“We can but hope that Democracy in New Zealand First wins out.”
Sorry Curwen, but if you have to petition the Board of Directors of your party not to stand a candidate in order to protect the party, you don’t have a democracy.
It seems to me that NZF has often enough hit the dart board in and then near the centre and that has been enough plus winsome, witty, doughty Winnie to keep NZF in the limelight and provide alternatives to the other options. He keeps on though getting older, to have appeal to many.
It seems that Shane Jones will have an appeal also particularly to those who like to talk in everyday language not political fancy talk and exude manliness in a regular blokey way. He could take NZFirst on from Winnie where otherwise it would just collapse without him, like a worn-out balloon. And his values would stand up to scrutiny probably more than most other pollies.
“And his values would stand up to scrutiny probably more than most other pollies.”
Did you read the linked post? Curwen Ares Rolinson, a NZF activist, is basically saying that not only are Jones’ values not compatible with NZF, but that he lacks the degree of integrity required to be an NZF MP (I disagree on that one, but only because Peters’ integrity fluctuates with the breeze. Hmm, maybe Jones is a good fit after all).
(as an aside, I’ve been releasing your comments from Spam. Might be good to get that issue sorted before the book club).
Okay I take your point but often values talk does not match reality. As you say Winston’s can alter. They can even take on a different light from morning to evening.
Sorry about that, but may not succeed before the 12th and after that the task will be mainly off site till the discussion won’t it? I am hoping to get a new computer fairly soon. But I got some advice from you which I have put in my notes and I think one was to look at my cookies. But I have a matter coming up in the next few days that I must concentrate on. So thanks for your help at present and I’ll try to get improved sooner than later.
The article links a paper from the Congressional Research Service (non-partisan government body to provide factual information to Congress) that concludes that tax on capital gains income and dividends really needs to go up. Note that in New Zealand, income from capital gains is untaxed, and dividend income from company profit is only taxed once (often at a lower rate than earned income), whereas in the US the company pays tax on profit, then the recipient of dividends paid from that profit also pays income tax on it a second time.
Haven’t time to read it, but would just like to reply to the notion of increasing taxes on income from capital. As a non-home owner, with a little savings in the bank, I pay tax every year on the interest gained.
I think that savers probably have their/our “capital” taxed more than home owner’s get taxed on the rising value of their homes, and probably more than business profits.
Yep. Regular people have interest from small bank deposits and get stung for taxes at their top rate on it. The really wealthy don’t much bother with bank deposits, and put their capital into other things that , surprise surprise, are taxed at lower rates or not at all.
It’s those other things that need to be taxed more.
On the flip side, people should have access to savings for when things go wrong. Savings should be encouraged. In Uk they have an ISA system so that people can save a certain amount per year tax free.
This is especially important when people’s jobs are so transient now and it is so easy to lose your job, have a family or health emergency and in the age of self employment.
One of the advantages of Clark was that even though she was a neoliberal she bought in Kiwisaver, working for families, interest free student loans, buying back state assets like Kiwirail, supported the arts more.
Since she’s left, Labour’s policy appears to be lets charge the everyone (especially middle NZ) more to keep a lesser version of what we already have.
There needs to actually be a policy to help the majority of people! Sometimes it feels like there is just an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff and there are more and more people needing that ambulance.
Too much stick, zero carrot. It’s not popular.
I think that Labour is changing though and will lead the next government.
I’d like to see a referendum on UBI too. That is what could really change things in NZ away from the ambulance at bottom of cliff policy.
@ Andre – +100 “Gawd we need some sort of government guarantee for ordinary people’s simple savings accounts. Pretty much every other developed country has one.”
I think Greens have this as policy, does Labour???
It is disgraceful that our money is not safe in banks.
EXCEPT that the bank can take 10%? when thing go bad.
When you loan someone money you’re taking the risk that you’re not going to get it back.
That applies when you put you money in a bank as well.
The only time that it wouldn’t apply is a state bank that paid zero interest, didn’t charge fees and was supported through general taxation. That state bank would also be the sole owner and maintainer of the electronic payments system as well.
I agree New Zealand is lacking incentives to save – Kiwisaver being the only program aimed at retirement. I’d like to see something added to help ordinary people build and hold some kind of emergency fund.
The US has a whole zoo’s worth of different plans, 401k (a bit like Kiwisaver), Individual Retirement Accounts (money goes in pre-tax, grows tax-exempt, taxed on withdrawal after retirement), 529 (saving for your kids’ college), medical expenses accounts etc etc. I wouldn’t like to see NZ go down that path, it’s too much of a mess.
Great point save nz. Whether inflation is low and therefore low interest, or higher and then higher interest, taxing interest on savings is robbing the saver of part of their capital which should remain intact to limit the erosion of its value and spending power by the inevitable rising prices in the market even when there is low inflation and which are caused by a variety of circumstances.
In NZ the deterioration in value of savings is particularly affected at present by the mostly unmeasured inflation coming from the costs of owning or renting housing.
As far as I can tell, the NZ tax haven laws don’t actually (legally) help US citizens or tax residents avoid US taxes. Anyone answerable to the US IRD that’s hiding income via NZ would be guilty of illegal evasion, not “legitimate avoidance”.
It’s a different story for other countries though.
But due to the lack of transparency – nobody would ever be able to find out if you were evading taxes, as the real directors do not need to be disclosed in JK’s NZ tax havens.
Yeah, but then they’re tax evaders. Actual criminals risking jail time. That’s how they put away Al Capone in the end. The US IRS is a bit more enthusiastic about tossing big noters in the slammer for not coughing up than the paper tigers here.
Only here in NZ it seems if you know the right people everything is ok. That was one of the revolting things coming out of Panama papers – how many politicians and corporations felt they needed tax havens to hide their slushy funds.
That’s quite a philosophical debate in it’s own right.
It could be argued that being able to receive passive income simply from owning a partial stake in a company is so strongly dependent on the laws and basic fairness of an orderly society that it’s totally fair that the company contributes a share and the individual contributes another share to maintaining that society.
Only some companies are not fair and our and international laws don’t provide for companies having to maintain society. AKA Peter Thiel’s investment in NZ – did he have to pay 28% company tax and 33% income tax on his 10+ million ‘windfall’ from the tax payer – or did he pay zero/minimal tax and make a killing that should have been for the public purse?
I don’t know the exact details of Thiel’s investment. So everything in this comment is guesswork or speculation. But it appears most of the investment was in Xero. Which hasn’t made a profit nor paid dividends, ever. Yet. So it won’t have paid any company tax.
