Clare Curran has been promoting a campaign to save TVNZ 7. There have been public meeetings around the country, there is one in Dunedin this Thursday night. I’ll have a chance to speak at that.
Any ideas on TVNZ 7 and public broadcasting? For or against? Saveable or not? Innovate ideas for public broadcasting? Any worthwhile comments here will be added to the meeting mix.
I honestly wouldn’t have a clue how my public dollar gets spent on television at all. My first step wouldn’t be save TV7. It would be abolish New Zealand On Air. Like charities, I would like to see all subsidized programs published, and be able to write to the television stations direct with my views on them.
Kia ora there, AD. This is The Standard, and we have some for the vernacular also. One may “write to the television stations directly” nor “direct”. tccch
I think we need some form of public television but tying it to TVNZ was a mistake, they didn’t want to encourage viewers to leave their advertisers. And I think this campaign is far too late, virtually no chance of getting the bill drawn from the ballot, and little chance of saving the exisitng failed experiment.
I’d like to see the Save TVNZ 7 campaign used as a springboard for finding a better way of doing it, but with an integrated multi media approach and perhaps not tied to one 24/7 commercial free channel. So I’m looking for ideas on it.
No, not at this stage. I have a few ideas, but so do others. I’d like to see some brainstorming, innovation, creativeness, some thinking out side the old MSM square, and see what people come up with.
I’ve got an idea Pete. How about Peter Dunne quits the Government and forces an early general election? That’ll save all sorts of public assets, including TVNZ7. As UF’s only public supporter you are in a unique position to make this happen.
Can you imagine Peter Dunne leaving parliament for the final time? The security staff will be dragging him by his feet as he grabs every object he can to stop them. It will end with him holding on by his finger nail to the the last groove in the last brick.
He will then be seen around Wellington, clothes disheveled, several weeks growth of beard, smelling of urine and muttering to himself – “They stole my precious, I mustz getz it back”.
He will be drinking and drunk dialing MPs in the early hours of the morning – “No, I really love you, man….no, no, I really really love you man”.
William, you may have thought this might earn you some pats on the back from dogdicts of the blog, but it says far more about youself (and standards on The Standard) than anything. You might undo some of your self inflicted damage with a more circumspect followup.
Peter Dunne gets elected for Labour but by 1994 they were not far enough on the right for him. So he leaves Labour and becomes an independent.
Peter Dunne – Party of …..?
Then he establishes Future New Zealand (not to be confused with the other one). A party that will be remembered forever anytime someone mentions New Zealand politics. As effective as the Real Democracy Movement and the Co-operative party.
Peter Dunne – Party of One
In the middle of 1995 he joins the United New Zealand Party, party time Petie has some friends! They boldly go into the 1996 elections with a party of 7 MPs.
But BHAM! The 1996 election sees United NZ almost becomes a footnote to history. Poor ol’ Peter. All his friends get blitzed in the 1996 election so again Dunne is alone – it wont be the last time.
Peter Dunne – Party of One
In 1999, Peter is the only United NZ candidate to get elected. He couldn’t bring anyone with him – it’s hard to do this when your party vote is only half of one percent!
Peter Dunne – Party of One
Desperate to have some friends he merges with Future New Zealand (not to be confused with the other one) to form United Future. Excellent choice.
He gets some more friends in parliament in 2002 [whoot whoot]. But who does he side with? National? No, Labour – but I thought Labour weren’t right wing enough for him?
But things aren’t perfect. All UF’s MPs are all political outliers, why not get some more. Let’s throw in Outdoor Recreation?
Then we come to 2005. Let’s not forget that there was another cup of tea in Epsom before Key and Banks. Peter “Mr Integrity” Dunne met with Brash suggesting the idea that he would go with National. Understandable if you are on the centre-right – you would think so. But no, he went with Labour. I guess they had better baubles to offer him. Feign right then go left.
UF wasn’t looking well though, down to three members. Not so much fun at the caucus meetings. Especially when Copeland left and the caucus was down to two. But hey, there was another election coming and it looks like there will be some new kids on the block. Time to make some new friends.
In 2008 National had the better baubles. Dunne becomes a born-again rightie. The downside, he’s alone again – naturally.
Peter Dunne – Party of One
His new friends are good to him and left him slide into first at the 2011 election. But he’s still alone.
Peter Dunne – Party of One
Now, how seriously do you think I should take this man or his party, PG?
Enough of a “A more circumspect followup” for you PG?
BTW, WTF are dogdicts?
As far as I’m aware there won’t be any legislation necessary. TVNZ 7 was set up for a fixed term, that term is simply coming to an end (in 25 days).
It would take legislation to extend the funding for TVNZ 7 and there is nothing planned, except for Clare Curran’s belated private members bill that is unlikely to be even drawn from the ballot before the channel switches to being TV1 +1.
If there was extension legislation to vote on I don’t know if Dunne would be free to vote how he liked because there would be financial implications, so their may be C&S constraints.
He has to vote for the budget (like Maori Party and Act), them’s the coalition rules. If he didn’t MMP would become a democratic farce (much more than now).
Upsetting the coalition, especially for something that in the whole scheme of things is very minor, would be ludicrous. Apart from a few wishful thinking subversives it would be widely condemned.
Yes I understand he has to follow the coalition agreement, and that’s my point.
All his “vocal support” is just that: vocal and vocal only. Quite two-faced really, to be a “vocal supporter” of something you have absolutely no intention of actually supporting.
You can call it minor, and it is, but it’s become a familiar theme for Dunne. Seems there’s nothing he believes in that he would actually vote against the government to protect.
Are you suggesting MPs should speak up about polcies they can’t vote on? That would render the opposition parties voiceless.
He has voted against National this term, he has indicated support for the Mondayisation bill, he is pushing for a super discussion (and has a commitment to one)…
Well once you’ve finished with Peter Dunne, you can all go and form a coalition with that total nut job from the Mana Party. In the court of public opinion, which single candidate would you want the next government to rest on?
Hey Ad Hone Harawira is more true to doing a politicians job for the people he represents than many in the old established parties. His language requires reining in but then so do you when describing your opinions about him.
trp, best idea of this full moon eclipse day ! think how famous he would become, and forever it shall be writ how he crossed the floor and tumbled donkey and how he enjoyed stronger hair than marilyn waring and saved assets and education ! and you, dear pete, can take all the credit ! go for it, please, please, please !! NOW !
Pete. I protested to the Minister for Broadcasting and received a reply which demonstrates that too many New Zealanders are boorish and uncultivated. Also, I have signed the petition as I hope every
educated person will be sure to do.You will gather that I am FOR maintaining TVNZ 7 coverage. Otherwise, I shall have to turn to overseas outlets to learn anything about our world (which are likely to exclude this country).
Charter Schools are attracting the “smart” investors in the US. Mitt Romney’s son Tagg(!) and Goldman Sachs are in. And naturally they are sucking the tax payer’s tit and gouging students to make sure they get the required RoI. The Act party is getting its guidance from The Maxim Institute: those great advocates of probity.
BillODrees
Everyone needs education to do anything in life. Therefore it is a constant business that is a reliable investment to speculate on. With so much money sloshing around among the top 10% they are desperate to get it placed in the proper niche with repeat good returns. And all the toilet paper manufacturing and sales options are taken.
Sick to the stomach that Michael Cullen accepted a silly knighthood. A man, with his sense of history and with a great reputation for both his intellectual ability and wit, should not have let his name be sullied by a tacky title. Embarassing.
Would be interesting to know who turned down an “honour”. That would make a much better read. Looks as though Key is running out of tall poppies now when you see names like Jackson having to have extra letters added … as a matter of interest what has Jackson done since LOR apart from facilitating an employment dispute?
Key could do a political Benefit Cost on the whole honors system: for every family and charity whose vote-loyalty an award locks up, how many more are just pissed off that their favorite wasn’t rewarded?
… and spinoff the entire digital game industry in Wellington (and generally conduct from the centre the only sign of economic life in the entire Wellington region), a few Academy Awards, and be the single most important non-agricultural entrepreneur we have.
Logie97 Come on. Jackson has done a lot for NZ despite pissing you off and holding back on offering wage rises as required. Actors get emotional, that’s their job. Technicians get real that’s their job. NZ ran the risk of not having any film jobs and others also , from Jackson et al. Didn’t he offer you the part you wanted. Pout, pout.
Bill,
Cullen has been the subject of much vitriol from the likes of Key over the last few years. Charged with pursuing a policy of retiring public debt in the good times rather than giving out large tax cuts to the citizens and also of wasting “vast sums” of “mums and dads” money on fruitless projects. Now, apparently, his services to stewardship of the public purse warrant a knighthood …
It seems they have extended the “services and devotion to the richest a*%#-holes” category so it’s nearly as big as the “filthy rich snots – they who are serviced” category.
(Apologies to any recipients who are decent human beings who deserve recognition for long, unselfish service to others – I wasn’t able to keep reading read that far down the list..)
Carol, you would be well advised not to look, it is predictably horrifying. But I cannot resist telling you that the foremost recipient of an “honour” is none other than the Duke of Edinburgh.
It is simply not fair to expect an old bigot to learn, in his ninety’s, where N.Z. is, and who is the Governor-General, let alone that our people are busy clearing out to Australia (wherever that is)! Nevertheless, I bet he knows just who is the vastly wealthy and sycophantic John Key!
au contraire, I like to congratulate Sir Michael Cullen to the recognition of which he is very deserving. Considering that no one seem to recognize his efforts in this country (tall poppy syndrome?) it is even more significant that the outside world seem to understand what great work he has done. Maybe an order of New Zealand is old fashioned, but at least it gives honor where honor is due. New Zealanders are not very good at celebrating people with intellect. What pleases me is that his effort has not been misused by the right and he has maintained his integrity through ought his carrier.
Cullen was The Man for 9 years in power. Budget surplus and low public debt, save the rail system, lock in a good few Treaty settlements, juggle massive portfolios. English doesn’t deserve to polish his shoes.
It may be an old fashioned anachronistic honours system, but it is the one we have, and Michael Cullen is probably the most deserving recipient this time around.
The Order of New Zealand doesn’t even have to be about NZ. It can be for services to the Crown. I suspect that Phil serviced the Crown a few times when there was nothing else available for the lecherous old racist.
Apparently he qualifies by being Air Marshall of the RNZAF, that sterling force which sent officers to Duntroon to lecture the RAAF cadets on the dangers of socialism under Labour governments and how NZ would never get a much desired free trade agreement with the yanks unless we stepped up to defend freedom by letting nuclear ships back in.
But yeah, thanks Mickey, I knew that but couldn’t resist a weak attempt at humour.
I don’t think we should have these ridiculous colonial awards anyway, so if giving the old lecher one wakes people up, that could be a good thing.
I wish Cullen did not accept the award. To me a “Knight” or a “Dame” is a person who in the past subjected ordinary people to terror so that the privileged could retain their power. I much prefer a society where people do not have fancy titles but earn recognition through their contribution to the common good.
BillODrees. Embarrassing and despicable, especially for changing his story, and for ingratiating himself to John Key. He must live with himself, but will Labour be able to live with this?
Bill has disappeared! Comments right out of order again. The above (hopefully) was a reference to Cullen. I bet his ingratiating supporters are not members of Labour! Now let me ask, does anyone recall what Key has done/is doing/ will do to the “Cullen Fund for Superannuation”? Well, just as well that today they are great mates!
Kia ora Dr Terry, i was busy all day walking around my Earldom, waving at the peasants.
The Labour Party can make itself relevant again by clearly dis-connecting itself from all the processes and trappings around the whole royalty and title thing. I suspect Shearer was consulted by Key, or even possibly nominated people for these silly things. Helen stopped all that crap: Labour should not have a bar of any aspect of it.
Bill, they are all answerable to the “father land”
Being that the Queen is not even English, I find it facinating the number of people who do not know that, and who also fawn over the royal cabal!
So Prince Phillip gets an ONZ – Just to ensure we know who rules over us, hint no he is not English either, many people aware aware of this fact, but seem to see it as insigifigant the fact that his parents were N.A.Z.I’s, and that the comments Phillip has made over the decades, the true expression of a man who represents everything, so many people believe no longer exists!
“Aside from being r*cist, it’s also inaccurate. If you must go by ethnicity, Mountbatten, ie Battenberg, is German.”
–Pop, yes the fact you think the post was r*scist, simply shows the level of defects you have.
By all means keep responding to posts, and affirming your psyche, while adding, doesn;t know the meanings of words onto the list of things your posts give you away as.
I suspect your projection speaks loud and clear, because r*scisim (yours), and aggression (your rifle comments), are close cousins, or ignorance and stupidity!
Perhaps like the royal family you are inbred, as it tends to create psychological defects!
I’m pleased to see Metiria Turei getting some MSM coverage for her speeches at the Green Party conference.
I have voted Greens the last few elections, but, with the ascendency of Russel Norman, and the related shift towards the centre, I am reconsidering my (limited) options for party vote next election.
