Did Little stop to consider laughing off the suggestion of moving the party further left would be akin to a kick in the face for those wanting Labour to move further left?
I’m sure a number of left leaning Green supporters won’t be impressed either. Coupled with the reported division within Labour over working with the Greens, it will have more voters questioning how stable will their relationship be?
Perhaps, like me, they won’t read so much into it.
Or maybe they’ll think Little was laughing at the absurdity of the question, or the entire narrative, as being so obviously the sort of irrelevant cak that seems to pass for political journalism these days.
Or perhaps the journalist intended the question as a sort of post-truth joke, and Little found it funny.
I don’t propose to concern myself with it any further. Perhaps you and Pete…?
What’s so absurd about asking a Labour Party leader if he plans to take the Party further left?
The question may have seemed absurd to right-wingers but to a number on the left, we were keen to hear a truthful answer.
There has been a lot of speculation on what direction Little would take Labour. And with Little laughing off moving further left as if it were crazy, he effectively gave his hand away.
Have you ever heard of caucus or members? A leader of a party doesn’t operate as an absolute ruler or even as any kind of autocrat. They have to carry a fair chunk of support or at least resigned acquiescence from a lot of other people. The voters get a say on if they approve when elections arrive (polls are rather useless), but caucus and members are required most of the time.
Really you are just being foolish. The problem you have is that in the Labour membership and caucus there is a limited enthusiasm for moving left or right or too far away from the centre. Having impatient idiots demand immediate change just makes many of us treat such strident and clarion calls to move in a bleeding hurry as being a good enough reason to slow down. If you (or Chris or Quin or Pagani) can’t argue your case about why it would be a good idea, instead calling for revolt and revolution – then clearly you don’t appear to have an argument.
[lprent: For those of you getting caught in whatever is causing comments to go to spam. I just had to release this comment dispatched from Frankfurt airport. You are not alone 😈 ]
What’s so absurd about asking a Labour Party leader if he plans to take the Party further left?
Has anyone ever asked John Key if he plans to take National further right? No, they haven’t. But if they did, I’m betting he would laugh for the same reason Andrew Little laughed.
Its a silly question to ask and no political leader is going to answer it for the simple reason that everyone has a different perspective on what is “left” and what is “right”. Andrew Little knew it was just another attempt to throw him off balance and he didn’t get sucked into responding. He laughed it off instead.
A number of left leaning Green supporters initially switched from Labour to the Greens. This will no doubt entice more to make the move. They will want to ensure Labour get the least seats possible, giving the Greens more power if the two come to form a coalition.
Labour’s biggest concern will be if the Unions also make the shift. A number of members have been questioning why the Unions remain with Labour.
Don’t be ridiculous. This was a stupid media attack line and he treated it with the contempt it deserved. Their framing is an attempt to paint Little and Labour as on the fringe and out of touch wth “the everyman” (as Garner puts it).
Little is running a progressive agenda targeting working class and middle class New Zealanders (not the mythical political centre, note) on core Labour issues of housing, jobs, health, education and community safety. And that’s what won it in Mt Roskill. We should be getting in behind him amd laughing at the media’s bullshit.
It may have been a media attack line but it was also a leading question.
Therefore, while his response was designed to appease the media (laughing off the suggestion as if it were crazy) they suckered him into disappointing those hoping Little would move the Party further left.
As for running a progressive agenda, Labour’s policy is failing to reflect that.
It really is not worth the effort bothering to answer The Chairman, but just to set the record straight – Chris Trotter talks a lot of nonsense, he doesn’t like Labour though he purports to be left, and he doesn’t have any idea of what Labour is doing, at the moment, especially with union workers, or others.
Nonetheless, a number of Labour’s other policy also falls short. Such as their youth employment scheme (a short-term scheme providing the very basic in skills). Their willingness to continue heavily taxing smokers (resulting in a crime wave, damaging properties while putting lives at risk, hence the need to hire more police and build more prisons) Foreign investors in the property market (with new builds driving up the demand for land, hence adding to the overall cost of housing). Education (only providing 3 years of free post-school education for a person’s entire life) as they admit workers will continually require to be retrained.
Sorry chairman,
I am next to disagree with you.
I am sick to the back teeth of responses that have a Crosby textor feel to them.
His laughing, at a stupid question, was human and resonated.
Don’t get me wrong chair, I would love to see labour move left (and accommodate parties further left).
The reason it was a stupid question was that it was based on a leggett utterance. (Leggett, like dunne finds a home in labour or nats… Yuk.)
Not worthy of anything more than a hearty chuckle.
While it was sparked by a Leggett utterance in part, it was also related to the MOU with the Greens. Nevertheless, it was a valid question.
As for Leggett, Labour were still keen to welcome him back into the fold, despite him quitting Labour, standing against Lester and Little calling him a right-winger.
