News today that Hahei motor camp is on the market, as is the Whangamata one is bad news for those who cannot afford $2mil beach houses, the less well-off missing out on what used to be a seemingly Gods-own right of a beachfront summer holiday.
What happened to the policy of the Gummint buying these last remaining refuges to save them for the people ?.
It must have been a Labour policy, it obviously doesen’t fit in with “the market will provide”, for the few.
Council/DOC owned camping grounds are on reserve land that cant be sold without revocation of reserve status and that needed to be signed off by the minister of conservation*
They tend to be either leased to a mum and dad operator or run by the council/DOC itself.
* = unfortunately the government sneaked through a law change enabling councils to revoke reserve status without needing ministerial permission, meaning Tory-led councils can flog off parks and reserves with government ‘encouragement’.
I started reading it under the impression it was about how 9-11 troofers could maintain bizarre ideas in the face of evidence. Then I realised it was positing the troofers were right and the rest of us (the sane people) were the ones with the bizarre ideas. So I stopped reading it.
So, yeah, I let my prejudices get the better of me. Because I’ve wasted far too much time investigating the claims of troofer types and they never amount to anything more than paranoid fantasies.
Maybe you could provide a bullet point summary of the key information that will change my mind?
WTC7.
I’ve never heard one of the people on this website who personally attack those who apply critical thinking to the events of 9/11 explain WTC7.
Until they do, I remain sceptical to the official conspiracy theory about 9/11
hi paul,
the thing that strikes me is the abusive reaction that occurs when this subject comes up.
so far: deranged, paranoid fantasies, stfu, parroting drivel.
i am waiting to be accused of being right wing for daring to question the status quo version of events re wtc t7
ten years ago people probably had a bit more tolerance. But since then no new evidence has been presented, and many lies have been debunked (no airplane debris around the pentagon, “within its own footprint”, “freefall speeds”, yadda yadda). In contrast, the official story still stands up.
So I for one am a bit bored with nutbars making a stupid nutbar hobby around the deaths of 3000 people. Oh, and if you’re worried about being called right wing, I’m worried that a legitimate critic of the US can be silenced by comparing them with people who think mini-nukes or nanothermite demolished any of the WTC buildings.
It’s boredom. You all repeat the same long-debunked zombie arguments, and you haven’t produced a scrap of evidence in fourteen years, and not a single member of the conspiracy has come forward, and you all can’t even agree which tune to sing.
It’s like a multi-orchestra Ives collision, only not as melodious.
hi oab,” I’ve issued this challenge before and I will again: what, precisely, is wrong with the engineering calculations involved in the NIST WTC7 report?”
the wrong with the report is that there is no forensic/physical evidence at all, they are based on computer modelling.
modelling based on input data you and i are not priveleged to know about.
therefore you can not be shown the significant flaws.
@ One Anonymous Bloke at 8.57 pm [no Reply button!?]
I have no intention in ‘accepting your challenge’ and I have no idea what or whom I am “stalling”. It just seemed to me that you might not have the faintest idea of basic concepts of S & M.
Thanks for taking the time to post the link, Paul. Sure, it’s meaningless psychobabble, but after 13 and a half years without evidence, I guess there’s not much left for deniers to focus their hopes on.
Apart from an extensive engineering report, that is. And hours of computer modelling, and forensic analysis, and sums.
Which you don’t understand, a sad fact that is becoming more and more obvious. Christ, in the years of rote-learning drivel, you could have actually got a degree in civil engineering.
911 – a bit like christianity in the variation of beliefs – which 911 belief variant are you paul? If you aren’t sure which bit you are in to – check this out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories
But I’ll assume you are up to speed with most of them – do you think planes were involved? do you think Flight 93 was shot down? Do you think that Mossad and the CIA did it? Insider trading?
I’m interested because it is pointless discussing this subject without knowing which variant a person believes and you obviously believe this is a worthy subject to discuss because you’ve put it up on OM.
Winston Peters had every right being upset that Corin Dann tried it on, by wanting to take a live interview with the Northland buy- election losers, Nationals candidate Mark Osborne and campaign manager Stephen Joyce first. After all who convincingly trounced National giving John Key and campaign ‘master stroker’ Joyce their first blood nose since National beat Labour all those years ago.
I saw first hand what was what the following morning in Russell as I was there walking my dog and walking a hangover from the night before’s election party. Dann was up to no good trying to con Peters into a pre recorded interview, presumably so they could
try thy ole ‘edit and mash number.’ Peters was far too aloof for that dirty trick and rightfully held his ground taking the interview live. However Dann still got his way in sorts by interviewing Joyce & co first and making Peters stand around in the rain waiting for the cross. When Dann finally did interview Peters he snarled and treated him with disrespect.
What a nasty little National cheerleader Dann showed himself to be.
While the back end of the article had some useful comments – exactly what is the big oil benefit- the beginning was absolutely cringing.
Yes Winston had every right to not tolerate the fawning over the losers but FFS to compare Northland to a woman who woke to find the wrong guy in bed with her? Wrong on so many levels -sexist, implying that they would have been better waking up to Osbourne , they had a hangover , etc. Demeaning to women, to men, the voters who voted..
Maybe Paul needs to look at his own life if any of this was an acceptable metaphor.
Yup. If people here wanted a non-pokey stick, sans finger pointing discussion on rape culture, then there was the spring-board right there – blaring sirens, flashing red lights and all.
This might be a better starting point. Luddite Journo on Rape Myths in NZ and the NZ media, using a breaking story about an All Black who has been arrested on sexual assault charges and how the media are covering this. Good analysis.
In 2013, research from the specialist sexual violence sector looking at how the media report on sexual violence in Aotearoa showed some disturbing stuff: journalists do not understand the law and they do not interview experts, with no articles featuring commentary from specialist academics or researchers and just 8% featuring commentary from community experts.
This means that our news is full of rape myths, because journalists are like everyone else – they grow up in our rape culture. Despite the importance of the role of the mainstream media in educating the public about sexual violence, the only compulsory reading for student journalists in New Zealand features just three sentences about sexual violence in a 453 page book, and they are not helpful for unlearning rape myths (my emphasis):
“It is illegal to report the victims’ names in any sex crime; it can be unethical and untasteful to describe a sexual crime in graphic detail. It is particularly important to be cautious about taking sides in the reporting: with emotions running high, false complaints are often made regarding sexual offences. Both sides can be very believable in their differing accounts.”
For the record, Police estimate 8% of reports about sexual violence they receive are false. It’s far more common for people to choose not to report to the Police – just one in ten survivors report. Both of these figures come from New Zealand Police, that bastion of feminist activism.
