In amongst the plethora of lamentations for Tom Petty (who was Tom Petty?) in Daily Review last night, CoroDale slipped in two references to a RNZ broadcast which may have passed unnoticed! The whole is worth listening to, but here’s a couple of extracts:
“When you’ve got a government that comes out and says, we’ve got to tolerate 8 or 9 percent unemployment or that one third of children in New Zealand live in poverty, when you’ve got a prime minister who then says ‘well, we can’t do anything about that now because we’ll run out of money’, that’s an insidious lie.”
and
“The Greens are neo-liberals on bikes and the Labour Party are neoliberal lite. They say ‘I’ll do austerity but I’ll do it fairer’.
“There’s no such thing as fair austerity when you’ve got a third of your children living in poverty.”
Yep… this is the basis for Bill Mitchell’s statement. And he’s right. Unless Labour and Greens are prepared to tear up their fiscal pledge, it looks like more of the same neo-liberal economics… but with a nicer face.
Unfortunately @Carolyn, it all starts with that Natzi type mindset such that employees should be grateful if an employer deigns to employ them.
You issue an immigrant a visa that ties him or her to a specific employer. If the employer is good – count yourself lucky.
You then shift the Labour Inspectorate and Immigration NZ under a business focussed Ministry and completely under-resource them.
If the employer turns out to be an arsehole, tough luck. If you want to change employer, you’re then faced with INZ application fees, and perhaps the cost of an immigration lawyer – something hard to do if you’re living hand to mouth, underpaid/less than minimum wage – sometimes even having your passport retained, and living in some shithole somewhere.
It’s actually a form of bondage of employee to employer.
Then of course the other unintended/(actually probably intended) consequence.
Why would the unscrupulous employer employ an unemployed Kiwi (who does not have to suffer that form of bondage) when you can exploit the immigrant for all they’re worth and make a tidy (often cash-based) profit?
It has now been going on for years. And of course if the exploited do get a bit uppity and challenge either the employer, OR the Inspectorate, OR both – you can always make them in breach of their visa conditions and boot them out of the country and get another one.
It all dovetails in nicely with some of the shoddy private tertiary institutions and labour supply/recruitment/contractor companies – some of whom have cosy little relationships with immigration consultants.
Government consists of “public servants”; – these who are our ‘public servants’ should firstly be serving the needs and ‘interests’ including aspirations of their employees who are ‘the public’
Public service’. 2 :a service rendered in the public interest
So according to the legal requirements of these ‘public servants’ they are legally required to serve the public interests firstly and not their own needs right?
1 :the business of supplying a commodity (such as electricity or gas) or service (such as transportation) to any or all members of a community
2 :a service rendered in the public interest
3 :governmental employment; especially :civil service
“Government consists of “public servants”; – these who are our ‘public servants’ should firstly be serving the needs and ‘interests’ including aspirations of their employees who are ‘the public’
Public service’. 2 :a service rendered in the public interest”
That’s the theory @ Cleengreen, but it hasn’t been the case since neo-liberalism took hold and was allowed to run rampant. It’s been corporatised into a series of little fiefdoms – the chiefs being ‘CEOs’ ffs! and senior management chiefs who get to choose who best serves their agendas. (Usually good honest frontline Public Servant peons doing there best, but who often operate in fear of their masters – their masters who take credit for the ‘win wins going forward’, but who apportion blame down the heirarchy when things go tits up)
The ‘Public’ Service as a bizzniss – equipped with all its purchase agreements and KPI’s that (as it can be shown) are regularly abused without consequence.
At the time of the reforms I think we were promised greater efficiency and effectiveness, accountability, and non-partisan administration – that is improvements to what we once had. Instead – the opposite. You only have to look at the sucking up and arse protecting of Ministers – or even just the record to date in areas such as Health, Education, NZTA, MPI (border incursions for example), MoBIE (shitty steel and suspect buildings, exploitation of workers, etc., etc., etc.). Then of course there’s abuse of OIAs and cronyism. And then there’s the real standouts such as WINZ and CYPS.
But then back to the exploitation that @Carolyn-nth mentions.
It’s a “win win” for the exploiters and those engaged in preserving the (so-called public ‘service’) structure that enables it.
– An unthinking public that has blind faith in others supposedly serving their interests (that romantic notion of an actual Public/Civil Service) can simply see that it’s all these bloody immigrants coming over here taking all our jobs!
– A Minister – supposedly responsible but who can rely on his Munstry to protect his arse – who now screams ‘low quality immigrant’ in Peter Dutton fashion. Even the fairly reasonable Senior Public Servant (I could name names) who occasionally fronts media and who now has a big mortgage to pay, is likely to succumb to the cool aid – and after all – those ‘low quality immigrants’ are probably used to it.
After their supping the cool aid for so long – its now all NORMAL!, and why would they seriously want to challenge it all?
There’s a simple starting point:
– IF the only way you can run a business profitably by exploiting those economic units (that we’ll put on the spreadsheet, OR the MYOB/Xero equivalent as a COST), then your bizzniss IS NOT VIABLE – (going forward of course). I’ve even personally witnessed Labour Inspectorate managers tell me they know of worker exploitation based prices being charged for lunches and coffee ‘deals’ that aren’t sustainable considering their overheads – such as rent, electricity, etc., and that the only other option in order they break even – LET ALONE amass profit -is through worker exploitation. But then …. they go home to the missus and the kuds, and tomorrow is another day.
– ELSE if those managers can’t actually challenge the shit they know is happening or the heat in the kitchen, then get the fuck out!
Then there’s some obvious solutions – AT LEAST as a starting point – unless of course 3rd World humanity is OK in ‘lil ‘ole Nu Zull and now something we’re all supposed to aspire to in this neo-liberal nirvana of the market the market! (Perhaps THIS since we’ve set up the structure to encourage and enable: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/as-chinas-economy-slows-business-cults-prey-on-young-job-seekers/articleshow/60881676.cms),
OR any other SS Joyce/ACTian view of the future). I hope they’re really confident in the security of their local gated community – well it’s probably not really a community, rather a number of individualists living in close proximity to one another. But then “yeow” as Mister Farrar and Chem Slator would say – the Murrays might get restless.
STOP bonding employees to employers
PURGE those employers from the country RATHER than their victims (when they only have residency status)
STOP the conflicts of interest – those that exist between contractors/PTEs/etc. and immigration officials. (we could go deeper and talk about things like Swamp Kauri PS enablers)
START resourcing INZ, LI, NZQA properly and take them the fuck away from a Munstry that was founded on promoting/enabling the bizznizz interest over and above the citizen and person as a social being.
A close reading of the Herald article ( ignore the headline) gives 4 reasons for the slowing of the housing crisis.
winter
bank lending limits
the election
China’s crackdown on capital flows
The most interesting section is this……
‘ James Steele, QV Auckland senior consultant, said sales volumes were down to very low levels because demand was halted “by the ability for purchasers to finance property deals.
Steele said Auckland had continued to flatten to reach what Steele called a stalemate situation. A change would only occur if a significant economic shock destabilised prices by further reducing demand or there was an easing of lending restrictions, he said.’
Is the banks’ reluctance to lend caused by a realisation of a future ‘significant economic shock’? They do not want to get burnt. That added to ‘China’s crackdown on capital flows’ could see a crash on its way.
Time for a return to a ‘self sufficient society’ again thank god as NZ is in a prime position to become this better than any other country I know today.
I have some history of what a country can become when it turned into a self sufficient society while in Rhodesia during the 1970 era PM Ian Smith actually turned that country around by restoring almost everything from cars trucks homes and industry as well as food and electricity sources and water.
The origional african people got homes built and jobs so it worked, until UK Government forced a deal to turn the government over to a “tyrant’ who still runs a murdering government today under a invested interested ‘corporate’ controlled system.
All previous successful self sufficient regions/countries have been toppled by corporate interests and their media persuasion.
Now it is Spain last year it was Venezuela remember this, as what is next?
Pretty simple question BM I am surprised you dont know the answer.
self-sufficient
This refers to single persons as well as countries, so my interest is for our Government consisting of “public servants” to carry out their role to provide our needs and interests as required under legal references to “public servants” to supply one’s own or its own needs without external assistance:
Of course the excess product can then be used to sell to any exrternal buyer for further financial income.
Here are the dictonary expanation of self sufficient.
‘The nation grows enough grain to be self-sufficient.’
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
adjective
1.
able to supply one’s own or its own needs without external assistance:
The nation grows enough grain to be self-sufficient.
2.
having extreme confidence in one’s own resources, powers, etc.:
It’s what we used to do back when we had a more egalitarian society with less poverty.
The idea that we just keep trading more commodities is making us poorer. Of course, that does seem to be what it was designed to do:
The income gap between rich countries and poor countries is not diminishing. It has been increasing dramatically, and not only during colonialism. Since the 1960s, the income gap between north and south has tripled.
“There’s something fundamentally wrong and it won’t be changed with a bit of aid here and there,” Hickel says. “We need to fundamentally restructure the global economy and make it fair.”
Hickel’s central thesis is that there is nothing natural about poverty. His book examines structurally determined behaviour, designed in-fact, to deliver the poverty outcomes we witness around the world.
That article is about aid but it applies to this thread because the entire financial system is designed to benefit a few at everyone else’s expense and we’re getting poorer because of it.
And then there’s the point that if we had kept making TVs in NZ they wouldn’t be anywhere near as labour intensive as then. In fact, with the correct development, producing them wouldn’t use any labour at all.