Can someone help me understand why MFAT give 6 million dollars to the Clinton Foundation? Mentioned in Fran O’Sullivan’s op ed in the Herald yesterday.
Isn’t that about pay for play? Ie a foreign entity gives the Clinton foundation money and then gets favours from the secretary of state or Madam President. Oops looks like that is money down the gurgler now that Trump won. Not a good look from MFAT whatever the outcome.
Isn’t that about pay for play? Ie a foreign entity gives the Clinton foundation money and then gets favours from the secretary of state or Madam President.
If it was that straightforward the people involved would be pondering how to rebuild their lives after they’re released. It’s actually just about engendering vague feelings of goodwill and the impression of dealing with someone you know because you’ve had previous dealings – there’s no actual quid pro quo, but like advertising, people wouldn’t do it if it didn’t work.
Also, it won’t be money down the gurgler because the effect of the above is on a lot more people than Hillary Clinton, and all of them are influential in one way or another. We may find it annoying, but until someone comes up with a way to run the planet that doesn’t involve humans, we’re stuck with it.
Like I said, if it were bribery, the participants would be in prison. There’s no quid pro quo. Get on your high horse if you want, but high horses are easy to get on when you’re not responsible for anything. A Labour government will do as much of this as a National one.
One wonders if such a donation is ‘acting in the nations’ interest’. In fact, the only way it could be construed as being that is if they expected to get something back from it which would make it a bribe.
Hell, it could just come under NZ’s general overseas aid package if it goes to things like quake relief or AIDS treatment. In other words, the “bribe” is to the charity so that good works get done in (partially) our name.
The imaginary shadow cast by weavers of bullshit and hoaxes.
Hey, it might be the most corrupt organisation since the cosa nostra began, but that is completely unrelated to anything said about the Clinton Foundation during the election campaign. Just noise, independant of reality.
Fortunately, neither governments nor MFAT are populated with literalists such as yourselves, as it would make diplomacy a fraught business.
…the only way it could be construed as being [in the national interest] is if they expected to get something back from it which would make it a bribe.
Wrong. First, the payment was to a charitable foundation, so went towards “good works” of various descriptions, which means it didn’t benefit some individual and falls within the kind of charitable expenditure we expect our government to make; second, that kind of charitable giving improves foreign diplomats’ perceptions of NZ, which is in our interest; third, it’s human nature to prefer to deal with people you know or have some connection with, so this helps make it easier for MFAT to deal with influential people in the USA, which is beneficial to NZ but doesn’t involve the kind of quid pro quo that could be called a bribe.
Some people think that ethics should go out the window when politics or business are involved.
There’s nothing unethical about donating to a charity, but there is something stupid about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
First, the payment was to a charitable foundation, so went towards “good works” of various descriptions, which means it didn’t benefit some individual and falls within the kind of charitable expenditure we expect our government to make;
True – to some degree. I expect our government to provide aid. What I don’t expect them to do is to give to foreign private charities.
second, that kind of charitable giving improves foreign diplomats’ perceptions of NZ, which is in our interest;
Except the only diplomats that would have been aware of that particular giving would have been the Clintons. It wasn’t general knowledge – We certainly didn’t know about it.
it’s human nature to prefer to deal with people you know or have some connection with
Maybe so but giving to a charity doesn’t engender any such connection.
The Commerce Commission is warning women to steer clear of the circles, which claim to be women’s empowerment groups that have the power to transform lives.
The National Party and its allies have just voted down a bill to help NZ businesses. Andrew Little’s bill to give preferred procurement to NZ companies for government contracts was defeated by the National block including Peter Dunne. Just think what a boost this would be to local businesses and employment. But did anyone see headlines complaining about this in the media business pages? This government is not local business friendly.
Looks like we’re all going to find out what happens when the US president can’t be bothered with the advice of thousands of career experts and just follows his whim of the moment that happens to align with his business interests.
It would be nice if people who prefer totalitarian dictatorships to democracy would stop calling themselves “progressive” – there’s nothing remotely progressive about totalitarianism, in fact it’s the death of progress.
You are on shaky ground PM. Democracy is good if everyone is educated, so that gets a big ‘fail’ now.
Totalitarian Dictatorship….. many people have pondered the ‘Benevolent Dictator’ as a good alternative to what has become a farcical form of real democracy.
Ya reckon the Orange Messiah agrees with that, so that’s why he’s picked an Education Secretary that’s very likely to further dumb down the education system?
Great Moments in Broadcasting. NOT.
No. 3: Kevin Roberts’ performance on TV3 chat show The Panel, late 2001.
