“…These industries have successfully stalled public health policies for far too long in this country because they have deep pockets, powerful lobbying influence over government and very few scruples. I hope that uncovering these connections between big money, underhand PR and defamatory blogs is a wake-up call and we can begin to see better public health policies from Government.”
In the struggle between the team of 5 million and the team of 500 over public health who will win?
If the latest outbreak has not been proven to be contained;
Will the government be able to resist the 'deep pockets', 'powerful lobbying influence' over government and 'very few scruples' of the team of 500 and lift the lockdown before the incubation period is over?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
We woke up in Rotorua, the house shook for a minute or so. And who cares about Simon, the poor boy would have gotten a tsunami warning/evac order with all the others living in that area.
Now an undisclosed boarder at one of the residences involved in the current outbreak, no wonder Jacinda and the rest of Government is seething. I really don’t want hear about anymore sympathy for the cohort involved in this, there has been too many lies and deflections and bullshit and deliberately putting large numbers of others at risk simply because of arseholery.
And don’t pull the “ language difficulties” deflection either, I’m pretty sure you can’t study at MIT or work at Macs orKFC if you only understand Elvish or Klingon !
Despite them being requested to not play the blame game off they go regardless of the impact this could have on those concerned.
Cue the 'public interest' line from the MSM which's total BS.
I'd imagine those involved will be coping it for sometime to come from those around them without our celebrity clickbait bachlorette boats on foils MSM weighing in.
Yes, the country demands a sacrifice, a human one……so lets burn this Family.
where would you like that to be – middle of Aotea Square? Or Maybe somewhere in South Auckland?
And the Tamaki Grifters, would you want them to be sacrificed too for breaching Level 3 lockd down orders?
And that Aucklander that flew to Queenstown just to be taken straight to a hospital with flue like symptoms? Should he to be burned?
And overcrowding and not fully admitting to it lest you lose a rental or a Winz benefit in the area of NO AFFORDABLE Housing and political bullshittery around that is something that is to be expected. Cause we know that couch surfing, sleeping and living in Garages etc is fairly common in lower income areas. \
Seriously, this demand for blood is getting tiresome.
And overcrowding and not fully admitting to it lest you lose a rental or a Winz benefit in the area of NO AFFORDABLE Housing and political bullshittery around that is something that is to be expected. Cause we know that couch surfing, sleeping and living in Garages etc is fairly common in lower income areas. \
Yes this is known and appreciated. It does not excuse in any way the apparent non disclosure of the fact that he was boarding with the family.
i don't excuse it, but in saying that, the government knows about overcrowding, so should also include this in their 'what if ' scenarios.
And if they don't then this will repeat itself again and again and again, until the polite society of this country understand that low class income areas don't behave like the well to do society of Parnell or Ponsonby or various Government quaters in Wellington.
So while the family is not to be excused, as i said yesterday, the government also needs to pull its head in and start admitting that their one size fits all does not fit all.
If NZ will have to go into total lockdown, with catastrophic economic consequences affecting the very same poor you seem to defend for their stupidity and their "up yours" attitude, the majority of these "we need to understand and give them some space, be kind" brigade will change their mind very quickly. Because another lockdown could well mean that this is managed with food rationing, firmer quarantine etc. The rich will just charter a plane to a remote Island but he average kiwi will be angry because we were so "understanding".
Yeah government – pull yer heid in. Now I feel better (Tui).
While the NZ government is short on time and resources to fix overcrowding, their supposed "one size fits all" response to this global pandemic has been a spectacular success, at least when compared to most other countries.
Tales of how our government has and continues to egregiously fail NZ citizens will ramp up – the MSM, and some Kiwis simply can't admit/believe that for a small country with limited resources, NZ has navigated the COVID threat very well, so far.
And there’s always room for improvement, of course.
We are one year in this Covid mess, not at the beginning.
As i have said last year, the easiest part was going into lockdown 4 – paid an all – as people were scared of the shitshows overseas etc.
The hardest thing is coming out of it, and maintaining the status quo. And that would be now.
So yes, blame is to be put on the individuals who for what ever reason did not do the right thing, and blame is to be put on the Government to not have included overcrowding, fear of losing income'/benefit, literacy issues, and good old anti government stances of those that live these lives. Fear of government when one depends on Winz, is actually a thing. Fear of losing a benefit or a rental also.
The shoe that worked last year is now well and truly worn out and we need to update our processes, procedures and so on.
And we can honestly admit that the govenrment does not fail all citizens, but it does and for the longest time has failed those that live poor and overcrowded or in cars. And that we have ample of proof and write ups for.
South Auckland was always going to be a worry for all the issues. And that is something that can not be washed away with outcrys of outrage at some poor sobs while we don't seem to have the same sense of outrage at those that leave town to go to the batches, or like Tamaki go on collection tour up and down NZ, or those that escape a plague hotel to get beersies and pies.
Poverty, fear of government, poor rentals, overcrowding, low education standards, poor reasoning etc make for a potentially dangerous mix.
And yet, we still don't know how the first person of that cluster got infected, and where.
The current surfeit of "outcrys of outrage" is cause for concern – it's easy to see how a sense of outrage might fuel an already "potentially dangerous mix", so it behoves us all to keep calm and try to calm things down, imho.
But no news cases of COVID today, either in the community or in managed isolation, so that’s good news.
Hindsight allows us to look at a situation or an event after it has happened.
The positive cases have all come from within the high school. Had the high school students and teachers gone into a 14 day bubble with everyone in their household the situation would have been different.
It was always going to be confusing and a greater risk to the community for one member of the household to be a casual plus contact and the other members to go about their daily routine. Not having a bubble for 14 days and then splitting a classification in a household has come back hard.
Compliance with testing in the first round of testing is one thing. Containing further community outbreak is another. The high school remained shut for a week and retesting was required think prior to current level 3 lockdown.
Unknown source for case A and all sources of infection in a household had a school contact.
Responsibility was taken by all who got tested twice. A great effort.
