The Human Rights Commission bill promoted by Dr McGregor goes further, requiring an employer to disclose, on request from a staff member, what someone of the opposite sex doing equivalent work is paid.
Dr McGregor said the bill also provided for the worker requesting the information to ask a labour inspector to check its veracity.
If you work for the public then as your employer they have a right to know what you are paid.
If you are on a collective contract or a tradesperson it is no secret anyway.
Knowing how much some of our dodgy managers are paid for spending the day on facebook would add a bit of much needed disinfectant.
Maybe we should add the taxes paid as in Norway. I suspect that would name and shame a lot of the wealthiest people who use trusts and other dodgy means to avoid tax.
I think the entire accounts should be open to the employees so they can see what the business is worth, how it’s doing and, most importantly, how much the job that they’re doing is worth to the business. This would allow them the same strength in negotiations as the business owner/manager.
Anyway, I’d prefer if businesses were self-owned and the people in it working as a cooperative. The capitalist ownership model sux and is the major cause of poverty and suffering in the world.
Yes! Why just sex? Why not migrants? Why should a kiwi get paid less or more than a recent migrant who is just as capable? National seems to suggest low wages is good for NZ, but that means in order to attract Migrants to fill skills shortages will be hurt.
Why not also, religion? Do some get paid more or less because of their faith, or lack of faith?
Why not marriage, and children, do those with kids get paid less, those with mortgages?
Seems to me there’s a lot of hocus pocus when it comes to which Human Rights the Commission actively seeks to protect, i.e. politically ‘acceptable’ and areas that aren’t.
Like what about Maori doing the same job?
Good work by Bomber. He has disclosed that amongst the ranks of members of Vote for Change is a white supremacist. The person’s membership has been apparently already terminated such is the democratic nature of VFC.
more Hobbitses,
what could possibly be in Crown Law’s opinion on independent contractors in the film industry, during the ‘Hobbit’ debacle, that has led two Ombudsmen to find that governement is entitled to maintain secrecy? A tax payer funded opinion, leading to a law contrary to ILO freedom of association norms, seen by Warners, but the public cannot see it.
It appears that the Government maintained legal professional privilege and if so the Ombudsman was probably duty bound not to order its release.
Warners may have breached an undertaking not to divulge its contents by referring to it in a press release and this deserves more investigation.
It sucks however that this Government would release such an opinion to a foreign corporate but not to a collective of New Zealand workers or to the National Radio Station. If they want to have a proper debate about the issue they should waive privilege and release it.
Micky is likely correct, that on a ‘technicality’ the Ombudsmen ordered as they have. However it still stinks because even if the opinion does not conflict with what the Natz told parliament it said, us citizens paid for the opinion. Then urgency was applied and Warners got their pay day, again stumped up by the long suffering tax payer.
Due to the lack of transparency, there is suspicion until proven otherwise, that Crown Law’s opinion included views embarrassing or contrary to the governments stated position on union involvment in the film industry.
The government has been negotiating anFTA with India. This is what the government thinks India wants from the agreement:
“The good news part of the story is India wants to do the deal, and that’s because they’re very worried about inflation that’s running at about 8%. It’s having a big impact on the livelihoods of everyday Indians, and food is about 43% of their CPI basket,” Keys said.
This is what India says that they want from the agreement:
Indian Trade Minister Anand Sharma said in the near-term a benefit to India from a trade deal would be for his country to gain better access to New Zealand agriculture technology.
The incompetence is stunning really. These people are supposed to be good at business and yet they don’t even know what the market is that they’re trying to sell into.
MISPLACED SYMPATHY FOR AN IGNORANT ATHLETE
Serena Williams was booed at Roland Garros because she was offensive, not because she was black
There is deep and abiding racism in sports, and especially in the sports media, as will be known by anyone who has any familiarity with the half-witted utterances and barely literate scribblings of (to name only some of the most flagrant) Murray Deaker, Martin Devlin, John Matheson, David Kirk, “Sir” John Graham, Tony Veitch.
But that doesn’t mean all criticism of black athletes is racist.
On Friday, one of our respected Standard contributors cited the following item to support the valid argument that the Williams sisters and their father Richard are often the victims of racial abuse….
This is an extremely misleading article, and it’s not insignificant that it appeared in the hard-right Daily Telegraph. Deliberately left out altogether from the account is the reason that Serena Williams was being booed by the French crowd. The day before Serena Williams’s weeping meltdown on Centre-court at Roland Garros, she had made several bumptious and ignorant remarks condemning the French government for “not supporting” the U.S. aggression against Iraq.
THAT is why the French crowd was booing her. But the article presents it as though Williams was the unfortunate recipient of routine Gallic anti-Americanism. Which is totally untrue, and exactly what you would expect from the Daily Telegraph.
We need to always be on guard against the racist bigots who infect the media at every level, but that doesn’t mean we should give a free ride to the likes of Serena Williams when she wades beyond her depth and flounders. A French reporter called her comments “maladroit”. She deserved everything the disgusted French crowd dished out to her that day.
Yeah, The Telegraph and The Times are the two British papers most closely associated with Israeli and US Neo-Conservative apologetics (although I realise you dispute the latter terminology, Morrissey). Tragically, my local paper – the Dom Post – relies on them almost exclusively for its Middle East coverage. Much of the resulting “news” and “analysis” is simply ludicrous. Pure disinformation.
I remember that one of the Williams sisters – I suspect it was Venus, but can’t be sure – was one of about 15 US “celebrities” to sign a US Zionist group’s newspaper advertisement that, despite all the evidence to the contrary, blamed the people of Lebanon and Hezbollah for Israel’s 2006 invasion and carpet bombing of that Country.
Hence, this latest outburst by Serena is by no means surprising.
1)…The Telegraph and The Times are the two British papers most closely associated with Israeli and US Neo-Conservative apologetics (although I realise you dispute the latter terminology, Morrissey).
The Daily Mail, the Guardian and the Observerare equally obnoxious. And I don’t think that “apologetics” is the right word to use here. (I’ll post something at length on this topic in future.) I accept that the small group of PNAC fanatics are called “Neocons”, but it’s a terrible misnomer for them. Conservatism is an honorable tradition, implying prudence and respect for tradition and the rule of law. We are all conservatives to a degree, if we live in the real world. The denizens of Planet Neocon, on the other hand, have nothing but contempt for the rule of law. Everything I’ve read by the likes of Kagan, Kristol, Huntington, Wolfowitz, Perle and Cheney (to name only the most obviously egregious) underlines their ruthlessness and fanaticism. They are anything but conservatives.
We have a number of them in New Zealand academia too: Stephen Hoadley at Auckland, Ron Smith and Dov Bing at Waikato, and Lance Beath at Victoria are regular commentators on political affairs on National Radio.
2)Tragically, my local paper – the Dom Post – relies on them almost exclusively for its Middle East coverage.
The editors on the Dom Post probably don’t know any more about Israel and Palestine than Serena Williams does, and no doubt publish stuff from the Telegraph and Times simply because that’s what they’ve always done. I doubt there’s any substantial animosity towards decent journalism in Wellington; it’s more a question of ignorance. You should ask them why they don’t publish something by Noam Chomsky, or Norman Finkelstein, or John Pilger, or Gideon Levy, or Amira Hass from Haaretz.
3)I remember that one of the Williams sisters – I suspect it was Venus, but can’t be sure – was one of about 15 US “celebrities” to sign a US Zionist group’s newspaper advertisement
To be fair to Serena Williams, though, I doubt that she is either pro-Israel or anti-Israel. This site claims it is “a list of celebrities (dead and alive) who were/are either definitely pro-Israel or have somehow been associated with a pro-Israel cause.” In other words, if you were polite to an AIPAC member instead of arguing with him, you are pro-Israel. If you say nothing when a pro-Israeli fruitcake like Gene Simmons sounds off in your vicinity, you are pro-Israel. When you meekly put up with your husband’s crazed rants against Palestinian civilians, you are “pro-Israel”. If, as Serena no doubt has done, you say that Israeli tennis pro Shaheer Peer is a nice person, that means you are “pro-Israel”—hence Nicole Kidman is on the list. So, despite not signing anything, Serena Williams has been co-opted onto this mad pro-Israel site—along with Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and other dead people.
In fact, I’m going to analyse this site a little more fully some time soon. Stay tuned!
*** “The Daily Mail, the Guardian and the Observer are equally obnoxious”.
I do think The Telegraph and The Times are the worst offenders, though. Both Murdoch (Times) and Black (until his relatively recent downfall – Telegraph) both had a long history of intervening editorially to ensure a fiercely right-wing Zionist perspective. The Guardian‘s coverage has, I think, improved over the last 5 years (though it still has some way to go). Of Britain’s major daily papers, The Independent probably provides the most honest coverage of Israel/Palestine and the Middle East in general (though The Financial Times has some quite impressive Editorials that manage to cut-through the usual US/Israeli framing of events).
