Vague threats of legal action are being made by the oil industry against the government, over the ending of new block offers.
On Friday industry publication Upstream reported that companies which had conducted seismic testing on a speculative basis were planning a legal challenge to the Government’s decision, probably led by the Texas-based International Association of Geophysical Contractors.
Ardern said that the issue was not raised during her recent trip to New Plymouth, a trip which came more than a month after the decision was announced.
“The Government has yet to be notified of any proposed legal challenge from the industry body. I met with the industry recently and no one raised this with me.”
Upstream, extensively quoting unnamed sources, described a subsidiary of US oil services giant Schlumberger among a group of companies “most affected” by the decision, warning of “significant” losses in revenue. Approached for comment the day the ban was announced, no one from Schlumberger has yet responded.
If the CPTPP was enacted, which would give overseas corporations the right to sue and for foreign tribunals to over-rule government decisions, such vaguely muttered threats might have some real currency.
The oil industry’s losses from shale are endless. Not surprising they would want to mine our seabed, especially when NZ asks for a fraction of the royalties other nations charge.
Yep, paltry royalties and they can’t even make Mobil clean up the tank farm.
Still giving away free water too. Anyone would think everyone in this country is already a millionaire with a stash of cash to burn, the way our government gives away public resources to private offshore and onshore businesses…
When the court is stacked with the mates of the business and there is no higher court to appeal to they could still likely lose even though the case might seem rock solid.
It will be a rigged court that is far from independent.
What haste are you actually talking about?
No Right Turn, who is usually pretty accurate on his facts says that no ban has been introduced and all that has happened is that they had a Press Conference. He is definitely not impressed by the Government behaviour. http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2018/06/government-by-press-conference.html
But isn’t NRT arguing that a Block Offer isn’t the only way that the firms can get permits.
They ca, if I am reading him correctly arguing that they can simply request a permit for an area and it has to be assessed under the existing rules.
Is his second half of his post wrong in your opinion?
Petroleum Prospecting Permit
Operator SCHLUMBERGER NEW ZEALAND LIMITED
Owner(s) SCHLUMBERGER NEW ZEALAND LIMITED
Location Taranaki Basin
Operation
Status Active
Grant on 28/11/2017
Commence on 28/11/2017
Duration 2 years 0 months
Expiry on 27/11/2019
Area 18705.065 SQKM
Mineral(s) Conventional Petroleum (excluding coal seam gas and gas hydrates)
Remember this is prospecting via seismic survey, yes the ships that trial air guns, not drilling.
Just because NRT quotes the Crown Minerals Act- – he thinks that makes him an expert .
he’s totally ignorant of the regulations that go with the Minerals Act which regulate the detail of the applications
(5) As provided for in clause 7.2(1), all petroleum exploration permits (PEPs) will be granted by way of Petroleum Exploration Permit Rounds. Accordingly, until an area is offered in a Permit Round, that area is only available for permitting for petroleum prospecting permits (PPPs;)
PEP . Petroleum Exploration Permit 7.2 Competitive allocation
(1) All PEPs will be allocated competitively by way of Petroleum Exploration Permit Rounds.
Two methods of competitive allocation may be used:
(a) staged work programme bidding
(b) cash bonus bidding
Its important to distinguish ‘prospecting’ and ‘exploration’
For oil, prospecting usually means seismic surveys often done speculatively with the data on sold to majors which bid for ‘exploration’ or what would be normally called ‘drilling’
A bit of info back in 2016 when oil prices dropped and oil ‘prospecting’ was less attractive to the speculators
Greenpeace says Houston-based prospecting company ION Geophysical has relinquished its oil surveying permits, which covered almost half of New Zealand’s water and another Houston-based company, TGS, has also withdrawn its application for a major offshore prospecting permit off the West Coast of the North Island.
Existing exploration rights arent affected. Cant sue if you havent lost anything.
All that has happened is no new areas were offered up for bids at auction.!
The normal process is to offer selected areas , not all areas, for oil companies to bid for , as usual highest or any bid not necessarily accepted.
Non meat meat, oil. Both industries under serious threat from destroyed demand. The more they asked for their products, the more they risk demand disappearing to alternatives. The only way they now maintain their markets is to monopolize and delay new inevitable entrances. Of course geared up managers and investors move to the new industries, leaving the lazy to squeeze existing demand to maintain profits. Note the rush of old meat into our supermarkets, tasteless stomach cramping. Atleast the oil sector can increase biofuels to our daily fuel. Farming animals for meat, so twentieth century.
PR piece about bridges path to becoming PM on stuff today. How they can write this with a straight face is beyond me. Continuing the meme that the greens will drop under 5%
It seems to me they are all following the mantra:
never say you are or have been CLOSELY associated with the national party.
Farrar
Hehir
Hooten
…..
Was listening to radio on weekened, they had Mike Williams , decribed as former labour party president, which is true enough, but the ‘other side’ was Vernon Tava who was just called a ‘business broker’, when he should be described as national party activist as he tried to get Northcote nomination.
Seeing as the Greens have announced their coalition wins (thus have nothing foreseeable to pull out of their hat going forward) coupled with their downwards trend in the polls and the fact they tend to poll higher than what they secure on election day, there is a very real chance they may not make the threshold come next election.
I happened to catch Garner’s so-called interview with Bridges on the AM Show this morning via Facebook (I don’t really watch telly). If that’s been the level of rigorous questioning by Garner to date I’m surprised Bridges isn’t on about 80% preferred PM rating.
DHBs are still keen to progress work on the funding of community pharmacies with the aim of having some pharmacies that no longer dispense medicines, and even of having medication delivered directly to patients.
What does this mean? Would there be my visit to the doctor but no pharmacy to pick up my prescription?
There are a number of pharmacy providers now that utilise robots to dispense for rest homes and seem new companies that are setting up similar services to supply direct to the general public as per below.
Thanks Stunned Mullet. At the moment I leave the doctor with my prescription and the nearby pharmacy fills it. Surely that would be cheaper than paying a courier to do so?
(Must admit my concern with the pharmacy is the huge number of questionable health remedies on sale. Unproven. Quack.)
At the moment I leave the doctor with my prescription and the nearby pharmacy fills it. Surely that would be cheaper than paying a courier to do so?
Much better if the doctor came to you because:
1. It would actually cut down on resources (Time, fuel, car parking) used
2. It would decrease the spread of disease
But, of course, the doctor wouldn’t be carrying a huge stock of drugs. Then the same two reasons for delivering the drugs to you work as well.
Home-visits work in some regards (e.g. rest homes), but your time/fuel/parking issues get flipped onto the doctor.
Not to mention the commute time between patients, when the doctor could actually be treating the next patient in the doctor’s office.
Not to mention some meds held on site in controlled conditions (e.g. vaccines), the capability to accommodate casual but semi-urgent walk-ins, and being assured of clinically-appropriate conditions and facilities (privacy, warmth, good hygiene facilities).
But back to the original subject, pharmacist advice for me has been most useful not so much to second-guess the doctor’s advice (although part of the pharma’s role is to catch contra-indicated meds), but to provide additional information and clarification while picking up the meds. I don’t see how that would work with drone delivery of drugs to my door, or why I would go to a pharmacist without picking up more drugs.
“(although part of the pharma’s role is to catch contra-indicated meds)”
That is the bit I would really hate to lose. I was once prescribed a drug that wasn’t meant to be given with another I had been taking.
They weren’t prescribed at the same time but the pharmacist picked it up (I always go to the same one) and he called the Doctor immediately.
The prescription was changed.
Only once and quite a long time ago but I really like that second check from someone.
Absolutely agreed on that one Alwyn. Have had a similar experience. The final check by someone with good training and knowledge is, to me at least, very important. Contra-indications can be killers. As people age they take more meds, and their bodies become less tolerant and more susceptible to drug use conflicts. This is one area where robotics (or AI really) are not appropriate.
As many if not most lists to primary care are for non infectious ailments your rationale for number 2 doesn’t hold.
Also as the vast amount of primary care in NZ is chock-a-block I don’t see how the poor old GPs would be able to schedule in travel to the patient in their schedule as well.
Yes I’d think you’re correct about cheaper for you xian – where I suspect it’s leading is to a cheaper contact between certain providers of these services and DHBs as there are quite specific fee structures in place at the moment between pharmacy and the various DHBs to do with markups, dispensing fees part charges etc.
There sis also the issue that many patients don’t pick up their scripts and when they do their compliance can still be poor.
ianmac: you’re not talking about paracetamol are you? “questionable health remedies on sale. Unproven. Quack” Or are you recalling the wonders of thalidomide?
Those pharmaceutical companies can be real scalliwags at flicking dubious remedies into the public arena in the hope of making a quick buck…
Dhbs direct to patients. IRD direct to taxpayers. All part of the scheme to technologise our world and turn us into individual, separate and anomic beings.
Heil Thatcher and her repetition of ‘There is no such thing as society.’ They are all bitches coming along on that line, male and female, it is a gender-free scathing term these days.
No doubt accountants and lawyers will become extinct. In effect just Google it or feed the data into your computer and by-pass those experts. Carried to extremes and we will become so self sufficient, shops will become extinct also and we all will be hermits. Not very sociable. Even sheep enjoy their society.
Where will we be without having to deal with each others’ foibles? It’s a fable that DTB has below. We need to have a reason to get and about, meet and greet each other, some job that takes us out of ourselves.
Looks like someone has been lobbying hard, another big Aussie company trying to elbow their way into the NZ market?
I can’t see pharmacies surviving without prescriptions, they’d lose too much of their revenue. A lot of their retail sales are to people calling in for scripts and buying something else while they’re there.
Well now, I think there is. Decent socially conscious policy, proper funding of educational programs, support for communities, tenancy reform to help stabilise communities, warm and dry homes, properly funded and maintained social housing stock, etc, etc…..
> Decent socially conscious policy, proper funding of educational programs, support for communities, tenancy reform to help stabilise communities, warm and dry homes, properly funded and maintained social housing stock, etc, etc…..
This all sounds great, and we should do it, but right now we have a bunch of bad guys committing crimes, and we need to do something separate about that too. Because ‘proper funding of educational programs’ is not going to change people who have already gone off the rails.
I know business doesn’t get much sympathy on this site but I thought maybe it would offend our sense of justice and fairness. There is so much wrong with that story. When did our justice system turn so vindictive and nasty?
Ahem, they sold a product that was allegedly, or potentially, dangerous to small children. There’s no fact in that, no children were harmed.