The school was not the problem. It was the actions of a couple of individuals. You claim a 14 day bubble would have made a difference. I beg to differ. You want to penalise the large majority that complied by the rules for the actions of a few. That’s just silly and will backfire in the long run.
It is not about penalising those who did the first round of Covid tests or the second round of Covid tests. It is what the science said about the first round of tests.
If the first round of Covid tests were enough the second round of Covid tests for the casual plus classifications would not have been required.
Even if there was no breach under the first level 3 lockdown I do not think there was enough certainty that the first round of Covid tests could eliminate a positive case turning up before day 14.
As it is the high school has had disruption of education for 3 weeks.
Maybe making sure students have an internet connection is the productive way to go when the situation is not clear.
Found it but my computer playing up and cannot link. While the family did not disclose his existence he himself advised his employer, Chorus, who notified the authorities. He is self isolating at the place he boards. He is a door to door salesperson for Chorus. One negative test so far and hopefully another will follow. Mind boggling if the person had been positive.
There were three total earthquakes, and there is now a full evacuation order for downtown Whangarai, and the East coast from Matata to Tologa Bay, and Great Barrier Island.
All of this can be found on the NZ Herald Live blog.
Thanks (I think!) Ad – brilliantly written and enormously sobering. He ends encouragingly (?) but he certainly turns up the temperature on the issue. What a film that would make!
The language difficulties for some in south Auckland are understandable to a degree but given people have to organise a bank account and operate it, organise a power supplier and pay the bill, go to a job, and deal with all sorts of other day to day necessities, language surely can't be an insurmountable issue. If in doubt, ask someone be it a neighbour, friend, relative.
If there is a God then she has a wicked sense of humour, where do those poor Covid refugees from Auckland go to now that their beach houses are uninhabitable.
you mean people that intentionally break Lockdown 3 rules, rather then 'refugees'?
That word implies that they must leave town because ……not that they are running away from not being able to eat out, go to the gym and have standard normal fun?
Where I live, there are bouts of 3G-indigestion with the occasional sharp stabbing 4G-migraine. I’ll die of old age before 5G-cancer kills me. JLR can stick those pills up his arms.
TBH, I had not read the link and still don’t intend to.
Yes, that commenter rings a bell. Turns out I banned him permanently in June last year for falsely claiming that Jacinda Ardern was (going to) pursue a “Forced Vaccination Agenda”. The ban was subsequently challenged in the back-end because it was seen as stifling debate on vaccination, which is an important topic; it was never followed up though. Looking back at it now, I’m happy I let the ban stand 🙂
Kelly's efforts here certainly appeared to be more of an attempt to set the stage for a sales effort than any kind of good faith attempt to debate.
The stuff link is really only entertainment value, for those that get amused by reading about what fantasies get spun by hucksters trying to fleece the gullible.
And will Des Gorman pop up and claim that the tsunami is a 'border failure' of stupendous proportions, the government has been 'caught with its pants down' and there should have been a plan to stop it?
I haven't seen comment on National's idea of paying people directly for covid lock down subsidies. Has it been discussed on The Standard or elsewhere? I can see horrendous setup problems at a time when the public sector is working very hard on other covid issues, and the opportunity for a lot of individual mistakes, and ultimately the government being painted as seeking personal information for other (nefarious) purposes. Like most ideas from Collins, it deserves what it appears to have received – not even much media coverage.
Interesting Guardian article on a a UBI experiment in Stockton, California. It's not a large study (125 below-median wage people) and the unconditional payment was not large (USD$500/month). But the results predictably confound a couple of the standard objections to UBI: full-time employment among the target group actually went up, not down; and the money was spent on food, transport and utility bills – not booze. Even more predictably, debt was repaid, mental health improved and stress reduced.
I know there are legitimate 'left' criticisms of UBI – such as Tory-proofing it (as Weka says) so that it's not pegged back to subsistence levels and actually disadvantages groups with additional needs. Plus the larger issue of it being potentially disempowering and isolating. But it's an interesting result all the same.
Yes, i linked to it on the Daily Review. It would do those that live below the poverty line a world of good if they could get a payment of 500 a month without strings. Yet, we have strings attached to people who have lost their jobs. Go figure. We know that cash payments help. We just don't want to do it. We = society = parliament
edit: we can’t ‘tory’ proof anything really unless we make it so. I.e. the heating payment is one of these things. Once the tories get in, i can see this payment being axed as one of the first actions. Hence the argument to increase the base benefits substantially so that people might not need these seasonal and Tory unproof top ups.
Too many vested interests, but there is no veto on 16 billion of which quite a few companies and their shareholders should have but did not pay the money back. If nothing else, this alone must be a warning where the powers to be sitting morally.
I am all for the UBI given that automation and concentration of industries about to hit the labor market hard. Since any economic setting is a construct and not a natural phenomenon it can be changed. Wishful thinking but I feel that the money horders are amoral to the core and this idea will stay a pipe dream.
I know there are legitimate 'left' criticisms of UBI – such as Tory-proofing it (as Weka says) so that it's not pegged back to subsistence levels and actually disadvantages groups with additional needs.
We already have a 'Tory-proof' UBI – NZ Super for everyone over 65. Once a UBI was in place it would, like all other govt concerns be subject to the usual push and pull of the political landscape. There is nothing unusual in this – but over the past 3 decades we've seen successive govts hold conventional benefits too low for several simple 'non-political' reasons – that if they increased them too much the gap between minimum wage incomes and benefits would become too small, and the marginal tax abatement rates necessary would become even more onerous. (There is a whole lot more to be said on this, but that's the short version.)
Because however we've known nothing else but the the conventional benefit system, we tend to discount it's numerous built-in downsides.
Plus the larger issue of it being potentially disempowering and isolating.
Honestly I'm puzzled by this. In my view a UBI, by eradicating the inevitable social stigmas associated with conventional welfare, would have the exact opposite effect.