The increase in value that Thiel is enjoying seems to be purely capital gain. Which doesn’t get taxed in New Zealand (unless it’s in a short-term trading scenario). So as far as I can tell, the only benefit New Zealand’s VIF got from getting tied up with Valar was getting a small amount of effectively interest when Valar bought out VIF’s stake. So Valar really did manage to privatize the capital gain, but if there had been losses they would have been socialised.
I’ve got no idea how Valar is structured with respect to US taxes. But I’ll take a guess that if it’s a US company it’s probably structured as some sort of partnership, in which case the company doesn’t pay tax because the profits are passed straight through to the partners. I’ll guess the transactions would also be structured so they are capital gains rather than trading income, since capital gains are taxed at a lower rate in the US.
Note though that so far it all appears to be paper gains. No actual income or profit will happen until Valar sells some of it’s holdings.
Make the corporations pay their share ………….. and it’s approx $10 Billion in extra revenue for the Govt ……. every year.
As a bonus if you can stop the corruption of the accountants, lawyers and banks in our ‘developed’ western societies …you will eliminate poverty …. stop wars …….. be able to do something about deforestation etc etc etc
“In January of 1962, Russell received a series of letters from an unlikely correspondent — Sir Oswald Mosley, who had founded the British Union of Fascists thirty years earlier. Mosley was inviting — or, rather, provoking — Russell to engage in a debate, in which he could persuade the moral philosopher of the merits of fascism. Russell’s considered and morally unflinching response, included in Ronald Clark’s excellent biography The Life of Bertrand Russell (public library), stands as a manifesto for the right not to engage in a debate with a counterpart so morally misaligned with oneself as to guarantee not only the self-defeating futility of such engagement but its detrimental cost to one’s own sanity.
Shortly before his 90th birthday, Russell writes:
Dear Sir Oswald,
Thank you for your letter and for your enclosures. I have given some thought to our recent correspondence. It is always difficult to decide on how to respond to people whose ethos is so alien and, in fact, repellent to one’s own. It is not that I take exception to the general points made by you but that every ounce of my energy has been devoted to an active opposition to cruel bigotry, compulsive violence, and the sadistic persecution which has characterised the philosophy and practice of fascism.
I feel obliged to say that the emotional universes we inhabit are so distinct, and in deepest ways opposed, that nothing fruitful or sincere could ever emerge from association between us.
I should like you to understand the intensity of this conviction on my part. It is not out of any attempt to be rude that I say this but because of all that I value in human experience and human achievement.
Wow marty mars Russell put his thoughts very cogently into words that resonate across the years being both memorable and entirely valid. Thanks for that.
Does Labour have such an
“ACTION PLAN TO ENSURE ‘OPEN, TRANSPARENT AND DEMOCRATICALLY ACCOUNTABLE’ NZ GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIARY”?
1) Make ALL ‘facilitation payments’ illegal.
2) Legislate to create an NZ independent anti-corruption body, tasked with educating the public and preventing corruption.
3) Legislate for NZ Members of Parliament (who make the laws for everyone else) to have a legally enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’.
4) Make it an offence under the Local Government Act 2002, for NZ local government elected representatives to breach their ‘Code of Conduct’.
5) Make it a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government elected representatives to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.
6) Make it a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government staff, responsible for property or procurement, to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.
7) Make it a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government Council Controlled Organisation (CCO)) Directors and staff, staff, responsible for property or procurement, to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.
8) Fully implement and enforce the Public Records Act 2005, to ensure public records are available for public scrutiny.
9) Make it a lawful requirement that that a ‘cost-benefit analysis’ of NZ Central Government and Local Government must be undertaken, to prove that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in-house’ is cost-effective for the majority of taxpayers and ratepayers.
10) Legislate for a legally enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary, to ensure they are not ‘above the law’.
11) Legislate to provide a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’, to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
12) Ensure ALL Court proceedings are recorded, with audio records available to parties who request them.
13) Legislate for a publicly-available NZ ‘Register of Lobbyists’ and ‘Code of Conduct’ for lobbyists.
14) Legislate for a ‘post-separation employment’ (‘revolving door’) quarantine period from the time public officials leave the public service, to take up a similar role in the private sector.
15) Legislate to make it a lawful requirement that it is only a binding vote of the public majority that can determine whether public assets held at NZ central or local government are sold, or long-term leased via Public-Private-Partnerships.
16) Legislate to make it unlawful for politicians to knowingly misrepresent their policies prior to central or local government elections.
17. Legislate to protect individuals, NGOs, and community-based organisations, who are ‘whistle-blowing’ against ‘conflicts of interest’ and alleged corrupt practices at central and local government level and within the judiciary.
18) Legislate to prevent ‘State Capture’ – where vested interests get what they want, at the ‘policy’ level, before laws are passed which serve their vested interests.
___________________________
Does ANY other candidate in the Mt Albert by-election have such an ‘ACTION PLAN for transparency and democratic accountability’?
If not – perhaps you should consider ‘being BOLD – vote BRIGHT’?
I would like to ask them whether they consider a coalition with National a possibility, sometime in the future, and what it would take. If the answer is negative, and assuming their answer is not similar to Bertrand Russell’s reply to Sir Oswald Mosley, which could be considered somewhat hypocritical under the current circumstances, I’d be very interested to find out why not. This is a genuine question BTW.
Well, that seems like an evenhanded, well researched article. Indeed the only shortcoming it has is failing to note that the cgi began the winding up process three months before the election result that supposedly dried up donations. Other than that, it’s Pulitzer material /sarc
I see that Kellyanne Conway was once an “adjunct professor at George Washington University Law Center.”
HOW?!???!? It’s more than obvious every time Conway comes on television that she is clueless. Perhaps she was appointed by the same corporate headhunting geniuses that led to Saatchi’s idiotic Grand Dragon Kevin Roberts being given a chair at Oxford University and ACT’s braindead ex-führer Jamie “Lock Up His Sisters” Whyte becoming a lecturer at Oxford.
Heh. Trump might actually be putting lobbyists out of work. Seems it might work better to buy ads on the TV shows he watches. So advertising rates are going up.
Talking about what she saw in Syria – I rather enjoyed it. 8.09 min. long. Except for her inability to talk about Islamic minority sects. And completely not talking about Rojava.
