It’s been great to see the specialists in Dunedin come out hard against Minister Coleman. Good timing for electoral purposes to find a public voice. But I’d like the cameras to interview willing patients as well. And I’d like the media to connect the crumbling service with the crumbling facilities.
I seriously get the impression Dunedin and Otago health never ever gets funding because it’s our last city to consistently vote Labour. Deliberate political neglect.
We need a new politics that gives expression to grassroots healthcare resistance. We want a party that pledges a free national health care system, a fully funded and caring health system, healthcare that we can be confident about again. The system is just not doing its’ job and we need a party that shows it will completely change it.
These are lofty goals but health is a bottomless pit $wise, and will only get worse. We will never solve it adequately, especially with so many boomers lining up, and all the sport /recreation accidents, and rampant diabetes, and drunk/drugged idiots, not to mention increasingly expensive medical procedures/drugs. I don’t think any party would be able to deliver what you are asking for, however there is room for improvement, just don’t expect a blank cheque.
Dealing with alcohol will reduce a lot of unnecessary costs.
‘• A 2009 study, applying a methodology endorsed by the World Health Organization, estimated harmful alcohol use cost New Zealand $4.9 billion in 2005/06 (Berl 2009). However, previous estimates have ranged from
$735 million to $16.1 billion (Law Commission 2009, p168).’
In May 2008, a study in the Hawke’s Bay Regional Hospital emergency
department found that alcohol contributed to 18.2% of injury presentations,
rising to 67% between midnight and 6am.XXI
• ACC estimates that up to 22% of all ACC claims had alcohol as a
contributing factor, suggesting that alcohol-related claims to ACC alone cost
around $650 million each year.XXII
Er, yes, if people didn’t use recreational drugs, health costs would go down. Which is like saying, if people stopped stealing things, crime costs would go down. The list of pointless contributions that could be made to a discussion is effectively infinite – perhaps it would be better not to do it?
I’m rather anti-drugs. Recreational whatever. And predictably I don’t drink much either. Nothing much good comes from any of it, and the only people really qualified to speak on the topic are the hospital EMTs who spend their nights cleaning up the mess.
Yet emphatically criminalisation is an utterly useless, counterproductive response to drug use. Whatever the reason a person uses any particular drug, in any social or addictive context, the legal system is always a wrong answer.
On the other hand the amoral scum who profit from the trade in drugs, who literally murder souls just to make money … well personally I’m with Hone Harawira.
Dunedin also marched by the thousands and stopped National stealing their neurology service.
Is the fraud from a few years ago part of why the DHB struggles financially? Both not having enough money and being punished for it?
Coleman on Campbell yesterday was gobsmacking. It’s like he was channelling Key. NZ has a serious problem if it lets those lies glide by while baying for beneficiary blood. But then we will get the govt we deserve.
The Listener article DIY Doctors, by Jessica McAllen in the latest Listener Aug 12-18
From documents released under the Official Information Act and covering the period between 2014 and 2016, the Listener has learnt that in the past two years, DHBs have identified hundreds of non-surgical grade items and removed them from use in operating theatres.
(Sorry, can’t get link.) Jonathan Coleman is speaking complete BS when he says that DHBs have enough money. He is downright lying, he knows it and we know it!
He must have taken the Hypocritic oath by mistake!
I have the magazine article in front of me; I am a paid up subscriber with full access to the website. For some reason McAllen’s article is not to be found on the website. Either they have not posted it yet, or they have toadied to people higher up in their commercialised chain who do not want the article aired any further.
I find it hard to see why the reasoning that the DHB gets the same as everyone else is considered reasonable and without question.
1. Do small capital purchases or maintenance come out of that budget? If buildings, equipment and plant are old then they will be requiring replacement, and the running costs will be higher?
2. Dunedin will have higher heating and transport costs compared to other DHB’s, that means that in order to provide the same service – they will require more money.
Essentially, the KPI’s given were to reduce costs not improve patient outcomes and reduce waiting times. Until the finances to do this are allocated, the DHB will be unable to offer their patients a quality service.
Intrigued how John Roughan seems to know what text messages Jacinda is getting. Either the rats are being totally open about their abuse of power and the security apparatus or they are just making shit up. Again. And need to called out on it. Again. And hard, just like Mark Richardson.