No, I’m not, I’m actually interested to see how a trading nation such as NZ is supposed to survive if it shuts the door and turns its back on the world.
BM we can be part of the British Commonweath again without the decietful rules imposed upon us now under some other trade pratices like TPPA and NAFTA. while remain ‘independent’ as we were under the British commonwealth trade system , as we see now clearly those later ones dont work for us thanks.
And before you rubbish the idea of ‘self sufficient’ remeber I qualified the use of overproduction of our own surplus products to sell to other countries who wanted it without any trade rules.
That way we get our finances to expand our lives and communities without borrowing offshore again.
Yes it is. The question is more if Labour can understand the lessons that are coming and get rid of the delusional financial system that they implemented all those years ago. To ban foreign ownership and investment which are making us poorer.
“Perfect time for Lab/Greens/NZ First to take over.”
I know that’s meant as a sly jab but there’s truth in it too. It is a good time for them to take over. National’s immigration driven economic ‘growth’ has almost reached its zenith and now it’s time for a housing surge to prop up the economy.
A big house building boom should see Labour through two terms at least I’d think. We’re in more risk of a recession under National.
The big house building boom under Labour isn’t going to happen until some fairly basic issues are solved
1) Who’s going to be developing the land
2) Lack of tradespeople, apprentice builders don’t cut it.
3)Lack of materials
4)Lack of building component companies within the construction pipeline, eg: Aluminium joiners, kitchen makers
That’s simplistic rubbish. Houses don’t need many tradespeople to build them and there’s no shortage of materials.
I think you’ll find it’s you whose spouting nonsense, homes are complicated and there’s a fuck load of trades involved in the building process both on-site and off.
The land can be developed by the Govt, that’s what they’re there for.
Didn’t realise the Govt owned any earth moving gear?
We had an entire ministry with earth moving gear and that sort of thing at one stage. Fuckers sold it off. Now tories are all “ohmahgerd, govt doesn’t have bulldozers! You’re silly!”
Yeah, they’re gone like everyone else the government is at the whim of the private sector.
Personally, I don’t really like it, but that’s the situation we find ourselves in currently, haven’t read anything about Labour changing anything either
Oh, when faced with a rorting private sector and 100k homes to build, the government will either get into the contruction business (like prefabrication factories) or do the same fuckall you’re lot have been up to as the crisis deepens.
lol, you’re only now just catching up with the policies you’ve been shitting on for months?
ISTR the local community trust has already bought a mill or something, and the $20mil was based on a decent business case to expand the site into a full prefabrication facility.
Oh, and there was already interest. The policy didn’t come out of thin air, it came from the region as part of Labour’s consultation, where they actually listened to what the regions needed. The idea of listening to the people is alien to you as a National shill, of course.
Yeah, they’re gone like everyone else the government is at the whim of the private sector.
The government is never at the whim of the private sector.
We now find ourselves in a crisis brought about by shifting governance to the private sector. The only way to correct that is to take it back into the hands of the populace.
Personally, I don’t really like it
That’d be a lie. you wouldn’t support profit and the private sector the way you do if you didn’t think that’s the way it should be. That’s why you vote National.
Homes are complicated? Where did you get that nonsense from, houses are simpler today than at any time in history.
They need tradesmen to supervise and oversee a less skilled workforce, they don’t need tradesmen to do every job. Anyone with reasonable hand-eye co-ordination and memory can work on a building site. That’s how the world was built.
The building industry *wants* more tradespeople. It doesn’t need them, there’s already plenty to go around. Of course they’d want them, it’s much less hassle for the management to hire people who can work unsupervised. But want doesn’t mean need.
When there’s more work than tradespeople you turn some of the tradesmen into supervisors and hire unskilled labour. The building industry has worked that way since, well, forever
And before you come up with another snide and ignorant comment look at your history. The allied WWI and WWII efforts were won by filling the factories with unskilled labour.
Leafing through my uncle’s journal of New Zealand Houses from the 1950’s there is barely any difference to what a regular new build looks like today and the building processes are all the same. You could bring back all the tradies from that era onto a new build and they would be fine apart from not knowing how to work a power drill and getting pissed off with most of the regulations.
LOL at the banning the export of building materials.
Why? Same as when Russia, when they had that drought a few years ago, banned the export of food. They needed it for themselves because they didn’t have enough.
The profits of the private sector come second to that.
Comrade Jacinda will make an appearance on The Peoples National TV Station (RadioNZ) and loudly shout into the camera.
“Nyet to the export of building materials from this day forward !!!, citizens who ignore this decree will be sent to the gulags (Dunedin), I Comrade Jacinda have spoken!!.
Interesting that the Chinese have a government that does things……
They don’t believe in the invisible hand of the all seeing market.
They also don’t allow foreigners to buy land or property in their country.
Funny, that – having a government that protects the sovereignty of the nation.
Jarrod Gilbert’s take down of Joyce and English is worth a thread of its own.
I’m sure others have spotted it.
‘I write this one for all of the morons out there.
The fools, the buffoons, the vapid oxygen thieves who are the enemies of reason, whose foolishness is only matched by their self-righteousness, whose understanding of key issues is inversely proportional to the loudness with which they speak. Gather around my enemies, I wish to have a word.
I need to talk about political tribalism, this phenomenon that so often mocks the principles that uphold our democracy while chipping away at its foundations……
…..Whether of not Joyce set out to cause mischief, or he simply misread the books and embarrassment and pigheadedness meant he was unable to back down (the latter theory I favour), we’re all aware that a swath of leading economists came out and debunked what he said.
What did Joyce do? Deny, deny, attack, deny, deny. And, of course, many of his people defended it, made excuses, or misrepresented the evidence.
All good people should have called that nonsense out in unison.
To the tribalists who didn’t I ask this: if Labour had made the same accusation against National and not a single economist supported it, would you have reacted the same way?
No. Of course not. And that’s what defines you as a moron.
In fact, looking at any issue and asking how you would react if the other side did it is a handy test we should all employ. Even when we claim neutrality such a test often teases out our unconscious biases……..
……..What ugliness awaits us now that this brazen low has been established? Where is our ambition for a democracy that exists on open debate and the exchange of ideas?
Wherever our allegiances fall we must not allow ourselves to be the foolish. The integrity of our system must stand before our desire for our team to win. Let us be a country that exhibits the best in politics and doesn’t embrace the very worst.’
Gilbert = sore loser. It is just his opinion, though no doubt loved by Standardnistas.
The figures Labour presented did add up, but only if there was no new spending (other than heath and education) in 2019 and 2020. Having no provision for new spending in the proposed 2019 and 2020 budgets was not credible. For instance National provides $1.5 billion unallocated expenditure in each of the out years.
The failure to provide additional spending meant there was a wide open hole for National to exploit, especially when the argument is made by the very people with the most real world experience of how government budgets are made up.
So for instance adding back $2 billion new spending in each of these years adds up to $6 billion, since you have to baseline the $2 billion from 2019. I would say for Labour $2 billion would be light. The $11 billion figure was based on $3.7 billion new spending in each year.
There are hundreds of thousands of voters with much better accounting and economic knowledge than Gilbert who could easily see the logic of Joyce and English’s arguments.
“The figures Labour presented did add up” Then we are in agreement and the National Party were lying like a flat fish. No need for a further four paragraphs twisting words like a column of smoke. Two ticks NZF here i hope Winnie goes with the Greens and Labour you lot are nothing but liars.
Attempting to spin them into something else only demeans you further…
It is noticeable that when Nats start feeling the pressure, the nasty streak which is present in every one of them rises to the surface for all to see.
Yep Wayne’s big hole revelation is disingenous in the extreme. The rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the rotten tree. Rewriting history is just par for the course. At least he’s stopped blathering on about the greens saving the gnats – I’m thankful for small mercies.
Actually, Wayne, when you said “The figures Labour presented did add up” you were admitting that Joyce told lies. He was very specific about the lines of expenditure that he claimed weren’t being accounted for and therefore did not add up. If he wasn’t lying deliberately at first (and was simply incompetent), then his and English’s shifting versions of this smear over time (morphing over time into your – false – claim that there was no allowance for new spending in 2019 and 2020 other than health and education) and refusal to back away from the “hole” idea was definitely a lie. As for your claim that this allegation came from the people who know the process best, I’d say Michael Cullen knows a thing or two about budgets, wouldn’t you? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6g3cFeX_mc
Fake news spin for fakery. Scum tactics to win are still scum tactics and you must be so proud, beaming with pride, at the result. Legacy and honour builder FAIL.
What “loser?” The outcome of the election isn’t known yet. The fact the Nats think they “won” the election when they’re no more able to form a government than anyone else is a manifestation of Tory born-to-rule mentality – it has comedy value only.
I’d like to draw your attention to the following if you don’t mind. It was towards the end and you may have missed it:
Where is our ambition for a democracy that exists on open debate and the exchange of ideas? Wherever our allegiances fall we must not allow ourselves to be the foolish. The integrity of our system must stand before our desire for our team to win. Let us be a country that exhibits the best in politics and doesn’t embrace the very worst.
It seems to me that Gilbert is arguing that there is indeed a “loser” but it is not him; it is all of us …
Hundreds of thousands of voters with much better accounting and economic knowledge than Gilbert and the many, many experts who rubbished Joyce and English?
Those whose superior financial intellect saw them vote for Joyce and English
are probably still partying for the Argentina win over All Blacks last weekend.
I think BM has set himself up as the lefts conscience, well done BM, the troll that trawls, he/she probably reads these comments more closely than the rest of us, to correct the groupthink, meanwhile defending Nationals blatant lying, lovely, just lovely.