Tulsi Gabbard rocks btw. Been following bits and pieces by her (some interviews on CNN etc where she leaves interviewers stumped). Taking a proposition to the house calling for an end to arming groups in Syria (Stop Arming Terrorists Act)
As for the interview you link…yet again a wholly independent person/journalist relays the same basic story as every other independent journalist/person who’s saying anything about Syria – and it flat stick contradicts the line we’ve been fed every night and every day on the TV and in newspapers. What. A. Fucking. Surprise.
edit – very late edit to dump a few Gabbard interview links. The first is on her ‘Stop Arming Terrorist Bill and her meeting with Trump. (less than 5 min) and the second an idiot from CNN questioning her on her visit to Syria (2 min) and a third from CNN
Yep ,all good, Andrew seems to me to have lightened up a lot since the last pm fled.–a cheeky grin on his chops methinks on occasion. Steady hand at the helm,
Poto Williams sets out the issues regarding Jackson,
Kia orana
As the Labour Party Spokesperson for Family and Sexual Violence, I am concerned that Willie Jackson is becoming a Labour Party candidate with a prominent ranking on the list.
White Ribbon encourages everyone to break the silence around domestic violence by challenging comments and actions that are abusive or condone abuse. I was a vocal opponent of Mr Jackson’s comments during the ‘Roast-Busters’ incident and I do not believe that his attitude towards victims of sexual abuse match what I expect of a member of the Labour Party. Especially a member of our caucus.
I appreciate that Mr Jackson may regret his comments, but I am yet to hear that he understands his attitudes and views are highly offensive to many New Zealanswrs. I’m yet to hear that he wishes to work on putting that right and apologise for his behaviour.
Violence is not just physical, but also covers emotional and verbal abuse. Not speaking out against abuse of any kind is condoning or tacitly endorsing that behaviour. The comments Mr Jackson made around the ‘Roast-Busters’ incident are never OK, but it is OK to ask for help.
White Ribbon calls for us to support people who wish to change their abusive behaviour, so I welcome the opportunity to support Mr Jackson in apologising and making those changes.
Until then, as someone who speaks for the victims of family and sexual violence, and as a survivor of such abuse, I can not in good conscience support him as my colleague.
–ENDS–
From Umm al-Hiran to Amona, the comparison shrieked to the skies: apartheid police. One police for whites and one police for natives.
by GIDEON LEVY, Haaretz, Feb. 2, 2017
Once, I moved house. It was sad. It was sad to part from the walls and the memories. The sorrow passed. I got over it. I am not alone: A lot of people have moved home, some because they wanted to, others not: because of a contract that expired, a relationship that fell apart or a new job.
It’s always sad to leave home, though not every such departure features (ostensibly) heart-wrenching articles, phony assertions, utterly incredible cries for national compassion and scandalous compensation. It doesn’t always take eight Israeli army battalions and 3,000 policemen to move a person from what had been his home.
On second thoughts, I never lived in a stolen home. Maybe leaving it is harder.
On Wednesday the Amona Show arrived at its last act. More than anything else, the illegal outpost’s evacuation proved how racist the Israeli police are. It seems that people can be evacuated using bare hands, without need for rifles or helmets, without truncheons and mainly, without the discourtesy and penchant for violence that the police and border police have demonstrated when facing the weak, Arabs or Ethiopians. Suddenly the demonstrators are not shot with live fire. It was not the police who swept into Amona, but “Salvation Army” soldiers in blue jackets with an Israeli flag sewn to the sleeve.
Why? Because the evacuees are white Jews, representatives of the most privileged, most powerful group in Israeli society. Because the chief of police hails from the same neighborhood. Because the government didn’t want heart-rending pictures to start making the rounds.
From Umm al-Hiran to Amona, the comparison shrieked to the skies: apartheid police. One police for whites and one police for natives. It can no longer be denied.
The evacuation of Amona proceeded after foreplay that dragged on and on, including the usual repertoire of schticks, featuring endless hearings in the High Court of Justice, sitting as an especially incongruous Purim-costumed version of a state with justice and equality before the law, including the justices playing dumb, the young girls in braids and tears, the young mothers with babies, the guitars, the prayers, candles and all that tired jazz. The cries of “wickedness” and “discrimination” and “Citizens type B,” the little girl asking her mother, in front of rolling cameras of course, “Mommy, will we have somewhere to live?” as though she didn’t know the answer.
The army that cordons off the area but allows hundreds of youngsters to freely infiltrate, barricading themselves inside homes while vowing to eschew violence; the soldiers demonstrating their sensitivity as they prepare for action – any moment now they’ll be bursting into tears; the nauseating headlines – “This was my home,” “The final hours”; the Palestinian landowners for whose benefit this show has been put on, who will never be allowed to get anywhere near their land, now evacuated; the childish name chosen for this mission – “Locked kindergarten” [from the song based on Rachel’s poem, “It’s not nice to see the kindergarten locked”] – how very poetic and moving. And, of course, the appropriate Zionist reaction, without which no eviction could possibly proceed – build another 1,000 housing units, and counting.
I look forward to the (?) post, which I don’t want to pre-empt in any way. However, I felt something was missing from the bits & pieces that I did read, which is why & how images, for example, can be so powerful, and if this understanding can help us harnessing this power as it were.
My premise is that the brain is processing written or spoken (i.e. radio) text differently from visual content. The following article is quite light-weight but it covers this difference reasonably well – ironically it was written by somebody with a degree in journalism:
It also has been said that body language and facial expressions, i.e. mostly but not limited to visual keys, plays a bigger part in our communication than the verbal part. It appears to be less precise than verbal communication but possibly more effective and efficient in conveying and inducing emotions.
Art, particularly visual art, almost without exception invokes emotions in each and every normal (…) human being. It hits you between the eyes, literally, without the need to be first deconstructed and then deconstructed such as is the case with reading literature, for example – the latter takes time (and effort).
As one saying goes, more or less: a picture speaks a thousand words.
Art, like no other, stimulates the imagination and easily crosses boundaries between fact and fiction or fantasy.
The Arts, therefore, must be an important part of children’s education so that they learn to ‘read’ their own but also others’ emotions and to integrate these, for want of a better word, with their more rational and critical thinking and discerning reality and truth.
In my view, this does not necessarily mean that children should be taught to critically look at imagery or videos, or (forensically) analyse the medium, because this requires a lot of ‘back-tracking’ in and by the brain whilst the non-verbal ‘message’ has already long taken hold in and of our brain circuits. Apart from the fact-checking and all that I suggest that it would be good to ask how did it make you feel and how did it change your thinking about the topic or subject of the particular visual content. In other words, be aware of the effects on ourselves more than anything else. And then ask ourselves whether we’re happy with those effects on who we are and (have) become due to watching the material, absorbing it.