(btw, I think a conversation about rape culture without people thinking there is stick poking going on is almost impossible, here at least. The reasons for that are a complex mix of people taking things personally to the exclusion of the politics, and low tolerance all round leading to not a lot of listening/effective communication)
btw, I think a conversation about rape culture without people thinking there is stick poking going on is almost impossible, here at least. The reasons for that are a complex mix of people taking things personally to the exclusion of the politics, and low tolerance all round leading to not a lot of listening/effective communication.
If the ‘target’ was a neutral (ie, off-site) one, as opposed to ‘half’ the bloody commenters on a particular post, then both the perception of a pokey stick being used and actual pokey sticks being used would be greatly diminished, no? (shrug)*
* really wish there was a thingy jig that produced a shrug. Anyway. (shrug)
Yes, that’s true and certainly lessening such in your face approaches to discussion would help a lot.
I think it’s also true that there are always going to be be people upset personally by the politics. And what do we do with people commenting who are perpetuating rape myths? Once responses to that start, it becomes personal and I don’t see any way around that presently (there’s also the history now, and whether people can get past that). The other unfortunate dynamic is that the conflict happens within groups that should otherwise be political allies (eg the left). I can’t see that changing much until there is greater acceptance within the left of its own issues around gender.
Paul Little is entitled to his opinion but his piece was boringly predictable and did not contain one single original thought or novel insight. Same for Rodney Hide’s piece. At least John Armstrong, John Roughan, and Fran O’Sullivan occasionally surprise me with a really nice angle or insight. There are some whose columns I almost never read, e.g. Mike Hosking’s.
Of course he is entitled to his opinion – “Northland was stupid to vote for Winston when they could have voted for NACT” but really – what a way to express it.
Imagine how much offence would have been generated by comparing NACT to say a streetwalker (who no doubt is more honest and principaled anyway) .
For decades, compulsory voting has done what it was supposed to do: maintain high and socially even turnout levels that are the envy of the industrialised voluntary-voting world. Prior to its introduction at the federal level in 1924, turnout was hovering in the 50–60% range (of registered voters). Since then, it has remained steady for many decades at around 93%.
While Australia’s young are less inclined to vote than older cohorts, because of compulsory voting 83% of 18-25 year olds still turn out to vote. Compare this to Britain where only around 44% of young people vote, or Canada where the figure hovers at around 37 to 38% or, worse still, the US. There, in the recent midterm elections, only 22% of young people bothered to cast a ballot.
IIRC, our young also don’t vote in droves.
Many studies have indicated that government attention and spending are directly related to the size of electorate cohorts. Older people vote and so governments spend far more per capita on them than they do on the young. Governments are also a lot more responsive to the policy concerns of older voters.
We see this here as governments continue to fail to do anything about bubbling house prices because it will upset the older voters who a) own houses and b) don’t want to see their paper wealth decrease.
Libertarians like Finn think that the cost of losing their freedom to stay away on polling day is too high. But what about the real-life cost to freedom of being poor, homeless, unemployed and under-employed? In every advanced voluntary system the world over, the less likely you are to vote, the more likely you are to experience one, some, or all of these things.
But in compulsory systems where voting is universal and socially even, government attention and spending is more evenly distributed. Simply put, there is less wealth inequality in compulsory systems.
Definitely worth considering. I think it’s time that we went to compulsory voting in NZ.
Indeed.
But one could argue that nobody would be forced to join a union for a specific job. After all, the tories think that working at a specific place is a choice, right? Can’t have your cake and eat it too.
We pride ourselves on religious freedom in this country, and one way to support religious freedom, is to support the right not to vote on religious grounds. We have a system where by people exercise their citizen duty by enrolling to vote. And can simply not vote, without jumping through hoops.
I also think we need to ask, rather than use force – why young people are not voting and do not want to vote. I inclined to believe they see through the corruption and hypocrisy of our politicians. Coupled with the fact, the corporations and the 1% are the ones welding power, and no vote or democratic outcome – will make a damn bit of difference with those worshippers of cupidity.
Voting could change the system if more people voted. Not voting will certainly entrench it.
IMO, the big difference between those who don’t support compulsory voting and those of us who do is a matter of perspective. They view voting as a right which people can choose to use or not while I view it as a responsibility that cannot, and should not, be avoided.
We must all have a say in our governance so that our full wisdom is brought to bear rather than just the desires of the rich and elderly.
Draco I understand where you’re coming from with this particular ‘compulsion’
IMO making voting compulsory would not equate to systematic change in an of itself
Making voting compulsory could lead to more people politicizing themselves which in turn could lead to grass roots level change through awareness but the established and entrenched will adjust as necessary to retain control the same way it has done for decades
Compulsory voting is likely to lead to little more than higher invalid vote count and fines (assuming the Australian model of compulsion) as the only way the system knows how to ‘encourage’ people is through monetary penalty
Using Northland as an example of where engagement was in higher numbers but look at what the catalysts were to achieving greater engagement
The establishment is no longer for the people and is in dire need of replacement not greater involvement is propping it up
There are many who have chosen the options of distraction and there are many who have chosen a multitude of other options
At some point in the timeline there will be a convergence as the many chosen options are dwindled into a few available options out of absolute necessity
It is once we arrive at that juncture of absolute necessity we will see what those few options actually are and how humanity individually and collectively responds
Too late by then. My comment was more about people who think they know what the future is, or how things will play out. If there’s one thing we can know about the situation we are in, it’s that the ball is in the air and we don’t know where it’s going to land.
It appears as if we have not hit rock bottom as a species yet which is disturbing and unsurprising at the same time
To me that is an indicator the juncture has not been reached so I would hope that it won’t be “too late” when it does come because as a species like with addicts it seems we will have to collectively ‘bottom out’ prior to reaching the road to healing
It’ll be too late in terms of climate change. We have a window, closing fast. Waiting for the crisis that will force people to change will be too late.
The sourness of the Paul Little article is very telling. A mark of the perennial, passive-aggressive media dissemination of the Crosby Textor construct narrative – “Key is gold !”. And its extension – “……ergo, all challengers are base”.
Oh “Boo !” Paul Little…….were there the foundation for “John Key quipped…..” you and your mates’d be writing it up as the political howler of the new century. Some would say many of your PC’s templates need serious modification if not deletion. That ain’t gonna kill ya.
Little’s sourness (not saved by cursory mention of Northland issues) reminds me of when Helen Clark appointed Peters foreign minister all those years ago – the Press Gallery in high dudgeon in the flavour of – “We simply will not tolerate this !!!”
funnily enough, I was just thinking today that both the frequency and degree of outright nutty arguments have decreased markedly over the last week or so. And then 9/11 comes up again…
Khalida Jarrar is one of the central leaders of the PFLP, a member of its politbureau.