I also think it’s interesting that BM assumes that it’s a bad thing to have a boyfriend, and that any statement with an inbuilt assumption that a person might have one must therefore be a homophobic slur.
Wayne, Joyce’s failed academic record and English’s shifty and shifting answers on the Todd Barclay affair, does not make for confidence in their abilities. In other words, flexible integrity or lack of it. What they do have is ability to bluster, twist, distort ….. And through handing out cosy jobs for the boys they can wheel out people like yourself and other past their use by types to make it seem there is a groundswell of support for Greens to hold hands with National, despite the years and years of insults thrown at them.
Whatever the outcome, Jacinda and her team are behaving impeccably in contrast.
@Wayne: I accept that you have managed to create a justification for your belief in the invisible black hole that wasn’t evident to Cameron Bagrie, Ganesh Nana, Dr Vernon Small, Keith Ng, Brian Fallow, Bernard Hickey or Shamubeel Eaqub. I was impressed by the position that you took supporting an inquiry into Afghanistan civilian deaths. Therefore, why do I find it hard to understand how you can continue to support and defend a government that has continually behaved in an underhand way, that I would not have thought that you would condone.
Jeeez Wayne,
You should have let Stephen and Bill know that you believed their BILLSHIT about the 11 billion dollar hole that way when they were asked to provide one person that backed up what they said……..just one person…..even a taxi driver…. they could have confidently said well actually Wayne believes us and everything would have been sweet as. As it weas they couldnt name one person bbecause it was a lie.
By the way, typical Nat ploy by you, play the man (Jarrod Gilbert) not the ball as it was not him that said the hole didn’t exist he was merely reporting on what leading NZ economists had said. What he was saying is how sad it is that people are so indoctrinated into their own political beliefs that they refuse to see the truth in front of them.
Ed: “if Labour had made the same accusation against National and not a single economist supported it, would you have reacted the same way?
No. Of course not.”
Remember the relentless year long attack from National/Act on whether NZF had received a donation from Glenn or not? NO. Even a Privileges Committee “trial.”
And what happens to Joyce, Key, English much more serious lies? Nothing but support from the Media.
Actually, National supporters, including the tribalists, would consider the idea that they should vote for some other party, simply because Joyce made a boo boo, downright silly.
Don’t minimise this, mikesh – Joyce didn’t “make a boohoo” – he and his PM deliberately lied and misled their supporters. This was a clear, demonstrated example – one that even the most committed tribalist should be able to acknowledge. Given that, and the scale of the lie, how is anyone meant to believe that this was the only lie? Politics is about trust – are these people trustworthy?
Plus, let’s remember that it wasn’t only Nat tribalists who were being lied to – the aim was to influence swinging voters, and all the evidence suggests that they succeeded in this aim. That makes this a very significant lie.
“Whatever.”
So, you now concede that it was a lie, but hey – what does truth matter when decisions are being made about our nation’s future?
“National party supporters would still consider it silly to let it influence their vote.”
Did you fail to read or comprehend the final paragraph of my comment, mikesh? The lie wasn’t targeted at Nat supporters (they were always going to overlook the dirty politics and stay with their team, just as they have in the past) – it was aimed at swinging voters. The evidence of the polls before and after the lie and its constant repetition suggest that it had an effect on them. It didn’t have to be a big effect in order to make a difference in this very tight race.
I see the Herald has wheeled out another opinion piece denigrating Peters and extolling the worth of a Nat/Greens coalition. This time its Michael Cox.
Michael Cox who? I hear you say. He was an insignificant Nat MP in the 1980s. Cox has gone even further back in time to dredge up another politician to link Peters to – Benjamin Disraeli.
The authorities in Vegas are still trying to ascertain the motive of yet another mass killing. Well as our ” dear friend” Richard Prebble once opined… I’ve been thinking.
I’m a minor Dixie Chick fan because of their song “I’m not ready to make nice” ,which was penned by Natalie Main (lead singer) over what happened to the band after they commented at a concert in London that they were embarrassed that the President (G W Bush) came from Texas, which they did too. A documentary “Shut up and sing” was made about the severe antagonism and hatred the group then suffered. Death threats etc…. it was serious stuff for what was only an aside at a concert in a foreign land. The Country and Western Southern base went totally ballistic in their hatred for the Dixie Chicks…….
Maybe Paddock didn’t like something the group featuring at the concert in Vegas had said or sung, so he flipped and decided to do something about it and set about it thoroughly. Paddock was obviously a devout Republican as 99% of that area are (and all the people investigating him there would be too ) and in his rabid state decided that anyone who listens to that music is a communist and should die.
I could be totally wrong.
I’m being frivolous, which is inexcusable on such a serious subject as the mass killing of innocent people – but perhaps the killer just didn’t like country and western music!
that’s all most of these pieces of shit want , their 15 minutes , there name should never be made public and their corpses should be ground and feed to the pigs .
in saying that the us is getting what it votes for so i lose no sleep over it.
Central and South America really do have a worse problem with gun violence than the US. Along with a lot of southern Africa, some of the middle east and some of Asia. Check out the graphic at the bottom of this article.
Thanks I suppose I also thought it was an apple orange scenario in that the total gun deaths in the us over the same period would be an apt comparison.
Your maths leave a little to desire….there are about 10,000 firearm murders in USA each year, that is 0.003% of the population.
In Honduras yearly murders average 5,500 each year, that is 0.061% of the population. That is a rate TWENTY TIMES that in the USA….I repeat why are 60 American deaths headlines?
The point being you could refer to Guatemala or Brazil or El Salvador etc etc and make the same point.
Because it’s much more likely the readers of our local media will have some sort of connection with the victims and/or where it happened and/or a feeling of “it could have been me” when it happens it the US compared to when it happens in Honduras.
Paddock was obviously a devout Republican as 99% of that area are (and all the people investigating him there would be too ) and in his rabid state decided that anyone who listens to that music is a communist and should die.
Oh kee-rist…the ignorance burns…it just goes to show that nowhere is immune from someone making ludicrous claims.
The Nevada secretary of state’s office on Friday reported there are 1,464,819 active registered voters statewide who are eligible to participate in the Nov. 8 general election.
There are 577,679 Democrats, 488,861 Republicans and 304,528 nonpartisans. The rest are minor- party registered voters.
Democrats represent 39.4 percent of the total active registered voters, Republicans 33.4 percent and nonpartisans 20.8 percent.
How often do you read an article with the words ‘ since the 1980s’?
More precise reporting would say ‘since the advent of neoliberalism.’
‘Moerewa, near Kaikohe, has embarked on a makeover that it hopes will continue under whatever new government is formed this month.
The town was once a thriving community where nearly everyone had a job at the freezing works or dairy factory.
But since the 1980s it has gone downhill, with more than 80 percent of its people on a benefit or retired.’
How about all the empty local Dairy factories, drove past about 10 in the Naki recently.
Imagine the potential in those sites if we break the shackles of neo liberal market driven behaviour and moved to a sustainable produce/manufacture/distribute locally model.
There do appear a lot for sale at the moment.
Wonder if that is more land being bought up by foreigners?
This book is very interesting on the subject.
The Land Grabbers – The New Fight over Who Owns the Earth
by Fred Pearce
‘An unprecedented land grab is taking place around the world. Fearing future food shortages or eager to profit from them, the world’s wealthiest and most acquisitive countries, corporations, and individuals have been buying and leasing vast tracts of land around the world. ‘
Perfect plan tc we need local industry now to work more effeciently and produce local jobs and secure families.
I live 80kms north of gisborne and daily see a flood of milk tankers going south 300+ kms to Palmerston north factories and then they are shiped north again as export products 280 kms to Port of Napier.
What a waste of transportation and pollution along the way and waste of fuel!!!!!!!
got a mate – did some hemp growing – great plant so many uses just so many, and the flax is so good too. Some great areas for growing harakeke, areas not drained for cowland. I see these two resources/crops/plants as being ESSENTIAL for future sustainability and survivability.
Like all good things, greenies will have been promoting it for a decade or three before it’s taken up by the mainstream – as someone here often says, “follow the hippies”.
Yep there are lots of places where great things could be started. Neo liberalism has a lot to answer for. Going small and local and community orientated are the way to roll back the neo liberal 1980s experiment.
🙂 “But since the return of Liberalism in the 1980s…”
“since the advent of neoliberalism” suggest something new popped up. But nothing new popped up. You can read Dickens and get a very good understanding of what kind of society gets created by Liberalism/neo-liberalism, but won’t make the connection if you think the 80s was all about something that had never been tried before – tried and then rejected some time around the 30s/40s by “the west” but still foisted on “the global south” by “the west” by way of “structural adjustment programmes (SAPs)
Last week, rapper B.o.B made headlines after setting up a GoFundMe page to finance a rather bizarre project; sending a satellite into space to prove that the Earth is flat. His plans involve sending a satellite “as far into space as possible” to take a photo of the Earth, which he believes will look like a map.
Caught up with an angry voter, angry because they now want to change their vote, angry because they have only recently realised they’ve been lied to and misled by national. They can’t change their vote, but they said they are never voting for national again. They are also very embarrassed that they believed the tax lies flowing from the mouths of national mps during the election and perpetuated by a media who gave it airplay again and again and again.
Ethics in schools please, at least the misinformed voter would have been more informed by their kids if civics was being taught in schools.
Meanwhile… 3 more sleeps until Saturday 😀 Bring on the special vote count 😀
Because we are all political junkies, well versed in DP the media etc etc. Some people believe everything the pm says, he’s the pm he must be telling the truth.
