealanders as we deliver our plan to recover and rebuild. ...
July was another busy month, packed with key investments aimed at progressing our economic recovery as we rebuild New Zealand. We extended support for businesses, helped create jobs through local infrastructure projects, and kept working to clean up our waterways so Kiwis can access safe clean water. Check out the ...
The Green Party is calling for the Defence Force Chiefs in place between 2010-2017 to front up and explain how dishonesty, process and policy failures within the Defence Force led to ‘a series of incorrect statements in briefings to ministers and public releases’ regarding alleged breaches of international torture prevention ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
The Government is stepping up action to deal with environmentally harmful products – including plastic packaging, tyres and e-waste – before they become waste. ...
The Green Party are ensuring that New Zealanders who were overseas when COVID-19 hit will not be charged for the cost of isolation or quarantine if they return home to live. ...
It's been another week of creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and investing in infrastructure up and down the country - all of which are helping to keep our economy moving post-COVID-19. ...
Law changes to end tenure review and provide for better management of Crown pastoral lands in the South Island high country were considered by Parliament today with the first reading of the Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill says Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage. ...
The Green Party have secured legislative amendments in a bill expected to pass third reading this week, to ensure better rules for school teachers and staff, so they can de-escalate children with diverse needs and cognitive differences, such as autism, rather than using unnecessary and often traumatising force. ...
New Zealand needs to be more aggressive in pursuing economic opportunities and resist the short-term thinking affecting some of its major industry, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says.Mr Peters told Wellington Chamber of Commerce members this morning that the planned closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will have ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has ridiculed the National Party "circus", with the politician saying it was in "chaos" after the resignation of another MP.Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon announced on Monday he would retire from politics after he allegedly sent inappropriate pornographic images to a young woman. Following a ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters today outlined what he saw as the requirements to re-open New Zealand's borders for tourists and travellers. If New Zealand was dealing solely with an Australian state such as Tasmania, we wouldn't need a vaccine, said Mr Peters, but these moves were complicated by the ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters appears to have prompted last-minute alterations to proposed legislation for commercial landlords and their tenants. Mr Peters told reporters on Wednesday said that he was making sure the proposed bill was in step with what the parties had actually agreed to. He said he ...
Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprise and New Zealand First List MP Shane Jones attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new NZ Post "super depot" in Wellington. The state-owned postal service, which got $280 million from the Coalition Government last month, is expanding its operations to handle surging parcel volumes. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First CHECK AGAINST DELIVERYIntroduction Good afternoon. Welcome to you all here today and party supporters watching from around the country. We appreciate your hard work keeping New Zealand First strong; thank you for keeping the faith. Sixty-three days out from Election Day, ...
The diversity of conservation boards around Aotearoa is increasing with 47 appointments to 14 of the 15 conservation boards across New Zealand announced today by the Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage. ...
The Green Party is honoured to be remembering former co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons today at a public memorial service in the heart of Wellington at the Cathedral of St. Paul’s. Following her passing in March, this celebration of her life brings together her friends, family and colleagues to honour her life ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has announced a $2.5 million boost for South Westland to help a regional alliance of local businesses and government agencies provide nature based jobs. ...
The Government has re-affirmed its commitment to supporting the hosting of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, which the ICC has delayed from 2021 to 2022. “This is obviously a disappointing decision for cricket players and fans around the world and for the White Ferns and their supporters here at ...
Cyclists and walkers will now have a safer way to get around Taupō, Tūrangi, and between Hamilton and Cambridge, with funding for shared paths and Te Awa River Ride, Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. “The Te Awa River Ride is the latest part of massive growth ...
Six major cycle routes will be completed in Christchurch thanks to funding from the Government’s investment in shovel-ready infrastructure as part of the COVID-19 recovery Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. $125 million will be invested to kick-start construction and fund the completion of the following cycleway ...
Plans are underway for a brand new state-of-the-art hub for Whanganui’s justice and social agencies, following confirmation the ageing Whanganui Central Police Station is to be replaced. Police Minister Stuart Nash has announced $25 million in new infrastructure spending to improve facilities for the wider community, and for staff who ...
An adjustment payment has been made to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu under the relativity mechanisms in their 1995 and 1997 Treaty of Waitangi settlements, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little announced today. The latest payments to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu are $2,700,000 and $2,600,000 respectively to ensure the ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off the start of the Auckland NZ Upgrade Programme rail projects which will support over 400 jobs and help unlock our biggest city. Both ministers marked the start of enabling works on the third main rail line project ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $3.78 million in Wairoa will create much needed economic stimulus and jobs, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. PGF projects announced today include: $200,000 loan to Nuhaka Kiwifruit Holdings Ltd (operated by Pine Valley Orchard Ltd) to increase the productivity ...