On April 2,dozens of soldiers of the Israeli occupation forced their way into her home in Ramallah and arrested her for “terrorist” involvement – the usual Israeli designation for anyone resisting the occupation.
After holding her for a while at an Israeli detention centre in the West Bank, they moved her to a prison in Israel.
Jarrar is particularly involved with the rights of Palestinian prisoners and the liberation of Palestinian women.
Think about the sort of vote Social Credit had. Although many people who voted SC at their height are probably dead now and SC hasn’t existed as a mass force for 30 years or more, there will be plenty of people with some sort of memory of them. There was always a natural Social Credit constituency in rural areas and NZF could easily mop up whatever elements of it still exist.
Whereas other parties – Alliance, ACT, Anderton’s Progressives, Mauri Pacific, Peters’ outfit – have come and gone (and I suspect the Maori Party will go too) – the two MMP-era parties that have a future, because they have a constituency, a stable socio-political base, are the Greens and NZF.
NZF is to the left of Labour on economic policy and to the right of them on social issues. And there’s enough people like that, especially in the regions, to give them a couple of electorate seats and maybe 10% of the vote, possibly even get them back to 1996 levels (I think they got over 13% of the vote that year, I recall they had 17 MPs) as long as they have Winston and provided they manage the succession well. I think either Ron Marks or Shane Jones would do, to keep that base. I think the leader of NZF, for some time anyway, interestingly, will need to be Maori.
One thing about NZF that is also often forgotten is just how big their core base of support is in the Maori seats. They’re the only party apart from Labour to have held all the Maori seats. Moreover, when they captured all the Maori seats, they also won the party vote in all of them but one. They did far, far better than the Maori Party at its height. While that support dropped away, Winston is not just popular among old National types who recall the days when National pursued Keynesian economics; he’s also really popular among Maori because he’s seen as a ‘Maori boy made good’ who sticks it up to the establishment.
So are the so-called ‘left’ parties now going to drop the ‘two ticks’ policy for the 2017 General Election?
ie: Campaign hard and strong for the PARTY vote, but campaign strategically for the ELECTORATE vote, especially in pivotal seats?
Given that ‘doing a Northland’ has proven to be rather spectacularly successful?
ie: Vote strategically for the candidate that has the best chance of taking the seat off National, or National’s coalition allies?
In my view, that doesn’t mean so-called ‘left’ political parties not standing electorate candidates in pivotal seats, but campaigning on the issues, for PARTY not ELECTORATE votes.
The reason why I say ‘so-called left parties’ is because, in my view, that terminology became redundant after the 1984 – 87 Labour Government introduced the neo-liberal ‘Rogernomic$’ reforms.
In my view – the line in the sand is ‘public majority’ vs ‘corporate minority’ and those who serve their interests….
What I have found is a useful yardstick in deciding ‘who is the MAIN electoral enemy’ – as it were – is to check the ‘mood of the boardroom’ (BIG business CEOs) – find out who THEY would prefer to run NZ in the House – then do the opposite.
Because, in my opinion, that’s how our NZ ‘democracy’ works – according to the ‘Golden Rule’.
ie: Those who have the gold make the rules, and we get the government that the majority of BIG business wants us to have.
1) It is a counter-productive dichotomy to view politics as warfare between friends/allies versus enemies to produce “winners & losers”. This is 20th-century politics; it is time to invent and develop new paradigms;
2) It runs counter to critical independent thinking and taking full ownership of one’s own choices.
1) It is a counter-productive dichotomy to view politics as warfare between friends/allies versus enemies to produce “winners & losers”. This is 20th-century politics; it is time to invent and develop new paradigms;
Matthew Gardiner, the Northern Territory unionist who fought against ISIS has been arrested on return to Oz. He could be looking at a lengthy jail term for doing independently what Australia wants to train the Iraqi troops to do for themselves.
Look at the photo of Matthew Gardiner. An intelligent, compassionate and rational person who is on the same side as the Western powers. So, who is mad? The Australian law enforcers that’s who. Someone should arrest them and now?!!
Whose fault? Our fault. Don’t read if you want to remain ignorant
Hidden in an unknown corner of Inner Mongolia is a toxic, nightmarish lake created by our thirst for smartphones, consumer gadgets and green tech, discovers Tim Maughan…
We reached the shore, and looked across the lake. I’d seen some photos before I left for Inner Mongolia, but nothing prepared me for the sight. It’s a truly alien environment, dystopian and horrifying. The thought that it is man-made depressed and terrified me, as did the realisation that this was the byproduct not just of the consumer electronics in my pocket, but also green technologies like wind turbines and electric cars that we get so smugly excited about in the West. Unsure of quite how to react, I take photos and shoot video on my cerium polished iPhone.
This example is precisely why I switch off when it comes to discussions and articles about ‘climate change’
There are prerequisite activities not to mention systematic changes to the current ‘capitalist consumerist model’ which far precede any functionally useful discussions around ‘climate change’
Until the prerequisites are being addressed and actions taken to radically alter the mode of operation such wastelands will continue to multiply and expand
Regardless of your views on Easter Sunday/Good Friday trading, you all have to admit, that it is stupid to forbid the selling of alcohol on Easter Sunday. This is sort of the stuff that happens in Saudi Arabia…
hi millsy, not everyone would have to admit it is stupid to forbid sale of liquor on easter sunday.
people who are made to give up their time to sell it for a start.
Global warming / climate change .
Just finished watching Tony Robinson on prime , Birth of Britain .
It seems about three hundred thousand years ago Britain was at least 5 degrees warmer than today , all sorts of animals roamed the country , lions , hippos etc etc .
O’dear along came an ice age , followed by , you guessed it , global warming and of course the ice melted .
Science has proved it’s about a 300 thousand year cycle , plenty of proof this happened .
One thing for sure global warming at the time wasn’t man made .
Ignorant rto. Somebody said it happened 300,000 years ago. Is he a Climate change denier? They’re very good at making things up. Even so there are other reasons why it might have happened 300,000 years ago. Today it is largely due to a rapid increase in CO2 output caused by humankind. Hope you have grandkids. Serve you right if they die before their allotted time. More than likely they will view people like yourself with utter contempt for being so stupid (mind you most deniers can’t help that) and blind and landing them and their kids in such a terrible mess.
I watched it too, RtO. You’re almost there. Well done! Everyone give RtO a little golf clap for being so brave as to admit the recent climate change exists.
The last little baby step you need, RtO, is to discover the timescale of previous climate change events, and compare that with the timescale of this one. Google “snowball earth” if you really want to learn something.
Then for good measure, compare that with the timescale of the climate change in the Anthropocene. And the trend in the atmospheric carbon isotope ratio.
Then you can reflect on the fact that Tony Robinson can be sure of his facts because Climatology, which you claim is a hoax.
