"Duncan said that any support for Israel’s current tactics in Gaza was “morally unacceptable”. “It’s what Israel has been doing for years has been wrong because the Israeli defence does not follow international law,” he said.
“It has been backing and supporting illegal settlers in the West Bank who steal Palestinian land and it is that land theft, that annexation of Palestine, which is the origin of the problem, which has given rise to the Hamas atrocity and the battles we’re seeing.”
In their defense, have you heard Simeon Brown or Nicola Willis getting interviewed?
If I was their staffers, I'd try keep the pair of them locked in a broom cupboard in the Beehive as far away from the media (or any other human beings) as possible.
A quick look at Alan Duncan's wikipedia page shows he has long been targetted by the Israel lobby for daring to have an opinion contrary to the hard line Likud party.
"She rounded on fellow Conservatives who seek to have a monopoly on how to support Israel, saying support for an extremist Likud-led government was not the same as support for Israel……There is nothing anti-Israeli, much less antisemitic, in taking a tougher line with the Netanyahu government. The reality is that how Israel prosecutes this war, that is the problem we have. We support their right to self-defence but they are making themselves and us less safe in the way they are doing it.”
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey scrambled a late evening press release insisting the Suicide Prevention Office was not a victim of the Government’s cost cutting driving, as news of public service cuts continued on Thursday.
Doocey’s assurance was at odds with the Public Service Association, which said the office would close after the Ministry of Health confirmed 134 job losses.
His comments also appeared to clash with the Ministry of Health itself.
Suicide Prevention Office to be canned–what could be a likely result of that one might ask…
Thousands of public servants & contractors to be slashed also…will they be on the pitiful “Job Seeker Allowance” subject to the sadistic maze that is WINZ/MSD, or move to the provinces and milk cows with Filipinos? Middle class Wellington is in for a shake up alright–and around the country actually via gutting various Depts. and groups like the Regional Skills Leadership Groups (RSLG), people doing good work for our fellow citizens are running scared.
Maybe the State Sector unions will learn from this and finally drop their political neutrality stance. Sometimes they are out to get you! Time for an old school NZCTU led industrial action fightback.
Except that one has to be practically destitute to even get Jobseekers in the first place. Only once they've burned through all their savings and sold off any sellable assets (except the family home), will they qualify for the pittance. That's assuming they aren't in a relationship, and their partner isn't earning over a certain amount and is expected to be able to foot the bill for everything. The State will do everything possible to abdicate their responsibility.
I don't think that's quite right. Everyone in NZ is entitled to the core JS benefit if they have no income. It is not asset tested, so people with savings or a caravan or whatever won't have those count against the core benefit (they do count against some of the supplementary benefits eg accommodation and hardship benefits and grants). JS is income tested, so income from any source (including interest, but not including capital gains from housing natch) will be used to abate the core benefit.
But it's still very bad. The couples stuff is just insane and weirdly anti-family. And anyone on a benefit for more than a few weeks is going to have to supplement their income somehow. WINZ make that very difficult and long term beneficiaries are basically forced into poverty by the state.
Benefits are not asset tested only some additional payments are. It is sad that some people keep perpetuating this. When advocating for people I often come across cases where they had spent all their redundancy payments or savings before applying for a benefit. One case this gentleman had gone for three years eking out his redundancy. Three years he could have been getting a benefit.
People just need to stop saying this. It does incredible harm.
I agree telling people they can get a benefit is really important.
Afaik, base benefits are abated after the first $160 of other income. Supplementaries are abated from $0 at 100%, or someone is just not eligible in the first place because of assets. From Kay's link,
Single clients who get over $160 gross a week have their benefit reduced by 70 cents for every $1.00 of income.
For clients with a partner where both are getting or entitled to get a benefit in their own right then:
35 cents is taken from each of their benefits for each $1.00 of the combined income of the client and their partner over $160 (gross) a week
Members of the PS in redundancy days gone by were actually not entitled to benefits if they had received a redudancy payment. It is not just ‘people’ saying this.
I went several times to DSW to apply and was told that my redudancy money had to be minimised before I could apply & get a benefit. I was also told 'you don't need a benefit' and 'you'll have no trouble getting another job' This was in 1987 & 1996. By 2005 when my PS job was again made redundant I asked to take early retirement. All times and the earlier times in particular times I too divided my payment by a reduced amount of 'pay' and lived off that.
So if they have changed the rules in the intervening years that is good. For myself I got a series of lesser paid and lesser stable jobs in the PS unitl I took early retirement in 2005. In those days the PS was a hellhole to work in with constant restructuring, realignment, right sizing as both left & right govts dug in to attain this ‘nirvana’ of not needing PS. I worked for myself and in the private sector. When I went back to one of the workplaces I formerly worked in, colleagues had had 8 or 9 or 11 restructurings depending on where they had been.
You were mis-informed. I was helping railworkers back then and we had to keep countering this. One annoying union delegate kept telling people they had to use all their redundancy and savings. Holiday pay was a different issue as you had been paid for those days and some railway workers had lots of holiday pay accrued.
But there is no doubt people were officially told this.
Redundancy pay
If you’re made redundant and get redundancy pay, you’ll have a stand-down of 1 or 2 weeks. It depends how much your redundancy pay is.
The stand-down period for redundancy pay has changed over time. If you’ve had a redundancy payment, you can ask us to check if we treated this correctly when working out your stand-down period.
Single clients who get over $160 gross a week have their benefit reduced by 70 cents for every $1.00 of income.
DSW applied some sort of formula to draw down on the redundancy until we did not qualify. I had such terrible experiences there it has made me very scared to even see if I am able to get any additions say to my super, that I live on now.
I think this experience plus the hardline redundancy experiences has caused much distress and waste of brain power in the PS. One of my collegues in one PS agency never got a formal PS job again, always worked on contract and was skipping ahead of restructurings for the rest of the time he was a PS. He said he just cld not go through a restructuring experience again. This was a person who was a highly skilled health sector accountant working in the of pricing etc. To my knowledge he was also told he did not qualify for any type of benefit, four children.
Yes, one of my refugee friends got good advice when her daughter left home and she no longer qualified for the DPB. She got 2 part time jobs in Rest Homes, but was looking for full time work. She got the JSB on the basis of that. There were adjustments of course because of her other income, but she got some top ups for transport expenses etc.
She did eventually find full time work and went off the benefit.
Given how hard it is to live on a limited income – such as MW in this high cost economy (let alone benefits and super) without any savings to draw on from time to time, it is unwise to delay application for income support when eligible.
My apologies, you are of course correct about the core benefits not being asset tested, but as Weka points out, the supplementary benefits are. And the major problem here is, that practically EVERYONE receiving a core benefit is now reliant on at least one of the supplements ('Temporary' Additional Support really needs a name change to 'Permanent') given that housing costs are now more than the core benefit, unless you're in social housing, or maybe freehold.
So you might be able to (just) keep the roof over your head, but depending on how long it takes to get employed again, prepare to lose any nest egg you might have.