Tenants in public and Māori housing may be benefiting from their own affordable renewable energy in future – a fund to trial renewable energy technology for public and Māori housing has today been announced by Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods and Associate Minister for Housing (Māori Housing) Nanaia Mahuta. ...
Hokianga will receive $2.7 million to redevelop four of its wharves and upgrade its water supply, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Far North District Council will receive $1.8 million from the Provincial Growth Fund for the work on the wharves. “The work will include the construction of ...
A $350 million Residential Development Response Fund is being established to support the residential construction sector and to minimise the economic impact from COVID-19, the Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods has announced. “The Residential Development Response Fund will help to progress stalled or at-risk developments that support our broader housing ...
As part of a broader plan to divert waste from landfill, the Government today announced $10.67 million for new infrastructure as part of the Resource Recovery Network across the Auckland region. “This key investment in Auckland’s community recycling network is part of the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group ‘shovel ready’ projects ...
The Government is investing $45 million in the first stage of an ambitious urban development project for Tauranga that will employ up to 250 people and help the region grow, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says the funding has been allocated out of the $3 billion ...
Getting low-emission trucks on the road is a step closer with investment in infrastructure to support hydrogen vehicles, the Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods has announced. The Infrastructure Reference Group has provisionally approved $20 million for New Plymouth company Hiringa Energy to establish a nationwide network of hydrogen-fuelling stations. ...
A new trades training centre to upskill the local workforce will be built in the South Waikato town of Tokoroa through funding from the Government’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Government will contribute $10.84 million from ...
The Government has agreed to repeal part of the Oranga Tamariki Act subsequent children provisions, Minister for Children Tracey Martin announced today. “There are times when children need to go into care for their safety – the safety and care of children must always be paramount,” Minister Martin said. “But ...
A $1.5 million boost to grow primary mental health and addiction services for Pacific peoples in Auckland, Hamilton and Canterbury will lead to better outcomes for Pacific communities, Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa says. Pasifika Futures has received funding to expand services through The Fono, Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest by ...
Twenty-two projects to boost the sustainability and climate resilience of New Zealand’s food and fibres sector have been announced today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The $18m funding will deliver practical knowledge to help farmers and growers use their land more sustainably, meet environmental targets, remain prosperous, and better understand ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson welcomes an initiative that assists employers to get mature workers into New Zealand small businesses. The disadvantages that older people face in the workplace was highlighted in the whole of Government Employment Strategy. In order to address this, a Mature Workers Toolkit has been developed and ...
New Zealand and Australia reaffirmed today the need for the closest possible collaboration as they tackle a global environment shaped by COVID-19, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said. “In these challenging times, our close collaboration with Australia is more vital than ever,” said Mr Peters. Mr Peters and his Australian ...
The recovery and forensic examination of the loader driven by survivor Russell Smith means the underground team are now moving into an area of the Pike River Mine that has not been seen since the explosion, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little said. “The fifth and last robot ...
The Government has confirmed a community-wide trial of CovidCard technology as it explores options for COVID-19 contact tracing. “Effective contact tracing is a vital part of the COVID-19 response,” Minister of Health Chris Hipkins said. “While manual processes remain the critical component for contact tracing, we know digital solutions can ...
The government is proposing changes to aquaculture legislation to improve the process for allocating and transferring aquaculture assets to iwi. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash has introduced the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Amendment Bill to Parliament. It proposes a limited new discretionary power for Te Ohu Kaimoana Trustee Limited (ToKM). ...
The Minister of Justice has today introduced the Family Court (Supporting Children in Court) Legislation Bill – the next step in the ongoing programme of work to fix the failed 2014 Family Court reforms led by then Justice Minister Judith Collins. The Bill arises from the report of the Independent ...
A new Department of Conservation (DOC) action plan tackles the impacts of climate change on New Zealand’s biodiversity and DOC managed infrastructure including tracks, huts and cultural heritage. Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage says extreme weather events around the country have really brought home our vulnerability to changing weather patterns. ...
A heavily scaled back international Antarctic season will commence this week, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods have confirmed. “Antarctica is the only continent that is COVID-19 free,” Mr Peters said. “Throughout the global pandemic, essential operations and long-term science have continued at ...