I am not happy about the way the MSM and many in the beltway are promoting Norman as the de facto leader of the Greens, while Turei has been far less publicly visible.
A lot of the reason for this is the patriarchal way (most usually male) holders of finance/economy portfolios and responsibilities within parties are usually foregrounded as being the most important players, next to, or even along side the PM or party leader.
The money people should be technicians….. people who work out whether party policies are financially feasible, and/or how to finance said policies. The policies on how to organise the country and the values such policies are based on should come first. They shouldn’t be the ones that dictate how a country is run.
The things Turei has been talking about, and the issues on a lot of people’s minds these days, to do with poverty, a fair, democratic, quality and accessible-to-all education system, jobs paying fair wages for all that want them, and an income for all that enables a decent living standard, decent housing etc.
Mrs Turei promised that if elected, Greens would give the children of beneficiaries an in-work tax credit, and would extend paid parental leave to six months.
She emphasised the importance of education as a strategic investment for children, and said the party would repeal controversial changes such as class size.
The Greens co-leader also made a rare personal criticism of Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, saying her welfare reforms belittled women.
“For all the modern feminist advances we have made, the solo mum remains the primary target for society’s most vitriolic personal attacks – led these days by Paula Bennett who knows only too well how much it hurts, but plunges the knife in anyway.”
It could simply be that Norman is a better politician than Turei – a real measure of success is whether you can command public opinion through the media. Patriarchy didn’t stop Clark.
That so women have been able to do this indicates that there are still strong patriarchal tendencies. Clark had to work hard over many years to get that cut through, and to put up with a lot of sexist smears.
Define “better politician” without reference to being able to get onside with the media, and the related dominant discourses and establishment?
The media is acting as if Turei was the deputy and not the co-leader. I think this is something the Greens need to acknowedge and act to ameliorate in any ways they can, if they want the co-leadership system to be more than window-dressing.
I agree it is a skewed playing field. Patriarchy still exists, and the media is part of it.
But you can’t define politician in absence of the media (mainstream or otherwise). By definition media are the mediators, not just the amplifiers. It’s simply a skill you must have to be an effective politician.
But don’t make excuses for Turei. You know how supportive the Green Party is to its leaders. It’s a hothouse environment. There’s plenty out there who should have been leaders, but couldn’t make the actual step.
It really is time to test Green policy and Green leadership really hard, because it’s just two years now before it all goes live.
I don’t give a stuff who the media have ordained. The Green Party has chosen to elect co-leaders. They either take action to make that mean something, or the management devolves into a kind of 1950s marriage. With a little woman.
Turei is a force to be reckoned with, and often makes Russel look like a light-weight by comparison.
I think in general terms Turei is more of the leader within the party organisation, and Norman is more of the leader in the media. They have balanced their roles quite nicely, as it would make no sense to have them competing for the same airtime.
Sounds a bit like ‘keeps the home-fires burning’. Why does there need to be such a division of labour?
And ‘complimentary roles,’ as an excuse for sexism, is as old as the hills.
Its not a bad thing having clear roles. That way you are not sending out contradictory messages to the press or to the party internally. People like to know who is doing what, and who they should go to for different issues.
Yes, js, and interesting also, that Turei’s speech this weekend is a powerful exposé of the continuing history of sexism and belittling of women in NZ. She frames her speech in feminist terms:
The Suffragists were clear – women have the right to economic independence whether she chooses to stay home to care for her children or chooses to work, whether she has a partner or not.
She has autonomy. She exercises her self-determination.
[…]
Many women in Aotearoa are still living in the shadow of discrimination, exclusion, racism. If we shine a light in their direction we find:
– New Zealand women are still paid 13% less than men doing a similar job
-1 in 3 New Zealand women will have a violent partner in her lifetime
– 1 in 5 women will experience sexual violence
– 232,000 New Zealand women live in poverty
– 70 percent of women’s work is unpaid
And for Māori, Pacific and disabled women the numbers are much worse.
For all the very real gains women have made in the last century, there are glaring gaps – gaps that fuel inequality, injustice and poverty.
[…]
The National Government tells New Zealanders every day that women, especially mums on their own, are weak, incompetent and incapable.
[…]
Working equitably alongside men in our caucus and our party, the Greens are here for women, young and old, for mothers and for nannies.
Holly is touring Aotearoa showing the Inside Child Poverty documentary in a town near you so we confront and deal with the realities of poverty on women and their children.
Jan and Denise are working with women from unions and community networks to expose the impact of National’s low wage obsession on women and children.
Mojo is blazing a trail through the veil of discrimination for all women with disabilities and for the mothers of children with disabilities.
Eugenie is working with women who are standing up for our rivers so our kids can swim in clean water, women who want our rivers wild and free, where tuna can grow old and wise like our kuia.
Julie Anne has taken the government to task over failed transport plans and is championing smart green transport to make it safe for our kids to walk and cycle to school.
And Catherine is challenging the vicious cuts in education, exposing the ‘class warfare’ waged by Hekia Parata and presenting families with education solutions that respect their children’s learning.
Women are fierce. Our transformation is in our hands.
So, when is the MSM going pay more attention to these women, and to Turei who has made some of the best speeches on social justice, in and outside parliament in recent years?
And Turei was speaking about the plight for male and female children in poverty, and/or households on low incomes:
We are staring, not into a gap but a chasm – one driven deeper and wider by a Government hell bent on making those who can least afford it pay.
Ours is a country where, for many kids, a pair of new school shoes is a pipe dream.
– Where, just last month, a Northland doctor wrote of children in his neighbourhood seen scrabbling through a pig slop bucket for something to eat
– Where Maori kids are 23 times as likely as non Maori to suffer acute rheumatic fever – a third world disease
-Where poor kids are one-and-a-half times as likely to die in childhood than other children
-Where four out of five families have struggled at some time to have enough food.
For hundreds of thousands of our littlest people, Aotearoa is empty of the hope that the rest of us base our dreams on.
But this is not a place where people are poor because they make bad choices, as Key has said.
We refuse to blame our children for being vulnerable and hungry.
The above replies are right and support your excerpts. This is a speech for playing to the internal base. The MSM will never ever do a story on that kind of speech unless she starts reading out the SCUM manifesto. Division of labour like this is good if you are to achieve political scale.
Ae, Turei is awesome. I really wish someone on the left would go after the women’s vote. But it’s a conflict for The Greens. Who do you think that middle NZ is going to like better: a charming, white, middle class man, or a radical, staunch Maori woman? Obviously both those are needed, but I’m not sure how The Greens should best balance that.
I am glad to hear that Turei is getting good media coverage though, and thanks for posting about this Carol.
Just makes me like Norman more. Now he can ideologically own the steel and aluminum that forms his pushbike, the rare earths that form his Apple machines, the fine clays in his toothpaste. Muzza he just owned up to being a modern human being.
Yeah. Those anti-mining types who drive around in new Toyota Prius make me roll my eyes. Does their Prius not run on petrol? Use a steel and aluminium chasis? Contain a battery which holds kilograms of lithium and a dozen other precious minerals, and which needs to be completely replaced every few years? Upholstered with plastics and cabin parts derived from hydrocarbons?
I gotta respect Norman for this. As you say Ad…he just owned up to life in a modern civilisation.
Ad – People will make all the excuses in the world in the name of hope, and not having to get directly invovled. Its why our so called democracy has been so successful for the elites (apathy).
I guess time will tell on the signifigance if Normans comments, again Ill keep them for future reference..
If NZ continues to mine and does, not become a “wealthier” country all round for it (as a minimum)…What will the so called greens then say about mining?
Because if we don’t become collectively wealthier on the back end of mining our country, then we will have collectively become a whole lot poorer…Guess who will have pocketed the difference!
The Greens have always been pragmatic like this. I remember Rod Donald talking about using coal-fired trains on the West Coast as a tourism initiative to replace other jobs losses there. This is why people who criticise the Greens as being extremists or wanting to ban everything are idiots.
Re the mining. There is a difference between mining to make money, and mining to access minerals to use ourselves. The former is majorly problematic, the latter is a necessity as we powerdown. Of course fairly soon we are going to start mining landfills, so the situation might not be as dire as we think in the medium term.
The debate about mining in NZ should also be about ethics. Are we really going to say that it’s ok for us to ban mining here and buy our minerals from elsewhere? Ditto oil drilling. We can only legitimately ban deep sea oil drilling here if at the same time we lessen our desire for oil.
What Norman is doing in that Herald article is quite smart. He’s using the mining issue to talk about peak oil, and doing so in a way that won’t scare the horses.
I’m not so worried about the Greens selling out on something like this. They still have enough integrity as they move towards the centre, and by the time they get enough power to influence mining policy, there will be space on the left for more radical voices again to keep them honest.
“Im not so worried about the Greens selling out on something like this. They still have enough integrity as they move towards the centre, and by the time they get enough power to influence mining policy, there will be space on the left for more radical voices again to keep them honest.”
–Yup the problem is in your own words Weka…They have to drift to the centre, then another “left” entity fills the space, and so it goes on…fantastic system keeing “the centrists”, just comfortable enough to ensure that little change is possible.
Whatch what you see as integrity eek away, with any drift to the centre….
What really changes for NZ in a positive sense, NOTHING!
If NZ continues to mine and does, not become a “wealthier” country all round for it (as a minimum)…What will the so called greens then say about mining?
Under capitalist systems the majority of people will continue to get poorer and, as the Greens seem to have gone full capitalist, that’s where them and me part company.
Mining is a part of the economy. No way we can change that unless we stop doing most of the stuff that modern technology allows us to do and go back to being totally agrarian. What we need to do is change the way mining is done so that there is less damage to the environment and do more recycling so that we can minimise the amount of mining we do.
What we need to do is change the way mining is done so that there is less damage to the environment and do more recycling so that we can minimise the amount of mining we do.
Just designing and making stuff so that it lasts longer than a year before breaking would help no end.
SFA. Most of them are sold overseas with most of the money going to foreign corporations and the government getting a small cut. That’s why I figure we can easily support ourselves with far less work than we presently do.
Yeah, that’s what I figured. Would be good to see an analysis somewhere. A quick look at wiki shows that our biggest ‘mining’ is for aggregate for roading. People don’t think about that one very much. But that and coal aside, what minerals do we have here and in what quantities that we could use ourselves?
Aluminium
Antimony
Beryllium
Chromium
Gallium
Iron
Lead and Zinc
Lithium
Manganese
Mercury
Molybdenum
Nickel
Rare earth
Silver
Tin
Titanium
Tungsten
Uranium
Zirconium
Limestone, mable and dolomite
Clays
Zeolite
Not all of those would be commercially viable but they do have one attribute that imports don’t have – we already own them (as long as the government doesn’t sell them off – unfortunately, this government certainly will and Labour governments haven’t been much better).
Reading some of the reports it’s obvious that our government has only considered who it can export the unprocessed minerals to rather than what we can do with it ourselves. With the proper investment in infrastructure and R&D we could certainly improve our position over what being a supply depot at the bottom end of the world can do for us by developing the skills and knowledge to use those resources ourselves.
DTB This para sayd so much about NZ needed direction for the future.
Reading some of the reports it’s obvious that our government has only considered who it can export the unprocessed minerals to rather than what we can do with it ourselves. With the proper investment in infrastructure and R&D we could certainly improve our position over what being a supply depot at the bottom end of the world can do for us by developing the skills and knowledge to use those resources ourselves.
weka
Aggregate for roading – road metal – is a big user of mining. How much does the environment change as a result of the removal of tonnes of rounded stones to use as mulch, feature spaces outside businesses and residences? Won’t be long before some will want to mine the mountains to put on their garden.
Yes CV I have got a number of moans about the quality of appliances available these days but I think that electric jugs take the prize. They will have a beautifully finished metal body but plastic lids and bases. Then the button that lifts the lid will break etc.
On a recent one water oozed out of the clear water-line panel. I decided to keep it as a drip watering gizmo for my plants. I am at present using the jug with the broken lid control as it still goes so what the heck.
Carol. Yes, fair comment. I moved to Greens, but would be ever so much happier (as a male!) to see Turei leading the Party. Ms Turei’s comment and analysis is a delight to hear/read; while she cares about the economy, she actually CARES ABOUT DISADVANTAGED PEOPLE. One must highlight this, as it is all so rare in politics these days.
Hi Standardistas
Pete George was asking if anyone could provide him with a record of either English or Key talking up the virtues of our low wage economy. If anyone can find a link to these records, please answer his question here: http://yournz.org/2012/06/03/metiria-cross-party-poverty/#comments
Thanks
It is hilarious that Dame Margaret Bazley should be appointed an additional member of the Order of New Zealand for “services to New Zealand”.
The last thing she did of significance but certainly not to say the public good was to put her name to Simon Power’s already written fictitious report on criminal legal aid, essentially a catalogue of crap which Bazley herself acknowledged was largely anecdotal and unproven. Still, as a “senior and respected civil servant” – that’s how Power billed her – she put her name to it.
Power, then Collins used this report to demonise criminal legal aid lawyers so as to avoid any public accountability for their destruction of the right of the poor to equal access to justice. They got away with it.