But Bill Ralston said…… but Bill Ralston writes bill englishes speeches.. etc etc.
But the soundbites… and the facebook… if you are not versed in media manipulation then you’ll probably swallow it hook line and sinker.
But mum and dad said…… sorry huni mum and dad are being manipulated by soundbites and fake news as well
It’s amazing how much trust and faith some put in the media or people in power, they neglect to realise that some of those people are only manipulating others for their own gains.
As well as ethics in schools can we please have a 24hr kiwi tv channel, as well giving parental, practical, mental health, lifestyle and social advice and info, chuck in some educational documentaries too, please and thank you.
I no that there are some who will try and pin any bull shit on me because that is there mentality to fuck me up there are many story’s that I have not told about my interaction with these people and these stories would do more damage to there image and they would not give a shit because they can hide in plain clothes. and unmarked cars while OUR people in uniforms take the heat This is the last I commenting on this subject .The pepper is doing a better job than I thought probably got a few more miles in the old truck.
Baby cheeses. Just published …. corruption within corruption …. part of ACC sold off without tender to staff …. so much is wrong with this .. Sir Owen Woodhouse must be turning in his grave …
I guess Pence and his Xtian Taliban are running the shop.
The US is one of just 13 countries to have voted against a United Nations resolution condemning the death penalty for having gay sex.
Although the vote passed, America joined countries such as China, Iraq and Saudi Arabia in opposing the move.
The Human Rights Council resolution condemned the “imposition of the death penalty as a sanction for specific forms of conduct, such as apostasy, blasphemy, adultery and consensual same-sex relations”.
This article and research paper is worth a thread its own right.
‘Most river pollution comes from streams that don’t need fencing, research shows
Most of New Zealand’s river pollution comes from streams that would be exempt from waterway fencing rules, new research shows.
It calls into question the effectiveness of current efforts, which would become law under legislation proposed by the National Government.
A paper published by the American Journal of Environmental Quality found that 77 per cent of contaminants in New Zealand’s rivers came from smaller waterways exempt from proposed fencing rules.
The paper, by Ag Research scientist Dr Richard McDowell as part of the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge, found that most pollution does not come from those waterways.
It modelled the contaminant load for over half a million stream segments around the country, which were divided into those that would need to be fenced and those that would not.
It determined 77 per cent of the pollution load nationwide came from streams that would not require fencing.
The contribution of individual pollutants from smaller streams ranged from 73 per cent of total nitrogen to 84 per cent of dissolved reactive phosphorus.
It was particularly evident in agriculturally-productive regions such as Canterbury, Southland, Nelson and Hawkes Bay, which “exhibited large contaminant loads from exempt catchments”, the research said.’
An evil industry.
A killing machine.
An immoral operation.
And they know that if people really found out how their industry operates, it would be all over.
‘Dairy farmers jumpy over media attention at calving time
Springtime, and the paranoia is rising – at least among dairy farmers.
Chastened by scrapes with animal rights groups and the media in recent years, farmers are on high alert for cameras lurking behind cowsheds or drones whirring in the skies.
In calving season images of distressed or abused bobby calves are the last thing the industry needs.’
Funny, myself and others got roundly criticized for pointing this out before the election, I’m guessing the Blairite hacks will carry on with those attacks.
Skinner’s key policy points were that he wanted :
– Free education
– Free healthcare
– Scrapping zero-hour contracts
– A return to high unionism
So, just on the policy front Labour’s policies going into the election covered all of that, as Trotter is well aware.
Skinner also noted clearly that the scale of intervention required was due to the catastrophic destruction and population displacement of World War 2. We don’t have that scale of crisis.
Skinner was also clear to praise the new Labour leader for his electoral success. If only Trotter could pull himself out of his sickly nostalgia and do the same. It’s also noteworthy that Jacinda and her predecessor united the party in policy and personality – unlike Corbyn who has gone through shadow Cabinets like scrunched up newspaper on an engineering shop floor.
Finally on the results front whee all of this matters, Ardern is even closer to achieving actual government than Corbyn. And in far shorter a time than Corbyn.
On the policy front, the historical context front, the leadership front, and on the results front, New Zealand’s own Labour Party is at least as advanced as UK Labour if not moreso.
Skinner’s career was protected by massive union membership and total state control of the coalmines, and never even got close to having to make Cabinet., so he hasn’t had to face business at all.
His best quality was that he had a great turn of phrase and taught Blair most of his rhetorical skills.
Jacinda gave a better speech at the Auckland Town Hall at the launch.
Skinner also noted clearly that the scale of intervention required was due to the catastrophic destruction and population displacement of World War 2. We don’t have that scale of crisis.
I’d say we do:
Under funded health
Under funded police
Housing crisis
Climate Change (this one alone more than meets the criteria – it’s not our ‘nuclear-free issue of a generation’ but ‘the WWI & II at the same bloody time’ issue of generations.)
It’s also noteworthy that Jacinda and her predecessor united the party in policy and personality – unlike Corbyn who has gone through shadow Cabinets like scrunched up newspaper on an engineering shop floor.
It’s interesting to note that the problem, in both places, seems to be a bunch of self-righteous politicians not listening to the party members and, in fact, telling them that they’re wrong.
I’d say that Corbyn is doing a slightly better job of uniting UK Labour because he’s getting rid of the white-anters.
If you want to compare World War Two to the underfunding of NZ services, go right ahead. Ardern has it pretty well covered on climate change, and will continue to do so even if she cannot lead a government this time.
Don’t bother trying to measure self-righteousness in politicians – the really good ones just keep the rhetorical arm-waving in check.
The white-anting of New Zealand Labour’s caucus finished since Little started as leader. As a result Labour’s MPs have presented a fully united front since that time. Corbyn’s Labour is still unstable by comparison.
If you want to compare World War Two to the underfunding of NZ services, go right ahead.
I didn’t.
Ardern has it pretty well covered on climate change,
Not really. Still tied to ‘the market’ delivering rather than the government giving full direction.
The white-anting of New Zealand Labour’s caucus finished since Little started as leader. As a result Labour’s MPs have presented a fully united front since that time.
I do seem to recall a few instances here and there. I also note that NZ Labour now has a leader chosen by the caucus rather than the members.
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
In amongst the plethora of lamentations for Tom Petty (who was Tom Petty?) in Daily Review last night, CoroDale slipped in two references to a RNZ broadcast which may have passed unnoticed! The whole is worth listening to, but here’s a couple of extracts:
“When you’ve got a government that comes out and says, we’ve got to tolerate 8 or 9 percent unemployment or that one third of children in New Zealand live in poverty, when you’ve got a prime minister who then says ‘well, we can’t do anything about that now because we’ll run out of money’, that’s an insidious lie.”
and
“The Greens are neo-liberals on bikes and the Labour Party are neoliberal lite. They say ‘I’ll do austerity but I’ll do it fairer’.
“There’s no such thing as fair austerity when you’ve got a third of your children living in poverty.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/201852897/there-s-no-such-thing-as-fair-austerity
Does he explain how the GP’s economic plan is austerity, or is he just using the surplus slogan without explanation?
Both Labour and the Greens have committed themselves to some ¨responsible¨ budgeting agreement.
Yep… this is the basis for Bill Mitchell’s statement. And he’s right. Unless Labour and Greens are prepared to tear up their fiscal pledge, it looks like more of the same neo-liberal economics… but with a nicer face.
On RNZ this morning – 70 companies banned from hiring migrant workers since April – new law focusing on employers breaching employment regulations when hiring migrant workers. The bans last from 6-18 months.
One of the banned companies is Mainfreight.
Plus, there aren’t enough inspectors to investigate all the complaints.
Link to the list of 70 at the RNZ article.
Unfortunately @Carolyn, it all starts with that Natzi type mindset such that employees should be grateful if an employer deigns to employ them.
You issue an immigrant a visa that ties him or her to a specific employer. If the employer is good – count yourself lucky.
You then shift the Labour Inspectorate and Immigration NZ under a business focussed Ministry and completely under-resource them.
If the employer turns out to be an arsehole, tough luck. If you want to change employer, you’re then faced with INZ application fees, and perhaps the cost of an immigration lawyer – something hard to do if you’re living hand to mouth, underpaid/less than minimum wage – sometimes even having your passport retained, and living in some shithole somewhere.
It’s actually a form of bondage of employee to employer.
Then of course the other unintended/(actually probably intended) consequence.
Why would the unscrupulous employer employ an unemployed Kiwi (who does not have to suffer that form of bondage) when you can exploit the immigrant for all they’re worth and make a tidy (often cash-based) profit?
It has now been going on for years. And of course if the exploited do get a bit uppity and challenge either the employer, OR the Inspectorate, OR both – you can always make them in breach of their visa conditions and boot them out of the country and get another one.
It all dovetails in nicely with some of the shoddy private tertiary institutions and labour supply/recruitment/contractor companies – some of whom have cosy little relationships with immigration consultants.
100% to Once was Tim,
Government consists of “public servants”; – these who are our ‘public servants’ should firstly be serving the needs and ‘interests’ including aspirations of their employees who are ‘the public’
Public service’. 2 :a service rendered in the public interest
So according to the legal requirements of these ‘public servants’ they are legally required to serve the public interests firstly and not their own needs right?