The Government is providing up to $30 million to help fund the NZ Campus of Innovation and Sport in Upper Hutt - an investment that will create 244 jobs. “The sports hub is designed to be a world-leading shared service for a range of sports, offering the level of facilities ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today transport projects currently in construction will continue at pace due to extra Government support for transport projects to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. To keep the $16.9 billion 2018-21 National Land Transport Programme going the Government has allocated funding from the COVID Response and ...
$50 million for further rural broadband digital connectivity has been allocated from the $3 billion infrastructure fund in the COVID Response and Recovery Fund has been announced by Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure and Kris Faafoi, Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media. The investment will go to boosting broadband ...
The Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media has congratulated the Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB) programme on its major milestone of connecting more than 1 million New Zealand households and businesses to UFB. “This milestone has been 10 years in the making and demonstrates the popularity of the UFB network. “Uptake ...
Landmark legislation passed today puts New Zealand on track to saving thousands of lives and having a smokefree generation sooner rather than later, Associate Health Minister, Jenny Salesa says. The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill regulates vaping products and heated tobacco devices. “There has long been concern ...
A discriminatory law that has been a symbol of frustration for many people needing and providing care and support, has been scrapped by the Government. “Part 4A of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Amendment Bill (No 2) was introduced under urgency in 2013 by a National Government,” Associate ...
Kiwi motorists are set to reap the benefits of a more competitive fuel market following the passing of the Fuel Industry Bill tonight, Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods says. “This Act is where the rubber meets the road in terms of our response to the recommendations made in the ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to New Zealanders to modernise tenancy laws with the passing of the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill 2020 today, says Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing), Kris Faafoi. “The Residential Tenancies Act 1986 was out-dated and the reforms in the RTA modernise our ...
New rules to protect and restore New Zealand’s freshwater passed into law today. Environment Minister David Parker and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor welcomed the gazetting of the new national direction on freshwater management. “These regulations deliver on the Government’s commitment to stop further degradation, show material improvements within five years and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced the appointment of Jeremy Clarke-Watson as New Zealand’s new Consul-General in Los Angeles. “New Zealand and the United States share a close and dynamic partnership, based on a long history of shared values and democratic traditions,” Mr Peters said. “Mr Clarke-Watson is a ...
Victims of family violence can end a tenancy with two days’ notice Landlords can terminate tenancies with 14 days’ notice if tenants assault them Timeframe brought forward for limiting rent increases to once every 12 months Extension of time Tenancy Tribunal can hear cases via phone/video conference Reform of New ...
Two employment schemes – one new and one expanded – going live today will help tens of thousands of people continue training on the job and support thousands more into work, the Government has announced. Apprenticeship Boost, a subsidy of up to $12,000 per annum for first year apprentices and ...
The Government is funding a significant infrastructure package at Omokoroa which will create 150 new jobs and help transform the Western Bay of Plenty peninsula, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says the Government is investing $14 million towards the $28 million roading and water package. This ...
The Bill allowing the Government to recover some costs for managed isolation and quarantine passed its third reading today, with charges coming into force as soon as regulations are finalised. Putting regulations into force is the next step. “The COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill and its supporting regulations will ...
Today’s unemployment data shows the Government’s plan to protect jobs and cushion the blow for businesses and households against the economic impact of COVID-19 was the right decision, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ said today that New Zealand’s unemployment rate in the June quarter – which includes the ...
Judith Collins is still shy of a month into the job but in her media blitz she and her arched eyebrows are everywhere, along with the party slogan "Strong team, More Jobs, Better Economy". ...
New Zealand First is pleased to announce the next tranche of candidates that will represent our values and spread our message across the country at this year’s election. We thank these hardworking New Zealanders for putting their hand up to take on the ...
A high-ranking Chinese candidate promoted over more than a dozen incumbent MPs is the biggest surprise in an otherwise orthodox National Party list for the 2020 election, as Sam Sachdeva reports The National Party has released its list rankings for the 2020 election, with the ascent of new candidate Nancy ...
The National Party is pleased to announce the appointment of Nancy Lu to the National Party’s List for the 2020 General Election, President Peter Goodfellow says. “Nancy Lu is a Chartered Accountant with a background in accounting and business working ...
Headline: A crisis of governance. – 36th Parallel Assessments [embedded content] The Port of Beirut warehouse explosion, involving 2.7 kilotons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate negligently stored in an unsecured area, crystalizes in one national tragedy a much wider trend: the crisis and decline of democratic governance world-wide.For a ...