And then you can imagine my contempt and derision.
As someone who has some understanding of metal – I know that the heat generated from burning airplane fuel (kerosene) cannot possibly melt steel, and cause the Twin Towers to collapse in their own footprint at free fall speed.
You are not allowed to question 9/11 on this site.
Free thinking is banned on this subject.
Personal insults are the substitute for critical thinking and discussion.
Perhaps the fact that your modus operandum is to insult people’s intelligence by raising long-dead zombie arguments rather than admitting you’ve got nothing substantive to say, has something to do with the reaction you get.
Sums. Hard work. NIST report. Fourteen years of this inept flailing.
That’s what I tried to explain to the auditors, but they wouldn’t listen… /sarc
Seriously, are you arguing that the NIST report is wrong even if all its sums are correct? That the sums are correct, but that the conclusions the sums lead to are incorrect?
So, muphrey, when you wrote”Q. Who here knows the content of the 28 redacted pages of the report ?” in a subthread specifically about the NIST report, your reference to “the report” was a reference to a random one of the millions of other reports published in human history rather than the report that was the topic of discussion?
Thanks for your contribution. One day you might avoid being a waste of column-space.
For me, it feels a bit like when I get climate deniers on here.
When I notice it, I tend to shift from the acerbic to the outright sarcastic in my comments to them. When I have time, I take a dissection tool to whatever the fools arguments are. Basically I tear at their knowledge and their egos. Mostly because having done some training around the science, fantasists on the subject just piss me off. Since I’m not a climate scientist, I don’t need to be polite and don’t really feel constrained by their usual restraint when dealing with scientific illiterates.
This is also known as free thinking and (relatively) free speech. For me it is pleasant fun and robust debate.
The same applies to 9/11, chemtrails, vaccinations conspiracies, fluoridation and a whole pile of other theories. I generally ignore most of those. But so far I haven’t seen much evidence that convinces me that there is anything substantive on them. But they still get allowed, with the usual extremely skeptical audience.
As a moderator, about the only I usually notice ‘free-tinker’ behaviour if they start astroturfing comments, doing the diversion off topic in other posts that aren’t on those topics, making assertions of fact without linking or explaining, or when they start doing the whine that people disagree with them and are unpleasant in how they point that out. With a subtext that free speech should be allowed for them, but not for others. These are all behaviours that aren’t permitted to exist on the site to any large extent. I usually point them to policy, and if it keeps repeating, I escalate from warnings to bans.
But if it is just robust debate, I just keep an eye on them to see if anything is going over the line.
Gosh have you seen this, we know that the Nats have infiltrated all the public services and filled them at taxpayers expense with flunkies but still… astonishing the level of control!
Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy was advised to ignore calls and don’t answer the phone following concerns raised over foreign drivers.
Last month, the Otago Daily Times requested an interview with the commissioner after publishing a story on a Dunedin man who snatched keys from a foreign driver.
Following her refusal to front, the ODT filed an Official Information Act (OIA) request for all documents received or sent by the commissioner on the topic.
The first email, from an undisclosed employee of the Human Rights Commission immediately following the OIA request, advised the commissioner to “ignore calls and don’t answer phone”.
“Media are after you for comment on foreign drivers getting keys taken off them … we really don’t want to get into this … Police have had their say, PM is all over it etc etc so we are best to leave it at this.”
A follow-up email to the commissioner said: “I want to keep comments from me so that you are not seen to be commenting on this issue at all … Right now we’ve had no complaints and it’s an operational policing issue that needs to be sorted out at that level immediately, it is also anecdotal with a lot of media hype.”
My God maybe good news after all, is MSM stepping up with real news???
I agree with the final bit in that link (it’s not a race relations issue). But the emails seem weird. Pity the ODT didn’t report on that more fully. I do wonder if it speaks more to Devoy’s um lack of experience in the job and staffers trying to save themselves some bother, than Ministerial interference. Isn’t the HRC one of the depts getting cut?
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
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Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
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 ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
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Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
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The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
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News today that Hahei motor camp is on the market, as is the Whangamata one is bad news for those who cannot afford $2mil beach houses, the less well-off missing out on what used to be a seemingly Gods-own right of a beachfront summer holiday.
What happened to the policy of the Gummint buying these last remaining refuges to save them for the people ?.
It must have been a Labour policy, it obviously doesen’t fit in with “the market will provide”, for the few.
were they council owned?
They look to be privately owned.
Council/DOC owned camping grounds are on reserve land that cant be sold without revocation of reserve status and that needed to be signed off by the minister of conservation*
They tend to be either leased to a mum and dad operator or run by the council/DOC itself.
* = unfortunately the government sneaked through a law change enabling councils to revoke reserve status without needing ministerial permission, meaning Tory-led councils can flog off parks and reserves with government ‘encouragement’.
‘Why Do Good People Become Silent—or Worse—About 9/11?’
By Frances T. Shure
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41437.htm
For trp and others in denial about 9/11
Is Open Mike the place where the deranged and strange are allowed to play?
If so, I’ll avoid it.
Though I’m premeptive mock Pasupial’s feeble protest. Nice to see he’s in the right place.
So you actually read the article?
Of came to a prejudiced opinion?
I started reading it under the impression it was about how 9-11 troofers could maintain bizarre ideas in the face of evidence. Then I realised it was positing the troofers were right and the rest of us (the sane people) were the ones with the bizarre ideas. So I stopped reading it.
So, yeah, I let my prejudices get the better of me. Because I’ve wasted far too much time investigating the claims of troofer types and they never amount to anything more than paranoid fantasies.
Maybe you could provide a bullet point summary of the key information that will change my mind?
WTC7.
I’ve never heard one of the people on this website who personally attack those who apply critical thinking to the events of 9/11 explain WTC7.
Until they do, I remain sceptical to the official conspiracy theory about 9/11
What’s to explain?
I’ve issued this challenge before and I will again: what, precisely, is wrong with the engineering calculations involved in the NIST WTC7 report?
Just to be clear, I want to be shown the significant flaws in NIST’s computer modelling and calculations. Or stfu.
The silencing of dissent.
No, the challenge to do some maths instead of parroting drivel.
hi paul,
the thing that strikes me is the abusive reaction that occurs when this subject comes up.
so far: deranged, paranoid fantasies, stfu, parroting drivel.
i am waiting to be accused of being right wing for daring to question the status quo version of events re wtc t7
ten years ago people probably had a bit more tolerance. But since then no new evidence has been presented, and many lies have been debunked (no airplane debris around the pentagon, “within its own footprint”, “freefall speeds”, yadda yadda). In contrast, the official story still stands up.
