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.
____________________________________
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!
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
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:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuTMWgOduFM
+ 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?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbE8E1ez97M
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?