As an aside- I was unexpectantly left a small monetary gift by my best friend who died tragically. I couldn't take it, because I would've lost my accommodation and TAS and been expected to use that gift to pay my rent, not a few nice things for myself. This is what we're dealing with.
Main benefits are income tested so when a person receives income from sources such as wages, investments or interest payments their benefit rate may be reduced.
Additional financial support such as Accommodation Supplement and Temporary Additional Support is also cash asset tested. If a person’s cash assets are over specified thresholds, they may not qualify for any additional support payments
Yes it will be hard for those with a working partner. Very few will be eligible for income support.
For those who cannot pay their rent
1.couch surfing (offer $50 a night), others will need the money.
2.caravan or container sleep out.
3.parents house, knock down a wall to create a double bedroom and sound proof the wall closest to parent)
4.granny flat in parents backyard (they can move in later and baby sit the grandkids).
Note it is also hard for those with a non-working partner who also pay about $4,000 per annum more tax than a couple earning the same amount.
Our parents got a tax rebate for that until Roger Douglas arrived. Labour screwed up so many things for common sense and decency.
Everything is predicated on a two income family these days.
When you see this talking about families earning $180,000 per year getting help with childcare you realise they don't give a shit about people with disabilities with partners who work who don't get a cent in support either of them.
“National’s FamilyBoost childcare tax rebate is expected to help 130,000 low- and middle-income families keep more of what they earn, with up to $75 more in their after-tax pay each week.
“Families earning up to $180,000 will receive a 25 per cent rebate on their early childhood education expenses, to a maximum of $3,900 per year depending on their income.
“A teacher and a plumber earning $125,000 between them who are spending $300 a week on childcare would receive a weekly rebate of $75, paid fortnightly by IRD to their bank account.
The benefit is not asset tested. However something that I find concerning over the past 3 or years (BTW, I’m in banking/finance/investment, mainly Kiwisaver), WINZ have been telling people that they MUST apply for a serious hardship withdrawal from their Kiwisaver before WINZ will consider paying people the benefit. This is completely wrong, the rules around Kiwisaver is that it’s for retirement from 65, and to make a withdrawal under the serious financial hardship rules, the customer must affirm that they have been declined any further financial assistance from WINZ/IRD.
If WINZ ask you to use your Kiwisaver before you can get the benefit, 1) say no, or if they insist, 2) Ask for WINZ to put it in writing advising that you have to use your Kiwisaver first, which they won’t do, because they are not allowed to ask you to use your Kiwisaver.
W and I are bureaucrats (who make too many mistakes and have to be called on it#), they are doing what they do because they would have to do a re-adjustment of entitlements above based benefit if the person claimed the Kiwi Saver hardship after being placed on income support*.
Their inconvenience in those cases is no excuse to delay provision of income support etc.
And as you note, the application for KS hardship withdrawal application is an action to be made after the income support is provided … *#
Oh yes I remember this. Some of us had PS retirement savings, GSF, and/or other insurance premiums that may have had bonuses attached to them. Most of us were told we had to apply to withdraw GSF, actually some in redundancy times they forcibly paid us out, we were not allowed to leave the $$$ there. They went through any insurances and we were told to cash in the bonuses.
Some of it was trying to find out our entitlements in a climate, very like now, where we PS were told that we were bludgers and too highly paid. There was a very punitive attitude from DSW to other PS and no consistency.
I was lucky when I was made redundant in the late 1990's. I knew the Union Delegate at the local WINZ office. I knew I did not qualify for any benefit as I had other income, but I wanted my name included in the numbers of the unemployed in the dying days of the then Nat Government.
I got my name on the books, and was told to come back in 3 months if I had not found a job. I spent a couple of months helping with the Local Body elections, and by the time the 3 months were up – I had another job.
Yeah in the first round of railway ones they hit up those close to turning 50 first. This was because you got paid out your GSF and you couldn't get ongoing GSF payments. They tried this with my father who had lots of accumulated leave that took him past 50. They then tried to say he should have taken his leave and he supplied them with a large pile of declined leave requests. I was in a different town by then but they had a really good union delegate who knew what they were doing. Dad said 100% of those who were 49 ended up getting GSF rather than a payout through this means.
They really were a pack of bastards who deliberately targeted like this.
”The United States Deputy Secretary of State has made an unusual linkage between the AUKUS security pact and deterring any Chinese move against Taiwan.”
The link is about the NATO EU nations increasing training and army numbers. One of the reasons is the decline in the reliability of the USA as an ally.
The GOP nominee for POTUS has said he is not that committed to the defence of NATO nations. Have you not being paying attention?
I am well aware of what the orange be-wigged idiot has said about NATO. I didn't think that the GOP would go along with him though.
In December last year there was bi-partisan agreement that would require a super majority of the Senate to agree to such a thing. Surely the Republican Senators wouldn't go along with Trump's madness?
Trump during a rally in South Carolina said he once told an unnamed foreign leader that the US would not defend that leader's country if it failed to pay enough for its defense.
"No, I would not protect you," Trump said he told that president. "In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills."
Rubio, one of the authors of the NATO provision, later told CNN that he did not take the former president to be suggesting he would not defend all NATO members.
It only prevents him withdrawing the USA from NATO, it does not guarantee that a POTUS Trump would not do as he says and "encourage" a nation to attack a NATO nation he had a disagreement with.
Trump is threatening to make US defence guarantee conditional when he is POTUS.
Not only is he still the nominee, the GOP agreed to backtrack from a deal they made on a border agreement and aid to Ukraine when he told them to.
The GOP has shown little resolve in the matter and Europe knows it.
New Zealand recognises that Taiwan is part of China.
If they want to connect AUKUS Pillar 2 to the function of QUAD (containment of China) and onto a defence of Taiwan we should not sign up.
The USA GOP (not just Trump) is abandoning Ukraine and NATO secular and democratic Europe to Russia (white race fascism and pretend Christian leadership) because they have more in common with “social conservative” Russia.
As soon as their Pacific fleet is sunk off Taiwan, they will abandon us to China and slink off back to their 19th C isolationism.
I received the latest AA (Automobile Association) magazine today.
I expected that they might tackle the new transport minister on charging RUC on EVs, but no. They posed passive, almost bootlicking questions. It seems they are so starry eyed at having a government promising to spend a whole heap more on roads that they don't dare ask any difficult questions in case he changes his mind.
Whenever any charges went up (like WOFs) under the Labour government the AA were screaming long and loud but when National do the same it seems to be OK with them. You can imagine the outrage that would have come from them had it been a Labour government that brought in RUC for EVs.
I don't think I will bother to renew my AA subscription this year. I'm not interested in funding another National Party front.
The AA mag has long been a total waste of trees and china clay (used to make those glossy pages). I wish they'd make it optional in return for a reduction in the sub.
Obtrectatrix once sent them a draft article detailing the trouble we'd had contesting an incorrectly-issued traffic offence notice supposedly involving our Australian hire-car (some fool had transposed a pair of digits in the rego when issuing the ticket). No interest from them whatever. The following issue carried some worthless piece about what CDs or tapes various celebs listened to while driving, with a full-colour illustration of it on the cover. 'Nuff said.