So I for one am a bit bored with nutbars making a stupid nutbar hobby around the deaths of 3000 people. Oh, and if you’re worried about being called right wing, I’m worried that a legitimate critic of the US can be silenced by comparing them with people who think mini-nukes or nanothermite demolished any of the WTC buildings.
It’s boredom. You all repeat the same long-debunked zombie arguments, and you haven’t produced a scrap of evidence in fourteen years, and not a single member of the conspiracy has come forward, and you all can’t even agree which tune to sing.
It’s like a multi-orchestra Ives collision, only not as melodious.
Q. Who here knows the content of the 28 redacted pages of the report ?
NIST’s reports are in the public domain and contain no redacted pages, let alone 28. Please try and pay some attention.
Q. Why would you assume I was referring to a NIST report ?
I couldn’t care less what you’re wanking on about. I issued a very specific challenge regarding NIST, and you failed to change the subject.
hi oab,” I’ve issued this challenge before and I will again: what, precisely, is wrong with the engineering calculations involved in the NIST WTC7 report?”
the wrong with the report is that there is no forensic/physical evidence at all, they are based on computer modelling.
modelling based on input data you and i are not priveleged to know about.
therefore you can not be shown the significant flaws.
What you call “input data” is simply the initial state of the model. Which is, duh, in the model.
It seems to me that you are conflating variables with parameters.
It seems to me you’re stalling rather than taking up my challenge.
@ One Anonymous Bloke at 8.57 pm [no Reply button!?]
I have no intention in ‘accepting your challenge’ and I have no idea what or whom I am “stalling”. It just seemed to me that you might not have the faintest idea of basic concepts of S & M.
S&M? Building 7 collapsed because of faulty nipple clamps?
“the wrong with the report is that there is no forensic/physical evidence at all, they are based on computer modelling.”
That sounds suspiciously similar to the rhetoric that climate science denialists use.
Thanks for taking the time to post the link, Paul. Sure, it’s meaningless psychobabble, but after 13 and a half years without evidence, I guess there’s not much left for deniers to focus their hopes on.
I agree no plausible evidence has been presented by the US govt to explain WTC7
Apart from an extensive engineering report, that is. And hours of computer modelling, and forensic analysis, and sums.
Which you don’t understand, a sad fact that is becoming more and more obvious. Christ, in the years of rote-learning drivel, you could have actually got a degree in civil engineering.
911 – a bit like christianity in the variation of beliefs – which 911 belief variant are you paul? If you aren’t sure which bit you are in to – check this out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories
But I’ll assume you are up to speed with most of them – do you think planes were involved? do you think Flight 93 was shot down? Do you think that Mossad and the CIA did it? Insider trading?
I’m interested because it is pointless discussing this subject without knowing which variant a person believes and you obviously believe this is a worthy subject to discuss because you’ve put it up on OM.
Good post…^
Paul Little should stop playing ‘Chicken Little.’
Winston Peters had every right being upset that Corin Dann tried it on, by wanting to take a live interview with the Northland buy- election losers, Nationals candidate Mark Osborne and campaign manager Stephen Joyce first. After all who convincingly trounced National giving John Key and campaign ‘master stroker’ Joyce their first blood nose since National beat Labour all those years ago.
I saw first hand what was what the following morning in Russell as I was there walking my dog and walking a hangover from the night before’s election party. Dann was up to no good trying to con Peters into a pre recorded interview, presumably so they could
try thy ole ‘edit and mash number.’ Peters was far too aloof for that dirty trick and rightfully held his ground taking the interview live. However Dann still got his way in sorts by interviewing Joyce & co first and making Peters stand around in the rain waiting for the cross. When Dann finally did interview Peters he snarled and treated him with disrespect.
What a nasty little National cheerleader Dann showed himself to be.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11427934
While the back end of the article had some useful comments – exactly what is the big oil benefit- the beginning was absolutely cringing.
Yes Winston had every right to not tolerate the fawning over the losers but FFS to compare Northland to a woman who woke to find the wrong guy in bed with her? Wrong on so many levels -sexist, implying that they would have been better waking up to Osbourne , they had a hangover , etc. Demeaning to women, to men, the voters who voted..
Maybe Paul needs to look at his own life if any of this was an acceptable metaphor.
+1 RB, on so many levels, and unnecessary to make the points.
Yup. If people here wanted a non-pokey stick, sans finger pointing discussion on rape culture, then there was the spring-board right there – blaring sirens, flashing red lights and all.
Oh well…. 🙁
This might be a better starting point. Luddite Journo on Rape Myths in NZ and the NZ media, using a breaking story about an All Black who has been arrested on sexual assault charges and how the media are covering this. Good analysis.
http://thehandmirror.blogspot.co.nz/2015/04/telling-stories-about-rape.html
(btw, I think a conversation about rape culture without people thinking there is stick poking going on is almost impossible, here at least. The reasons for that are a complex mix of people taking things personally to the exclusion of the politics, and low tolerance all round leading to not a lot of listening/effective communication)
Thanks for the extract and link Weka.
Also thanks from me too
btw, I think a conversation about rape culture without people thinking there is stick poking going on is almost impossible, here at least. The reasons for that are a complex mix of people taking things personally to the exclusion of the politics, and low tolerance all round leading to not a lot of listening/effective communication.
If the ‘target’ was a neutral (ie, off-site) one, as opposed to ‘half’ the bloody commenters on a particular post, then both the perception of a pokey stick being used and actual pokey sticks being used would be greatly diminished, no? (shrug)*
* really wish there was a thingy jig that produced a shrug. Anyway. (shrug)
Yes, that’s true and certainly lessening such in your face approaches to discussion would help a lot.
I think it’s also true that there are always going to be be people upset personally by the politics. And what do we do with people commenting who are perpetuating rape myths? Once responses to that start, it becomes personal and I don’t see any way around that presently (there’s also the history now, and whether people can get past that). The other unfortunate dynamic is that the conflict happens within groups that should otherwise be political allies (eg the left). I can’t see that changing much until there is greater acceptance within the left of its own issues around gender.
+1 I don’t think he will have emerged from under the rock he has self inflicted himself to hide under by Tuesday. He will be a no show at work.
Paul Little is entitled to his opinion but his piece was boringly predictable and did not contain one single original thought or novel insight. Same for Rodney Hide’s piece. At least John Armstrong, John Roughan, and Fran O’Sullivan occasionally surprise me with a really nice angle or insight. There are some whose columns I almost never read, e.g. Mike Hosking’s.
Of course he is entitled to his opinion – “Northland was stupid to vote for Winston when they could have voted for NACT” but really – what a way to express it.
Imagine how much offence would have been generated by comparing NACT to say a streetwalker (who no doubt is more honest and principaled anyway) .
Compulsory voting, much like democracy, beats the alternatives
Significantly better than ours.
IIRC, our young also don’t vote in droves.