***“We have a number of them in New Zealand academia too: Stephen Hoadley at Auckland, Ron Smith and Dov Bing at Waikato, and Lance Beath at Victoria are regular commentators on political affairs on National Radio.”
Yep, Hoadley and Bing – definitely Israeli apologists/propagandists. I’ve heard of Ron Smith but didn’t know his position on this. Never heard of Beath. I’d also argue that, despite often seeming (and, indeed, being) reasonable and fair, Vic’s Religious Studies Professor, Paul Morris has at times tended toward banal Israeli apologetics (particularly during the Mossad Affair).
*** Dom Post
Probably no coincidence that Fairfax are owned by Murdoch. I have to say that as Right-leaning as Old Nanny Herald usually is, its Middle East coverage is far better (greater variety of sources and viewpoints) than the Dom Post’s constant reliance on the official US/Israeli narrative. Over the immediate 16 months or so following the initial Bush/Blair invasion of Iraq, the Dom Post carried weekly – sometimes daily – Robert Fisk analysis. They then quietly dropped him (I suspect due to pressure from the small, local Israel lobby – shades of Cartoonist Malcolm Evans ! Certainly, the paper published a flurry of anti-Fisk letters-to-the-editor from the usual suspects, most of them loony-tune Christian Millenarialists).
*** Serena Williams, Nicole Kidman…..
Interesting and amusing site, Morrissey. But, no, I was thinking of an advertisement placed in the Los Angeles Times in 2006 by a US Zionist group associated with a number of Hollywood movers and shakers. The text of the advertisement was: “We the undersigned are pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas…..If we do not succeed in stopping terrorism around the world, chaos will rule and innocent people will continue to die…..We need to support democratic societies and stop terrorism at all costs.” Signed by various sports stars, Hollywood actors and comedians (particularly, as one might suspect, the relatively naff ones, the ones with an overwhelming interest in their own careers), including Serena Williams (was Serena not Venus, I was wrong), Sylvester Stallone, Nicole Kidman, Michael Douglas, Dennis Hopper (known for his right-wing Republican sympathies, despite the Easy Rider Hippy-shite of 1969), Bruce Willis (also a right-wing Republican), Danny De Vito and wife Rhea Perleman, Don Johnson, James Woods (long-time Republican supporter), Kelly Preston, William Hurt, Directors Ridley Scott, Dick Donner, Tony Scott and Michael Mann. Unfortunately, the advertisement was also endorsed by actress Patricia Heaton (who I’ve always fancied – despite her involvement in the ho-hum mainstream comedy Everyone Loves Raymond). I just can’t bring myself to fancy her anymore. For you, Morrissey, it would be like Anna Pacquin joining AIPAC.
Vic’s Religious Studies Professor, Paul Morris has at times tended toward banal Israeli apologetics (particularly during the Mossad Affair).
Yes, he’s a very interesting case. I’ve heard him speak about Jewish religious practice, and he seems civil and rational. What did he say about the captured Mossad agents?
Probably no coincidence that Fairfax are owned by Murdoch.
They are?!?!?!? Are you sure about that? If so, things are even bleaker than I thought.
Signed by various sports stars, Hollywood actors and comedians…
I wonder how many of those “beautiful people” really believed in what they were signing. At a Hollywood dinner party, which is where AIPAC tends to descend on this tanned, raddled and botoxed prey, you’d kind of feel obliged to sign a petition to “stop terrorism” and proclaim how “pained and devastated” you are. Who could argue with such a sentiment? Especially if you know nothing at all about the situation in Lebanon and Palestine, and you’re just too busy to read anything to find out, even if you did care. And how much time would William Hurt, or Michael Douglas, or Sylvester Stallone spend reading anything, leave alone a book about Israel and Palestine?
Patricia Heaton (who I’ve always fancied – despite her involvement in the ho-hum mainstream comedy Everyone Loves Raymond).
It’s mainstream, sure. But ho-hum? Really? I’m not joking here when I say I could watch it all day. I love and adore Everybody Loves Raymond.
I just can’t bring myself to fancy her anymore. For you, Morrissey, it would be like Anna Pacquin joining AIPAC.
Well, that’s my credibility completely down the fucking gurgler then, isn’t it ? Christ knows what I was thinking. Must have been drunk at the time (if the excuse works for Ruth Aitken’s son – “The Urinator” – then it should work for me). Does this monumental faux pas, this utter failure to live up to the high intellectual rigour expected of all commenters on The Standard, necessarily make me a bad man ? Why, yes, I think it does.
Quality of Everybody (not Everyone – I was wrong once again !) Loves Raymond
Not saying it’s bad. In fact, I do watch it now and then (and not only because of Ms Heaton) but, you know, nowhere near the brilliance of Curb Your Enthusiasm (or, indeed, The Simpsons) in my view (and a long, long way behind the best British comedies).
Paul Morris/Mossad Affair
Much like you, Morrissey, I have a tendency to write transcripts of TV/Radio discussions on the Middle East in general and Israel/Palestine in particular. Been doing so since about 2003. Everything from RNZ to BBC World to Norman Finkelstein’s lectures on youtube (even though the substance of much of the latter ends up in his various publications).
In the immediate wake of the Mossad Affair (and the vandalism of Jewish graves in Wellington), Morris was interviewed by Maureen Garing on RNZ’s Spiritual Outlook programme. I did a complete transcript at the time but, unfortunately, a number of my transcripts (including that one) got inadvertantly thrown-out around 2 years ago (much to my subsequent upset).
But, from memory (and, given my monumental faux-pas, above, people are obviously going to have to treat this fairly cautiously, remembering that this is coming from the fucker who thought Fairfax was owned by Murdoch), Morris (1) poured cold water on the (almost certain) fact that a number of leading members of the Auckland Jewish community (not just the one who fled NZ) were deeply involved in the Mossad Affair, (2) suggested the Clark Labour Government was inherently “anti-Israel” because (despite Israel’s demands to the contrary) Foreign Minister Phil Goff insisted on seeing Arafat as well as Sharon, (3) continued to insist that there was no evidence to suggest those involved in the scandal were, in fact, Mossad agents and (4) argued that Clark’s criticism of Israel in the wake of the affair not only revealed “anti-Israel” bias, but also caused the subsequent attack on Jewish graves in Wellington.
Yet another third-rate correspondent on National Radio this morning
Irris Makler jokes about “dead in the water” peace flotilla
“Nine to Noon”, National Radio, Monday 4 July 2011
Irris Makler, Lana Shaheen, Rory Carroll, Liat Collins, Dame Ann Leslie, and Jason Morrison are all shamelessly partisan, right-wing shills—yet they are regularly deferred to as regional voices of
authority on National Radio. This morning, we were subjected to a particularly egregious performance from the obnoxiously glib and light- hearted Irris Makler.
Disgusted, I sent off a letter to the host Kathryn Ryan…
Dear Kathryn,
You said there was “great controversy over the peace flotilla” last year. In fact, there was no controversy over the flotilla, which sought to break the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza. The controversy was over the Israeli pirate raid on the boats, in international waters, which killed nine peace activists.
Your correspondent Irris Makler joked that the convoy, stuck in Greece, was “dead in the water”, then sneered at the fact that there are “celebrities like Alice Walker” on board. She could have mentioned that one of the peace protestors on the flotilla is 86-year-old Jewish Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein. Tellingly, however, Irris Makler did not see fit to mention that.
What criteria do you use to select your foreign correspondents?
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
——————————————————–
Keep listening, guys—she might read it out on air!
I don’t recall direct quotes of Key in the media being quite so literal when he first started out:
“Obviously, look, it’s totally unacceptable that they’re using child labour but as the (Indian Prime) Minister himself he said they have laws against that, they’re administering that,” he told TVNZ’s Breakfast.
Last week’s Waitangi Tribunal findings further cement the view that the Treaty of Waitangi is an out of date document.
The Treaty, on the basis of their findings among other, clearly provides for one race to have a “special” place in these fair lands, in which many many races and creeds live.
No lands on the planet can sustain a separate set of laws and arrangements for one race, and another for all the other races. It is a fundamentally flawed approach and will fail. As it has in every other land in the world where similar circumstances are applied. Examples are not even needed to support this as it is so self-evident.
All points to the Treaty being flawed for NZ today and in the future.
Yet various in our lands keep their blinkers on and refuse to acknowledge this. They remind me of the three monkeys seeing, hearing and speaking no evil.
I wonder when this will be honestly acknowledged by those who benefit from being “special”?
Meant to add before ….. the Treaty was probably quite appropriate for the times back then and up until some recent later point in time. However the use-by date is up. Time for it to be redrawn.
‘
VTO I try to get a balanced view on most subjects and I find reading books helps.
I may have been a bit excited in demanding that you read this book NOW! but it was because I sincerely believe that David Slack’s book about the Treaty of Waitangi in today’s world, deals with the issues you are raising.
David Slack makes a particular point of challenging the issue which you raised in your comment, “the Treaty was probably quite appropriate for the times back then. However the use by date is up….”
