Latest TPP U.S., Australia Move Toward Biologics Compromise With Options
ATLANTA – The United States and Australia are inching toward a compromise on the exclusivity period for biologic drugs that would give Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries more than one option for providing an appropriate level of intellectual property (IP) protection, according to informed sources. http://insidetrade.com/
Burcu Kilic @burcuno 13m13 minutes ago
#TPP Ministerial is extended for another 24 hours now.
Burcu Kilic @burcuno 22m22 minutes ago
Reportedly, Amari told Froman to conclude dairy & biologics negotiations within 24 hrs. Japan is getting anxious #TPP
“Meanwhile, New Zealand has significantly softened its stance on market access for dairy products. Up until now, the country had been calling for lower barriers for its dairy products. By Saturday, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key was saying the TPP would greatly benefit his country even if he couldn’t gain more progress on the issue.”
‘A push by the United States to set a longer period of exclusivity for drug makers who develop biological drugs like Genentech’s Avastin cancer-treatment has run into opposition from other TPP economies.
The United States allows pharmaceutical companies an exclusive period of 12 years to use clinical data behind the approval for a new biological drug.
The Obama administration had previously proposed lowering that threshold to seven years but has pushed a proposal for an eight-year minimum in the TPP talks in Atlanta.
Drug companies argue that a longer period is needed to create an incentive for developing treatments for diseases such as cancer and arthritis.’
‘Harper’s Conservatives are on course to win the most seats in the October 19 election but may lose their majority, and the main opposition party has said it would not feel itself bound by any TPP deal that Harper negotiated.’
75% of drug development in the US is funded by the federal government under the Orphan Drugs scheme. It’s around US$9b per year worth of subsidies (The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato) and I believe that the drug companies actually get to keep the IP rights contrary to most US government grants.
Now, just think of what our own pharmaceutical industry could do with $9b per year of government funding. That’d employ about 100,000 people.
+ 1. Yes Mariana Mazzucato also shows that the development new biologic drugs – the subject of much negotiation in the TPPA – were also funded by public money – mostly in the UK. Venture capitalists and big Pharma only got interested when all of the substantive risks were mitigated and the proofs of effectiveness were rolling in.
She shows that much of the IP claims of big Pharma are in new uses for existing drugs and that the most innovative thing some big pharmaceutical companies do is share buy backs because they are unwilling to take the risks of – the very thing we are supposed to laud these corporate titans for doing – spending actual money on actual research for new drugs.
She describes many companies, Apple for example, as being unfit recipients of public investment because of how they behave – avoiding taxes, moving production offshore and so on.
No one can calibrate with a reasonable degree of confidence the impact of tighter intellectual property protections or harmonized regulations, which are likely to do more to transfer income from one group (consumers) to another (producers) than to affect the overall size of the economy.
— Alan Beattie, Financial Times
This is actually wrong. It’s not shifting income from consumers to producers but from consumers and producers to shareholders. You can pretty much guarantee that there will be a rise in Patent Trolls once the TPPA is in force and everyone will suffer while the bludgers take us to the cleaners.
While I don’t read THIS article as reflecting it……watch out for the insinuation (just quietly) that this victim somehow contributed to her ordeal.
“Prisoner X could have this…..Prisoner X could have that…..BEFORE she was slung into mainstream……etc etc etc. Hang on, maybe her lawyer could have done more…..blah blah blah.”
Yes. She might also have respected this government’s advised ‘kaitiaki’ role in relation to Serco’s licensed lust for profit taking. And said nothing at all.
A la Amanda Bailey. I can see it coming. Hosking’ll be champing at the bit I daresay…..just waiting for the word.
C’mon Peseta Sam……out of hiding and give it your fumbling, inglorious best !
Here’s some context then.
The Independent, a UK newspaper, reporting on the day England played, had 2 stories not to do with sport with greater prominence than the rugby loss.
I’m highlighting how awful our news reporting is.
And therefore how ill informed our population is.
And therefore how a bunch like Key’s gang make parliament.
Police, The Department of Corrections and Corrections Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga were all investigating after the prisoner, previously segregated, was moved into the “mainstream” jail population, then allegedly beaten up and sexually assaulted.
Labour’s acting Corrections spokeswoman Jacinda Ardern said the incident was “clear evidence” Serco was not fit to run New Zealand’s prisons.
“After the chaos and violence we saw at Mt Eden Prison, we are now seeing Serco isn’t fit to run Wiri prison either.
“It’s there in black and white in Serco’s contract that they have to run proper segregation policies at Wiri to keep at-risk prisoners safe. They clearly aren’t living up to that.”
Yes serco are not fit to run prisons or anything – they and the people who gave them this role are scum and… (I really really want to go medieval on these bastards, I really really want to describe horrendous fates for these bastards – but doesn’t that make me like them?)
I don’t think Hosking or any media are going to start insinuating this transgender inmate did anything to provoke being raped. I reckon coverage will be neutral (and probably minimal – more’s the pity). It’s a gross failing on the part of Serco, culpable negligence amounting to abuse. Anybody with any sense could have seen that risk, surely. I hope she successfully sues Serco and Corrections.
OPEN LETTER TO JOSIE PAGANI: SECOND PUBLICATION
Sunday 4 October
Dear Josie Pagani,
Two and a half weeks ago on this forum, I asked you to answer two questions:
1.) In the light of your support for the destruction of Afghanistan, do you support the invasion of the United States and Great Britain, the bombing and obliteration of British and American schools, hospitals, power stations and churches, and the killing of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of American and British civilians?
2.) Can you explain your statement that Hezbollah and Hamas are anti-Semitic?
Canadian Treaty ratification process is basically the same as ours, Maybe Harper is spinning.
“After signature of an international treaty, once Canada is ready to be bound by it, a document is prepared establishing that the formalities for the coming into force and implementation of the treaty have been completed and that Canada agrees to be bound by the treaty. More formally, Cabinet prepares an Order in Council authorizing the Minister of Foreign Affairs to sign an Instrument of Ratification or Accession.13 Once this instrument is deposited with the appropriate authority, the treaty is officially ratified. At this point, Canada is bound by the treaty as soon as it comes into force (if it is not already in force).14
The Canadian government and public servants have continued to negotiate on the TPPA as if there was no pre-election period rather than following the usual convention of becoming a care-taker government.
Advice to public servants has been amended from the usual practice. However the advice does say that no deal will be signed until post election but it is still a rather shocking departure from the usual process.
Dear Mr Morrissey
As you know my politics are from the left and therefore cannot provide you with an unequivocal answer. I speak in riddles, just like messers Cunliffe, Little and Geoff.
Yours Josie
[r0b: In case it is not obvious, this comment is not from JP]
“Where do they think they are? Fal-LUJAH!?!?!??”*
Death toll rises in suspected US airstrike on Afghan hospital
by SUNE ENGL RASMUSSEN in Kabul The Guardian, 3 October 2015
Nine staff dead and up to 37 injured in Médecins Sans Frontières hospital as charity says bombing continued for 30 minutes after it raised alarm
A US airstrike appears to have hit a hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières in the Afghan city of Kunduz, killing nine staff members and injuring up to 37 people.
MSF said its hospital in the northern city was bombed and badly damaged in an aerial attack early on Saturday morning.
The charity claimed it had circulated the coordinates of the site to all sides engaged in fighting in the country, adding that the bombing continued for 30 minutes after it had raised the alarm with Afghan and US authorities.
At the time of the bombing, 105 patients and its carers, and more than 80 MSF international and national staff were in the hospital, the charity said.
Some members of staff were still unaccounted for on Saturday, and there are fears the death toll will rise considerably. Up to 10 international aid workers who were based in the hospital are believed to have survived the attack. ….
A spokesman for the US military admitted it might be responsible.
“US forces conducted an airstrike in Kunduz city at 2:15am [local time] on 3 October against individuals threatening the force. The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility. This incident is under investigation,” said Col Brian Tribus, spokesman for international forces in Afghanistan. ….