We see this here as governments continue to fail to do anything about bubbling house prices because it will upset the older voters who a) own houses and b) don’t want to see their paper wealth decrease.
Definitely worth considering. I think it’s time that we went to compulsory voting in NZ.
Agree +++ and compulsory unionism.
Compulsory unionism violates the UN declaration of Human Rights as well as the NZ Bill of Rights.
(Disclaimer – before anyone says otherwise I have no problem with unions and support unionisation)
Even if that were true, there are a myriad ways around that, from closed shops to preventing freeloading on collective conditions.
It is true. Article 20 of the UN declaration of human rights specifically outlines the freedom of association.
Indeed.
But one could argue that nobody would be forced to join a union for a specific job. After all, the tories think that working at a specific place is a choice, right? Can’t have your cake and eat it too.
Take it up with the UN
lol did they have a problem with NZ before the employment contracts act?
Surely, you could just ban freeloading on collective conditions?
Anyone not in the union has to go through a negotiating process to achieve their Ts and Cs.
And if they end up getting the same or better Ts and Cs than the union, then the union takes action.
I thought there was a move in this direction in the final Clark administration. Whatever happened to it?
too little, too late.
I’ve heard that prior to the ECA the situation was not technically “compulsory” unionism. Still managed to get a unionised workforce, though.
Disagree with compulsory voting.
We pride ourselves on religious freedom in this country, and one way to support religious freedom, is to support the right not to vote on religious grounds. We have a system where by people exercise their citizen duty by enrolling to vote. And can simply not vote, without jumping through hoops.
I also think we need to ask, rather than use force – why young people are not voting and do not want to vote. I inclined to believe they see through the corruption and hypocrisy of our politicians. Coupled with the fact, the corporations and the 1% are the ones welding power, and no vote or democratic outcome – will make a damn bit of difference with those worshippers of cupidity.
We dont need cumplsory voting, we just need decent candidates and policies.
Compulsory voting for a system which kills and maims and impoverishes …
No thanks
Voting could change the system if more people voted. Not voting will certainly entrench it.
IMO, the big difference between those who don’t support compulsory voting and those of us who do is a matter of perspective. They view voting as a right which people can choose to use or not while I view it as a responsibility that cannot, and should not, be avoided.
We must all have a say in our governance so that our full wisdom is brought to bear rather than just the desires of the rich and elderly.
Draco I understand where you’re coming from with this particular ‘compulsion’
IMO making voting compulsory would not equate to systematic change in an of itself
Making voting compulsory could lead to more people politicizing themselves which in turn could lead to grass roots level change through awareness but the established and entrenched will adjust as necessary to retain control the same way it has done for decades
Compulsory voting is likely to lead to little more than higher invalid vote count and fines (assuming the Australian model of compulsion) as the only way the system knows how to ‘encourage’ people is through monetary penalty
Using Northland as an example of where engagement was in higher numbers but look at what the catalysts were to achieving greater engagement
The establishment is no longer for the people and is in dire need of replacement not greater involvement is propping it up
We have two ways to change the system:
1. Voting for change
2. Bloody revolution
That’s it. There is no other way. You say that we need to change the system and yet you don’t want to use the first.
The system(s) all of them are completely controlled
Treating the electoral system in a vacuum will not alter where we are all headed
Regrettably option two appears the higher chance of success which is hardly an endorsement for it
The path is already decided
oh, good, we can all go back to our playstations and flatscreen teevees then.
Hi Weka
There are many who have chosen the options of distraction and there are many who have chosen a multitude of other options
At some point in the timeline there will be a convergence as the many chosen options are dwindled into a few available options out of absolute necessity
It is once we arrive at that juncture of absolute necessity we will see what those few options actually are and how humanity individually and collectively responds
Too late by then. My comment was more about people who think they know what the future is, or how things will play out. If there’s one thing we can know about the situation we are in, it’s that the ball is in the air and we don’t know where it’s going to land.
(shit, did I just use a sporting analogy).
It appears as if we have not hit rock bottom as a species yet which is disturbing and unsurprising at the same time
To me that is an indicator the juncture has not been reached so I would hope that it won’t be “too late” when it does come because as a species like with addicts it seems we will have to collectively ‘bottom out’ prior to reaching the road to healing
The ball is certainly in the air
It’ll be too late in terms of climate change. We have a window, closing fast. Waiting for the crisis that will force people to change will be too late.
https://henrytapper.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/change.jpeg
HuffPost Canada is reporting that Tom Mulcair has said that if the NDP wins the upcoming Federal election it will be Canada’s last under FPTP. He’s committed to MMP NZ-style.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/01/02/mulcair-ndp-proportional-representation_n_6407056.html
The sourness of the Paul Little article is very telling. A mark of the perennial, passive-aggressive media dissemination of the Crosby Textor construct narrative – “Key is gold !”. And its extension – “……ergo, all challengers are base”.
Oh “Boo !” Paul Little…….were there the foundation for “John Key quipped…..” you and your mates’d be writing it up as the political howler of the new century. Some would say many of your PC’s templates need serious modification if not deletion. That ain’t gonna kill ya.
Little’s sourness (not saved by cursory mention of Northland issues) reminds me of when Helen Clark appointed Peters foreign minister all those years ago – the Press Gallery in high dudgeon in the flavour of – “We simply will not tolerate this !!!”
7 days remaining until the scheduled return of the Rawshark 2.
+100 Parsupial…and hope you saw the moon last night
I only saw the partial eclipse (about the same as the; @kristen_nz, tweet pic in this RNZ article) before it clouded over and started drizzling:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/270324/-blood-moon-seen-across-nz
Wow thanks very much…I must admit I forgot to watch…distracted elsewhere….but those picture are very good!
funnily enough, I was just thinking today that both the frequency and degree of outright nutty arguments have decreased markedly over the last week or so. And then 9/11 comes up again…
Interesting article and film about a group of workers in New York struggling on five (US) dollars an hour. They’re sandwich makers at a deli.
Five dollars an hour in the land of the free: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/five-dollars-an-hour-in-the-land-of-the-free/
Meanwhile, in Mexico, fruitpickers are taking on some of the world’s biggest and richest companies: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/04/01/mexican-farm-workers-strike/
In the south of Ireland, 6,000 workers at one of the largest retail chains went on strike on Thursday against low-hours contracts, low pay, and for full recognition of their union by the retail company: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/6000-dunnes-stores-workers-strike-in-south-of-ireland/
Here, the Cotton On distribution workers won a victory, fairly rare these days for the working class: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/workers-at-cotton-on-win-pay-and-teabreak-victory/
Paleo meets Silicone.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/67613218/nicky-watson-and-paleo-pete-to-marry
lol nice line
Free Khalida Jarrar.