National’s 2020 Party List is a strong mix of experience coming up through our Caucus, and new and exciting talent joining our team from communities across New Zealand, Party President Peter Goodfellow says. “The National Party is incredibly ...
Latest from the Beehive – It looked (at first blush) like Christchurch would gobble up around half the money earmarked by the government for projects to get us on our bikes. Julie Anne Genter, Associate Minister of Transport and a Green with a fondness for two-wheeled, pedal-driven transport, today banged ...
The suggestion of putting border exemptions up for auction so large companies can bring in overseas executives and key workers is naïve and totally unfair,” says Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment ...
Looking for a wonderfully trashy movie to watch? TVNZ OnDemand now have some of Lifetime’s best dramas for your viewing pleasure. In a world of serious and credible television, the arrival of Lifetime to TVNZ OnDemand is joyous news. Lifetime is an American cable channel that churns out emotional drama after emotional drama, ...
The introduction of a $3,100 fee for returning New Zealanders will disadvantage Māori disproportionately, Phoebe Carr (Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe)and Max Harris argue.The government has once again failed to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi by rushing through legislation to introduce exorbitant managed isolation fees for returning New Zealanders. This ...
7 August 2020: The Team of Six Million, a campaign group established to oppose the imposition of quarantine fees by the New Zealand Government, has expressed disappointment at the Government's urgent passing of the Public Health Response Amendment Bill to ...
In July support for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party was at 53.5% down 1% since June, but still more than double the support for National on 26.5%, down 0.5%, with just over a month to go before the election in mid-September. If ...
Welcome to Election Live for August 7, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election season click here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Policy launching soon. Get in touch ...
After initial concerns about low testing rates in South Auckland, Counties Manukau DHB has the second-highest testing rate in the country. Ōtara Health chief executive Sosefina Paletaoga explains her organisation’s role in achieving this. Covid-19 has affected us all in different ways, and for us in Ōtara, it has highlighted existing ...
Oranga Tamariki's Chief Executive appeared before the Waitangi Tribunal a day after a report from the Chief Ombudsman found the agency had used its draconian powers to uplift babies too readily in many cases A Waitangi Tribunal hearing has seen Oranga Tamariki chief executive Gráinne Moss concede her organisation harmed families during ...
"A resident of the boarding house disappeared the same day Mrs Bethany’s body was discovered": provincial gothic, with astrology, by Auckland writer Mandy McMullin. I moved into the tearooms the day I turned sixteen, 23 December 2006. The same day I met Garth. It was Saturday, a lucky day for ...
The resignation of Westland Milk Products chief executive Tony Brendish almost a year to the day the company was sold to Chinese conglomerate Yili makes a mockery of assurances that there was no conflict of interest in top management preparing ...
*Watch the video in the player below*The wheels of progress turn frustratingly slow in Christchurch’s Red Zone. Frank Film asks, is anything going to happen? Hayley Guglietta is honest about her group’s activities on vacant land bordering Christchurch’s Avon River. She admits the groundwork was commenced without official ...
On this week's Extra Time podcast: After significant investigations into cycling, football and hockey in New Zealand, now gymnastics is in the spotlight around their athletes' welfare. Allegations of multiple New Zealand gymnasts suffering from verbal and physical abuse, bullying and unsafe training methods have surfaced over the past week. And ...
She’s a lone wolf, a team player, a rebel, a leader and the nicest lady around. But what combination of those do you need to survive in government?On a cold July morning, I found myself driving around Totara Park in Manurewa in the dark. I had been invited to a ...
All around the country, people are asking ‘what’s going to happen in the 2020 general election campaign?’ That’s because they haven’t read this guide, which reveals exactly what will happen in the 2020 general election campaign.Someone has finally put this term of parliament out of its misery. We’ve had three ...
The UK car industry has run a good race in the post-Brexit lobbying stakes. But Britain’s chemical industry looks to be making a late run, if recent coverage in the Financial Times is accurate.The issue for the industry is the post-Brexit regulatory regime and how this is to be ...
Latest from the Beehive – We had just finished digesting an outpouring of announcements from the Beehive over the previous 24 hours or so when the Point of Order Trough Monitor shrieked an alert. A new trough had been established. While we were inspecting the contents of this new trough, ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Chart 1, Historical: Australian much lower than Spain, Belgium and Sweden. Chart by Keith Rankin. The known incidences of Covid19 in Spain, Belgium and Sweden are similar, although Sweden lagged for a while before overtaking the other two. In deaths, Sweden is slightly lower than ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The good news in the Reserve Bank’s latest quarterly set of forecasts is that the recession won’t be as steep as it thought last time. The bad news is it ...