Morrissey – this is dreadful, dreadful, dreadful. When will the USA stop its stupid war-mongering?
And as for the “collateral damage” bullshit …… its time they spoke plain English and said straight-out – “we the USA bombed a hospital with over 200 people in it – patients and carers” The use of such language helps them hide their atrocities.
“When will the USA stop its stupid war-mongering?”
They won’t. Their whole economy is based on bombs, bullets and violence.
These conflicts in the middle east plus the Jews bombing Gaza are, as Arther Daily would say ” nice little earners ” . You don’t make bombs to put into a store somewhere, you make them to use.
As for the “collateral damage” bullshit, the yanks have used “sanitised ” language for ages. They no longer do precision bombing, precision is something the bloody yanks don’t know the meaning off, They are now called “Surgical Strikes” sounds very clean antiseptic and sterilized. Another term is “take out” a term that is now creeping into our thugby. It is the American culture and that is why I avoid as much as possible looking, reading, or listening to anything that comes out of that sewer.
Who are they then? They are not exactly Scots in Kilts are they? I am also under the impression the regime that bombed Gaza was returned to power at the last election, So who were the people who voted for them then?
Israel is a pariah state, it is not “the Jews”. It is a militaristic, racist regime that has been condemned by most of the world. Much of the most eloquent testimony against this rogue state comes from Jews—many of them conscientious objectors from its own armed forces. ….
I think you should be referring to the Israelis half crown, as opposed to the Jews. Jews reside in many countries and do not all by any means condone the Israeli regime’s apartheid and attacks against Palestinians. The IDF seem to be the main agents of the regime.
Precision bombing and Americans is an oxymoron! Joseph Heller summed it up pretty well in Catch-22:
“Did we hit the bridge?” McWatt would ask.
“I couldn’t see, sir, I kept getting bounced around back here pretty hard and I couldn’t see . . .”
“Hey, Aarfy, did the bombs hit the target?”
“What target?” . . . “I don’t think we’re at the target yet. Are we?”
“Yossarian, did the bombs hit the target?”
“What bombs?” answered Yossarian, whose only concern had been the flak.
“Oh well,” McWatt would sing, “what the hell.”
Although I said I don’t read anything that comes out of that sewer, I do read some of the more intelligent thought provoking literature that comes from there. Catch 22 is one of my favorites. The novel is far superior than the film, though I did like Orson Wells (Brigadier General Dreedle) B25 with the white walled tyres. and John Voight (Milo Minderbinder) doing his deals with the Germans to bomb their base at cost plus 10% Fantastic and cynical.
I also like Major Major Major and how he was named Major Major Major. Just to name a few highlights.
Brings back good memories of an ill spent youth in Pomgolia.
Richard Madan @RichardMadan 1h1 hour ago
Also, chances of #TPP Ministerial talks extending *past* Sunday = slim. G20 Trade Min Summit begins Monday in Istanbul, so there’s that.
TPPA
Burcu Kilic @burcuno 5m5 minutes ago
Trade ministers will hold another plenary session at 10 PM tonight. Another night of #TPP stakeholdering, perfect Saturday night in Atlanta!
re- …”This may be dubious but it’s caught the ear of the 800-pound gorilla in the GOP presidential nomination – Donald Trump. He has built a fair degree of his campaign on opposition to TPP, and recently met with Jeff Sessions, a leading TPP opponent among conservatives, to talk trade. Heck, Trump wants to cancel NAFTA, along with stopping any Obama-negotiated trade agreements. “We need fair trade, not free trade,” Trump told 60 Minutes on Sunday, sounding more like Dick Gephardt than a conservative. But he has the ear of a significant portion of the conservative base.”
Go DONALD TRUMP! obviously a free thinker ( ha ha never thought I would say that)
…and interesting that Dotcom has also been texting him!
Hilarious the way this post assumes that left wingers are middle class careerists. No mention of workers (Bunnings, Affco,teachers, bank workers anyone) who are union members, who get the job done as well as being active in political work. That’s the strength of the union movement. Not people with Pol Sci degrees fretting about their mortgage and their career, and what to wear to work today.
[lprent: I’ve never been part of a union. There are no unions that cover the areas I work in and never have been. Unlike people who are in unionised industries and work places, I cannot rely upon a collective herd immunity. Nor can many people who are supporters of the labour movement. This post was clearly directed at them.
Many people who support labour movements aren’t likely to be even have the opportunity to join a union. There aren’t any available to them.
Kind of freaky the way that you assume leftie middle class careerists have PolSci degrees. I don’t. BSc, MBA and a lot of experience on factory floors and running them. I know very few people with polsci degrees outside of a few bureaucrats in Wellington.
But I suspect that you are just a idiot, and probably a troll. Looking at your comments – you are banned from the post that these came from for attempted diversion. Use OpenMike where this got moved to. You are now being moderated. If I see you try here again, I will give you a long ban.
Moved the whole thread to OpenMike to discourage similar fuckwits ]
“Not people with Pol Sci degrees fretting about their mortgage and their career, and what to wear to work today.”
Way to minimise political concerns. Given that the people who control what’s happening to all of us are likely to be Pol Sci grads (and business school grads with careers to fret about), it makes sense to look at the politics of coercion in that context.
(you can of course also write about the pressures on working class people to be silent).
Lols. I just deleted my reply to CR (I had the identical experience as them when working for an NGO) as I’m not middle class careerist enough. Figured this post isn’t for me after all.
Way to dismiss the place of unions in left politics and pretend that belonging to a union isn’t one of the best ways to advance “leftist” politics. And that only working class people belong to unions. Teachers, nurses, medical specialists, university staff, finance and retail sector workers – all middle class and members of strong, active and successful unions. That is one very powerful way to be politically active, have a career, be middle-class and left.
Advising me to write a separate post about unions and the working class kind of underscores the point.
If people join unions, or form unions when there isn’t one that covers your profession, unions have more strength, and are able to influence politics more.
Careerists are by definition more concerned with their individual selves and prospects of “getting ahead”, as demonstrated here, and collective action and strength seems not to appeal to them. How does that sit with be “lefty”?
Unions members have mortgages too. Stop being such cowards.
…because…do you get it? People here are complaining of feeling isolated, and vulnerable and unable to speak out. How many of you saying that belong to your union? That’s what unions are – groups of workers middle class and working class, banding together to protect their pay and conditions, yes, but also to protect their professional standards, and to have political influence, and the right an ability to speak out without fear. Why is that not an option for you guys? I am genuinely interested to know.
The people that I was thinking about like the “small business owner” are not in a union situation, trendy lefty. Also the people that used to work for larger govt departments or firms who are now classified as contractors.
Part of the rationale for this trend was to help disestablish the rights of the workers and deal to unions at the same time. I agree, if you have the opportunity to be in a union, you should take it.
The people that I was thinking about like the “small business owner” are not in a union situation,
I think that small business owners should be in a union and I’m not talking about the Chamber of Commerce. They could do much to help each other. Unfortunately, someone would probably get round to calling it a guild which is an illegal entity.
I don’t understand why people dont. In July I got a $23 a fortnight pay increase because of TEU. I pay $18 a fortnight to the Union. My non union colleages go tno increase, so financially alone, i am ahead BUT most importantly the TEU works to challenge the change being proposed where I work, and it will protect its own workers jobs first and foremost
I can see why some big bosses don’t like unions, but not anyone earning less than $90k per annum.
Anytime a colleague has a work problem and they come to me (as a former lawyer) , I always ask them first “are you in the union” When they say “no” I say join the union, and they will help you.
I can see why some big bosses don’t like unions, but not anyone earning less than $90k per annum.
Big bosses love unions. It’s why they belong to so many – Manufacturing Associations, Business Roundtables, Chambers of Commerce, The National Party. What they don’t like is the small people having unions.