Also the petrol price is slowly moving up towards previous highs.
Before the election there were near daily articles about high petrol prices, while it's very quiet about it at the moment (at least on NZ Herald and Stuff).
Let's fix NZ's Citizen Initiated Referenda along the lines of the last two government referenda. Make it a vote to pass a bill that's already been drafted. How would this work in practice?
Once the organisers of a CIR get the required number of signatures, Parliament has to pass the bill through first and second readings, so it can go through select committee processes. Then the referendum serves as the Third Reading vote. This way, people know exactly what they're voting on, and that it can definitely happen if the referendum passes.
If you have an account in the fediverse, you can discuss this there too;
This is poor journalism, misinformation in fact. The regulatory shakeup would not cut women or Maaori out of policy talks, as there are many women and Maaori in the current government. Seymour is just suggesting the government bypass the "expertise" of two activist-dominated ministries of doubtful utility.
Most proposals have to be farmed out to population ministries like the Ministries for Women, Māori, and Pacific Peoples asking whether they think any policy changes will impact the people they are responsible for.
So Seymour wants more of the fast tracking of legislation without impact statements that occurred last year, placed on a more permanent basis. The intent seems to diminish the role of the three ministries to reduce the relevance of their continued existence.
Already environment, bio-security and conservation concerns have been treated in the same way.
What next, auditing, given the not so accurate basis of near all policy costings pre election. Already the government has sidestepped adherence to norms as to statements prior to the budget.
Problem with 'cheap' insurance, is that the government can't afford to pay out if/when a disaster happens.
Spreading the risk to the insurance companies (who then reinsure off shore) – is the only way that NZ can afford it.
If Wellington properties are increasingly expensive to insure – and even become uninsurable – then surely that's a signal that those houses/apartments are in the wrong place….
Having said that, insurance for the average Kiwi isn’t looking too bad. Current premium according to the article is still under 2K/pa – not a lot compared to the cost of rebuilding a house in today's building climate (from the article, rebuild costs up by more than 30% over the last 2 years.) – and the reinsurance costs (disasters affecting the cost/availability of reinsurance) increased up to 40%.
Uninsurable areas are what 'unmanaged' retreat looks like. Perhaps it's time to look at 'managed' retreat.
If we take quakes, liquefaction, tsunamis, sea rise, slips and flooding, there aren't actually that many places in NZ that are safe to live. In the South Island, that's places like Lumsden in Southland. Inland on the Canterbury plains. But forget the coasts and mountains.
All those medium sized tourist towns beside lakes: Queenstown, Wanaka, Te Anau, they're all going to be a big problem in a big quake.
West Coast, how would we even fix all the roads and bridges?
Dunedin is not too bad, but tsunami risk, and in the longer term sea level rise. Shift people out onto the Taeri Plains for a while, until sea level rise and flooding kicks in?
Well, why do you think they can stay?
There are places which no investment of money can make safe (sea level rise, river flood plain, unstable cliffs).
Is it better to just go on band-aiding? Paying to rebuild (or 'earthquake strengthen') in the same demonstrably unsafe locations?
Earthquakes are a different level of risk. And totally unpredictable (who would have thought Christchurch, before 2010). Climate-related events are much more predictable in their consequences.
I don't think they can stay. There are obvious places in the SI already that need to be relocated. South Dunedin and Westport being two. My point is it's not enough to say managed retreat without talking about where to rebuild. As I said the other day, NZ is very bad at building in stupid places, even now.
Disagree about quakes being totally unpredictable. We don't know the timing, but we have some good ideas on what will happen. We're simply not prepared.
There is also going to be an intersection between quakes, tsunamis, and extreme weather events. Hopefully people still start to see soon the value in designing built spaces for resiliency, and that includes powering down and relocalising.
I'm a fan of local design. The solutions for Te Anau are going to be very specific compared to Westport or Chch.
RNZ's Corin Dann grills economist Eric Crampton at the right-wing think tank NZ Initiative over levels of government spending as %GDP being still too high.. Around 3 min is a feisty exchange, as Corin does what a good journalist should, quoting facts and challenging Crampton's assumptions.
I'd hardly call the exchange 'feisty', but it's a good interview. Eric makes some good points, particularly around the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs and the media reporting of the context of current proposed cuts in staffing.
”Confounding the doomsters and gloomsters of the late 1990s, the minimum wage has raised the pay of millions of Britain’s lowest-paid workers by an average of £6,000 a year without lengthening dole queues. It has been described by one thinktank as the most successful economic policy in a generation.”
Gun laws are going to change – so begs a couple of questions.
If we have a school shooting, will the act party be held to account ?
If we get another mass shooting, will the act party be paying for the costs the event causes?
They want the guns, they should pay for it – from ACC to all medical cost, from police to prison costs these should all be charged to the act party. If one, just one mass shooting in any guise should occur. Then the when the party is bankrupt, we should look at the laws again.
Best thing the liberals ever did in Australia was getting rid of all the automatic weapons. Shame our Tories are so bloody stupid in comparison.
Luxon's advisors (if they are any good at all) will tell him to steer well clear of making center fire assault rifles legal to obtain for anyone in NZ. From memory well over 80% of the population supported a ban on these weapons and I can't imagine that has changed much if at all so it would be a really bad political move for Luxon.
He could win this politically by agreeing to ACT's proposed changes which seem mostly sensible but have a red line in regards to these military weapons and ensure they remain banned. As stated by post author there is absolutely zero need for anyone to own a military assault rifle other than the military itself. The hunters I know use hunting rifles and / or bows. None of them have suggested to me that they need an AK47 or similar to put some venison in the freezer.
This might be quite a good little test to see how politically savvy Luxon (or his advisors) is / are.
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The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am going to explore the Bill from the perspective of its proponents with their ...
New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be shooting the proposal in the foot. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Associate Education Minister David Seymour is urging the PostPrimary Teachers Association to put learning ahead of ideology. He wants the union leaders to call off their teachers meetings around the country where they hope to muster the strength to undo the government’s plans to establish several ...
What are police for? "Fighting crime" is the obvious answer. If there's a burglary, they should show up and investigate. Ditto if there's a murder or sexual assault. Speeding or drunk or dangerous driving is a crime, so obviously they should respond to that. And obviously, they should respond to ...
Michael Reddell writes – I got curious yesterday about how the Australia/New Zealand real exchange rate had changed over the last decade, and so dug out the data on the changes in the two countries’ CPIs. Over the 10 years from March 2014 to March 2024, New Zealand’s ...
Graham Adams writes that 20 years after the land march, judges are quietly awarding a swathe of coastal rights to iwi. Early this month, an hour-long documentary was released by TVNZ to mark the 20th anniversary of the land-rights march to oppose Helen Clark’s Foreshore and Seabed Act. The account ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: Suspended Green MP Darleen Tana has passed an unpleasant milestone: she has now been absent for as many parliamentary sitting days as she has been present for this year. Tana is on full pay while she is suspended, and will benefit from a ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is no coincidence that two Labour should-have-been MPs are making the most noise about public sector cuts. As assistant general secretary of the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons has been at the forefront of revealing where the next round of state sector job ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a ...