The fine is out of proportion to the crime. They’re bankrupting people for what are really just errors in judgement that anyone can make. They haven’t shown any malice, negligence or intent by the sellers, it’s simply a highly subjective determination followed by a whopping great big fine.
The real message from this, and other similar recent cases, is that anyone contemplating starting up a small business is only a mistep away from being hauled in front of a judge and bankrupted. Seems like business is only for the rich who can afford the expensive lawyers to check every item they sell for compliance.
Yeah, I don’t have any issues with the process it’s the punishment that’s wrong. By all means prosecute and fine but be reasonable about it.
Some other similar cases, keep in mind that in each one the business owner was of limited means and either bankrupted or at least almost certainly left in desperate financial straits;
You need to get that chip off your shoulder Draco. I work for myself and I make no apologies for it, nor do I need to justify it to the likes of you.
Most people in business are the same, we do our best to trade honestly, safely and fairly while still being mindful of the fact we’re capable of making mistakes the same as anyone else. Genuine criminals don’t get fines that high, where’s the justice in it?
And as usual you ignore the substance of my argument which is that the punishment should fit the crime. But then no punishment for being in business is harsh enough for you is it Draco. Should we all be lined up & shot, would that satisfy you?
The punishment does fit the crime. This is literally a life and death issue, with crimes being committed in the cold light of reason and business sense. The sentence needs to be a deterrent to all.
The worst thing we could do is have a token fine that simply becomes a cost of doing business when you’re finally caught, or a trivial cost that nobody takes note of.
The best example was when a local business was sued for $60k-70k because somebody slipped and broke their arm – the upteenth person to do so, and the business had been slow to respond.
Within days of the judgement, every pedestrian grate and ramped walkway around town was getting rails and slapped with non-slip paint. It was pretty funny, but it showed the punitive approach worked in that situation.
People with comprehension and impulse-control issues don’t really think ahead of much in the way of deterrents. But business managers are always making a cost/benefit analysis.
Most people in business are the same, we do our best to trade honestly, safely and fairly while still being mindful of the fact we’re capable of making mistakes the same as anyone else.
All of the people I’ve met in business have been less than honest, try to cheat taxes and safety regulations and their mistakes have always been the result of that cheating.
In other words, they’ve all been genuine criminals.
Yep apologies there Draco, and to McFlock I was seeing something that wasn’t there…. thought me and Draco were headed for a good argument…
The point of the last one McFlock was the discrepancy. The victim was awarded $18k and the court pocketed $90k for itself.
The rest had no victims, only potential ones and the judgement on that was highly subjective. We’re all placing people at risk, we do that every time we jump in the car.
The court didn’t pocket $90k, any more than the officer issuing a speeding infringement pockets the cash.
“Potential” victims including the employee or neighbours who might get asbestosis in twenty years, or a child who might choke to death on pieces from one of the 4,000 unrecovered toys.
And more importantly, the potential victims of every cut-rate importer who sees the penalty and double-checks the safey of their containerload of shite.
So you’d be happy with an $80k fine every time you’re caught speeding would you McFlock?
I mean, you’d be risking people lives and an $80k fine would deter others from speeding so that would all be good, right? Who cares about justice, lets make an example of those nasty speeders.
“The prospect of an 80k fine would certainly ensure I’m always consciously under the limit, not just assuming that I’m probably under it.”
No it wouldn’t. Every now and then you’d have a lapse in concentration and nudge that speedo over the limit. It’s human frailty, we’re all subject to it.
But any lapses would certainly be less frequent and less serious.
The old “human frailty” argument to allow negligent behaviour is bullshit. It’s an excuse to let people keep dying. And not a single instance you raised is approaching the complexity of driving a car: everything occurred in a timeframe set by the guilty people, the preventive measures did not require immediate reflexes to resolve, and all hazards were known well in advance.
FFS, isolating the fall area for things you are working at height with is the first basic step in every situation. Signage to make people aware of the hazard is the second.
Sure the tree guy had manuals, but he obviously hadn’t made it clear to staff they should be followed. He never visited a site to find that staff member breaking the rules before? The first time a safety-conscious staff member makes an elementary mistake, someone gets hospitalised for 6 days (and they don’t do that for fun)? Bullshit. The odds are miniscule. If he didn’t set a bad example himself, the owner must have seen his employees at worksites without adequate signage and isolation before, and done next to nothing.
Spending money or time on paperwork isn’t a substitute for making sure that people stick to it. WTF was one employee felling a tree alone for, anyway? Who was going to call for help if it landed on his own stupid head?
I’m not knocking the system McFlock, only the size of the fines. They are beyond punitive, they admit the fines are intended for deterrence and IMHO they’re too high even for that. Look at what the Commerce Commission demanded on that first one, they wanted fines of over $200k. That’s pretty spiteful.
I mentioned the tree case because the victim was the one harmed and the system has taken the lions share of the cash. It suggests a high degree of vindictiveness on the part of lawmakers, they appear to care more about punishment than they do about the victim(s).
Which is simply another way of saying that the system recognises the current victims, but also cares about deterring people from creating victims in the future.
“Which is simply another way of saying that the system recognises the current victims, but also cares about deterring people from creating victims in the future.”
The court cases tend to suggest otherwise do they not? If the fines really did deter we wouldn’t be seeing any court cases.
At the heart of it to me is the basic tenets of justice and fairness and this is way out of balance IMO. We’re not in the nineteenth century, putting people in stocks should be a thing of the past.
I’ll leave it here where we look to agree to disagree, I’ve run my course on it. Cheers.
Men. I’m just glad that people are being fined for toys that might become choking hazards, rather than issuing recalls after a dozen injuries or deaths.
“All of the people I’ve met in business have been less than honest, try to cheat taxes and safety regulations and their mistakes have always been the result of that cheating.”
You’re mixing with the wrong crowd I think Draco. Certainly business has more than its share of rogues but it’s not that bad. I’d opine the worst offenders are the salaried executives who sacrifice ethics for career.
I’ve worked for many businesses across many industries.
Cash jobs so they don’t have to put it through the books and pay tax.
Miss a safety precaution here or there so as to save money. Hey, nobody’s going to know right?
All business people are the same – they’re all crooked.
Missing from this delightful rally is any information about whether said child toy was labelled as being unsuitable for kids under a certain age.
If it was – that’s a parent responsibility issue. That toy should not have been acquired in any household with kids under the safe age. Or for any older kids still known to be at that sucky stage.
A dozen kids a year go to hospital having ingested foreign items – and so many of those items are NOT ‘toys’: lids/caps, batteries, buttons, beads, pebbles. And those are the usual items.
Some dopey person BOUGHT that item. No one menaced them into buying it. If it was a gift – is there no responsible parent around to say, ‘That’s lovely! Thank you! When child is older we’ll let them have it.’?
If the thing was imported – is there no one locally, with a brain, who actually knows the rules of the game and slaps on a safety sticker?
Or is it easier to kvetch and go to court to ‘make an example to discourage others’?
On asbestos: wasn’t there, myself, but do we actually have enough tradies backed with safe disposal places for this naturally occuring element? If we do – that’s truly amazing in this over-regulated and under-resourced nation.
> Missing from this delightful rally is any information about whether said child toy was labelled as being unsuitable for kids under a certain age.
It’s right there in the article: “On the back of the package was a warning that the toy was not suitable for children 3 years old due to it presenting a choking hazard.”
Nevertheless, the toy is clearly intended for small children.
Antoine there needs to be some realism injected into this, people can take too much for granted. The verdict is fact, guilt is not.
This was a case brought under the Fair Trading Act. It’s not a criminal case, the company was charged not the person. The penalty was a fine. While the Commerce Commission might crow about their victory the reality is that the defendant likely pled guilty because it was the only practical option for them. No-one was personally facing a criminal conviction, it’s effectively a civil case and those are nearly always about the money.
When small/med businesses face prosecution by the Commerce Commission they’re on a hiding to nothing. You can’t fight them, they’ve got deeper pockets that you. They’re the ultimate bully. An $80k fine is harsh but still the least expensive option, why spend half a $million defending the charges when it gains you nothing? You’d just end up $500k poorer instead of $80k.
I’ll bet the legal advise small/med business people receive in these cases is to plead guilty, mitigate the fine down as much as possible and get on with their life.
So, while people might get all judgemental over what they read in the ‘paper keep in mind it’s only one side of the story.
KJT
I think that the correct way to deal with this is that the government should bring in some sensible regulations, which would be policed. The problem is that now government punishes as a control, it doesn’t proactively sort out the crap so that it doesn’t reach us at all. These regulations would also come with inspectors who would actively make sure that dross didn’t get into NZ, eg electrical fittings would be to our specifications, goods would be fit for purpose.
At present it is virtually open slather, people are exposed to shoddy goods and their injurious effects. Then if we are lucky, the government steps in and makes a big thing of hammering the dealer, but gummint has encouraged or enabled the shonky system themselves.
We see this with this toy, we see this with the biological infiltration of nasties we pay large to deal with, with overseas students being rorted by agents that government refuses to regulate and certify as reputable protecting students that trust our country’s good name! They have brought about the collapse of the CTV building and the farce of dealing with an engineer’s falsification, with the collapse of the Pike mine and falsities and lies connected with that, with the steel that is munted, the houses that are munted through leaky whatever, shoddy stuff encouraged by government not having reasonable standards, regulation, inspections.
The toy is just another part of a shonky system that was being run by virtual criminals and con-men and Labour has to act decisively to separate themselves from it, or themselves be considered part of the despicable gang. Has there ever been a class action by a large group of people in a small country against the deliberate destruction of a brand built up over a century as NZ’s has? Would Coca cola sit quietly while its brand worth so much, was skewed and besmirched like this?
No, it’s an example of the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff type regulation that lets the dangerous shit through. We need to catch this sort of product before it hits the shelves.
“I think this scenario is unlikely, but it points to something else. As the coming debt crisis matures, national leaders and central bankers will find their choices narrowing. I’m constantly amazed at their creativity, but it has limits. They can’t kick the can down the road forever. At some point, the road ends and then they have to choose. When your only choices are “impossible” and “terrible,” then you pick the latter. We are going to see previously unthinkable ideas be seriously considered, and sometimes chosen, because all other options are even worse.”
Pat
That is interesting and good reading. Like one of the crime novels I like so much (I tend to like the golden age ones though). You have to follow the story closely, look for clues, be aware of inconsistencies, wonder about people’s cover stories.
I will read it all and go back to the other three.