Anyone with a taste for the absurd, the creepy and the pretentious should check out the “inspirational” website of Saatchi advertising supremo “Doctor” Kevin Roberts. The man who has, to this writer’s knowledge, never uttered a sentence that is not complete and unmitigated bullshit, offers up, for our edification, the complete list of his public speeches and his exciting, radical and deep personal philosophy, which can be summed up thusly: New Zealand is “on the edge”, and we’re all CRA-A-A-A-A-A-AZY, ma-a-a-a-a-aan, and that’s COOL. That, and something even dopier, about “love brands”.
In 1999, Roberts attracted almost universal condemnation and ridicule by somehow persuading Air New Zealand to have one of its jumbo jets painted with a huge, grotesque, distorted mural of the All Black front row. This mortified, shamed and humiliated the players, angered the All Black coach John Hart, and disgusted the fans. However, Roberts, having clout because of his inordinate influence and power on the NZRFU board, forced it through, and the jet was daubed with the atrocity.
Two years after that, on September 11, 2001, Roberts watched the WTC collapse from the Saatchi offices, in a nearby building. Undaunted by any notions of common sense or legality, he then wrote an open letter to the New York Times urging the governor George Pataki to suspend the law and extend the reign of the criminal, Mafia-connected mayor Rudolf Giuliani. Of course, Governor Pataki ignored the inane petition.
Shortly after that embarrassment, Roberts was back in New Zealand, appearing as a guest on the dismal TV3 chat show, The Panel. Even his half-drunken fellow-panelists were visibly shocked by Roberts’ performance that night: putting aside such troublesome notions as restraint, sensitivity or decency, Roberts said this:
“You know what New Zealand should have done after September 11? We should have sent a planeload of soldiers in an Air New Zealand jumbo jet, all dressed in black bomber jackets with a silver fern on them, and taken them to Ground Zero, because we’re good at urban disasters. And they would have danced a haka on the site and then started digging. The WORLD’S MEDIA would have filmed this, and the publicity would have been absolutely PRICELESS.”
At this point, there was utter silence on the set. The usual guffawing and chuckling had stopped. You could truly have heard a pin drop. Every panelist, including the inebriated Pam Corkery, was struck dumb.
Eventually one female panellist spoke up: “Isn’t that…. isn’t that a bit…..cynical?”
The normally smiling Roberts mien clouded over wrathfully: “No, it’s not cynical,” he snarled, clearly angry that anyone had had the temerity to question his brilliance. “It would have been a massive gesture of LOVE.”
Great Moments in Broadcasting. NOT is an occasional series highlighting some of the worst moments in our pretty shameful history of broadcasting mediocrity and downright failure.
N.B. Loath as I am to advertise anything on TV1, keen Roberts-watchers will be eagerly awaiting tonight’s edition of Sunday at 7 p.m. It is billed thusly: “Advertising guru Kevin Roberts on the scandal that brought him down. Dying prisoner Vicky Letele on how she was really treated in prison.” So that’s two fraudsters in half an hour—good value, kind of.
A look at things to come Nationwide? Or just a precursor to the privatisation of our police force? Either way pretty disturbing stuff going on in our Far North.
“The BID is designed to improve CBD business and amenity through agreed regular improvements to the town’s physical, operational or security infrastructure within the town centre. The BID is a partnership between local government (mainly through regular liaison with the Community Board) and local businesses funded through a quarterly levy, by way of an FNDC targeted rate.
Local businesses within the BID area (or those outside the area who choose to join) contribute an amount of money each year through a proportional system which is determined by BID regulations via their rateable property value. The average BID levy for a Kaitaia CBD business is about $200 per annum; but smaller businesses may only be levied a $100 (or so) rise in rates, larger businesses (such as the JNL mill) have proportionately higher levies.
Projects currently undertaken by the KBA are:
Community Patrol New Zealand – Working in conjunction with the Neighbourhood Policing team Kaitaia to improve the safety and security of our town. There is currently a Community Patrol vehicle which is policing our CBD, with a rotating roster of volunteers;
Kaitaia CCTV Cameras and monitoring upgrade – The previous CCTV system funded and installed by the KBA 10 years ago at a cost of $140,000 has become outdated and nearly unusable. The KBA, in partnership the Kaitaia Police, are looking to increase the system’s coverage to eventually include the entire BID area, with upgrades to newer technology, which are anticipated to cost in excess of $250,000.00;
New valuation papers were sent out and Wellington/Porirua with very high council housing suburbs and low income family dwellings were waked with an average of 24 %!
This does smell fishy. I don’t have to join any women spiritual movement, this alone will just give me a rush for all the wrong reasons.
Aotea, the new suburb with new build houses and a footprint of 2 council dwellings was “booming” with 23%. So how on earth can the old weatherboard houses rise 24%. Or is this done so that the council houses getting more interest in the market? They say it will not impact the rates but it will and always does. Porirua has already one of the highest rates in the country.
Can someone enlighten me what is going on?
Rates are based on the relative values of property, so if property values are up 24% on average, there will be no impact on rates. If property values are up 30% on average, your rates will probably drop, or remain static.
