Sorry, this link is off topic (although is bound to be somehow relevant most probably), but I didn’t know where else to put it and I’m sure many will find it interesting
Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz describes the TPP as “worst trade deal ever”.
He’s coming from a Canadian perspective but all of his points are relevant for New Zealand.
If the link has already been posted somewhere on The Standard then sorry again! 🙂
Like Su’a Williams Climate Change Taskforce to Tuvalu and Kiribati.
Or the Unaoil “Bribe Factory” scandal
The silence over a leading Labour MP trying to raise the issue of climate change caused by fossil fuel use is deafening.
The only mainstream media mention of Su’a William Sio’s Climate Change Task Force, that I have seen was a small segment on Radio NZ.
However….
Listen to the report and notice the hostile line of questioning taken by RNZ.
Brigit Grace for RNZ attacks the Climate Change Taskforce for not including Tokelau in their tour of the front line states.
In my opinion this is a side issue. In answer to this criticism, SWS said that cost and logistics had prevented the inclusion of Tokelau. He said that Tokelau and the other affected islands should be visited by government MPs, to investigate and publicise what is going on in these islands.) In my opinion that this is not being done fully, should not be a criticism of Su’a William Sio but of the whole establishment.
In my opinion, we need to help break through the silence and hostility that faces any main stream politician that dares to break ranks and tries to confront the realities of climate change caused by fossil fuel use. And give them all the encouragement and support we can.
UNAOIL:
The silence around the Unaoil scandal by our politicians and political commentators reveals another glaringly obvious blindspot around the activities of the fossil fuel industry.
In Australia the media that have bravely dared to publish this story, have called on the Turnbull government to make a statement.
“The revelations place intense pressure on the Turnbull government to respond to corporate corruption scandals with the same ferocity they have attacked corrupt unionists.”
Until the moment Fairfax Media and The Huffington Post hit the publish button revealing how the oil industry really works, our investigative team was on tenterhooks.
This was more than simple pre-publication nerves, the questions we invariably ask ourselves about whether we have got it right, and what we had missed in the hundreds of thousands of documents we’d read over the previous months.
No, our concern was more specific: that an Australian court, an unsympathetic judge, might stop us publishing this global story. It would have left The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald newspapers with seven blank pages each, and thousands of words of crucial information unable to be published online.
It may have meant a story that Fairfax Media’s reporters had worked on solidly for months would be broken overseas by our collaborator, The Huffington Post, not by the reporters who sourced, corroborated, combed and read hundreds of thousands of emails.
The Standard has to make the same decision that Fairfax had to make; Should we courageously cover these important stories before our competitors do, or should we risk being left behind?
Or are we too deep in the Labour Party’s pocket to raise issues that might challenge the Labour Party’s rigid unwavering support for coal mining and deep sea oil drilling?
Generally what I’ve done is look at the draft, suggest changes and then put it up. However, whether it’s me or via the ‘contribute’ button, sometimes time can be an issue for the volunteers who run this joint, so if it’s a ‘breaking news’ sort of thing that can be problematic. But if it’s an opinion piece, and a couple of days delay isn’t a worry, then that shouldn’t cause any grief.
Bernie Sanders’ campaign is rolling out a series of new videos featuring celebrity supporters, with the first debuting on Monday starring Mark Ruffalo and directorMatthew Cooke talking about what they see as a “crisis of credibility” in the political system.
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For a start, Moroney is a 1%, good God, the woman owns 4 properties, including a beach house valued at around 800k and earns over 150k a year +perks.
If she’s that bent out of shape about child poverty she can sell her beach house and donate the money to some child poverty charity, the hypocrisy is just mind boggling.
Also the fact that she basically crapped all over the close to 1 million people who voted for the alternative flag was another reason she got clobbered.
The class angle is horse shit, she was just trying to score a cheap political point against Key and National at the expense of some innocent individual expressing his/her view.
Meh, wealth envy, John Key sent out flags to his supporters & they flew them on their super big beach houses & someone had the temerity to point it out. Big fucking deal. I only mentioned it because of my relative who got sent the flag by his National mates (& yes hes a National supporter through & through – which is what the article is about).
So child poverty does exist in NZ? Or you avoiding that part of your own comment?
Huh? Just because she’s wealthy means she can’t have a working class (90% of us) view on the flag referendum? Because Trotter is dead right on this one. That is exactly what happened. We watched this over-entitled prime minister and his equally over-entitled sycophants dump a flag on us and effectively tell us to… vote for it or else. The anger among those willing to think about it was palpable. Who the bloody hell does he think he is?
And it wasn’t just confined to the ‘working class’. I live in a part of town not far from where swanky residences are two a penny and I noticed several of them erected flag poles earlier in the year and flew the current flag – Union Jack n’all. So, he didn’t even carry all his own ‘rich pricks’ mates with him this time.
I’ve never made no bones of being relatively well-off, and the man who shaped my socialist views more than anyone else was probably richer than John Key.
Singling out an individual to solve a problem we have all created collectively is called scapegoating. Ugly at best.
I don’t recall Moroney’s tweet mentioning child poverty so that’s just an irrelevant distraction.
As for Trotter’s piece, I think it sums up the way the flag referendum panned out quite well. Certainly in Queenstown, where I live, it was hard to escape the conclusion that die-hard National supporters were flying the Lockwood flag because Key wanted it rather than any burning desire on their part to change the flag or, God forbid, update our constitutional arrangements.
Fair enough – I never saw the hashtag.
Trotter’s piece still underlines the way the voting in the referendum turned out correctly though. There was decided whiff of class division in the voting.
The biggest disappointment for me was the way the PM and his cohorts tried to get a flag change past the public, who made it clear they didn’t really see the need for change, for no other reason than personal vanity.