This is one of the (extra) weekly columns on music or movies. Plenty of solid analyses of Possession exist online and most of them – inevitably – contain spoilers. This column is more in the way of a first-timer’s aid to getting your initial bearings. You don’t need to have ...
I am painting in oil, a portrait of a manWho has taken all the heart aches,And all the pain he can stand.I am using all the colors of blue,I have here on my stand.I am painting in oil, a portrait of a man.This has been an interesting week for me. ...
Helen Clark joins the Hoon as a special guest talking whether Aotearoa should join Aukus II, and her views on the fast track legislation and how Luxon and the new Government are performing. File Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts ...
With an election due in less than nine months, Britain’s embattled PM, Rishi Sunak, gave a useful speech earlier this week. He made a substantial case for his government, perhaps as compelling as is possible in the current environment. Quite an achievement. His overall theme was security, first pulling ...
Open access notablesPublicly expressed climate scepticism is greatest in regions with high CO2 emissions, Pearson et al., Climatic Change:We analysed a recently released corpus of climate-related tweets to examine the macro-level factors associated with public declarations of climate change scepticism. Analyses of over 2 million geo-located tweets in the U.S. showed that climate ...
You can be all negative about these charter schools if you want, but I’m here to accentuate the positive. You can get all worked up, if you want to, by the contradiction of Luxon saying We’re going to make sure that every school in the country is teaching exactly the same ...
Losing The Room: One can only speculate about what has persuaded the Coalition Government that it will pay no electoral price for unreasonably pushing ahead with policies that are so clearly against the national interest. They seem quite oblivious to the risk that by doing so they will convince an increasing ...
Name suppression decisions can be tough sometimes. No matter your views on free speech, you have to be hard-hearted not to be torn by the tug of the competing arguments. I think you can feel the Supreme Court wrestling with that in M v The King. The case for ...
The Merchants of Menace: The Coalition Government has convinced itself that the “Brahmins’” emollient functions have become much too irksome and expensive. Those who see themselves as the best hope of rebuilding New Zealand’s ailing capitalist system, appear to have convinced themselves that a little bit of blunt trauma is what their mollycoddled ...
When National first proposed its Muldoonist "fast-track" law, they were warned that it would inevitably lead to corruption. And that is exactly what has happened, with Resources Minister Shane Jones taking secret meetings with potential applicants:On Tuesday, in a Newsroom story, questions were raised about a dinner Jones ...
Buzz from the Beehive One day – hopefully – we will push that Russian rascal, Vladimir Putin, beyond breaking point. Perhaps it will happen today, when he learns that Foreign Minister Winston Peters is again tightening the thumbscrews. Peters announced further sanctions, this time on 28 individuals and 14 entities ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought New Zealand to the brink of economic and cultural chaos.TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition Government’s failure to retain, and build upon, the public ...
“Members of Parliament don’t work for us, they represent us, an entirely different thing. As with so much that has turned out badly, the re-organising of MPs’ responsibilities began with the Fourth Labour Government. That’s when they began to be treated like employees – public servants – whose diaries had ...
It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a third medical school in New Zealand, ...
Time To Choose: Like it or not, the Kiwis are either going into AUKUS’s “Pillar 2” – or they are going to China.HAD ZHENG HE’S FLEET sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks ...
Henry Ergas writes – When in Randall Jarrell’s Pictures from an Institution, a college president is accused of being a hypocrite, the novel’s narrator retorts that the description is grossly unfair. After all, the man is still far from the stage of moral development at which the charge ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ reports: The Education Review Office says too many new teachers feel poorly prepared for their jobs. In a report published on Monday, the review office said 60 percent of the principals it interviewed said their new teachers were not ready. ...
New Zealand’s economic performance and the PM’s vision Michael Reddell writes – When I wrote yesterday morning’s post, highlighting how poorly both New Zealand and its Anglo peer countries have been doing in respect of productivity in recent times (ie, in the case of New ...
Hi all,Firstly - thank you! You guys are awesome. The response I’ve received to last night’s mail has been quite overwhelming. It’s a ghastly day outside, but there are no clouds in here.In case you didn’t read my email and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about you can ...
If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gaye Taylor As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate. No longer quenched by winter, nor quelled by the ...
Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
Te Pāti Māori have launched a petition to stop the repeal of Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act. This announcement comes prior to the first reading of the Section 7AA repeal bill in Parliament today. “Section 7AA forces the Government to adhere to Te Tiriti o Waitangi with respect ...
The Government has yet again failed to do the one thing that needs to happen to ensure houses can be built – commit to ongoing funding, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Treasury officials have outlined many ways in which the Fast Track Approvals Bill is deeply flawed, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking says. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick used this year's State of the Planet to call on the Government to prioritise people and planet as the delivery of the Budget approaches. A full transcript of their speeches can be found below. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have used their State of the Planet speeches to challenge the Government to prioritise people and planet over profit as the delivery of the Budget approaches. ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
The Coalition Government’s Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, which will improve tenancy laws and help increase the supply of rental properties, has passed its first reading in Parliament says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “The Bill proposes much-needed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 that will remove barriers to increasing private ...
Standing here in Cassino War Cemetery, among the graves looking up at the beautiful Abbey of Montecassino, it is hard to imagine the utter devastation left behind by the battles which ended here in May 1944. Hundreds of thousands of shells and bombs of every description left nothing but piled ...
I present a legislative statement on the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill Mr. Speaker, I move that the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services and Community Committee to consider the Bill. Thank you, Mr. ...
The Bill to repeal Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has had its first reading in Parliament today. The Bill reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the care and safety of children in care, says Minister for Children Karen Chhour. “When I became the Minister for Children, I made ...
Kia ora koutou, good morning, and zao shang hao. Thank you Fran for the opportunity to speak at the 2024 China Business Summit – it’s great to be here today. I’d also like to acknowledge: Simon Bridges - CEO of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. His Excellency Ambassador - Wang ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing them ...
The Coalition Government will introduce legislation this year that will enable roadside drug testing as part of our commitment to improve road safety and restore law and order, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Alcohol and drugs are the number one contributing factor in fatal road crashes in New Zealand. In ...
The Government has announced a series of immediate actions in response to the independent review of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “Kāinga Ora is a large and important Crown entity, with assets of $45 billion and over $2.5 billion of expenditure each year. It ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour is pleased that Pseudoephedrine can now be purchased by the general public to protect them from winter illness, after the coalition government worked swiftly to change the law and oversaw a fast approval process by Medsafe. “Pharmacies are now putting the medicines back on their ...
Tēnā koutou katoa. Da jia hao. Good morning everyone. Prime Minister Luxon, your excellency, a great friend of New Zealand and my friend Ambassador Wang, Mayor of what he tells me is the best city in New Zealand, Wayne Brown, the highly respected Fran O’Sullivan, Champion of the Auckland business ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
Opinion: Jacinda Ardern’s leadership significantly enhanced New Zealand’s profile on the global stage. In the first five months of her second term of government, between December 2020 and April 2021, her name appeared 24 times in the Washington Post, 10 in the New York Times, 27 in the Times and ...