Rateable Values are calculated by QV based on general property changes in the same area. If you think it’s wrong, challenge it.
In fact, if anything, my forecasts were too conservative. The solar prices I expected have been smashed by bids in the Middle East and in Latin America. I will need to update the model above in a future post.
The latest record is an incredibly low bid of 2.42 cents / kwh solar electricity in Abu Dhabi. That is an unsubsidized price.
Let me put that in perspective. The cost of electricity from a new natural gas powerplant in the US is now estimated at 5.6 cents / kwh. (pdf link) That is with historically low natural gas prices in the US, which are far lower than the price of natural gas in the rest of the world.
[…]
Nor is it limited to just Abu Dhabi.
In Chile, just a month ago, a new record low price for solar was set, at 2.91 cents / kwh. That record lasted less than 5 weeks.
In Mexico, the average price of new solar bids in April was 5.1 cents per kwh, and the cheapest solar bid in Mexico was 3.5 cents per kwh.
Have just been watching Q & A which I had taped. Jessica Mutch interviewing Andrew Little was a disgrace. Such a biased interviewer, prattling on about polls (as if they matter) and not acknowledging the victory in Mt Roskill. Attacking his personality and him lacking in charisma and not being a “show pony” like the outgoing PM – as if that mattered for Christ’s sake, his antics are a disgrace and cringe material for all of us.
After the litany of botch ups the outgoing PM has done over the years and his mangling of the English language it is absolutely disgusting that our interviewers keep criticising Andrew Little and cannot be impartial and actually conduct an intelligent interview. They are all paid monkeys doing what the right wing political masters require of them.
If this is all MSM can offer with talent and calibre with their interviewers then we are all the poorer for it. I haven’t watched Q & A and The Nation for weeks now and I wish I hadn’t watched it tonight.
Celebrate the Mt Roskill win and give a decent interview and acknowledge the win – not be an attack dog negative interviewer with a bad loser attitude.
Also – Michelle Boag should be released from her contract – what a nightmare of a woman and the convener of the panel needs to learn to keep her under control and not allow her to dominate the panel like the witch that she is. She is enough to keep one awake at night.
Anti-democratic Fiji strongman Frank Bananarama has been scammed by a Las Vegas conman. I wonder what Frank’s friends John Key and slug-boy have to say about this?
The Horrid has posted yet another story on MH370 – a plane crash which cannot be found despite several hundred million dollars having been spent on the effort. A crash involving one New Zealander who was on his way to work in a Mongolian mine – wtf?
Contrast this with the zero dollars having been spent on a Pike River mine rescue where the 29 victims of corporate greed and government incompetence still wait for justice.
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 ...
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Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from 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 public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
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:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
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. ...
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 ...
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. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Did Little stop to consider laughing off the suggestion of moving the party further left would be akin to a kick in the face for those wanting Labour to move further left?
Doesn’t Petty George have a monopoly on looking for things to be offended by?
Not that I’m aware of.
Very funny – the hypocratic oaf tries to strike again.
This one’s too small: catch and release.
Little stopped to consider opening a cold beer as he took the last two weeks of commentariats, and smiled like he earned it.
It’s no time to be complacent. He’s going to have trouble trying to reconcile this gaffe.
The media will hammer any attempts he makes to appease the left. But failing to will also cost him votes.
I’m left, and I thought Andrew’s response was both funny, and appropriate, Mr Chairman.
Why did you find it funny?
With the Party struggling in the polls, one didn’t think the Party could afford to so easily write off their left-wing voting block.
I’m sure they are grateful for your concern. Or Green voters.
I’m sure a number of left leaning Green supporters won’t be impressed either. Coupled with the reported division within Labour over working with the Greens, it will have more voters questioning how stable will their relationship be?
Perhaps, like me, they won’t read so much into it.
Or maybe they’ll think Little was laughing at the absurdity of the question, or the entire narrative, as being so obviously the sort of irrelevant cak that seems to pass for political journalism these days.
Or perhaps the journalist intended the question as a sort of post-truth joke, and Little found it funny.
I don’t propose to concern myself with it any further. Perhaps you and Pete…?
What’s so absurd about asking a Labour Party leader if he plans to take the Party further left?
The question may have seemed absurd to right-wingers but to a number on the left, we were keen to hear a truthful answer.
There has been a lot of speculation on what direction Little would take Labour. And with Little laughing off moving further left as if it were crazy, he effectively gave his hand away.
Have you ever heard of caucus or members? A leader of a party doesn’t operate as an absolute ruler or even as any kind of autocrat. They have to carry a fair chunk of support or at least resigned acquiescence from a lot of other people. The voters get a say on if they approve when elections arrive (polls are rather useless), but caucus and members are required most of the time.