Anyway, these are the kind of ideas that I’ve been toying with and applying to and on myself with a few interesting introspective results and I also wondered how I would have been in the here & now if I had learned some of these things as a kid – a silly question, I know.
Philosopher Slavoj Zizek has critiqued the liberal culturalisation of politics in the form of identity politics. He argues that the culturalist concept of “tolerance” and “respect” is wholly inadequate in dealing with questions of oppression:
“…I’m opposed to this notion [tolerance]. Of course I’m not for intolerance towards foreigners, for anti-feminism, and so on. What I am against is the perception, which is moralist-automatic, of racism as a problem of tolerance. For Martin Luther King one doesn’t fight racism with tolerance, but with emancipatory political struggle, even armed struggle. So, why are so many problems of today perceived as problems of intolerance, rather than problems of inequality, exploitation, injustice? Racism is a problem. But to perceive racism as a problem of tolerance, it’s not automatic. In this innocent shift of perspective, there is ideology. Why? I claim the reason is the liberal multiculturalist basic ideological operation, the, let’s call it, the culturalisation of politics….”
Identity politics is yesterdays story, That style of politics has led the left to utter defeat everywhere. It is discredited and has been showed to have no electoral constituency. The primacy of class is again the organising bedrock of the left, not gender or identity.
[“I am completely uninterested in your gender politics.” And I am completely uninterested in you derailing this post with anti-feminist politics. Stay out of this thread from now on – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
I don’t think that quote or link says exactly what you say it does.
I’m opposed to this notion [tolerance].
Actually many anti-racist and feminists say the same. To say a woman or brown person is “tolerated”, is not the same as saying they are respected by the society and treated as equals. It kind of says people put up with them.
And then the quote goes on:
For Martin Luther King one doesn’t fight racism with tolerance, but with emancipatory political struggle, even armed struggle. So, why are so many problems of today perceived as problems of intolerance, rather than problems of inequality, exploitation, injustice?
Basically it’s saying that racism should be fought as part of an emancipatory political struggle
The link says there is a place for anti-racism and feminism within class politics, but that class is the fundamental problem with capitalism:
Socialists do not reduce questions of homophobia and gender inequality to questions of class. However, socialists do locate the source of various oppressions within the framework of capitalist class relations. For example, Marxists give a radical materialist explanation of women’s oppression and homophobia that goes a beyond simple liberal analysis. Such an analysis also leads to radical emancipatory solutions for the majority of people who suffer under our society.
The continuation of gay, women and Maori oppression in New Zealand is very much related to questions of class and capitalism.
In fact, your citations provide arguments AGAINST your stated views.
What to do on a Sunday after you’ve won an election on a promise to take govt away from the elites and give it back to the people? Headline a Versailles themed ball for European royalty of course! Photos.
“The event “From Vienna to Versailles,” took place Saturday night at the Mar-a-Lago Club, which was done up in Old World 18th-century style, right down to the service staff in powdered wigs and satin knee breeches or Marie Antoinette dresses.
“Yes,” said one server, when asked if the wig was hot. “And it weighs four pounds.”
The night began with the diplomatic receiving line and cocktails around the balustraded pool, a fireworks display over the Intracoastal which gave the smattering of protesters the best views, and classical music by Hapzburg-costumed musicians.
After cocktails, the crowd moved to the Grand Ballroom — conceived and constructed to look like Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors, making it the perfect foil for the gold-rimmed china and snow-white table linens and mounds of all-white flowers…”
Yes let’s all pretend we’re filthy rich aristocrats, re-enacting a scene that has come to epitomize out of touch elitism and obscene decadence, and having a merry time while throwing some bones or cake perhaps at the poor. Oh wait who’s pretending haha!
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News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
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“The whole towns talking about the jones boy”
Curwin Ares Rolinson, NZ First member, Daily Blog blogger, says NEVER; and claims many NZF members say the same.
Says that boy does not have NZF values.
I’d agree that he doesn’t. He has National Party values, i.e, none at all.
Damning indictment of Jones (well done).
“We can but hope that Democracy in New Zealand First wins out.”
Sorry Curwen, but if you have to petition the Board of Directors of your party not to stand a candidate in order to protect the party, you don’t have a democracy.
Anyone know why this is considered a watershed year for NZF?
It seems to me that NZF has often enough hit the dart board in and then near the centre and that has been enough plus winsome, witty, doughty Winnie to keep NZF in the limelight and provide alternatives to the other options. He keeps on though getting older, to have appeal to many.
It seems that Shane Jones will have an appeal also particularly to those who like to talk in everyday language not political fancy talk and exude manliness in a regular blokey way. He could take NZFirst on from Winnie where otherwise it would just collapse without him, like a worn-out balloon. And his values would stand up to scrutiny probably more than most other pollies.
“And his values would stand up to scrutiny probably more than most other pollies.”
Did you read the linked post? Curwen Ares Rolinson, a NZF activist, is basically saying that not only are Jones’ values not compatible with NZF, but that he lacks the degree of integrity required to be an NZF MP (I disagree on that one, but only because Peters’ integrity fluctuates with the breeze. Hmm, maybe Jones is a good fit after all).
(as an aside, I’ve been releasing your comments from Spam. Might be good to get that issue sorted before the book club).
Okay I take your point but often values talk does not match reality. As you say Winston’s can alter. They can even take on a different light from morning to evening.
Sorry about that, but may not succeed before the 12th and after that the task will be mainly off site till the discussion won’t it? I am hoping to get a new computer fairly soon. But I got some advice from you which I have put in my notes and I think one was to look at my cookies. But I have a matter coming up in the next few days that I must concentrate on. So thanks for your help at present and I’ll try to get improved sooner than later.
All good 🙂
The argument to increase taxes on top income earners, and particularly to increase taxes on income from capital.
http://www.salon.com/2017/02/04/it-is-time-to-take-americas-billionaire-class-head-on_partner/
The article links a paper from the Congressional Research Service (non-partisan government body to provide factual information to Congress) that concludes that tax on capital gains income and dividends really needs to go up. Note that in New Zealand, income from capital gains is untaxed, and dividend income from company profit is only taxed once (often at a lower rate than earned income), whereas in the US the company pays tax on profit, then the recipient of dividends paid from that profit also pays income tax on it a second time.