Comment: The public has seen the PM’s ruthless side, but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where a member of the coalition faces the same punishment The post Christopher Luxon the disciplinarian appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Education is facing a bunch of changes, but the important ones are not banned cell phones or ‘woke’ foods. The Government has ordered teachers to adopt ‘structured literacy’ to get children reading. That means Reading Recovery, a system New Zealand pioneered and spread to the world, along with ‘whole language’, ...
What a difference a year has made for Caroline Powell. After coming last at the Badminton Horse Trials in 2023, Powell triumphed at this year’s event earlier this month, on board her sometimes-feisty Irish-bred mare Greenacres Special Cavalier – much to her astonishment. Now she hopes to succeed at the ...
The publishing sensation of 2024 is wartime memoir The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour and Jude Dobson, which tells the amazing story of a woman who operated behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France. Sales went through the roof as soon as it was published: in its first week it became ...
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Comment: NZ’s main political parties need to reach a consensus on how to adjust to China’s dominance and coercion The post Bridging the Aukus chasm appeared first on Newsroom. ...
By Maia Ingoe, RNZ News journalist A NZ Defence Force plane carrying 50 New Zealanders evacuated from New Caledonia landed at Auckland International Airport last night. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it would be working with France and Australia to ensure the safe departure of several evacuation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Snow, Research Scientist, CSIRO CSIRO How often do you check your local weather forecast? How about your local climate projections for 2050? For many farmers, the answer to the first question is all the time. But the answer to the ...
Pacific Media Watch A Māori supporter of Pacific independence movements claims the French government has “constructed the crisis” in New Caledonia by pushing the indigenous Kanak population to the edge, reports Atereano Mateariki of Waatea News. A NZ Defence Force Hercules is today evacuating about 50 New Zealanders stranded in ...
COMMENTARY:By Gordon Campbell The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. It was Gallant’s open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed ...
Reacting to today’s Budget Speech from Labour’s Finance spokesperson, Barbara Edmonds, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “It is encouraging to see that one of Labour’s stated priorities is to focus on creating ‘a level ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Turner, System Lead, Sustainable Economies, Climateworks Centre atk work/Shutterstock In the budget last week, the government was keen to talk about its efforts to turn Australia into a renewable superpower under the umbrella of the Future Made in Australia policies. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Opposition Leader Peter Dutton might have done us a favour. As part of his budget reply speech on Thursday night he promised to stop foreigners buying existing Australian homes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Maguire, Associate Professor in Human Rights and International Law, University of Newcastle The request by Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders is a significant step in the effort to ...
RNZ Pacific A New Zealand author, journalist and media educator who has covered the Asia-Pacific region since the 1970s says liberation “must come” for Kanaky/New Caledonia. Professor David Robie sailed on board Greenpeace’s flagship Rainbow Warrior until it was bombed by French secret agents in New Zealand in July 1985 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Renwick, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Lincoln University, New Zealand Fonterra caught the business world by surprise last week with plans to sell off its consumer brands and businesses – including supermarket mainstays such as Anchor, Fresh’n Fruity and Mainland. The move ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Small, Senior lecturer, Above the Bar School of Educational Studies and Leadership, University of Canterbury With an air force plane on its way to rescue New Zealanders stranded by the violent uprising in New Caledonia, many familiar with the island’s history ...
A New Zealand government plane is heading to New Caledonia to assist with bringing New Zealanders home. Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today confirmed it was the first in a series of proposed flights. Peters said the flight would carry around 50 passengers with the most pressing needs from Nouméa ...
Regional councils must focus on building meaningful and enduring relationships with iwi and hapū to support better freshwater management, says the Auditor-General in a new report. ...
Chris Glaudel, Deputy Chief Executive of Community Housing Aotearoa, sees the announcement as a step towards addressing New Zealand’s high and rising levels of homelessness by improving our approach and system to delivering affordable homes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ali Mamouri, Research fellow, Middle East studies, Deakin University The death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash this week occurred during one of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s most challenging periods. Raisi, a prominent figure in the political elite, ...
The end of universal flu shot funding for under-12s is a step backwards for New Zealand child health, say experts from the University of Auckland and the University of Otago. New Zealand’s decision to no longer offer free influenza vaccines for all children under 12 will likely wipe out recent ...
The PSA is taking action to force the Ministry of Education to comply with its legal obligations to do everything it can to find other roles for staff it is laying off because of the Government’s spending cuts. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Waling, Senior Lecturer & Research Fellow, Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University Netflix There has been much excitement in the lead up to the first four episodes of Bridgerton’s season three, featuring leading couple Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa De Bortoli, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Council for Educational Research Taylor Flowe/Unsplash, CC BY Australian teenagers have more disruptive maths classrooms and experience bullying at greater levels than the OECD average, a new report shows. But in better news, Australian ...
Poet, editor and former bookseller Jane Arthur’s debut children’s novel Brown Bird is the story of a shy, self-conscious 11-year-old – partly based on her childhood self – venturing out of her quiet comfort zone. Children’s books are close to my heart because mostly I believe that adults are rings ...
Peter Jackson is bringing Lord of the Rings back to Wellington, producing two new Gollum films in Wellington. Madeleine Chapman (Gollum) argues with Madeleine Chapman (Smeagol) about it. First of all, I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation. Of course it’s great news!I don’t know, it gives me ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a part-time media librarian and superannuitant explains how he spends and saves. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Male Age: 65 Ethnicity: EuropeanRole: Media librarian ...
The Government’s Environmental Select Committee is refusing to engage meaningfully when it matters the most over new fast tracking environmental legislation, says Ngāti Ruanui. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Marsh, Senior Research Fellow in Public Health, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Christoph Soeder/dpa New Zealand’s decision to no longer offer free influenza vaccines for all children under 12 will likely wipe out recent gains in uptake. And it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexis Anja Kallio, Deputy Director (Research), Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University Many young people in contact with the justice system come from backgrounds of extreme poverty, parental abuse or neglect, parental incarceration and disrupted education. These complex traumas often manifest as addictions ...
The agency was found to be underperforming and ‘not financially viable’, explains Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A damning report A government-ordered ...
Asia Pacific Report For more than 76 years, Palestinians have resisted occupation, dispossession and ethnic cleansing, culminating in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Yet in the midst of this catastrophic seven months of “hell on earth”, it is a paradox that there exists an extraordinary oasis of peace and nature. ...
You’ll never set foot in one. But its emissions still effect you. Shanti Mathias reports on a campaign to make private jet owners pay for their emissions in some way. The private jet passengers saunter down the red carpet, wearing sunglasses and heels; paparazzi cameras flash. The sky is blue, ...
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Here is a turn up for the book-a Conservative MP in the UK with genuine principles.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/04/conservatives-investigating-former-mp-alan-duncan-pro-israel-extremists-gaza
I was particularly impressed with this:
"Duncan said that any support for Israel’s current tactics in Gaza was “morally unacceptable”. “It’s what Israel has been doing for years has been wrong because the Israeli defence does not follow international law,” he said.