The spin said the changes would retain experienced lawyers already within the criminal legal aid system and attract experienced lawyers not already within it. The big headline of course contained the promise to weed out the crooks.
To my knowledge there have been 5 or 6 lawyers who have been pinged and disciplined. So much for the never quantified but impliedly asserted huge numbers of lawyers ripping the system.
Most criminal legal aid lawyers including those with 20-40 years experience never much exceeded the $100K annual before tax income anyway. There are numerous examples of income dropping by as much as 60%. What other service sector would suffer that ?
Of course many are getting out, more particularly amongst those with 20-40 years experience,
leaving inexperienced youngsters (not to criticise them personally) who simply haven’t developed the skills. So much for retain and attract. Thank you Dame Margaret. Care to apologise now for the lies you put your name to ?
Any District Court judge could verify that the criminal legal aid system is now severely damaged and shambolic with daily instances of these allegedly imperative changes actually increasing cost.
Throw lie after lie at the public then toss the baby out with the bath water then blame the nanny is a tactic deployed in criminal legal aid well before it was in education.
Services to New Zealand indeed ! Services to John Key and the 1% in reality.
Your childish exhortation to “weep for the defence lawyers” is not what I ask. I ask you to be informed and concerned about changes to the criminal legal aid system which make it harder for the poor to access equal justice. I only cite the lawyers to demonstrate that experienced and skilled lawyers will be lost rather than retained and gained.
The Power/Collins/Bazley snow job on the public has worked on you beautifully to the point where you’re immediately moved to throw shit at defence lawyers and not even contemplate considering through adult eyes what these changes will do to poor people.
Congratulations on being owned by Power/Collins/Bazley.
You and your petty ilk are the very group foreseen by them as foot soldiers by whose unthinking, childish commentary they would escape accountability for making it harder for the poor to access equal justice.
You see now why I say you prove my point ? Further point – there must be someone in your family, friends who has needed or will in the future need a legal aid lawyer. Can you honestly tell me you’d rather have that person’s fate in the hands of someone inexperienced over some one experienced ? Live a little outside your pathetic blinkered world mate.
Really? You got all that from two lines? No wonder you’re a Defence lawyer.
Anyone seen the legal system go down in a heap recently? No?
You guys are just going through what the rest of the entire public sector are going through.
Your degree of bloodrush emotion simply shows you need to step back a bit, perhaps pop your own bubble if you don’t like it being done, and actually acknowledge that reform needed to happen.
Have you looked at the changes, do you know what they are, are you aware of the consequences before you of all people talk about emotion ? Power/Collins/Bazley relied and continue to rely on the emotion you resort to in your facile responses, as planned by them.
Just the little matter too of the Chief District Court judge being moved to formally register a number of concerns with the Ministry of Justice about the damage already observed and accruing to the legal aid system overall.
Reform “needed to happen”, like class sizes needed to increase, what ?
“Let them eat cake…..” covers it ? Well we have something much greater to protect here than indulging you as a spin-puppet, Ad.
Yes! Reform did need to happen. But as we have seen from many other sectors, National is only interested in reform to save money. In fact they often fail to undertake proper research into the effect of their reforms, and the result is operational failures.
A recent legal aid lawyers’ survey found:
Changes to the legal aid system: 72% disagreed with the introduction of fixed fees as a method of paying lawyers for some of their legal aid work, and 54% disagreed with proposals to tighten eligibility for criminal and family legal aid.
Intended impacts of changes: 75% did not agree that measures being taken to control legal aid expenditure would maintain access to justice, 71% did not agree that fixed fees would help achieve earlier resolution of legal aid cases, and 65% did not agree that ‘rotational’ assignment of less serious criminal legal aid cases would lead to more experienced lawyers doing legal aid work.
Implementation of changes: 71% were dissatisfied overall with the way the changes were being implemented. More specifically, 79% were dissatisfied with a new application and approval process introduced in 2011 which requires lawyers to apply to the Ministry of Justice providing evidence of their experience and competence; and 62% were dissatisfied with the 2010 introduction of ‘rotational’ assignment for less serious criminal legal aid cases.
The outcomes after reformation is undertaken seems irrelevant to the right-wings idealogical march towards increased austerity.
Bottom line – experienced lawyers are leaving legal aid, the reverse of the promised outcome – for the poor, reduced access to equal justice.
In case anyone wants to say that’s down to legal aid lawyers bailing because they’re not on the sweet wicket they were, consider this: reduction in earnings by 50-60% to a figure before tax at or below the national average wage, this after 20-40 years experience……..ask yourself .
Dr Terry, yes, you got it (unlike Ad)………the reprehensible behaviour of powering up spin/lies by lending one’s high public reputation and esteem to the spin/lies………more reprehensible when the patently obvious consequence of doing so would assist the further distancing of the poor from equal access to justice.
In comparison it can’t be said that the TV fellow Richard Long knew or should have known that Hanover Finance was gonna crumble when by his paid prosletysing he added grist to its mill.
The only other explanation in relation to Dame Margaret is incompetence. I don’t seriously suggest that. Either way however, why the supreme honour, as an additional member of the Order what’s more.
On Radionz a patent lawyer was talking about NZs past successes with inventions such as Gallaghers electric fence. The speaker had some suggestions to make to improve our sorry rate of patent applications now. Among them was investment for start-ups, angels who get behind ideas. Tax credits for R&D also.
I am sure we will definitely have good results from this and something to bolster us when the milk starts to flood us out of our homes. He also commented on how we undervalue our intellectual capital. It is cheaper for overseas corporates to buy up a NZ company which has intellectual assets than develop themselves. Of course we lose the initiative there, and he says one company sold for $10 million but its patents were worth much more.
An ecologist was also on air this morning commenting on the favourable report on the dairy industry that was released some time ago which only referred to the positive aspects and did not mention much less attempt to cost the externalities of pollution and mono-culture and depletion of rivers. He is seeing fish decline dramatically from rivers etc.
We need to keep thinking about these things. Our leaders personalities, not so great, get people riled up but these politicians are all smoke and mirrors. They learn magic tricks of legerdemain, keep the audience watching the moving hands or lips, and they won’t see the elephant in the room. How zat for mixed metaphors. I might get a knighthood or something next year for being the best person at a very unimportant skill.
How come so many sportspeople are getting gongs? We might as well start giving those awards to champion livestock. They are better looking, they are good earners for the country, and best in their field.
How come so many sportspeople are getting gongs? We might as well start giving those awards to champion livestock. They are better looking, they are good earners for the country, and best in their field.
Re sportspeople. You must recognise that these are our gods! Thus McCaw got an hon. Doctoral Degree for Rugby. (Modestly, he intends not to refer to himself as “Dr McCaw). Now Kirwan a knighthood for Rugby (and, on account of his moderate depression, services to mental health; somehow I don’t think this entered the equation anyway). Highest “honours” should certainly go to livestock which really do serve our country better!.
Leave McCaw alone – he did the honourable thing and declined – it was Key who sought to bask in Richie’s glory by offering him one in the first place and then going public about doing so. He used the man actually.
You know, the potential for photo opportunities, clothing himself in Richie’s machismo……..what a simpering, mincing thing is that John Key ?
And then I gotta say John Kirwan is a GENUINELY good and humble man. If we’re gonna have the bullshit practice anyway why reserve it for rich thieves and crooks and Key lickers.
On the ligher side there was NZ born Nancy Wake (that wartime heroine who faced some question on Ozzie TV about her yet again not being honoured – as it happened during Howard’s time) –
“What, I wouldn’t accept an honour from that BASTARD Howard anyway!”
The Green Party has revealed that its monthly donations have tripled in the past six years, adding more fuel to its belief it is transforming from a minor party into a political force.
Departing co-convener of the party Roland Sapsford – the equivalent of a party president – said that since the Greens’ general election disappointment in 2005, the party had become a more professional group that was attracting greater financial support.
In June 2006, the party gained $5000 a month in automatic payments. Now the party is collecting $18,000 a month, despite difficult economic conditions.
Mr Sapsford said that in the 2005 election, when the party lost three seats, Greens raised $600,000 and were in debt of $35,000 six months after the election.
In the 2011 election, the party raised more than $1 million, and the party was now in surplus of $335,000, Mr Sapsford said.
Seen this article by Professor Prem Sikka – on the Guardian website “Auditors must be held to account”?
(Professor Prem Sikka
Professor of Accounting
Centre for Global Accountability
Essex Business School
University of Essex)
The by-line is that “The shareholder spring is the perfect time to challenge the poor performance of unscrutinised accountancy firms”. It argues that auditing firms continue to fail but collect vast fees. Parliamentary committees have accused major accountancy firms of “dereliction of duty” “complacency” and basking in a culture of “box ticking”, but their gravy train rolls-on. The article encourages a greater scrutiny and accountability of their performance.
Really? Your pseudo-Christian prejudices aside, can you not keep two ideas in your head at the same time?
Yep, your snipe was directed at me… But seriously, what’s your problem with what Pilger’s saying? Do you think he’s anti-gay? Because that’s not what he’s saying at all, simply that gay marriage is not the issue, and that there are things that are much more important.
Also, there’s nothing pseudo about my Christianity.
I think Pilger does have a point, especially when he writes of the hypocrisy of Blair and Obama, who have never stopped to think of the sexual preferences of those they have criminally killed. However, I still think gay marriage is an important issue and one worth fighting for, even though I don’t give a toss about the institution of marriage. I feel it is important to strive for what he calls bourgeois rights, even if only to show how limited they are and that they do nothing to guarantee the rights to a free and fair society. I think it is important to push capitalism to its limits in all directions and organise to supplant it. Oh, and the idea of gay marriage annoys the bigots as well, so that’s a happy side effect.
However, I still think gay marriage is an important issue and one worth fighting for, even though I don’t give a toss about the institution of marriage.
As I am one of those ‘bigots’ (or so you and others have/would call me) I think you’ve missed the point as much as Populuxe seems to. Self-indulgence is infinitely less important than life and death issues such as – oh, the naqba!
“On 12 May, in Sydney, Australia, home of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, a protest parade in support of gay marriage filled the city centre. The police looked on benignly. It was a showcase of liberalism. Three days later, there was to be a march to commemorate the Nakba (“The Catastrophe’), the day of mourning when Israel expelled Palestinians from their land. A police ban had to be overturned by the Supreme Court.”
Do grow up! Tanties about your sex life come a distant way down the list of importance, from people being killed!
1. I never called you a bigot. If you wish to describe yourself as such, go for it.
2. This has nothing to do with my sex life.
3. I wish I had your ability to sum up the whole of a person’s views and maturity from one post. Where can I get it from?
“3. I wish I had your ability to sum up the whole of a person’s views and maturity from one post. Where can I get it from?”
–If more people had those sorts of abilities, humanity would not be in the predicament its in now.
You can’t learn it, and it cant be taught!
The gay marriage issue is a sideshow, and illustrates nicely how the elites keep the simple people at eachother, while trying so very hard to show how “liberal or tendy” they are!
I’m very aware of how the ruling class use the issue, thank you very much. I’m also aware that many gay activists are active in other areas, even though they’re often told by some on the left that they are just a side show.
As for summing people up from one post or one look, that’s what the police do. Are you saying if they did it more, the world would be a better place?
I agree that Same Sex Marriage has been abused by the pollies as a bit of a smoke screen, but I greatly resent it being brushed off as some bourgeois frippery. I think this is a good response http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4023802.html
+1. MO. And, while I’m not a champion of marriage, as it currently stands, it should be equally available to all. To not allow this is a measure of the underlying homophobia in society. I think some people just don’t realise how debilitating anti-gay prejudice can be. It results in suicides, and on occasion, being killed by others. But there’s many kinds of nastiness that’s dished out to some gay people.
And, I’m sure it’s no accident that Pilger chose Manning as an alternative issue, to represent the lethal results of capitalism.
Manning is gay, and suffered some extreme bullying in the military, when it became known. It is also likely that the homophobia he experienced in the military had an influence on his decision to leak the documents. It certainly was one of the main causes of him becoming disaffected with the US military:
“It took them a while, but they started figuring me out, making fun of me, mocking me, harassing me, heating up with one or two physical attacks,” Manning wrote to ZJ.
[…]
New online conversations between a gay activist and Bradley Manning, the US soldier suspected of passing secret diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, allege Manning was being bullied in the military over his sexuality.
The 2009 weblogs, sent from Fort Drum, the upstate New York barracks where Manning was preparing to be sent to Iraq as an intelligence analyst, give new insight into his state of mind around the time he is alleged to have contacted WikiLeaks.
[…]
In the cyber conversations with ZJ Manning also says he was shocked by life in the army when first recruited.
“The army took me, a web dev, threw me into a rigid schedule, removed me from my digital self,” posted Manning. “The army … threw me in the forests of Missouri for 10 weeks with an old M-16, Reagan-era load-bearing equipment and 50 twanging people hailing from places like Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi … joy. What the hell did I put myself through?”