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42043.pdf
Both items are heavy going, but it’s worth chewing through them.
Haven’t time to read it, but would just like to reply to the notion of increasing taxes on income from capital. As a non-home owner, with a little savings in the bank, I pay tax every year on the interest gained.
I think that savers probably have their/our “capital” taxed more than home owner’s get taxed on the rising value of their homes, and probably more than business profits.
Yep. Regular people have interest from small bank deposits and get stung for taxes at their top rate on it. The really wealthy don’t much bother with bank deposits, and put their capital into other things that , surprise surprise, are taxed at lower rates or not at all.
It’s those other things that need to be taxed more.
On the flip side, people should have access to savings for when things go wrong. Savings should be encouraged. In Uk they have an ISA system so that people can save a certain amount per year tax free.
This is especially important when people’s jobs are so transient now and it is so easy to lose your job, have a family or health emergency and in the age of self employment.
https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/overview
One of the advantages of Clark was that even though she was a neoliberal she bought in Kiwisaver, working for families, interest free student loans, buying back state assets like Kiwirail, supported the arts more.
Since she’s left, Labour’s policy appears to be lets charge the everyone (especially middle NZ) more to keep a lesser version of what we already have.
There needs to actually be a policy to help the majority of people! Sometimes it feels like there is just an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff and there are more and more people needing that ambulance.
Too much stick, zero carrot. It’s not popular.
I think that Labour is changing though and will lead the next government.
I’d like to see a referendum on UBI too. That is what could really change things in NZ away from the ambulance at bottom of cliff policy.
Gawd we need some sort of government guarantee for ordinary people’s simple savings accounts. Pretty much every other developed country has one.
We do have and we shouldn’t. If people want to take risks with their money then they should stand to lose when the risk calls due.
@ Andre – +100 “Gawd we need some sort of government guarantee for ordinary people’s simple savings accounts. Pretty much every other developed country has one.”
I think Greens have this as policy, does Labour???
It is disgraceful that our money is not safe in banks.
When you loan someone money you’re taking the risk that you’re not going to get it back.
That applies when you put you money in a bank as well.
The only time that it wouldn’t apply is a state bank that paid zero interest, didn’t charge fees and was supported through general taxation. That state bank would also be the sole owner and maintainer of the electronic payments system as well.
I agree New Zealand is lacking incentives to save – Kiwisaver being the only program aimed at retirement. I’d like to see something added to help ordinary people build and hold some kind of emergency fund.
The US has a whole zoo’s worth of different plans, 401k (a bit like Kiwisaver), Individual Retirement Accounts (money goes in pre-tax, grows tax-exempt, taxed on withdrawal after retirement), 529 (saving for your kids’ college), medical expenses accounts etc etc. I wouldn’t like to see NZ go down that path, it’s too much of a mess.
Retirement, education, health, accidents – none of these should need to be saved for as the state should support people through them.
The only reasons I can think of for saving is to buy something or to replace something which really comes down to the same reason.
Great point save nz. Whether inflation is low and therefore low interest, or higher and then higher interest, taxing interest on savings is robbing the saver of part of their capital which should remain intact to limit the erosion of its value and spending power by the inevitable rising prices in the market even when there is low inflation and which are caused by a variety of circumstances.
In NZ the deterioration in value of savings is particularly affected at present by the mostly unmeasured inflation coming from the costs of owning or renting housing.
Don’t worry John Key will provide for you Andre with his zero tax havens if you are non resident in NZ.
As far as I can tell, the NZ tax haven laws don’t actually (legally) help US citizens or tax residents avoid US taxes. Anyone answerable to the US IRD that’s hiding income via NZ would be guilty of illegal evasion, not “legitimate avoidance”.
It’s a different story for other countries though.
But due to the lack of transparency – nobody would ever be able to find out if you were evading taxes, as the real directors do not need to be disclosed in JK’s NZ tax havens.
Yeah, but then they’re tax evaders. Actual criminals risking jail time. That’s how they put away Al Capone in the end. The US IRS is a bit more enthusiastic about tossing big noters in the slammer for not coughing up than the paper tigers here.
Only here in NZ it seems if you know the right people everything is ok. That was one of the revolting things coming out of Panama papers – how many politicians and corporations felt they needed tax havens to hide their slushy funds.
Avoiding double taxation is generally both logical and sensible. I’m surprised it is not the case in US.
That’s quite a philosophical debate in it’s own right.
It could be argued that being able to receive passive income simply from owning a partial stake in a company is so strongly dependent on the laws and basic fairness of an orderly society that it’s totally fair that the company contributes a share and the individual contributes another share to maintaining that society.
Only some companies are not fair and our and international laws don’t provide for companies having to maintain society. AKA Peter Thiel’s investment in NZ – did he have to pay 28% company tax and 33% income tax on his 10+ million ‘windfall’ from the tax payer – or did he pay zero/minimal tax and make a killing that should have been for the public purse?
I don’t know the exact details of Thiel’s investment. So everything in this comment is guesswork or speculation. But it appears most of the investment was in Xero. Which hasn’t made a profit nor paid dividends, ever. Yet. So it won’t have paid any company tax.
The increase in value that Thiel is enjoying seems to be purely capital gain. Which doesn’t get taxed in New Zealand (unless it’s in a short-term trading scenario). So as far as I can tell, the only benefit New Zealand’s VIF got from getting tied up with Valar was getting a small amount of effectively interest when Valar bought out VIF’s stake. So Valar really did manage to privatize the capital gain, but if there had been losses they would have been socialised.
I’ve got no idea how Valar is structured with respect to US taxes. But I’ll take a guess that if it’s a US company it’s probably structured as some sort of partnership, in which case the company doesn’t pay tax because the profits are passed straight through to the partners. I’ll guess the transactions would also be structured so they are capital gains rather than trading income, since capital gains are taxed at a lower rate in the US.
Note though that so far it all appears to be paper gains. No actual income or profit will happen until Valar sells some of it’s holdings.
Make the corporations pay their share ………….. and it’s approx $10 Billion in extra revenue for the Govt ……. every year.