He also looks at the issue of, as you put it “a separate set of laws and arrangements for one race”.
This is why I thought this would be such a good book for you.
I think you may be pleasantly surprised to find yourself agreeing with some of the conclusions in this book.
Apart from this, David Slack’s book is packed full of interesting facts, from our past history and our recent history, and how we came to be in the position we are in today.
Some of David Slack’s facts and figures on the Treaty, historical as well as recent, are really quite startling.
I didn’t know for instance that the first ever land settlement made by the Waitangi Tribunal was relating to compensation to Ngati Whatua for land at Basstion Pt. and the Orakei reserve, the last of which was confiscated without reparation from the Ngati Whatua as Recently as the 1950s by the Auckland City Council. And which was the setting for an unprecedented protest occupation by Ngati Whatua and their supporters in the late ’70s to stop this land being subdivided by private developers for a tidy profit.
The Tribunal found that it was irrefutable that this alienation of Ngati Whatua’s last remaining piece of land in the Auckland region, which had been termed inalienable in previous enactments, was against the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi. I dare you to say it wasn’t.
VTO you told me, ‘How about you get an appreciation of history, NOW.’
I would be more than happy to read any written contributions suggested by you on this topic.
I look forward to receiving your suggested reading list.
The Treaty, on the basis of their findings among other, clearly provides for one race to have a “special” place in these fair lands, in which many many races and creeds live.
NO… the treaty clearly provides for independent tribes, acting as sovereign nations, to have a special place in these fair lands. That “special” place being their ancestral homelands, fisheries and resources of which iwi, like Tuhoe, were illegally displaced from.
Simple fact is, until you and Maori get your head around the “race” framing of any argument being irrelevent, you’re not really going to get anywhere. And until all treaty claims are settled there won’t be any other binding agreement drawn up any time soon.
What i hope to see drawn up in a post treaty settlement era is a constitution for something akin to Hone Harawira’s idea of a pan iwi Maori Parliament that has the Mana and authority to speak on behalf of all Maori about all things Maori.
Then while were at drawing up constitutions, let’s fully and finally cut the apron strings to wrinkly old Aunty Britannia, crawl out from under her colonial nightie and stand on our own 2 republican feet.
Two separate sets of laws, two parliaments and what you end up with is civil war.
Maori don’t need more representation than anyone else and as long as you keep asking/demanding it you’ll keep putting up the divides that keep us apart. You want people to treat everyone fairly and equally? Then stop asking for one race to be raised above all others.
PS, IMO, written constitutions aren’t all that great as they have a tendency to stop change when it becomes necessary.
Polly, you miss my point and agree with it at the same time. And I wasn’t actually framing it in race terms if your read carefully. It applies whether the separatism is created by race, class, gender, age, etc… Heard of the provisions of the Human Rights Act? – try applying those principles to the Treaty and its big picture. The treaty creates effectively two separate sets of rules for two different groups of people in one land. That doesn’t work. Never has. Didn’t work when the whiteys were “special” and wont work when the brownies are “special”.
Sure, the Treaty may say this and that, but I contend that the this and that, while perhaps suitable in the past circumstances, is entirely unsuitable for today.
And it is nothing to do with racism against maori or etc etc etc, it is to do with two separate sets of laws in one land. Doesn’t work. I would contend the same thing were it in Russia, Mongolia, USA, Fiji, South Africa, Lesotho, Christchurch, anywhere ….
Easy to attack this sort of view as some sort of out-of-date colonial throwback view but I contend that the separatism view is the out-of-date throwback view. They need to take their blinkers off and answer this issue instead of ignoring it
(btw, this aint nought to do with righting past wrongs, whether by crown or maori)
Sure, the Treaty may say this and that, but I contend that the this and that, while perhaps suitable in the past circumstances, is entirely unsuitable for today.
VTO
Oh really?
Ask yourself VTO,
If it had not been for the Waitangi Tribunal allowing Ngati Whatua to get redress not available to them in any other court, where would Ngati Whatua be today?
Bastion Point would have been built over with luxury homes and Ngati Whatua would presently be facing eviction from the state rental homes they were forced into when the council bulldozed their homes at Okahu Bay.
Despite discharging Auckland City’s sewer system into Okahu bay the council refused to let Ngati Whatua connect their waste water to to the council system. Then demolished their Marae at Okahu Bay as being unsanitary.
Their last remaining bit of land was confiscated and those not driven off to South Auckland or further afield, were shoved into government owned state housing on Bastion Point as tenants on their own land.
As most of Ngati Whatua are gainfully employed, many with good incomes, they no longer meet the criteria for staying in the state housing on Bastion Point under the government’s new regulations for state housing tenants.
No doubt VTO you have nothing to say about this sort of present day injustice.
There is a name for people like you. Can you think what it is?
A recent newsletter from the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) details an offer from the Government to settle the pay issue with disability care workers that arose from what is commonly known as the “sleepover case”.
In both the Employment Court and the Court of Appeal, it has been found that these workers on sleepover shifts are entitled to the minimum wage. Despite these rulings, no employer or their funders (a.k.a. the Government) have made any attempt to abide by the Court decisions, instead (in the case of IHC) employing workers through a subsidiary company to protect their large asset base (residential properties), placing companies into statutory management and lodging an appeal to the Supreme Court (due to be heard in September).
The probability that the Supreme Court will confirm earlier court rulings forced employers and the Government to the negotiating table. At issue are both putting these workers onto their lawful wage and backpay.
The Govt has offered to stagger the implementation of the minimum wage over four years. Audacious in the extreme, given the rulings clearly explain there is no ability for employer and employee to contract out of the Minimum Wage Act, even if they wanted to. This is as about as cut and dried as it gets, if you are working you must be paid no less than $13/hour. Apparently, despite this issue having dragged through the courts for over 3 years, employers and Government need another 4 years to be able to abide by legislation and the court’s interpretation of that legislation.
In respect of backpay, pleading poverty the Government has offered 25% of what is owed, only to workers still employed (former workers can go and get stuffed) and subject to a cap of $45 million. Oh, and they’ll fund half of it, the employers have to find the other half.
The amount of backpay has been approximated at $300 million, a quarter of that is $75 million. Even taking off an amount for former workers, I think describing the offer as “25%” is disingenuous. So, workers who have been frustrated by the intransigence of their employer and the Government as funder, patiently waiting for years to have this issue resolved, should now forego 75% (plus) of what has been accruing through no fault of their own.
The Union, to their credit, suggested 50% of backpay (plus interest) as a compromise. An entirely reasonable stance I suggest, cutting the bill by $150 million in an attempt to resolve this and move on. But no, that’s not good enough. I wonder what the reaction would have been had the Government, when bailing out SCF depositors, told them there was not enough money in the piggy bank and they could only have 25% of what they were legally entitled to?
In a final display of arrogance, the Government has given the Union until 15 July to advise whether the offer is accepted or rejected. One month to arrange meetings, votes etc, after the Government has pissed around for 3 years ignoring the issue until it could no longer do so.
This whole sorry saga continues to lurch towards an inevitable conclusion where no-one wins. Not surprisingly, the Union is recommending to its members not to accept the Government’s offer and given that likelihood, the parties will see each other at the Supreme Court on 13 September.
No-one wins because even if the Supreme Court overturns the earlier court rulings, the result may well be a mass exodus of current workers who have had a gutsful of this issue dragging on (first raised in 2001). Where I live, anecdotal evidence suggests 40% are ready to walk. The care of the disabled in our communities will be compromised.
If the Supreme Court does confirm earlier rulings, employers can choose to go bankrupt when the 5000+ claims that are waiting on this test case get filed in the Employment Court. Another possibility is retrospective legislation. Again, the care of the disabled is put at risk.
And that’s what’s so fucked up about this whole episode. The one’s who will ultimately suffer are the intellectually disabled members of our community. This is not an employment issue, it is a societal issue. When disability care was deinstitutionalised many years ago, huge cost savings resulted as Kingseat, Templeton et al became relics and disabled people were integrated into the community. Now, when workers attempt to re-address some balance into working conditions in this sector, no-one wants to cough up, forgetting the large cost of the alternative – professional care in expensive institutions.
I believe how we treat and care for those less fortunate in society is a reflection of society itself. In this area, society is failing.
Footnote: The Sleepover allowance paid by IHC when this case went to the Employment Relations Authority in 2008 was $34.00. In 2011, the allowance remains at $34.00.
I guess that since the recipients of care in this case are not significant voters then Government can wait it out. You are right about the social and economic reasons for abandoning the institutions. What should happen is that the money saved should have been diverted to proper community care. Underlines the importance of unionism as well.
The Ministry of Health annual Report on Drinking-Water in New Zealand 2009/10 shows 72,000 New Zealanders are drinking faecally-contaminated water. MOH found unacceptable levels of E.Coli in the water of 2% of the population. However the true number of people drinking faecally contaminated water may be 10 times higher than the MOH figure.