“It has been backing and supporting illegal settlers in the West Bank who steal Palestinian land and it is that land theft, that annexation of Palestine, which is the origin of the problem, which has given rise to the Hamas atrocity and the battles we’re seeing.”
Whatever the political stripe if he is pointing out the obvious about Israel’s behaviour in public, good on Mr Duncan.
Unlike our current Govt. Ministers, RNZ now seems to get important stories via OIAs because Natzo Ministers regularly refuse interviews.
In their defense, have you heard Simeon Brown or Nicola Willis getting interviewed?
If I was their staffers, I'd try keep the pair of them locked in a broom cupboard in the Beehive as far away from the media (or any other human beings) as possible.
A quick look at Alan Duncan's wikipedia page shows he has long been targetted by the Israel lobby for daring to have an opinion contrary to the hard line Likud party.
Corbyn will have a wry smile at that.
And here is another senior Conservative calling for a ceasefire and a halt to UK weapon sales.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/05/israel-gaza-aid-tipping-point-senior-tory-alicia-kearns
"She rounded on fellow Conservatives who seek to have a monopoly on how to support Israel, saying support for an extremist Likud-led government was not the same as support for Israel……There is nothing anti-Israeli, much less antisemitic, in taking a tougher line with the Netanyahu government. The reality is that how Israel prosecutes this war, that is the problem we have. We support their right to self-defence but they are making themselves and us less safe in the way they are doing it.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350235161/mental-health-minister-scrambles-suicide-prevention-office-caught-cuts
ANOTHER OOPS
Suicide Prevention Office to be canned–what could be a likely result of that one might ask…
Thousands of public servants & contractors to be slashed also…will they be on the pitiful “Job Seeker Allowance” subject to the sadistic maze that is WINZ/MSD, or move to the provinces and milk cows with Filipinos? Middle class Wellington is in for a shake up alright–and around the country actually via gutting various Depts. and groups like the Regional Skills Leadership Groups (RSLG), people doing good work for our fellow citizens are running scared.
Maybe the State Sector unions will learn from this and finally drop their political neutrality stance. Sometimes they are out to get you! Time for an old school NZCTU led industrial action fightback.
Except that one has to be practically destitute to even get Jobseekers in the first place. Only once they've burned through all their savings and sold off any sellable assets (except the family home), will they qualify for the pittance. That's assuming they aren't in a relationship, and their partner isn't earning over a certain amount and is expected to be able to foot the bill for everything. The State will do everything possible to abdicate their responsibility.
https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/map/income-support/main-benefits/jobseeker-support/charging-income-01.html
I don't think that's quite right. Everyone in NZ is entitled to the core JS benefit if they have no income. It is not asset tested, so people with savings or a caravan or whatever won't have those count against the core benefit (they do count against some of the supplementary benefits eg accommodation and hardship benefits and grants). JS is income tested, so income from any source (including interest, but not including capital gains from housing natch) will be used to abate the core benefit.
But it's still very bad. The couples stuff is just insane and weirdly anti-family. And anyone on a benefit for more than a few weeks is going to have to supplement their income somehow. WINZ make that very difficult and long term beneficiaries are basically forced into poverty by the state.
Benefits are not asset tested only some additional payments are. It is sad that some people keep perpetuating this. When advocating for people I often come across cases where they had spent all their redundancy payments or savings before applying for a benefit. One case this gentleman had gone for three years eking out his redundancy. Three years he could have been getting a benefit.
People just need to stop saying this. It does incredible harm.
I agree telling people they can get a benefit is really important.
Afaik, base benefits are abated after the first $160 of other income. Supplementaries are abated from $0 at 100%, or someone is just not eligible in the first place because of assets. From Kay's link,
The rate of abatement is only 30 cents in the dollar (still after tax) in the dollar for those on the DPB.
Members of the PS in redundancy days gone by were actually not entitled to benefits if they had received a redudancy payment. It is not just ‘people’ saying this.
I went several times to DSW to apply and was told that my redudancy money had to be minimised before I could apply & get a benefit. I was also told 'you don't need a benefit' and 'you'll have no trouble getting another job' This was in 1987 & 1996. By 2005 when my PS job was again made redundant I asked to take early retirement. All times and the earlier times in particular times I too divided my payment by a reduced amount of 'pay' and lived off that.
So if they have changed the rules in the intervening years that is good. For myself I got a series of lesser paid and lesser stable jobs in the PS unitl I took early retirement in 2005. In those days the PS was a hellhole to work in with constant restructuring, realignment, right sizing as both left & right govts dug in to attain this ‘nirvana’ of not needing PS. I worked for myself and in the private sector. When I went back to one of the workplaces I formerly worked in, colleagues had had 8 or 9 or 11 restructurings depending on where they had been.
You were mis-informed. I was helping railworkers back then and we had to keep countering this. One annoying union delegate kept telling people they had to use all their redundancy and savings. Holiday pay was a different issue as you had been paid for those days and some railway workers had lots of holiday pay accrued.
But there is no doubt people were officially told this.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/416174/work-and-income-acts-unlawfully-over-benefits-and-redundancy-payments
Just checked current policy.
Redundancy pay
If you’re made redundant and get redundancy pay, you’ll have a stand-down of 1 or 2 weeks. It depends how much your redundancy pay is.
The stand-down period for redundancy pay has changed over time. If you’ve had a redundancy payment, you can ask us to check if we treated this correctly when working out your stand-down period.
From my recollection this happened.
DSW applied some sort of formula to draw down on the redundancy until we did not qualify. I had such terrible experiences there it has made me very scared to even see if I am able to get any additions say to my super, that I live on now.
I think this experience plus the hardline redundancy experiences has caused much distress and waste of brain power in the PS. One of my collegues in one PS agency never got a formal PS job again, always worked on contract and was skipping ahead of restructurings for the rest of the time he was a PS. He said he just cld not go through a restructuring experience again. This was a person who was a highly skilled health sector accountant working in the of pricing etc. To my knowledge he was also told he did not qualify for any type of benefit, four children.
Yes, one of my refugee friends got good advice when her daughter left home and she no longer qualified for the DPB. She got 2 part time jobs in Rest Homes, but was looking for full time work. She got the JSB on the basis of that. There were adjustments of course because of her other income, but she got some top ups for transport expenses etc.
She did eventually find full time work and went off the benefit.
Given how hard it is to live on a limited income – such as MW in this high cost economy (let alone benefits and super) without any savings to draw on from time to time, it is unwise to delay application for income support when eligible.
My apologies, you are of course correct about the core benefits not being asset tested, but as Weka points out, the supplementary benefits are. And the major problem here is, that practically EVERYONE receiving a core benefit is now reliant on at least one of the supplements ('Temporary' Additional Support really needs a name change to 'Permanent') given that housing costs are now more than the core benefit, unless you're in social housing, or maybe freehold.
So you might be able to (just) keep the roof over your head, but depending on how long it takes to get employed again, prepare to lose any nest egg you might have.