As for the report itself – absolutely non-surprising. I’ve been reading about similar positive outcomes wherever a UBI type scheme is implemented for over a decade now. Why the hell the left just can’t unite behind this baffles me.
Well then, ask the right why they don't go for it, if it is the failure of the left to deliver this.
And again, i would like to remind you that our moderate conservative kind of progressive PM has ruled out benefit increases. Unless you want to call JA, RG and the other suits – radical left. Oh, and htey have a majority so they don't even need any support from radicals or non radicals.
Or is blaming a fictional 'radical left' easier then asking the government to do what is the right thing to do?
Yes I agree with you, the left has been way too timid on this. To be fair a UBI would be a dramatic reform and any govt would consume a great deal of political capital getting it over the line. And until this past few post-COVD months there has never been a Labour govt in a strong enough position to do this.
But the ground has shifted – it's my sense that NZ right now would be more receptive to the idea than at any time in my life.
Perhaps the most pernicious effect of our conventional targeted benefit welfare (and the one that personally first clued me into the whole idea of a UBI over 20 yrs ago) is what happens when you try to transition off a benefit. The higher benefits are set, the more aggressively the system must abate them.
This creates very high marginal tax rates (often >80%) and is a huge disincentive. It's a large component of what's usually called the poverty trap.
One of the most important considerations in studying the poverty trap is the amount of government aid necessary to lift a family out of their present conditions. Consider the case of a family of four, parents and two children who are below legal working age. The family has an annual income of $24,000. The parents work in jobs that pay $10 per hour. According to the latest federal poverty guidelines, a family of four is considered to be poor if its income is less than $26,200.3
In a simple case, let us assume that the government begins handing out aid amounting to $1,000 per month. This raises the family's annual income to $36,000. While it is capped at $1,000, the government aid decreases in proportion to increases in the family's income. For example, if the family's earnings increase by $500 to $2500 per month, then government aid reduces by $500. The parents would have to work an extra 50 hours in order to make up for the shortfall.
The increase in working hours comes at an opportunity and leisure cost to the parents. For example, they might end up spending less time with their children or may have to hire babysitters for the time that they are out of the home. The extra hours also means that the parents will not have the leisure to upgrade their skill-sets for a better paying job.
The aid amount also does not take into account living conditions for the family. Because they are poor, the family lives in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city and do not have access to proper healthcare facilities. In turn, crime or susceptibility to disease could drive up their average monthly spending, making an increase in their income effectively useless.
By contrast a UBI system typically has flat (or close to flat) marginal tax rates – which means that the extra hours a family in this example worked would be of direct value to them, creating the opportunity to move out of the relative poverty and stress they're often in.
At present the system we have in NZ does the exact opposite – trapping families into an abusive cycle of precarious, casualised short term work, typically with periods on and off benefits. And very quickly they realise that whether they're working this week or not, it makes very little difference to them in the long run.
I don't think this quote makes the actual case you confer from it.
From the example, say a policy is adoped where $12000 anually is paid as a UBI (per household). Say also the mode of household income is initially $36000 p.a This shifts the whole income distribution up by that amount, which still leaves them at $36000 vs the new $48000 mode after every household receives the UBI. This makes the impacts a question of how the cost of living adjusts to this new income level, if that makes the household better, similarly or worse off. They are still relatively $12,000 poorer than the modal income however.
In contrast a $12000 targeted income boost does reduce this households relative poverty. It also creates what is described as a welfare trap where because of abatement rates there is little extra income earned for additional hours of work.
I think that makes it a question of what is the worse harm, relative poverty or welfare traps. It can also be considered what abatement rates should be applied.
Of course contrasting a UBI to 90s welfare reforms they work in different directions of income adjustment. Maybe a case can be made that boosting rather than cutting is more socially responsible policy reform. But in terms of effects I think the 90s reforms lack of payoff highlighted that welfare traps are not very harmful. That also seems to align with the study showing people were not disincentivised (were more likely to end up in work) to work by an income boost.
You've missed the important role that effective marginal tax rates are having here.
With a targeted benefit very high marginal tax rates are hard to avoid unless you keep the benefits low compared to minimum wages; whereas it's trivial to design a UBI/Flat Tax that has a constant flat marginal rate across the entire income band if that's what you want.
My understanding is that benefits and wage income are taxed at the same rates?
That doesn't seem to imply high benefit rates need be coupled with high marginal tax rates in any way. The UK seems to have an untaxed £10K band and I see no reason NZ could not do this as an separate policy change too.
While I understand, a negative income tax band coupled with a flat tax band, can be described as a progressive income tax regime. I would still say its significantly less progressive than our present 4/5 band income tax regime.
Your last paragraph is what I've always advocated for, a UBI that can be best thought of as a negative tax band combined with a flat PAYE tax. The numbers I've often used in the past were a UBI of $10kpa and a flat tax rate of 33%.
There is however no particular reason why these numbers should be used, I only chose them because they made giving examples at various income levels easy. Updating to 2021 I'd probably advocate for a UBI of $15kpa and say 3 tax bands ranging from 25% up to 45%.
Plus a CCT/Asset tax and a FTT.
The important point is that a UBI cannot be properly described without understanding the wider tax system that it is innately part of. Yet for all of these interesting technical ins an outs, it's the universal nature of a UBI that I firmly believe is it's most fundamental social virtue.
All well and good, however I don't see how that impacts what I said in 11.2.1.1.1 in any way. I was at the time thinking of all figures in after tax terms actually. I don't understand how giving everybody $12,000 p.a UBI reduces relative poverty. While targeting the income to those in relative poverty does this.
Have just finished watching Minister Kiritapu Allan presenting the press conference on the after effects of the earthquakes. An impressive performance with a very good ability to grasp and present the issues at hand.
Yes we all commented here on how well she spoke and that all 3 fronting interacted and performed as a team.
Perhaps the next cabinet reshuffle, those that are performing as min Kiritapu Allen will be recognised and those that have been found out are placed in positions that better suit their current abilities and performances.
Kudos to the police for how they handled this. I know that we understand the utility of being kind right now – hope that Granny Herald understands too.