What a load of shit drawing inferences between one racist pig and the rest of Vote for Change’s founding members. Sure, they F’d up by not doing a background check on their founding members, but to infer that the rest of the members have white supremacist values is plain bullshit.
Furthermore, we’re yet to hear a debate playing the game, rather than the man, from pro-MMP supporters. While Fogerty is the extreme exception – but how about the pro-MMP campaign actually start debating the issues, rather than mud-slinging.
[lprent: this sub-thread is a complete diversion from the content of post – sent to OpenMike. ]
Likewise who cares…the 90’s were a bit of hazy decade for me.
…but let me get this straight. You’re comparing Rod Donald’s involvement with pro electoral reform in the 90’s with Alex Fogerty’s pro reform involvement now ?
No respect for the dead even. Jeez, how low will you screwed up right turning nutjobs go to smear a guys rep ?
but of course the 90’s reforms were about getting a fair deal for the under represented by left leaning politicians just as much as this bottom feeder Fogerty wants to protect his white male privilege in the right leaning politically and financially over represented.
Nice attempt at diversion and trying to grab a moral high ground that isn’t there. Rod Donald was a radical lefty. That is a fact that does not alter regardless of him being dead. His prominent role in the pro-electoral reform movement should not preclude people of a Right leaning persuassion from looking at the merits of MMP.
Despite your feeble attempt at misdirection Gossy, it still stands to reason that we need way more political activists like Rod Donald RIP in this world than we do bottom feeding right wing scumbags like Fogerty and maybe your self ?.
Of course movements are rightly associated with the political leanings of those involved in them.
The simple difference between Rod Donald’s involvement in getting MMP and Alex Fogerty’s involvement in Vote for Change: Rod Donald wasn’t a white supremacist, nor were his views the leftwing equivalent.
The mere fact that Donald didn’t have to quit the movement when people knew about his political views tells you that there is no moral equivalency.
Radical leftie? I am reminded of Jeanette Fitzsimon’s answer to Leighton Smith in 2002, that as the mainstream moved further right, the moderate left became the extreme left by default.
Apparently SBW the debate was done and dusted 15 odd years ago so there’s no need to engage in civilised debate anymore.
Imagine if that sort of perverted logic applied to all political discourse. There’s no need to discuss the ins and outs of Employment law because the National Party won the 1990 election on a platform of more flexibility in employment practices.
The stupidity behind the logic in that thinking staggers me.
[lprent: Moved as it referred a comment that has also been moved ]
Hi SBW, what yourself and Gosman miss when you invoke the ad hominem fallacy (in your different styles) is that there is good reason for people to be concerned with others’ motives – it works. That’s why, presumably, humans’ inordinate concern with motivation evolved in the first place.
It may not follow the strict cannons of Enlightenment rationalism, but it remains a rough and perfectly adequate approach to making decisions – once again, because it is likely to be adaptive in the long run. At a guess, I’d say that following strict logical guidelines in decision making about social and political issues – and ignoring information about speakers’ motives – will probably mean that you end up as a first rate mug.
Consideration of motives also encourages you to think about possible arguments that have not been mentioned (e.g., like ‘What would happen under a less proportional system if someone with, for example, a white supremacist agenda gained more than their fair share of representation?’). Thinking about motives, that is, raises concerns that are not part of the anemic, ‘motivation-less’ analysis that a pure rationalism might evoke.
Of course, in a perfect world in which everyone acted hyper-rationally and never used strategies such as ‘bait and switch’, never attempted to advance their agenda through sophisticated arguments and were always cognitively transparent we could all agree with you. But I don’t think that world is coming anytime soon.
Word PG. Motive and intent are everything in my books.
I expect we’ll see a lot of Key and English playing the ball come election time, ‘cos their motives are 100% pure and their intent noble. They have nothing but the best interests of ALL NZers at heart eh ?.. especially the mums and dads.
Well said. In my view, human behaviour is profoundly governed by motivation and it is often easy to see why people say and do certain things when you understand their motives. It also helps you predict their desired ‘endgame’, and determine whether or not you should support them. That is, it is important to understand ‘why’ someone is doing something, not just ‘what’.
The influence of motivation on behaviour may be concious, for example, people may support a certain cause because they stand to directly benefit from, but it can also occur at a subconcious level – which can easily be seen through a bit of inspection.
In saying that, however, questioning other’s motivation must of course be done in an honest manner, which of course means we should not make false accusations and ensure we properly ascertain how relevant it may be.
uke, these captains of industry deserve and finance every dollar that they earn and you shouldn’t be envious after all where would we be if they decided to leave us?
And didn’t you get the memo from Lloyd Blankfein (of Goldman Sachs)?
I received correspondence today from the National Party re Private and Personal Address Details. I had written to question how the National Party was able to gain the names and addresses specifically for pensioners for John Key’s letter dated 22 June 2011.
Speaking of racism, wasn’t that some bullshit from Don Brash today? Did you you see this?
Brash was throwing all his toys this morning, all angry about them uppity darkies. Maarees get too much white money he reckons, and they need knocking down a peg or two.
The trigger for his tantrum of race-hate? The Wai 262 report. He said parts of it are too extreme, give waaay too much stuff to maori, and the govt has to rule it out.
Of course he later admitted (by lunchtime) that he hadn’t read the report and therefore had no idea what was in it.
Is Hoots writing scripts for him again or something?
Today it was reported that the Pike River Coal receivers cannot make recovering bodies a condition of the Pike River mines sale. Apparently they cannot force potential buyers to carry out the recovery without a guarantee the operation would be safe and feasible. If it wasn’t achievable, why was it started in the first place I wonder? National’s Acting Minister of Energy and Resources, Hekia Parata then contradicted the receiver’s statement…
1.) this utter failure to live up to the high intellectual rigour expected of all commenters
Next stop for you on your downward slide: a talk show on Radio Live.
2.) …and a long, long way behind the best British comedies
We presume you are a fan of The Inbetweeners.
3.) a number of leading members of the Auckland Jewish community (not just the one who fled NZ)
Who was this person who fled New Zealand? I remember reading about an Auckland ambulance worker who used to constantly disturb his colleagues by vehemently ranting about subhuman Palestinians. He went to Israel to join the IDF. Was it him, by any chance?
4.) …transcripts of TV/Radio discussions on the Middle East in general and Israel/Palestine in particular.
Good. Please publish them when you can. I have also recorded and transcribed a lot of TV and radio “discussions” (that is too charitable a term for most of them) and I will post more when I find the time. The other day, I dug up a transcript I made a few years back of a particularly foolish and incompetent Harriett Gilbert interview with Joe Sacco on the BBC Radio programme “The Strand”. I’ll post it up soon.
Your observations on Morris are interesting. I haven’t actually heard him say anything unfair or prejudiced, so far anyway. He is a civil and cultured speaker, at least, which makes him a contrast to such shameless pro-Israel propagandists as David Zwartz of Wellington, Dov Bing of Hamilton, and Michael Nathan of Auckland.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
Opinion: New Health NZ commissioner Lester Levy is authorised to assume operational leadership – chief executive Margie Apa is effectively relegated to his operational deputy The post All-powerful Levy is feudal baron of a $28b fiefdom appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Information privacy versus right to know?
Is adding the Salary Police to business administration impositions really a good idea?
Why just opposite sex?
I have a lot of reservations about this and think a lot more consideration, information and debate is required.
I do not see why wages should be a secret.
If you work for the public then as your employer they have a right to know what you are paid.
If you are on a collective contract or a tradesperson it is no secret anyway.
Knowing how much some of our dodgy managers are paid for spending the day on facebook would add a bit of much needed disinfectant.
Maybe we should add the taxes paid as in Norway. I suspect that would name and shame a lot of the wealthiest people who use trusts and other dodgy means to avoid tax.
I think the entire accounts should be open to the employees so they can see what the business is worth, how it’s doing and, most importantly, how much the job that they’re doing is worth to the business. This would allow them the same strength in negotiations as the business owner/manager.
“This would allow them the same strength in negotiations as the business owner/manager.”
And the same risks??????
What’s that got to do with the negotiations?
Anyway, I’d prefer if businesses were self-owned and the people in it working as a cooperative. The capitalist ownership model sux and is the major cause of poverty and suffering in the world.
and how close it is to going under! That’s why I am where I am today, (on UB) because the company I worked for, fell over.
Yes! Why just sex? Why not migrants? Why should a kiwi get paid less or more than a recent migrant who is just as capable? National seems to suggest low wages is good for NZ, but that means in order to attract Migrants to fill skills shortages will be hurt.
Why not also, religion? Do some get paid more or less because of their faith, or lack of faith?
Why not marriage, and children, do those with kids get paid less, those with mortgages?
Seems to me there’s a lot of hocus pocus when it comes to which Human Rights the Commission actively seeks to protect, i.e. politically ‘acceptable’ and areas that aren’t.
Like what about Maori doing the same job?
Good work by Bomber. He has disclosed that amongst the ranks of members of Vote for Change is a white supremacist. The person’s membership has been apparently already terminated such is the democratic nature of VFC.