“Jacinda Ardern received some very good advice from Helen Clark by text from Europe this week: “Ignore the sexist attack and get on with the job.” Clark knew, as Hillary Clinton did not, that gender politics doesn’t work.”
But really it’s the patriarchy that learnt in 1999 – 2002 that gender politics doesn’t work. Bill English took National to a shocking 21% defeat at that election, due in a large part to the patriarchal attitude of their attack politics in that term. Bring it on guys, you can do it. Again
‘Yesterday Jacinda made a pretty speech in parliament about how she doesn’t like unfairness. One time she lived for a little while in a small forestry town plagued by poverty. Jacinda thinks poverty is unfair and she doesn’t like that. Most of all Jacinda doesn’t think it is fair that anything should get in the way of her ambition to be Prime Minister. She “didn’t come in to parliament to be in opposition,” she said.
Today she made it clear that under no circumstances would she be sticking her ambitious neck out to defend Green party co-leader Metiria Turei. For days on end Metiria has been under a barrage of right-wing attacks for getting a little extra allowance while trying to survive on a sole benefit in the 1990s. Jacinda showed her solidarity by sending a message to Metiria to fall on her sword, and that she would not be getting a cabinet position in a Labour-led government.
The vicious welfare cuts of the early ’90s made benefits impossible to live on. Metiria was not simply a student in a flatting situation, she had a child she was raising while studying law. Those benefit cuts were never reversed by Labour in government from 1999 to 2008. Jacinda hasn’t got anything to say about that unfairness.”
@Ed Yes, agreed, but Kelvin Davis bagging Metiria on breakfast TV was the worst. The MSM media gleefully reported it again and again-they take any opportunity to drive a wedge between the Greens and Labour. Davis really needs to be reigned in. Has he not heard of the MOU and growing the overall vote for the Left?
Over-the-top (and factually inaccurate) attacks on Green leaders are stupid and counterproductive. Another good reason to vote Green.
” The MSM media gleefully reported it again and again-they take any opportunity to drive a wedge between the Greens and Labour”.
And didn’t you see how happy Davis looked? That is exactly what the Labour Party want.
That is his job, after all. That is the sort of things leaders try and pretend they are above and palm off on their juniors. It is the job Trevor Mallard did for Helen Clark, isn’t it?
The Labour Party can see very clearly, and I suspect their polls are reinforcing the message, that the majority of the New Zealand population are opposed to what Turei has done. Did you not see the polls on whether they approved of MTs actions?
Davis is doing his very best to try and persuade the public that Metiria’s activities have nothing to do with Labour and that they will have nothing to do with her. She, and her acolytes are meanwhile doing everything they can to grasp Labour into their death clutch. They think, most wishfully that they, and Turei, can survive.
And didn’t you see how happy Davis looked? That is exactly what the Labour Party want.
And that is what keeps Labour out of government. But, then, you know that and is what you actually want.
Davis is doing his very best to try and persuade the public that Metiria’s activities have nothing to do with Labour and that they will have nothing to do with her.
Of course they are because admitting that they intend to keep the law broken by forcing people to break it probably isn’t a winning strategy.
Metiria’s actions most definitely have something to do with Labour in that they’re promising to keep the same punitive and unworkable laws in place.
Did you not see the polls on whether they approved of MTs actions?
15% in the polls where you ACT party mates don’t even register Alwyn.
The Greens are doing just fine and with Jacinda we are now looking at something like 34+14=48% which may be enough for Lab/Gr to rule alone, but only if Davis can engage his brain before speaking.
And Davis gleeful?? Give us a break – he is a show- pony who always tries to look gleeful. Seen him look serious and unhappy yet? (I guess he would if he lost his wallet.) Sorry – I have yet to be impressed by him.
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?
by Andrew Geddis.
‘That then leaves the question of how much moral or political opprobrium to level at Turei for her actions. Well, I guess that depends how harshly you want to judge a late-40s person for the fun-at-the-time-but-dumb-in-hindsight mistakes made in their early 20s.