“The biggest disappointment for me was the way Labour politicized the flag issue, seriously, arguing against your own policy, what a ridiculous party.”
Ah, the lies. I’d say the past few weeks have been disappointing for the neoliberals for many reasons in addition to the flag.
Totally looks like you’ve moved on, dear. Have another slurp of chardonnay and tell us all about it. Nasty, mean, Moroney dared to link $26M on a teatowel campaign and child poverty in NZ, what a bitch. But you’re over it now, thank goodness…
But you know I care little for labour Bro, the few weeks are the gaffs one after another after another, the hits for this national government keep coming.
Hell the had to reach for Auntie Helen (TM) to curb the current crisis. A bad few weeks bro, and they just going to keep commming.
More to come bro, more to come. So funny to watch.
P.S. who cares about the labour party, they own their own waka, not the one about half of us lefties here are sailing on – they a least a better type of liberal than the Tory idiots on the other side of the house.
You cannot be rich & care about the poor apparently. Or if you do care about the poor you yourself have to go about in threadbare rags. All surface stuff for the righties.
The fact the mealy mouthed bach owners complained (probably because they were still smarting over the great unwashed not doing what they were told) shows they were deserving of being bagged.
Its more the hypocrisy of Moroney to talk about rich people when she herself is rich and then following it up by pretty much saying anyone elses opinion on the flag is wrong if it differs from hers
Does anyone else get the impression that the PM is pushing the Helen Clark nomination a bit early as a smokescreen and to provide himself with an antiseptic character-wash by being associated with a more principled person than himself? Note the combined Tracy Watkins, Audrey Young PR team plus the name dropping of Lorde and Lydia Ko. Subtle, not!
(He probably couldn’t work out how to fit Ed Hilary into his patter as well.)
Yep, though it lovely to think how conflicted the upper echelons of the National Party must be with this, given how many years they spent telling anyone stupid enough to listen what what an evil, socialist bitch she was.
Does anyone else get the impression that the PM is pushing the Helen Clark nomination a bit early as a smokescreen and to provide himself with an antiseptic character-wash by being associated with a more principled person than himself?
As a distraction from the fact the he and National have turned NZ into a tax haven?
Its why he’ll get his fourth term in power, pragmatism above ideology…also considering how many lesson hes took off Helen Clark its no real surprise he rates her
Key has moved from pragmatism to mendacity. And the sad thing is that he probably doesn’t see what he has become as he has transited from being amoral to immoral.
I’m not saying that being amoral is good, but it sure as hell is better than treating everybody else as fools and toys to manipulate. It’s aptitude him and Mike Laws didn’t inhabit the same beehive as it surely would have inverted into Dantes Inferno.
(I have never trusted him since he told the story of how he used to piss into a milk bottle rather than leave his trading screens.)
Frankly, I became concerned that he was trying to nobble a more successful NZer than he will ever be.
John Key giving Clark advice on how to act in an international forum is fucking hilarious – wandering around lobbies in a dressing gown and running a campaign that’s “pretty legal” (according to the campaign manager) might be enough if you’re the big fish in the small pond, but the UN is a very deep ocean…
The UN without the USA is a toothless tiger, John Key knows how to schmooze and knows how to get on with people and win people over
Yes the UN is a big ocean so for Helen Clark to succeed it’ll help to have the Americans in your corner and John Key is pretty good mates with someone from the USA that’s got a bit of influence
In other words, if Clark needs help from a lickspittle toady, she can ask Key for help.
If having the Americans in your corner helps so much, why does the general assembly keep voting against Israel? How do you think Russia will vote regarding the favoured US candidate?
Clark’s best bet is to run between the veto powers, not get identified as the candidate of one or the other. Be the compromise candidate, solid, reliable and with a good track record. Which she has.
Hope I’m the first on this site to offer my congratulations to Helen Clark for being nominated for the position of UN Secretary General.
Having had the good fortune to witness Helen growing in stature from the time she was a young university student to the present day, I can say none of it was accidental. An extraordinary ability to work hard, total dedication to a cause, and a sparkling clarity of vision and foresight has got her to this high point in her life. Add to that an equally extraordinary physical constitution and the United Nations will hopefully be the lucky recipient of a fantastic woman Secretary General.
I wish her the very, very ,very best of luck with her nomination.
When the left abandoned internationalism, and allowed the financial elites unlimited space to create truly global networks, we made a terrible mistake. Helen Clark is one of the few to have attempted to retake it.
Firstly there are no RWNJ trolls, that’s a label left-wing nut bars use in an attempt to silence dissenting views and secondly can you be a little more specific?
Oh please look in the mirror Puckish Rogue – you have got the nut bar label – quite deservedly on many occasions.
And now you trying a lame twisting of it.
So you far bot’s of few marbles, let me reminded you that if you are talking nort but ideological clap trap. I’m going to call you a right wing nut job or RWNJ for short.
It seems worth observing that MMP is not living up to our original hopes in it. It seems to have morphed into a form of FFP on the right, with the smaller parties functioning as subsets of National, pitted against a diverse left that is inherently unable to achieve a unity of purpose matching that of the FFP-like right.
One of the reasons we found MMP so attractive was the belief that it would curb the tendency toward elected dictatorships, which allowed Roger Douglas to transform the economy without public consent. But once again, we have a PM determined to recreate NZ in his own preferred image. The bolt hole for the rich and famous and the “safe” tax haven are not intended to improve the lives of the majority of New Zealanders – they are surplus to requirements. This is NZ as an abstract entity, there to be filled with whatever the person at the helm sees fit – the very thing we sought to prevent when we voted for MMP.
I do not ask that we get rid of MMP, only whether there is a way of making it work more as we originally envisaged. It seems to rely too much on good faith, reverting to FFP like results where that is lacking.