And Trevor Mallard has again drawn links between the organisation and Simon Lusk while also raising questions about Lusk’s involvement in National’s Epsom selection. Could the same paid consultant be involved in a National and and ACT campaign for control of Epsom?
And Cameron Slater has reacted in his usual way. His comments on Red Alert are interesting to say the least.
As the saying goes, it should be an interesting day. Time to get out the popcorn …
One could also argue that Trevor Mallard is a homophobe so whats your point?
Go ahead and argue it then.
Que?
Tactic 1 – divert attention away from original comment.
One white supremacist? pppfffftt.
It’s the National Party FFS – they’re ALL white supremacists.
+1
😆
+1
more Hobbitses,
what could possibly be in Crown Law’s opinion on independent contractors in the film industry, during the ‘Hobbit’ debacle, that has led two Ombudsmen to find that governement is entitled to maintain secrecy? A tax payer funded opinion, leading to a law contrary to ILO freedom of association norms, seen by Warners, but the public cannot see it.
It appears that the Government maintained legal professional privilege and if so the Ombudsman was probably duty bound not to order its release.
Warners may have breached an undertaking not to divulge its contents by referring to it in a press release and this deserves more investigation.
It sucks however that this Government would release such an opinion to a foreign corporate but not to a collective of New Zealand workers or to the National Radio Station. If they want to have a proper debate about the issue they should waive privilege and release it.
What is the NACT government hiding?
The fact that it’s a NACT government, ie, working for the betterment of themselves and their rich mates at everyone else’s expense.
Micky is likely correct, that on a ‘technicality’ the Ombudsmen ordered as they have. However it still stinks because even if the opinion does not conflict with what the Natz told parliament it said, us citizens paid for the opinion. Then urgency was applied and Warners got their pay day, again stumped up by the long suffering tax payer.
Due to the lack of transparency, there is suspicion until proven otherwise, that Crown Law’s opinion included views embarrassing or contrary to the governments stated position on union involvment in the film industry.
The government has been negotiating anFTA with India. This is what the government thinks India wants from the agreement:
This is what India says that they want from the agreement:
The incompetence is stunning really. These people are supposed to be good at business and yet they don’t even know what the market is that they’re trying to sell into.
MISPLACED SYMPATHY FOR AN IGNORANT ATHLETE
Serena Williams was booed at Roland Garros because she was offensive, not because she was black
There is deep and abiding racism in sports, and especially in the sports media, as will be known by anyone who has any familiarity with the half-witted utterances and barely literate scribblings of (to name only some of the most flagrant) Murray Deaker, Martin Devlin, John Matheson, David Kirk, “Sir” John Graham, Tony Veitch.
But that doesn’t mean all criticism of black athletes is racist.
On Friday, one of our respected Standard contributors cited the following item to support the valid argument that the Williams sisters and their father Richard are often the victims of racial abuse….
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1432217/Sobbing-Serena-booed-by-French.html
This is an extremely misleading article, and it’s not insignificant that it appeared in the hard-right Daily Telegraph. Deliberately left out altogether from the account is the reason that Serena Williams was being booed by the French crowd. The day before Serena Williams’s weeping meltdown on Centre-court at Roland Garros, she had made several bumptious and ignorant remarks condemning the French government for “not supporting” the U.S. aggression against Iraq.
THAT is why the French crowd was booing her. But the article presents it as though Williams was the unfortunate recipient of routine Gallic anti-Americanism. Which is totally untrue, and exactly what you would expect from the Daily Telegraph.
We need to always be on guard against the racist bigots who infect the media at every level, but that doesn’t mean we should give a free ride to the likes of Serena Williams when she wades beyond her depth and flounders. A French reporter called her comments “maladroit”. She deserved everything the disgusted French crowd dished out to her that day.
Yeah, The Telegraph and The Times are the two British papers most closely associated with Israeli and US Neo-Conservative apologetics (although I realise you dispute the latter terminology, Morrissey). Tragically, my local paper – the Dom Post – relies on them almost exclusively for its Middle East coverage. Much of the resulting “news” and “analysis” is simply ludicrous. Pure disinformation.
I remember that one of the Williams sisters – I suspect it was Venus, but can’t be sure – was one of about 15 US “celebrities” to sign a US Zionist group’s newspaper advertisement that, despite all the evidence to the contrary, blamed the people of Lebanon and Hezbollah for Israel’s 2006 invasion and carpet bombing of that Country.
Hence, this latest outburst by Serena is by no means surprising.
1) …The Telegraph and The Times are the two British papers most closely associated with Israeli and US Neo-Conservative apologetics (although I realise you dispute the latter terminology, Morrissey).
The Daily Mail, the Guardian and the Observerare equally obnoxious. And I don’t think that “apologetics” is the right word to use here. (I’ll post something at length on this topic in future.) I accept that the small group of PNAC fanatics are called “Neocons”, but it’s a terrible misnomer for them. Conservatism is an honorable tradition, implying prudence and respect for tradition and the rule of law. We are all conservatives to a degree, if we live in the real world. The denizens of Planet Neocon, on the other hand, have nothing but contempt for the rule of law. Everything I’ve read by the likes of Kagan, Kristol, Huntington, Wolfowitz, Perle and Cheney (to name only the most obviously egregious) underlines their ruthlessness and fanaticism. They are anything but conservatives.
We have a number of them in New Zealand academia too: Stephen Hoadley at Auckland, Ron Smith and Dov Bing at Waikato, and Lance Beath at Victoria are regular commentators on political affairs on National Radio.
2) Tragically, my local paper – the Dom Post – relies on them almost exclusively for its Middle East coverage.
The editors on the Dom Post probably don’t know any more about Israel and Palestine than Serena Williams does, and no doubt publish stuff from the Telegraph and Times simply because that’s what they’ve always done. I doubt there’s any substantial animosity towards decent journalism in Wellington; it’s more a question of ignorance. You should ask them why they don’t publish something by Noam Chomsky, or Norman Finkelstein, or John Pilger, or Gideon Levy, or Amira Hass from Haaretz.
3) I remember that one of the Williams sisters – I suspect it was Venus, but can’t be sure – was one of about 15 US “celebrities” to sign a US Zionist group’s newspaper advertisement
I think this is the one you mean…
http://www.israelifrontline.com/2011/03/pro-israel-celebrities-please-scroll.html
To be fair to Serena Williams, though, I doubt that she is either pro-Israel or anti-Israel. This site claims it is “a list of celebrities (dead and alive) who were/are either definitely pro-Israel or have somehow been associated with a pro-Israel cause.” In other words, if you were polite to an AIPAC member instead of arguing with him, you are pro-Israel. If you say nothing when a pro-Israeli fruitcake like Gene Simmons sounds off in your vicinity, you are pro-Israel. When you meekly put up with your husband’s crazed rants against Palestinian civilians, you are “pro-Israel”. If, as Serena no doubt has done, you say that Israeli tennis pro Shaheer Peer is a nice person, that means you are “pro-Israel”—hence Nicole Kidman is on the list. So, despite not signing anything, Serena Williams has been co-opted onto this mad pro-Israel site—along with Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and other dead people.
In fact, I’m going to analyse this site a little more fully some time soon. Stay tuned!
*** “The Daily Mail, the Guardian and the Observer are equally obnoxious”.
I do think The Telegraph and The Times are the worst offenders, though. Both Murdoch (Times) and Black (until his relatively recent downfall – Telegraph) both had a long history of intervening editorially to ensure a fiercely right-wing Zionist perspective. The Guardian‘s coverage has, I think, improved over the last 5 years (though it still has some way to go). Of Britain’s major daily papers, The Independent probably provides the most honest coverage of Israel/Palestine and the Middle East in general (though The Financial Times has some quite impressive Editorials that manage to cut-through the usual US/Israeli framing of events).
*** “We have a number of them in New Zealand academia too: Stephen Hoadley at Auckland, Ron Smith and Dov Bing at Waikato, and Lance Beath at Victoria are regular commentators on political affairs on National Radio.”
Yep, Hoadley and Bing – definitely Israeli apologists/propagandists. I’ve heard of Ron Smith but didn’t know his position on this. Never heard of Beath. I’d also argue that, despite often seeming (and, indeed, being) reasonable and fair, Vic’s Religious Studies Professor, Paul Morris has at times tended toward banal Israeli apologetics (particularly during the Mossad Affair).
*** Dom Post
Probably no coincidence that Fairfax are owned by Murdoch. I have to say that as Right-leaning as Old Nanny Herald usually is, its Middle East coverage is far better (greater variety of sources and viewpoints) than the Dom Post’s constant reliance on the official US/Israeli narrative. Over the immediate 16 months or so following the initial Bush/Blair invasion of Iraq, the Dom Post carried weekly – sometimes daily – Robert Fisk analysis. They then quietly dropped him (I suspect due to pressure from the small, local Israel lobby – shades of Cartoonist Malcolm Evans ! Certainly, the paper published a flurry of anti-Fisk letters-to-the-editor from the usual suspects, most of them loony-tune Christian Millenarialists).