Khalida Jarrar is one of the central leaders of the PFLP, a member of its politbureau.
On April 2,dozens of soldiers of the Israeli occupation forced their way into her home in Ramallah and arrested her for “terrorist” involvement – the usual Israeli designation for anyone resisting the occupation.
After holding her for a while at an Israeli detention centre in the West Bank, they moved her to a prison in Israel.
Jarrar is particularly involved with the rights of Palestinian prisoners and the liberation of Palestinian women.
Story at: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/free-khalida-jarrar/
Re: NZ First becoming a “country party”.
I think this is a natural constituency for them.
Think about the sort of vote Social Credit had. Although many people who voted SC at their height are probably dead now and SC hasn’t existed as a mass force for 30 years or more, there will be plenty of people with some sort of memory of them. There was always a natural Social Credit constituency in rural areas and NZF could easily mop up whatever elements of it still exist.
Whereas other parties – Alliance, ACT, Anderton’s Progressives, Mauri Pacific, Peters’ outfit – have come and gone (and I suspect the Maori Party will go too) – the two MMP-era parties that have a future, because they have a constituency, a stable socio-political base, are the Greens and NZF.
NZF is to the left of Labour on economic policy and to the right of them on social issues. And there’s enough people like that, especially in the regions, to give them a couple of electorate seats and maybe 10% of the vote, possibly even get them back to 1996 levels (I think they got over 13% of the vote that year, I recall they had 17 MPs) as long as they have Winston and provided they manage the succession well. I think either Ron Marks or Shane Jones would do, to keep that base. I think the leader of NZF, for some time anyway, interestingly, will need to be Maori.
One thing about NZF that is also often forgotten is just how big their core base of support is in the Maori seats. They’re the only party apart from Labour to have held all the Maori seats. Moreover, when they captured all the Maori seats, they also won the party vote in all of them but one. They did far, far better than the Maori Party at its height. While that support dropped away, Winston is not just popular among old National types who recall the days when National pursued Keynesian economics; he’s also really popular among Maori because he’s seen as a ‘Maori boy made good’ who sticks it up to the establishment.
So are the so-called ‘left’ parties now going to drop the ‘two ticks’ policy for the 2017 General Election?
ie: Campaign hard and strong for the PARTY vote, but campaign strategically for the ELECTORATE vote, especially in pivotal seats?
Given that ‘doing a Northland’ has proven to be rather spectacularly successful?
ie: Vote strategically for the candidate that has the best chance of taking the seat off National, or National’s coalition allies?
In my view, that doesn’t mean so-called ‘left’ political parties not standing electorate candidates in pivotal seats, but campaigning on the issues, for PARTY not ELECTORATE votes.
The reason why I say ‘so-called left parties’ is because, in my view, that terminology became redundant after the 1984 – 87 Labour Government introduced the neo-liberal ‘Rogernomic$’ reforms.
In my view – the line in the sand is ‘public majority’ vs ‘corporate minority’ and those who serve their interests….
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
What I have found is a useful yardstick in deciding ‘who is the MAIN electoral enemy’ – as it were – is to check the ‘mood of the boardroom’ (BIG business CEOs) – find out who THEY would prefer to run NZ in the House – then do the opposite.
Because, in my opinion, that’s how our NZ ‘democracy’ works – according to the ‘Golden Rule’.
ie: Those who have the gold make the rules, and we get the government that the majority of BIG business wants us to have.
Penny Bright
“check the ‘mood of the boardroom’ (BIG business CEOs) – find out who THEY would prefer to run NZ in the House”
Good point, but HOW do we or the ordinary voters find out that info from the BB CEOs?
I strongly disagree for two reasons:
1) It is a counter-productive dichotomy to view politics as warfare between friends/allies versus enemies to produce “winners & losers”. This is 20th-century politics; it is time to invent and develop new paradigms;
2) It runs counter to critical independent thinking and taking full ownership of one’s own choices.
1) It is a counter-productive dichotomy to view politics as warfare between friends/allies versus enemies to produce “winners & losers”. This is 20th-century politics; it is time to invent and develop new paradigms;
^this
Matthew Gardiner, the Northern Territory unionist who fought against ISIS has been arrested on return to Oz. He could be looking at a lengthy jail term for doing independently what Australia wants to train the Iraqi troops to do for themselves.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/former-labor-party-president-matthew-gardiner-arrested-at-darwin-airport-20150405-1meqhx.html
Thanks for the link te reo putake – Disgraceful from the the Australian Government.
Up’s to Bill – he has said this would happen, many times over the last few months here on the standard.
+1
Shockingly disgraceful.
Look at the photo of Matthew Gardiner. An intelligent, compassionate and rational person who is on the same side as the Western powers. So, who is mad? The Australian law enforcers that’s who. Someone should arrest them and now?!!
He has been release without begin charge, but AFP are still continuing with its enquiries in regards to his time spent of overseas.
Canada beat NZ in the world sevens in Tokyo…..!shock and awe.
Whose fault? Our fault. Don’t read if you want to remain ignorant
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth?ocid=global_future_rss
This example is precisely why I switch off when it comes to discussions and articles about ‘climate change’
There are prerequisite activities not to mention systematic changes to the current ‘capitalist consumerist model’ which far precede any functionally useful discussions around ‘climate change’
Until the prerequisites are being addressed and actions taken to radically alter the mode of operation such wastelands will continue to multiply and expand
A sobering link
Thanks MM
Regardless of your views on Easter Sunday/Good Friday trading, you all have to admit, that it is stupid to forbid the selling of alcohol on Easter Sunday. This is sort of the stuff that happens in Saudi Arabia…
Meh, I don’t know if it’s that bad to have a couple of holidays in NZ that aren’t entirely piss-focused.
hi millsy, not everyone would have to admit it is stupid to forbid sale of liquor on easter sunday.
people who are made to give up their time to sell it for a start.
Global warming / climate change .
Just finished watching Tony Robinson on prime , Birth of Britain .
It seems about three hundred thousand years ago Britain was at least 5 degrees warmer than today , all sorts of animals roamed the country , lions , hippos etc etc .
O’dear along came an ice age , followed by , you guessed it , global warming and of course the ice melted .
Science has proved it’s about a 300 thousand year cycle , plenty of proof this happened .
One thing for sure global warming at the time wasn’t man made .
zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Ignorant rto. Somebody said it happened 300,000 years ago. Is he a Climate change denier? They’re very good at making things up. Even so there are other reasons why it might have happened 300,000 years ago. Today it is largely due to a rapid increase in CO2 output caused by humankind. Hope you have grandkids. Serve you right if they die before their allotted time. More than likely they will view people like yourself with utter contempt for being so stupid (mind you most deniers can’t help that) and blind and landing them and their kids in such a terrible mess.