Here is the proof;
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/public%20service
Webster dictonary
Definition of public service
1 :the business of supplying a commodity (such as electricity or gas) or service (such as transportation) to any or all members of a community
2 :a service rendered in the public interest
3 :governmental employment; especially :civil service
“Government consists of “public servants”; – these who are our ‘public servants’ should firstly be serving the needs and ‘interests’ including aspirations of their employees who are ‘the public’
Public service’. 2 :a service rendered in the public interest”
That’s the theory @ Cleengreen, but it hasn’t been the case since neo-liberalism took hold and was allowed to run rampant. It’s been corporatised into a series of little fiefdoms – the chiefs being ‘CEOs’ ffs! and senior management chiefs who get to choose who best serves their agendas. (Usually good honest frontline Public Servant peons doing there best, but who often operate in fear of their masters – their masters who take credit for the ‘win wins going forward’, but who apportion blame down the heirarchy when things go tits up)
The ‘Public’ Service as a bizzniss – equipped with all its purchase agreements and KPI’s that (as it can be shown) are regularly abused without consequence.
At the time of the reforms I think we were promised greater efficiency and effectiveness, accountability, and non-partisan administration – that is improvements to what we once had. Instead – the opposite. You only have to look at the sucking up and arse protecting of Ministers – or even just the record to date in areas such as Health, Education, NZTA, MPI (border incursions for example), MoBIE (shitty steel and suspect buildings, exploitation of workers, etc., etc., etc.). Then of course there’s abuse of OIAs and cronyism. And then there’s the real standouts such as WINZ and CYPS.
But then back to the exploitation that @Carolyn-nth mentions.
It’s a “win win” for the exploiters and those engaged in preserving the (so-called public ‘service’) structure that enables it.
– An unthinking public that has blind faith in others supposedly serving their interests (that romantic notion of an actual Public/Civil Service) can simply see that it’s all these bloody immigrants coming over here taking all our jobs!
– A Minister – supposedly responsible but who can rely on his Munstry to protect his arse – who now screams ‘low quality immigrant’ in Peter Dutton fashion. Even the fairly reasonable Senior Public Servant (I could name names) who occasionally fronts media and who now has a big mortgage to pay, is likely to succumb to the cool aid – and after all – those ‘low quality immigrants’ are probably used to it.
After their supping the cool aid for so long – its now all NORMAL!, and why would they seriously want to challenge it all?
There’s a simple starting point:
– IF the only way you can run a business profitably by exploiting those economic units (that we’ll put on the spreadsheet, OR the MYOB/Xero equivalent as a COST), then your bizzniss IS NOT VIABLE – (going forward of course). I’ve even personally witnessed Labour Inspectorate managers tell me they know of worker exploitation based prices being charged for lunches and coffee ‘deals’ that aren’t sustainable considering their overheads – such as rent, electricity, etc., and that the only other option in order they break even – LET ALONE amass profit -is through worker exploitation. But then …. they go home to the missus and the kuds, and tomorrow is another day.
– ELSE if those managers can’t actually challenge the shit they know is happening or the heat in the kitchen, then get the fuck out!
Then there’s some obvious solutions – AT LEAST as a starting point – unless of course 3rd World humanity is OK in ‘lil ‘ole Nu Zull and now something we’re all supposed to aspire to in this neo-liberal nirvana of the market the market! (Perhaps THIS since we’ve set up the structure to encourage and enable: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/as-chinas-economy-slows-business-cults-prey-on-young-job-seekers/articleshow/60881676.cms),
OR any other SS Joyce/ACTian view of the future). I hope they’re really confident in the security of their local gated community – well it’s probably not really a community, rather a number of individualists living in close proximity to one another. But then “yeow” as Mister Farrar and Chem Slator would say – the Murrays might get restless.
STOP bonding employees to employers
PURGE those employers from the country RATHER than their victims (when they only have residency status)
STOP the conflicts of interest – those that exist between contractors/PTEs/etc. and immigration officials. (we could go deeper and talk about things like Swamp Kauri PS enablers)
START resourcing INZ, LI, NZQA properly and take them the fuck away from a Munstry that was founded on promoting/enabling the bizznizz interest over and above the citizen and person as a social being.
I got 2 wake up calls last night from Civil Defence.
Anyone else get the same?
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/10/civil-defence-trials-alert-in-middle-of-the-night-waking-thousands.html
Well that’s confidence inspiring.
After the second I had to get up and check that Trump hadn’t dropped a fucking bomb.
A close reading of the Herald article ( ignore the headline) gives 4 reasons for the slowing of the housing crisis.
winter
bank lending limits
the election
China’s crackdown on capital flows
The most interesting section is this……
‘ James Steele, QV Auckland senior consultant, said sales volumes were down to very low levels because demand was halted “by the ability for purchasers to finance property deals.
Steele said Auckland had continued to flatten to reach what Steele called a stalemate situation. A change would only occur if a significant economic shock destabilised prices by further reducing demand or there was an easing of lending restrictions, he said.’
Is the banks’ reluctance to lend caused by a realisation of a future ‘significant economic shock’? They do not want to get burnt. That added to ‘China’s crackdown on capital flows’ could see a crash on its way.
I sense the economy is about to get very bumpy.
Perfect time for Lab/Greens/NZ First to take over.
Good luck Chaps.
Yup – God knows we wouldn’t want that Bill fella anywhere near the wheel – he never had a clue.
Time for a return to a ‘self sufficient society’ again thank god as NZ is in a prime position to become this better than any other country I know today.
I have some history of what a country can become when it turned into a self sufficient society while in Rhodesia during the 1970 era PM Ian Smith actually turned that country around by restoring almost everything from cars trucks homes and industry as well as food and electricity sources and water.
The origional african people got homes built and jobs so it worked, until UK Government forced a deal to turn the government over to a “tyrant’ who still runs a murdering government today under a invested interested ‘corporate’ controlled system.
All previous successful self sufficient regions/countries have been toppled by corporate interests and their media persuasion.
Now it is Spain last year it was Venezuela remember this, as what is next?
What’s your definition of a ‘self-sufficient” NZ?
Pretty simple question BM I am surprised you dont know the answer.
self-sufficient
This refers to single persons as well as countries, so my interest is for our Government consisting of “public servants” to carry out their role to provide our needs and interests as required under legal references to “public servants” to supply one’s own or its own needs without external assistance:
Of course the excess product can then be used to sell to any exrternal buyer for further financial income.
Here are the dictonary expanation of self sufficient.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/self-sufficient
‘The nation grows enough grain to be self-sufficient.’
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
adjective
1.
able to supply one’s own or its own needs without external assistance:
The nation grows enough grain to be self-sufficient.
2.
having extreme confidence in one’s own resources, powers, etc.:
to supply one’s own or its own needs without external assistance
So we make everything and cancel all our trade agreements?
It’s what we used to do back when we had a more egalitarian society with less poverty.
The idea that we just keep trading more commodities is making us poorer. Of course, that does seem to be what it was designed to do:
That article is about aid but it applies to this thread because the entire financial system is designed to benefit a few at everyone else’s expense and we’re getting poorer because of it.
Yes, the good o’l days.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/at-home/610220/Rebirth-of-the-K9
I didn’t say it was perfect.
And then there’s the point that if we had kept making TVs in NZ they wouldn’t be anywhere near as labour intensive as then. In fact, with the correct development, producing them wouldn’t use any labour at all.
Bm is trolling you….
No, I’m not, I’m actually interested to see how a trading nation such as NZ is supposed to survive if it shuts the door and turns its back on the world.
Let’s look at how countries like Sweden and Norway operate.
Sweden is in the EU, not exactly cut off from the world.
Norway is a European free trade association member.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway%E2%80%93European_Union_relations
Have you seen their tax rates?
Tax rates? what’s that got to do with self-sufficiency.
BM we can be part of the British Commonweath again without the decietful rules imposed upon us now under some other trade pratices like TPPA and NAFTA. while remain ‘independent’ as we were under the British commonwealth trade system , as we see now clearly those later ones dont work for us thanks.
And before you rubbish the idea of ‘self sufficient’ remeber I qualified the use of overproduction of our own surplus products to sell to other countries who wanted it without any trade rules.
That way we get our finances to expand our lives and communities without borrowing offshore again.
Yes it is. The question is more if Labour can understand the lessons that are coming and get rid of the delusional financial system that they implemented all those years ago. To ban foreign ownership and investment which are making us poorer.
“Perfect time for Lab/Greens/NZ First to take over.”
I know that’s meant as a sly jab but there’s truth in it too. It is a good time for them to take over. National’s immigration driven economic ‘growth’ has almost reached its zenith and now it’s time for a housing surge to prop up the economy.
A big house building boom should see Labour through two terms at least I’d think. We’re in more risk of a recession under National.
The big house building boom under Labour isn’t going to happen until some fairly basic issues are solved
1) Who’s going to be developing the land
2) Lack of tradespeople, apprentice builders don’t cut it.
3)Lack of materials
4)Lack of building component companies within the construction pipeline, eg: Aluminium joiners, kitchen makers
That’s simplistic rubbish. Houses don’t need many tradespeople to build them and there’s no shortage of materials.
The land can be developed by the Govt, that’s what they’re there for.
That’s simplistic rubbish. Houses don’t need many tradespeople to build them and there’s no shortage of materials.
I think you’ll find it’s you whose spouting nonsense, homes are complicated and there’s a fuck load of trades involved in the building process both on-site and off.
The land can be developed by the Govt, that’s what they’re there for.
Didn’t realise the Govt owned any earth moving gear?
They can buy it or, even better, make it.
We had an entire ministry with earth moving gear and that sort of thing at one stage. Fuckers sold it off. Now tories are all “ohmahgerd, govt doesn’t have bulldozers! You’re silly!”