“What’s interesting about this poll is we’ve seen plenty of controversies this year for National to have to contend with – the likes of the convention centre, the John Banks saga, Nick Smith – that didn’t seem to hurt them in the polls whatsoever. Not this time.”
But Dann does not think the result will force the Government to rethink its policies.
“I think National will try and get back on the horse – they know last week was a bit of a disaster public relations-wise – and try and win that argument which they say is about quality teachers over quantity.”
Unless you think that suggesting they will not do a thing, is a actually a subtle, but somehow still breathless, speculation that they will do it.
Your specualtion that national won’t be worried is also peculiar. I would assume that National wouldn’t be so stupid as to nat be aware of polling issues. The colmar poll had national at 51% in Nov last year, according to the linked report. the April 1st poll had them at the same. It seems the Colmar tends to overstate National’s support.
But perhaps you’re right, and National are ignorant enough to compare this poll result with the electon result and say “hey samsies, no worries”.
That’s a trend, Pete, not just one poll. A Labour/Greens Government is just a point or two away and both parties have gained at National and NZF’s expense. That makes a simple two party Government a real option, particularly if Labour keeps its steady rise; that’s running at a point a month gain since the election.
A Labour/Greens Government is just a point or two away
Yep, but an election is over two years away. It’s all just distant speculation.
Of course National (and the rest) will be following the polls with interest, but it’s not going to chnage much at this stage. You never know what happen, to get his 15% Don Brash might take over the Greens.
One News speculated that the result was due to the education debacle (it will have hd some effect) but I doubt National will change what they are doing due to one poll. They should have well and truely got the message already.
I have tried to say many times that we must be very patient and long-suffering. “Rome did not fall in a day” and all that. This poll result is (I am sad to admit) a triumph for National. For once they risked upsetting the comfortable middle-classes and still they got away with it! So what will it take to change anything? I wish I had the answer (I fear that our population contains more than a share of wickedness today). Stand firm. Remain steadfast. The population also contains a fair number of intelligent people and principled people (as hard as that might be to believe!)
Cumulative effect will eventually start to kick in for National, there’s already signs of it but not a lot yet.
Greens are doing the right thing, they’ve rebuilt well over the pasy few years and now just need to steadily consolidate and take any oportunities they can.
Who knows when Labour will sort themselves out. Shearer is showing gradual albeit unspectacular improvement, he gets a pass mark for that, but he hasn’t stamped his authority to stem the same old failed negative strategies yet. He has to show signs of doing that soon.
And you’re so delighted, aren’t you, you wally Pete George ? What planet do you actually live on ?
Masquerading as a rarely insighted while down to earth, considered chappy, purporting to go all cross-party as I saw from your posts somewhere earlier today. A regular Geldoff/Bon Jovi. You really are your leader aren’t you – hot air, full of self importance and actually subliminally angling for that bloody knighthood.
Go and drink some hemlock, egg ! On the score alone that your contributions are so, so, so boring !
Its a colmar-brunton poll if it is TV1. They usually overstate National. National will be worried because of that. I won’t bother looking at your post because if you follow the usual form, you will be comparing and drawing conclusions between polls from different companies using different methodologies.
It is the typical dumb response from apologists for this government about polls.
1: It makes no difference if “your team” get the big seat back
2: Your political efforts, are endosing the status quo, and feeding it, contributing to the continued downward slide, thanks again for that
3: Your community/life efforts are still valid, accepting you’re part of the political problem, does not invalid your efforts elsewhere in life.
4: Accepting #2 would mean there is a chance you could use the freed up energy, to really add some value in a functioning system
You’re wrong, IMHO. I’ll keep on trying to make a difference every day, as I have for yonks. I don’t much care whether you think it counts, I’m still going to do it.
Yeah Vicky, and all those Suffragettes who enabled you to vote should have bloody well not gone of message about Boer War atrocities, aye?
Your comment is both childish and ignorant. Discrimination against women is a much bigger issue than gay marriage. If you think otherwise, then I am fully justified in calling you self-indulgent – and you strengthen my view that gay men are not the ally of straight women, but their enemy (and it’s obvious why!) 🙂
Having sex in whatever position and with whomever, is not a vital human right. Not being bombed to death, is a vital human right. That’s Pilger’s point – and mine.
Well you would say that, Vicky, you’re a woman prejudiced against gay men and probably gay women too. I’d rather you didn’t insult me by reducing my humanity to my sexual orientation, and quite frankly the rest of your post speaks for itself.
To which I respond http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg7jA-H-jMo
It’s not at all obvious to me why gay men are the enemy of straight women. What have I missed? Which straight women besides Condoleeza Rice and Hilary Clinton was Bradley Manning the enemy of? What did he do to you?
Why does it have to be gay marriage vs stopping people being bombed to death? I support both where and when I can.
I don’t have a very vivid mind’s eye of gay women relating spectacularly negatively to gay men but I can recall some, only some, “hate everyone who’s not a gay woman”, over the years. Very sad but I guess you can put it down to every sector having arseholes in their ranks.
+1 I think there’s more of an argument that gay woman and men get along together better than they do with straight people… They have more in common after all.
I’ve always found that my bisexual woman friends have a disproportionate amount of gay male friends, but wouldn’t like to speculate that this is because they’re prejudiced against straight people. Gay people just seem to have more friends overall. Most gay men I know are more respectful of people’s struggles, as they often experience discrimination and can sympathize.
Vicky32 (and Pilger) are right… The issue of gay marriage has little relevance when put in context with the war atrocities undertaken in Afghanistan by the US. Pilger could just as easily have chosen a hundred other topics to make the comparison with to highlight the vacuities of our media.
He chose to write about gay marriage because it happened to be the topic of the day when the article was written. He makes a number of pertinent comparisons that show the hypocrisy within the current administrations message. I find his writing inspirational and suggest you simply get over it Populuxe1.
“Get over it!” Yes – everyone should just get over it. Women should just get over the fact that they don’t earn as much as men. Maori should just get over the legacy of colonisation and the various terrible statistics that haunt them. Environmentalists should just get over mining and pollution. The Left should just get over free market capitalism.
Pilger cultist.
I was talking about Pilger choosing to write about gay marriage, which received a disproportionate amount of airtime than more newsworthy material. All the things you’ve raised are not relevant to the topic.
Gay marriage is important, but in comparison to children getting blown to smithereens… you can’t honestly be arguing that gay people having the right to marry and Obama changing his mind is more important than people (children in this case) being murdered en masse in Afghanistan can you Populuxe1?
At least try to divest your own personal interest in this matter.
Firstly, Jackass, I shouldn’t have to divest myself of personal interest – that’s how civil rights progress. It probably doesn’t affect you so you feel completely at ease in your hetero-normative privilege to ignore it and tell me to get over it. The implication that concerned people can’t respond to more than one issue at a time is absurd, insulting and quite frankly I am more likely to affect change in what happens in my own country than all Pilger’s et al pontificating about Afghanistan is likely to do. It’s not about playing favourites.
We all get it, Afghanistan is an atrocity, but guess what – it’s still there and we haven’t forgotten about it, and therefore I resent Pilger’s implication that me enjoying equality in the eyes of my country’s constitutional laws is some bourgeois irrelevance. Pilger doesn’t have the right to use gay people as a political football in that way. Just as Bob Geldof was a dick to think it appropriate to remind the public not to let the Boxing Day Tsunami distract from the plight of the poor wee kiddies in Africa.
Justice is not a finite resource. The qualities of mercy are not strained!
So you’re in support of a biased media that ensures people are not informed properly about important issues so that they’re able to make decisions that could effect change, which is all about playing news-story favourites btw.
Here’s what the media actually think like: “Shit! There’s this huge story that just broke that makes the administration look bad, what other story can we promote instead to cover it up.”
It’s the media and their masters that are using gay rights as a political football, and Pilger who has pointed this out. Yet here you are claiming that Pilger is saying you cannot enjoy lawful equality. Get real Populuxe1.
Please don’t inflict us with your own ignorance and beguile at your own ineptitude and feckless diffidence that you’re not able to help people in other countries… and please don’t use your sexuality to justify your abuse of people who can.
Here’s what the media actually think like: “Shit! There’s this huge story that just broke that makes the administration look bad, what other story can we promote instead to cover it up.”
Well there’s the problem. You think that because a story is huge, it means that the western msm thinks it’s huge. 63 white americans being killed in Mainstreet USA, they’d agree with you. 63 Yemenis or Pakistanis killed by drones? Not so much.
They don’t need to “cover it up”. Editorially, they just don’t care, because their audience pays more attention to whether mccleans kid toothpaste is better than colgate, as the ads claim. You only need a major distraction if something else will get the people’s attention.
I think it has much more to do with what the media are promoting than what the people actually want to view… Although with most brainwashing techniques, people soon become accustomed to reacting in a specific way.
No Jackass, I am saying that Pilger is denying the seriousness and dignity of lawful equality by calling it lifestyle liberalism and then, with very little evidence that the media did anything of the sort, proceeded to make an unnecessary and unhelpful comparison – essentially using gay rights as canon fodder – for his own ends. We didn’t consent to be used in this way any more than various countries in the Middle East and Central Asia consented to being bombed. But congratulations, in your Pilgerolatry have effectively decided that there’s only a finite amount of human rights to be shared around.
As any human rights campaigner can tell you, there’s a finite amount of human rights to be shared around. You’re welcome to choose your cause, but this should not be at the expense of other people’s causes.
The moral of the story is that the media should not dictate what issues take precedence based on political or financial incentives. Unfortunately media exposure equals change, because in a democracy people will vote for those who share their beliefs. The more people who think bombing children in Afghanistan is wrong, the more likely it will be an issue for debate leading to an election.
I don’t think Pilger belittled gay rights, and take some exception to you believing I live a life of hetero-normative privilege (whatever the fuck that is?). You simply don’t know who I am Populuxe1.
I am sorry that you think so, Risildo – please understand that ‘not the ally of’ is not the same thing as ‘the enemy of!’
Like it or not, Murray, rights campaigns compete with one another. Everyone has only so much time, attention and money that they can “spend” on these issues. My main issue is, and always will be, being for pacifism and anti-war. No one has the right to kill anyone else, full stop. For that reason, I am also against capital punishment and abortion on demand.
To the man who called me ‘angry God lady’, congratulations, you’re very clever. /sarc/
What? Have a look at who’s actually throwing the insults around.
“Do grow up! Tanties about your sex life..”
Now go and applaud Louis Crimp. He stands fast in the face of much ferocity too.
Frankly, Pilger should have known that his comment would not be used to highlight the injustices that he cares about most, it would merely be an excuse for homophobes to deny the opponents of another injustice their voice.
As to the substance of his artice, Manning isn’t being persecuted because he’s gay. He’s being persecuted because he allegedly leaked massive amounts of classified information (yay!) using the pseudonym “bradass87” (ffs) and then boasted about it (duh). Don’t get me wrong, if his alleged actions were motivated by noble feelings with full knowledge of the risks, then great, he is an heroic guy. But he could have done more if he hadn’t mouthed off about it. And his detention has nothing to do with his sexuality, whatever it might be.
I’d see Manning as heroic, but like most of us, flawed. I never even knew he was gay until today, or perhaps I did and forgot.
What I don’t like is people on the left telling me I can not advocate for gay marriage because I’ll have the blood of Afghans and Arabs on my hands. Excuse me, but I’ll do what I think is best according to my politics and world view. This allows me to oppose imperialist murder just as much as it allows me to oppose the denial of what should be a simple living arrangement to people I know and care about. These people also fight for the environment, against war and for indigenous rights. I’m not going to tell them they have to stop thinking their love is important because some ideas that should have died out years ago are still rampant on the left.
I even get worried about education opportunities for our kids and grandkids. Is that allowed when Obama is murdering by remote control? Am I allowed to worry about the environment or the right to belong to unions? Bottom line – I don’t need anyone’s permission to fight for any issue I believe worth fighting for. I don’t believe there is a finite pool of rights so that some people have to go without so others can have theirs. I do believe in taking the right to exploit labour away from the bourgeoisie, not in keeping rights from people who have never had them.
“As any human rights campaigner can tell you, there’s a finite amount of human rights to be shared around. You’re welcome to choose your cause, but this should not be at the expense of other people’s causes”
Human rights campaigners worth their weight in gold would not say such a thing. Unless, of course, they have come to accept that humans rights are now a tradeable commodity and subject to the vagaries of the non-free market. Only those rights likely to receive maximum returns for invested interests should be pursued and the rest relegated to junk bondage.
Its wonderful that we focus on children being blown up in Afghanistan but how about the children currently starving to death in the Sudan, Sub-Sahara Africa, The Indian subcontinent, Latin America, Guatemala? 15 million children die of hunger each year.
Human rights are limited only by the amount of humans that currently exist. At last count that was about seven billion.
Its wonderful that we focus on children being blown up in Afghanistan but how about the children currently starving to death in the Sudan, Sub-Sahara Africa, The Indian subcontinent, Latin America, Guatemala?