I found this piece about parallel currency for Italy quite riveting. Necessity is the mother of invention they say. It might work to pull them (us?) out of the power of world currency exigencies. (I can’t remember just what that means, but when talking about world finances one can’t be too precise anyway.)
The BOT is Italy’s Treasury bill, and as in the US, it serves as a kind of cash equivalent in electronic trading. The mini-BOT would be a government debt instrument, in paper form, that pays zero interest and never matures. The government would use it to pay social benefits and accept it for tax payments. Private businesses would not be required to accept it, but they could.
Private businesses and individuals would also, in theory, buy the mini-BOT as a way to pay their taxes. But they would buy them at a discount. So, traders would immediately set up an arbitrage where the person getting the social benefits payment could sell them for euros for, call it, a 5% or 10% haircut.
Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is still a force in Italy, insists this would be legal. The Northern League sees a way to ease the transition out of the euro and the Five-Star Movement sees a way to increase spending without having to take on euro debt. And since the new coalition government wants to increase the deficit an additional $180 billion euros or so through a combination of tax cuts and increased spending, this is being seriously proposed.
Fancy Berlusconi still being around. Is that equivalent to Bill Clinton popping up here and there. Latest goss is that he has written a book which is a thriller based on cyber attack on the White House.
Whose responsibility is it to clear the logs away that have come down on people’s
homes, farms. livelihoods? What has the Regional Council come forward with?
What responsibility have they accepted for allowing logging to go ahead with little or no final clearing, cleaning up work, remedial work such as terracing, replanting?
Gisborne is in East Coast electorate held by National and Anne Tolley is MP.
(Votes: National Party 44.03% -4.39 Electorate Votes National 46.18% -5.74
Labour Party 36.62% +13.98 Electorate Votes Labour 33.51% +4.38)
The Greens got a very low party and electorate vote. It looks as if they were the very people prepared to look at and do the things that needed to be done for the electorate. So the voters there have not been prepared to do politics for what they needed, but have played the political football game, voting for their favourite personality and to gain personal advantage.
Gisborne is in the Maori electorate of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti held by Meka Whaitiri MP.
properties and houses and vehicles?
What is Anne Tolley saying that Gisborne should be getting? What did her National Party cohorts do to see that the area was doing to be prepared for climate change and its effects? Is the regional council saying anything:
Just what help and remedial work is available from the Gisborne authorities who should be accepting responsibility for enabling this situation to arise?
If I have flotsam layered on my property and heavy rain flushes it onto the road and against neighbouring houses would I be excused or would I face penalties??
“What bothers me is that I get linked in with them,” Allen said. “People who have been accused by 20 women, 50 women, 100 women of abuse, and abuse, and abuse, and I, who was only accused by one woman, in a child custody case, which was looked at, and proven to be untrue, I get lumped in with these people.”
Another rort shows up in the Private Training Establishments (PTEs) market for international students. Staff taking English language exams for students, when they fail to keep up with course requirements another provider is found by an “Agent”. There needs to be an inquiry into the whole rotten PTE sector.
There needs to be an inquiry into the whole rotten PTE sector.
True but I think the entire PTE sector needs to be shut down. It’s causing far more problems than it’s worth. In fact, from what I’m seeing, the whole thing is a rort.
The work is shit, even the photo to illustrate the story shows a worker crouching to pick kiwis under the trellis while carrying up to 20 kgs in the front basket. Ask any body who has done this work and the result is of severe back pain and ongoing problems for months. . Where is Workplace Safety?
What the stupid industry doesn’t realise is that the quest workers all have social media networks warning about how bad the job is.
I was particularly interested in these comments from the article
Government welfarism is very corrosive. The kiwifruit industry received over $25 million of taxpayer money to combat the PSA virus several years ago.
The radio interviewer asked the kiwifruit spokesman why they don’t just pay higher wages to attract more local workers. He replied that this would reduce the number of workers available to other kiwifruit growers in the area. They would end up competing with each other for workers. They would all end up having to pay higher wages.
That sounds like a ‘carousel’ cartel. What goes around, comes around though.
I remember hearing about a fixed price mentality by farmers in one country or state.in a certain area, to screw the landless workers down. There it would be a death or injury retaliation by neighbouring farmers who would react to someone changing the ‘traditional’ payment rates. Very nasty, very cold-blooded.
Modern day form is by using ‘labour hire contractors’, who end up a few companies controlling the unskilled labour for hundreds of different companies in an area, whether is rural or urban. You cant go down the road for more money as its the same or similar labour hire company offering the same wage rates.
Mmmm. There is always some new way to make an IED that will destroy the unions and workers’ hopes, if they don’t do that themselves by injudicious actions not in their own best interests.
All Kiwifruit growers should double the wages they pay labour during good times and like Henry Ford did in 1914, reap the benefits.
“On Jan. 5, 1914, Henry Ford, head of the Ford Motor Company, introduced a minimum wage scale of $5 per day, more than doubling the wages for most employees. He also offered profit sharing to employees who lived a clean lifestyle, reduced the daily worker’s shift to eight hours from nine and declared that no employee would “be discharged except for proved unfaithfulness or irremediable inefficiency.”
The New York Times described Ford’s decision as “one of the most remarkable business moves of his entire remarkable career,” which included the development of the Model T and using a moving assembly line in his factories.
James Couzens, the Ford treasurer, said: “It is our belief that social justice begins at home. We want those who have helped us to produce this great institution and are helping to maintain it to share our prosperity. We want them to have present profits and future prospects. … Believing as we do, that a division of our earnings between capital and labor is unequal, we have sought a plan of relief suitable for our business.”
The wage increase, which became national news, fostered good will for Ford, who was generally praised in nonbusiness circles for his generosity toward his workers. His primary motivation for the wage increase, however, was economic. Ford hoped to reduce the company’s high turnover rate and retain its best employees. The increased cost of wages was offset by increased production and decreased training programs and other costs associated with hiring new employees. Furthermore, the wage increase provided Ford employees with enough money to purchase Ford automobiles, which further increased the company’s sales.
However, some business leaders and journalists criticized Ford for what they perceived as social welfare policies; The Wall Street Journal wrote that he brought “biblical or spiritual principles into a field where they do not belong.” In the end, Ford’s business goals were realized and his wage increase had its intended effect: turnover declined sharply, and profits doubled to $60 million from $30 million from 1914 to 1916.”
Reliable kiwifruit workers climbing over each other to get a spot in a gang come harvest time has got to be a huge load off growers’ minds. They can get on with growing rather than being Human Relations depts.
Someone needs to tell Bridges, Collins, Bennett et al that if they play their cards right they too can be asked by a Labour government to lead an inquiry into labour relations:
Goods and Services would be categorized, and all participating firms would have the options of joining associations/guilds for these – this would carry benefits. Firstly this would involve branding. 40% volume, 60% number of firms, would have democratic say in forming inspector services that operate industry wide in establishing the range of standards that apply to the significant chain factors involved in that good or service (much like is already done today). These seals would then be sold as part of the brands, to the local population – part of this would of course be the various labour condition standards of local employment that make up the respective brand to the local consumer. Forms of unions, except being specialised labour supply firms/businesses, could be part of this. Intra-association disputes that arise in this area would have mechanism for resolution and mediation via parliament. These bodies would vote among themselves also for representation of their association.
Modern Jubilee Economics.
The populace wold be issued complimentary currency, calibrated to some ratio of economic indices of the economy (some would be better than others but within reason, all would do approx. the same job). This currency would only be legal tender for goods and services of participating NZ associations of the above. The Govt. would redeem the firms with national currency to the value of the goods and services paid for. This govt. debt would be met (& written off) by the value of goods and services created and consumed the following year by the complimentary currency. This is the jubilee function.
Parliamentary representation.
Over the 3 year election period, the proportions of complimentary currency that go to the participating business associations as described above, would determine what share of parliamentary seats is automatically allocated to that association, out of the third of parliamentary seats total that they automatically receive.
Finally all referendums would be binding, with every govt, required to undertake a small number every year, preferably by or developing the digital & secure low cost approach know how to do so in the process with their citizenry. The terms of these referendums would always be supplied by the govt. of the day and could be used however it chooses.
And that friends, would sort out the majority of the confused & dum stuff in a practical self-governing way capable of greater co-operation and equilibrium in sustainable outcomes across the board, for a varied, complicated and technological societal construct that has exceeded the ability of just political democracy to rationally manage alone.
No Right Turn has the most comprehensive intelligent column on the Government’s decision to ban future oil explanation. Well worth a read. The Opposition clamour about the lack of Cabinet Paper but NRT says:
“The documents on the government’s supposed ban on new offshore oil exploration have been released. A few thoughts:
-The issue of the decision bypassing Cabinet (which prompted this from me this morning) may have been oversold a little. The initial briefing on the issue notes that “officials have previously recommended that prior to any decision, an oral item is tabled with Cabinet”. …”
The AM Show good morning I say there should be equality for te Papatuanukue ladies sports stars.
Ruaumoko is going off in Guatemala see we are like skin cells on a blue whale compared to Papatuanukue we need to show her more respect what’s so wrong with haveing a culture that puts the environment and the mokos future first.
Many thanks to Te business that are going to follow the Green party lead to lower there plastic use and use bio degradable plastic .
Home many times did shonky call the moves of national when he was in parliament we need to save te maui dolphins an all animals and stop drilling for oil
. I still say that the biggest why for Aotearoa to lower our carbon footprint is to subsidiseing secondhand elictric cars this will help the poor people as well.
See this is how a intelligent assertive humane government runs housing Corp ask the right question make the right calls
Duncan you know I can see right through you. Ka kite ano P.S
The AM Show I know that they are pressing you to use these topics just like they force the Rock radio station to play crappie sounds all part of there obsession intimidation on ECO MAORI . Ka kite ano
House Corp Pukekohe is not liserning to my Daughter and just putting fence and gates in the wrong place logicaly one would put a fence and gate so that both doors to the house are behind the safety gates one in the right place but the one by the alleyway is in the wrong place and they won’t listen to my Daughter advice WTF. KA KITE ANO
This opinion smells of the carbon industry $$$$$$$$$ putting there hip pocket before the future small minded men who cannot see thurther than there own lives muppets. Link below
Speaker Trevor Mallard was left to look after Jones, while his usual caretaker, Winston Peters, underwent surgery. A truly adorable scene from Parliament yesterday has gone viral, after Speaker Trevor Mallard cradled an extremely drunk Shane Jones in his arms while the House was in session. Loud “awwww”s could be ...