As an aside- I was unexpectantly left a small monetary gift by my best friend who died tragically. I couldn't take it, because I would've lost my accommodation and TAS and been expected to use that gift to pay my rent, not a few nice things for myself. This is what we're dealing with.
https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/information-releases/changes-to-income-and-cash-assets-regulations/cabinet-paper-changes-to-income-and-cash-assets-regulations-exempting-lump-sum-payments-made-by-msd.pdf
Yes it will be hard for those with a working partner. Very few will be eligible for income support.
For those who cannot pay their rent
1.couch surfing (offer $50 a night), others will need the money.
2.caravan or container sleep out.
3.parents house, knock down a wall to create a double bedroom and sound proof the wall closest to parent)
4.granny flat in parents backyard (they can move in later and baby sit the grandkids).
Note it is also hard for those with a non-working partner who also pay about $4,000 per annum more tax than a couple earning the same amount.
Our parents got a tax rebate for that until Roger Douglas arrived. Labour screwed up so many things for common sense and decency.
Everything is predicated on a two income family these days.
When you see this talking about families earning $180,000 per year getting help with childcare you realise they don't give a shit about people with disabilities with partners who work who don't get a cent in support either of them.
“National’s FamilyBoost childcare tax rebate is expected to help 130,000 low- and middle-income families keep more of what they earn, with up to $75 more in their after-tax pay each week.
“Families earning up to $180,000 will receive a 25 per cent rebate on their early childhood education expenses, to a maximum of $3,900 per year depending on their income.
“A teacher and a plumber earning $125,000 between them who are spending $300 a week on childcare would receive a weekly rebate of $75, paid fortnightly by IRD to their bank account.
The benefit is not asset tested. However something that I find concerning over the past 3 or years (BTW, I’m in banking/finance/investment, mainly Kiwisaver), WINZ have been telling people that they MUST apply for a serious hardship withdrawal from their Kiwisaver before WINZ will consider paying people the benefit. This is completely wrong, the rules around Kiwisaver is that it’s for retirement from 65, and to make a withdrawal under the serious financial hardship rules, the customer must affirm that they have been declined any further financial assistance from WINZ/IRD.
If WINZ ask you to use your Kiwisaver before you can get the benefit, 1) say no, or if they insist, 2) Ask for WINZ to put it in writing advising that you have to use your Kiwisaver first, which they won’t do, because they are not allowed to ask you to use your Kiwisaver.
Good advice.
W and I are bureaucrats (who make too many mistakes and have to be called on it#), they are doing what they do because they would have to do a re-adjustment of entitlements above based benefit if the person claimed the Kiwi Saver hardship after being placed on income support*.
Their inconvenience in those cases is no excuse to delay provision of income support etc.
And as you note, the application for KS hardship withdrawal application is an action to be made after the income support is provided … *#
Oh yes I remember this. Some of us had PS retirement savings, GSF, and/or other insurance premiums that may have had bonuses attached to them. Most of us were told we had to apply to withdraw GSF, actually some in redundancy times they forcibly paid us out, we were not allowed to leave the $$$ there. They went through any insurances and we were told to cash in the bonuses.
Some of it was trying to find out our entitlements in a climate, very like now, where we PS were told that we were bludgers and too highly paid. There was a very punitive attitude from DSW to other PS and no consistency.
I was lucky when I was made redundant in the late 1990's. I knew the Union Delegate at the local WINZ office. I knew I did not qualify for any benefit as I had other income, but I wanted my name included in the numbers of the unemployed in the dying days of the then Nat Government.
I got my name on the books, and was told to come back in 3 months if I had not found a job. I spent a couple of months helping with the Local Body elections, and by the time the 3 months were up – I had another job.
Yeah in the first round of railway ones they hit up those close to turning 50 first. This was because you got paid out your GSF and you couldn't get ongoing GSF payments. They tried this with my father who had lots of accumulated leave that took him past 50. They then tried to say he should have taken his leave and he supplied them with a large pile of declined leave requests. I was in a different town by then but they had a really good union delegate who knew what they were doing. Dad said 100% of those who were 49 ended up getting GSF rather than a payout through this means.
They really were a pack of bastards who deliberately targeted like this.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/513455/senior-us-diplomat-suggests-aukus-will-deter-any-china-moves-against-taiwan
”The United States Deputy Secretary of State has made an unusual linkage between the AUKUS security pact and deterring any Chinese move against Taiwan.”
Ummmm, did NATO deter Putin?
Ummmmm Poland and the baltics continue to exist despite Russia very much wanting them not to, so yes.
NATO EU is attempting to boost the deterrent, unsurprising given the GOP has abandoned NATO.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68728096
What is your evidence that the GOP has abandoned NATO. That link doesn't support the claim
The link is about the NATO EU nations increasing training and army numbers. One of the reasons is the decline in the reliability of the USA as an ally.
The GOP nominee for POTUS has said he is not that committed to the defence of NATO nations. Have you not being paying attention?
The GOP is currently blocking aid to Ukraine.
I am well aware of what the orange be-wigged idiot has said about NATO. I didn't think that the GOP would go along with him though.
In December last year there was bi-partisan agreement that would require a super majority of the Senate to agree to such a thing. Surely the Republican Senators wouldn't go along with Trump's madness?
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-nato-withdraw-congress-defense-bill-2023-12
It only prevents him withdrawing the USA from NATO, it does not guarantee that a POTUS Trump would not do as he says and "encourage" a nation to attack a NATO nation he had a disagreement with.
Trump is threatening to make US defence guarantee conditional when he is POTUS.
Not only is he still the nominee, the GOP agreed to backtrack from a deal they made on a border agreement and aid to Ukraine when he told them to.
The GOP has shown little resolve in the matter and Europe knows it.
"Ummmm, did NATO deter Putin?"
Seems so. Putin has invaded three non-NATO neighbours in recent years (Chechnya (twice), Georgia, Ukraine), and zero NATO neighbours.
New Zealand recognises that Taiwan is part of China.
If they want to connect AUKUS Pillar 2 to the function of QUAD (containment of China) and onto a defence of Taiwan we should not sign up.
The USA GOP (not just Trump) is abandoning Ukraine and NATO secular and democratic Europe to Russia (white race fascism and pretend Christian leadership) because they have more in common with “social conservative” Russia.
As soon as their Pacific fleet is sunk off Taiwan, they will abandon us to China and slink off back to their 19th C isolationism.
I received the latest AA (Automobile Association) magazine today.
I expected that they might tackle the new transport minister on charging RUC on EVs, but no. They posed passive, almost bootlicking questions. It seems they are so starry eyed at having a government promising to spend a whole heap more on roads that they don't dare ask any difficult questions in case he changes his mind.
Whenever any charges went up (like WOFs) under the Labour government the AA were screaming long and loud but when National do the same it seems to be OK with them. You can imagine the outrage that would have come from them had it been a Labour government that brought in RUC for EVs.
I don't think I will bother to renew my AA subscription this year. I'm not interested in funding another National Party front.