Analysis: National entices voters with big infrastructure projects, Judith Collins rips into Jacinda Ardern and Parliament passes a bill that could affect every tenant in the country. ...
By RNZ Pacific France’s new overseas minister Sebastien Lecornu says New Caledonia’s restrictions over the covid-19 pandemic will not affect the preparations for the October referendum on independence. Lecornu gave the assessment during a visit to New Caledonia House in Paris. Paris is expected to send dozens of officials and ...
Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa descendants are overjoyed they can do up their wharenui, while also attracting their rangatahi back to their marae, with more than $1.5 million from the Provincial Growth Fund. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Meyrick, Professor of Creative Arts, Griffith University National crises, like the pandemics that can provoke them, come in stages. Each stage presents leaders with unique problems that require mental, moral and emotional agility to manage. Change is the only constant, as ...
How is New Zealand faring in during the Covid-19 pandemic? Newsroom is taking a weekly look at the latest numbers related to the virus and the impact on the economy.Excess deaths Overseas the death toll in some countries has risen sharply, with the ...
Justice campaign organisation JustSpeak has outlined a vision for a society without prisons in its 2020 election campaign ‘ Our Justice Our Future ’. The campaign was launched last night in Wellington, to a sold out audience of supporters and volunteers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vasso Apostolopoulos, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research Partnerships, Victoria University During the COVID-19 pandemic we’re constantly being reminded to practise good hygiene by frequently washing our hands and regularly cleaning the spaces where we live and work. These practices aim to remove or kill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan and University of Canberra Assistant Professor Caroline Fisher discuss the week in politics. This week Michelle and Caroline discuss the closure of ‘non-essential’ businesses in Melbourne under stage ...
Labour's campaign slogan "Let's Keep Moving" is hardly the most inspirational but reflects the conservative game plan - trade on the Covid response and stay on track. ...
By granting a permit to OceanaGold to mine under DOC land in the Coromandel, the government is not only threatening an endangered species, says Catherine Delahunty – it’s threatening future generations.I woke up angry. The government has given a 40-year permit to OceanaGold to mine under DOC land behind Whangamatā. ...
How come, after numerous condemnatory reports, Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss holds on to her job? Aaron Smale wonders if those harmed by her tenure aren't a big enough voting bloc So, what happens when a government department breaks the law and breaches its own policies? Nothing, apparently. The latest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Review: The Meddler, screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival For movie scholars and enthusiasts, one of the worst things about the COVID-19 pandemic has been the shutting down of ...
The combination of solar panels, electricity storage batteries, smart household gadgets, and a boring looking black box is set to change forever how our electricity system works. But do we need subsidies? ...
The New Zealand Bar Assocation says misinformed criticism of a South Island judge’s sentencing of a sex offender has the potential for disturbing consequences for the justice system and society generally. The Bar Association’s President Kate Davenport ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Royal Commission into Aged-Care Quality and Safety delivered it’s interim report in October 2019. Titled ‘Neglect’, it provided a scathing insight into the aged care industry – finding it centred around transactions not care. ...
By Tom Peters, Socialist Equality Group More than one year after the March 15, 2019 terrorist attack, an official inquiry into the mass shooting that killed 51 people and injured 49 in two Christchurch mosques has still not released any information ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Damien Manuel, Director, Centre for Cyber Security Research & Innovation (CSRI), Deakin University Australia’s long-awaited cybersecurity strategy, released yesterday, pledges to spend A$1.67 billion over the next ten years to improve online protection for businesses, individuals and the country as a whole. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roxana Diamond, PhD Candidate, Flinders University This article has links that contain graphic content Many industries and employees have been hurt by COVID-19. But sex workers, who face stigma and discrimination at the best of times, have been hit particularly hard by ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Port Moresby may need to expand its covid-19 isolation facilities quickly and effectively in case a big spike in cases occurs, a doctor says. Rita Flynn isolation facility manager Dr Gary Nou said it would be a disaster if the spread of covid-19 in ...
Paige Tapara is a fast-rising young singer-songwriter whose debut EP explores themes of sexuality, coming of age, mental health and relationships. We asked her how it came together, and why she thinks it’s so important for NZ music to include voices like hers.Paige swoops into the room, a cream doughnut in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cathy Foley, Chief Scientist, CSIRO Universities and other research organisations in Australia have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In May, a group led by Australia’s Chief Scientist Alan Finkel forecasted severe impacts for our research workforce. These included the loss ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Carnt, Scientia Senior Lecturer, School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW, Sydney, UNSW You’re rushing and accidentally drop a contact lens on the bathroom floor. Should you: a) run it under the tap and pop it in? b) spit on it ...