*** Serena Williams, Nicole Kidman…..
Interesting and amusing site, Morrissey. But, no, I was thinking of an advertisement placed in the Los Angeles Times in 2006 by a US Zionist group associated with a number of Hollywood movers and shakers. The text of the advertisement was: “We the undersigned are pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas…..If we do not succeed in stopping terrorism around the world, chaos will rule and innocent people will continue to die…..We need to support democratic societies and stop terrorism at all costs.” Signed by various sports stars, Hollywood actors and comedians (particularly, as one might suspect, the relatively naff ones, the ones with an overwhelming interest in their own careers), including Serena Williams (was Serena not Venus, I was wrong), Sylvester Stallone, Nicole Kidman, Michael Douglas, Dennis Hopper (known for his right-wing Republican sympathies, despite the Easy Rider Hippy-shite of 1969), Bruce Willis (also a right-wing Republican), Danny De Vito and wife Rhea Perleman, Don Johnson, James Woods (long-time Republican supporter), Kelly Preston, William Hurt, Directors Ridley Scott, Dick Donner, Tony Scott and Michael Mann. Unfortunately, the advertisement was also endorsed by actress Patricia Heaton (who I’ve always fancied – despite her involvement in the ho-hum mainstream comedy Everyone Loves Raymond). I just can’t bring myself to fancy her anymore. For you, Morrissey, it would be like Anna Pacquin joining AIPAC.
The Guardian’s coverage has, I think, improved over the last 5 years (though it still has some way to go).
It had nowhere to go but up. Any paper that would tolerate a shoddy and incompetent writer like Emma Brockes is neither liberal nor serious…
http://www.medialens.org/alerts/05/051104_smearing_chomsky_the_guardian.php
Vic’s Religious Studies Professor, Paul Morris has at times tended toward banal Israeli apologetics (particularly during the Mossad Affair).
Yes, he’s a very interesting case. I’ve heard him speak about Jewish religious practice, and he seems civil and rational. What did he say about the captured Mossad agents?
Probably no coincidence that Fairfax are owned by Murdoch.
They are?!?!?!? Are you sure about that? If so, things are even bleaker than I thought.
Signed by various sports stars, Hollywood actors and comedians…
I wonder how many of those “beautiful people” really believed in what they were signing. At a Hollywood dinner party, which is where AIPAC tends to descend on this tanned, raddled and botoxed prey, you’d kind of feel obliged to sign a petition to “stop terrorism” and proclaim how “pained and devastated” you are. Who could argue with such a sentiment? Especially if you know nothing at all about the situation in Lebanon and Palestine, and you’re just too busy to read anything to find out, even if you did care. And how much time would William Hurt, or Michael Douglas, or Sylvester Stallone spend reading anything, leave alone a book about Israel and Palestine?
Patricia Heaton (who I’ve always fancied – despite her involvement in the ho-hum mainstream comedy Everyone Loves Raymond).
It’s mainstream, sure. But ho-hum? Really? I’m not joking here when I say I could watch it all day. I love and adore Everybody Loves Raymond.
I just can’t bring myself to fancy her anymore. For you, Morrissey, it would be like Anna Pacquin joining AIPAC.
I’d forgive her.
Pretty sure Fairfax is still Australian owned, and not owned by Murdoch’s News Corp. An old article:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/fairfax-media/news/article.cfm?o_id=263&objectid=10372643
Fairfax/Murdoch
Oh Fuck !
Well, that’s my credibility completely down the fucking gurgler then, isn’t it ? Christ knows what I was thinking. Must have been drunk at the time (if the excuse works for Ruth Aitken’s son – “The Urinator” – then it should work for me). Does this monumental faux pas, this utter failure to live up to the high intellectual rigour expected of all commenters on The Standard, necessarily make me a bad man ? Why, yes, I think it does.
Quality of Everybody (not Everyone – I was wrong once again !) Loves Raymond
Not saying it’s bad. In fact, I do watch it now and then (and not only because of Ms Heaton) but, you know, nowhere near the brilliance of Curb Your Enthusiasm (or, indeed, The Simpsons) in my view (and a long, long way behind the best British comedies).
Paul Morris/Mossad Affair
Much like you, Morrissey, I have a tendency to write transcripts of TV/Radio discussions on the Middle East in general and Israel/Palestine in particular. Been doing so since about 2003. Everything from RNZ to BBC World to Norman Finkelstein’s lectures on youtube (even though the substance of much of the latter ends up in his various publications).
In the immediate wake of the Mossad Affair (and the vandalism of Jewish graves in Wellington), Morris was interviewed by Maureen Garing on RNZ’s Spiritual Outlook programme. I did a complete transcript at the time but, unfortunately, a number of my transcripts (including that one) got inadvertantly thrown-out around 2 years ago (much to my subsequent upset).
But, from memory (and, given my monumental faux-pas, above, people are obviously going to have to treat this fairly cautiously, remembering that this is coming from the fucker who thought Fairfax was owned by Murdoch), Morris (1) poured cold water on the (almost certain) fact that a number of leading members of the Auckland Jewish community (not just the one who fled NZ) were deeply involved in the Mossad Affair, (2) suggested the Clark Labour Government was inherently “anti-Israel” because (despite Israel’s demands to the contrary) Foreign Minister Phil Goff insisted on seeing Arafat as well as Sharon, (3) continued to insist that there was no evidence to suggest those involved in the scandal were, in fact, Mossad agents and (4) argued that Clark’s criticism of Israel in the wake of the affair not only revealed “anti-Israel” bias, but also caused the subsequent attack on Jewish graves in Wellington.
Thanks Morrisey for that clarification!
It’s my pleasure.
Yet another third-rate correspondent on National Radio this morning
Irris Makler jokes about “dead in the water” peace flotilla
“Nine to Noon”, National Radio, Monday 4 July 2011
Irris Makler, Lana Shaheen, Rory Carroll, Liat Collins, Dame Ann Leslie, and Jason Morrison are all shamelessly partisan, right-wing shills—yet they are regularly deferred to as regional voices of
authority on National Radio. This morning, we were subjected to a particularly egregious performance from the obnoxiously glib and light- hearted Irris Makler.
Disgusted, I sent off a letter to the host Kathryn Ryan…
Dear Kathryn,
You said there was “great controversy over the peace flotilla” last year. In fact, there was no controversy over the flotilla, which sought to break the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza. The controversy was over the Israeli pirate raid on the boats, in international waters, which killed nine peace activists.
Your correspondent Irris Makler joked that the convoy, stuck in Greece, was “dead in the water”, then sneered at the fact that there are “celebrities like Alice Walker” on board. She could have mentioned that one of the peace protestors on the flotilla is 86-year-old Jewish Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein. Tellingly, however, Irris Makler did not see fit to mention that.
What criteria do you use to select your foreign correspondents?
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
——————————————————–
Keep listening, guys—she might read it out on air!
I don’t recall direct quotes of Key in the media being quite so literal when he first started out:
Last week’s Waitangi Tribunal findings further cement the view that the Treaty of Waitangi is an out of date document.
The Treaty, on the basis of their findings among other, clearly provides for one race to have a “special” place in these fair lands, in which many many races and creeds live.
No lands on the planet can sustain a separate set of laws and arrangements for one race, and another for all the other races. It is a fundamentally flawed approach and will fail. As it has in every other land in the world where similar circumstances are applied. Examples are not even needed to support this as it is so self-evident.
All points to the Treaty being flawed for NZ today and in the future.
Yet various in our lands keep their blinkers on and refuse to acknowledge this. They remind me of the three monkeys seeing, hearing and speaking no evil.
I wonder when this will be honestly acknowledged by those who benefit from being “special”?
Meant to add before ….. the Treaty was probably quite appropriate for the times back then and up until some recent later point in time. However the use-by date is up. Time for it to be redrawn.
VTO Read this book by David Slack NOW!
Thanks Jenny but no thanks. How about you get an appreciation of history, NOW.
‘
VTO I try to get a balanced view on most subjects and I find reading books helps.
I may have been a bit excited in demanding that you read this book NOW! but it was because I sincerely believe that David Slack’s book about the Treaty of Waitangi in today’s world, deals with the issues you are raising.
David Slack makes a particular point of challenging the issue which you raised in your comment, “the Treaty was probably quite appropriate for the times back then. However the use by date is up….”
He also looks at the issue of, as you put it “a separate set of laws and arrangements for one race”.
This is why I thought this would be such a good book for you.
I think you may be pleasantly surprised to find yourself agreeing with some of the conclusions in this book.
Apart from this, David Slack’s book is packed full of interesting facts, from our past history and our recent history, and how we came to be in the position we are in today.
Some of David Slack’s facts and figures on the Treaty, historical as well as recent, are really quite startling.