Tracey..Pleased to hear that non union colleagues didn’t get the increase that you as a union member got. It didn’t use to be that way and the freeloaders (Duh. I don’t believe in unions..duh!) used to get the same increases that union members paid,negotiated and even withdrew services for.
When they complained about being treated poorly my advice always was.. ‘discuss it with your union delegate..oh what? your not a member?..oh well,,’
A colleague of mine a few years ago challenged her redundancy. She had not been a union member, but once made redundant joined up. They went in to battle for her. She had a poor case (legally) but with the union she got a VERY good payout.
I can see why they do it, they want to protect workers but honestly, if you knew your insurance company would pay you out without paying premiums until you needed to, why would you bother?
“..and forgo your career arc”, or words to that effect. Not so. You make it sound as if being a member of the union automatically means your career is over. Bullshit, I say. Sure unions don’t always win, and small businesses are businesses, so yeah hard for them to join a union – but is that a new thing? And if you are a small business, you can be left wing by treating and paying your employees well, and encouraging them to belong to their union.
However, most people in New Zealand are employees, and less than 20% are members of their unions. I hear people say, why should I join a union? They have no power. They didn’t do anything for me..etc…acting as if a union is a separate entity, rather than themselves and their colleagues.
If you are an employee or a contractor, join your union. Be active in your union, and encourage other colleagues to join. Be brave.
Union member with a good career and senior position, speaking out, telling it like it is to the Minister of Education. Not scared, surrounded by member colleagues, who know that they, not the union staff, are the union:
Well, your comment reads as though addressed directly to me. But see, I didn’t say anything about foregoing a career arc in relation to unionism per se. Hmm, and I was formerly heavily involved in unionism. Anyway…
I hear people say, why should I join a union? They have no power. They didn’t do anything for me..etc…acting as if a union is a separate entity, rather than themselves and their colleagues.
That is true and it is also true of greater society.
I think many of Ad’s points, in the abstract, do apply to working class employment too (whether or not that was Ad’s ‘target’).
My Dad worked in factories almost all of his life. When he was an operator of a cable extruder (did that for about 12 years) I remember him saying that he trained probably half a dozen new men (always men) to become a ‘driver’ on the machine – which was the lead role on the machine and paid more than a ‘hand’.
Dad would apply to get a ‘driver’s’ job but was never offered it despite being relied upon to train the new recruits. The reason, according to him, was that he was disliked by his managers. Why?
Well, he was a staunch unionist and, using basic logic and his intuitive principles he would point out when management was in breach of the award that they had signed up to or were acting in bad faith, etc..
Back then – the 1970s – that amounted to being labelled a ‘pommy stirrer’.
Mum used to tell him to stop arguing with the bosses so that he’d become a driver and get a pay rise. He didn’t, which I guess meant that we were less wealthy than we could have been if he’d compromised what, to him, were pretty basic principles of fairness (e.g., rule of law, abiding by a contract, being honest). I guess you could say he sacrificed his ‘career’ by not compromising his principles.
He also used to complain about the fact that, at smoko and lunches (he worked 12 hour shifts, sometimes overnight so they weren’t always lunches) he’d try to talk about politics but his co-workers were completely uninterested and didn’t want to engage – they just read the sports pages of the paper on the cafeteria tables.
He became very frustrated and quite bitter – I guess a bit of an outcast both in terms of his treatment by the bosses but, more importantly, the responses of his fellow workers to his politicised view of life and work.
I think the same applies in middle class workplaces – and sites of middle class socialising in general. The person who wants to discuss or ‘come out’ about their political concerns is either an embarrassment or seen as an unhelpful bore and, quick, someone start talking about something else – anything else.
BTW, at that time Dad wasn’t a shop steward or a union staffer – just an active member of the union.
I think, in general, being political is a good way to not be accepted by most groups, working or middle class.
At best I think it’s often seen as an unfortunate ‘hobby’ for someone to have – especially if it goes beyond brief and bland comments about, for example, ‘the government’s not doing too bad, eh’ or ‘did you here what [politician X] said? What a jerk/joke/idiot!’.
Jonah Hull’s scandalously biased “report” on “Russia’s bombardment of Syria”:
Qatari state TV is, as usual, repeating U.S. State Dept. talking points.
Al Jazeera News, Sunday 4 October 2015, 11 a.m.
Al Jazeera’s biased and incendiary coverage of Syria has always been a disgrace. As the mouthpiece of the ISIL-supporting Qatari dictatorship, Al Jazeera diligently parrots the dictatorship’s line, which is a faithful reiteration of the U.S.-Saudi line, on every dispute involving Syria, Yemen, Iran and Lebanon.
In fact, it is more upsetting to see such crude propaganda emanating from an ostensible news channel than it is to watch the same words coming from the mouths of Samantha Power, John Kerry and Barack Obama. At least we expect Power, Kerry and Obama to routinely tell lies. With a television channel on the other hand, even one from an anti-democratic state like Qatar, we should expect at least a nominal commitment to the facts.
Instead, Al Jazeera insults its viewers with “reports” like the one this morning from Jonah Hull, in Macedonia….
After soberly announcing that the “moderate armed opposition” in Syria—a technical term for Al Qaeda, ISIL and Al Nusra—in Syria is “demanding” that its Western supporters “get serious” about supporting them, Hull goes in search of some vox pop, presumably to lend an appearance of credibility to his “report”…
JONAH HULL: Do you think Russia’s involvement in Syria will make things better?
CAREFULLY SELECTED SYRIAN REFUGEE: Ehhhhh, no.
Then it’s back to Jonah Hull for a few pompous, minatory final words. Summoning up all the gravitas he can, Hull intones: “It’s about the Russian bombing of Syria now, of course. Jonah Hull, Al Jazeera, on the Macedonia-Serbia border.”
Democrats are as likely to participate in the revolving door as Republicans; which incentivizes them to support and propose legislation that redistributes income to the wealthy and harms the middle class. In his progressive agenda, President Sanders would be taking this lucrative escape from representative duties away from them.
Not only this but those regulatory agencies which have been captured by industry and finance will be against him. The criminal (in)justice system which has benefited from militarization and the drug war will be against him. The entire pharmaceutical and insurance industries will be against him. The military that wants to be able to fight the Soviet Union two times over will be against him.
This is why “political revolution” is so important.
And we have similar problems here as well as we saw with the ABCs in Labour prior to the last election. Our entire bureaucratic system fights against the changes that we need to make NZ, and the world, better.
An Auckland mother-of-three spent seven months on home detention after her former employer at upmarket bathroom ware chain Spazio Casa wrongly accused her of theft.
Rachel Wilkinson was acquitted at a retrial last month when ex-franchisees of the company came forward to counter the claims of Spazio Casa director, Paulo Cozzolino.
Cozzolino had accused Wilkinson of taking $40,000 worth of bathroom products and selling them on Trade Me.
But 32-year-old Wilkinson has always maintained that Cozzolino told her to do it, to get rid of unwanted stock.
The allegations came as Spazio Casa was investigated by the Commerce Commission for promoting its products as Italian, when in fact most were made in China.
Right, now that he’s left can we make it so that he can’t come back?
I disagree, justice must be proportionate, as we are now seeing the quite disreproporate way kiwi are treated in oz. Seven months home detention for the boss.
I agree. You don’t see why politics of distraction exists to undermine your power. Do the sums, when media in oz or nz do immigration stories whose harmed.
When we throw out a crime they do the same, it all equals up, but its worse for all, as the criminals have families, they have mortgages their kids are attached to their community, when you cut them out, you not only damage them but also the wealth around them. That’s why mob mentality is dumb, you are dumb, you are serving the media distraction industry, you are being uneconomic, u are harming innocents, or at least that would be the effect if people listened to you.
Free trade is undermined when we make it harder for world class experts to move around the globe, and know they are just as likely to gecaught in a lie. Take vw, some engineer wrote a testing regime for smooth running diseal that out performed petrol, marketering got a hold of it and not understanding the physics got the boss sacked. WE chuck crimes out and they chuck their crimes out and we’ll get the same amount of crimes shared around. Well worse since there ate so many more kiwis aboard and so more criminals.