I’m going to have to admit that I’m more concerned with children starving in NZ. Those other countries can work their own problems out. If they want some advice then they can ask.
Human rights campaigners worth their weight in gold would not say such a thing. Unless, of course, they have come to accept that humans rights are now a tradeable commodity and subject to the vagaries of the non-free market.
Let me rephrase that: There is presently a finite amount of human rights to be shared around. This is because human rights campaigners et al only have so much time in the day, and the media exposure their causes attract is also limited. In a purely idealistic future world you may be correct, and there is a potential for human rights not to be limited, but presently they are, hence the starving millions you talk about.
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 29 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Save TVNZ 7?
Clare Curran has been promoting a campaign to save TVNZ 7. There have been public meeetings around the country, there is one in Dunedin this Thursday night. I’ll have a chance to speak at that.
Any ideas on TVNZ 7 and public broadcasting? For or against? Saveable or not? Innovate ideas for public broadcasting? Any worthwhile comments here will be added to the meeting mix.
I honestly wouldn’t have a clue how my public dollar gets spent on television at all. My first step wouldn’t be save TV7. It would be abolish New Zealand On Air. Like charities, I would like to see all subsidized programs published, and be able to write to the television stations direct with my views on them.
Kia ora there, AD. This is The Standard, and we have some for the vernacular also. One may “write to the television stations directly” nor “direct”. tccch
My clauses, will separate, more clear, futurely.
+1
lol
ta lotsly 4 that.
From http://issues.co.nz/savetvnz7/
Is that good value for money, or could it be better spent?
What’s your view?
I think we need some form of public television but tying it to TVNZ was a mistake, they didn’t want to encourage viewers to leave their advertisers. And I think this campaign is far too late, virtually no chance of getting the bill drawn from the ballot, and little chance of saving the exisitng failed experiment.
I’d like to see the Save TVNZ 7 campaign used as a springboard for finding a better way of doing it, but with an integrated multi media approach and perhaps not tied to one 24/7 commercial free channel. So I’m looking for ideas on it.
So did you have a better way to spend the $16.25M or not?
No, not at this stage. I have a few ideas, but so do others. I’d like to see some brainstorming, innovation, creativeness, some thinking out side the old MSM square, and see what people come up with.
I’ve got an idea Pete. How about Peter Dunne quits the Government and forces an early general election? That’ll save all sorts of public assets, including TVNZ7. As UF’s only public supporter you are in a unique position to make this happen.
+1
+everybody we know personally.
Would this not require personal integrity?
Can you imagine Peter Dunne leaving parliament for the final time? The security staff will be dragging him by his feet as he grabs every object he can to stop them. It will end with him holding on by his finger nail to the the last groove in the last brick.
He will then be seen around Wellington, clothes disheveled, several weeks growth of beard, smelling of urine and muttering to himself – “They stole my precious, I mustz getz it back”.
He will be drinking and drunk dialing MPs in the early hours of the morning – “No, I really love you, man….no, no, I really really love you man”.
William, you may have thought this might earn you some pats on the back from dogdicts of the blog, but it says far more about youself (and standards on The Standard) than anything. You might undo some of your self inflicted damage with a more circumspect followup.
Peter Dunne gets elected for Labour but by 1994 they were not far enough on the right for him. So he leaves Labour and becomes an independent.
Peter Dunne – Party of …..?
Then he establishes Future New Zealand (not to be confused with the other one). A party that will be remembered forever anytime someone mentions New Zealand politics. As effective as the Real Democracy Movement and the Co-operative party.
Peter Dunne – Party of One
In the middle of 1995 he joins the United New Zealand Party, party time Petie has some friends! They boldly go into the 1996 elections with a party of 7 MPs.
But BHAM! The 1996 election sees United NZ almost becomes a footnote to history. Poor ol’ Peter. All his friends get blitzed in the 1996 election so again Dunne is alone – it wont be the last time.
Peter Dunne – Party of One
In 1999, Peter is the only United NZ candidate to get elected. He couldn’t bring anyone with him – it’s hard to do this when your party vote is only half of one percent!
Peter Dunne – Party of One
Desperate to have some friends he merges with Future New Zealand (not to be confused with the other one) to form United Future. Excellent choice.
He gets some more friends in parliament in 2002 [whoot whoot]. But who does he side with? National? No, Labour – but I thought Labour weren’t right wing enough for him?
But things aren’t perfect. All UF’s MPs are all political outliers, why not get some more. Let’s throw in Outdoor Recreation?
Then we come to 2005. Let’s not forget that there was another cup of tea in Epsom before Key and Banks. Peter “Mr Integrity” Dunne met with Brash suggesting the idea that he would go with National. Understandable if you are on the centre-right – you would think so. But no, he went with Labour. I guess they had better baubles to offer him. Feign right then go left.
UF wasn’t looking well though, down to three members. Not so much fun at the caucus meetings. Especially when Copeland left and the caucus was down to two. But hey, there was another election coming and it looks like there will be some new kids on the block. Time to make some new friends.
In 2008 National had the better baubles. Dunne becomes a born-again rightie. The downside, he’s alone again – naturally.
Peter Dunne – Party of One
His new friends are good to him and left him slide into first at the 2011 election. But he’s still alone.
Peter Dunne – Party of One
Now, how seriously do you think I should take this man or his party, PG?
Enough of a “A more circumspect followup” for you PG?
BTW, WTF are dogdicts?
I thought it was quite funny, and disturbingly likely …
I’m not entirely convinced that it wasn’t dead serious.
An odd thread for you to choose to trolljack. Dunne has been a vocal supporter of TVNZ 7, public boradcasting and Clare’s campaign.
And it would make a farce of our democratic MMP if he forced an early general election, so that’s a ridiculous suggestion.
So Dunne can be walked over at any cost? Seems the larger party would be abusing MMP.
perpetual groveller it would show dunny has some integrity and the hair piece is just not a mouth piece for the murdochization of our Media.
“Dunne has been a vocal supporter of TVNZ 7, public boradcasting and Clare’s campaign.”
Cool, so presumably he won’t be voting for whatever legislation winds it up.
As far as I’m aware there won’t be any legislation necessary. TVNZ 7 was set up for a fixed term, that term is simply coming to an end (in 25 days).
It would take legislation to extend the funding for TVNZ 7 and there is nothing planned, except for Clare Curran’s belated private members bill that is unlikely to be even drawn from the ballot before the channel switches to being TV1 +1.
If there was extension legislation to vote on I don’t know if Dunne would be free to vote how he liked because there would be financial implications, so their may be C&S constraints.
Yes, the budget was the legislation I was referring to.
And this is just another in the long list of things he theoretically opposes but actually votes for.
He has to vote for the budget (like Maori Party and Act), them’s the coalition rules. If he didn’t MMP would become a democratic farce (much more than now).
Upsetting the coalition, especially for something that in the whole scheme of things is very minor, would be ludicrous. Apart from a few wishful thinking subversives it would be widely condemned.
Yes I understand he has to follow the coalition agreement, and that’s my point.
All his “vocal support” is just that: vocal and vocal only. Quite two-faced really, to be a “vocal supporter” of something you have absolutely no intention of actually supporting.
You can call it minor, and it is, but it’s become a familiar theme for Dunne. Seems there’s nothing he believes in that he would actually vote against the government to protect.
Are you suggesting MPs should speak up about polcies they can’t vote on? That would render the opposition parties voiceless.
He has voted against National this term, he has indicated support for the Mondayisation bill, he is pushing for a super discussion (and has a commitment to one)…
“That would render the opposition parties voiceless.”
For someone who wants to be in parliament you really don’t have a fucking clue how any of this works.
Do you think it’s honest to speak out publicly against something and then vote for it or not?
Well once you’ve finished with Peter Dunne, you can all go and form a coalition with that total nut job from the Mana Party. In the court of public opinion, which single candidate would you want the next government to rest on?
Hey Ad Hone Harawira is more true to doing a politicians job for the people he represents than many in the old established parties. His language requires reining in but then so do you when describing your opinions about him.
Anyone holding back on Peter Dunne here?
The site will have to learn to take it while dishing it.
trp, best idea of this full moon eclipse day ! think how famous he would become, and forever it shall be writ how he crossed the floor and tumbled donkey and how he enjoyed stronger hair than marilyn waring and saved assets and education ! and you, dear pete, can take all the credit ! go for it, please, please, please !! NOW !
Pete. I protested to the Minister for Broadcasting and received a reply which demonstrates that too many New Zealanders are boorish and uncultivated. Also, I have signed the petition as I hope every
educated person will be sure to do.You will gather that I am FOR maintaining TVNZ 7 coverage. Otherwise, I shall have to turn to overseas outlets to learn anything about our world (which are likely to exclude this country).
Charter Schools are attracting the “smart” investors in the US. Mitt Romney’s son Tagg(!) and Goldman Sachs are in. And naturally they are sucking the tax payer’s tit and gouging students to make sure they get the required RoI. The Act party is getting its guidance from The Maxim Institute: those great advocates of probity.
http://www.maxim.org.nz/policy_and_research/education.aspx
http://www.republicreport.org/2012/scams-and-frauds-plus-george-w-bush-and-michelle-rhee-at-upcoming-subprime-college-conference-in-vegas/
http://www.republicreport.org/2012/romneys-disastrous-education-agenda-make-sure-money-dominates-politics/
BillODrees
Everyone needs education to do anything in life. Therefore it is a constant business that is a reliable investment to speculate on. With so much money sloshing around among the top 10% they are desperate to get it placed in the proper niche with repeat good returns. And all the toilet paper manufacturing and sales options are taken.
Sick to the stomach that Michael Cullen accepted a silly knighthood. A man, with his sense of history and with a great reputation for both his intellectual ability and wit, should not have let his name be sullied by a tacky title. Embarassing.
Would be interesting to know who turned down an “honour”. That would make a much better read. Looks as though Key is running out of tall poppies now when you see names like Jackson having to have extra letters added … as a matter of interest what has Jackson done since LOR apart from facilitating an employment dispute?
Key could do a political Benefit Cost on the whole honors system: for every family and charity whose vote-loyalty an award locks up, how many more are just pissed off that their favorite wasn’t rewarded?
Don’t imagine for a moment that he hasn’t done exactly that.
I’ll be funny when shonkey and dipstick retire in 2014 and miss out on knighthoods for ripping of the taxpayer.
“what has Jackson done since LOR apart from facilitating an employment dispute?”
King Kong, The Lovely Bones, Tintin.
… and spinoff the entire digital game industry in Wellington (and generally conduct from the centre the only sign of economic life in the entire Wellington region), a few Academy Awards, and be the single most important non-agricultural entrepreneur we have.
Not one of them worth the money, IMO….
he’s made his fortune on the back of continual handouts going right back to his early days.
Logie97 Come on. Jackson has done a lot for NZ despite pissing you off and holding back on offering wage rises as required. Actors get emotional, that’s their job. Technicians get real that’s their job. NZ ran the risk of not having any film jobs and others also , from Jackson et al. Didn’t he offer you the part you wanted. Pout, pout.
Bit personal there Prism. It would appear you may be the actor the way you change your spots on this site. FYI I have never set foot on the boards.
Hi Logie97
Not an actor no. But I would like to see others having this opportunity so tend to support Peter Jackson rather than badmouthing him.
I haven’t even looked to see who has been put on this list of people receiving these outdated, imperialistic, autocratic cluster of awards.
Irrelevant, unnecessary.
Bill,
Cullen has been the subject of much vitriol from the likes of Key over the last few years. Charged with pursuing a policy of retiring public debt in the good times rather than giving out large tax cuts to the citizens and also of wasting “vast sums” of “mums and dads” money on fruitless projects. Now, apparently, his services to stewardship of the public purse warrant a knighthood …
Best not to Carol. Bad for the blood pressure.
It seems they have extended the “services and devotion to the richest a*%#-holes” category so it’s nearly as big as the “filthy rich snots – they who are serviced” category.
(Apologies to any recipients who are decent human beings who deserve recognition for long, unselfish service to others – I wasn’t able to keep reading read that far down the list..)
Carol, you would be well advised not to look, it is predictably horrifying. But I cannot resist telling you that the foremost recipient of an “honour” is none other than the Duke of Edinburgh.
It is simply not fair to expect an old bigot to learn, in his ninety’s, where N.Z. is, and who is the Governor-General, let alone that our people are busy clearing out to Australia (wherever that is)! Nevertheless, I bet he knows just who is the vastly wealthy and sycophantic John Key!
au contraire, I like to congratulate Sir Michael Cullen to the recognition of which he is very deserving. Considering that no one seem to recognize his efforts in this country (tall poppy syndrome?) it is even more significant that the outside world seem to understand what great work he has done. Maybe an order of New Zealand is old fashioned, but at least it gives honor where honor is due. New Zealanders are not very good at celebrating people with intellect. What pleases me is that his effort has not been misused by the right and he has maintained his integrity through ought his carrier.
+1.