The Māori Party is celebrating World Indigenous Day the Māori way, surrounded by friends and whānau at a Meet-the-Candidates at the Third Place Café in Rotorua this weekend. To mark World Indigenous Day, the Māori Party wants to remind Aotearoa ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Wayland, Lecturer, University of Sydney As part of new research into missing persons in Australia, I have been asking people who return after disappearing what they needed or wanted. Mary, who has gone missing four times in the last few years, ...
Forest & Bird is calling for all political parties to back an end to mining conservation land, after a permit was issued to mine the home of a critically-endangered native animal. This week Oceana Gold was granted a 40-year mining permit from the ...
Here’s a snapshot of a single day in parliament. A day where changes were made to laws that govern everything from the milk in your refrigerator to the speed you can drive your car, and to Netflix, and war crimes, and who tests your water. It was a big day.The ...
*This article was first published on RNZ and is republished with permission* Māori leaders say they have no faith in Oranga Tamariki and the chief executive needs to go after the latest report into the organisation found it was routinely taking newborns without whānau consultation. The Chief Ombudsman's report He Take Kōhukihuki, ...
So is the government succeeding in steering the country through the Covid-19 crisis and what it calls a “one-in-100-year shock”. And just what is it costing? These are questions which will be uppermost in the minds of voters when they cast their ballots in next month’s general election. Finance Minister ...
Peddlethorp calls on other businesses that cancelled events due to Covid to donate now when need is greatest Peddlethorp Architects is calling on businesses that cancelled events due to Covid-19 to donate event catering or funding to those in need, if circumstances ...
A poem by Rhian Gallagher from her new collection Far-Flung.At the Boatshedfor Sonja MitchellWe carried the day through the door the harbour had earned its keep light laid its hands on each contourthe shed held abreast with the shore spreading the waves in pleats we carried the day through the ...
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 Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alistair Sisson, Postdoctoral Research Associate, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Social and public housing is intensely stigmatised in Australia and has been for several decades. Estates in particular are often labelled “ghettos”, framed as places of danger, drugs and vice. This stigma ...
National is promising to spend $20 million over four years on increasing testing rates and accessibility to clinical trials for gynaecological cancer if elected. ...
The National Party is criticising the government's list of "shovel-ready projects", meant to kickstart the economy, for not generating enough jobs for women. ...
Wedged between punitive commercial law and an ineffective government, a once-thriving business is dying a slow and expensive death.It was one of the most acclaimed backpackers in New Zealand.Perched at the top of the Elliot Stables building in central Auckland, it was voted by Hostelworld as the city’s most popular ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW One of the many things COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on is the way many of us work. Those fortunate enough to be able to work from home have been able to adapt to this ...
When Covid-19 forced New Zealanders to live most of their lives online it exacerbated the effects of digital exclusion. Jean Teng spoke to the organisations that kept vulnerable communities connected during the pandemic. From job hunting and banking to watching TV and scrolling through the news, there is hardly a ...
Bernard Hickey writes this election's argument over who will repay Government debt faster is a dangerous and pointless replay of a 30-year old debate rendered obsolete by today's financial facts Often the myths and legends of the past are more powerful in the minds of politicians, bureaucrats and voters than the reality. Just the fear ...
Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki says the Government has utterly betrayed the public by allowing MBIE to grant a 40 year mining permit to Oceana Gold on Dept of Conservation land at Wharekirauponga near Whangamata this week. " It is appalling that this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Moffat, ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow in Archaeological Science, Flinders University How did the first person evolve? Mabel, age 7, Anglesea, Victoria. Hi Mabel, what a great question! We know humans haven’t always been around. After all, we ...