Western media have defended their decision not to cover the fires so as not to give them any oxygen. Social media outrage continues to grow around the sentiment that mainstream western media is devoting too little coverage to an ongoing series of fires in the Amazon rainforest, and in doing ...
A Long Time Ago, In A Parallel Universe Far, Far Away: The political journalist scratched his head in confusion. Only then did he notice the name of the building: ‘The Jacinda Ardern Presidential Library and Public Resource Centre’. Making his way inside to the information desk, he asked the librarian ...
Too Much Of Nothing: In many respects it is the power of a free press to keep history’s images vivid and clear that renders it so important to the life of our democracy. It was the Czech writer, Milan Kundera, who said it best: “The struggle of man against power ...
Spark is bracing for a customer backlash as rugby fans all across the country struggle to get a picture on their wireless router. With the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, an elderly Taranaki couple are furious after being told that they still won’t be able to watch the tournament, even ...
Several explosions have been reported across Auckland, as well-meaning environmentalists have already begun purchasing too much petrol Starting from next week, customers will no longer need a car to purchase petrol directly from the pump, a development that two major fuel providers are billing as an opportunity to help fight ...
A new study claims to find that a mother’s exposure to fluoridated water during pregnancy may decrease the IQ of male children – but is it correct? (Photo: Getty Images) Anti-fluoride campaigners are promoting ...
Yesterday the Greater Wellington Regional Council unanimously declared a climate emergency. They've also set themselves a goal of being carbon neutral by 2030, though this only applies to their direct emissions. Still, its a good step, and as usual it invites the question: where is Parliament? When are we going ...
That's the only way to describe the government's plans for a Parliamentary Budget Office to allow opposition parties to get an independent costing of their policies. When the idea was first floated back in 2016 as an office within Treasury, I thought that wasn't independent enough and argued that it ...
Today is a Member's day, and after the third reading of Hamish Walker's KiwiSaver (Oranga Tamariki Guardians) Amendment Bill, Parliament will be continuing the committee stage of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. The bigots have put up another pile of amendments in an effort to delay or wreck ...
Television advertising has a huge impact on our lives. Even if we don’t recognise that, we know it has to be true, since otherwise why would advertisers spend so much on it? Its significance, however, is greater than simply the influence it has on what we purchase and consume. It ...
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...
by Philip Ferguson This weekend just past marks the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the most famous of the great 1960s music festivals. It was held over the weekend (Friday-Monday) of August 15-18, 1969. Woodstock was a highpoint of the US ‘counter-culture’, and also the beginning of its end. When exploring the ...
It looks like the government has won over the public on its vehicle feebate scheme:A feebate scheme that would transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from buyers of higher-emission cars into the pockets of people buying EVs and other more fuel-efficient vehicles has been winning favour with submitters, the Government ...
When people suggest lowering the voting age, others argue that the young are too uneducated or silly to exercise the duties of citizenship. Australian John Quiggin has just blown that argument out of the water:Looking at the array of ignorant and vindictive old men attacking Greta Thunberg and other young ...
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...
Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...
The Pacific is on the front line of climate change, and if we don't cut emissions quickly, some countries are literally going to be underwater. Because of this, small Pacific states had tried to use this week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting to get Pacific countries to agree to ending coal ...
To Limit Another's Rights Is To Limit One's Own: Is it too much to expect senior members of our Government to be capable of explaining that we protect the rights of human-beings precisely because not even the most depraved act can cancel-out the fact that its perpetrator is also a ...
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...
This section builds on Part 1 of this series to provide a theoretical basis for the final instalment (part 3 – to come). Self-determination: law or resurgence — or both? International law promotes the principal of equal treatment and self-determination, which includes peoples’ rights to freely pursue their social, cultural and ...
Everyone was outraged yesterday to learn that the Christchurch shooting accused had been able to send mail from prison to his Nazi fans, apparently pushing more hate. "How could this possibly happen", people asked. Simple: because New Zealand is a civilised country, and so we let prisoners send and receive ...
If we are to avoid dangerous anthropogenic climate change, we need to rapidly decarbonise our transport fleet. The good news: its starting to happen:The number of electric vehicles on New Zealand's roads have nearly tripled in the past two years. There are currently 15,453 registered electric vehicles (EVs), up ...
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
We asked a young gay science student and critic of trans ideology and the trans activists’ assault on women’s and gay rights to outline his views on Redline. Thanks to him for his article. by Cian Ó Catháin Gender identity ideology (Gender ID) is ripping through western society at full ...
The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...
I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure, London, Penguin, 2019, 352pp; reviewed by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is a timely book, whose ...
When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
‘Original Sin’ of Land Confiscation at Ihumātao is a wrong that can be put right by Government says Justice & Peace Commission of Catholic Diocese of Auckland ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a press conference on August 19 that her government is likely to impose new restrictions on prisoners’ rights to send letters. She said the law could be changed in “weeks.” ...
Heart-warming images of House Speaker Trevor Mallard cradling a baby in Parliament have been welcomed around New Zealand, but the Public Service Association warns most families can only dream of such support in the workplace. ...
Applying New Zealand’s international human rights commitments, particularly those in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, can help in resolving the situation at Ihumātao, Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt says. ...
Climate campaigners impersonating bank staff have taken to the streets this week to expose ANZ Bank’s sponsorship of the fossil fuel industry. In the series of satirical actions in Wellington, Dunedin, and Auckland, the ‘bank staff’ promoted ...
Auckland Action Against Poverty joins the Children’s Commissioner , The Green Party , The New Zealand Drugs Foundation , Child Poverty Action Group and other organisations in the calls for an immediate end to the drug testing benefit sanctions. ...
Negotiations between Port Otago workers represented by the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) and the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) and management failed today and the unions have issued notice of an overtime ban from Saturday 7th September. ...
Queenstown Lakes District Council’s comments that it has applied for a consent to pollute waterways to avoid 'prosecutions by the Otago Regional Council' are unacceptable,’ Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Taylor says. ...
On March 15, the real world impact of online hate became abundantly, horrifically clear. As a shooter opened fire at two Christchurch mosques, the online image board 8chan anticipated, celebrated and amplified his killing spree. ...
Friday, 23 August: Government delegates from around the world, including New Zealand, are meeting in New York for the third of four meetings at the United Nations to agree a Global Oceans Treaty that could help to protect 30% of our oceans by 2030. Greenpeace ...
The excuses about a reportedly unwanted $57,000 payrise for Dunedin City Council CEO Sue Bidrose are laughable, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance has launched the “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” committing to no more than 2% annual rate hikes over the next Council term, and has written to all Mayoral and Council candidates asking them to sign. The pledge will ...
This Saturday, Pakuranga Hunt Day at the Ellerslie Racecourse will see anti-horse racing protesters demonstrating at the corner of Ascot Avenue and Greenlane East. ...
Mayoral candidate John Tamihere will meet with Pacific Island leaders and community elders today at Puhunui Reserve in South Auckland to commit to a Pasefika Cultural Centre. ...
Cruel and invalid Forced Swim Tests carried out at Victoria University of Wellington, will be exposed at the University Open Day today, so prospective students can be warned about the flawed and unethical research being conducted at the institute. ...
The organiser of the annual YWCA Equal Pay Awards has expressed her disappointment with the latest Gender Pay Gap figure for New Zealand workers. The figure rose slightly from 9.2% in 2018 to 9.3% for the quarter ended 30 June 2019. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to pass on information to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques now that the period for submissions has been extended to 27 September. ...
An application was filed in the Employment Relations Authority in Wellington today, seeking an injunction to prevent the Board of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation from removing the President from office. ...
The Government’s commitment to support literacy and numeracy training in the workplace is a strong signal from Government on recognising the importance of upskilling, reskilling and increasing productivity alongside their commitment to address the challenges ...
“The infrastructure sector sees a major role for the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga in lifting the nation’s sagging infrastructure performance,” says Paul Blair, incoming CEO of Infrastructure NZ. ...
The AA is calling on the Government to bring forward critical highway projects while time is spent properly developing the plans for a rapid transit system in Auckland. ...
Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, DHBs spent $280 million treating patients due to adverse drug reactions, reveals the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union in its latest briefing paper on health productivity . ...
The Pay Equity Coalition Auckland (PECA) is pleased the gender pay gap has decreased slightly. Statistics released today show the gap is now 11.9%, nearly 2 percent less than last year. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to make sure they pass on any information they have to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques before submissions close tomorrow (Friday). ...
The big electricity companies consider solar energy “disruptive” and want pricing to suppress it. In contrast, advocates of local energy say that solar, energy efficiency, and other local energy solutions are the cheapest ways to reduce carbon emissions. ...
The Earthquake Commission and Shine Lawyers are delighted to announce that EQC has reached an agreement with the Gibling family, agreeing to cover the cost of repairs of remaining earthquake damage on their property. ...
Four months into the inquiry, the Royal Commission is gathering significant information and continues to receive valuable submissions from the public, from current and former State servants, experts and community groups. ...
While Fish & Game New Zealand is pleased to see Federated Farmers Environment Spokesperson Chris Allen say that 'we all want good, fresh water', he conveniently overlooks some key facts. ...
What: Wellington demo “Save the Amazon Forest/Salve a Amazônia!” When: Friday, 6 September 2019 from 12:30-13:30 Where: Embassy of Brazil in Wellingtona ...
Rt Hon Trevor Mallard, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, welcomes the visit of His Excellency Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal. ...
A cross political Mental Health and Addictions Wellbeing group will be launched on Wednesday 28 August hosted by Sir John Kirwan and Moe Milne (ONZM) who have both been at the forefront of our country’s often difficult conversations about mental ...
Confirmation that the government will be progressing an independent Parliamentary Budget Office is great news for democracy and transparency, Federated Farmers says. ...
At first glance, Simon Bridges’ strident opposition to the government’s proposal to establish an independent office to cost political parties’ election spending plans looks childish and petty. ...
Euthanasia-Free NZ is appalled that Parliament spent so little time debating Part 2 of the End of Life Choice Bill and voted to leave it full of holes. ...
Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance and its nationwide sister group the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Auckland Mayor Phil Goff for his comments today that John Tamihere would need the Government’s support to ...
A ‘one size fits all’, inflexible and punitive regulatory regime for water quality just gets backs - and costs - up and most importantly will not work, Federated Farmers says. ...
Mediation yesterday between secondary principals and the government has resulted in a deal that the principals' negotiating team is recommending to its members. ...