I watched it too, RtO. You’re almost there. Well done! Everyone give RtO a little golf clap for being so brave as to admit the recent climate change exists.
The last little baby step you need, RtO, is to discover the timescale of previous climate change events, and compare that with the timescale of this one. Google “snowball earth” if you really want to learn something.
Then for good measure, compare that with the timescale of the climate change in the Anthropocene. And the trend in the atmospheric carbon isotope ratio.
Then you can reflect on the fact that Tony Robinson can be sure of his facts because Climatology, which you claim is a hoax.
And then you can imagine my contempt and derision.
For the public record – I absolutely support architects and engineers for 9/11 truth, in their quest for an independent inquiry.
http://www.ae911truth.org
As someone who has some understanding of metal – I know that the heat generated from burning airplane fuel (kerosene) cannot possibly melt steel, and cause the Twin Towers to collapse in their own footprint at free fall speed.
You have GOT to be kidding.
Penny Bright
Advanced Trade
Sheetmetal Engineering
Aviation fuel was the only material burning was it, your Madness?
Q. Does it make you feel more of a man when you insult others ?
You are not allowed to question 9/11 on this site.
Free thinking is banned on this subject.
Personal insults are the substitute for critical thinking and discussion.
Perhaps the fact that your modus operandum is to insult people’s intelligence by raising long-dead zombie arguments rather than admitting you’ve got nothing substantive to say, has something to do with the reaction you get.
Sums. Hard work. NIST report. Fourteen years of this inept flailing.
Yet you keep coming back with the same responses as if the entire process and circumstances have been transparent and above board
The ineptitude you are shrieking about is not the work of commentators such as Paul
Inept is nothing but a soothing synonym for corrupt
The inept flailing is all yours. It’s so much easier to allege corruption than do sums.
Corruption outs itself and has nothing to do with ‘sums’
That’s what I tried to explain to the auditors, but they wouldn’t listen… /sarc
Seriously, are you arguing that the NIST report is wrong even if all its sums are correct? That the sums are correct, but that the conclusions the sums lead to are incorrect?
But Penny’s got a sheetmetal trade cert. That makes her practically a professor of materials engineering, ya know.
McFlock, don’t forget that science is in a permanent state of wibbly wobbly, and changes all the time. That includes Maths, even though it’s an art.
I have not been referring to a NIST report and made that clear towards the top end of open mike
Lies fraud and corruption are deeply ingrained and yet people still want to assert there is ‘truth’ in what they believe
So, muphrey, when you wrote”Q. Who here knows the content of the 28 redacted pages of the report ?” in a subthread specifically about the NIST report, your reference to “the report” was a reference to a random one of the millions of other reports published in human history rather than the report that was the topic of discussion?
Thanks for your contribution. One day you might avoid being a waste of column-space.
“You are not allowed to question 9/11 on this site.
Free thinking is banned on this subject.”
Bullshit paul The Standard team does no such thing – that is up there with pete george’s rubbish – in fact you posted on it today didn’t you.
For me, it feels a bit like when I get climate deniers on here.
When I notice it, I tend to shift from the acerbic to the outright sarcastic in my comments to them. When I have time, I take a dissection tool to whatever the fools arguments are. Basically I tear at their knowledge and their egos. Mostly because having done some training around the science, fantasists on the subject just piss me off. Since I’m not a climate scientist, I don’t need to be polite and don’t really feel constrained by their usual restraint when dealing with scientific illiterates.
This is also known as free thinking and (relatively) free speech. For me it is pleasant fun and robust debate.
The same applies to 9/11, chemtrails, vaccinations conspiracies, fluoridation and a whole pile of other theories. I generally ignore most of those. But so far I haven’t seen much evidence that convinces me that there is anything substantive on them. But they still get allowed, with the usual extremely skeptical audience.
As a moderator, about the only I usually notice ‘free-tinker’ behaviour if they start astroturfing comments, doing the diversion off topic in other posts that aren’t on those topics, making assertions of fact without linking or explaining, or when they start doing the whine that people disagree with them and are unpleasant in how they point that out. With a subtext that free speech should be allowed for them, but not for others. These are all behaviours that aren’t permitted to exist on the site to any large extent. I usually point them to policy, and if it keeps repeating, I escalate from warnings to bans.
But if it is just robust debate, I just keep an eye on them to see if anything is going over the line.
+100 Penny
An independent enquiry would shed some light on the true story behind 9/11
What is the true story waiting to be illuminated?
didn’t some lawyer have an independent enquiry? Came up with zip. Good pr exercise though, and I bet it got him a goodcareer on the speaking tour.
Yes, maybe it should be called the “911 Commission”
Have just read this very interesting article by Doug Edmeades in the nzfarmer March 16. page 7 and thought some of you might like to have a look.
Titled ‘Science, one voice among many’ it is quite thought provoking in my opinion.
http://tinyurl.com/q7phpkm
It’s behind a wall. Could you summarise?
I’ll summarise:
Climate change denial.
The title alone screams it.
Why not title it “Opinions are like arseholes, we all have one”
Or “Farmers: entitled arseholes who deny facts”
Farmers are happy with science when it makes them some coin, but it’s rude to mention the cost of their filthy emissions.
He has been release without begin charge, but AFP are still continuing with its enquiries in regards to his time spent of overseas.
Gosh have you seen this, we know that the Nats have infiltrated all the public services and filled them at taxpayers expense with flunkies but still… astonishing the level of control!
Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy was advised to ignore calls and don’t answer the phone following concerns raised over foreign drivers.
Last month, the Otago Daily Times requested an interview with the commissioner after publishing a story on a Dunedin man who snatched keys from a foreign driver.
Following her refusal to front, the ODT filed an Official Information Act (OIA) request for all documents received or sent by the commissioner on the topic.
The first email, from an undisclosed employee of the Human Rights Commission immediately following the OIA request, advised the commissioner to “ignore calls and don’t answer phone”.
“Media are after you for comment on foreign drivers getting keys taken off them … we really don’t want to get into this … Police have had their say, PM is all over it etc etc so we are best to leave it at this.”
A follow-up email to the commissioner said: “I want to keep comments from me so that you are not seen to be commenting on this issue at all … Right now we’ve had no complaints and it’s an operational policing issue that needs to be sorted out at that level immediately, it is also anecdotal with a lot of media hype.”
My God maybe good news after all, is MSM stepping up with real news???
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/338243/commissioner-quiet
I agree with the final bit in that link (it’s not a race relations issue). But the emails seem weird. Pity the ODT didn’t report on that more fully. I do wonder if it speaks more to Devoy’s um lack of experience in the job and staffers trying to save themselves some bother, than Ministerial interference. Isn’t the HRC one of the depts getting cut?