Basically you don’t like that John Key will get a fourth term and because the Left in NZ are useless you want a way to change the results you don’t like
Once again the true colours of the left come out, we loooove democracy, democracy is great right up until a government we don’t like gets elected and then its “It seems worth observing that MMP is not living up to our original hopes in it”
and “making it work more as we originally envisaged”
Who says its not, who says its not working as envisaged? Why should National be penalised because of the hopelessness of the Left?
You would foist a useless government on NZ simply because Nationals too good and you don’t like it?
Heres an idea, get a decent leader, get some decent policies costed and some decent MPs to talk about it, convince the Greens to continue to be the bridesmaid and support whatever Labour says and the Left will win the next election (2020)
It makes me really mad when I hear s**t like this, its not Nationals fault the left lose, its not John Keys, the medias, the VRWC, the fault for the lefts sad showing the last couple of elections is down to the Left and the Left alone
My god how many of you pinned hopes on KDC taking down John Key or Hone Harawira riding in to save the day or Winston suddenly wanting to deal with Labour and the Greens instead of taking a long hard look at where the problems lie
Because: Something doesn’t seem right with recent the New Zealand election. Evidence of fraudulent voting and it makes no sense that people would local vote left and party vote right. Is this another case of Electoral Fraud?
You have missed my point, which is that Key is able to treat NZ as if it were his personal fiefdom. We voted for MMP to prevent that kind of thing. Therefore, MMP is not currently doing what we hoped it would. This is still nominally a democracy, which assumes a leader that tries to act on behalf of all New Zealanders, believing that his or her position on the right-left spectrum is the one best suited to serving that end. In what sense does a tax haven and an influx of super-rich refugees benefit all New Zealanders?
So you hold that an elected dictatorship is the best thing, so long as it ends up being a dictator you like. I think that the leader of a country should have the broader public good in mind, whether they are of left or right persuasion. And Key frequently implements policies he has not campaigned on, often under urgency so they will not even get to be debated. So you can hardly claim that in these cases that he is doing what he said he was going to do.
I think that whoever gains enough seats to form the government should form the government irrespective of my own personal feelings
The left will probably gain power in 2020 but I guarantee you that I won’t be calling for a change in the democratic process simply because I don’t like whose in
Read the RM poll, their is no fourth term for Key, 45% doesn’t cut it in a democracy, the next govt won’t include your dearly beloved leader so both of you will have to throw your toys out the window.
Let me explain why you’re wrong, when you take %s only you fail to take into account that Act + Peter Dunne gain virtually nil votes but provide two seats (I’m betting Act will get two seats this time) which means that plus the Maori Partys possible two seats gives John Key options
Or National + NZFirst
Whereas the left have to have Labour + the Greens + NZFirst and possibly the MP and Peter Dunne and even then it still may not be enough
John Key has more options then Andrew Little
Remember I’ll be back after the next election to say I told you so
Ignoring polls and blind hope, what would you put your house on, a national or labour led government after next election. Be truthful and no wimping out that I don’t bet
The RM poll is the most encouraging poll for you guys, but is consistently showing (under MMP) that the govt will likely change at the next election, you can mince the numbers anyway you like, but the trend is against you, the sheeple are slowly waking up, the lies are finally catching up with PM.
If you have a look at the Roy Morgan Site, the historical trend shows clearly, each time there is a fall in consumer confidence, support for National falls and Labour increases, from that you could say that the public has more faith in Labour if the economy goes sour.
Don’t forget that that last poll from RM, showed Labour 28%, Greens 14% and NZF 9% = 51%, and this is from RM, the most favorable towards your mates, the tide is going out for Key, you may as well prepare yourselves for the inevitable.
Yes, I have just gone back and had another look at that debate. If I have understood the argument correctly, it would put an end to the FPP-MMP hybrid that we (in my eyes) have now, and demand instead across the board negotiation and participation.
I think so. At the moment, it might not be ‘first past the post’ per se. But every bugger is jockeying to be on the winning nag. Just look how Winston Peters or Peter Dunne have sought, in their different ways, to unseat the Greens in the past. Or look at how (arguably) Labour helped kill mana because they couldn’t be seen to share saddle space with them.
All that shit dies a death with the passing of a fixed term parliament act.
To be honest, I don’t know why neither Labour or the Greens have put the idea forward. They are the ones who would seem to benefit most from such a change.
There’s a nice thing they do in Korea, which is limited presidential terms. Five years they get – and that’s it. No ifs or maybes and no coming back. Wouldn’t be a bad thing for quite a few of our pollies, & good to keep in mind should we ever go republic. Fixed term parliaments will need a few safeguards.
Legislation will be introduced to rewrite the Social Security Act to reflect a modern, work-focused welfare system and to ensure the law is clear and fit for purpose.
Yes, and it is as it stands a rather brutal attack on the poor.
No doubt PR will tell us how brilliant this national government is, but when they purpose legislation like this, unannounced – it just goes to show what vicious amoral cretonnes the Tory scum really are.
I noted this from the scoop link. What does it mean – behind those well chosen words?
This year,ACC levies will drop by a total of $450 million and the Government will also confirm the funding policy for future levies.
From 1 April, the average work levy paid by businesses will reduce by 11 per cent to 80 cents per $100 of liable earnings, and the earners’ levy, paid by everyone in the paid workforce, will decrease by 4 per cent to $1.21 per $100 of liable earnings….
(Me – Does this mean that workers have to pay 50% more than employers towards ACC costs,)
As part of this approach, the Government has set 10 challenging results for the public service to achieve, including reducing crime, long-term welfare dependency and educational underachievement. Agencies will continue to work to achieve these targets….