Open mike 04/03/2013 
...3 hours ago
...5 hours ago
From some quarters, incessant scaremongering. From others, it’s a full-on tilt into touching the alarmist buttons a little too readily (uncertain times make for very captive audiences with this angle of attack). The (so-called) Opposition (and merely regarding them as that seems to be a far looser term now ...5 hours ago
National Party leader - Judith CollinsElections often bring out the best and worst in politicians. Some rise to the occasion and provide us with a clear vision for the future. While others wallow in resentment and controversy, over-relying on attack politics to try to attain the interest of voters.That’s been ...11 hours ago
The attempts to sabotage Corbyn's leadership seems likely to do more damage than Corbyn supposedly ever could have done, even if all the stories about him were true: I was reluctant to say anything but this is too important, the full story needs to be told.Don’t let anyone ever tell ...12 hours ago
Good day to everyone. I’ve been asked by Mr Thinks to come here and talk to you all about my concerns regarding the government response to Covid-19. We’ve been living through this pandemic for, what seems like, years. Years and years and years. Why else would the National Party have ...13 hours ago
‘Good Economics for Hard Times’ should be on your reading list. New Zealand does not have a Minister of Labour. It has Ministers of Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety but there is no minister with responsibility for the labour market. That responsibility was abolished in 2012 when ...1 day ago
Back in the Kyoto era, the international climate change regime included a Clean Development Mechanism to fund emissions reduction projects in developing nations. Essentially someone would certify that a project - e.g. building a windfarm, or installing energy-efficient lightbulbs - would reduce emissions over and above "business-as-usual". The project would ...1 day ago
By Geoffrey Miller Prominent refugee advocate Murdoch Stephens says he is disappointed by Judith Collins’ reaction to Immigration New Zealand’s decision to grant refugee status to Kurdish-Iranian writer Behrouz Boochani. Judith Collins told media last month that “there’s a lot of concern in New Zealand about what they see as ...2 days ago
That was clearly a huge explosion. Just after the explosion, we see a cloud of ‘fog’ moving outwards at high speed. This is a shockwave, rather similar to that which causes a sonic boom. The ‘fog’ is caused by water condensing from the atmosphere in areas of intense low pressure ...2 days ago
2 days ago
by Don Franks This talk was given to the Wellington Anti Capitalist Alliance, fifteen years ago. The ultimate weapons of mass destruction so far seen on this planet have been used just twice, 60 years ago this month. August 6 and August 9 1945 witnessed the US atomic bombing ...3 days ago
100 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Analyzing the Arctic Feedback Mechanism between Sea Ice and Low-Level Clouds Using 34 Years of Satellite Observations Observations of global warming & effects Sea‐Level Rise Driving Increasingly Predictable Coastal Inundation in Sydney, Australia (open access) The recent state and variability ...3 days ago
As polling day in the American presidential election draws closer, things are looking bad for Donald Trump. The polls show that he is tracking well behind his Democrat rival. Most people assume that the President will be striving might and main to avoid what looks increasingly likely to be a ...6 days ago
Our health professionals do an amazing job. Image credit: Wikipedia – Cardiac surgery. Finally, I have got back to these rankings. A long period in hospital and computer problems meant the June 2020 rankings were abandoned. Now, with a new personal defibrillator implanted in my chest and a new hard ...6 days ago
Below is the list of gender-critical material which appeared on Redline from October 1, 2019 to October 31, 2019. Rainbow Tick threatens to pull Massey’s tick if lesbians are allowed to speak Freer Lives – a gender-critical Marxist site Freer Lives on Violence, debate and Britain’s Gender Recognition Act British ...1 week ago
SATURDAY AUGUST 1Artefact (Prime, 7.30pm). The series presented by Dame Anne Salmond screened on Māori Television, but is totally worth revisiting if you saw it the first time. Dame Anne tells the stories of taonga that highlight the history of Aotearoa. Further reading: this 2013 interview with Dame Anne by the lovely ...1 week ago
Most of the claims made by anti-fluoride propagandists are simply wrong. Image source: Fluoridation and the ‘sciency’ facts of critics Anti-fluoride propagandists continually cite studies from areas of endemic fluorosis in their arguments against ... 1 week ago
We've announced that we will expand the Flexi-wage programme to support up to 40,000 more people into work, or to help them start their own business. It's yet another way we're helping keep our economy moving by getting people into work and training. Read on to find out more ...8 hours ago
The Green Party is strongly opposed to MBIE’s decision to grant mining permits under public conservation land in the Coromandel. ...1 day ago
New Zealand needs to be more aggressive in pursuing economic opportunities and resist the short-term thinking affecting some of its major industry, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr Peters told Wellington Chamber of Commerce members this morning that the planned closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will have ...3 weeks ago