Clubs New Zealand welcomes the decision of Justice Minister Andrew Little to put forward a bill amending the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act to allow all licensed premises to remain open for Rugby World Cup matches. ...
The Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation has ordered a review looking at labelling of added sugars in food and drinks. An option under investigation is ‘a pictorial approach applied to sugary beverages / sugar-sweetened beverages’ ...
Labour market data released by Statistics New Zealand today indicates that a gender pay gap persists in New Zealand, despite improvement in some areas. ...
In the midst of the 6th Great Extinction Event the coalition, STOP Trashing Our Planet is urging voters to take full responsibility for the legacy we are leaving our children. ...
LGNZ will carefully consider the proposed National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) to assess if it meets the Government’s aim of enabling urban development or simply adds more red tape to the planning process. ...
Statistics out today from the Government show that the gender wage imbalance, or gap, in the average wage is 11.9%, a strong 2 percentage point improvement from 13.9% last year. The gender pay imbalance in the median wage is 9.3%. ...
Newstalk ZB Drive host and Herald on Sunday columnist Heather du Plessis-Allan is taking on the challenge of keeping 2019 Auckland Mayoral contenders Phil Goff and John Tamihere in line and on point in tonight’s live NZ Herald Newstalk ZB debate. ...
Analysis - The prime minister puts a stake in the ground over petrol prices, National balks at having its election promises costed and the government puts millions into helping the homeless. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danilo Ignacio de Urzedo, PhD candidate, University of Sydney Record fires are raging in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, with more than 2,500 fires currently burning. They are collectively emitting huge amounts of carbon, with smoke plumes visible thousands of kilometres away. Fires in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sean Docking, Post-doctoral researcher, La Trobe University Basketball fans around the world were recently sickened by the footage of NBA star Kevin Durant’s Achilles tendon rupturing during a game. But while many think it’s only elite athletes who suffer from Achilles tendon ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University The possibility of blackouts affecting half of Victoria has attracted plenty of attention to a document once read only by industry insiders and policy wonks: the Electricity Statement of Opportunities. The Statement, updated ...
George Clooney sold his tequila company for a billion dollars – but is the stuff any good? The Spinoff finds out. Imagine being so stupidly sexy you sneeze and sell a billion-dollar booze company. That’s what George Clooney did last year, flicking off the tequila business he started accidentally with an ...
The departure of "two Pākehā men" from the government's justice reform group will not hurt the quality of its final report, another member of the team says. ...
Combatting internet-related harm is being stymied by inter-industry disagreement and a lack of information about the extent and nature of the problem, a new report says. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, J.W. Nevile Fellow in Economics and host of The Airport Economist, UNSW Amid the tributes to former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer and the stories of his authenticity, courage and quirky interests – like trains and military history – what ...
Current leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges.Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Is Simon Bridges really trying to channel Donald Trump? Or is he taking his cue from Scott Morrison? Or is he looking to emulate Boris Johnson? Whatever the inspiration, there’s been a clear change in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]Michelle Grattan talks about the sad news of the passing of former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer with University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini. They also discuss Scott Morrison’s recent announcement about joining ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriel Crowley, Adjunct Principal Research Fellow, James Cook University In February, about 600,000 cattle were killed by catastrophic flooding across north Queensland’s Carpentaria Gulf plains. The flood waters rose suddenly, forming a wall of water up to 70km wide. Record depths were ...
Simon Day dined alone at Monique Fiso’s Wellington restaurant Hiakai, and discovered it was the perfect way to appreciate the meaning of this special food. “Would you like a few more minutes with your phone?” the waitress at Hiakai asked sympathetically as I mashed a final goodbye text to my wife ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Willamson, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Australia’s gender pay gap is diminishing, says a new report, but some contributors to it seem harder to overcome than others. For me, the finding hit close to home. The report, by KPMG for ...
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 Te Tiriti o Waitangi: The Treaty of Waitangi by Toby Morris with Ross Calman, Mark Derby, and ...
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Open Mike 05/06/2018 
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And pigs will fly.
Vague threats of legal action are being made by the oil industry against the government, over the ending of new block offers.
This pig of course will never get off the ground
However….,
If the CPTPP was enacted, which would give overseas corporations the right to sue and for foreign tribunals to over-rule government decisions, such vaguely muttered threats might have some real currency.
The oil industry’s losses from shale are endless. Not surprising they would want to mine our seabed, especially when NZ asks for a fraction of the royalties other nations charge.
Yep, paltry royalties and they can’t even make Mobil clean up the tank farm.
Still giving away free water too. Anyone would think everyone in this country is already a millionaire with a stash of cash to burn, the way our government gives away public resources to private offshore and onshore businesses…
Perhaps that explains the haste to put through the ban before they make the CPTPP official??
Think they can still sue after it is through. God help us.
Do you think they could sue successfully, though?
Where in the text does it say that the ISDS applies retrospectively?
When the court is stacked with the mates of the business and there is no higher court to appeal to they could still likely lose even though the case might seem rock solid.
It will be a rigged court that is far from independent.
Ok.
How is the ISDS panel “stacked with the mates of the business”, according to the treaty?
Re: stacked. I recall reading something couple of years ago to that affect.
Something about appointed panels?
The text is online.
Fell free to find something more substantive than “I recall reading something”.
What haste are you actually talking about?
No Right Turn, who is usually pretty accurate on his facts says that no ban has been introduced and all that has happened is that they had a Press Conference. He is definitely not impressed by the Government behaviour.
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2018/06/government-by-press-conference.html
NRT is an idiot.
https://www.nzpam.govt.nz/permits/petroleum/block-offer/
They dont ‘have to do anything’ thats because cancelling the block offering ( except onshore Taranaki) this year is all they have to do.
https://www.nzpam.govt.nz/permits/petroleum/block-offer/2018/
But isn’t NRT arguing that a Block Offer isn’t the only way that the firms can get permits.
They ca, if I am reading him correctly arguing that they can simply request a permit for an area and it has to be assessed under the existing rules.
Is his second half of his post wrong in your opinion?
Difference between prospecting and exploration!
Exploration or drilling can only occur in areas where you have won a block offer tender ( which includes your exploration program)
Seismic surveys are prospecting but just give geologic data.
Example is this ‘prospecting permit’ application by Sclumberger last year for offshore Taranaki
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11702338
details of ‘ prospecting’ blocks here
http://data.nzpam.govt.nz/permitwebmaps?commodity=petroleum
The permit number was 60409.01:
Petroleum Prospecting Permit
Operator SCHLUMBERGER NEW ZEALAND LIMITED
Owner(s) SCHLUMBERGER NEW ZEALAND LIMITED
Location Taranaki Basin
Operation
Status Active
Grant on 28/11/2017
Commence on 28/11/2017
Duration 2 years 0 months
Expiry on 27/11/2019
Area 18705.065 SQKM
Mineral(s) Conventional Petroleum (excluding coal seam gas and gas hydrates)
Remember this is prospecting via seismic survey, yes the ships that trial air guns, not drilling.
Thank you for your comments.
I shall endeavour to digest it.
Just because NRT quotes the Crown Minerals Act- – he thinks that makes him an expert .
he’s totally ignorant of the regulations that go with the Minerals Act which regulate the detail of the applications
http://www.nzpam.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/our-industry/rules-regulations/petroleum-programme-2013.pdf
(5) As provided for in clause 7.2(1), all petroleum exploration permits (PEPs) will be granted by way of Petroleum Exploration Permit Rounds. Accordingly, until an area is offered in a Permit Round, that area is only available for permitting for petroleum prospecting permits (PPPs;)
PEP . Petroleum Exploration Permit
7.2 Competitive allocation
(1) All PEPs will be allocated competitively by way of Petroleum Exploration Permit Rounds.
Two methods of competitive allocation may be used:
(a) staged work programme bidding
(b) cash bonus bidding
Its important to distinguish ‘prospecting’ and ‘exploration’
For oil, prospecting usually means seismic surveys often done speculatively with the data on sold to majors which bid for ‘exploration’ or what would be normally called ‘drilling’
A bit of info back in 2016 when oil prices dropped and oil ‘prospecting’ was less attractive to the speculators
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11702338
Let’s brush off that CPTPP Investor-State Dispute Service and see how it feels in practice!
Existing exploration rights arent affected. Cant sue if you havent lost anything.
All that has happened is no new areas were offered up for bids at auction.!
The normal process is to offer selected areas , not all areas, for oil companies to bid for , as usual highest or any bid not necessarily accepted.
> Cant sue if you havent lost anything.
Well, you can have a go, just that you might not win…
A.
“…Vague threats of legal action are being made by the oil industry…”
Well, it works for Talley’s.
Non meat meat, oil. Both industries under serious threat from destroyed demand. The more they asked for their products, the more they risk demand disappearing to alternatives. The only way they now maintain their markets is to monopolize and delay new inevitable entrances. Of course geared up managers and investors move to the new industries, leaving the lazy to squeeze existing demand to maintain profits. Note the rush of old meat into our supermarkets, tasteless stomach cramping. Atleast the oil sector can increase biofuels to our daily fuel. Farming animals for meat, so twentieth century.
Worked for an Arab sheik too ,compliments of McCully.
Saudi businessmen do well
PR piece about bridges path to becoming PM on stuff today. How they can write this with a straight face is beyond me. Continuing the meme that the greens will drop under 5%
It’s by Liam Hehir. Stuff has stopped bothering to remind their readers he’s aligned with the National Party.
It seems to me they are all following the mantra:
never say you are or have been CLOSELY associated with the national party.
Farrar
Hehir
Hooten
…..
Was listening to radio on weekened, they had Mike Williams , decribed as former labour party president, which is true enough, but the ‘other side’ was Vernon Tava who was just called a ‘business broker’, when he should be described as national party activist as he tried to get Northcote nomination.
Seeing as the Greens have announced their coalition wins (thus have nothing foreseeable to pull out of their hat going forward) coupled with their downwards trend in the polls and the fact they tend to poll higher than what they secure on election day, there is a very real chance they may not make the threshold come next election.
I happened to catch Garner’s so-called interview with Bridges on the AM Show this morning via Facebook (I don’t really watch telly). If that’s been the level of rigorous questioning by Garner to date I’m surprised Bridges isn’t on about 80% preferred PM rating.
But Scott Garner would rather have Bridges skip all that fuss and go straight to Sir Simon.
DHBs are still keen to progress work on the funding of community pharmacies with the aim of having some pharmacies that no longer dispense medicines, and even of having medication delivered directly to patients.