Most sole parents, and partners of beneficiaries, will have to be available for part-time work once their youngest child turns three, rather than five as now.All beneficiaries with part-time work obligations will be expected to find work for 20 hours a week, rather than 15 hours a week as now.
Childcare subsidies for pre-schoolers and the OSCAR subsidy for out-of-school and school holiday programmes will also increase for lower-income families from 1 April.
The Government will this year progress legislation to provide better support to 19-year-old parents and other unemployed 18- and 19-year-olds at risk of long term welfare dependence. Legislation will be introduced to rewrite the Social Security Act to reflect a modern, work-focused welfare system and to ensure the law is clear and fit for purpose…..
A Police-led, multi-agency Gang Intelligence Centre will be established to tackle and prevent gang crime and reduce the harm it causes to families and communities….
The Government will introduce legislation this year to reform Te Ture Whenua Maori Act, to help unlock the economic potential of Maori land.The Government will also continue to resolve historical Treaty of Waitangi claims, and intends for all willing and able iwi to have settled by 2017….
In March this year, 2,800 Housing New Zealand homes will be transferred to the Tamaki Redevelopment Company.This will result in at least 7,500 new homes in that area over the next 10 to 15 years, of which more than a third will be for social housing.The transfer of Housing New Zealand properties to community housing providers in Invercargill and Tauranga will happen later this year….
This year will see a transition to greater local control as the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority is wound up. CERA’s functions have been passed to other government departments, and the Government has established two new organisations in its place.
A new Crown company, Otakaro Ltd, has been established to oversee the development of the central city anchor projects.Another organisation, Regenerate Christchurch, will provide strong local leadership. It will have the ability to propose planning changes and oversee the long-term development of the central city, residential red zone and New Brighton….
Our approach will remain as it always has been, taking the public with us by clearly outlining our actions and priorities, and always keeping in mind why we are in government – to make this country a better place for New Zealanders and their families.
Well as far as the ACC goes the payouts from the work (employer funded) and non work (employee funded) pools are about the same. Also no one ever provides a figure for work injuries that wind up in the non work pool. So in theory the levies on a $100 of earnings should be about the same for employer and employee.
As you point out employees are paying far more and thereby subsidizing employer bad behavior. And it beats me how some industries like forestry remain insurable at all for employers.
MSM will ask the question – don’t think so.
I think this is the same as what came through on fb.
NZCCSS will be working on our analysis and response to this Bill in the coming months and we look forward to networking with others on the issues the Bill raises for vulnerable people and their communities.Watch this space!
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NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
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Sorry, this link is off topic (although is bound to be somehow relevant most probably), but I didn’t know where else to put it and I’m sure many will find it interesting
Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz describes the TPP as “worst trade deal ever”.
He’s coming from a Canadian perspective but all of his points are relevant for New Zealand.
If the link has already been posted somewhere on The Standard then sorry again! 🙂
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/joseph-stiglitz-tpp-1.3515452
[lprent: there is always a place. OpenMike. ]
I will take you up on that Lynn
There are some things we just don’t talk about.
Like Su’a Williams Climate Change Taskforce to Tuvalu and Kiribati.
Or the Unaoil “Bribe Factory” scandal
The silence over a leading Labour MP trying to raise the issue of climate change caused by fossil fuel use is deafening.
The only mainstream media mention of Su’a William Sio’s Climate Change Task Force, that I have seen was a small segment on Radio NZ.
However….
Listen to the report and notice the hostile line of questioning taken by RNZ.
Brigit Grace for RNZ attacks the Climate Change Taskforce for not including Tokelau in their tour of the front line states.
In my opinion this is a side issue. In answer to this criticism, SWS said that cost and logistics had prevented the inclusion of Tokelau. He said that Tokelau and the other affected islands should be visited by government MPs, to investigate and publicise what is going on in these islands.) In my opinion that this is not being done fully, should not be a criticism of Su’a William Sio but of the whole establishment.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/201793795/nz's-labour-puts-focus-on-pacific-climate-change-threat
In my opinion, we need to help break through the silence and hostility that faces any main stream politician that dares to break ranks and tries to confront the realities of climate change caused by fossil fuel use. And give them all the encouragement and support we can.
UNAOIL:
The silence around the Unaoil scandal by our politicians and political commentators reveals another glaringly obvious blindspot around the activities of the fossil fuel industry.
In Australia the media that have bravely dared to publish this story, have called on the Turnbull government to make a statement.
The Standard has to make the same decision that Fairfax had to make; Should we courageously cover these important stories before our competitors do, or should we risk being left behind?
Or are we too deep in the Labour Party’s pocket to raise issues that might challenge the Labour Party’s rigid unwavering support for coal mining and deep sea oil drilling?
“The Standard” does not make decisions.
If you want a topic covered, write a post.
Just avoid the TS gmail address, it’s a black hole. I think TRP (?) has made their email address available to prospective authors, I contact Bill.
I’m always happy to help. tereoputake@gmail.com is the go.
Generally what I’ve done is look at the draft, suggest changes and then put it up. However, whether it’s me or via the ‘contribute’ button, sometimes time can be an issue for the volunteers who run this joint, so if it’s a ‘breaking news’ sort of thing that can be problematic. But if it’s an opinion piece, and a couple of days delay isn’t a worry, then that shouldn’t cause any grief.
Let’s see how well Bernie Sanders does in Wisconsin…
http://variety.com/2016/biz/news/mark-ruffalo-bernie-sanders-media-blackout-1201744788/
Bernie Sanders’ campaign is rolling out a series of new videos featuring celebrity supporters, with the first debuting on Monday starring Mark Ruffalo and directorMatthew Cooke talking about what they see as a “crisis of credibility” in the political system.