Yeah, they’re gone like everyone else the government is at the whim of the private sector.
Personally, I don’t really like it, but that’s the situation we find ourselves in currently, haven’t read anything about Labour changing anything either
Correct me if I’m wrong though
Oh, when faced with a rorting private sector and 100k homes to build, the government will either get into the contruction business (like prefabrication factories) or do the same fuckall you’re lot have been up to as the crisis deepens.
So, the plan is to fund a prefabrication factory in Gisborne and freight the houses to Auckland?
What happens if no one puts their hand up? has there been any interest shown?
lol, you’re only now just catching up with the policies you’ve been shitting on for months?
ISTR the local community trust has already bought a mill or something, and the $20mil was based on a decent business case to expand the site into a full prefabrication facility.
Oh, and there was already interest. The policy didn’t come out of thin air, it came from the region as part of Labour’s consultation, where they actually listened to what the regions needed. The idea of listening to the people is alien to you as a National shill, of course.
The government is never at the whim of the private sector.
We now find ourselves in a crisis brought about by shifting governance to the private sector. The only way to correct that is to take it back into the hands of the populace.
That’d be a lie. you wouldn’t support profit and the private sector the way you do if you didn’t think that’s the way it should be. That’s why you vote National.
Homes are complicated? Where did you get that nonsense from, houses are simpler today than at any time in history.
They need tradesmen to supervise and oversee a less skilled workforce, they don’t need tradesmen to do every job. Anyone with reasonable hand-eye co-ordination and memory can work on a building site. That’s how the world was built.
Homes are complicated? Where did you get that nonsense from, houses are simpler today than at any time in history.
What a ridiculous comment. 🙄
Only because it’s showing you up as ignorant.
The building industry *wants* more tradespeople. It doesn’t need them, there’s already plenty to go around. Of course they’d want them, it’s much less hassle for the management to hire people who can work unsupervised. But want doesn’t mean need.
When there’s more work than tradespeople you turn some of the tradesmen into supervisors and hire unskilled labour. The building industry has worked that way since, well, forever
And before you come up with another snide and ignorant comment look at your history. The allied WWI and WWII efforts were won by filling the factories with unskilled labour.
Leafing through my uncle’s journal of New Zealand Houses from the 1950’s there is barely any difference to what a regular new build looks like today and the building processes are all the same. You could bring back all the tradies from that era onto a new build and they would be fine apart from not knowing how to work a power drill and getting pissed off with most of the regulations.
1. The government
2. Training
3. ban export of building materials
4. Training or, even better, development of automated systems
The big problem with you RWNJs is that you’re still stuck in the 19th century mindset that’s a proven failure.
So the great building revolution will what start in about 10 years time?
LOL at the banning the export of building materials.
We’re still waiting for the Great Leap Forward.
Blinded by the Brighter Future – oh, wait, that’s because of delayed eye surgery…
Why? Same as when Russia, when they had that drought a few years ago, banned the export of food. They needed it for themselves because they didn’t have enough.
The profits of the private sector come second to that.
Yes, I can see it now
Comrade Jacinda will make an appearance on The Peoples National TV Station (RadioNZ) and loudly shout into the camera.
“Nyet to the export of building materials from this day forward !!!, citizens who ignore this decree will be sent to the gulags (Dunedin), I Comrade Jacinda have spoken!!.
BM – if symptoms persist, consult your medical specialist.
+111
mmm Auckland house prices crash 0.6 % to an average of $1.04m a house. Some slump.
The headline should really be “Auckland house prices remain at outrageously high levels despite Chinese finance crackdown”.
Interesting that the Chinese have a government that does things……
They don’t believe in the invisible hand of the all seeing market.
They also don’t allow foreigners to buy land or property in their country.
Funny, that – having a government that protects the sovereignty of the nation.
Yes Ed if the chinese dont let us buy houses in their country we shouldn’t let them buy in ours should we?
This is how a free trade system works???
No thanks!!!!! we should get out now.
Jarrod Gilbert’s take down of Joyce and English is worth a thread of its own.
I’m sure others have spotted it.
‘I write this one for all of the morons out there.
The fools, the buffoons, the vapid oxygen thieves who are the enemies of reason, whose foolishness is only matched by their self-righteousness, whose understanding of key issues is inversely proportional to the loudness with which they speak. Gather around my enemies, I wish to have a word.
I need to talk about political tribalism, this phenomenon that so often mocks the principles that uphold our democracy while chipping away at its foundations……
…..Whether of not Joyce set out to cause mischief, or he simply misread the books and embarrassment and pigheadedness meant he was unable to back down (the latter theory I favour), we’re all aware that a swath of leading economists came out and debunked what he said.
What did Joyce do? Deny, deny, attack, deny, deny. And, of course, many of his people defended it, made excuses, or misrepresented the evidence.
All good people should have called that nonsense out in unison.
To the tribalists who didn’t I ask this: if Labour had made the same accusation against National and not a single economist supported it, would you have reacted the same way?
No. Of course not. And that’s what defines you as a moron.
In fact, looking at any issue and asking how you would react if the other side did it is a handy test we should all employ. Even when we claim neutrality such a test often teases out our unconscious biases……..
……..What ugliness awaits us now that this brazen low has been established? Where is our ambition for a democracy that exists on open debate and the exchange of ideas?
Wherever our allegiances fall we must not allow ourselves to be the foolish. The integrity of our system must stand before our desire for our team to win. Let us be a country that exhibits the best in politics and doesn’t embrace the very worst.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11929095
Gilbert = sore loser. It is just his opinion, though no doubt loved by Standardnistas.
The figures Labour presented did add up, but only if there was no new spending (other than heath and education) in 2019 and 2020. Having no provision for new spending in the proposed 2019 and 2020 budgets was not credible. For instance National provides $1.5 billion unallocated expenditure in each of the out years.
The failure to provide additional spending meant there was a wide open hole for National to exploit, especially when the argument is made by the very people with the most real world experience of how government budgets are made up.
So for instance adding back $2 billion new spending in each of these years adds up to $6 billion, since you have to baseline the $2 billion from 2019. I would say for Labour $2 billion would be light. The $11 billion figure was based on $3.7 billion new spending in each year.
There are hundreds of thousands of voters with much better accounting and economic knowledge than Gilbert who could easily see the logic of Joyce and English’s arguments.
“The figures Labour presented did add up” Then we are in agreement and the National Party were lying like a flat fish. No need for a further four paragraphs twisting words like a column of smoke. Two ticks NZF here i hope Winnie goes with the Greens and Labour you lot are nothing but liars.
So you support Joyce’s lies?
Thought you were better than that.
Those sinecures (Law commission etc) don’t get handed out for honesty Ed.
They were not lies, as I have explained.
Bullshit and jellybeans. They were lies.
Attempting to spin them into something else only demeans you further…
It is noticeable that when Nats start feeling the pressure, the nasty streak which is present in every one of them rises to the surface for all to see.
Yep Wayne’s big hole revelation is disingenous in the extreme. The rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the rotten tree. Rewriting history is just par for the course. At least he’s stopped blathering on about the greens saving the gnats – I’m thankful for small mercies.
Dear, dear.
How the mighty have fallen….
You are reminding me of an industry gag about Microsoft Wayne who like to exercise their market share in lieu of customer centric behaviour.
How many MS engineers does it take to change a lightbulb ?
None, define darkness as a new standard.
Actually, Wayne, when you said “The figures Labour presented did add up” you were admitting that Joyce told lies. He was very specific about the lines of expenditure that he claimed weren’t being accounted for and therefore did not add up. If he wasn’t lying deliberately at first (and was simply incompetent), then his and English’s shifting versions of this smear over time (morphing over time into your – false – claim that there was no allowance for new spending in 2019 and 2020 other than health and education) and refusal to back away from the “hole” idea was definitely a lie. As for your claim that this allegation came from the people who know the process best, I’d say Michael Cullen knows a thing or two about budgets, wouldn’t you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6g3cFeX_mc
They were lies.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/09/economist-consensus-there-s-no-11-7b-hole-in-labour-s-budget/_jcr_content/par/image.dynimg.full.q75.jpg/v1504582340023/D-LABOURHOLE-LBU-05-09.jpg
They were lies as has been explained to you.
But you’ll keep playing the spin because of your sociopathic need for control of everybody else.
Fake news spin for fakery. Scum tactics to win are still scum tactics and you must be so proud, beaming with pride, at the result. Legacy and honour builder FAIL.
Gilbert = sore loser.
What “loser?” The outcome of the election isn’t known yet. The fact the Nats think they “won” the election when they’re no more able to form a government than anyone else is a manifestation of Tory born-to-rule mentality – it has comedy value only.
And that very first sentence Wayne, defines you.
And around about there, with that first sentence, your credibility and argument fall
flat.
Hi Wayne,
I’d like to draw your attention to the following if you don’t mind. It was towards the end and you may have missed it:
It seems to me that Gilbert is arguing that there is indeed a “loser” but it is not him; it is all of us …
Thank you Wayne, for so thoroughly illustrating exactly what Gilbert was talking about.
” hundreds of thousands of voters with much better accounting and economic knowledge”
No doubt you mean the menkurt ideologues who thrust your worthless, dishonest, and above anti-democratic regime upon us.
Your time is done, reptilian, crawl back to the swamp and make fossils.
Hundreds of thousands of voters with much better accounting and economic knowledge than Gilbert and the many, many experts who rubbished Joyce and English?