What does this mean? Would there be my visit to the doctor but no pharmacy to pick up my prescription?
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/06/04/112759/some-pharmacies-may-stop-dispensing-drugs?preview=1
There are a number of pharmacy providers now that utilise robots to dispense for rest homes and seem new companies that are setting up similar services to supply direct to the general public as per below.
https://www.zoomhealth.co.nz
Not sure how well it’ll go in NZ.
Thanks Stunned Mullet. At the moment I leave the doctor with my prescription and the nearby pharmacy fills it. Surely that would be cheaper than paying a courier to do so?
(Must admit my concern with the pharmacy is the huge number of questionable health remedies on sale. Unproven. Quack.)
Much better if the doctor came to you because:
1. It would actually cut down on resources (Time, fuel, car parking) used
2. It would decrease the spread of disease
But, of course, the doctor wouldn’t be carrying a huge stock of drugs. Then the same two reasons for delivering the drugs to you work as well.
Home-visits work in some regards (e.g. rest homes), but your time/fuel/parking issues get flipped onto the doctor.
Not to mention the commute time between patients, when the doctor could actually be treating the next patient in the doctor’s office.
Not to mention some meds held on site in controlled conditions (e.g. vaccines), the capability to accommodate casual but semi-urgent walk-ins, and being assured of clinically-appropriate conditions and facilities (privacy, warmth, good hygiene facilities).
But back to the original subject, pharmacist advice for me has been most useful not so much to second-guess the doctor’s advice (although part of the pharma’s role is to catch contra-indicated meds), but to provide additional information and clarification while picking up the meds. I don’t see how that would work with drone delivery of drugs to my door, or why I would go to a pharmacist without picking up more drugs.
“(although part of the pharma’s role is to catch contra-indicated meds)”
That is the bit I would really hate to lose. I was once prescribed a drug that wasn’t meant to be given with another I had been taking.
They weren’t prescribed at the same time but the pharmacist picked it up (I always go to the same one) and he called the Doctor immediately.
The prescription was changed.
Only once and quite a long time ago but I really like that second check from someone.
Absolutely agreed on that one Alwyn. Have had a similar experience. The final check by someone with good training and knowledge is, to me at least, very important. Contra-indications can be killers. As people age they take more meds, and their bodies become less tolerant and more susceptible to drug use conflicts. This is one area where robotics (or AI really) are not appropriate.
As many if not most lists to primary care are for non infectious ailments your rationale for number 2 doesn’t hold.
Also as the vast amount of primary care in NZ is chock-a-block I don’t see how the poor old GPs would be able to schedule in travel to the patient in their schedule as well.
Yes I’d think you’re correct about cheaper for you xian – where I suspect it’s leading is to a cheaper contact between certain providers of these services and DHBs as there are quite specific fee structures in place at the moment between pharmacy and the various DHBs to do with markups, dispensing fees part charges etc.
There sis also the issue that many patients don’t pick up their scripts and when they do their compliance can still be poor.
ianmac: you’re not talking about paracetamol are you? “questionable health remedies on sale. Unproven. Quack” Or are you recalling the wonders of thalidomide?
Those pharmaceutical companies can be real scalliwags at flicking dubious remedies into the public arena in the hope of making a quick buck…
Dhbs direct to patients. IRD direct to taxpayers. All part of the scheme to technologise our world and turn us into individual, separate and anomic beings.
Heil Thatcher and her repetition of ‘There is no such thing as society.’ They are all bitches coming along on that line, male and female, it is a gender-free scathing term these days.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/83167317/anne-salmond-the-idea-theres-no-such-thing-as-society-is-extremely-damaging
No doubt accountants and lawyers will become extinct. In effect just Google it or feed the data into your computer and by-pass those experts. Carried to extremes and we will become so self sufficient, shops will become extinct also and we all will be hermits. Not very sociable. Even sheep enjoy their society.
When I’m calling ewe-oooo-oooo!
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87bUBB-rwFc
Or
from Bagdad Cafe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCLpLWcX2cg
Where will we be without having to deal with each others’ foibles? It’s a fable that DTB has below. We need to have a reason to get and about, meet and greet each other, some job that takes us out of ourselves.
Actually, I think we could use it to be a better community. To get rid of jobs and decrease overwork so that people have more time to socialise.
The problem is that the government are still trying to maintain capitalism.
I think you might be overthinking it.
Looks like someone has been lobbying hard, another big Aussie company trying to elbow their way into the NZ market?
I can’t see pharmacies surviving without prescriptions, they’d lose too much of their revenue. A lot of their retail sales are to people calling in for scripts and buying something else while they’re there.
Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
We really shouldn’t be keeping things around for nostalgia.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/104439499/dozens-of-auckland-prison-guards-call-in-sick-after-organised-violence-from-gang-member-inmates
Wheres Kelvin Davis when you need him…actually where is Kelvin Davis?
I guess that’s the downside of putting so many gang members in prison. They start to organise themselves.
I know right, if only there was someway to ensure less gang member went to prison
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2018/06/the_danger_for_the_government_with_repealing_three_strikes.html
Well now, I think there is. Decent socially conscious policy, proper funding of educational programs, support for communities, tenancy reform to help stabilise communities, warm and dry homes, properly funded and maintained social housing stock, etc, etc…..
Its a nice dream
Not a dream PR. It’s made problematic only by your refusal to pay up.
“It’s made problematic only by your refusal to pay up”
Meaning?
The things Muttonbird mentions cost money. Cheaper to throw the poor end of town under the bus.
I don’t know how much money you think I make but I assure you I can’t pay for it all by myself
> Decent socially conscious policy, proper funding of educational programs, support for communities, tenancy reform to help stabilise communities, warm and dry homes, properly funded and maintained social housing stock, etc, etc…..
This all sounds great, and we should do it, but right now we have a bunch of bad guys committing crimes, and we need to do something separate about that too. Because ‘proper funding of educational programs’ is not going to change people who have already gone off the rails.
The prison system is going to need to find ways of dealing with gang members. We don’t want to end up like http://www.dw.com/en/several-killed-in-brazil-prison-gang-battle-dozens-escape/a-41993148
A.
It’s not a Serco prison. Davis won’t be interested.
Oh come now Kelvin Davis cares a lot about prison officers I’m sure he’ll be onto this quick smart 🙂
These stories are becoming a regular occurence…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/104443483/business-fined-81000-for-selling-dangerous-baby-bath-toy
I know business doesn’t get much sympathy on this site but I thought maybe it would offend our sense of justice and fairness. There is so much wrong with that story. When did our justice system turn so vindictive and nasty?
I see no problem. The fine should stand. They sold a small kids’ toy that was dangerous to small children.
A.
Ahem, they sold a product that was allegedly, or potentially, dangerous to small children. There’s no fact in that, no children were harmed.
The fine is out of proportion to the crime. They’re bankrupting people for what are really just errors in judgement that anyone can make. They haven’t shown any malice, negligence or intent by the sellers, it’s simply a highly subjective determination followed by a whopping great big fine.
The real message from this, and other similar recent cases, is that anyone contemplating starting up a small business is only a mistep away from being hauled in front of a judge and bankrupted. Seems like business is only for the rich who can afford the expensive lawyers to check every item they sell for compliance.
They do pick and choose what businesses are targeted.
Fine does seem nuts.
Yeah, I don’t have any issues with the process it’s the punishment that’s wrong. By all means prosecute and fine but be reasonable about it.
Some other similar cases, keep in mind that in each one the business owner was of limited means and either bankrupted or at least almost certainly left in desperate financial straits;
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/103878275/botched-asbestos-removal-job-results-in-35k-fine-for-retired-tradie
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/small-business/103868117/south-auckland-company-fined-35000-for-selling-unsafe-toy-set
“WorkSafe fine ‘will put company under’ says owner ”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11979174
Why should a business which is operating below standard be allowed to continue?
The law isn’t there to protect the business but to protect the general populace from the poor actions of business.
You need to get that chip off your shoulder Draco. I work for myself and I make no apologies for it, nor do I need to justify it to the likes of you.
Most people in business are the same, we do our best to trade honestly, safely and fairly while still being mindful of the fact we’re capable of making mistakes the same as anyone else. Genuine criminals don’t get fines that high, where’s the justice in it?
Negligence kills.
That asbestos job put the tradie, his employee, and everyone in the area at risk.
The tree-trimmer almost killed a woman through negligence.
And choking on foreign objects other than food sends a dozen kids to hospital every year, and sometimes they die.
The reason there’s not more is because we have regulations that have teeth. The teeth you’re complaining about.
And as usual you ignore the substance of my argument which is that the punishment should fit the crime. But then no punishment for being in business is harsh enough for you is it Draco. Should we all be lined up & shot, would that satisfy you?
Why are you calling McFlock Draco?
I’m not Draco.
The punishment does fit the crime. This is literally a life and death issue, with crimes being committed in the cold light of reason and business sense. The sentence needs to be a deterrent to all.
The worst thing we could do is have a token fine that simply becomes a cost of doing business when you’re finally caught, or a trivial cost that nobody takes note of.
The best example was when a local business was sued for $60k-70k because somebody slipped and broke their arm – the upteenth person to do so, and the business had been slow to respond.
Within days of the judgement, every pedestrian grate and ramped walkway around town was getting rails and slapped with non-slip paint. It was pretty funny, but it showed the punitive approach worked in that situation.
People with comprehension and impulse-control issues don’t really think ahead of much in the way of deterrents. But business managers are always making a cost/benefit analysis.
Except that you do.
All of the people I’ve met in business have been less than honest, try to cheat taxes and safety regulations and their mistakes have always been the result of that cheating.
In other words, they’ve all been genuine criminals.
Yep apologies there Draco, and to McFlock I was seeing something that wasn’t there…. thought me and Draco were headed for a good argument…
The point of the last one McFlock was the discrepancy. The victim was awarded $18k and the court pocketed $90k for itself.
The rest had no victims, only potential ones and the judgement on that was highly subjective. We’re all placing people at risk, we do that every time we jump in the car.
The court didn’t pocket $90k, any more than the officer issuing a speeding infringement pockets the cash.
“Potential” victims including the employee or neighbours who might get asbestosis in twenty years, or a child who might choke to death on pieces from one of the 4,000 unrecovered toys.
And more importantly, the potential victims of every cut-rate importer who sees the penalty and double-checks the safey of their containerload of shite.
So you’d be happy with an $80k fine every time you’re caught speeding would you McFlock?
I mean, you’d be risking people lives and an $80k fine would deter others from speeding so that would all be good, right? Who cares about justice, lets make an example of those nasty speeders.