Cullen was The Man for 9 years in power. Budget surplus and low public debt, save the rail system, lock in a good few Treaty settlements, juggle massive portfolios. English doesn’t deserve to polish his shoes.
plus me:
It may be an old fashioned anachronistic honours system, but it is the one we have, and Michael Cullen is probably the most deserving recipient this time around.
Congratulations Michael.
Even more embarrassing is Prince Philip appointed to the Order of New Zealand. What has he done for us? Farcical.
The longest jail sentence on earth.
The Order of New Zealand doesn’t even have to be about NZ. It can be for services to the Crown. I suspect that Phil serviced the Crown a few times when there was nothing else available for the lecherous old racist.
Beg to differ. The award is for services to “Crown and Nation“. I can’t see how Philly boy could qualify.
Apparently he qualifies by being Air Marshall of the RNZAF, that sterling force which sent officers to Duntroon to lecture the RAAF cadets on the dangers of socialism under Labour governments and how NZ would never get a much desired free trade agreement with the yanks unless we stepped up to defend freedom by letting nuclear ships back in.
But yeah, thanks Mickey, I knew that but couldn’t resist a weak attempt at humour.
I don’t think we should have these ridiculous colonial awards anyway, so if giving the old lecher one wakes people up, that could be a good thing.
Agreed.
I wish Cullen did not accept the award. To me a “Knight” or a “Dame” is a person who in the past subjected ordinary people to terror so that the privileged could retain their power. I much prefer a society where people do not have fancy titles but earn recognition through their contribution to the common good.
apart from the obvious?
BillODrees. Embarrassing and despicable, especially for changing his story, and for ingratiating himself to John Key. He must live with himself, but will Labour be able to live with this?
Bill has disappeared! Comments right out of order again. The above (hopefully) was a reference to Cullen. I bet his ingratiating supporters are not members of Labour! Now let me ask, does anyone recall what Key has done/is doing/ will do to the “Cullen Fund for Superannuation”? Well, just as well that today they are great mates!
Kia ora Dr Terry, i was busy all day walking around my Earldom, waving at the peasants.
The Labour Party can make itself relevant again by clearly dis-connecting itself from all the processes and trappings around the whole royalty and title thing. I suspect Shearer was consulted by Key, or even possibly nominated people for these silly things. Helen stopped all that crap: Labour should not have a bar of any aspect of it.
VIVA LA REPUBLIQUE.
Bill, they are all answerable to the “father land”
Being that the Queen is not even English, I find it facinating the number of people who do not know that, and who also fawn over the royal cabal!
So Prince Phillip gets an ONZ – Just to ensure we know who rules over us, hint no he is not English either, many people aware aware of this fact, but seem to see it as insigifigant the fact that his parents were N.A.Z.I’s, and that the comments Phillip has made over the decades, the true expression of a man who represents everything, so many people believe no longer exists!
Which is why he’s known in our family as Nick the Greek, and always has been.. 😀
Aside from being racist, it’s also inaccurate. If you must go by ethnicity, Mountbatten, ie Battenberg, is German.
“Aside from being r*cist, it’s also inaccurate. If you must go by ethnicity, Mountbatten, ie Battenberg, is German.”
–Pop, yes the fact you think the post was r*scist, simply shows the level of defects you have.
By all means keep responding to posts, and affirming your psyche, while adding, doesn;t know the meanings of words onto the list of things your posts give you away as.
I suspect your projection speaks loud and clear, because r*scisim (yours), and aggression (your rifle comments), are close cousins, or ignorance and stupidity!
Perhaps like the royal family you are inbred, as it tends to create psychological defects!
Keep up the fine work
I’m pleased to see Metiria Turei getting some MSM coverage for her speeches at the Green Party conference.
I have voted Greens the last few elections, but, with the ascendency of Russel Norman, and the related shift towards the centre, I am reconsidering my (limited) options for party vote next election.
I am not happy about the way the MSM and many in the beltway are promoting Norman as the de facto leader of the Greens, while Turei has been far less publicly visible.
A lot of the reason for this is the patriarchal way (most usually male) holders of finance/economy portfolios and responsibilities within parties are usually foregrounded as being the most important players, next to, or even along side the PM or party leader.
The money people should be technicians….. people who work out whether party policies are financially feasible, and/or how to finance said policies. The policies on how to organise the country and the values such policies are based on should come first. They shouldn’t be the ones that dictate how a country is run.
The things Turei has been talking about, and the issues on a lot of people’s minds these days, to do with poverty, a fair, democratic, quality and accessible-to-all education system, jobs paying fair wages for all that want them, and an income for all that enables a decent living standard, decent housing etc.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10810456
It could simply be that Norman is a better politician than Turei – a real measure of success is whether you can command public opinion through the media. Patriarchy didn’t stop Clark.
That so women have been able to do this indicates that there are still strong patriarchal tendencies. Clark had to work hard over many years to get that cut through, and to put up with a lot of sexist smears.
Define “better politician” without reference to being able to get onside with the media, and the related dominant discourses and establishment?
It is a skewed playing field.
The media is acting as if Turei was the deputy and not the co-leader. I think this is something the Greens need to acknowedge and act to ameliorate in any ways they can, if they want the co-leadership system to be more than window-dressing.
I agree it is a skewed playing field. Patriarchy still exists, and the media is part of it.
But you can’t define politician in absence of the media (mainstream or otherwise). By definition media are the mediators, not just the amplifiers. It’s simply a skill you must have to be an effective politician.
But don’t make excuses for Turei. You know how supportive the Green Party is to its leaders. It’s a hothouse environment. There’s plenty out there who should have been leaders, but couldn’t make the actual step.
It really is time to test Green policy and Green leadership really hard, because it’s just two years now before it all goes live.
I don’t give a stuff who the media have ordained. The Green Party has chosen to elect co-leaders. They either take action to make that mean something, or the management devolves into a kind of 1950s marriage. With a little woman.
Turei is a force to be reckoned with, and often makes Russel look like a light-weight by comparison.
I think in general terms Turei is more of the leader within the party organisation, and Norman is more of the leader in the media. They have balanced their roles quite nicely, as it would make no sense to have them competing for the same airtime.
Sounds a bit like ‘keeps the home-fires burning’. Why does there need to be such a division of labour?
And ‘complimentary roles,’ as an excuse for sexism, is as old as the hills.
Its not a bad thing having clear roles. That way you are not sending out contradictory messages to the press or to the party internally. People like to know who is doing what, and who they should go to for different issues.
Yes, js, and interesting also, that Turei’s speech this weekend is a powerful exposé of the continuing history of sexism and belittling of women in NZ. She frames her speech in feminist terms:
http://ht.ly/1N9P8r
So, when is the MSM going pay more attention to these women, and to Turei who has made some of the best speeches on social justice, in and outside parliament in recent years?
And Turei was speaking about the plight for male and female children in poverty, and/or households on low incomes:
The above replies are right and support your excerpts. This is a speech for playing to the internal base. The MSM will never ever do a story on that kind of speech unless she starts reading out the SCUM manifesto. Division of labour like this is good if you are to achieve political scale.
Ae, Turei is awesome. I really wish someone on the left would go after the women’s vote. But it’s a conflict for The Greens. Who do you think that middle NZ is going to like better: a charming, white, middle class man, or a radical, staunch Maori woman? Obviously both those are needed, but I’m not sure how The Greens should best balance that.
I am glad to hear that Turei is getting good media coverage though, and thanks for posting about this Carol.
Greens co-leader Russel Norman told TV3’s The Nation mining was part of the economy that could not be escaped.
”It’s part of life, like you know look at things all around us,” he said
— A message those sucked in by the Greens, past , present, future..
Your intentions were well meaning, as perhaps were some of the “Green MP”S, but that is not why the political movement exists!
Its politics people, not matter the colour they fly, its all smoke and mirrors!
Just makes me like Norman more. Now he can ideologically own the steel and aluminum that forms his pushbike, the rare earths that form his Apple machines, the fine clays in his toothpaste. Muzza he just owned up to being a modern human being.
Yeah. Those anti-mining types who drive around in new Toyota Prius make me roll my eyes. Does their Prius not run on petrol? Use a steel and aluminium chasis? Contain a battery which holds kilograms of lithium and a dozen other precious minerals, and which needs to be completely replaced every few years? Upholstered with plastics and cabin parts derived from hydrocarbons?
I gotta respect Norman for this. As you say Ad…he just owned up to life in a modern civilisation.
Ad – People will make all the excuses in the world in the name of hope, and not having to get directly invovled. Its why our so called democracy has been so successful for the elites (apathy).
I guess time will tell on the signifigance if Normans comments, again Ill keep them for future reference..
If NZ continues to mine and does, not become a “wealthier” country all round for it (as a minimum)…What will the so called greens then say about mining?
Because if we don’t become collectively wealthier on the back end of mining our country, then we will have collectively become a whole lot poorer…Guess who will have pocketed the difference!
The Greens have always been pragmatic like this. I remember Rod Donald talking about using coal-fired trains on the West Coast as a tourism initiative to replace other jobs losses there. This is why people who criticise the Greens as being extremists or wanting to ban everything are idiots.
Re the mining. There is a difference between mining to make money, and mining to access minerals to use ourselves. The former is majorly problematic, the latter is a necessity as we powerdown. Of course fairly soon we are going to start mining landfills, so the situation might not be as dire as we think in the medium term.
The debate about mining in NZ should also be about ethics. Are we really going to say that it’s ok for us to ban mining here and buy our minerals from elsewhere? Ditto oil drilling. We can only legitimately ban deep sea oil drilling here if at the same time we lessen our desire for oil.
What Norman is doing in that Herald article is quite smart. He’s using the mining issue to talk about peak oil, and doing so in a way that won’t scare the horses.
I’m not so worried about the Greens selling out on something like this. They still have enough integrity as they move towards the centre, and by the time they get enough power to influence mining policy, there will be space on the left for more radical voices again to keep them honest.
“Im not so worried about the Greens selling out on something like this. They still have enough integrity as they move towards the centre, and by the time they get enough power to influence mining policy, there will be space on the left for more radical voices again to keep them honest.”
–Yup the problem is in your own words Weka…They have to drift to the centre, then another “left” entity fills the space, and so it goes on…fantastic system keeing “the centrists”, just comfortable enough to ensure that little change is possible.
Whatch what you see as integrity eek away, with any drift to the centre….
What really changes for NZ in a positive sense, NOTHING!
Muzza, I replied in the Greens Going Mainstream thread.
Under capitalist systems the majority of people will continue to get poorer and, as the Greens seem to have gone full capitalist, that’s where them and me part company.
Mining is a part of the economy. No way we can change that unless we stop doing most of the stuff that modern technology allows us to do and go back to being totally agrarian. What we need to do is change the way mining is done so that there is less damage to the environment and do more recycling so that we can minimise the amount of mining we do.
Just designing and making stuff so that it lasts longer than a year before breaking would help no end.
I’d like to see how much of the minerals mined in NZ get used here.
SFA. Most of them are sold overseas with most of the money going to foreign corporations and the government getting a small cut. That’s why I figure we can easily support ourselves with far less work than we presently do.
Yeah, that’s what I figured. Would be good to see an analysis somewhere. A quick look at wiki shows that our biggest ‘mining’ is for aggregate for roading. People don’t think about that one very much. But that and coal aside, what minerals do we have here and in what quantities that we could use ourselves?
Iron. Gas, condensates. Gold.
http://www.nzpam.govt.nz/cms/minerals/publications
http://www.nzpam.govt.nz/cms/minerals/mineral-resources
Not all of those would be commercially viable but they do have one attribute that imports don’t have – we already own them (as long as the government doesn’t sell them off – unfortunately, this government certainly will and Labour governments haven’t been much better).
Reading some of the reports it’s obvious that our government has only considered who it can export the unprocessed minerals to rather than what we can do with it ourselves. With the proper investment in infrastructure and R&D we could certainly improve our position over what being a supply depot at the bottom end of the world can do for us by developing the skills and knowledge to use those resources ourselves.
DTB This para sayd so much about NZ needed direction for the future.
weka
Aggregate for roading – road metal – is a big user of mining. How much does the environment change as a result of the removal of tonnes of rounded stones to use as mulch, feature spaces outside businesses and residences? Won’t be long before some will want to mine the mountains to put on their garden.
Yes CV I have got a number of moans about the quality of appliances available these days but I think that electric jugs take the prize. They will have a beautifully finished metal body but plastic lids and bases. Then the button that lifts the lid will break etc.
On a recent one water oozed out of the clear water-line panel. I decided to keep it as a drip watering gizmo for my plants. I am at present using the jug with the broken lid control as it still goes so what the heck.
Do you mean ‘a message FOR those sucked in’? Yes, I agree. (I am not one of those sucked in, I always distrust the Greens..)
Carol. Yes, fair comment. I moved to Greens, but would be ever so much happier (as a male!) to see Turei leading the Party. Ms Turei’s comment and analysis is a delight to hear/read; while she cares about the economy, she actually CARES ABOUT DISADVANTAGED PEOPLE. One must highlight this, as it is all so rare in politics these days.