As a bonus if you can stop the corruption of the accountants, lawyers and banks in our ‘developed’ western societies …you will eliminate poverty …. stop wars …….. be able to do something about deforestation etc etc etc
Its our own bent corrupt criminal s ……………. the Keys, Cameron s and other greed driven types who enable worldwide exploitation and inhumanity http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2016/10/offshore_shell_games_2016.php#.WJaVFleY7Mg
worth thinking about
“In January of 1962, Russell received a series of letters from an unlikely correspondent — Sir Oswald Mosley, who had founded the British Union of Fascists thirty years earlier. Mosley was inviting — or, rather, provoking — Russell to engage in a debate, in which he could persuade the moral philosopher of the merits of fascism. Russell’s considered and morally unflinching response, included in Ronald Clark’s excellent biography The Life of Bertrand Russell (public library), stands as a manifesto for the right not to engage in a debate with a counterpart so morally misaligned with oneself as to guarantee not only the self-defeating futility of such engagement but its detrimental cost to one’s own sanity.
Shortly before his 90th birthday, Russell writes:
Dear Sir Oswald,
Thank you for your letter and for your enclosures. I have given some thought to our recent correspondence. It is always difficult to decide on how to respond to people whose ethos is so alien and, in fact, repellent to one’s own. It is not that I take exception to the general points made by you but that every ounce of my energy has been devoted to an active opposition to cruel bigotry, compulsive violence, and the sadistic persecution which has characterised the philosophy and practice of fascism.
I feel obliged to say that the emotional universes we inhabit are so distinct, and in deepest ways opposed, that nothing fruitful or sincere could ever emerge from association between us.
I should like you to understand the intensity of this conviction on my part. It is not out of any attempt to be rude that I say this but because of all that I value in human experience and human achievement.
Yours sincerely,
Bertrand Russell”
https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/10/06/bertrand-russell-oswald-mosley/
Wow marty mars Russell put his thoughts very cogently into words that resonate across the years being both memorable and entirely valid. Thanks for that.
Labour Party MPs breakfast at Phil Twyford’s this morning. Michael Wood and others rock up at 07:00! What would you like them to be chatting about over their coffee? Electorate issues or wider ones?
http://methodistnorth.org.nz/soup-soul-te-atatu-union/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/87890357/Auckland-house-fire-reveals-suspected-clandestine-lab
http://insights.nzherald.co.nz/article/new-zealand-burglary-map
Some context – Alfred Ngaro, Tau Henare, Penny Hulse and numerous others live in Te Atatu – a once ordinary area that now seems plagued by crime, P and burglaries.
Remember this?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11794001
What would you like them to be chatting about over their coffee?
Offering an alternative to Neo-liberalism.
Do Labour support transparency in the spending of public monies on private consultants and contractors (at both local and central government level)?
Do Labour agree that the following information on awarded contracts should be made available for public scrutiny?
* The unique contract number.
* The name of the consultant or contractor.
* A brief description of the scope of the contract.
* The contract start and finish dates.
* The exact dollar value of every contract, including those sub-contracted.
* How the contract was awarded – by direct appointment or public tender.
If Labour do support such transparency in the spending of public monies on private sector consultants and contractors – what are they DOING about it?
(I’ll be addressing the Board of Auckland Transport on 16 February 2017 on this matter.)
‘Activists – get things done.’
Penny Bright
‘Anti-privatisation / anti-corruption campaigner.’
2017 Independent candidate
Mt Albert by-election.
Are Labour supporting directly-affected State tenant Niki Rauti in her fight against eviction and the privatisation of State housing in Glen Innes?
I am.
Penny Bright
‘Anti-privatisation / anti-corruption
campaigner’.
2017 Independent candidate
Mt Albert by-election.
Does Labour have such an
“ACTION PLAN TO ENSURE ‘OPEN, TRANSPARENT AND DEMOCRATICALLY ACCOUNTABLE’ NZ GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIARY”?
1) Make ALL ‘facilitation payments’ illegal.
2) Legislate to create an NZ independent anti-corruption body, tasked with educating the public and preventing corruption.
3) Legislate for NZ Members of Parliament (who make the laws for everyone else) to have a legally enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’.
4) Make it an offence under the Local Government Act 2002, for NZ local government elected representatives to breach their ‘Code of Conduct’.
5) Make it a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government elected representatives to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.
6) Make it a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government staff, responsible for property or procurement, to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.
7) Make it a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government Council Controlled Organisation (CCO)) Directors and staff, staff, responsible for property or procurement, to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.
8) Fully implement and enforce the Public Records Act 2005, to ensure public records are available for public scrutiny.
9) Make it a lawful requirement that that a ‘cost-benefit analysis’ of NZ Central Government and Local Government must be undertaken, to prove that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in-house’ is cost-effective for the majority of taxpayers and ratepayers.
10) Legislate for a legally enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary, to ensure they are not ‘above the law’.
11) Legislate to provide a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’, to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
12) Ensure ALL Court proceedings are recorded, with audio records available to parties who request them.
13) Legislate for a publicly-available NZ ‘Register of Lobbyists’ and ‘Code of Conduct’ for lobbyists.
14) Legislate for a ‘post-separation employment’ (‘revolving door’) quarantine period from the time public officials leave the public service, to take up a similar role in the private sector.
15) Legislate to make it a lawful requirement that it is only a binding vote of the public majority that can determine whether public assets held at NZ central or local government are sold, or long-term leased via Public-Private-Partnerships.
16) Legislate to make it unlawful for politicians to knowingly misrepresent their policies prior to central or local government elections.
17. Legislate to protect individuals, NGOs, and community-based organisations, who are ‘whistle-blowing’ against ‘conflicts of interest’ and alleged corrupt practices at central and local government level and within the judiciary.
18) Legislate to prevent ‘State Capture’ – where vested interests get what they want, at the ‘policy’ level, before laws are passed which serve their vested interests.
___________________________
Does ANY other candidate in the Mt Albert by-election have such an ‘ACTION PLAN for transparency and democratic accountability’?
If not – perhaps you should consider ‘being BOLD – vote BRIGHT’?
🙂
Penny Bright
2017 Independent candidate
Mt Albert by-election.
Their imminent retirement from politics 👿
I would like to ask them whether they consider a coalition with National a possibility, sometime in the future, and what it would take. If the answer is negative, and assuming their answer is not similar to Bertrand Russell’s reply to Sir Oswald Mosley, which could be considered somewhat hypocritical under the current circumstances, I’d be very interested to find out why not. This is a genuine question BTW.
Be good to see more policy on food waste in NZ. I think things are happening but not on a large scale or with any consistancy.