The Government has re-affirmed its commitment to supporting the hosting of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, which the ICC has delayed from 2021 to 2022. “This is obviously a disappointing decision for cricket players and fans around the world and for the White Ferns and their supporters here at ...9 hours ago
Judith Collins is still shy of a month into the job but in her media blitz she and her arched eyebrows are everywhere, along with the party slogan "Strong team, More Jobs, Better Economy". ...2 hours ago
New Zealand First is pleased to announce the next tranche of candidates that will represent our values and spread our message across the country at this year’s election. We thank these hardworking New Zealanders for putting their hand up to take on the ...3 hours ago
A high-ranking Chinese candidate promoted over more than a dozen incumbent MPs is the biggest surprise in an otherwise orthodox National Party list for the 2020 election, as Sam Sachdeva reports The National Party has released its list rankings for the 2020 election, with the ascent of new candidate Nancy ...3 hours ago
Headline: A crisis of governance. – 36th Parallel Assessments [embedded content] The Port of Beirut warehouse explosion, involving 2.7 kilotons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate negligently stored in an unsecured area, crystalizes in one national tragedy a much wider trend: the crisis and decline of democratic governance world-wide. For a ...5 hours ago
Latest from the Beehive – It looked (at first blush) like Christchurch would gobble up around half the money earmarked by the government for projects to get us on our bikes. Julie Anne Genter, Associate Minister of Transport and a Green with a fondness for two-wheeled, pedal-driven transport, today banged ...6 hours ago
Looking for a wonderfully trashy movie to watch? TVNZ OnDemand now have some of Lifetime’s best dramas for your viewing pleasure. In a world of serious and credible television, the arrival of Lifetime to TVNZ OnDemand is joyous news. Lifetime is an American cable channel that churns out emotional drama after emotional drama, ...9 hours ago
Oranga Tamariki's Chief Executive appeared before the Waitangi Tribunal a day after a report from the Chief Ombudsman found the agency had used its draconian powers to uplift babies too readily in many cases A Waitangi Tribunal hearing has seen Oranga Tamariki chief executive Gráinne Moss concede her organisation harmed families during ...13 hours ago
"A resident of the boarding house disappeared the same day Mrs Bethany’s body was discovered": provincial gothic, with astrology, by Auckland writer Mandy McMullin. I moved into the tearooms the day I turned sixteen, 23 December 2006. The same day I met Garth. It was Saturday, a lucky day for ...15 hours ago
*Watch the video in the player below* The wheels of progress turn frustratingly slow in Christchurch’s Red Zone. Frank Film asks, is anything going to happen? Hayley Guglietta is honest about her group’s activities on vacant land bordering Christchurch’s Avon River. She admits the groundwork was commenced without official ...16 hours ago
On this week's Extra Time podcast: After significant investigations into cycling, football and hockey in New Zealand, now gymnastics is in the spotlight around their athletes' welfare. Allegations of multiple New Zealand gymnasts suffering from verbal and physical abuse, bullying and unsafe training methods have surfaced over the past week. And ...16 hours ago
The UK car industry has run a good race in the post-Brexit lobbying stakes. But Britain’s chemical industry looks to be making a late run, if recent coverage in the Financial Times is accurate. The issue for the industry is the post-Brexit regulatory regime and how this is to be ...21 hours ago
How is New Zealand faring in during the Covid-19 pandemic? Newsroom is taking a weekly look at the latest numbers related to the virus and the impact on the economy. Excess deaths Overseas the death toll in some countries has risen sharply, with the ...1 day ago
How come, after numerous condemnatory reports, Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss holds on to her job? Aaron Smale wonders if those harmed by her tenure aren't a big enough voting bloc So, what happens when a government department breaks the law and breaches its own policies? Nothing, apparently. The latest ...1 day ago
The combination of solar panels, electricity storage batteries, smart household gadgets, and a boring looking black box is set to change forever how our electricity system works. But do we need subsidies? ...1 day ago
*This article was first published on RNZ and is republished with permission* Māori leaders say they have no faith in Oranga Tamariki and the chief executive needs to go after the latest report into the organisation found it was routinely taking newborns without whānau consultation. The Chief Ombudsman's report He Take Kōhukihuki, ...1 day ago
So is the government succeeding in steering the country through the Covid-19 crisis and what it calls a “one-in-100-year shock”. And just what is it costing? These are questions which will be uppermost in the minds of voters when they cast their ballots in next month’s general election. Finance Minister ...1 day ago
Bernard Hickey writes this election's argument over who will repay Government debt faster is a dangerous and pointless replay of a 30-year old debate rendered obsolete by today's financial facts Often the myths and legends of the past are more powerful in the minds of politicians, bureaucrats and voters than the reality. Just the fear ...2 days ago
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://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.