Comment above is response to Carol – miles above!
Thanks, Dr T. And, yes. She has done some great speeches on this theme.
Hi Standardistas
Pete George was asking if anyone could provide him with a record of either English or Key talking up the virtues of our low wage economy. If anyone can find a link to these records, please answer his question here:
http://yournz.org/2012/06/03/metiria-cross-party-poverty/#comments
Thanks
It is hilarious that Dame Margaret Bazley should be appointed an additional member of the Order of New Zealand for “services to New Zealand”.
The last thing she did of significance but certainly not to say the public good was to put her name to Simon Power’s already written fictitious report on criminal legal aid, essentially a catalogue of crap which Bazley herself acknowledged was largely anecdotal and unproven. Still, as a “senior and respected civil servant” – that’s how Power billed her – she put her name to it.
Power, then Collins used this report to demonise criminal legal aid lawyers so as to avoid any public accountability for their destruction of the right of the poor to equal access to justice. They got away with it.
The spin said the changes would retain experienced lawyers already within the criminal legal aid system and attract experienced lawyers not already within it. The big headline of course contained the promise to weed out the crooks.
To my knowledge there have been 5 or 6 lawyers who have been pinged and disciplined. So much for the never quantified but impliedly asserted huge numbers of lawyers ripping the system.
Most criminal legal aid lawyers including those with 20-40 years experience never much exceeded the $100K annual before tax income anyway. There are numerous examples of income dropping by as much as 60%. What other service sector would suffer that ?
Of course many are getting out, more particularly amongst those with 20-40 years experience,
leaving inexperienced youngsters (not to criticise them personally) who simply haven’t developed the skills. So much for retain and attract. Thank you Dame Margaret. Care to apologise now for the lies you put your name to ?
Any District Court judge could verify that the criminal legal aid system is now severely damaged and shambolic with daily instances of these allegedly imperative changes actually increasing cost.
Throw lie after lie at the public then toss the baby out with the bath water then blame the nanny is a tactic deployed in criminal legal aid well before it was in education.
Services to New Zealand indeed ! Services to John Key and the 1% in reality.
With apologies to Mickey:
OK everyone a collective weep for the Defence lawyers.
Uwittingly Ad you prove my point.
Your childish exhortation to “weep for the defence lawyers” is not what I ask. I ask you to be informed and concerned about changes to the criminal legal aid system which make it harder for the poor to access equal justice. I only cite the lawyers to demonstrate that experienced and skilled lawyers will be lost rather than retained and gained.
The Power/Collins/Bazley snow job on the public has worked on you beautifully to the point where you’re immediately moved to throw shit at defence lawyers and not even contemplate considering through adult eyes what these changes will do to poor people.
Congratulations on being owned by Power/Collins/Bazley.
You and your petty ilk are the very group foreseen by them as foot soldiers by whose unthinking, childish commentary they would escape accountability for making it harder for the poor to access equal justice.
You see now why I say you prove my point ? Further point – there must be someone in your family, friends who has needed or will in the future need a legal aid lawyer. Can you honestly tell me you’d rather have that person’s fate in the hands of someone inexperienced over some one experienced ? Live a little outside your pathetic blinkered world mate.
Really? You got all that from two lines? No wonder you’re a Defence lawyer.
Anyone seen the legal system go down in a heap recently? No?
You guys are just going through what the rest of the entire public sector are going through.
Your degree of bloodrush emotion simply shows you need to step back a bit, perhaps pop your own bubble if you don’t like it being done, and actually acknowledge that reform needed to happen.
Have you looked at the changes, do you know what they are, are you aware of the consequences before you of all people talk about emotion ? Power/Collins/Bazley relied and continue to rely on the emotion you resort to in your facile responses, as planned by them.
Just the little matter too of the Chief District Court judge being moved to formally register a number of concerns with the Ministry of Justice about the damage already observed and accruing to the legal aid system overall.
Reform “needed to happen”, like class sizes needed to increase, what ?
“Let them eat cake…..” covers it ? Well we have something much greater to protect here than indulging you as a spin-puppet, Ad.
Yes! Reform did need to happen. But as we have seen from many other sectors, National is only interested in reform to save money. In fact they often fail to undertake proper research into the effect of their reforms, and the result is operational failures.
A recent legal aid lawyers’ survey found:
The outcomes after reformation is undertaken seems irrelevant to the right-wings idealogical march towards increased austerity.
Well done Jackal !
Bottom line – experienced lawyers are leaving legal aid, the reverse of the promised outcome – for the poor, reduced access to equal justice.
In case anyone wants to say that’s down to legal aid lawyers bailing because they’re not on the sweet wicket they were, consider this: reduction in earnings by 50-60% to a figure before tax at or below the national average wage, this after 20-40 years experience……..ask yourself .
North. So we observe bad behaviour being rewarded.
Dr Terry, yes, you got it (unlike Ad)………the reprehensible behaviour of powering up spin/lies by lending one’s high public reputation and esteem to the spin/lies………more reprehensible when the patently obvious consequence of doing so would assist the further distancing of the poor from equal access to justice.
In comparison it can’t be said that the TV fellow Richard Long knew or should have known that Hanover Finance was gonna crumble when by his paid prosletysing he added grist to its mill.
The only other explanation in relation to Dame Margaret is incompetence. I don’t seriously suggest that. Either way however, why the supreme honour, as an additional member of the Order what’s more.
On Radionz a patent lawyer was talking about NZs past successes with inventions such as Gallaghers electric fence. The speaker had some suggestions to make to improve our sorry rate of patent applications now. Among them was investment for start-ups, angels who get behind ideas. Tax credits for R&D also.
I am sure we will definitely have good results from this and something to bolster us when the milk starts to flood us out of our homes. He also commented on how we undervalue our intellectual capital. It is cheaper for overseas corporates to buy up a NZ company which has intellectual assets than develop themselves. Of course we lose the initiative there, and he says one company sold for $10 million but its patents were worth much more.
An ecologist was also on air this morning commenting on the favourable report on the dairy industry that was released some time ago which only referred to the positive aspects and did not mention much less attempt to cost the externalities of pollution and mono-culture and depletion of rivers. He is seeing fish decline dramatically from rivers etc.
We need to keep thinking about these things. Our leaders personalities, not so great, get people riled up but these politicians are all smoke and mirrors. They learn magic tricks of legerdemain, keep the audience watching the moving hands or lips, and they won’t see the elephant in the room. How zat for mixed metaphors. I might get a knighthood or something next year for being the best person at a very unimportant skill.
How come so many sportspeople are getting gongs? We might as well start giving those awards to champion livestock. They are better looking, they are good earners for the country, and best in their field.
Agreed!
Re sportspeople. You must recognise that these are our gods! Thus McCaw got an hon. Doctoral Degree for Rugby. (Modestly, he intends not to refer to himself as “Dr McCaw). Now Kirwan a knighthood for Rugby (and, on account of his moderate depression, services to mental health; somehow I don’t think this entered the equation anyway). Highest “honours” should certainly go to livestock which really do serve our country better!.
Leave McCaw alone – he did the honourable thing and declined – it was Key who sought to bask in Richie’s glory by offering him one in the first place and then going public about doing so. He used the man actually.
You know, the potential for photo opportunities, clothing himself in Richie’s machismo……..what a simpering, mincing thing is that John Key ?
And then I gotta say John Kirwan is a GENUINELY good and humble man. If we’re gonna have the bullshit practice anyway why reserve it for rich thieves and crooks and Key lickers.
On the ligher side there was NZ born Nancy Wake (that wartime heroine who faced some question on Ozzie TV about her yet again not being honoured – as it happened during Howard’s time) –
“What, I wouldn’t accept an honour from that BASTARD Howard anyway!”
Go Nancy !
More from the Green Party conference
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10810590
Seen this article by Professor Prem Sikka – on the Guardian website “Auditors must be held to account”?
(Professor Prem Sikka
Professor of Accounting
Centre for Global Accountability
Essex Business School
University of Essex)
The by-line is that “The shareholder spring is the perfect time to challenge the poor performance of unscrutinised accountancy firms”. It argues that auditing firms continue to fail but collect vast fees. Parliamentary committees have accused major accountancy firms of “dereliction of duty” “complacency” and basking in a culture of “box ticking”, but their gravy train rolls-on. The article encourages a greater scrutiny and accountability of their performance.
The article is available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/31/auditors-held-account-shareholder-spring
Climate Denial Crock of the Week: How to Talk to an Ostrich.
PB the same spring clean out should happen at treasury.A $75 million dollar budget for us to be lied to and ripped off .
I would like some debate on John Pilger’s lastest utterance. Does he have a point, or has his personal obsessions blinded him to basic justice?
http://www.johnpilger.com/articles/never-forget-that-bradley-manning-not-gay-marriage-is-the-issue
Lolwut? What’s your point? As always, Pilger is perfectly correct…
Really? Your pseudo-Christian prejudices aside, can you not keep two ideas in your head at the same time?
Yep, your snipe was directed at me… But seriously, what’s your problem with what Pilger’s saying? Do you think he’s anti-gay? Because that’s not what he’s saying at all, simply that gay marriage is not the issue, and that there are things that are much more important.
Also, there’s nothing pseudo about my Christianity.
I think Pilger does have a point, especially when he writes of the hypocrisy of Blair and Obama, who have never stopped to think of the sexual preferences of those they have criminally killed. However, I still think gay marriage is an important issue and one worth fighting for, even though I don’t give a toss about the institution of marriage. I feel it is important to strive for what he calls bourgeois rights, even if only to show how limited they are and that they do nothing to guarantee the rights to a free and fair society. I think it is important to push capitalism to its limits in all directions and organise to supplant it. Oh, and the idea of gay marriage annoys the bigots as well, so that’s a happy side effect.
As I am one of those ‘bigots’ (or so you and others have/would call me) I think you’ve missed the point as much as Populuxe seems to. Self-indulgence is infinitely less important than life and death issues such as – oh, the naqba!
Do grow up! Tanties about your sex life come a distant way down the list of importance, from people being killed!
1. I never called you a bigot. If you wish to describe yourself as such, go for it.
2. This has nothing to do with my sex life.
3. I wish I had your ability to sum up the whole of a person’s views and maturity from one post. Where can I get it from?
“3. I wish I had your ability to sum up the whole of a person’s views and maturity from one post. Where can I get it from?”
–If more people had those sorts of abilities, humanity would not be in the predicament its in now.
You can’t learn it, and it cant be taught!
The gay marriage issue is a sideshow, and illustrates nicely how the elites keep the simple people at eachother, while trying so very hard to show how “liberal or tendy” they are!
I’m very aware of how the ruling class use the issue, thank you very much. I’m also aware that many gay activists are active in other areas, even though they’re often told by some on the left that they are just a side show.
As for summing people up from one post or one look, that’s what the police do. Are you saying if they did it more, the world would be a better place?
Yeah Vicky, and all those Suffragettes who enabled you to vote should have bloody well not gone of message about Boer War atrocities, aye?
Yes, Vicky! Absolutely right and to the point. Good to see you holding out so well in this “discussion”.
I agree that Same Sex Marriage has been abused by the pollies as a bit of a smoke screen, but I greatly resent it being brushed off as some bourgeois frippery. I think this is a good response http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4023802.html
+1. MO. And, while I’m not a champion of marriage, as it currently stands, it should be equally available to all. To not allow this is a measure of the underlying homophobia in society. I think some people just don’t realise how debilitating anti-gay prejudice can be. It results in suicides, and on occasion, being killed by others. But there’s many kinds of nastiness that’s dished out to some gay people.
And, I’m sure it’s no accident that Pilger chose Manning as an alternative issue, to represent the lethal results of capitalism.
Manning is gay, and suffered some extreme bullying in the military, when it became known. It is also likely that the homophobia he experienced in the military had an influence on his decision to leak the documents. It certainly was one of the main causes of him becoming disaffected with the US military:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/04/wikileaks-bradley-manning-bullying
Private Manning is a world hero, but looks like being made a martyr, just like virtuous leaders of WikiLeaks.
Poll out on One News, National down four points, Shearer up in the preferred PM.
One News breathlessly speculated whether National will change everything due to one new poll, but National won’t be too worried about this one.
National 47
Labour 33
Green Party 13
NZ First 2
Maori Party 1
Act 1
Mana 1
Still not as low as the recent Roy Morgan, and the same as they got in the election.
Results with comparisons with the last poll and with Roy Morgan.
One News breathlessly speculated whether National will change everything due to one new poll, but National won’t be too worried about this one.
Didn’t see it. It’s odd though that their on-line report would be so different. There is no breathless speculation here:
http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/national-s-popularity-slides-in-latest-poll-4910123
Unless you think that suggesting they will not do a thing, is a actually a subtle, but somehow still breathless, speculation that they will do it.
Your specualtion that national won’t be worried is also peculiar. I would assume that National wouldn’t be so stupid as to nat be aware of polling issues. The colmar poll had national at 51% in Nov last year, according to the linked report. the April 1st poll had them at the same. It seems the Colmar tends to overstate National’s support.