From the US
“Garbage Food: Climate change may be a political hot button, but a big driver of it — food waste — is a bipartisan target
Finally, an environmental initiative everyone agrees on — big business and tech startups, science and churches”
http://www.salon.com/2017/02/04/garbage-food-climate-change-may-be-a-political-hot-button-but-a-big-driver-of-it-food-waste-is-a-bipartisan-target/
Down she goes! Staff laid off, donations drying up.
http://investmentwatchblog.com/clinton-foundation-on-the-brink-of-collapse/
@AsleepWhileWalking – but where did the missing millions go?
Well, that seems like an evenhanded, well researched article. Indeed the only shortcoming it has is failing to note that the cgi began the winding up process three months before the election result that supposedly dried up donations. Other than that, it’s Pulitzer material /sarc
A real American hero steps up during a dark time
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/04/donald-trump-slams-so-called-judge-blocked-ban-vows-overturn/
Heh. The best explanation yet of Kellyanne Conway.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/denis-leary-hilariously-admits-he-looks-like-kellyanne-conway_us_58947245e4b0c1284f255540
(If you don’t know who Denis Leary is, the link below is a good sample)
https://youtu.be/UrgpZ0fUixs
I see that Kellyanne Conway was once an “adjunct professor at George Washington University Law Center.”
HOW?!???!? It’s more than obvious every time Conway comes on television that she is clueless. Perhaps she was appointed by the same corporate headhunting geniuses that led to Saatchi’s idiotic Grand Dragon Kevin Roberts being given a chair at Oxford University and ACT’s braindead ex-führer Jamie “Lock Up His Sisters” Whyte becoming a lecturer at Oxford.
“Adjunct’ can mean as little as doing an occasional guest lecture. They are not part of the organisation
Even associating one’s name with such an airhead must be detrimental to its reputation, however.
Better explanation of Kellyanne Conway.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C3x-u6HXUAAfRy7.jpg
Another piece of corporate welfare that stands a good chance of turning to custard with the ratepayer being the loser ending up with the debt.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/73714349/high-risk-loan-to-irrigation-scheme-passes
Un-F-ing beliveable!
Discussion about the UK welfare state, 1600 to 1840, and its impact on the UK macro economy. References historical research from the Lancet.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=35284
Heh. Trump might actually be putting lobbyists out of work. Seems it might work better to buy ads on the TV shows he watches. So advertising rates are going up.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-tv-ad-rates-morning-joe-oreilly-234647
WARNING!!! It’s a Syria post, and it’s from RT america.
A interview with Elizabeth Kucinich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Kucinich
Talking about what she saw in Syria – I rather enjoyed it. 8.09 min. long. Except for her inability to talk about Islamic minority sects. And completely not talking about Rojava.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed9dO1y0FyM
Tulsi Gabbard rocks btw. Been following bits and pieces by her (some interviews on CNN etc where she leaves interviewers stumped). Taking a proposition to the house calling for an end to arming groups in Syria (Stop Arming Terrorists Act)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRtznPEc4RA
Worth google searching her stuff.
As for the interview you link…yet again a wholly independent person/journalist relays the same basic story as every other independent journalist/person who’s saying anything about Syria – and it flat stick contradicts the line we’ve been fed every night and every day on the TV and in newspapers. What. A. Fucking. Surprise.
edit – very late edit to dump a few Gabbard interview links. The first is on her ‘Stop Arming Terrorist Bill and her meeting with Trump. (less than 5 min) and the second an idiot from CNN questioning her on her visit to Syria (2 min) and a third from CNN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWo9PGSKVIw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmRqBcaGCX0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuf_D9NWk2s
Arguments that there are no moderate rebels have been promulgated by Fisk and Cockburn and not widely reported.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n03/patrick-cockburn/who-supplies-the-news
What is not so much is the fraud in investigative claims of contract players and the damage it inflicts .
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/feb/02/iraq-human-rights-lawyer-phil-shiner-disqualified-for-professional-misconduct
Where is the warmongering pm and his cohort to denounce these independent journalists?
Eva Bartlett
Elizabeth Kucinich
Vanessa Beeley
Congrats on willy. He will be a great asset
Yep ,all good, Andrew seems to me to have lightened up a lot since the last pm fled.–a cheeky grin on his chops methinks on occasion. Steady hand at the helm,
Who to, National ?
Winston told -“to get off the grass”- in the herald a while ago.–
Poto Williams sets out the issues regarding Jackson,
https://www.facebook.com/poto.williams.7/posts/10208514104110708
Poto could do well to protect his flank.
If Willie doesn’t get the list placing he needs – which on current polling is top 5 – he will go after a Maori seat nomination.
Poto would be one of those facing a major challenge.
Why would Poto be facing a challenge from Willie Jackson?
The last show at Amona
From Umm al-Hiran to Amona, the comparison shrieked to the skies: apartheid police. One police for whites and one police for natives.
by GIDEON LEVY, Haaretz, Feb. 2, 2017
Once, I moved house. It was sad. It was sad to part from the walls and the memories. The sorrow passed. I got over it. I am not alone: A lot of people have moved home, some because they wanted to, others not: because of a contract that expired, a relationship that fell apart or a new job.
It’s always sad to leave home, though not every such departure features (ostensibly) heart-wrenching articles, phony assertions, utterly incredible cries for national compassion and scandalous compensation. It doesn’t always take eight Israeli army battalions and 3,000 policemen to move a person from what had been his home.
On second thoughts, I never lived in a stolen home. Maybe leaving it is harder.
On Wednesday the Amona Show arrived at its last act. More than anything else, the illegal outpost’s evacuation proved how racist the Israeli police are. It seems that people can be evacuated using bare hands, without need for rifles or helmets, without truncheons and mainly, without the discourtesy and penchant for violence that the police and border police have demonstrated when facing the weak, Arabs or Ethiopians. Suddenly the demonstrators are not shot with live fire. It was not the police who swept into Amona, but “Salvation Army” soldiers in blue jackets with an Israeli flag sewn to the sleeve.
Why? Because the evacuees are white Jews, representatives of the most privileged, most powerful group in Israeli society. Because the chief of police hails from the same neighborhood. Because the government didn’t want heart-rending pictures to start making the rounds.
From Umm al-Hiran to Amona, the comparison shrieked to the skies: apartheid police. One police for whites and one police for natives. It can no longer be denied.