The AA mag has long been a total waste of trees and china clay (used to make those glossy pages). I wish they'd make it optional in return for a reduction in the sub.
Obtrectatrix once sent them a draft article detailing the trouble we'd had contesting an incorrectly-issued traffic offence notice supposedly involving our Australian hire-car (some fool had transposed a pair of digits in the rego when issuing the ticket). No interest from them whatever. The following issue carried some worthless piece about what CDs or tapes various celebs listened to while driving, with a full-colour illustration of it on the cover. 'Nuff said.
Also the petrol price is slowly moving up towards previous highs.
Before the election there were near daily articles about high petrol prices, while it's very quiet about it at the moment (at least on NZ Herald and Stuff).
Let's fix NZ's Citizen Initiated Referenda along the lines of the last two government referenda. Make it a vote to pass a bill that's already been drafted. How would this work in practice?
Once the organisers of a CIR get the required number of signatures, Parliament has to pass the bill through first and second readings, so it can go through select committee processes. Then the referendum serves as the Third Reading vote. This way, people know exactly what they're voting on, and that it can definitely happen if the referendum passes.
If you have an account in the fediverse, you can discuss this there too;
https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/@strypey/112211976400309046
"David Seymour looks at regulatory shake up, potentially cutting Women, Māori out of policy talks", claims Thomas Coughlan.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/david-seymour-looks-at-regulatory-shake-up-potentially-cutting-women-maori-disabled-ministries-out-of-policy-talks/IIRSKEU5DZC6HJZKBV35FADSWA/
This is poor journalism, misinformation in fact. The regulatory shakeup would not cut women or Maaori out of policy talks, as there are many women and Maaori in the current government. Seymour is just suggesting the government bypass the "expertise" of two activist-dominated ministries of doubtful utility.
To be fair, the headline is the problem, not the actual article itself. AFAIK the journalists don't write the headlines.
Keep the "Maaori" to Kiwblog spider.
So Seymour wants more of the fast tracking of legislation without impact statements that occurred last year, placed on a more permanent basis. The intent seems to diminish the role of the three ministries to reduce the relevance of their continued existence.
Already environment, bio-security and conservation concerns have been treated in the same way.
What next, auditing, given the not so accurate basis of near all policy costings pre election. Already the government has sidestepped adherence to norms as to statements prior to the budget.
30% per annum increases in insurance.
$500 … $1000 … $2000pa when will it stop?
At some point the government has to consider a cheap insurance alternative for homeowners, including those in high rise building (Wellington).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/513358/very-significant-rise-in-home-insurance-premiums-revealed
Problem with 'cheap' insurance, is that the government can't afford to pay out if/when a disaster happens.
Spreading the risk to the insurance companies (who then reinsure off shore) – is the only way that NZ can afford it.
If Wellington properties are increasingly expensive to insure – and even become uninsurable – then surely that's a signal that those houses/apartments are in the wrong place….
Having said that, insurance for the average Kiwi isn’t looking too bad. Current premium according to the article is still under 2K/pa – not a lot compared to the cost of rebuilding a house in today's building climate (from the article, rebuild costs up by more than 30% over the last 2 years.) – and the reinsurance costs (disasters affecting the cost/availability of reinsurance) increased up to 40%.
Uninsurable areas are what 'unmanaged' retreat looks like. Perhaps it's time to look at 'managed' retreat.
where do you think everyone could go?
If we take quakes, liquefaction, tsunamis, sea rise, slips and flooding, there aren't actually that many places in NZ that are safe to live. In the South Island, that's places like Lumsden in Southland. Inland on the Canterbury plains. But forget the coasts and mountains.
All those medium sized tourist towns beside lakes: Queenstown, Wanaka, Te Anau, they're all going to be a big problem in a big quake.
West Coast, how would we even fix all the roads and bridges?
Dunedin is not too bad, but tsunami risk, and in the longer term sea level rise. Shift people out onto the Taeri Plains for a while, until sea level rise and flooding kicks in?
Well, why do you think they can stay?
There are places which no investment of money can make safe (sea level rise, river flood plain, unstable cliffs).
Is it better to just go on band-aiding? Paying to rebuild (or 'earthquake strengthen') in the same demonstrably unsafe locations?
Earthquakes are a different level of risk. And totally unpredictable (who would have thought Christchurch, before 2010). Climate-related events are much more predictable in their consequences.
I don't think they can stay. There are obvious places in the SI already that need to be relocated. South Dunedin and Westport being two. My point is it's not enough to say managed retreat without talking about where to rebuild. As I said the other day, NZ is very bad at building in stupid places, even now.
Disagree about quakes being totally unpredictable. We don't know the timing, but we have some good ideas on what will happen. We're simply not prepared.
There is also going to be an intersection between quakes, tsunamis, and extreme weather events. Hopefully people still start to see soon the value in designing built spaces for resiliency, and that includes powering down and relocalising.
I'm a fan of local design. The solutions for Te Anau are going to be very specific compared to Westport or Chch.
RNZ's Corin Dann grills economist Eric Crampton at the right-wing think tank NZ Initiative over levels of government spending as %GDP being still too high.. Around 3 min is a feisty exchange, as Corin does what a good journalist should, quoting facts and challenging Crampton's assumptions.
I'd hardly call the exchange 'feisty', but it's a good interview. Eric makes some good points, particularly around the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs and the media reporting of the context of current proposed cuts in staffing.
Interesting. Quite the opposite to what our CoC believes.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/04/the-doomsters-were-wrong-about-the-minimum-wage-theyre-wrong-about-labours-new-deal-for-workers-too?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
”Confounding the doomsters and gloomsters of the late 1990s, the minimum wage has raised the pay of millions of Britain’s lowest-paid workers by an average of £6,000 a year without lengthening dole queues. It has been described by one thinktank as the most successful economic policy in a generation.”
Gun laws are going to change – so begs a couple of questions.
If we have a school shooting, will the act party be held to account ?
If we get another mass shooting, will the act party be paying for the costs the event causes?
They want the guns, they should pay for it – from ACC to all medical cost, from police to prison costs these should all be charged to the act party. If one, just one mass shooting in any guise should occur. Then the when the party is bankrupt, we should look at the laws again.
Best thing the liberals ever did in Australia was getting rid of all the automatic weapons. Shame our Tories are so bloody stupid in comparison.
From what I can see, most of what the ACT website says on this looks pretty sensible.
https://www.act.org.nz/firearms
Luxon's advisors (if they are any good at all) will tell him to steer well clear of making center fire assault rifles legal to obtain for anyone in NZ. From memory well over 80% of the population supported a ban on these weapons and I can't imagine that has changed much if at all so it would be a really bad political move for Luxon.
He could win this politically by agreeing to ACT's proposed changes which seem mostly sensible but have a red line in regards to these military weapons and ensure they remain banned. As stated by post author there is absolutely zero need for anyone to own a military assault rifle other than the military itself. The hunters I know use hunting rifles and / or bows. None of them have suggested to me that they need an AK47 or similar to put some venison in the freezer.
This might be quite a good little test to see how politically savvy Luxon (or his advisors) is / are.