Oh, andhen as the returnee come home poorer caught at the I lowest hour, they can thank you for your mercy.
When we throw out a crime they do the same, it all equals up, but its worse for all, as the criminals have families, they have mortgages their kids are attached to their community, when you cut them out, you not only damage them but also the wealth around them.
As I said, he’s already left to go back to Italy. All I’m saying is that we don’t let him back in. Hopefully he hasn’t got full citizenship in which case all we have to do is to revoke his permanent residency.
Free trade is undermined when we make it harder for world class experts to move around the globe, and know they are just as likely to gecaught in a lie.
Can you define what “world class” means?
I’m pretty sure you can’t and the reason for that is because it’s a meaningless phrase. It, quite literally, means nothing.
Take vw, some engineer wrote a testing regime for smooth running diseal that out performed petrol, marketering got a hold of it and not understanding the physics got the boss sacked.
Calls to invoke immigration fascism is self defeating, as other countries do the same. And given the present issue where kiwis in oz are denied access to welfare, and are more likely to get caught out by the law, it seems astounding anyone on the left for the reasons above, or the right for free trade in workers or the huge dispropionate loss of wealth forcing a whole family to up root and move. Just saying I think you need to back using immigration as a arm of justice. People make mistakes, they do so at home or aboard, companies lose when chefs have to be replaced. And don’t give me that argument that a person whose committed an offences lesser a human being, or not beter at their jobs, or have kids, or won’t cost the economy if we stuff them up a bit with some arbritary historical boundary merely as they are in the public eye. Judges don’t take licenses away from drivers, so way should immigration stuff up a foreigners life that may take decades to get back. Now if it was a violent crime, then the society that raised them should have to deal wih them. Oz chewing up kiwi born but aussie raised to throw themut is just beyond nasty its bout owning the problem. What would that say about a person if they don’t take responisility. Australia should be taken to task by its citizens.
TPPA Jane Kelsey’s take on the situation.
Jane Kelsey: “TPPA ministerial extended another day, still stuck on meds and dairy ”
“But Professor Kelsey warns that a ‘final’ TPPA that assumes any compromise wording would survive the US political process could be built on sand, as the US could still demand a longer term as a quid pro quo for making concessions on other areas.
Allowing countries to keep their current 5 years would have to pass the scrutiny of the US Congress and, more significantly, the process whereby the US certifies the other country has complied with the US understanding of its obligations under agreement. Professor Kelsey observed that ‘any flexibility given to New Zealand on biologics to allow us to keep our current 5 years of data exclusivity could prove an illusion at that final hurdle.’
As for dairy, the chess game remains much the same: what Canada and Japan have given the US is not enough to satisfy the US industry that it can compensate for increased market access to New Zealand.”
– See more at: http://livenews.co.nz/2015/10/04/jane-kelsey-tppa-ministerial-extended-another-day-still-stuck-on-meds-and-dairy/#sthash.4tzsdjl7.dpuf
On Friday I posted this about the comments on NZ Herald stories, a topic which had previously been raised here:
“I have been watching one particular story today, so here’s what has happened so far.
Brian Rudman’s “Don’t waste takahe’s cash on panda porn” was posted at 9.24am. (Presumably too late for the print edition – will it be in that tomorrow?)
The 24 comments the Herald opted to reproduce are all denoted as having been made at c.11.48am. However, they were not actually posted till after 1pm.
I made a comment on the article sometime around 12.30 and that has not been posted. In fact it is now 5.25pm and no further comments have been added at all. That seems odd.
(The tone of the existing comments was pretty nearly 100% against the government. The usual RWNJs were absent, having decided that this one was too hot too handle.)”
Just coming back to report that the missing comments- or such of them as the Herald wants to print – have now been posted, TWO DAYS LATE. Posted late this morning, Sunday. They’re pretty heavily critical of the government’s actions, but I doubt that many people will now read them. That’s one way to deal with criticism.
Keep an eye on the Herald’s techniques with its comments. They are up to no good.
1. One of the aspects of TPPA that concerns me the most is the rules about SOE’s . As far as I am concerned, state-backed enterprises should be able to have public service/ public good considerations and not be subject to forced competition with overseas providers.
“The TPP is about more than tariffs and quotas, said Cam Vidler of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He said it’s a rare opportunity for the international community to modernize itself in several important ways:
2. In his q and a interview this morning Mr Key says he can’t say if New Zealand will benefit from the TPPA deal at the moment. He said Kiwis are worrying because they are misinformed. He also says he doesn’t believe NZ could be sued.
Mr Key, I have just looked at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development paper headed “Recent Developments in Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).”
“By end of 2013, 98 States have been respondents in a total of 568 known
treaty-based cases.” 57 were initiated in 2013. http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/webdiaepcb2014d3_en.pdf
You John might have a faith-based belief that NZ could not be sued, but looking at the information that I have just read, can you forgive me for having a nagging doubt?
TPPA update
Burcu Kilic @burcuno 2m2 minutes ago
Tonight’s plenary is over. The ministers will meet tomorrow afternoon but not before. Japan is still hopeful of conclusion. #TPP
Burcu Kilic Retweeted
Anna Vidot @AnnaVidot 1h1 hour ago
tl;dr: Robb sounds optimistic,hopeful, but not necessarily confident re biologics agreement. Doesn’t sound like a man about to concede. #TPP
Burcu Kilic Retweeted
Anna Vidot @AnnaVidot 1h1 hour ago
Robb: Aust & US acting in good faith, “but fact is we’ve got different systems and just splitting it down the middle is not the answer. #TPP
‘As it stands at the moment Prime Minister John Key says the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) isn’t “a very good deal for dairy”.
But despite that the benefits in other areas are more “impressive” than the deal struck under the free trade agreement with China, he said.
“So when I say to New Zealanders, look I’m not going to sign you up to something unless I think it’s in your best interests – I don’t do that by whistling in the wind.”
The much-anticipated announcement on the Pacific trade deal has been pushed back again after negotiating countries failed to front at a scheduled press conference at midday on Saturday (Sunday 5am NZT).
It’s understood negotiations will continue through the night in an effort to get it across the line after talks ground to a halt in recent weeks over dairy and biologics.
Key told TVNZ’s Q+A that New Zealand wouldn’t get everything it wanted on dairy but it was about getting something that’s “acceptable”.
He also dismissed claims that New Zealand was opening itself up to being sued by a big US corporation through investor-state or losing its sovereignty over the deal.
“Well we’ve had it in four FTAs now, we’ve never ever been sued. New Zealand has never had a case taken against us in investor state.”‘
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 ...
The Department of Conservation is in greater need of a commissioner than Health NZ, a veteran scientist says The post The risks and rewards of remaking DoC appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Latest TPP U.S., Australia Move Toward Biologics Compromise With Options
ATLANTA – The United States and Australia are inching toward a compromise on the exclusivity period for biologic drugs that would give Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries more than one option for providing an appropriate level of intellectual property (IP) protection, according to informed sources. http://insidetrade.com/
Burcu Kilic @burcuno 13m13 minutes ago
#TPP Ministerial is extended for another 24 hours now.
Burcu Kilic @burcuno 22m22 minutes ago
Reportedly, Amari told Froman to conclude dairy & biologics negotiations within 24 hrs. Japan is getting anxious #TPP
Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari said he had agreed to stay on until Sunday, but this was the last extension possible for talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which began on Wednesday. http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKCN0RX0OZ20151003?irpc=932
Good explanation of biologicals issue in this Huff Post article
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-sander-/is-tpp-the-most-progressive-trade-agreement-in-history-_b_7461734.html
“Meanwhile, New Zealand has significantly softened its stance on market access for dairy products. Up until now, the country had been calling for lower barriers for its dairy products. By Saturday, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key was saying the TPP would greatly benefit his country even if he couldn’t gain more progress on the issue.”
http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/International-Relations/Negotiations-on-Pacific-trade-deal-to-go-on-another-day
Thanks, John!