Those whose superior financial intellect saw them vote for Joyce and English
are probably still partying for the Argentina win over All Blacks last weekend.
By mentioning the All Blacks as a counter, you show yourself to be the type of moron to whom Gilbert’s address was directed towards.
Yawn — yeah wayne? === nah nah nah!!!!
You are a very very very sore loser!!
You sound angry.
Did your boyfriend leave you?
Did your boyfriend leave you
Seriously? Homophobic slurs on The Standard, are you trying to Darwin yourself?
Youre a ‘mate’ (I call a boyfriend) of Steven Joyce are you not?
So are you implying something else please explain yourself, as I have had you denigrate me several times before now.
As an unwell person (as explained recently) am so over your insinuations.
Grow up, or run back to your National Party bunker will you!!!!!
Bm is very careful around these things unless he’s denigrating his own people then he doesn’t give a shit.
I think BM has set himself up as the lefts conscience, well done BM, the troll that trawls, he/she probably reads these comments more closely than the rest of us, to correct the groupthink, meanwhile defending Nationals blatant lying, lovely, just lovely.
I also think it’s interesting that BM assumes that it’s a bad thing to have a boyfriend, and that any statement with an inbuilt assumption that a person might have one must therefore be a homophobic slur.
How is using ‘boyfriend’ homophobic?
I’d have thought “homophilic” better – is that right?
Edit: what red-blooded said, above.
Wayne, Joyce’s failed academic record and English’s shifty and shifting answers on the Todd Barclay affair, does not make for confidence in their abilities. In other words, flexible integrity or lack of it. What they do have is ability to bluster, twist, distort ….. And through handing out cosy jobs for the boys they can wheel out people like yourself and other past their use by types to make it seem there is a groundswell of support for Greens to hold hands with National, despite the years and years of insults thrown at them.
Whatever the outcome, Jacinda and her team are behaving impeccably in contrast.
+ 1 truth
@Wayne: I accept that you have managed to create a justification for your belief in the invisible black hole that wasn’t evident to Cameron Bagrie, Ganesh Nana, Dr Vernon Small, Keith Ng, Brian Fallow, Bernard Hickey or Shamubeel Eaqub. I was impressed by the position that you took supporting an inquiry into Afghanistan civilian deaths. Therefore, why do I find it hard to understand how you can continue to support and defend a government that has continually behaved in an underhand way, that I would not have thought that you would condone.
Jeeez Wayne,
You should have let Stephen and Bill know that you believed their BILLSHIT about the 11 billion dollar hole that way when they were asked to provide one person that backed up what they said……..just one person…..even a taxi driver…. they could have confidently said well actually Wayne believes us and everything would have been sweet as. As it weas they couldnt name one person bbecause it was a lie.
By the way, typical Nat ploy by you, play the man (Jarrod Gilbert) not the ball as it was not him that said the hole didn’t exist he was merely reporting on what leading NZ economists had said. What he was saying is how sad it is that people are so indoctrinated into their own political beliefs that they refuse to see the truth in front of them.
Ed: “if Labour had made the same accusation against National and not a single economist supported it, would you have reacted the same way?
No. Of course not.”
Remember the relentless year long attack from National/Act on whether NZF had received a donation from Glenn or not? NO. Even a Privileges Committee “trial.”
And what happens to Joyce, Key, English much more serious lies? Nothing but support from the Media.
100% ianmac; – brillance there. I vividly remember this, and was the reason I now suppoort NZF.
“Remember the relentless year long attack from National/Act on whether NZF had received a donation from Glenn or not?”
Actually, National supporters, including the tribalists, would consider the idea that they should vote for some other party, simply because Joyce made a boo boo, downright silly.
Don’t minimise this, mikesh – Joyce didn’t “make a boohoo” – he and his PM deliberately lied and misled their supporters. This was a clear, demonstrated example – one that even the most committed tribalist should be able to acknowledge. Given that, and the scale of the lie, how is anyone meant to believe that this was the only lie? Politics is about trust – are these people trustworthy?
Plus, let’s remember that it wasn’t only Nat tribalists who were being lied to – the aim was to influence swinging voters, and all the evidence suggests that they succeeded in this aim. That makes this a very significant lie.
Whatever. National party supporters would still consider it silly to let it influence their vote.
“Whatever.”
So, you now concede that it was a lie, but hey – what does truth matter when decisions are being made about our nation’s future?
“National party supporters would still consider it silly to let it influence their vote.”
Did you fail to read or comprehend the final paragraph of my comment, mikesh? The lie wasn’t targeted at Nat supporters (they were always going to overlook the dirty politics and stay with their team, just as they have in the past) – it was aimed at swinging voters. The evidence of the polls before and after the lie and its constant repetition suggest that it had an effect on them. It didn’t have to be a big effect in order to make a difference in this very tight race.
I see the Herald has wheeled out another opinion piece denigrating Peters and extolling the worth of a Nat/Greens coalition. This time its Michael Cox.
Michael Cox who? I hear you say. He was an insignificant Nat MP in the 1980s. Cox has gone even further back in time to dredge up another politician to link Peters to – Benjamin Disraeli.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=280
National “deep dark state operations” are dredging every past of politicians whom pose a threat to their lib/con sellout policy to denigrate them.
Best we get our coalition of Labour/green/NZF to throw them out pronto.!!!!!!!!
The authorities in Vegas are still trying to ascertain the motive of yet another mass killing. Well as our ” dear friend” Richard Prebble once opined… I’ve been thinking.
I’m a minor Dixie Chick fan because of their song “I’m not ready to make nice” ,which was penned by Natalie Main (lead singer) over what happened to the band after they commented at a concert in London that they were embarrassed that the President (G W Bush) came from Texas, which they did too. A documentary “Shut up and sing” was made about the severe antagonism and hatred the group then suffered. Death threats etc…. it was serious stuff for what was only an aside at a concert in a foreign land. The Country and Western Southern base went totally ballistic in their hatred for the Dixie Chicks…….
Maybe Paddock didn’t like something the group featuring at the concert in Vegas had said or sung, so he flipped and decided to do something about it and set about it thoroughly. Paddock was obviously a devout Republican as 99% of that area are (and all the people investigating him there would be too ) and in his rabid state decided that anyone who listens to that music is a communist and should die.
I could be totally wrong.
I’m being frivolous, which is inexcusable on such a serious subject as the mass killing of innocent people – but perhaps the killer just didn’t like country and western music!
… and saw it as part of a Communist plot to take over America.
They’re crazy enough to believe anything over there.
A bunch of articles I’ve read have said apparently he was a fan of country music.
The scariest suggested motive I’ve seen yet is that maybe he just wanted to set a record with his 15 minutes of fame.
Yep it is plausible that he wanted a record. As less and less is found, that scenario is more likely imo.
that’s all most of these pieces of shit want , their 15 minutes , there name should never be made public and their corpses should be ground and feed to the pigs .
in saying that the us is getting what it votes for so i lose no sleep over it.
39,000 firearm murders in Honduras 2008-2015… why is it that 60 American deaths are headline news?
Because 39000 / 7 / 365 = 15 not 60.
Central and South America really do have a worse problem with gun violence than the US. Along with a lot of southern Africa, some of the middle east and some of Asia. Check out the graphic at the bottom of this article.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/03/americas/us-gun-statistics/index.html
Just for perspective, Honduras’ population is around 9 million, US around 320 million.
Thanks I suppose I also thought it was an apple orange scenario in that the total gun deaths in the us over the same period would be an apt comparison.
Your maths leave a little to desire….there are about 10,000 firearm murders in USA each year, that is 0.003% of the population.
In Honduras yearly murders average 5,500 each year, that is 0.061% of the population. That is a rate TWENTY TIMES that in the USA….I repeat why are 60 American deaths headlines?
The point being you could refer to Guatemala or Brazil or El Salvador etc etc and make the same point.
The 15 is related to the 60
And the 60 happened in one place at about the same time by a murderer who apparently wanted to set a hideous record and did.
THAT is why it is a headline.
I get your point and agree to a point.
Note: All are “Banana Republics”, with RWNJ Governments installed by the CIA.
Because it’s much more likely the readers of our local media will have some sort of connection with the victims and/or where it happened and/or a feeling of “it could have been me” when it happens it the US compared to when it happens in Honduras.
Oh kee-rist…the ignorance burns…it just goes to show that nowhere is immune from someone making ludicrous claims.
Las Vegas leans Democratic (for what’s that worth, I don’t know), but residents are not 99% Republican.
How often do you read an article with the words ‘ since the 1980s’?
More precise reporting would say ‘since the advent of neoliberalism.’
‘Moerewa, near Kaikohe, has embarked on a makeover that it hopes will continue under whatever new government is formed this month.
The town was once a thriving community where nearly everyone had a job at the freezing works or dairy factory.
But since the 1980s it has gone downhill, with more than 80 percent of its people on a benefit or retired.’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/340805/makeover-for-northland-town
How about all the empty local Dairy factories, drove past about 10 in the Naki recently.
Imagine the potential in those sites if we break the shackles of neo liberal market driven behaviour and moved to a sustainable produce/manufacture/distribute locally model.
There do appear a lot for sale at the moment.
Wonder if that is more land being bought up by foreigners?
This book is very interesting on the subject.
The Land Grabbers – The New Fight over Who Owns the Earth
by Fred Pearce
‘An unprecedented land grab is taking place around the world. Fearing future food shortages or eager to profit from them, the world’s wealthiest and most acquisitive countries, corporations, and individuals have been buying and leasing vast tracts of land around the world. ‘
http://www.beacon.org/The-Land-Grabbers-P887.aspx
http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2012/10/05/who-owns-earth-review-fred-pearces-land-grabbers
Perfect plan tc we need local industry now to work more effeciently and produce local jobs and secure families.