Really you are just being foolish. The problem you have is that in the Labour membership and caucus there is a limited enthusiasm for moving left or right or too far away from the centre. Having impatient idiots demand immediate change just makes many of us treat such strident and clarion calls to move in a bleeding hurry as being a good enough reason to slow down. If you (or Chris or Quin or Pagani) can’t argue your case about why it would be a good idea, instead calling for revolt and revolution – then clearly you don’t appear to have an argument.
[lprent: For those of you getting caught in whatever is causing comments to go to spam. I just had to release this comment dispatched from Frankfurt airport. You are not alone 😈 ]
What’s so absurd about asking a Labour Party leader if he plans to take the Party further left?
Has anyone ever asked John Key if he plans to take National further right? No, they haven’t. But if they did, I’m betting he would laugh for the same reason Andrew Little laughed.
Its a silly question to ask and no political leader is going to answer it for the simple reason that everyone has a different perspective on what is “left” and what is “right”. Andrew Little knew it was just another attempt to throw him off balance and he didn’t get sucked into responding. He laughed it off instead.
@ Anne
The manner in which he laughed it off suggested the notion was ludicrous. He did make a comment after that, but I don’t have the full clip on hand.
As for anyone asking Key, I’m pretty sure they did when he first became leader and was relatively unknown.
Does that mean the green supporters won’t vote labour??
A number of left leaning Green supporters initially switched from Labour to the Greens. This will no doubt entice more to make the move. They will want to ensure Labour get the least seats possible, giving the Greens more power if the two come to form a coalition.
Labour’s biggest concern will be if the Unions also make the shift. A number of members have been questioning why the Unions remain with Labour.
Then we will have a Green led Government.
No problem.
“As for anyone asking Key, I’m pretty sure they did when he first became leader and was relatively unknown.”
and being Key he wasn’t to be taken at his word so it was a pointless exercise.
@ Pat
His cups of tea with ACT showed us he’s willing to accommodate the far right.
actions speak louder than words…especially mendacious words
Don’t be ridiculous. This was a stupid media attack line and he treated it with the contempt it deserved. Their framing is an attempt to paint Little and Labour as on the fringe and out of touch wth “the everyman” (as Garner puts it).
Little is running a progressive agenda targeting working class and middle class New Zealanders (not the mythical political centre, note) on core Labour issues of housing, jobs, health, education and community safety. And that’s what won it in Mt Roskill. We should be getting in behind him amd laughing at the media’s bullshit.
It may have been a media attack line but it was also a leading question.
Therefore, while his response was designed to appease the media (laughing off the suggestion as if it were crazy) they suckered him into disappointing those hoping Little would move the Party further left.
As for running a progressive agenda, Labour’s policy is failing to reflect that.
Take the Future of Work for example, apparently Unions have no role to play in Labour’s Future of Work.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/83656652/Chris-Trotter-Do-unions-have-a-place-in-the-future-of-work
It really is not worth the effort bothering to answer The Chairman, but just to set the record straight – Chris Trotter talks a lot of nonsense, he doesn’t like Labour though he purports to be left, and he doesn’t have any idea of what Labour is doing, at the moment, especially with union workers, or others.
“it really is not worth the effort bothering to answer The Chairman”……..+1
“He doesn’t have any idea of what Labour is doing, at the moment, especially with union workers, or others.”
Feel free to enlighten us, Jenny.
Has Labour countered his assertion? Surely they would want to set voters straight?
Rather than quote the hysterical Chris Trotter, you should read the actual report, which has a section on collective bargaining.
Exactly.
Some people should read the originals before commenting rather than rely on Journalists, of any type.
Exactly.
Some people should read the originals before commenting, rather than rely on Journalists, of any type.
Journalism seems to be a lost profession these days.
Rather than reporting to us. They now seem to think their job is telling us, what to think.
Seems I should of. There is a section in there.
Nonetheless, a number of Labour’s other policy also falls short. Such as their youth employment scheme (a short-term scheme providing the very basic in skills). Their willingness to continue heavily taxing smokers (resulting in a crime wave, damaging properties while putting lives at risk, hence the need to hire more police and build more prisons) Foreign investors in the property market (with new builds driving up the demand for land, hence adding to the overall cost of housing). Education (only providing 3 years of free post-school education for a person’s entire life) as they admit workers will continually require to be retrained.
Future of Work is not (Labour) policy, it is aimed at developing policy.
Sorry chairman,
I am next to disagree with you.
I am sick to the back teeth of responses that have a Crosby textor feel to them.
His laughing, at a stupid question, was human and resonated.
Why do you believe it was a stupid question?
Little’s response reinforced the notion that Labour moving left was crazy.
Don’t get me wrong chair, I would love to see labour move left (and accommodate parties further left).
The reason it was a stupid question was that it was based on a leggett utterance. (Leggett, like dunne finds a home in labour or nats… Yuk.)