We’re being softened up for a dirty dirty deal.
‘A push by the United States to set a longer period of exclusivity for drug makers who develop biological drugs like Genentech’s Avastin cancer-treatment has run into opposition from other TPP economies.
The United States allows pharmaceutical companies an exclusive period of 12 years to use clinical data behind the approval for a new biological drug.
The Obama administration had previously proposed lowering that threshold to seven years but has pushed a proposal for an eight-year minimum in the TPP talks in Atlanta.
Drug companies argue that a longer period is needed to create an incentive for developing treatments for diseases such as cancer and arthritis.’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/286007/tpp-talks-bogged-down-over-pharmaceuticals
From the same article
‘Harper’s Conservatives are on course to win the most seats in the October 19 election but may lose their majority, and the main opposition party has said it would not feel itself bound by any TPP deal that Harper negotiated.’
Could we hear the same form Mr Little please?
75% of drug development in the US is funded by the federal government under the Orphan Drugs scheme. It’s around US$9b per year worth of subsidies (The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato) and I believe that the drug companies actually get to keep the IP rights contrary to most US government grants.
Now, just think of what our own pharmaceutical industry could do with $9b per year of government funding. That’d employ about 100,000 people.
+ 1. Yes Mariana Mazzucato also shows that the development new biologic drugs – the subject of much negotiation in the TPPA – were also funded by public money – mostly in the UK. Venture capitalists and big Pharma only got interested when all of the substantive risks were mitigated and the proofs of effectiveness were rolling in.
She shows that much of the IP claims of big Pharma are in new uses for existing drugs and that the most innovative thing some big pharmaceutical companies do is share buy backs because they are unwilling to take the risks of – the very thing we are supposed to laud these corporate titans for doing – spending actual money on actual research for new drugs.
She describes many companies, Apple for example, as being unfit recipients of public investment because of how they behave – avoiding taxes, moving production offshore and so on.
On the topic of the TPPA it appears that there is concern in Canada that people believe the CBC is at risk because of the SOE chapter of the proposed agreement. It seems odd that no-one has raised the possibility of the same risk for Radio New Zealand. Radio New Zealand is not an SOE but the TPPA definition could well differ from the NZ definition.
http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/cbc-could-be-on-the-table-at-next-round-of-tpp-talks-this-wednesday-529823071.html
From you last link:
This is actually wrong. It’s not shifting income from consumers to producers but from consumers and producers to shareholders. You can pretty much guarantee that there will be a rise in Patent Trolls once the TPPA is in force and everyone will suffer while the bludgers take us to the cleaners.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11523403
While I don’t read THIS article as reflecting it……watch out for the insinuation (just quietly) that this victim somehow contributed to her ordeal.
“Prisoner X could have this…..Prisoner X could have that…..BEFORE she was slung into mainstream……etc etc etc. Hang on, maybe her lawyer could have done more…..blah blah blah.”
Yes. She might also have respected this government’s advised ‘kaitiaki’ role in relation to Serco’s licensed lust for profit taking. And said nothing at all.
A la Amanda Bailey. I can see it coming. Hosking’ll be champing at the bit I daresay…..just waiting for the word.
C’mon Peseta Sam……out of hiding and give it your fumbling, inglorious best !
4 headlines in the Herald online about rugby.
None about the TPP.
Bread and circuses.
try and keep it in context paul ffs
Here’s some context then.
The Independent, a UK newspaper, reporting on the day England played, had 2 stories not to do with sport with greater prominence than the rugby loss.
I’m highlighting how awful our news reporting is.
And therefore how ill informed our population is.
And therefore how a bunch like Key’s gang make parliament.
sure Paul I’m talking about the actual story you commented on which was about the awful alleged abuse of that person.
Apologies.
I had meant to start a new thread rather then reply to North’s story.
all good mate
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11523360
Yes serco are not fit to run prisons or anything – they and the people who gave them this role are scum and… (I really really want to go medieval on these bastards, I really really want to describe horrendous fates for these bastards – but doesn’t that make me like them?)
I don’t think Hosking or any media are going to start insinuating this transgender inmate did anything to provoke being raped. I reckon coverage will be neutral (and probably minimal – more’s the pity). It’s a gross failing on the part of Serco, culpable negligence amounting to abuse. Anybody with any sense could have seen that risk, surely. I hope she successfully sues Serco and Corrections.
OPEN LETTER TO JOSIE PAGANI: SECOND PUBLICATION
Sunday 4 October
Dear Josie Pagani,
Two and a half weeks ago on this forum, I asked you to answer two questions:
1.) In the light of your support for the destruction of Afghanistan, do you support the invasion of the United States and Great Britain, the bombing and obliteration of British and American schools, hospitals, power stations and churches, and the killing of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of American and British civilians?
2.) Can you explain your statement that Hezbollah and Hamas are anti-Semitic?
Could you please respond?
http://thestandard.org.nz/all-the-left-wants-is-a-clean-contest-of-ideas/#comment-1071118
This Open Letter to Josie Pagani was also published on Saturday 3 October 2015. So far, Josie Pagani has failed to justify herself.
Stephen Harper, the Canadian pm has promised that the final decision on TPP for Canada will be decided by the parliament in Ottawa. Why isn’t the same thing happening here?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-trans-pacific-partnership-1.3255564
Canadian Treaty ratification process is basically the same as ours, Maybe Harper is spinning.
“After signature of an international treaty, once Canada is ready to be bound by it, a document is prepared establishing that the formalities for the coming into force and implementation of the treaty have been completed and that Canada agrees to be bound by the treaty. More formally, Cabinet prepares an Order in Council authorizing the Minister of Foreign Affairs to sign an Instrument of Ratification or Accession.13 Once this instrument is deposited with the appropriate authority, the treaty is officially ratified. At this point, Canada is bound by the treaty as soon as it comes into force (if it is not already in force).14
The Canadian government and public servants have continued to negotiate on the TPPA as if there was no pre-election period rather than following the usual convention of becoming a care-taker government.
Advice to public servants has been amended from the usual practice. However the advice does say that no deal will be signed until post election but it is still a rather shocking departure from the usual process.
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2015/08/canadian-government-amends-caretaker-rules-to-give-itself-power-to-continue-negotiating-tpp/
Perhaps this statement is in response to the criticism that this approach has created
Our flag should be a green mere on a red background, referencing the Maori wars.
Dear Mr Morrissey
As you know my politics are from the left and therefore cannot provide you with an unequivocal answer. I speak in riddles, just like messers Cunliffe, Little and Geoff.
Yours Josie
[r0b: In case it is not obvious, this comment is not from JP]
Thanks r0b. I was kind of on to this one.
Who, by the way, is the “Geoff” this faux-Josie references?
Goff, I imagine.
“Where do they think they are? Fal-LUJAH!?!?!??”*
Death toll rises in suspected US airstrike on Afghan hospital
by SUNE ENGL RASMUSSEN in Kabul
The Guardian, 3 October 2015
Nine staff dead and up to 37 injured in Médecins Sans Frontières hospital as charity says bombing continued for 30 minutes after it raised alarm
A US airstrike appears to have hit a hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières in the Afghan city of Kunduz, killing nine staff members and injuring up to 37 people.
MSF said its hospital in the northern city was bombed and badly damaged in an aerial attack early on Saturday morning.
The charity claimed it had circulated the coordinates of the site to all sides engaged in fighting in the country, adding that the bombing continued for 30 minutes after it had raised the alarm with Afghan and US authorities.
At the time of the bombing, 105 patients and its carers, and more than 80 MSF international and national staff were in the hospital, the charity said.
Some members of staff were still unaccounted for on Saturday, and there are fears the death toll will rise considerably. Up to 10 international aid workers who were based in the hospital are believed to have survived the attack. ….
A spokesman for the US military admitted it might be responsible.