____________________________________
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Wow. So the yanks have finally realised there’s a crisis in Western politics. Feel the Bern!
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2016/04/was-class-decisive-factor-in.html
About ‘that tweet’ about the flag on my uncles bach.
That article is is load of utter dross.
For a start, Moroney is a 1%, good God, the woman owns 4 properties, including a beach house valued at around 800k and earns over 150k a year +perks.
If she’s that bent out of shape about child poverty she can sell her beach house and donate the money to some child poverty charity, the hypocrisy is just mind boggling.
Also the fact that she basically crapped all over the close to 1 million people who voted for the alternative flag was another reason she got clobbered.
Child poverty in NZ does exist or only when you in a smearing mood?
It’s not a smear, she’s a very wealthy person.
The class angle is horse shit, she was just trying to score a cheap political point against Key and National at the expense of some innocent individual expressing his/her view.
Meh, wealth envy, John Key sent out flags to his supporters & they flew them on their super big beach houses & someone had the temerity to point it out. Big fucking deal. I only mentioned it because of my relative who got sent the flag by his National mates (& yes hes a National supporter through & through – which is what the article is about).
So child poverty does exist in NZ? Or you avoiding that part of your own comment?
Ah…the flag referendum…the dead parrot that keeps on giving.
Huh? Just because she’s wealthy means she can’t have a working class (90% of us) view on the flag referendum? Because Trotter is dead right on this one. That is exactly what happened. We watched this over-entitled prime minister and his equally over-entitled sycophants dump a flag on us and effectively tell us to… vote for it or else. The anger among those willing to think about it was palpable. Who the bloody hell does he think he is?
And it wasn’t just confined to the ‘working class’. I live in a part of town not far from where swanky residences are two a penny and I noticed several of them erected flag poles earlier in the year and flew the current flag – Union Jack n’all. So, he didn’t even carry all his own ‘rich pricks’ mates with him this time.
On yer Sue Moroney.
Bullshit BM.
I’ve never made no bones of being relatively well-off, and the man who shaped my socialist views more than anyone else was probably richer than John Key.
Singling out an individual to solve a problem we have all created collectively is called scapegoating. Ugly at best.
I don’t recall Moroney’s tweet mentioning child poverty so that’s just an irrelevant distraction.
As for Trotter’s piece, I think it sums up the way the flag referendum panned out quite well. Certainly in Queenstown, where I live, it was hard to escape the conclusion that die-hard National supporters were flying the Lockwood flag because Key wanted it rather than any burning desire on their part to change the flag or, God forbid, update our constitutional arrangements.
Hash tag on her tweet was
#FixChildPovertyInstead.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/78336798/opinion-labour-mp-sue-moroneys-twitter-fail-a-reminder-of-social-media-perils
Fair enough – I never saw the hashtag.
Trotter’s piece still underlines the way the voting in the referendum turned out correctly though. There was decided whiff of class division in the voting.
A quick google search shows that’s what she’s trying to do and has been doing it for years.
Feeling like a bad few weeks ah BM…
It’s a piece of cloth, I moved on rather quickly.
The biggest disappointment for me was the way Labour politicized the flag issue, seriously, arguing against your own policy, what a ridiculous party.
The biggest disappointment for me was the way the PM and his cohorts tried to get a flag change past the public, who made it clear they didn’t really see the need for change, for no other reason than personal vanity.
Yes dear.
“The biggest disappointment for me was the way Labour politicized the flag issue, seriously, arguing against your own policy, what a ridiculous party.”
Ah, the lies. I’d say the past few weeks have been disappointing for the neoliberals for many reasons in addition to the flag.
Totally looks like you’ve moved on, dear. Have another slurp of chardonnay and tell us all about it. Nasty, mean, Moroney dared to link $26M on a teatowel campaign and child poverty in NZ, what a bitch. But you’re over it now, thank goodness…
Yeah, that would be why you came out so vehemently against Trotters post.
But you know I care little for labour Bro, the few weeks are the gaffs one after another after another, the hits for this national government keep coming.
Hell the had to reach for Auntie Helen (TM) to curb the current crisis. A bad few weeks bro, and they just going to keep commming.
Oh look this gaff from the PM, http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/04/05/keys-colonial-daze/
More to come bro, more to come. So funny to watch.
P.S. who cares about the labour party, they own their own waka, not the one about half of us lefties here are sailing on – they a least a better type of liberal than the Tory idiots on the other side of the house.
Trust troll BM to froth off into a wild “Metiria’s Got A Flash Coat” rave. As a response to his/her Mr Gauche Tea Towel Promoter wasting $26 million.
You cannot be rich & care about the poor apparently. Or if you do care about the poor you yourself have to go about in threadbare rags. All surface stuff for the righties.
Bagging a fellow bach owner is not caring about the poor.
The fact the mealy mouthed bach owners complained (probably because they were still smarting over the great unwashed not doing what they were told) shows they were deserving of being bagged.
So a bach owner flies the flag they prefer and they get bagged for it, well that’s a nice thing for a politician to do
Can’t see any issues with at all
I once lived in a bach. That, my good sir, is no “bach”.
Its more the hypocrisy of Moroney to talk about rich people when she herself is rich and then following it up by pretty much saying anyone elses opinion on the flag is wrong if it differs from hers
It’s a terrible thing when the rich break ranks isn’t it PR? Almost as bad as a PM selling out his country.
+1
Sue Moroney should have a listen to this:
+ 100
You realise you’ve just given yourself a + 100, Puckers. You’re swiftly moving into auto-eroticist territory, my son.
Well I keep on seeing people put +1 things after peoples posts for no apparent reason so I thought I’d do the same
poor puckish.