"Choose your side, buddy. Freedom or communism,"
Police said from 6am Sunday to 6pm Wednesday, 917 notifications of possible alert level 3 restriction breaches in Auckland were received.
Despite earlier widespread doubts that a COVID-19 vaccine would even be possible, it's MAGA-type viruses (Destiny, Plan B, etc.) that will prove most difficult to treat.
The damned entitlement of jerks who think that the cops have to show you the specific law they will arrest you for before they put the cuffs on you. Worse that she likely would still have gotten away with it even if she weren't hiding behind her kids.
Cutting the tape is wilful damage, and she had failure to give details in the clip.
Dunno, I think being able to ask the cops to explain themselves is a reasonable principle in a society where cops have bent the rules over time and this has disadvantaged certain parts of society. Despite her being a dick about covid.
I also think the whole intimidation thing from cops, while useful in some situations is a problem in others.
There's a difference between explaining oneself and basically being called a liar unless you provide documentary evidence of the legislation one is acting under.
One is fair. The other is simply a tactic to delay and an attempt to intimidate a person just doing their job. And it also seemed to only ever be used by privileged folk caught redhanded so they go on the indignation offensive. I don't recall ever dealing with a normal student who wanted me to supply exact chapter and verse for what I was doing. And no, not a cop, but I still had the legal authority to take one or two folk to the ground until the cops did arrive (and I didn't need to quote it to the fools).
I reckon they were seriously considering arresting her – that "details" question is a preamble I've seen used by cops a couple of times. Failure to provide details is a clear grounds for arrest, much easier to bother with than a debate about what was actually going on.
But that's beside the point of this covidiot. If she's unaware why the playground is closed after a year of this shit, cops won't convince her otherwise no matter how patient they are.
They need to prosecute her. She was the one doing the intimidating. She ripped down the security tape around the playground and encouraged her kids to play there. She's a nutbar but that does not exempt her from paying a price for breaking the law and smartarse responses to a couple of police officers whose approach was exemplary.
This is good news – apparently the machine of ICE family detention is being rolled back:
The Biden administration is preparing to convert its immigrant family detention centers in South Texas into Ellis-Island-style rapid-processing hubs that will screen migrant parents and children with a goal of releasing them into the United States within 72 hours, according to Department of Homeland Security draft plans obtained by The Washington Post.
Obviously getting pushback from the "migrant caravan" brigade now the plan is out.
Anyone entering the US is going into a plague zone, not out of one.
You seem to be under the impression that immigrants need to be detained while they go through the application process, and that this policy involves greencards being handed out after the most cursory background check. I suggest you ease off on the fox news.
Either way, you turn up at the border and claim entry status for whatever reason. You get held while your ID is verified, and there's an initial check to see if you're a very bad person who should be arrested or deported. If you're cool at first glance, you go to the next bit.
Then your grounds for entry are examined, e.g. refugee status or work visa. You might be denied entry and referred to proper centres to apply for entry on those grounds, at which point you are deported.
Alternatively, you could be given a court date and released into the US. Failure to appear at court makes you liable for deportation.
OK so I'll send the kids on ahead and join them later after applying for a work visa … good plan.
Given this was one of the key issues that got Unca Donald elected in the first place, pumping new life back into it, at a point in time when the US is struggling with both a pandemic and high unemployment, borders not so much with Mexico, but with insanity.
As for the children – using them as a queue jumping ticket is of course absolutely and completely the responsibility of the adults who exploit them in this manner.
Your comment is perfectly reasonable because opposing this is woke-ism gone mad.
It's not "queue jumping" put give accused criminals bail, and asylum seekers aren't even accused criminals. They turn up at the border in order to go through the regular process.
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
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 ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The June general election in Mexico could mark a turning point in ensuring that the country’s climate policies better reflect the desire of its citizens to address the climate crisis, with both leading presidential candidates expressing support for renewable energy. Mexico is the ...
2024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?When I say 2024 I really mean the state of humanity in 2024.Saturday night, we watched Civil War because that is one terrifying cliff we've ...
Buzz from the Beehive A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements. The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets. It will be introducing pet bonds in a change to the Residential Tenancies Act ...
A recent report generated from a Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) survey of 1,224 rangatahi Māori aged 11-12 found: Cultural connectedness was associated with fewer depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and better quality of life. That sounds cut and dry. But further into the report the following appears: Cultural connectedness is ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated. While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 7, 2024 thru Sat, April 13, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week is about adults in the room setting terms and conditions of ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, 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. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 19 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference. “In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed ...
The Tribunal had called on Minister for Children Karen Chhour to provide evidence at an urgent inquiry into the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Midjourney image by T.J. Thomson As more than half of Australian office workers report using generative artificial intelligence (AI) for work, we’re starting to see this technology affect every ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Nicole Sharwood, Injury epidemiologist | Expert Witness, UNSW Sydney Sergey Novikov/Shutterstock Injuries are the leading cause of disability and death among Australian children and adolescents. At least a quarter of all emergency department presentations during childhood are injury-related. Injuries can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Di Winkler, Adjunct Associate Professor, Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University Shutterstock/Ground PictureMany Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Salman Shooshtarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University Salman Shooshtarian Asbestos has been found in mulch used for playgrounds, schools, parks and gardens across Sydney and Melbourne. Local communities naturally fear for the health of their ...
Family First says that the latest abortion statistics make grim and upsetting reading, with a 25% increase in abortions since the decriminalisation of abortion in March 2020. According to an Official Information Act request received by Right to Life ...
Ipsos New Zealand's inaugural participation in a global study on populism reveals a pervasive sense of societal and economic decline among New Zealanders. MORE DETAILS AND FULL REPORT HERE Ipsos New Zealand's inaugural participation in a global study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, Industry Professor and Chief Economist, University of Technology Sydney Steve Smith, one of this generation’s finest batters, has conquered much of the cricketing world during his career, and he now has set his sights on a new frontier: the United ...