I didn’t know for instance that the first ever land settlement made by the Waitangi Tribunal was relating to compensation to Ngati Whatua for land at Basstion Pt. and the Orakei reserve, the last of which was confiscated without reparation from the Ngati Whatua as Recently as the 1950s by the Auckland City Council. And which was the setting for an unprecedented protest occupation by Ngati Whatua and their supporters in the late ’70s to stop this land being subdivided by private developers for a tidy profit.
The Tribunal found that it was irrefutable that this alienation of Ngati Whatua’s last remaining piece of land in the Auckland region, which had been termed inalienable in previous enactments, was against the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi. I dare you to say it wasn’t.
VTO you told me, ‘How about you get an appreciation of history, NOW.’
I would be more than happy to read any written contributions suggested by you on this topic.
I look forward to receiving your suggested reading list.
Yours sincerely J.
NO… the treaty clearly provides for independent tribes, acting as sovereign nations, to have a special place in these fair lands. That “special” place being their ancestral homelands, fisheries and resources of which iwi, like Tuhoe, were illegally displaced from.
Simple fact is, until you and Maori get your head around the “race” framing of any argument being irrelevent, you’re not really going to get anywhere. And until all treaty claims are settled there won’t be any other binding agreement drawn up any time soon.
What i hope to see drawn up in a post treaty settlement era is a constitution for something akin to Hone Harawira’s idea of a pan iwi Maori Parliament that has the Mana and authority to speak on behalf of all Maori about all things Maori.
Then while were at drawing up constitutions, let’s fully and finally cut the apron strings to wrinkly old Aunty Britannia, crawl out from under her colonial nightie and stand on our own 2 republican feet.
Would it still be necessary to crawl out from under Princess Di’s nightie, or could we stay there?
Two separate sets of laws, two parliaments and what you end up with is civil war.
Maori don’t need more representation than anyone else and as long as you keep asking/demanding it you’ll keep putting up the divides that keep us apart. You want people to treat everyone fairly and equally? Then stop asking for one race to be raised above all others.
PS, IMO, written constitutions aren’t all that great as they have a tendency to stop change when it becomes necessary.
Draco, I think you need to read David Slack’s book too. Cos’ you really don’t know what the hell you are talking about.
Polly, you miss my point and agree with it at the same time. And I wasn’t actually framing it in race terms if your read carefully. It applies whether the separatism is created by race, class, gender, age, etc… Heard of the provisions of the Human Rights Act? – try applying those principles to the Treaty and its big picture. The treaty creates effectively two separate sets of rules for two different groups of people in one land. That doesn’t work. Never has. Didn’t work when the whiteys were “special” and wont work when the brownies are “special”.
Sure, the Treaty may say this and that, but I contend that the this and that, while perhaps suitable in the past circumstances, is entirely unsuitable for today.
And it is nothing to do with racism against maori or etc etc etc, it is to do with two separate sets of laws in one land. Doesn’t work. I would contend the same thing were it in Russia, Mongolia, USA, Fiji, South Africa, Lesotho, Christchurch, anywhere ….
Easy to attack this sort of view as some sort of out-of-date colonial throwback view but I contend that the separatism view is the out-of-date throwback view. They need to take their blinkers off and answer this issue instead of ignoring it
(btw, this aint nought to do with righting past wrongs, whether by crown or maori)
Oh really?
Ask yourself VTO,
If it had not been for the Waitangi Tribunal allowing Ngati Whatua to get redress not available to them in any other court, where would Ngati Whatua be today?
Bastion Point would have been built over with luxury homes and Ngati Whatua would presently be facing eviction from the state rental homes they were forced into when the council bulldozed their homes at Okahu Bay.
Despite discharging Auckland City’s sewer system into Okahu bay the council refused to let Ngati Whatua connect their waste water to to the council system. Then demolished their Marae at Okahu Bay as being unsanitary.
Their last remaining bit of land was confiscated and those not driven off to South Auckland or further afield, were shoved into government owned state housing on Bastion Point as tenants on their own land.
As most of Ngati Whatua are gainfully employed, many with good incomes, they no longer meet the criteria for staying in the state housing on Bastion Point under the government’s new regulations for state housing tenants.
No doubt VTO you have nothing to say about this sort of present day injustice.
There is a name for people like you. Can you think what it is?
(NOT) PAYING FOR DISABLED CARE
A recent newsletter from the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) details an offer from the Government to settle the pay issue with disability care workers that arose from what is commonly known as the “sleepover case”.
In both the Employment Court and the Court of Appeal, it has been found that these workers on sleepover shifts are entitled to the minimum wage. Despite these rulings, no employer or their funders (a.k.a. the Government) have made any attempt to abide by the Court decisions, instead (in the case of IHC) employing workers through a subsidiary company to protect their large asset base (residential properties), placing companies into statutory management and lodging an appeal to the Supreme Court (due to be heard in September).
The probability that the Supreme Court will confirm earlier court rulings forced employers and the Government to the negotiating table. At issue are both putting these workers onto their lawful wage and backpay.
The Govt has offered to stagger the implementation of the minimum wage over four years. Audacious in the extreme, given the rulings clearly explain there is no ability for employer and employee to contract out of the Minimum Wage Act, even if they wanted to. This is as about as cut and dried as it gets, if you are working you must be paid no less than $13/hour. Apparently, despite this issue having dragged through the courts for over 3 years, employers and Government need another 4 years to be able to abide by legislation and the court’s interpretation of that legislation.
In respect of backpay, pleading poverty the Government has offered 25% of what is owed, only to workers still employed (former workers can go and get stuffed) and subject to a cap of $45 million. Oh, and they’ll fund half of it, the employers have to find the other half.
The amount of backpay has been approximated at $300 million, a quarter of that is $75 million. Even taking off an amount for former workers, I think describing the offer as “25%” is disingenuous. So, workers who have been frustrated by the intransigence of their employer and the Government as funder, patiently waiting for years to have this issue resolved, should now forego 75% (plus) of what has been accruing through no fault of their own.
The Union, to their credit, suggested 50% of backpay (plus interest) as a compromise. An entirely reasonable stance I suggest, cutting the bill by $150 million in an attempt to resolve this and move on. But no, that’s not good enough. I wonder what the reaction would have been had the Government, when bailing out SCF depositors, told them there was not enough money in the piggy bank and they could only have 25% of what they were legally entitled to?
In a final display of arrogance, the Government has given the Union until 15 July to advise whether the offer is accepted or rejected. One month to arrange meetings, votes etc, after the Government has pissed around for 3 years ignoring the issue until it could no longer do so.
This whole sorry saga continues to lurch towards an inevitable conclusion where no-one wins. Not surprisingly, the Union is recommending to its members not to accept the Government’s offer and given that likelihood, the parties will see each other at the Supreme Court on 13 September.
No-one wins because even if the Supreme Court overturns the earlier court rulings, the result may well be a mass exodus of current workers who have had a gutsful of this issue dragging on (first raised in 2001). Where I live, anecdotal evidence suggests 40% are ready to walk. The care of the disabled in our communities will be compromised.
If the Supreme Court does confirm earlier rulings, employers can choose to go bankrupt when the 5000+ claims that are waiting on this test case get filed in the Employment Court. Another possibility is retrospective legislation. Again, the care of the disabled is put at risk.
And that’s what’s so fucked up about this whole episode. The one’s who will ultimately suffer are the intellectually disabled members of our community. This is not an employment issue, it is a societal issue. When disability care was deinstitutionalised many years ago, huge cost savings resulted as Kingseat, Templeton et al became relics and disabled people were integrated into the community. Now, when workers attempt to re-address some balance into working conditions in this sector, no-one wants to cough up, forgetting the large cost of the alternative – professional care in expensive institutions.
I believe how we treat and care for those less fortunate in society is a reflection of society itself. In this area, society is failing.
Footnote: The Sleepover allowance paid by IHC when this case went to the Employment Relations Authority in 2008 was $34.00. In 2011, the allowance remains at $34.00.
I guess that since the recipients of care in this case are not significant voters then Government can wait it out. You are right about the social and economic reasons for abandoning the institutions. What should happen is that the money saved should have been diverted to proper community care. Underlines the importance of unionism as well.
New Zealands Crap Water
The Ministry of Health annual Report on Drinking-Water in New Zealand 2009/10 shows 72,000 New Zealanders are drinking faecally-contaminated water. MOH found unacceptable levels of E.Coli in the water of 2% of the population. However the true number of people drinking faecally contaminated water may be 10 times higher than the MOH figure.
What is NZ’s next sacrificial lamb to be led to the Free Trade altar for slaughter?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10736183
Surely the National Government won’t trade away Pharmac?
This government will trade away whatever of ours that their owners tell them to.
Or whatever the Lobby groups lob into their coffers!
What a load of shit drawing inferences between one racist pig and the rest of Vote for Change’s founding members. Sure, they F’d up by not doing a background check on their founding members, but to infer that the rest of the members have white supremacist values is plain bullshit.
Furthermore, we’re yet to hear a debate playing the game, rather than the man, from pro-MMP supporters. While Fogerty is the extreme exception – but how about the pro-MMP campaign actually start debating the issues, rather than mud-slinging.