Not worthy of anything more than a hearty chuckle.
While it was sparked by a Leggett utterance in part, it was also related to the MOU with the Greens. Nevertheless, it was a valid question.
As for Leggett, Labour were still keen to welcome him back into the fold, despite him quitting Labour, standing against Lester and Little calling him a right-winger.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11725623
You and Leggett need to get together and decided just exactly where Labour is. He says too far left, you say not left enough.
Seems then they are just about right where they should be.
If you consider National lite is where Labour should position themselves (I don’t of course) then I guess you’re right.
Can someone help me understand why MFAT give 6 million dollars to the Clinton Foundation? Mentioned in Fran O’Sullivan’s op ed in the Herald yesterday.
Isn’t that about pay for play? Ie a foreign entity gives the Clinton foundation money and then gets favours from the secretary of state or Madam President. Oops looks like that is money down the gurgler now that Trump won. Not a good look from MFAT whatever the outcome.
Isn’t that about pay for play? Ie a foreign entity gives the Clinton foundation money and then gets favours from the secretary of state or Madam President.
If it was that straightforward the people involved would be pondering how to rebuild their lives after they’re released. It’s actually just about engendering vague feelings of goodwill and the impression of dealing with someone you know because you’ve had previous dealings – there’s no actual quid pro quo, but like advertising, people wouldn’t do it if it didn’t work.
Also, it won’t be money down the gurgler because the effect of the above is on a lot more people than Hillary Clinton, and all of them are influential in one way or another. We may find it annoying, but until someone comes up with a way to run the planet that doesn’t involve humans, we’re stuck with it.
In the real world this is called bribery.
But corruption is fine when National do it.
Like I said, if it were bribery, the participants would be in prison. There’s no quid pro quo. Get on your high horse if you want, but high horses are easy to get on when you’re not responsible for anything. A Labour government will do as much of this as a National one.
They did it to, is not an excuse.
Governments don’t need an excuse to act in the national interest – it’s what we elect them for.
One wonders if such a donation is ‘acting in the nations’ interest’. In fact, the only way it could be construed as being that is if they expected to get something back from it which would make it a bribe.
Nope.
Hell, it could just come under NZ’s general overseas aid package if it goes to things like quake relief or AIDS treatment. In other words, the “bribe” is to the charity so that good works get done in (partially) our name.
Giving to the charity simply as part of our general aid package makes more sense than acting in the nations interest.
Of course, the problem is the shadow that’s now been cast over that particular charity.
The imaginary shadow cast by weavers of bullshit and hoaxes.
Hey, it might be the most corrupt organisation since the cosa nostra began, but that is completely unrelated to anything said about the Clinton Foundation during the election campaign. Just noise, independant of reality.
Some people think that ethics should go out the window when politics or business are involved.
I am not one of them.
Fortunately, neither governments nor MFAT are populated with literalists such as yourselves, as it would make diplomacy a fraught business.
…the only way it could be construed as being [in the national interest] is if they expected to get something back from it which would make it a bribe.
Wrong. First, the payment was to a charitable foundation, so went towards “good works” of various descriptions, which means it didn’t benefit some individual and falls within the kind of charitable expenditure we expect our government to make; second, that kind of charitable giving improves foreign diplomats’ perceptions of NZ, which is in our interest; third, it’s human nature to prefer to deal with people you know or have some connection with, so this helps make it easier for MFAT to deal with influential people in the USA, which is beneficial to NZ but doesn’t involve the kind of quid pro quo that could be called a bribe.
Some people think that ethics should go out the window when politics or business are involved.
There’s nothing unethical about donating to a charity, but there is something stupid about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
True – to some degree. I expect our government to provide aid. What I don’t expect them to do is to give to foreign private charities.
Except the only diplomats that would have been aware of that particular giving would have been the Clintons. It wasn’t general knowledge – We certainly didn’t know about it.
Maybe so but giving to a charity doesn’t engender any such connection.
They didn’t want a sheep farm.
The Commerce Commission is warning women to steer clear of the circles, which claim to be women’s empowerment groups that have the power to transform lives.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/86993820/highflying-women-lose-money-in-secret-spiritual-movement-with-hallmarks-of-pyramid-scheme
Who needs new ways to commit fraud when the old ones recycle so easily?
The National Party and its allies have just voted down a bill to help NZ businesses. Andrew Little’s bill to give preferred procurement to NZ companies for government contracts was defeated by the National block including Peter Dunne. Just think what a boost this would be to local businesses and employment. But did anyone see headlines complaining about this in the media business pages? This government is not local business friendly.
Looks like we’re all going to find out what happens when the US president can’t be bothered with the advice of thousands of career experts and just follows his whim of the moment that happens to align with his business interests.
https://thinkprogress.org/trumps-unusual-phone-call-is-great-for-his-business-dangerous-for-america-36a0ec355202#.yrym4uwk3
As the effects of giving too much power to too few people in our Western system of rotating Dictatorship, become horribly apparent.