So unfamilar with the concept of receiving unsolicited affirmation from others that they merely praise for fashion, ignorant what to commend…
Do you understand, what Irony means there Puckish Rouge?
IMO a cover that does not diminish from the original, especially with the addition of Joe Jackson
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5m76m_william-shatner-sings-pulp-common-p_music
Moroney is in the top 2% of NZ incomes, yes, a comfortable class to be in.
But the wealthy like John Key are in the top 0.1% or the top 0.01%.
They are a different class altogether.
It’s the difference between a 26 foot sailboat and a 150 foot super yacht with spa pool and helicopter pad.
So its the difference between dead and only mostly dead?
Does anyone else get the impression that the PM is pushing the Helen Clark nomination a bit early as a smokescreen and to provide himself with an antiseptic character-wash by being associated with a more principled person than himself? Note the combined Tracy Watkins, Audrey Young PR team plus the name dropping of Lorde and Lydia Ko. Subtle, not!
(He probably couldn’t work out how to fit Ed Hilary into his patter as well.)
Does anyone else get the impression…
Yes, yes, yes and yes!
Yep, though it lovely to think how conflicted the upper echelons of the National Party must be with this, given how many years they spent telling anyone stupid enough to listen what what an evil, socialist bitch she was.
..and how desperate the PM must be to stoop to this! Heh!
Helen Clark being rushed by John Key!!
Oh Diddums! You don’t know Helen Clark.
As a distraction from the fact the he and National have turned NZ into a tax haven?
Its why he’ll get his fourth term in power, pragmatism above ideology…also considering how many lesson hes took off Helen Clark its no real surprise he rates her
Key has moved from pragmatism to mendacity. And the sad thing is that he probably doesn’t see what he has become as he has transited from being amoral to immoral.
I’m not saying that being amoral is good, but it sure as hell is better than treating everybody else as fools and toys to manipulate. It’s aptitude him and Mike Laws didn’t inhabit the same beehive as it surely would have inverted into Dantes Inferno.
(I have never trusted him since he told the story of how he used to piss into a milk bottle rather than leave his trading screens.)
I have noticed, you’ve cut of that ponytail Puckish Rogue. :kiss:
+1
Frankly, I became concerned that he was trying to nobble a more successful NZer than he will ever be.
John Key giving Clark advice on how to act in an international forum is fucking hilarious – wandering around lobbies in a dressing gown and running a campaign that’s “pretty legal” (according to the campaign manager) might be enough if you’re the big fish in the small pond, but the UN is a very deep ocean…
The UN without the USA is a toothless tiger, John Key knows how to schmooze and knows how to get on with people and win people over
Yes the UN is a big ocean so for Helen Clark to succeed it’ll help to have the Americans in your corner and John Key is pretty good mates with someone from the USA that’s got a bit of influence
Don’t let your KDS colour you blind
lol
In other words, if Clark needs help from a lickspittle toady, she can ask Key for help.
If having the Americans in your corner helps so much, why does the general assembly keep voting against Israel? How do you think Russia will vote regarding the favoured US candidate?
Clark’s best bet is to run between the veto powers, not get identified as the candidate of one or the other. Be the compromise candidate, solid, reliable and with a good track record. Which she has.
lol
A fourth term PM you mean and yeah its like such a disgrace being able to get on with people eh
Fourth term – we’ll see.
“Get on with people” – well, people from whom he can gain patronage. Hospo staff and other people he sees no use for? Not so popular amongst them.
30 min video on child poverty in NZ, for people who care.
https://youtu.be/4kzoxiDYcgA
Hope I’m the first on this site to offer my congratulations to Helen Clark for being nominated for the position of UN Secretary General.
Having had the good fortune to witness Helen growing in stature from the time she was a young university student to the present day, I can say none of it was accidental. An extraordinary ability to work hard, total dedication to a cause, and a sparkling clarity of vision and foresight has got her to this high point in her life. Add to that an equally extraordinary physical constitution and the United Nations will hopefully be the lucky recipient of a fantastic woman Secretary General.
I wish her the very, very ,very best of luck with her nomination.
Very satisfying. Most warming news in ages.
When the left abandoned internationalism, and allowed the financial elites unlimited space to create truly global networks, we made a terrible mistake. Helen Clark is one of the few to have attempted to retake it.
Lovely comments, Anne. We, too, up here in the north hope Helen succeeds to this important position.
where are all RWNJ trolls defending the latest example of the failed neolib model this morning?….it is strangely quiet.
They are waiting for the pandas – but the pandas won’t be rushed.
Waiting for direction and spin lines
Firstly there are no RWNJ trolls, that’s a label left-wing nut bars use in an attempt to silence dissenting views and secondly can you be a little more specific?
Oh please look in the mirror Puckish Rogue – you have got the nut bar label – quite deservedly on many occasions.
And now you trying a lame twisting of it.
So you far bot’s of few marbles, let me reminded you that if you are talking nort but ideological clap trap. I’m going to call you a right wing nut job or RWNJ for short.
Next you’ll be telling us there are no pandas or baby elephants. Really!
It seems worth observing that MMP is not living up to our original hopes in it. It seems to have morphed into a form of FFP on the right, with the smaller parties functioning as subsets of National, pitted against a diverse left that is inherently unable to achieve a unity of purpose matching that of the FFP-like right.
One of the reasons we found MMP so attractive was the belief that it would curb the tendency toward elected dictatorships, which allowed Roger Douglas to transform the economy without public consent. But once again, we have a PM determined to recreate NZ in his own preferred image. The bolt hole for the rich and famous and the “safe” tax haven are not intended to improve the lives of the majority of New Zealanders – they are surplus to requirements. This is NZ as an abstract entity, there to be filled with whatever the person at the helm sees fit – the very thing we sought to prevent when we voted for MMP.