Madeleine Ballard reviews the debut novel from romesh dissanayake.when I open the shop, the debut novel by Naarm-based Aotearoa writer romesh dissanayake (Sri Lankan, Koryo Saram), is a narrative of grief. Devendra loses his mother, opens a noodle shop on The Terrace, grieves, and emerges changed. But just as ...
<blockquote>
“…These industries have successfully stalled public health policies for far too long in this country because they have deep pockets, powerful lobbying influence over government and very few scruples. I hope that uncovering these connections between big money, underhand PR and defamatory blogs is a wake-up call and we can begin to see better public health policies from Government.”
Professor Swinburn
https://www.healthcoalition.org.nz/dirty-pr-exposed-in-whale-oil-defamation-trial/
</blockquote>
Today is the day
The incubation period for Covid-19 is 14 days
In the struggle between the team of 5 million and the team of 500 over public health who will win?
If the latest outbreak has not been proven to be contained;
Will the government be able to resist the 'deep pockets', 'powerful lobbying influence' over government and 'very few scruples' of the team of 500 and lift the lockdown before the incubation period is over?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Hang in there East Cape.
Waiting for a press release from Simon Bridges complaining there were too many woke people in Gisborne at 2.30am.
We woke up in Rotorua, the house shook for a minute or so. And who cares about Simon, the poor boy would have gotten a tsunami warning/evac order with all the others living in that area.
Or that evacuating towns is bad for 'the economy'?
Very good, I am going to use that today.
Now an undisclosed boarder at one of the residences involved in the current outbreak, no wonder Jacinda and the rest of Government is seething. I really don’t want hear about anymore sympathy for the cohort involved in this, there has been too many lies and deflections and bullshit and deliberately putting large numbers of others at risk simply because of arseholery.
And don’t pull the “ language difficulties” deflection either, I’m pretty sure you can’t study at MIT or work at Macs orKFC if you only understand Elvish or Klingon !
[Fixed typo in user name]
Trial by media is not the best approach.
Despite them being requested to not play the blame game off they go regardless of the impact this could have on those concerned.
Cue the 'public interest' line from the MSM which's total BS.
I'd imagine those involved will be coping it for sometime to come from those around them without our celebrity clickbait bachlorette boats on foils MSM weighing in.
It is, for the media.
Sometimes helpful sometimes not helpful.
Yes, the country demands a sacrifice, a human one……so lets burn this Family.
where would you like that to be – middle of Aotea Square? Or Maybe somewhere in South Auckland?
And the Tamaki Grifters, would you want them to be sacrificed too for breaching Level 3 lockd down orders?
And that Aucklander that flew to Queenstown just to be taken straight to a hospital with flue like symptoms? Should he to be burned?
And overcrowding and not fully admitting to it lest you lose a rental or a Winz benefit in the area of NO AFFORDABLE Housing and political bullshittery around that is something that is to be expected. Cause we know that couch surfing, sleeping and living in Garages etc is fairly common in lower income areas. \
Seriously, this demand for blood is getting tiresome.
Yes this is known and appreciated. It does not excuse in any way the apparent non disclosure of the fact that he was boarding with the family.
i don't excuse it, but in saying that, the government knows about overcrowding, so should also include this in their 'what if ' scenarios.
And if they don't then this will repeat itself again and again and again, until the polite society of this country understand that low class income areas don't behave like the well to do society of Parnell or Ponsonby or various Government quaters in Wellington.
So while the family is not to be excused, as i said yesterday, the government also needs to pull its head in and start admitting that their one size fits all does not fit all.
Sabine, there has to be a boundary set.
If NZ will have to go into total lockdown, with catastrophic economic consequences affecting the very same poor you seem to defend for their stupidity and their "up yours" attitude, the majority of these "we need to understand and give them some space, be kind" brigade will change their mind very quickly. Because another lockdown could well mean that this is managed with food rationing, firmer quarantine etc. The rich will just charter a plane to a remote Island but he average kiwi will be angry because we were so "understanding".
Yeah government – pull yer heid in. Now I feel better (Tui).
While the NZ government is short on time and resources to fix overcrowding, their supposed "one size fits all" response to this global pandemic has been a spectacular success, at least when compared to most other countries.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-resilience-ranking/
Tales of how our government has and continues to egregiously fail NZ citizens will ramp up – the MSM, and some Kiwis simply can't admit/believe that for a small country with limited resources, NZ has navigated the COVID threat very well, so far.
And there’s always room for improvement, of course.
We are one year in this Covid mess, not at the beginning.
As i have said last year, the easiest part was going into lockdown 4 – paid an all – as people were scared of the shitshows overseas etc.
The hardest thing is coming out of it, and maintaining the status quo. And that would be now.
So yes, blame is to be put on the individuals who for what ever reason did not do the right thing, and blame is to be put on the Government to not have included overcrowding, fear of losing income'/benefit, literacy issues, and good old anti government stances of those that live these lives. Fear of government when one depends on Winz, is actually a thing. Fear of losing a benefit or a rental also.
The shoe that worked last year is now well and truly worn out and we need to update our processes, procedures and so on.
And we can honestly admit that the govenrment does not fail all citizens, but it does and for the longest time has failed those that live poor and overcrowded or in cars. And that we have ample of proof and write ups for.
South Auckland was always going to be a worry for all the issues. And that is something that can not be washed away with outcrys of outrage at some poor sobs while we don't seem to have the same sense of outrage at those that leave town to go to the batches, or like Tamaki go on collection tour up and down NZ, or those that escape a plague hotel to get beersies and pies.
Poverty, fear of government, poor rentals, overcrowding, low education standards, poor reasoning etc make for a potentially dangerous mix.
And yet, we still don't know how the first person of that cluster got infected, and where.
The current surfeit of "outcrys of outrage" is cause for concern – it's easy to see how a sense of outrage might fuel an already "potentially dangerous mix", so it behoves us all to keep calm and try to calm things down, imho.