Democracy is the perfect backdrop for the Iron Law of Oligarchy.
It would be nice if people who prefer totalitarian dictatorships to democracy would stop calling themselves “progressive” – there’s nothing remotely progressive about totalitarianism, in fact it’s the death of progress.
You are on shaky ground PM. Democracy is good if everyone is educated, so that gets a big ‘fail’ now.
Totalitarian Dictatorship….. many people have pondered the ‘Benevolent Dictator’ as a good alternative to what has become a farcical form of real democracy.
“Democracy is good if everyone is educated”
Ya reckon the Orange Messiah agrees with that, so that’s why he’s picked an Education Secretary that’s very likely to further dumb down the education system?
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/schooled/2016/12/the_damage_donald_trump_could_do_to_public_education.html
http://www.vox.com/2016/11/23/13735102/betsy-devos-education-donald-trump
Great Moments in Broadcasting. NOT.
No. 3: Kevin Roberts’ performance on TV3 chat show The Panel, late 2001.
Anyone with a taste for the absurd, the creepy and the pretentious should check out the “inspirational” website of Saatchi advertising supremo “Doctor” Kevin Roberts. The man who has, to this writer’s knowledge, never uttered a sentence that is not complete and unmitigated bullshit, offers up, for our edification, the complete list of his public speeches and his exciting, radical and deep personal philosophy, which can be summed up thusly: New Zealand is “on the edge”, and we’re all CRA-A-A-A-A-A-AZY, ma-a-a-a-a-aan, and that’s COOL. That, and something even dopier, about “love brands”.
In 1999, Roberts attracted almost universal condemnation and ridicule by somehow persuading Air New Zealand to have one of its jumbo jets painted with a huge, grotesque, distorted mural of the All Black front row. This mortified, shamed and humiliated the players, angered the All Black coach John Hart, and disgusted the fans. However, Roberts, having clout because of his inordinate influence and power on the NZRFU board, forced it through, and the jet was daubed with the atrocity.
Two years after that, on September 11, 2001, Roberts watched the WTC collapse from the Saatchi offices, in a nearby building. Undaunted by any notions of common sense or legality, he then wrote an open letter to the New York Times urging the governor George Pataki to suspend the law and extend the reign of the criminal, Mafia-connected mayor Rudolf Giuliani. Of course, Governor Pataki ignored the inane petition.
Shortly after that embarrassment, Roberts was back in New Zealand, appearing as a guest on the dismal TV3 chat show, The Panel. Even his half-drunken fellow-panelists were visibly shocked by Roberts’ performance that night: putting aside such troublesome notions as restraint, sensitivity or decency, Roberts said this:
At this point, there was utter silence on the set. The usual guffawing and chuckling had stopped. You could truly have heard a pin drop. Every panelist, including the inebriated Pam Corkery, was struck dumb.
Eventually one female panellist spoke up: “Isn’t that…. isn’t that a bit…..cynical?”
The normally smiling Roberts mien clouded over wrathfully: “No, it’s not cynical,” he snarled, clearly angry that anyone had had the temerity to question his brilliance. “It would have been a massive gesture of LOVE.”
Read more, if you can bear Kevin Roberts a second longer…
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06092013/#comment-692268
Great Moments in Broadcasting. NOT is an occasional series highlighting some of the worst moments in our pretty shameful history of broadcasting mediocrity and downright failure.
N.B. Loath as I am to advertise anything on TV1, keen Roberts-watchers will be eagerly awaiting tonight’s edition of Sunday at 7 p.m. It is billed thusly: “Advertising guru Kevin Roberts on the scandal that brought him down. Dying prisoner Vicky Letele on how she was really treated in prison.” So that’s two fraudsters in half an hour—good value, kind of.
A look at things to come Nationwide? Or just a precursor to the privatisation of our police force? Either way pretty disturbing stuff going on in our Far North.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/201826014/insight-can-police-tackle-the-'lawless-north‘
Yep. Kaitaia has this….http://www.kaitaia.net.nz/bid.htm
“The BID is designed to improve CBD business and amenity through agreed regular improvements to the town’s physical, operational or security infrastructure within the town centre. The BID is a partnership between local government (mainly through regular liaison with the Community Board) and local businesses funded through a quarterly levy, by way of an FNDC targeted rate.
Local businesses within the BID area (or those outside the area who choose to join) contribute an amount of money each year through a proportional system which is determined by BID regulations via their rateable property value. The average BID levy for a Kaitaia CBD business is about $200 per annum; but smaller businesses may only be levied a $100 (or so) rise in rates, larger businesses (such as the JNL mill) have proportionately higher levies.