The prospect of an 80k fine would certainly ensure I’m always consciously under the limit, not just assuming that I’m probably under it.
“The prospect of an 80k fine would certainly ensure I’m always consciously under the limit, not just assuming that I’m probably under it.”
No it wouldn’t. Every now and then you’d have a lapse in concentration and nudge that speedo over the limit. It’s human frailty, we’re all subject to it.
But any lapses would certainly be less frequent and less serious.
The old “human frailty” argument to allow negligent behaviour is bullshit. It’s an excuse to let people keep dying. And not a single instance you raised is approaching the complexity of driving a car: everything occurred in a timeframe set by the guilty people, the preventive measures did not require immediate reflexes to resolve, and all hazards were known well in advance.
FFS, isolating the fall area for things you are working at height with is the first basic step in every situation. Signage to make people aware of the hazard is the second.
Sure the tree guy had manuals, but he obviously hadn’t made it clear to staff they should be followed. He never visited a site to find that staff member breaking the rules before? The first time a safety-conscious staff member makes an elementary mistake, someone gets hospitalised for 6 days (and they don’t do that for fun)? Bullshit. The odds are miniscule. If he didn’t set a bad example himself, the owner must have seen his employees at worksites without adequate signage and isolation before, and done next to nothing.
Spending money or time on paperwork isn’t a substitute for making sure that people stick to it. WTF was one employee felling a tree alone for, anyway? Who was going to call for help if it landed on his own stupid head?
I’m not knocking the system McFlock, only the size of the fines. They are beyond punitive, they admit the fines are intended for deterrence and IMHO they’re too high even for that. Look at what the Commerce Commission demanded on that first one, they wanted fines of over $200k. That’s pretty spiteful.
I mentioned the tree case because the victim was the one harmed and the system has taken the lions share of the cash. It suggests a high degree of vindictiveness on the part of lawmakers, they appear to care more about punishment than they do about the victim(s).
Which is simply another way of saying that the system recognises the current victims, but also cares about deterring people from creating victims in the future.
“Which is simply another way of saying that the system recognises the current victims, but also cares about deterring people from creating victims in the future.”
The court cases tend to suggest otherwise do they not? If the fines really did deter we wouldn’t be seeing any court cases.
At the heart of it to me is the basic tenets of justice and fairness and this is way out of balance IMO. We’re not in the nineteenth century, putting people in stocks should be a thing of the past.
I’ll leave it here where we look to agree to disagree, I’ve run my course on it. Cheers.
Men. I’m just glad that people are being fined for toys that might become choking hazards, rather than issuing recalls after a dozen injuries or deaths.
“All of the people I’ve met in business have been less than honest, try to cheat taxes and safety regulations and their mistakes have always been the result of that cheating.”
You’re mixing with the wrong crowd I think Draco. Certainly business has more than its share of rogues but it’s not that bad. I’d opine the worst offenders are the salaried executives who sacrifice ethics for career.
I’ve worked for many businesses across many industries.
Cash jobs so they don’t have to put it through the books and pay tax.
Miss a safety precaution here or there so as to save money. Hey, nobody’s going to know right?
All business people are the same – they’re all crooked.
with a comment like that Draco, you are a fuckwit of the highest order.
“All of the people I’ve met in business have been less than honest”
So every person you have ever met ‘in business’ have been dishonest about their business?
That is so broad as to be completely meaningless.
Company pleaded guilty. Judgement with reasoning is here: https://www.comcom.govt.nz/dmsdocument/16243
Missing from this delightful rally is any information about whether said child toy was labelled as being unsuitable for kids under a certain age.
If it was – that’s a parent responsibility issue. That toy should not have been acquired in any household with kids under the safe age. Or for any older kids still known to be at that sucky stage.
A dozen kids a year go to hospital having ingested foreign items – and so many of those items are NOT ‘toys’: lids/caps, batteries, buttons, beads, pebbles. And those are the usual items.
Some dopey person BOUGHT that item. No one menaced them into buying it. If it was a gift – is there no responsible parent around to say, ‘That’s lovely! Thank you! When child is older we’ll let them have it.’?
If the thing was imported – is there no one locally, with a brain, who actually knows the rules of the game and slaps on a safety sticker?
Or is it easier to kvetch and go to court to ‘make an example to discourage others’?
On asbestos: wasn’t there, myself, but do we actually have enough tradies backed with safe disposal places for this naturally occuring element? If we do – that’s truly amazing in this over-regulated and under-resourced nation.
> Missing from this delightful rally is any information about whether said child toy was labelled as being unsuitable for kids under a certain age.
It’s right there in the article: “On the back of the package was a warning that the toy was not suitable for children 3 years old due to it presenting a choking hazard.”
Nevertheless, the toy is clearly intended for small children.
A.
Antoine there needs to be some realism injected into this, people can take too much for granted. The verdict is fact, guilt is not.
This was a case brought under the Fair Trading Act. It’s not a criminal case, the company was charged not the person. The penalty was a fine. While the Commerce Commission might crow about their victory the reality is that the defendant likely pled guilty because it was the only practical option for them. No-one was personally facing a criminal conviction, it’s effectively a civil case and those are nearly always about the money.
When small/med businesses face prosecution by the Commerce Commission they’re on a hiding to nothing. You can’t fight them, they’ve got deeper pockets that you. They’re the ultimate bully. An $80k fine is harsh but still the least expensive option, why spend half a $million defending the charges when it gains you nothing? You’d just end up $500k poorer instead of $80k.
I’ll bet the legal advise small/med business people receive in these cases is to plead guilty, mitigate the fine down as much as possible and get on with their life.
So, while people might get all judgemental over what they read in the ‘paper keep in mind it’s only one side of the story.
Of course one never knows the true facts when a story appears in the media, I can only judge on what I read.
If the toy was in fact a choking hazard then I don’t have much sympathy for the vendor.
A.
Making sure that your products dont harm people should be a basic rule of business.
They get no sympathy from me.
KJT
I think that the correct way to deal with this is that the government should bring in some sensible regulations, which would be policed. The problem is that now government punishes as a control, it doesn’t proactively sort out the crap so that it doesn’t reach us at all. These regulations would also come with inspectors who would actively make sure that dross didn’t get into NZ, eg electrical fittings would be to our specifications, goods would be fit for purpose.
At present it is virtually open slather, people are exposed to shoddy goods and their injurious effects. Then if we are lucky, the government steps in and makes a big thing of hammering the dealer, but gummint has encouraged or enabled the shonky system themselves.
We see this with this toy, we see this with the biological infiltration of nasties we pay large to deal with, with overseas students being rorted by agents that government refuses to regulate and certify as reputable protecting students that trust our country’s good name! They have brought about the collapse of the CTV building and the farce of dealing with an engineer’s falsification, with the collapse of the Pike mine and falsities and lies connected with that, with the steel that is munted, the houses that are munted through leaky whatever, shoddy stuff encouraged by government not having reasonable standards, regulation, inspections.
The toy is just another part of a shonky system that was being run by virtual criminals and con-men and Labour has to act decisively to separate themselves from it, or themselves be considered part of the despicable gang. Has there ever been a class action by a large group of people in a small country against the deliberate destruction of a brand built up over a century as NZ’s has? Would Coca cola sit quietly while its brand worth so much, was skewed and besmirched like this?
This comes back to my idea that nothing be introduced to the market until such time as it has been thoroughly tested and regulated.
That’s the way business likes it and how we ended up with the ‘legal highs’ fiasco.
“the government should bring in some sensible regulations, which would be policed”
Which this conviction is already an example of.
No, it’s an example of the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff type regulation that lets the dangerous shit through. We need to catch this sort of product before it hits the shelves.
Break the law and you face the consequences or at least should
The latest in John Maudlin’s series….
“I think this scenario is unlikely, but it points to something else. As the coming debt crisis matures, national leaders and central bankers will find their choices narrowing. I’m constantly amazed at their creativity, but it has limits. They can’t kick the can down the road forever. At some point, the road ends and then they have to choose. When your only choices are “impossible” and “terrible,” then you pick the latter. We are going to see previously unthinkable ideas be seriously considered, and sometimes chosen, because all other options are even worse.”
https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/94116/john-mauldin-continues-his-train-crash-series-examining-his-thesis-we-are-heading
roads of national significance
Pat
That is interesting and good reading. Like one of the crime novels I like so much (I tend to like the golden age ones though). You have to follow the story closely, look for clues, be aware of inconsistencies, wonder about people’s cover stories.
I will read it all and go back to the other three.
I found this piece about parallel currency for Italy quite riveting. Necessity is the mother of invention they say. It might work to pull them (us?) out of the power of world currency exigencies. (I can’t remember just what that means, but when talking about world finances one can’t be too precise anyway.)
The BOT is Italy’s Treasury bill, and as in the US, it serves as a kind of cash equivalent in electronic trading. The mini-BOT would be a government debt instrument, in paper form, that pays zero interest and never matures. The government would use it to pay social benefits and accept it for tax payments. Private businesses would not be required to accept it, but they could.
Private businesses and individuals would also, in theory, buy the mini-BOT as a way to pay their taxes. But they would buy them at a discount. So, traders would immediately set up an arbitrage where the person getting the social benefits payment could sell them for euros for, call it, a 5% or 10% haircut.
Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is still a force in Italy, insists this would be legal. The Northern League sees a way to ease the transition out of the euro and the Five-Star Movement sees a way to increase spending without having to take on euro debt. And since the new coalition government wants to increase the deficit an additional $180 billion euros or so through a combination of tax cuts and increased spending, this is being seriously proposed.
Fancy Berlusconi still being around. Is that equivalent to Bill Clinton popping up here and there. Latest goss is that he has written a book which is a thriller based on cyber attack on the White House.
By the way Mauldin. Though maudlin is funny.
Lol…Freudian slip….genuinely read it as Maudlin
Tractor hacking (farmers respond to John Deer monopolising diagnostic software in their tractors to extort thousands more out of the farmers).
I see David Farrar is in a full scaremonger assault today with some questionable statistics
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2018/06/the_danger_for_the_government_with_repealing_three_strikes.html
What did he say that was wrong?
A.
Whose responsibility is it to clear the logs away that have come down on people’s
homes, farms. livelihoods? What has the Regional Council come forward with?
What responsibility have they accepted for allowing logging to go ahead with little or no final clearing, cleaning up work, remedial work such as terracing, replanting?
Gisborne is in East Coast electorate held by National and Anne Tolley is MP.