“US forces conducted an airstrike in Kunduz city at 2:15am [local time] on 3 October against individuals threatening the force. The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility. This incident is under investigation,” said Col Brian Tribus, spokesman for international forces in Afghanistan. ….
Continues….
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/03/three-medecins-sans-frontieres-staff-killed-in-afghanistan-hospital-bombing?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2
* David Letterman’s nightly joke during 2004-5. Always met with a roar of laughter from his audience.
Are NZ SAS forces still involved in supplying target information to the US ?
+1 Morrissey
Don’t think we will hear John Key lecturing the security council over this. What a hypocrite.
Morrissey – this is dreadful, dreadful, dreadful. When will the USA stop its stupid war-mongering?
And as for the “collateral damage” bullshit …… its time they spoke plain English and said straight-out – “we the USA bombed a hospital with over 200 people in it – patients and carers” The use of such language helps them hide their atrocities.
“When will the USA stop its stupid war-mongering?”
They won’t. Their whole economy is based on bombs, bullets and violence.
These conflicts in the middle east plus the Jews bombing Gaza are, as Arther Daily would say ” nice little earners ” . You don’t make bombs to put into a store somewhere, you make them to use.
As for the “collateral damage” bullshit, the yanks have used “sanitised ” language for ages. They no longer do precision bombing, precision is something the bloody yanks don’t know the meaning off, They are now called “Surgical Strikes” sounds very clean antiseptic and sterilized. Another term is “take out” a term that is now creeping into our thugby. It is the American culture and that is why I avoid as much as possible looking, reading, or listening to anything that comes out of that sewer.
“the Jews bombing Gaza”
Please don’t call this rogue, criminal regime “the Jews”. The worldwide opposition to Israel is led by Jewish thinkers and activists.
Israel does not represent “the Jews” any more than the similarly brutal regime in Riyadh represents “the Arabs”.
Who are they then? They are not exactly Scots in Kilts are they? I am also under the impression the regime that bombed Gaza was returned to power at the last election, So who were the people who voted for them then?
Israel is a pariah state, it is not “the Jews”. It is a militaristic, racist regime that has been condemned by most of the world. Much of the most eloquent testimony against this rogue state comes from Jews—many of them conscientious objectors from its own armed forces. ….
http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/
I think you should be referring to the Israelis half crown, as opposed to the Jews. Jews reside in many countries and do not all by any means condone the Israeli regime’s apartheid and attacks against Palestinians. The IDF seem to be the main agents of the regime.
Precision bombing and Americans is an oxymoron! Joseph Heller summed it up pretty well in Catch-22:
“Did we hit the bridge?” McWatt would ask.
“I couldn’t see, sir, I kept getting bounced around back here pretty hard and I couldn’t see . . .”
“Hey, Aarfy, did the bombs hit the target?”
“What target?” . . . “I don’t think we’re at the target yet. Are we?”
“Yossarian, did the bombs hit the target?”
“What bombs?” answered Yossarian, whose only concern had been the flak.
“Oh well,” McWatt would sing, “what the hell.”
Although I said I don’t read anything that comes out of that sewer, I do read some of the more intelligent thought provoking literature that comes from there. Catch 22 is one of my favorites. The novel is far superior than the film, though I did like Orson Wells (Brigadier General Dreedle) B25 with the white walled tyres. and John Voight (Milo Minderbinder) doing his deals with the Germans to bomb their base at cost plus 10% Fantastic and cynical.
I also like Major Major Major and how he was named Major Major Major. Just to name a few highlights.
Brings back good memories of an ill spent youth in Pomgolia.
TPPA
Burcu Kilic @burcuno 5m5 minutes ago
Thanks 2 NZ Minister Groser, we have a new #TPP term; DRI (dead rat index) swallowing dead rats- making compromises. http://ipolitics.ca/2015/10/03/tpp-talks-bogging-down-meltdown-
Richard Madan @RichardMadan 1h1 hour ago
Also, chances of #TPP Ministerial talks extending *past* Sunday = slim. G20 Trade Min Summit begins Monday in Istanbul, so there’s that.
TPPA
Burcu Kilic @burcuno 5m5 minutes ago
Trade ministers will hold another plenary session at 10 PM tonight. Another night of #TPP stakeholdering, perfect Saturday night in Atlanta!
TPPA — maybe some unanticipated help from a most unexpected quarter …..
http://www.salon.com/2015/09/29/the_unexpected_upshot_of_john_boehners_ouster_the_trans_pacific_partnership_is_in_danger/
+100 … thanks for that !…interesting
re- …”This may be dubious but it’s caught the ear of the 800-pound gorilla in the GOP presidential nomination – Donald Trump. He has built a fair degree of his campaign on opposition to TPP, and recently met with Jeff Sessions, a leading TPP opponent among conservatives, to talk trade. Heck, Trump wants to cancel NAFTA, along with stopping any Obama-negotiated trade agreements. “We need fair trade, not free trade,” Trump told 60 Minutes on Sunday, sounding more like Dick Gephardt than a conservative. But he has the ear of a significant portion of the conservative base.”
Go DONALD TRUMP! obviously a free thinker ( ha ha never thought I would say that)
…and interesting that Dotcom has also been texting him!
Hilarious the way this post assumes that left wingers are middle class careerists. No mention of workers (Bunnings, Affco,teachers, bank workers anyone) who are union members, who get the job done as well as being active in political work. That’s the strength of the union movement. Not people with Pol Sci degrees fretting about their mortgage and their career, and what to wear to work today.
[lprent: I’ve never been part of a union. There are no unions that cover the areas I work in and never have been. Unlike people who are in unionised industries and work places, I cannot rely upon a collective herd immunity. Nor can many people who are supporters of the labour movement. This post was clearly directed at them.
Many people who support labour movements aren’t likely to be even have the opportunity to join a union. There aren’t any available to them.
Kind of freaky the way that you assume leftie middle class careerists have PolSci degrees. I don’t. BSc, MBA and a lot of experience on factory floors and running them. I know very few people with polsci degrees outside of a few bureaucrats in Wellington.
But I suspect that you are just a idiot, and probably a troll. Looking at your comments – you are banned from the post that these came from for attempted diversion. Use OpenMike where this got moved to. You are now being moderated. If I see you try here again, I will give you a long ban.
Moved the whole thread to OpenMike to discourage similar fuckwits ]
This is definitely a post for middle class careerists.
Hope you can cope with that.
Someone else can do a post on the union movement.
In fact the union movement and workers – whom we all support – get more posts here than middle class careerists.
“Not people with Pol Sci degrees fretting about their mortgage and their career, and what to wear to work today.”
Way to minimise political concerns. Given that the people who control what’s happening to all of us are likely to be Pol Sci grads (and business school grads with careers to fret about), it makes sense to look at the politics of coercion in that context.
(you can of course also write about the pressures on working class people to be silent).
Lols. I just deleted my reply to CR (I had the identical experience as them when working for an NGO) as I’m not middle class careerist enough. Figured this post isn’t for me after all.
Way to dismiss the place of unions in left politics and pretend that belonging to a union isn’t one of the best ways to advance “leftist” politics. And that only working class people belong to unions. Teachers, nurses, medical specialists, university staff, finance and retail sector workers – all middle class and members of strong, active and successful unions. That is one very powerful way to be politically active, have a career, be middle-class and left.
Advising me to write a separate post about unions and the working class kind of underscores the point.
If people join unions, or form unions when there isn’t one that covers your profession, unions have more strength, and are able to influence politics more.
Careerists are by definition more concerned with their individual selves and prospects of “getting ahead”, as demonstrated here, and collective action and strength seems not to appeal to them. How does that sit with be “lefty”?
Unions members have mortgages too. Stop being such cowards.
…because…do you get it? People here are complaining of feeling isolated, and vulnerable and unable to speak out. How many of you saying that belong to your union? That’s what unions are – groups of workers middle class and working class, banding together to protect their pay and conditions, yes, but also to protect their professional standards, and to have political influence, and the right an ability to speak out without fear. Why is that not an option for you guys? I am genuinely interested to know.