But no news cases of COVID today, either in the community or in managed isolation, so that’s good news.
Hindsight allows us to look at a situation or an event after it has happened.
The positive cases have all come from within the high school. Had the high school students and teachers gone into a 14 day bubble with everyone in their household the situation would have been different.
It was always going to be confusing and a greater risk to the community for one member of the household to be a casual plus contact and the other members to go about their daily routine. Not having a bubble for 14 days and then splitting a classification in a household has come back hard.
Nonsense! The compliance rate was very high among the high school students and the community at large.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/03/covid-19-live-updates-latest-on-auckland-community-outbreak-wednesday-march-3.html
So 33 had not been tested?
I didn’t count them. Did you?
Compliance with testing in the first round of testing is one thing. Containing further community outbreak is another. The high school remained shut for a week and retesting was required think prior to current level 3 lockdown.
Unknown source for case A and all sources of infection in a household had a school contact.
Responsibility was taken by all who got tested twice. A great effort.
The school was not the problem. It was the actions of a couple of individuals. You claim a 14 day bubble would have made a difference. I beg to differ. You want to penalise the large majority that complied by the rules for the actions of a few. That’s just silly and will backfire in the long run.
It is not about penalising those who did the first round of Covid tests or the second round of Covid tests. It is what the science said about the first round of tests.
If the first round of Covid tests were enough the second round of Covid tests for the casual plus classifications would not have been required.
Even if there was no breach under the first level 3 lockdown I do not think there was enough certainty that the first round of Covid tests could eliminate a positive case turning up before day 14.
As it is the high school has had disruption of education for 3 weeks.
Maybe making sure students have an internet connection is the productive way to go when the situation is not clear.
Could you put a link up re this boarder please.
Found it but my computer playing up and cannot link. While the family did not disclose his existence he himself advised his employer, Chorus, who notified the authorities. He is self isolating at the place he boards. He is a door to door salesperson for Chorus. One negative test so far and hopefully another will follow. Mind boggling if the person had been positive.
I was awake before the earthquake struck. It was a long rolling one. Pleased it did not gather more momentum.
There were three total earthquakes, and there is now a full evacuation order for downtown Whangarai, and the East coast from Matata to Tologa Bay, and Great Barrier Island.
All of this can be found on the NZ Herald Live blog.
I needed to be specific the 2.30 am one. As for the other two they were not felt.
OK so warning this is a longer read.
But for those who like absorbing patterns of climate and human interaction with them over millennia, the long historical analogues are pretty intense:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/03/extreme-climate-change-history/617793/
Thanks (I think!) Ad – brilliantly written and enormously sobering. He ends encouragingly (?) but he certainly turns up the temperature on the issue. What a film that would make!
The language difficulties for some in south Auckland are understandable to a degree but given people have to organise a bank account and operate it, organise a power supplier and pay the bill, go to a job, and deal with all sorts of other day to day necessities, language surely can't be an insurmountable issue. If in doubt, ask someone be it a neighbour, friend, relative.
If there is a God then she has a wicked sense of humour, where do those poor Covid refugees from Auckland go to now that their beach houses are uninhabitable.
[Fixed same typo in user name again]
[Fixed same typo in user name again]
you mean people that intentionally break Lockdown 3 rules, rather then 'refugees'?
That word implies that they must leave town because ……not that they are running away from not being able to eat out, go to the gym and have standard normal fun?
Wonder if Billy TK is evacuating or he thinks Tsunamis are a hoax.
Tin foil hats are a good protection against 5G and 8.1 M earth quakes.
No need for a tinfoil hat for
5G
when you can get a pill from
Jami-Lee:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/124069747/jamilee-ross-behind-anti5g-supplement-business
Where I live, there are bouts of 3G-indigestion with the occasional sharp stabbing 4G-migraine. I’ll die of old age before 5G-cancer kills me. JLR can stick those pills up his arms.
Did Jami-Lee's partner in scam tickle any memory cells? Michael Kelly?
TBH, I had not read the link and still don’t intend to.
Yes, that commenter rings a bell. Turns out I banned him permanently in June last year for falsely claiming that Jacinda Ardern was (going to) pursue a “Forced Vaccination Agenda”. The ban was subsequently challenged in the back-end because it was seen as stifling debate on vaccination, which is an important topic; it was never followed up though. Looking back at it now, I’m happy I let the ban stand 🙂
Kelly's efforts here certainly appeared to be more of an attempt to set the stage for a sales effort than any kind of good faith attempt to debate.
The stuff link is really only entertainment value, for those that get amused by reading about what fantasies get spun by hucksters trying to fleece the gullible.
Indeed, I thought Kelly was trying to hijack the vaccine debate here on TS, which is why I banned him, not because of his views or opinions.
To me, the link looks like click bait and the best way to handle that is not to click on it 😉
And will Des Gorman pop up and claim that the tsunami is a 'border failure' of stupendous proportions, the government has been 'caught with its pants down' and there should have been a plan to stop it?
Imagine if you fled level 3 Auckland in your Audi for your low lying coastal bach….
God just told you to literally get in the sea.
He knows, foreshore, they're created by HAARP.
I haven't seen comment on National's idea of paying people directly for covid lock down subsidies. Has it been discussed on The Standard or elsewhere? I can see horrendous setup problems at a time when the public sector is working very hard on other covid issues, and the opportunity for a lot of individual mistakes, and ultimately the government being painted as seeking personal information for other (nefarious) purposes. Like most ideas from Collins, it deserves what it appears to have received – not even much media coverage.
Interesting Guardian article on a a UBI experiment in Stockton, California. It's not a large study (125 below-median wage people) and the unconditional payment was not large (USD$500/month). But the results predictably confound a couple of the standard objections to UBI: full-time employment among the target group actually went up, not down; and the money was spent on food, transport and utility bills – not booze. Even more predictably, debt was repaid, mental health improved and stress reduced.