But perhaps you’re right, and National are ignorant enough to compare this poll result with the electon result and say “hey samsies, no worries”.
That’s a trend, Pete, not just one poll. A Labour/Greens Government is just a point or two away and both parties have gained at National and NZF’s expense. That makes a simple two party Government a real option, particularly if Labour keeps its steady rise; that’s running at a point a month gain since the election.
A Labour/Greens Government is just a point or two away
Yep, but an election is over two years away. It’s all just distant speculation.
Of course National (and the rest) will be following the polls with interest, but it’s not going to chnage much at this stage. You never know what happen, to get his 15% Don Brash might take over the Greens.
One News speculated that the result was due to the education debacle (it will have hd some effect) but I doubt National will change what they are doing due to one poll. They should have well and truely got the message already.
pg their would be an overhang on the maori seats you haven’t accounted for thats five seats
I have tried to say many times that we must be very patient and long-suffering. “Rome did not fall in a day” and all that. This poll result is (I am sad to admit) a triumph for National. For once they risked upsetting the comfortable middle-classes and still they got away with it! So what will it take to change anything? I wish I had the answer (I fear that our population contains more than a share of wickedness today). Stand firm. Remain steadfast. The population also contains a fair number of intelligent people and principled people (as hard as that might be to believe!)
Cumulative effect will eventually start to kick in for National, there’s already signs of it but not a lot yet.
Greens are doing the right thing, they’ve rebuilt well over the pasy few years and now just need to steadily consolidate and take any oportunities they can.
Who knows when Labour will sort themselves out. Shearer is showing gradual albeit unspectacular improvement, he gets a pass mark for that, but he hasn’t stamped his authority to stem the same old failed negative strategies yet. He has to show signs of doing that soon.
And you’re so delighted, aren’t you, you wally Pete George ? What planet do you actually live on ?
Masquerading as a rarely insighted while down to earth, considered chappy, purporting to go all cross-party as I saw from your posts somewhere earlier today. A regular Geldoff/Bon Jovi. You really are your leader aren’t you – hot air, full of self importance and actually subliminally angling for that bloody knighthood.
Go and drink some hemlock, egg ! On the score alone that your contributions are so, so, so boring !
Its a colmar-brunton poll if it is TV1. They usually overstate National. National will be worried because of that. I won’t bother looking at your post because if you follow the usual form, you will be comparing and drawing conclusions between polls from different companies using different methodologies.
It is the typical dumb response from apologists for this government about polls.
Remember what I said the other day Voice
1: It makes no difference if “your team” get the big seat back
2: Your political efforts, are endosing the status quo, and feeding it, contributing to the continued downward slide, thanks again for that
3: Your community/life efforts are still valid, accepting you’re part of the political problem, does not invalid your efforts elsewhere in life.
4: Accepting #2 would mean there is a chance you could use the freed up energy, to really add some value in a functioning system
Cheers, Muzza.
You’re wrong, IMHO. I’ll keep on trying to make a difference every day, as I have for yonks. I don’t much care whether you think it counts, I’m still going to do it.
Fair play Voice, at least what you’re doing comes from good intentions, and a position of caring…
That in itself can create good things…
Respect.
Your comment is both childish and ignorant. Discrimination against women is a much bigger issue than gay marriage. If you think otherwise, then I am fully justified in calling you self-indulgent – and you strengthen my view that gay men are not the ally of straight women, but their enemy (and it’s obvious why!) 🙂
Having sex in whatever position and with whomever, is not a vital human right. Not being bombed to death, is a vital human right. That’s Pilger’s point – and mine.
Well you would say that, Vicky, you’re a woman prejudiced against gay men and probably gay women too. I’d rather you didn’t insult me by reducing my humanity to my sexual orientation, and quite frankly the rest of your post speaks for itself.
To which I respond
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg7jA-H-jMo
It’s not at all obvious to me why gay men are the enemy of straight women. What have I missed? Which straight women besides Condoleeza Rice and Hilary Clinton was Bradley Manning the enemy of? What did he do to you?
Why does it have to be gay marriage vs stopping people being bombed to death? I support both where and when I can.
I don’t have a very vivid mind’s eye of gay women relating spectacularly negatively to gay men but I can recall some, only some, “hate everyone who’s not a gay woman”, over the years. Very sad but I guess you can put it down to every sector having arseholes in their ranks.
+1 I think there’s more of an argument that gay woman and men get along together better than they do with straight people… They have more in common after all.
I’ve always found that my bisexual woman friends have a disproportionate amount of gay male friends, but wouldn’t like to speculate that this is because they’re prejudiced against straight people. Gay people just seem to have more friends overall. Most gay men I know are more respectful of people’s struggles, as they often experience discrimination and can sympathize.
Vicky32 (and Pilger) are right… The issue of gay marriage has little relevance when put in context with the war atrocities undertaken in Afghanistan by the US. Pilger could just as easily have chosen a hundred other topics to make the comparison with to highlight the vacuities of our media.
He chose to write about gay marriage because it happened to be the topic of the day when the article was written. He makes a number of pertinent comparisons that show the hypocrisy within the current administrations message. I find his writing inspirational and suggest you simply get over it Populuxe1.
“Get over it!” Yes – everyone should just get over it. Women should just get over the fact that they don’t earn as much as men. Maori should just get over the legacy of colonisation and the various terrible statistics that haunt them. Environmentalists should just get over mining and pollution. The Left should just get over free market capitalism.
Pilger cultist.
I was talking about Pilger choosing to write about gay marriage, which received a disproportionate amount of airtime than more newsworthy material. All the things you’ve raised are not relevant to the topic.
Gay marriage is important, but in comparison to children getting blown to smithereens… you can’t honestly be arguing that gay people having the right to marry and Obama changing his mind is more important than people (children in this case) being murdered en masse in Afghanistan can you Populuxe1?
At least try to divest your own personal interest in this matter.
Firstly, Jackass, I shouldn’t have to divest myself of personal interest – that’s how civil rights progress. It probably doesn’t affect you so you feel completely at ease in your hetero-normative privilege to ignore it and tell me to get over it. The implication that concerned people can’t respond to more than one issue at a time is absurd, insulting and quite frankly I am more likely to affect change in what happens in my own country than all Pilger’s et al pontificating about Afghanistan is likely to do. It’s not about playing favourites.
We all get it, Afghanistan is an atrocity, but guess what – it’s still there and we haven’t forgotten about it, and therefore I resent Pilger’s implication that me enjoying equality in the eyes of my country’s constitutional laws is some bourgeois irrelevance. Pilger doesn’t have the right to use gay people as a political football in that way. Just as Bob Geldof was a dick to think it appropriate to remind the public not to let the Boxing Day Tsunami distract from the plight of the poor wee kiddies in Africa.
Justice is not a finite resource. The qualities of mercy are not strained!
So you’re in support of a biased media that ensures people are not informed properly about important issues so that they’re able to make decisions that could effect change, which is all about playing news-story favourites btw.
Here’s what the media actually think like: “Shit! There’s this huge story that just broke that makes the administration look bad, what other story can we promote instead to cover it up.”
It’s the media and their masters that are using gay rights as a political football, and Pilger who has pointed this out. Yet here you are claiming that Pilger is saying you cannot enjoy lawful equality. Get real Populuxe1.
Please don’t inflict us with your own ignorance and beguile at your own ineptitude and feckless diffidence that you’re not able to help people in other countries… and please don’t use your sexuality to justify your abuse of people who can.
Well there’s the problem. You think that because a story is huge, it means that the western msm thinks it’s huge. 63 white americans being killed in Mainstreet USA, they’d agree with you. 63 Yemenis or Pakistanis killed by drones? Not so much.
They don’t need to “cover it up”. Editorially, they just don’t care, because their audience pays more attention to whether mccleans kid toothpaste is better than colgate, as the ads claim. You only need a major distraction if something else will get the people’s attention.
I think it has much more to do with what the media are promoting than what the people actually want to view… Although with most brainwashing techniques, people soon become accustomed to reacting in a specific way.
No Jackass, I am saying that Pilger is denying the seriousness and dignity of lawful equality by calling it lifestyle liberalism and then, with very little evidence that the media did anything of the sort, proceeded to make an unnecessary and unhelpful comparison – essentially using gay rights as canon fodder – for his own ends. We didn’t consent to be used in this way any more than various countries in the Middle East and Central Asia consented to being bombed. But congratulations, in your Pilgerolatry have effectively decided that there’s only a finite amount of human rights to be shared around.
As any human rights campaigner can tell you, there’s a finite amount of human rights to be shared around. You’re welcome to choose your cause, but this should not be at the expense of other people’s causes.
The moral of the story is that the media should not dictate what issues take precedence based on political or financial incentives. Unfortunately media exposure equals change, because in a democracy people will vote for those who share their beliefs. The more people who think bombing children in Afghanistan is wrong, the more likely it will be an issue for debate leading to an election.
I don’t think Pilger belittled gay rights, and take some exception to you believing I live a life of hetero-normative privilege (whatever the fuck that is?). You simply don’t know who I am Populuxe1.
Gay men dont go around raping woman
“”and you strengthen my view that gay men are not the ally of straight women””
I find comment you made offensive
I am sorry that you think so, Risildo – please understand that ‘not the ally of’ is not the same thing as ‘the enemy of!’
Like it or not, Murray, rights campaigns compete with one another. Everyone has only so much time, attention and money that they can “spend” on these issues. My main issue is, and always will be, being for pacifism and anti-war. No one has the right to kill anyone else, full stop. For that reason, I am also against capital punishment and abortion on demand.
To the man who called me ‘angry God lady’, congratulations, you’re very clever. /sarc/
What’s having sex in any particular position got to do with gay marriage Angry Lady God Vicky Whatever Number ? Chill !
Whether or not I agree with all of Vicky’s points, I applaud her for standing fast in face of rather much ferocity.
What? Have a look at who’s actually throwing the insults around.
“Do grow up! Tanties about your sex life..”
Now go and applaud Louis Crimp. He stands fast in the face of much ferocity too.
Agreed.
Frankly, Pilger should have known that his comment would not be used to highlight the injustices that he cares about most, it would merely be an excuse for homophobes to deny the opponents of another injustice their voice.
As to the substance of his artice, Manning isn’t being persecuted because he’s gay. He’s being persecuted because he allegedly leaked massive amounts of classified information (yay!) using the pseudonym “bradass87” (ffs) and then boasted about it (duh). Don’t get me wrong, if his alleged actions were motivated by noble feelings with full knowledge of the risks, then great, he is an heroic guy. But he could have done more if he hadn’t mouthed off about it. And his detention has nothing to do with his sexuality, whatever it might be.
I’d see Manning as heroic, but like most of us, flawed. I never even knew he was gay until today, or perhaps I did and forgot.
What I don’t like is people on the left telling me I can not advocate for gay marriage because I’ll have the blood of Afghans and Arabs on my hands. Excuse me, but I’ll do what I think is best according to my politics and world view. This allows me to oppose imperialist murder just as much as it allows me to oppose the denial of what should be a simple living arrangement to people I know and care about. These people also fight for the environment, against war and for indigenous rights. I’m not going to tell them they have to stop thinking their love is important because some ideas that should have died out years ago are still rampant on the left.
Thank you DrTerry! Your support is much appreciated.
Hear! Hear!
Here is another thoughtful perspective.
http://www.victoriabrownworth.com/2012/05/23/marriage-equality-is-not-bourgeois/
I even get worried about education opportunities for our kids and grandkids. Is that allowed when Obama is murdering by remote control? Am I allowed to worry about the environment or the right to belong to unions? Bottom line – I don’t need anyone’s permission to fight for any issue I believe worth fighting for. I don’t believe there is a finite pool of rights so that some people have to go without so others can have theirs. I do believe in taking the right to exploit labour away from the bourgeoisie, not in keeping rights from people who have never had them.
Jackal
“As any human rights campaigner can tell you, there’s a finite amount of human rights to be shared around. You’re welcome to choose your cause, but this should not be at the expense of other people’s causes”
Human rights campaigners worth their weight in gold would not say such a thing. Unless, of course, they have come to accept that humans rights are now a tradeable commodity and subject to the vagaries of the non-free market. Only those rights likely to receive maximum returns for invested interests should be pursued and the rest relegated to junk bondage.
Its wonderful that we focus on children being blown up in Afghanistan but how about the children currently starving to death in the Sudan, Sub-Sahara Africa, The Indian subcontinent, Latin America, Guatemala? 15 million children die of hunger each year.
Human rights are limited only by the amount of humans that currently exist. At last count that was about seven billion.
I’m going to have to admit that I’m more concerned with children starving in NZ. Those other countries can work their own problems out. If they want some advice then they can ask.
Let me rephrase that: There is presently a finite amount of human rights to be shared around. This is because human rights campaigners et al only have so much time in the day, and the media exposure their causes attract is also limited. In a purely idealistic future world you may be correct, and there is a potential for human rights not to be limited, but presently they are, hence the starving millions you talk about.