The people that I was thinking about like the “small business owner” are not in a union situation, trendy lefty. Also the people that used to work for larger govt departments or firms who are now classified as contractors.
Part of the rationale for this trend was to help disestablish the rights of the workers and deal to unions at the same time. I agree, if you have the opportunity to be in a union, you should take it.
I think that small business owners should be in a union and I’m not talking about the Chamber of Commerce. They could do much to help each other. Unfortunately, someone would probably get round to calling it a guild which is an illegal entity.
I belong to the TEU.
I don’t understand why people dont. In July I got a $23 a fortnight pay increase because of TEU. I pay $18 a fortnight to the Union. My non union colleages go tno increase, so financially alone, i am ahead BUT most importantly the TEU works to challenge the change being proposed where I work, and it will protect its own workers jobs first and foremost
I can see why some big bosses don’t like unions, but not anyone earning less than $90k per annum.
Anytime a colleague has a work problem and they come to me (as a former lawyer) , I always ask them first “are you in the union” When they say “no” I say join the union, and they will help you.
Big bosses love unions. It’s why they belong to so many – Manufacturing Associations, Business Roundtables, Chambers of Commerce, The National Party. What they don’t like is the small people having unions.
Tracey..Pleased to hear that non union colleagues didn’t get the increase that you as a union member got. It didn’t use to be that way and the freeloaders (Duh. I don’t believe in unions..duh!) used to get the same increases that union members paid,negotiated and even withdrew services for.
When they complained about being treated poorly my advice always was.. ‘discuss it with your union delegate..oh what? your not a member?..oh well,,’
A colleague of mine a few years ago challenged her redundancy. She had not been a union member, but once made redundant joined up. They went in to battle for her. She had a poor case (legally) but with the union she got a VERY good payout.
I can see why they do it, they want to protect workers but honestly, if you knew your insurance company would pay you out without paying premiums until you needed to, why would you bother?
From the post.
“..and forgo your career arc”, or words to that effect. Not so. You make it sound as if being a member of the union automatically means your career is over. Bullshit, I say. Sure unions don’t always win, and small businesses are businesses, so yeah hard for them to join a union – but is that a new thing? And if you are a small business, you can be left wing by treating and paying your employees well, and encouraging them to belong to their union.
However, most people in New Zealand are employees, and less than 20% are members of their unions. I hear people say, why should I join a union? They have no power. They didn’t do anything for me..etc…acting as if a union is a separate entity, rather than themselves and their colleagues.
If you are an employee or a contractor, join your union. Be active in your union, and encourage other colleagues to join. Be brave.
Union member with a good career and senior position, speaking out, telling it like it is to the Minister of Education. Not scared, surrounded by member colleagues, who know that they, not the union staff, are the union:
Well, your comment reads as though addressed directly to me. But see, I didn’t say anything about foregoing a career arc in relation to unionism per se. Hmm, and I was formerly heavily involved in unionism. Anyway…
That is true and it is also true of greater society.
I think many of Ad’s points, in the abstract, do apply to working class employment too (whether or not that was Ad’s ‘target’).
My Dad worked in factories almost all of his life. When he was an operator of a cable extruder (did that for about 12 years) I remember him saying that he trained probably half a dozen new men (always men) to become a ‘driver’ on the machine – which was the lead role on the machine and paid more than a ‘hand’.
Dad would apply to get a ‘driver’s’ job but was never offered it despite being relied upon to train the new recruits. The reason, according to him, was that he was disliked by his managers. Why?
Well, he was a staunch unionist and, using basic logic and his intuitive principles he would point out when management was in breach of the award that they had signed up to or were acting in bad faith, etc..
Back then – the 1970s – that amounted to being labelled a ‘pommy stirrer’.
Mum used to tell him to stop arguing with the bosses so that he’d become a driver and get a pay rise. He didn’t, which I guess meant that we were less wealthy than we could have been if he’d compromised what, to him, were pretty basic principles of fairness (e.g., rule of law, abiding by a contract, being honest). I guess you could say he sacrificed his ‘career’ by not compromising his principles.
He also used to complain about the fact that, at smoko and lunches (he worked 12 hour shifts, sometimes overnight so they weren’t always lunches) he’d try to talk about politics but his co-workers were completely uninterested and didn’t want to engage – they just read the sports pages of the paper on the cafeteria tables.
He became very frustrated and quite bitter – I guess a bit of an outcast both in terms of his treatment by the bosses but, more importantly, the responses of his fellow workers to his politicised view of life and work.
I think the same applies in middle class workplaces – and sites of middle class socialising in general. The person who wants to discuss or ‘come out’ about their political concerns is either an embarrassment or seen as an unhelpful bore and, quick, someone start talking about something else – anything else.
BTW, at that time Dad wasn’t a shop steward or a union staffer – just an active member of the union.
I think, in general, being political is a good way to not be accepted by most groups, working or middle class.
At best I think it’s often seen as an unfortunate ‘hobby’ for someone to have – especially if it goes beyond brief and bland comments about, for example, ‘the government’s not doing too bad, eh’ or ‘did you here what [politician X] said? What a jerk/joke/idiot!’.
At worst – well, it gets pretty tough.
Jonah Hull’s scandalously biased “report” on “Russia’s bombardment of Syria”:
Qatari state TV is, as usual, repeating U.S. State Dept. talking points.
Al Jazeera News, Sunday 4 October 2015, 11 a.m.
Al Jazeera’s biased and incendiary coverage of Syria has always been a disgrace. As the mouthpiece of the ISIL-supporting Qatari dictatorship, Al Jazeera diligently parrots the dictatorship’s line, which is a faithful reiteration of the U.S.-Saudi line, on every dispute involving Syria, Yemen, Iran and Lebanon.
In fact, it is more upsetting to see such crude propaganda emanating from an ostensible news channel than it is to watch the same words coming from the mouths of Samantha Power, John Kerry and Barack Obama. At least we expect Power, Kerry and Obama to routinely tell lies. With a television channel on the other hand, even one from an anti-democratic state like Qatar, we should expect at least a nominal commitment to the facts.
Instead, Al Jazeera insults its viewers with “reports” like the one this morning from Jonah Hull, in Macedonia….
After soberly announcing that the “moderate armed opposition” in Syria—a technical term for Al Qaeda, ISIL and Al Nusra—in Syria is “demanding” that its Western supporters “get serious” about supporting them, Hull goes in search of some vox pop, presumably to lend an appearance of credibility to his “report”…
JONAH HULL: Do you think Russia’s involvement in Syria will make things better?
CAREFULLY SELECTED SYRIAN REFUGEE: Ehhhhh, no.
Then it’s back to Jonah Hull for a few pompous, minatory final words. Summoning up all the gravitas he can, Hull intones: “It’s about the Russian bombing of Syria now, of course. Jonah Hull, Al Jazeera, on the Macedonia-Serbia border.”
More shoddy recent repetition of U.S. State Dept. talking points….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-03102015-2/#comment-1077971
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21022015/#comment-972803
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06022015/#comment-964190
Patrick Cockburn writing in the Independent says the the West should welcome Russia’s intervention.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-crisis-lets-welcome-russias-entry-into-this-war-a6678526.html
Thanks for that, Paul. Excellent.
What a President Sanders Can Expect The Day After Inauguration and Why We Need a “Political Revolution”
And we have similar problems here as well as we saw with the ABCs in Labour prior to the last election. Our entire bureaucratic system fights against the changes that we need to make NZ, and the world, better.
Woman’s conviction overturned after boss wrongly accuses her of theft
Right, now that he’s left can we make it so that he can’t come back?
I disagree, justice must be proportionate, as we are now seeing the quite disreproporate way kiwi are treated in oz. Seven months home detention for the boss.
I don’t see what’s disproportionate about keeping a foreign criminal out of NZ.