I know there are legitimate 'left' criticisms of UBI – such as Tory-proofing it (as Weka says) so that it's not pegged back to subsistence levels and actually disadvantages groups with additional needs. Plus the larger issue of it being potentially disempowering and isolating. But it's an interesting result all the same.
Yes, i linked to it on the Daily Review. It would do those that live below the poverty line a world of good if they could get a payment of 500 a month without strings. Yet, we have strings attached to people who have lost their jobs. Go figure. We know that cash payments help. We just don't want to do it. We = society = parliament
edit: we can’t ‘tory’ proof anything really unless we make it so. I.e. the heating payment is one of these things. Once the tories get in, i can see this payment being axed as one of the first actions. Hence the argument to increase the base benefits substantially so that people might not need these seasonal and Tory unproof top ups.
Too many vested interests, but there is no veto on 16 billion of which quite a few companies and their shareholders should have but did not pay the money back. If nothing else, this alone must be a warning where the powers to be sitting morally.
I am all for the UBI given that automation and concentration of industries about to hit the labor market hard. Since any economic setting is a construct and not a natural phenomenon it can be changed. Wishful thinking but I feel that the money horders are amoral to the core and this idea will stay a pipe dream.
I know there are legitimate 'left' criticisms of UBI – such as Tory-proofing it (as Weka says) so that it's not pegged back to subsistence levels and actually disadvantages groups with additional needs.
We already have a 'Tory-proof' UBI – NZ Super for everyone over 65. Once a UBI was in place it would, like all other govt concerns be subject to the usual push and pull of the political landscape. There is nothing unusual in this – but over the past 3 decades we've seen successive govts hold conventional benefits too low for several simple 'non-political' reasons – that if they increased them too much the gap between minimum wage incomes and benefits would become too small, and the marginal tax abatement rates necessary would become even more onerous. (There is a whole lot more to be said on this, but that's the short version.)
Because however we've known nothing else but the the conventional benefit system, we tend to discount it's numerous built-in downsides.
Plus the larger issue of it being potentially disempowering and isolating.
Honestly I'm puzzled by this. In my view a UBI, by eradicating the inevitable social stigmas associated with conventional welfare, would have the exact opposite effect.
As for the report itself – absolutely non-surprising. I’ve been reading about similar positive outcomes wherever a UBI type scheme is implemented for over a decade now. Why the hell the left just can’t unite behind this baffles me.
Well then, ask the right why they don't go for it, if it is the failure of the left to deliver this.
And again, i would like to remind you that our moderate conservative kind of progressive PM has ruled out benefit increases. Unless you want to call JA, RG and the other suits – radical left. Oh, and htey have a majority so they don't even need any support from radicals or non radicals.
Or is blaming a fictional 'radical left' easier then asking the government to do what is the right thing to do?
if it is the failure of the left to deliver this.
Yes I agree with you, the left has been way too timid on this. To be fair a UBI would be a dramatic reform and any govt would consume a great deal of political capital getting it over the line. And until this past few post-COVD months there has never been a Labour govt in a strong enough position to do this.
But the ground has shifted – it's my sense that NZ right now would be more receptive to the idea than at any time in my life.
Perhaps the most pernicious effect of our conventional targeted benefit welfare (and the one that personally first clued me into the whole idea of a UBI over 20 yrs ago) is what happens when you try to transition off a benefit. The higher benefits are set, the more aggressively the system must abate them.
This creates very high marginal tax rates (often >80%) and is a huge disincentive. It's a large component of what's usually called the poverty trap.
By contrast a UBI system typically has flat (or close to flat) marginal tax rates – which means that the extra hours a family in this example worked would be of direct value to them, creating the opportunity to move out of the relative poverty and stress they're often in.
At present the system we have in NZ does the exact opposite – trapping families into an abusive cycle of precarious, casualised short term work, typically with periods on and off benefits. And very quickly they realise that whether they're working this week or not, it makes very little difference to them in the long run.
I don't think this quote makes the actual case you confer from it.
From the example, say a policy is adoped where $12000 anually is paid as a UBI (per household). Say also the mode of household income is initially $36000 p.a This shifts the whole income distribution up by that amount, which still leaves them at $36000 vs the new $48000 mode after every household receives the UBI. This makes the impacts a question of how the cost of living adjusts to this new income level, if that makes the household better, similarly or worse off. They are still relatively $12,000 poorer than the modal income however.
In contrast a $12000 targeted income boost does reduce this households relative poverty. It also creates what is described as a welfare trap where because of abatement rates there is little extra income earned for additional hours of work.
I think that makes it a question of what is the worse harm, relative poverty or welfare traps. It can also be considered what abatement rates should be applied.
Of course contrasting a UBI to 90s welfare reforms they work in different directions of income adjustment. Maybe a case can be made that boosting rather than cutting is more socially responsible policy reform. But in terms of effects I think the 90s reforms lack of payoff highlighted that welfare traps are not very harmful. That also seems to align with the study showing people were not disincentivised (were more likely to end up in work) to work by an income boost.
You've missed the important role that effective marginal tax rates are having here.
With a targeted benefit very high marginal tax rates are hard to avoid unless you keep the benefits low compared to minimum wages; whereas it's trivial to design a UBI/Flat Tax that has a constant flat marginal rate across the entire income band if that's what you want.
My understanding is that benefits and wage income are taxed at the same rates?
That doesn't seem to imply high benefit rates need be coupled with high marginal tax rates in any way. The UK seems to have an untaxed £10K band and I see no reason NZ could not do this as an separate policy change too.
While I understand, a negative income tax band coupled with a flat tax band, can be described as a progressive income tax regime. I would still say its significantly less progressive than our present 4/5 band income tax regime.
Your last paragraph is what I've always advocated for, a UBI that can be best thought of as a negative tax band combined with a flat PAYE tax. The numbers I've often used in the past were a UBI of $10kpa and a flat tax rate of 33%.
There is however no particular reason why these numbers should be used, I only chose them because they made giving examples at various income levels easy. Updating to 2021 I'd probably advocate for a UBI of $15kpa and say 3 tax bands ranging from 25% up to 45%.