Treating the electoral system’s rules as a bit of a joke (she was in a political party called “McGillicuddy Serious”, for crying out loud) seems to me to be pretty much at the lower end of that stupid shit scale. It certainly ranks below “got pissed but drove home anyway” – a crime I’m pretty sure many of our current MPs committed in their youth, but you can bet will never ‘fess up to.
So Turei has to live with what she did some 24-years ago – and as I have been typing this, I see she’s accepted the price of those actions includes forgoing a ministerial role in any post-September alternative Government. That’s a pretty heavy personal cost for her to bear, given that she’s waited some 15 years to have a chance at actually making the changes she wants for New Zealand.’
The Jacinda effect almost knocked me off my feet yesterday.
My anti labour, john key voting, urban professional, city dwelling brother, rang yesterday. He’s been fence sitting since Key resigned. He’s voting labour this election and has signed up as a volunteer for Jacinda.
I almost fell over, so proud of him, he was raving about her. Love my brother so much but we’ve never agreed when it came to politics. He’s now encouraging everyone he knows to get out and vote this year and he knows so many many people, I’m buzzing out about it. Geez he was excited.
Not a shallow fool, rather someone who has been brainwashed by big business into believing that national were the only answer.
The manipulating way corporations go about ensuring their loopholes remain intact, brainwash management who then perpetuate it to the workers.
If the workers are uneducated re politics, and if they trust their management, they may well look towards them for advice on who to vote for.
Trickle down effect of persuasion.
With Key not around to feed the propaganda, and the reality being reported constantly in the media (housing crisis, dirty water etc etc), many have been stirred into realising… ‘what the f was i thinking, it’s time for a change’
Arrogant BM. Easy to quote Churchill’s aphorisms. Sign of an equally shallow fool, to my mind. You do not know Cinny’s brother, and should apologise.
I can also quote Bernard-Shaw: “Democracy stems from the failure of every other system.” Ha ha, very clever.
Democracy reflects the will of the people, the majority of whom are partially informed at best and largely susceptible to spin-bait. Small wonder Churchill added democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others.
Although my comment appeared under yours (not indented), it was a reply to BM, who was pushing the same barrow a day or two ago. It seems voters are only shallow when they don’t vote the way BM thinks they should. I find it especially funny in the context of the “Most New Zealanders think that…” comments that righties seem to love.
I have a sneaking suspicion that BM just might count himself as ‘Above Average.’ A bit like all the children at Lake Wobegon, if you have listened to Garrison Keillor..
similar experience here…5 people i know (who were never going to vote labour) have told me they are going to vote for Jacinda in the past couple of days….the test will be whether thats sustained for a few more weeks.
Those of us (and I’m sure I’m not the only one) who are immune to the “Jacinda effect” are looking for more from the new Labour leadership team in order to secure our vote.
Korero Pono is right… 😀https://thestandard.org.nz/i-too-am-not-resigning/#comment-1363099 in saying ….
” I am disappointed at her lack of steel, she should, at the very least defended the position that Metiria found herself in back in the 90s and highlighted the disadvantage faced by women and children every day, forcing many into making decisions that may well criminalise them. Instead Ardern bends to the dominant narrative, a narrative that primarily punishes women and does little to support her supposed feminist principles. This type of hypocrisy reinforces my disappointment in Labour because it suggests that we are simply going to get more of the same from them and let’s face it, Labour (along with National) have done very little over 30 plus years to alleviate the plight of the most vulnerable in this country, and if they (Labour) cannot even stand up for their supposed coalition partner, then more fool them because those missing million and those wavering between Labour and Greens will continue as they have done and that may mean another 3 years stuck with National.”
Jacinda is firmly putting a stake in the ground.
So think about it for a minute or two….
Jacinda totally represents the establishment and hence the status quo.
And further hence…those Nat and undecided voters who are currently infatuated with NZ politics’ latest charismatic ‘leader’ will have another think come polling day and decide that if it comes to a choice between a centre right or centre left government they may as well choose the evil we already live with.