I agree. You don’t see why politics of distraction exists to undermine your power. Do the sums, when media in oz or nz do immigration stories whose harmed.
When we throw out a crime they do the same, it all equals up, but its worse for all, as the criminals have families, they have mortgages their kids are attached to their community, when you cut them out, you not only damage them but also the wealth around them. That’s why mob mentality is dumb, you are dumb, you are serving the media distraction industry, you are being uneconomic, u are harming innocents, or at least that would be the effect if people listened to you.
Free trade is undermined when we make it harder for world class experts to move around the globe, and know they are just as likely to gecaught in a lie. Take vw, some engineer wrote a testing regime for smooth running diseal that out performed petrol, marketering got a hold of it and not understanding the physics got the boss sacked. WE chuck crimes out and they chuck their crimes out and we’ll get the same amount of crimes shared around. Well worse since there ate so many more kiwis aboard and so more criminals.
Oh, andhen as the returnee come home poorer caught at the I lowest hour, they can thank you for your mercy.
As I said, he’s already left to go back to Italy. All I’m saying is that we don’t let him back in. Hopefully he hasn’t got full citizenship in which case all we have to do is to revoke his permanent residency.
Can you define what “world class” means?
I’m pretty sure you can’t and the reason for that is because it’s a meaningless phrase. It, quite literally, means nothing.
That sounds remarkably like BS.
Calls to invoke immigration fascism is self defeating, as other countries do the same. And given the present issue where kiwis in oz are denied access to welfare, and are more likely to get caught out by the law, it seems astounding anyone on the left for the reasons above, or the right for free trade in workers or the huge dispropionate loss of wealth forcing a whole family to up root and move. Just saying I think you need to back using immigration as a arm of justice. People make mistakes, they do so at home or aboard, companies lose when chefs have to be replaced. And don’t give me that argument that a person whose committed an offences lesser a human being, or not beter at their jobs, or have kids, or won’t cost the economy if we stuff them up a bit with some arbritary historical boundary merely as they are in the public eye. Judges don’t take licenses away from drivers, so way should immigration stuff up a foreigners life that may take decades to get back. Now if it was a violent crime, then the society that raised them should have to deal wih them. Oz chewing up kiwi born but aussie raised to throw themut is just beyond nasty its bout owning the problem. What would that say about a person if they don’t take responisility. Australia should be taken to task by its citizens.
TPPA Jane Kelsey’s take on the situation.
Jane Kelsey: “TPPA ministerial extended another day, still stuck on meds and dairy ”
“But Professor Kelsey warns that a ‘final’ TPPA that assumes any compromise wording would survive the US political process could be built on sand, as the US could still demand a longer term as a quid pro quo for making concessions on other areas.
Allowing countries to keep their current 5 years would have to pass the scrutiny of the US Congress and, more significantly, the process whereby the US certifies the other country has complied with the US understanding of its obligations under agreement. Professor Kelsey observed that ‘any flexibility given to New Zealand on biologics to allow us to keep our current 5 years of data exclusivity could prove an illusion at that final hurdle.’
As for dairy, the chess game remains much the same: what Canada and Japan have given the US is not enough to satisfy the US industry that it can compensate for increased market access to New Zealand.”
– See more at: http://livenews.co.nz/2015/10/04/jane-kelsey-tppa-ministerial-extended-another-day-still-stuck-on-meds-and-dairy/#sthash.4tzsdjl7.dpuf
On Friday I posted this about the comments on NZ Herald stories, a topic which had previously been raised here:
“I have been watching one particular story today, so here’s what has happened so far.
Brian Rudman’s “Don’t waste takahe’s cash on panda porn” was posted at 9.24am. (Presumably too late for the print edition – will it be in that tomorrow?)
The 24 comments the Herald opted to reproduce are all denoted as having been made at c.11.48am. However, they were not actually posted till after 1pm.
I made a comment on the article sometime around 12.30 and that has not been posted. In fact it is now 5.25pm and no further comments have been added at all. That seems odd.
(The tone of the existing comments was pretty nearly 100% against the government. The usual RWNJs were absent, having decided that this one was too hot too handle.)”
Just coming back to report that the missing comments- or such of them as the Herald wants to print – have now been posted, TWO DAYS LATE. Posted late this morning, Sunday. They’re pretty heavily critical of the government’s actions, but I doubt that many people will now read them. That’s one way to deal with criticism.
Keep an eye on the Herald’s techniques with its comments. They are up to no good.
1. One of the aspects of TPPA that concerns me the most is the rules about SOE’s . As far as I am concerned, state-backed enterprises should be able to have public service/ public good considerations and not be subject to forced competition with overseas providers.
“The TPP is about more than tariffs and quotas, said Cam Vidler of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He said it’s a rare opportunity for the international community to modernize itself in several important ways:
He said it would establish clear rules in China’s backyard. Guidelines regulating the behaviour of state-backed enterprises would provide an international precedent, should the emerging giant ever join the agreement.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/tpp-talks-bogged-down-over-pharmaceuticals/article26641388/
As Donald Trump would say, “It’s about China”
2. In his q and a interview this morning Mr Key says he can’t say if New Zealand will benefit from the TPPA deal at the moment. He said Kiwis are worrying because they are misinformed. He also says he doesn’t believe NZ could be sued.
Mr Key, I have just looked at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development paper headed “Recent Developments in Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).”
“By end of 2013, 98 States have been respondents in a total of 568 known
treaty-based cases.” 57 were initiated in 2013.
http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/webdiaepcb2014d3_en.pdf
You John might have a faith-based belief that NZ could not be sued, but looking at the information that I have just read, can you forgive me for having a nagging doubt?
TPPA update
Burcu Kilic @burcuno 2m2 minutes ago
Tonight’s plenary is over. The ministers will meet tomorrow afternoon but not before. Japan is still hopeful of conclusion. #TPP
Burcu Kilic Retweeted
Anna Vidot @AnnaVidot 1h1 hour ago
tl;dr: Robb sounds optimistic,hopeful, but not necessarily confident re biologics agreement. Doesn’t sound like a man about to concede. #TPP
Burcu Kilic Retweeted
Anna Vidot @AnnaVidot 1h1 hour ago
Robb: Aust & US acting in good faith, “but fact is we’ve got different systems and just splitting it down the middle is not the answer. #TPP
We are being softened up.
‘As it stands at the moment Prime Minister John Key says the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) isn’t “a very good deal for dairy”.
But despite that the benefits in other areas are more “impressive” than the deal struck under the free trade agreement with China, he said.
“So when I say to New Zealanders, look I’m not going to sign you up to something unless I think it’s in your best interests – I don’t do that by whistling in the wind.”
The much-anticipated announcement on the Pacific trade deal has been pushed back again after negotiating countries failed to front at a scheduled press conference at midday on Saturday (Sunday 5am NZT).
It’s understood negotiations will continue through the night in an effort to get it across the line after talks ground to a halt in recent weeks over dairy and biologics.
Key told TVNZ’s Q+A that New Zealand wouldn’t get everything it wanted on dairy but it was about getting something that’s “acceptable”.
He also dismissed claims that New Zealand was opening itself up to being sued by a big US corporation through investor-state or losing its sovereignty over the deal.
“Well we’ve had it in four FTAs now, we’ve never ever been sued. New Zealand has never had a case taken against us in investor state.”‘
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/72678881/a-good-dairy-deal-under-the-tpp-is-unlikely-as-talks-begin-to-wrap-up
Key: “Well we’ve had it in four FTAs now, we’ve never ever been sued. New Zealand has never had a case taken against us in investor state.”
We’ve not had a trade agreement before with what’s probably the world’s most litigious country though, have we?
Shanghai Maling’s offer (if it gets over the line) will allow them to decide the company’s CEO, the budget and business plan.
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/thenation/clipping-the-ticket-on-nzs-primary-produce-2015100310#axzz3nRUQwwik
Thoughts?
Key photo ops…