Projects currently undertaken by the KBA are:
Community Patrol New Zealand – Working in conjunction with the Neighbourhood Policing team Kaitaia to improve the safety and security of our town. There is currently a Community Patrol vehicle which is policing our CBD, with a rotating roster of volunteers;
Kaitaia CCTV Cameras and monitoring upgrade – The previous CCTV system funded and installed by the KBA 10 years ago at a cost of $140,000 has become outdated and nearly unusable. The KBA, in partnership the Kaitaia Police, are looking to increase the system’s coverage to eventually include the entire BID area, with upgrades to newer technology, which are anticipated to cost in excess of $250,000.00;
Hasn’t been altogether successful…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/311344/far-north-criminals-becoming-brazen,-says-local
But a number of locals who struggle to get full time work have been employed by a local security firm…
http://www.fnscc.co.nz/security-team/
..although, I hear that wages are low and hours are long, often in areas with poor cellphone cover…..
Standing Rock, still going…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imyDVjq6OfU
More updates if you missed it – Standing Rock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNgxa8qWYOM
New valuation papers were sent out and Wellington/Porirua with very high council housing suburbs and low income family dwellings were waked with an average of 24 %!
This does smell fishy. I don’t have to join any women spiritual movement, this alone will just give me a rush for all the wrong reasons.
Aotea, the new suburb with new build houses and a footprint of 2 council dwellings was “booming” with 23%. So how on earth can the old weatherboard houses rise 24%. Or is this done so that the council houses getting more interest in the market? They say it will not impact the rates but it will and always does. Porirua has already one of the highest rates in the country.
Can someone enlighten me what is going on?
Rates are based on the relative values of property, so if property values are up 24% on average, there will be no impact on rates. If property values are up 30% on average, your rates will probably drop, or remain static.
Rateable Values are calculated by QV based on general property changes in the same area. If you think it’s wrong, challenge it.
Solar, huh.
In fact, if anything, my forecasts were too conservative. The solar prices I expected have been smashed by bids in the Middle East and in Latin America. I will need to update the model above in a future post.
The latest record is an incredibly low bid of 2.42 cents / kwh solar electricity in Abu Dhabi. That is an unsubsidized price.
Let me put that in perspective. The cost of electricity from a new natural gas powerplant in the US is now estimated at 5.6 cents / kwh. (pdf link) That is with historically low natural gas prices in the US, which are far lower than the price of natural gas in the rest of the world.
[…]
Nor is it limited to just Abu Dhabi.
In Chile, just a month ago, a new record low price for solar was set, at 2.91 cents / kwh. That record lasted less than 5 weeks.
In Mexico, the average price of new solar bids in April was 5.1 cents per kwh, and the cheapest solar bid in Mexico was 3.5 cents per kwh.
http://rameznaam.com/2016/09/21/new-record-low-solar-price-in-abu-dhabi-costs-plunging-faster-than-expected/
It’s not a surprise really. Renewable energy doesn’t destroy anything the way that fossil fuelled generation does and so it must be cheaper.
Have just been watching Q & A which I had taped. Jessica Mutch interviewing Andrew Little was a disgrace. Such a biased interviewer, prattling on about polls (as if they matter) and not acknowledging the victory in Mt Roskill. Attacking his personality and him lacking in charisma and not being a “show pony” like the outgoing PM – as if that mattered for Christ’s sake, his antics are a disgrace and cringe material for all of us.
After the litany of botch ups the outgoing PM has done over the years and his mangling of the English language it is absolutely disgusting that our interviewers keep criticising Andrew Little and cannot be impartial and actually conduct an intelligent interview. They are all paid monkeys doing what the right wing political masters require of them.
If this is all MSM can offer with talent and calibre with their interviewers then we are all the poorer for it. I haven’t watched Q & A and The Nation for weeks now and I wish I hadn’t watched it tonight.
Celebrate the Mt Roskill win and give a decent interview and acknowledge the win – not be an attack dog negative interviewer with a bad loser attitude.
Also – Michelle Boag should be released from her contract – what a nightmare of a woman and the convener of the panel needs to learn to keep her under control and not allow her to dominate the panel like the witch that she is. She is enough to keep one awake at night.
Anti-democratic Fiji strongman Frank Bananarama has been scammed by a Las Vegas conman. I wonder what Frank’s friends John Key and slug-boy have to say about this?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/319516/instacharge,-the-physics-defying-app,-insists-it's-legitimate
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/03/fiji-pm-endorses-instacharge-app-that-claims-to-recharge
Fascinating.
The Horrid has posted yet another story on MH370 – a plane crash which cannot be found despite several hundred million dollars having been spent on the effort. A crash involving one New Zealander who was on his way to work in a Mongolian mine – wtf?
Contrast this with the zero dollars having been spent on a Pike River mine rescue where the 29 victims of corporate greed and government incompetence still wait for justice.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11760240