(Votes: National Party 44.03% -4.39 Electorate Votes National 46.18% -5.74
Labour Party 36.62% +13.98 Electorate Votes Labour 33.51% +4.38)
The Greens got a very low party and electorate vote. It looks as if they were the very people prepared to look at and do the things that needed to be done for the electorate. So the voters there have not been prepared to do politics for what they needed, but have played the political football game, voting for their favourite personality and to gain personal advantage.
Gisborne is in the Maori electorate of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti held by Meka Whaitiri MP.
properties and houses and vehicles?
What is Anne Tolley saying that Gisborne should be getting? What did her National Party cohorts do to see that the area was doing to be prepared for climate change and its effects? Is the regional council saying anything:
News from Gisborne:
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/nightmare-morning-for-gisborne-after-heavy-flooding/ar-AAydZxH (about civil defence)
https://www.indiannewslink.co.nz/torrential-rain-lashes-new-zealand-more-on-the-way/ (Has interest information involving Indians)
https://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/tolaga-bay-whanau-airlifted-roof-after-flooding (roads closed)
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/358888/more-rain-on-the-way-for-tolaga-bay
(Excellent aerial image showing large logging waste are an obvious cause for much of the damage, and the muddy water indicates bare land left vulnerable to erosion)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/104442700/flooding-turned-a-tolaga-bay-bridge-to-logs-more-heavy-rain-gales-and-even-snow-is-coming
(Lots of videos – but note – they start running before being clicked and I couldn’t find where to turn off).
This is a link to a report from MPI I put up yesterday that forms part of the base information that permissions for logging have been based on.
Just what help and remedial work is available from the Gisborne authorities who should be accepting responsibility for enabling this situation to arise?
If I have flotsam layered on my property and heavy rain flushes it onto the road and against neighbouring houses would I be excused or would I face penalties??
The sheer…chutzpah on this guy is impressive
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12064447
‘Former US President Bill Clinton says the #MeToo movement is overdue. Just don’t ask him about Monica Lewinsky.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_sexual_misconduct_allegations
Well could be trumped by this guy i suppose
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/104470095/woody-allen-i-should-be-the-poster-boy-for-metoo-movement
“What bothers me is that I get linked in with them,” Allen said. “People who have been accused by 20 women, 50 women, 100 women of abuse, and abuse, and abuse, and I, who was only accused by one woman, in a child custody case, which was looked at, and proven to be untrue, I get lumped in with these people.”
I could think of a couple of reasons why
Another rort shows up in the Private Training Establishments (PTEs) market for international students. Staff taking English language exams for students, when they fail to keep up with course requirements another provider is found by an “Agent”. There needs to be an inquiry into the whole rotten PTE sector.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018647872
True but I think the entire PTE sector needs to be shut down. It’s causing far more problems than it’s worth. In fact, from what I’m seeing, the whole thing is a rort.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12064199
Shit the bosses won’t like this story
The work is shit, even the photo to illustrate the story shows a worker crouching to pick kiwis under the trellis while carrying up to 20 kgs in the front basket. Ask any body who has done this work and the result is of severe back pain and ongoing problems for months. . Where is Workplace Safety?
What the stupid industry doesn’t realise is that the quest workers all have social media networks warning about how bad the job is.
I was particularly interested in these comments from the article
That sounds like a ‘carousel’ cartel. What goes around, comes around though.
I remember hearing about a fixed price mentality by farmers in one country or state.in a certain area, to screw the landless workers down. There it would be a death or injury retaliation by neighbouring farmers who would react to someone changing the ‘traditional’ payment rates. Very nasty, very cold-blooded.
Modern day form is by using ‘labour hire contractors’, who end up a few companies controlling the unskilled labour for hundreds of different companies in an area, whether is rural or urban. You cant go down the road for more money as its the same or similar labour hire company offering the same wage rates.
Mmmm. There is always some new way to make an IED that will destroy the unions and workers’ hopes, if they don’t do that themselves by injudicious actions not in their own best interests.
All Kiwifruit growers should double the wages they pay labour during good times and like Henry Ford did in 1914, reap the benefits.
“On Jan. 5, 1914, Henry Ford, head of the Ford Motor Company, introduced a minimum wage scale of $5 per day, more than doubling the wages for most employees. He also offered profit sharing to employees who lived a clean lifestyle, reduced the daily worker’s shift to eight hours from nine and declared that no employee would “be discharged except for proved unfaithfulness or irremediable inefficiency.”
The New York Times described Ford’s decision as “one of the most remarkable business moves of his entire remarkable career,” which included the development of the Model T and using a moving assembly line in his factories.
James Couzens, the Ford treasurer, said: “It is our belief that social justice begins at home. We want those who have helped us to produce this great institution and are helping to maintain it to share our prosperity. We want them to have present profits and future prospects. … Believing as we do, that a division of our earnings between capital and labor is unequal, we have sought a plan of relief suitable for our business.”
The wage increase, which became national news, fostered good will for Ford, who was generally praised in nonbusiness circles for his generosity toward his workers. His primary motivation for the wage increase, however, was economic. Ford hoped to reduce the company’s high turnover rate and retain its best employees. The increased cost of wages was offset by increased production and decreased training programs and other costs associated with hiring new employees. Furthermore, the wage increase provided Ford employees with enough money to purchase Ford automobiles, which further increased the company’s sales.
However, some business leaders and journalists criticized Ford for what they perceived as social welfare policies; The Wall Street Journal wrote that he brought “biblical or spiritual principles into a field where they do not belong.” In the end, Ford’s business goals were realized and his wage increase had its intended effect: turnover declined sharply, and profits doubled to $60 million from $30 million from 1914 to 1916.”
Reliable kiwifruit workers climbing over each other to get a spot in a gang come harvest time has got to be a huge load off growers’ minds. They can get on with growing rather than being Human Relations depts.
> All Kiwifruit growers should double the wages they pay labour during good times and like Henry Ford did in 1914, reap the benefits.
I doubt the industry is financially viable at that wage rate, given the competition from other producing countries who pay less.
Feel free to prove me wrong though – start growing kiwifruit and pay twice what everyone else does and see how you get on…
A.
50K per hectare. They sound very hard done by Antoine. Maybe they could offer the workers a free sandwich and dispense with nasty money altogether.
Someone needs to tell Bridges, Collins, Bennett et al that if they play their cards right they too can be asked by a Labour government to lead an inquiry into labour relations:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104466802/workplace-shake-up-in-governments-sights–jim-bolger-to-lead-pay-working-group
If i was King post:
Producer/Industry Associations.
Goods and Services would be categorized, and all participating firms would have the options of joining associations/guilds for these – this would carry benefits. Firstly this would involve branding. 40% volume, 60% number of firms, would have democratic say in forming inspector services that operate industry wide in establishing the range of standards that apply to the significant chain factors involved in that good or service (much like is already done today). These seals would then be sold as part of the brands, to the local population – part of this would of course be the various labour condition standards of local employment that make up the respective brand to the local consumer. Forms of unions, except being specialised labour supply firms/businesses, could be part of this. Intra-association disputes that arise in this area would have mechanism for resolution and mediation via parliament. These bodies would vote among themselves also for representation of their association.
Modern Jubilee Economics.
The populace wold be issued complimentary currency, calibrated to some ratio of economic indices of the economy (some would be better than others but within reason, all would do approx. the same job). This currency would only be legal tender for goods and services of participating NZ associations of the above. The Govt. would redeem the firms with national currency to the value of the goods and services paid for. This govt. debt would be met (& written off) by the value of goods and services created and consumed the following year by the complimentary currency. This is the jubilee function.
Parliamentary representation.
Over the 3 year election period, the proportions of complimentary currency that go to the participating business associations as described above, would determine what share of parliamentary seats is automatically allocated to that association, out of the third of parliamentary seats total that they automatically receive.
Finally all referendums would be binding, with every govt, required to undertake a small number every year, preferably by or developing the digital & secure low cost approach know how to do so in the process with their citizenry. The terms of these referendums would always be supplied by the govt. of the day and could be used however it chooses.
And that friends, would sort out the majority of the confused & dum stuff in a practical self-governing way capable of greater co-operation and equilibrium in sustainable outcomes across the board, for a varied, complicated and technological societal construct that has exceeded the ability of just political democracy to rationally manage alone.
!
No Right Turn has the most comprehensive intelligent column on the Government’s decision to ban future oil explanation. Well worth a read. The Opposition clamour about the lack of Cabinet Paper but NRT says:
“The documents on the government’s supposed ban on new offshore oil exploration have been released. A few thoughts:
-The issue of the decision bypassing Cabinet (which prompted this from me this morning) may have been oversold a little. The initial briefing on the issue notes that “officials have previously recommended that prior to any decision, an oral item is tabled with Cabinet”. …”
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-offshore-exploration-ban-advice.html
Bernie is still alive and well and will be a force for progressive politics in the mid terms later this year.
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2018/06/04/bernie-sanders-goes-on-tv-and-nails-what-america-needs-to-defeat-trump/
The AM Show good morning I say there should be equality for te Papatuanukue ladies sports stars.
Ruaumoko is going off in Guatemala see we are like skin cells on a blue whale compared to Papatuanukue we need to show her more respect what’s so wrong with haveing a culture that puts the environment and the mokos future first.
Many thanks to Te business that are going to follow the Green party lead to lower there plastic use and use bio degradable plastic .
Home many times did shonky call the moves of national when he was in parliament we need to save te maui dolphins an all animals and stop drilling for oil
. I still say that the biggest why for Aotearoa to lower our carbon footprint is to subsidiseing secondhand elictric cars this will help the poor people as well.
See this is how a intelligent assertive humane government runs housing Corp ask the right question make the right calls
Duncan you know I can see right through you. Ka kite ano P.S
The AM Show I know that they are pressing you to use these topics just like they force the Rock radio station to play crappie sounds all part of there obsession intimidation on ECO MAORI . Ka kite ano
House Corp Pukekohe is not liserning to my Daughter and just putting fence and gates in the wrong place logicaly one would put a fence and gate so that both doors to the house are behind the safety gates one in the right place but the one by the alleyway is in the wrong place and they won’t listen to my Daughter advice WTF. KA KITE ANO
This opinion smells of the carbon industry $$$$$$$$$ putting there hip pocket before the future small minded men who cannot see thurther than there own lives muppets. Link below
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/104474838/arderns-rush-to-announce-oil-exploration-ban-risks-her-moral-high-ground Ka kite ano