I do not ask that we get rid of MMP, only whether there is a way of making it work more as we originally envisaged. It seems to rely too much on good faith, reverting to FFP like results where that is lacking.
Basically you don’t like that John Key will get a fourth term and because the Left in NZ are useless you want a way to change the results you don’t like
Once again the true colours of the left come out, we loooove democracy, democracy is great right up until a government we don’t like gets elected and then its “It seems worth observing that MMP is not living up to our original hopes in it”
and “making it work more as we originally envisaged”
Who says its not, who says its not working as envisaged? Why should National be penalised because of the hopelessness of the Left?
You would foist a useless government on NZ simply because Nationals too good and you don’t like it?
Heres an idea, get a decent leader, get some decent policies costed and some decent MPs to talk about it, convince the Greens to continue to be the bridesmaid and support whatever Labour says and the Left will win the next election (2020)
It makes me really mad when I hear s**t like this, its not Nationals fault the left lose, its not John Keys, the medias, the VRWC, the fault for the lefts sad showing the last couple of elections is down to the Left and the Left alone
My god how many of you pinned hopes on KDC taking down John Key or Hone Harawira riding in to save the day or Winston suddenly wanting to deal with Labour and the Greens instead of taking a long hard look at where the problems lie
yes, dear
Bugger off, all this is just whine that you’re getting the results you want so you want to change it until you do
But it doesn’t matter if its FPP, MMP or (my choice) STV if your party is in the crap
Hey I know, why not start a petition:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Hon_Sir_Hugh_Williams_KNZM_QC_LLM_Recount_NZ_2014_Election_I_believe_it_was_rigged/?djytidb&pv=1
Because: Something doesn’t seem right with recent the New Zealand election. Evidence of fraudulent voting and it makes no sense that people would local vote left and party vote right. Is this another case of Electoral Fraud?
Whatever you say, dear.
You have missed my point, which is that Key is able to treat NZ as if it were his personal fiefdom. We voted for MMP to prevent that kind of thing. Therefore, MMP is not currently doing what we hoped it would. This is still nominally a democracy, which assumes a leader that tries to act on behalf of all New Zealanders, believing that his or her position on the right-left spectrum is the one best suited to serving that end. In what sense does a tax haven and an influx of super-rich refugees benefit all New Zealanders?
We voted for MMP to prevent that kind of thing
– What, that someone that’s won three elections can actually go about implementing what they say they’re going to do
In what sense does a tax haven and an influx of super-rich refugees benefit all New Zealanders?
– You mean following the rules since 1988?
You want the “right” kind of democracy, the kind of democracy where the minority gets to dictate to the majority
RWNJ.
Or let me rephrase that,
Puckish Rogue you dribbling a lot of ideological clap trap today.
Get why I’m going for a short cut response?
So you hold that an elected dictatorship is the best thing, so long as it ends up being a dictator you like. I think that the leader of a country should have the broader public good in mind, whether they are of left or right persuasion. And Key frequently implements policies he has not campaigned on, often under urgency so they will not even get to be debated. So you can hardly claim that in these cases that he is doing what he said he was going to do.
I think that whoever gains enough seats to form the government should form the government irrespective of my own personal feelings
The left will probably gain power in 2020 but I guarantee you that I won’t be calling for a change in the democratic process simply because I don’t like whose in
It’s more like we’re just sad and angry that the country is being ruined because of nincompoops like you voting for National.
Tough shit that’s democracy, even though what you say is a load of LWNJ nonsensical rubbish
What is the best form of flattery again 😉
Yeah its a shame that people keep on voting differently to how you want them to eh
Maybe if the left weren’t so crap they’d get more votes
yes dear. Thanks for your concern.
truth hurts flocky, face up to it instead of running away 😀
since when have you bastards ever had an intentional relationship with the truth?
Yes dear
monkey see, monkey do, dear…
Yes dear
lol, that’s how Hosking, Key and co answer that question too, they can’t.
PR
Read the RM poll, their is no fourth term for Key, 45% doesn’t cut it in a democracy, the next govt won’t include your dearly beloved leader so both of you will have to throw your toys out the window.
Let me explain why you’re wrong, when you take %s only you fail to take into account that Act + Peter Dunne gain virtually nil votes but provide two seats (I’m betting Act will get two seats this time) which means that plus the Maori Partys possible two seats gives John Key options
Or National + NZFirst
Whereas the left have to have Labour + the Greens + NZFirst and possibly the MP and Peter Dunne and even then it still may not be enough
John Key has more options then Andrew Little
Remember I’ll be back after the next election to say I told you so
Ignoring polls and blind hope, what would you put your house on, a national or labour led government after next election. Be truthful and no wimping out that I don’t bet
The RM poll is the most encouraging poll for you guys, but is consistently showing (under MMP) that the govt will likely change at the next election, you can mince the numbers anyway you like, but the trend is against you, the sheeple are slowly waking up, the lies are finally catching up with PM.
If you have a look at the Roy Morgan Site, the historical trend shows clearly, each time there is a fall in consumer confidence, support for National falls and Labour increases, from that you could say that the public has more faith in Labour if the economy goes sour.
Don’t forget that that last poll from RM, showed Labour 28%, Greens 14% and NZF 9% = 51%, and this is from RM, the most favorable towards your mates, the tide is going out for Key, you may as well prepare yourselves for the inevitable.
A fixed term parliament. I kind of kicked off a short discussion on it yesterday or whenever. http://thestandard.org.nz/building-a-government-in-waiting/#comment-1156059
Yes, I have just gone back and had another look at that debate. If I have understood the argument correctly, it would put an end to the FPP-MMP hybrid that we (in my eyes) have now, and demand instead across the board negotiation and participation.