[lprent: this sub-thread is a complete diversion from the content of post – sent to OpenMike. ]
Now now Sonny Bill…
…you just worry about putting Quade Cooper on his arse and bringing home that Super 15 cup for the meantime yeah ?
theres a good lad, now run along…
And right on target pollywog provides an example of this stupidity in action.
Do you bother to use your brain sometime pollywog or do you prefer to substitute insults or reason?
hmmmm…trick question eh Gosman ?…Imma hv ta fink bout dat 1 eh
but just off the top, do you know what the proportion of rich old white men comprising the VfC board compared to any other demographic is ?
Who cares?
What was the proportion of radical lefties like Rod Donald in the original pro-electoral reform movement in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s?
Did that somehow mean that MMP was tainted by leftist politics?
Likewise who cares…the 90’s were a bit of hazy decade for me.
…but let me get this straight. You’re comparing Rod Donald’s involvement with pro electoral reform in the 90’s with Alex Fogerty’s pro reform involvement now ?
No respect for the dead even. Jeez, how low will you screwed up right turning nutjobs go to smear a guys rep ?
but of course the 90’s reforms were about getting a fair deal for the under represented by left leaning politicians just as much as this bottom feeder Fogerty wants to protect his white male privilege in the right leaning politically and financially over represented.
Nice attempt at diversion and trying to grab a moral high ground that isn’t there. Rod Donald was a radical lefty. That is a fact that does not alter regardless of him being dead. His prominent role in the pro-electoral reform movement should not preclude people of a Right leaning persuassion from looking at the merits of MMP.
Despite your feeble attempt at misdirection Gossy, it still stands to reason that we need way more political activists like Rod Donald RIP in this world than we do bottom feeding right wing scumbags like Fogerty and maybe your self ?.
Of course movements are rightly associated with the political leanings of those involved in them.
The simple difference between Rod Donald’s involvement in getting MMP and Alex Fogerty’s involvement in Vote for Change: Rod Donald wasn’t a white supremacist, nor were his views the leftwing equivalent.
The mere fact that Donald didn’t have to quit the movement when people knew about his political views tells you that there is no moral equivalency.
What was the proportion of radical lefties like Rod Donald…
Ah I can see you’re a ignorant innocent. Rob Donald was never a “radical leftie”. If you think that then you have been truly shielded from reality.
Radical leftie? I am reminded of Jeanette Fitzsimon’s answer to Leighton Smith in 2002, that as the mainstream moved further right, the moderate left became the extreme left by default.
Apparently SBW the debate was done and dusted 15 odd years ago so there’s no need to engage in civilised debate anymore.
Imagine if that sort of perverted logic applied to all political discourse. There’s no need to discuss the ins and outs of Employment law because the National Party won the 1990 election on a platform of more flexibility in employment practices.
The stupidity behind the logic in that thinking staggers me.
[lprent: Moved as it referred a comment that has also been moved ]
Hi SBW, what yourself and Gosman miss when you invoke the ad hominem fallacy (in your different styles) is that there is good reason for people to be concerned with others’ motives – it works. That’s why, presumably, humans’ inordinate concern with motivation evolved in the first place.
It may not follow the strict cannons of Enlightenment rationalism, but it remains a rough and perfectly adequate approach to making decisions – once again, because it is likely to be adaptive in the long run. At a guess, I’d say that following strict logical guidelines in decision making about social and political issues – and ignoring information about speakers’ motives – will probably mean that you end up as a first rate mug.
Consideration of motives also encourages you to think about possible arguments that have not been mentioned (e.g., like ‘What would happen under a less proportional system if someone with, for example, a white supremacist agenda gained more than their fair share of representation?’). Thinking about motives, that is, raises concerns that are not part of the anemic, ‘motivation-less’ analysis that a pure rationalism might evoke.
Of course, in a perfect world in which everyone acted hyper-rationally and never used strategies such as ‘bait and switch’, never attempted to advance their agenda through sophisticated arguments and were always cognitively transparent we could all agree with you. But I don’t think that world is coming anytime soon.
Word PG. Motive and intent are everything in my books.
I expect we’ll see a lot of Key and English playing the ball come election time, ‘cos their motives are 100% pure and their intent noble. They have nothing but the best interests of ALL NZers at heart eh ?.. especially the mums and dads.
…yeah right
Well said. In my view, human behaviour is profoundly governed by motivation and it is often easy to see why people say and do certain things when you understand their motives. It also helps you predict their desired ‘endgame’, and determine whether or not you should support them. That is, it is important to understand ‘why’ someone is doing something, not just ‘what’.
The influence of motivation on behaviour may be concious, for example, people may support a certain cause because they stand to directly benefit from, but it can also occur at a subconcious level – which can easily be seen through a bit of inspection.
In saying that, however, questioning other’s motivation must of course be done in an honest manner, which of course means we should not make false accusations and ensure we properly ascertain how relevant it may be.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5230771/AA-calls-for-petrol-price-drop
Tui Ad?
Yeah well as long as the Commerce Commission is bought and paid for by big Business then you have no chance of a fair go for all.
not to mention petrol is only going to go one way in price
And once the US and other countries stop releasing oil from the emergency reserves watch as prices spike upward again. Price of oil in US$ may be down ATM but the general trend over the last 5 years is upwards.
It’s awesomesauce.
The G7 drain their Strategic Reserves, make a big fuss about it and manage to lower oil prices.
Speculators buy up their cheap oil like crazy. And 6 months later, sell it back to the G7 at a 50% mark up.
Bloody brilliant.
These are truly great days to be a wealthy American CEO:
CEO pay in US soared 23 percent in 2010
uke, these captains of industry deserve and finance every dollar that they earn and you shouldn’t be envious after all where would we be if they decided to leave us?
And didn’t you get the memo from Lloyd Blankfein (of Goldman Sachs)?
They are doing God’s work, don’t you know.
I’m not joking.
http://www.businessinsider.com/lloyd-blankfein-says-he-is-doing-gods-work-2009-11
Absolutely, and he should not have been made to apologise for the remark several days later.
(“…finance every dollar that they earn…”. Nice.)
National Abusing Parliamentary Services
I received correspondence today from the National Party re Private and Personal Address Details. I had written to question how the National Party was able to gain the names and addresses specifically for pensioners for John Key’s letter dated 22 June 2011.
Fox news twitter haxxored:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2011/jul/04/fox-news-hacked-twitter-obama-dead
Go look now before they fix it:
https://twitter.com/#!/foxnewspolitics
…snort…still up..
Pascal’s bookie,
We already have the Fox News NZ style…
Talk about Crosby Textor…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/rebuilding-christchurch/5226579/Post-quake-deal-divides-Christchurch-councillors
I wonder if the Christchurch voters have had enough of Bob Parker yet?
Speaking of racism, wasn’t that some bullshit from Don Brash today? Did you you see this?
Brash was throwing all his toys this morning, all angry about them uppity darkies. Maarees get too much white money he reckons, and they need knocking down a peg or two.
The trigger for his tantrum of race-hate? The Wai 262 report. He said parts of it are too extreme, give waaay too much stuff to maori, and the govt has to rule it out.
Of course he later admitted (by lunchtime) that he hadn’t read the report and therefore had no idea what was in it.
Is Hoots writing scripts for him again or something?
The Politics of Misery
Today it was reported that the Pike River Coal receivers cannot make recovering bodies a condition of the Pike River mines sale. Apparently they cannot force potential buyers to carry out the recovery without a guarantee the operation would be safe and feasible. If it wasn’t achievable, why was it started in the first place I wonder? National’s Acting Minister of Energy and Resources, Hekia Parata then contradicted the receiver’s statement…
1.) this utter failure to live up to the high intellectual rigour expected of all commenters
Next stop for you on your downward slide: a talk show on Radio Live.
2.) …and a long, long way behind the best British comedies
We presume you are a fan of The Inbetweeners.
3.) a number of leading members of the Auckland Jewish community (not just the one who fled NZ)
Who was this person who fled New Zealand? I remember reading about an Auckland ambulance worker who used to constantly disturb his colleagues by vehemently ranting about subhuman Palestinians. He went to Israel to join the IDF. Was it him, by any chance?
4.) …transcripts of TV/Radio discussions on the Middle East in general and Israel/Palestine in particular.
Good. Please publish them when you can. I have also recorded and transcribed a lot of TV and radio “discussions” (that is too charitable a term for most of them) and I will post more when I find the time. The other day, I dug up a transcript I made a few years back of a particularly foolish and incompetent Harriett Gilbert interview with Joe Sacco on the BBC Radio programme “The Strand”. I’ll post it up soon.
Your observations on Morris are interesting. I haven’t actually heard him say anything unfair or prejudiced, so far anyway. He is a civil and cultured speaker, at least, which makes him a contrast to such shameless pro-Israel propagandists as David Zwartz of Wellington, Dov Bing of Hamilton, and Michael Nathan of Auckland.