Plus a CCT/Asset tax and a FTT.
The important point is that a UBI cannot be properly described without understanding the wider tax system that it is innately part of. Yet for all of these interesting technical ins an outs, it's the universal nature of a UBI that I firmly believe is it's most fundamental social virtue.
All well and good, however I don't see how that impacts what I said in 11.2.1.1.1 in any way. I was at the time thinking of all figures in after tax terms actually. I don't understand how giving everybody $12,000 p.a UBI reduces relative poverty. While targeting the income to those in relative poverty does this.
Agreed – the evidence suggests that the benefits are such that the objections are either overblown or need to be managed.
Couple of live streams.
https://whk-bar.click2stream.com/
http://ohopesurfcam.co.nz/
Of Trump playing golf with Clinton and Putin?
Have just finished watching Minister Kiritapu Allan presenting the press conference on the after effects of the earthquakes. An impressive performance with a very good ability to grasp and present the issues at hand.
Yes we all commented here on how well she spoke and that all 3 fronting interacted and performed as a team.
Perhaps the next cabinet reshuffle, those that are performing as min Kiritapu Allen will be recognised and those that have been found out are placed in positions that better suit their current abilities and performances.
It would be so much more helpful if you include a link, especially when it relates to an emergency alert.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/437703/tsunami-threat-to-new-zealand-constantly-evolving-allan
Here's a woman that obviously thinks Level 3 does not apply to her or her children.
Covid 19 coronavirus: Mother and Kids flouting lockdown at playground berates police at Browns Bay – NZ Herald
Kudos to the police for how they handled this. I know that we understand the utility of being kind right now – hope that Granny Herald understands too.
In the absence of a vaccine, it looks like someone has been swallowing fistfuls of magamoron
Despite earlier widespread doubts that a COVID-19 vaccine would even be possible, it's MAGA-type viruses (Destiny, Plan B, etc.) that will prove most difficult to treat.
Needs the FIZA jab – For idiot zombie arseholes.
Bedtime story for our kids is self selecting tonight … the boy who cried wolf.
The damned entitlement of jerks who think that the cops have to show you the specific law they will arrest you for before they put the cuffs on you. Worse that she likely would still have gotten away with it even if she weren't hiding behind her kids.
Cutting the tape is wilful damage, and she had failure to give details in the clip.
Dunno, I think being able to ask the cops to explain themselves is a reasonable principle in a society where cops have bent the rules over time and this has disadvantaged certain parts of society. Despite her being a dick about covid.
I also think the whole intimidation thing from cops, while useful in some situations is a problem in others.
Was he standing 2m away?
There's a difference between explaining oneself and basically being called a liar unless you provide documentary evidence of the legislation one is acting under.
One is fair. The other is simply a tactic to delay and an attempt to intimidate a person just doing their job. And it also seemed to only ever be used by privileged folk caught redhanded so they go on the indignation offensive. I don't recall ever dealing with a normal student who wanted me to supply exact chapter and verse for what I was doing. And no, not a cop, but I still had the legal authority to take one or two folk to the ground until the cops did arrive (and I didn't need to quote it to the fools).
I reckon they were seriously considering arresting her – that "details" question is a preamble I've seen used by cops a couple of times. Failure to provide details is a clear grounds for arrest, much easier to bother with than a debate about what was actually going on.
But that's beside the point of this covidiot. If she's unaware why the playground is closed after a year of this shit, cops won't convince her otherwise no matter how patient they are.
They need to prosecute her. She was the one doing the intimidating. She ripped down the security tape around the playground and encouraged her kids to play there. She's a nutbar but that does not exempt her from paying a price for breaking the law and smartarse responses to a couple of police officers whose approach was exemplary.
more trouble than she's worth.
Contender for quote of the year?
This is good news – apparently the machine of ICE family detention is being rolled back:
Obviously getting pushback from the "migrant caravan" brigade now the plan is out.
Yup throw open the borders – great start. Maybe NZ should do the same?
🙄
This is not an open border policy, any more than police bail is a policy of letting criminals avoid punishment for their crimes.
OK so there's a 72hr delay at the border while you get 'rapid processing'.
Even better no bothersome MIQ!
Anyone entering the US is going into a plague zone, not out of one.
You seem to be under the impression that immigrants need to be detained while they go through the application process, and that this policy involves greencards being handed out after the most cursory background check. I suggest you ease off on the fox news.
So hypothetically what do you imagine my chances are if I turned up at the US/Mexican border without a visa, and tried to apply for US citizenship?
Or should I just send the kids on ahead?
Either way, you turn up at the border and claim entry status for whatever reason. You get held while your ID is verified, and there's an initial check to see if you're a very bad person who should be arrested or deported. If you're cool at first glance, you go to the next bit.
Then your grounds for entry are examined, e.g. refugee status or work visa. You might be denied entry and referred to proper centres to apply for entry on those grounds, at which point you are deported.
Alternatively, you could be given a court date and released into the US. Failure to appear at court makes you liable for deportation.
That's the decision that has been fast-tracked for families because imprisoning kids is bad, m'kay. They just don't spend months in prison waiting for a hearing and decision, nor are babies taken to court by themselves or stolen from their parents.
But you're cool with all that.
OK so I'll send the kids on ahead and join them later after applying for a work visa … good plan.
Given this was one of the key issues that got Unca Donald elected in the first place, pumping new life back into it, at a point in time when the US is struggling with both a pandemic and high unemployment, borders not so much with Mexico, but with insanity.
As for the children – using them as a queue jumping ticket is of course absolutely and completely the responsibility of the adults who exploit them in this manner.
I guess that sometimes the right thing can look like insanity to someone who likes to see kids in cages.
How about trotting off and decolonising maths or something?
Your comment is perfectly reasonable because opposing this is woke-ism gone mad.
It's not "queue jumping" put give accused criminals bail, and asylum seekers aren't even accused criminals. They turn up at the border in order to go through the regular process.
But you still want families locked up because… ?