The evacuation of Amona proceeded after foreplay that dragged on and on, including the usual repertoire of schticks, featuring endless hearings in the High Court of Justice, sitting as an especially incongruous Purim-costumed version of a state with justice and equality before the law, including the justices playing dumb, the young girls in braids and tears, the young mothers with babies, the guitars, the prayers, candles and all that tired jazz. The cries of “wickedness” and “discrimination” and “Citizens type B,” the little girl asking her mother, in front of rolling cameras of course, “Mommy, will we have somewhere to live?” as though she didn’t know the answer.
The army that cordons off the area but allows hundreds of youngsters to freely infiltrate, barricading themselves inside homes while vowing to eschew violence; the soldiers demonstrating their sensitivity as they prepare for action – any moment now they’ll be bursting into tears; the nauseating headlines – “This was my home,” “The final hours”; the Palestinian landowners for whose benefit this show has been put on, who will never be allowed to get anywhere near their land, now evacuated; the childish name chosen for this mission – “Locked kindergarten” [from the song based on Rachel’s poem, “It’s not nice to see the kindergarten locked”] – how very poetic and moving. And, of course, the appropriate Zionist reaction, without which no eviction could possibly proceed – build another 1,000 housing units, and counting.
Read more…
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2017/02/02/reality-check-5/
I’d like to thank both Bill and Carolyn_nth for drawing attention to Amusing Ourselves to Death.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-03022017/#comment-1295297
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-04022017/#comment-1295537
I look forward to the (?) post, which I don’t want to pre-empt in any way. However, I felt something was missing from the bits & pieces that I did read, which is why & how images, for example, can be so powerful, and if this understanding can help us harnessing this power as it were.
My premise is that the brain is processing written or spoken (i.e. radio) text differently from visual content. The following article is quite light-weight but it covers this difference reasonably well – ironically it was written by somebody with a degree in journalism:
https://www.eyeqinsights.com/power-visual-content-images-vs-text/
It also has been said that body language and facial expressions, i.e. mostly but not limited to visual keys, plays a bigger part in our communication than the verbal part. It appears to be less precise than verbal communication but possibly more effective and efficient in conveying and inducing emotions.
Art, particularly visual art, almost without exception invokes emotions in each and every normal (…) human being. It hits you between the eyes, literally, without the need to be first deconstructed and then deconstructed such as is the case with reading literature, for example – the latter takes time (and effort).
As one saying goes, more or less: a picture speaks a thousand words.
Art, like no other, stimulates the imagination and easily crosses boundaries between fact and fiction or fantasy.
The Arts, therefore, must be an important part of children’s education so that they learn to ‘read’ their own but also others’ emotions and to integrate these, for want of a better word, with their more rational and critical thinking and discerning reality and truth.
In my view, this does not necessarily mean that children should be taught to critically look at imagery or videos, or (forensically) analyse the medium, because this requires a lot of ‘back-tracking’ in and by the brain whilst the non-verbal ‘message’ has already long taken hold in and of our brain circuits. Apart from the fact-checking and all that I suggest that it would be good to ask how did it make you feel and how did it change your thinking about the topic or subject of the particular visual content. In other words, be aware of the effects on ourselves more than anything else. And then ask ourselves whether we’re happy with those effects on who we are and (have) become due to watching the material, absorbing it.
Anyway, these are the kind of ideas that I’ve been toying with and applying to and on myself with a few interesting introspective results and I also wondered how I would have been in the here & now if I had learned some of these things as a kid – a silly question, I know.
I am completely uninterested in your gender politics.
from http://liberation.typepad.com/liberation/2016/11/john-moore-identity-politics-vs-class-politics-an-anti-establishment-class-analysis.html
Philosopher Slavoj Zizek has critiqued the liberal culturalisation of politics in the form of identity politics. He argues that the culturalist concept of “tolerance” and “respect” is wholly inadequate in dealing with questions of oppression:
“…I’m opposed to this notion [tolerance]. Of course I’m not for intolerance towards foreigners, for anti-feminism, and so on. What I am against is the perception, which is moralist-automatic, of racism as a problem of tolerance. For Martin Luther King one doesn’t fight racism with tolerance, but with emancipatory political struggle, even armed struggle. So, why are so many problems of today perceived as problems of intolerance, rather than problems of inequality, exploitation, injustice? Racism is a problem. But to perceive racism as a problem of tolerance, it’s not automatic. In this innocent shift of perspective, there is ideology. Why? I claim the reason is the liberal multiculturalist basic ideological operation, the, let’s call it, the culturalisation of politics….”
Identity politics is yesterdays story, That style of politics has led the left to utter defeat everywhere. It is discredited and has been showed to have no electoral constituency. The primacy of class is again the organising bedrock of the left, not gender or identity.
[“I am completely uninterested in your gender politics.” And I am completely uninterested in you derailing this post with anti-feminist politics. Stay out of this thread from now on – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
I don’t think that quote or link says exactly what you say it does.
I’m opposed to this notion [tolerance].
Actually many anti-racist and feminists say the same. To say a woman or brown person is “tolerated”, is not the same as saying they are respected by the society and treated as equals. It kind of says people put up with them.
And then the quote goes on:
For Martin Luther King one doesn’t fight racism with tolerance, but with emancipatory political struggle, even armed struggle. So, why are so many problems of today perceived as problems of intolerance, rather than problems of inequality, exploitation, injustice?
Basically it’s saying that racism should be fought as part of an emancipatory political struggle
The link says there is a place for anti-racism and feminism within class politics, but that class is the fundamental problem with capitalism:
In fact, your citations provide arguments AGAINST your stated views.
What to do on a Sunday after you’ve won an election on a promise to take govt away from the elites and give it back to the people? Headline a Versailles themed ball for European royalty of course! Photos.
“The event “From Vienna to Versailles,” took place Saturday night at the Mar-a-Lago Club, which was done up in Old World 18th-century style, right down to the service staff in powdered wigs and satin knee breeches or Marie Antoinette dresses.
“Yes,” said one server, when asked if the wig was hot. “And it weighs four pounds.”
The night began with the diplomatic receiving line and cocktails around the balustraded pool, a fireworks display over the Intracoastal which gave the smattering of protesters the best views, and classical music by Hapzburg-costumed musicians.
After cocktails, the crowd moved to the Grand Ballroom — conceived and constructed to look like Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors, making it the perfect foil for the gold-rimmed china and snow-white table linens and mounds of all-white flowers…”
Yes let’s all pretend we’re filthy rich aristocrats, re-enacting a scene that has come to epitomize out of touch elitism and obscene decadence, and having a merry time while throwing some bones or cake perhaps at the poor. Oh wait who’s pretending haha!