I think so. At the moment, it might not be ‘first past the post’ per se. But every bugger is jockeying to be on the winning nag. Just look how Winston Peters or Peter Dunne have sought, in their different ways, to unseat the Greens in the past. Or look at how (arguably) Labour helped kill mana because they couldn’t be seen to share saddle space with them.
All that shit dies a death with the passing of a fixed term parliament act.
To be honest, I don’t know why neither Labour or the Greens have put the idea forward. They are the ones who would seem to benefit most from such a change.
There’s a nice thing they do in Korea, which is limited presidential terms. Five years they get – and that’s it. No ifs or maybes and no coming back. Wouldn’t be a bad thing for quite a few of our pollies, & good to keep in mind should we ever go republic. Fixed term parliaments will need a few safeguards.
Anyone know anything about this?
Legislation will be introduced to rewrite the Social Security Act to reflect a modern, work-focused welfare system and to ensure the law is clear and fit for purpose.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1602/S00098/prime-ministers-statement-to-parliament.htm
Yes, and it is as it stands a rather brutal attack on the poor.
No doubt PR will tell us how brilliant this national government is, but when they purpose legislation like this, unannounced – it just goes to show what vicious amoral cretonnes the Tory scum really are.
I noted this from the scoop link. What does it mean – behind those well chosen words?
This year,ACC levies will drop by a total of $450 million and the Government will also confirm the funding policy for future levies.
From 1 April, the average work levy paid by businesses will reduce by 11 per cent to 80 cents per $100 of liable earnings, and the earners’ levy, paid by everyone in the paid workforce, will decrease by 4 per cent to $1.21 per $100 of liable earnings….
(Me – Does this mean that workers have to pay 50% more than employers towards ACC costs,)
As part of this approach, the Government has set 10 challenging results for the public service to achieve, including reducing crime, long-term welfare dependency and educational underachievement. Agencies will continue to work to achieve these targets….
Most sole parents, and partners of beneficiaries, will have to be available for part-time work once their youngest child turns three, rather than five as now.All beneficiaries with part-time work obligations will be expected to find work for 20 hours a week, rather than 15 hours a week as now.
Childcare subsidies for pre-schoolers and the OSCAR subsidy for out-of-school and school holiday programmes will also increase for lower-income families from 1 April.
The Government will this year progress legislation to provide better support to 19-year-old parents and other unemployed 18- and 19-year-olds at risk of long term welfare dependence. Legislation will be introduced to rewrite the Social Security Act to reflect a modern, work-focused welfare system and to ensure the law is clear and fit for purpose…..
A Police-led, multi-agency Gang Intelligence Centre will be established to tackle and prevent gang crime and reduce the harm it causes to families and communities….
The Government will introduce legislation this year to reform Te Ture Whenua Maori Act, to help unlock the economic potential of Maori land.The Government will also continue to resolve historical Treaty of Waitangi claims, and intends for all willing and able iwi to have settled by 2017….
In March this year, 2,800 Housing New Zealand homes will be transferred to the Tamaki Redevelopment Company.This will result in at least 7,500 new homes in that area over the next 10 to 15 years, of which more than a third will be for social housing.The transfer of Housing New Zealand properties to community housing providers in Invercargill and Tauranga will happen later this year….
This year will see a transition to greater local control as the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority is wound up. CERA’s functions have been passed to other government departments, and the Government has established two new organisations in its place.
A new Crown company, Otakaro Ltd, has been established to oversee the development of the central city anchor projects.Another organisation, Regenerate Christchurch, will provide strong local leadership. It will have the ability to propose planning changes and oversee the long-term development of the central city, residential red zone and New Brighton….
Our approach will remain as it always has been, taking the public with us by clearly outlining our actions and priorities, and always keeping in mind why we are in government – to make this country a better place for New Zealanders and their families.
edited
Well as far as the ACC goes the payouts from the work (employer funded) and non work (employee funded) pools are about the same. Also no one ever provides a figure for work injuries that wind up in the non work pool. So in theory the levies on a $100 of earnings should be about the same for employer and employee.
As you point out employees are paying far more and thereby subsidizing employer bad behavior. And it beats me how some industries like forestry remain insurable at all for employers.
MSM will ask the question – don’t think so.
fuck
Forbes & Coates all over again.
Something came through on that pesky facebook the other day. Can I find it again? No. Of course not.
Found this though. https://humanrightsfoundation.wordpress.com/2016/03/24/attorney-general-finds-nzbora-problem-with-social-security-bill/
Finlayson reckons that totally blind people are being unfairly advantaged in relation to others suffering from disabilities.
That was in the facebook feed thing.
So was mention of a provision allowing WINZ to take money from entitlements without the permission of a claimant.
There was other stuff. All bad stuff.
I think this is the same as what came through on fb.
NZCCSS will be working on our analysis and response to this Bill in the coming months and we look forward to networking with others on the issues the Bill raises for vulnerable people and their communities.Watch this space!
http://nzccss.org.nz/news/2016/03/re-writing-our-welfare-laws/
So it really was class warfare all along:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-05/human-sacrifice-may-have-helped-build-social-class-structures/7297460
Meanwhile in Iceland…
7% of the population have showed up to call for their PMs resignation after recent revaltions in the Panama Papers.
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2588234.1459797417!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_635/iceland-offshore-accounts.jpg
Quick start a petition!
https://www.change.org/start-a-petition
There are several already. This one for example: https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/dismissal-of-prime-minister-john-key.html
Whangarei. Prominent man’s trial: Defence says girl is liar………. and more. On Stuff.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/78551901/prominent-mans-trial-alleged-victim-says-she-was-scared-of-accused
It seems he’s no longer a Prominent New Zealander?