I live 80kms north of gisborne and daily see a flood of milk tankers going south 300+ kms to Palmerston north factories and then they are shiped north again as export products 280 kms to Port of Napier.
What a waste of transportation and pollution along the way and waste of fuel!!!!!!!
Imagine a kick started textile/paper industry based on Flax and Hemp.
One is a return to something we used to do, the other a booming 21st century market we could get into with a progressive attitude.
Both are natural products suited to our climate with one already a native species.
+ 100
got a mate – did some hemp growing – great plant so many uses just so many, and the flax is so good too. Some great areas for growing harakeke, areas not drained for cowland. I see these two resources/crops/plants as being ESSENTIAL for future sustainability and survivability.
Like all good things, greenies will have been promoting it for a decade or three before it’s taken up by the mainstream – as someone here often says, “follow the hippies”.
Yep there are lots of places where great things could be started. Neo liberalism has a lot to answer for. Going small and local and community orientated are the way to roll back the neo liberal 1980s experiment.
🙂 “But since the return of Liberalism in the 1980s…”
“since the advent of neoliberalism” suggest something new popped up. But nothing new popped up. You can read Dickens and get a very good understanding of what kind of society gets created by Liberalism/neo-liberalism, but won’t make the connection if you think the 80s was all about something that had never been tried before – tried and then rejected some time around the 30s/40s by “the west” but still foisted on “the global south” by “the west” by way of “structural adjustment programmes (SAPs)
Good point.
Why you shouldn’t idolise rappers:
Or give them money.
Why you shouldn’t idolise this rapper or give him money – I think you mean.
It is illogical to take one swallow and assume it is summer.
Caught up with an angry voter, angry because they now want to change their vote, angry because they have only recently realised they’ve been lied to and misled by national. They can’t change their vote, but they said they are never voting for national again. They are also very embarrassed that they believed the tax lies flowing from the mouths of national mps during the election and perpetuated by a media who gave it airplay again and again and again.
Ethics in schools please, at least the misinformed voter would have been more informed by their kids if civics was being taught in schools.
Meanwhile… 3 more sleeps until Saturday 😀 Bring on the special vote count 😀
More fool them for believing the lie.
If they haven’t worked National out yet…….
100% agree.
It’s difficult to figure something out correctly when all the information available is the lies.
So how come you and I can see the lies?
Because we are all political junkies, well versed in DP the media etc etc. Some people believe everything the pm says, he’s the pm he must be telling the truth.
But Bill Ralston said…… but Bill Ralston writes bill englishes speeches.. etc etc.
But the soundbites… and the facebook… if you are not versed in media manipulation then you’ll probably swallow it hook line and sinker.
But mum and dad said…… sorry huni mum and dad are being manipulated by soundbites and fake news as well
It’s amazing how much trust and faith some put in the media or people in power, they neglect to realise that some of those people are only manipulating others for their own gains.
As well as ethics in schools can we please have a 24hr kiwi tv channel, as well giving parental, practical, mental health, lifestyle and social advice and info, chuck in some educational documentaries too, please and thank you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAmGnyj0u7E
I no that there are some who will try and pin any bull shit on me because that is there mentality to fuck me up there are many story’s that I have not told about my interaction with these people and these stories would do more damage to there image and they would not give a shit because they can hide in plain clothes. and unmarked cars while OUR people in uniforms take the heat This is the last I commenting on this subject .The pepper is doing a better job than I thought probably got a few more miles in the old truck.
Baby cheeses. Just published …. corruption within corruption …. part of ACC sold off without tender to staff …. so much is wrong with this .. Sir Owen Woodhouse must be turning in his grave …
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/10/03/51308/questions-continue-over-acc-disputes-entity
I guess Pence and his Xtian Taliban are running the shop.
The US is one of just 13 countries to have voted against a United Nations resolution condemning the death penalty for having gay sex.
Although the vote passed, America joined countries such as China, Iraq and Saudi Arabia in opposing the move.
The Human Rights Council resolution condemned the “imposition of the death penalty as a sanction for specific forms of conduct, such as apostasy, blasphemy, adultery and consensual same-sex relations”.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-gay-sex-death-penalty-un-same-sex-relations-human-rights-council-saudi-arabia-iraq-nikki-haley-a7980981.html
This article and research paper is worth a thread its own right.
‘Most river pollution comes from streams that don’t need fencing, research shows
Most of New Zealand’s river pollution comes from streams that would be exempt from waterway fencing rules, new research shows.
It calls into question the effectiveness of current efforts, which would become law under legislation proposed by the National Government.
A paper published by the American Journal of Environmental Quality found that 77 per cent of contaminants in New Zealand’s rivers came from smaller waterways exempt from proposed fencing rules.
The paper, by Ag Research scientist Dr Richard McDowell as part of the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge, found that most pollution does not come from those waterways.
It modelled the contaminant load for over half a million stream segments around the country, which were divided into those that would need to be fenced and those that would not.
It determined 77 per cent of the pollution load nationwide came from streams that would not require fencing.
The contribution of individual pollutants from smaller streams ranged from 73 per cent of total nitrogen to 84 per cent of dissolved reactive phosphorus.
It was particularly evident in agriculturally-productive regions such as Canterbury, Southland, Nelson and Hawkes Bay, which “exhibited large contaminant loads from exempt catchments”, the research said.’
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/97528658/most-river-pollution-comes-from-streams-that-dont-need-fencing-research-shows
https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/jeq/articles/46/5/1038
Dairy New Zealand.
An evil industry.
A killing machine.
An immoral operation.
And they know that if people really found out how their industry operates, it would be all over.
‘Dairy farmers jumpy over media attention at calving time
Springtime, and the paranoia is rising – at least among dairy farmers.
Chastened by scrapes with animal rights groups and the media in recent years, farmers are on high alert for cameras lurking behind cowsheds or drones whirring in the skies.
In calving season images of distressed or abused bobby calves are the last thing the industry needs.’
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/97530353/dairy-farmers-jumpy-over-media-attention-at-calving-time
Well said Chris Trotter, well said.
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2017/10/the-difference-between-jeremy-and.html
Funny, myself and others got roundly criticized for pointing this out before the election, I’m guessing the Blairite hacks will carry on with those attacks.
Skinner’s key policy points were that he wanted :
– Free education
– Free healthcare
– Scrapping zero-hour contracts
– A return to high unionism
So, just on the policy front Labour’s policies going into the election covered all of that, as Trotter is well aware.
Skinner also noted clearly that the scale of intervention required was due to the catastrophic destruction and population displacement of World War 2. We don’t have that scale of crisis.
Skinner was also clear to praise the new Labour leader for his electoral success. If only Trotter could pull himself out of his sickly nostalgia and do the same. It’s also noteworthy that Jacinda and her predecessor united the party in policy and personality – unlike Corbyn who has gone through shadow Cabinets like scrunched up newspaper on an engineering shop floor.
Finally on the results front whee all of this matters, Ardern is even closer to achieving actual government than Corbyn. And in far shorter a time than Corbyn.
On the policy front, the historical context front, the leadership front, and on the results front, New Zealand’s own Labour Party is at least as advanced as UK Labour if not moreso.
Skinner is not scared of big business.
NZ Labour is.
Skinner’s career was protected by massive union membership and total state control of the coalmines, and never even got close to having to make Cabinet., so he hasn’t had to face business at all.
His best quality was that he had a great turn of phrase and taught Blair most of his rhetorical skills.
Jacinda gave a better speech at the Auckland Town Hall at the launch.
I’d say we do:
Under funded health
Under funded police
Housing crisis
Climate Change (this one alone more than meets the criteria – it’s not our ‘nuclear-free issue of a generation’ but ‘the WWI & II at the same bloody time’ issue of generations.)
It’s interesting to note that the problem, in both places, seems to be a bunch of self-righteous politicians not listening to the party members and, in fact, telling them that they’re wrong.
I’d say that Corbyn is doing a slightly better job of uniting UK Labour because he’s getting rid of the white-anters.
If you want to compare World War Two to the underfunding of NZ services, go right ahead. Ardern has it pretty well covered on climate change, and will continue to do so even if she cannot lead a government this time.
Don’t bother trying to measure self-righteousness in politicians – the really good ones just keep the rhetorical arm-waving in check.
The white-anting of New Zealand Labour’s caucus finished since Little started as leader. As a result Labour’s MPs have presented a fully united front since that time. Corbyn’s Labour is still unstable by comparison.
I didn’t.
Not really. Still tied to ‘the market’ delivering rather than the government giving full direction.
I do seem to recall a few instances here and there. I also note that NZ Labour now has a leader chosen by the caucus rather than the members.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/02/labour-mp-poto-williams-defied-leader-to-speak-out-against-willie-jackson.html
From what I’m seeing UK Labour is quite stable – their MPs aren’t. Same as what happened to Cunliffe really.
Katherine Rich Is a nasty piece of work, who will do anything to shill for big sugar.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/10/04/51558/whaleoil-ex-mp-pr-man-to-face-jury-trial
Rich was quoted on Kiwiblog this week, getting at people who make up and use crap.
How fucken rich was that? Her, on there.
She is symptomatic of what is wrong with this country.
Sadly we thought as an MP that she was one pf the good guys. How wrong we were.
She showed her true colours in Nigel Latta’s show on Sugar.
Another Nat liar and pimp.