Tautoko, Cinny. If we are sitting waiting for the party that suits our ideals exactly, then that will never happen. We need to change the government first to one which has some excellent, vocal and energetic young members who believe in the principles of social justice. We have had 9 years of economic considerations over-ruling all else. Many decisions made have pushed costs on to future generations. Short term savings by squeezing hospitals are now being exposed, the cost of a fence at the top of the cliff is a helluva lot cheaper than the cost of the cleanup at the bottom. The current government has been unable, or unwilling to consider costs as a whole.
Let’s be pragmatic. Step 1. Clean out this government .
Step 2. Start paying back social debt and environmental debt, which should take precedence over fiscal surpluses,.
Agree number 1 mission is to get rid of National, BUT opposition division is one of MSM’s biggest news stories, so maybe Labour and Greens should try to be kinder to each other (esp Kevin Davis) and NOT give MSM soundbites against each other. And to speak no ill of NZ First.
That way, MSM might just have to do articles about National their frauds, and their policies and prospects…
They sort of get it both ways, Kelve does give voice to those who think Turei just might be a bit slippery and untrustworthy. People who are a bit more ‘whatever it takes’ in their moral outlook can interpret his words that way.
Jacinda’s speeches are refreshingly unfiltered, unlike the glassy – eyed ramblings of our older right-wing politicians. Is this merely an index of her newness on the leadership scene? I hope not as her present mode should resonate (that word again!) with many of our younger non-voters.
Soundbite from this mornings The Nation, interview with paula bennett is hinting about national doing something to change drug laws…. dang this should be interesting. Will desperation for votes cause them to do another flip flop on their ideology. Show starts at 9.30am, paula also being asked about gun laws
While Time magazine recently chose President-Elect Donald Trump as its Person of the Year, CRISPR gene editing pioneers were a runner-up choice. Few innovations in the last millennium carry such transformative prospects as the ability to edit our own genome and make ourselves into fundamentally something else. Some experts think genetic editing might be the key to curing all disease and achieving perfect health.
Unlike other epic scientific advances—like the 1945 explosion of the first atomic bomb in New Mexico—the immediate effect of genetic editing technology is not dangerous. Yet, it stands to be just as divisive to humans as the 70-year proliferation of nuclear weaponry. On one hand, you have secular-minded China and its scientists leading the gene editing revolution, openly modifying the human genome in hopes of improving the human being. On the other hand, you have a soon-to-be broadly Republican US administration and Congress that appear to be strongly Christian—conservatives who often insist humans should remain just as God created them.
Really? That’s the binary?
Godless scientific Chinese, verses the US theists holding humanity back?
Note 4 out of 5 submitters to the euthanasia select committee were opposed. Not the casual polls on the matter, the opinion leaders and experts who fronted.
What is the difference between editing a gene for a therapy, and editing a gene for say eye colour, or gender, or skin tone? If you think there’s a therapeutic v cosmetic distinction, what about baldness, or obesity, or varicose veins, or athletic propensity, warts, or moles? There is nowhere to draw the line yet. It will be very hard to.
If scientists proceed ahead of society, they will be shut down by society. As they should.
Note 4 out of 5 submitters to the euthanasia select committee were opposed.
It was a real credit to the organisational capacity of the churches involved, but not useful in any wider sense.
If scientists proceed ahead of society, they will be shut down by society. As they should.
But they won’t. If a technology is known and feasible, society’s ability to prevent its adoption and use is minimal. Especially if there are a lot of countries where enforcement of regulations is a matter of who makes the better cash offer. This genie ain’t going back in the bottle, so best start figuring out how to regulate it.
It wasn’t just the churches. But good on them anyway.
Plenty of technologies have died. Plenty of others have been delayed until society caught up. Shutting down – or even hugely limiting – a technology with regulation is precisely the objective until ethics subjects technology.
Fair enough Ad the binary framing of the article only served as fluff to get attention. And attention from an American perspective at that.
Declaration of personal interest. Had this technology been available some decades ago I would absolutely have chosen to use it. At least three of the living members of my immediate family would have directly benefited.
Equally there is no question the Chinese (and at the moment they are the leaders in this area) will use their headstart to create new generations of workers, soldiers and intellectuals that are smarter, stronger and more enduring. It won’t be straight out of X-Men but it is the stuff of many a scientific dystopia. It will prove harder than expected to get the desired outcomes, but with time there is no question they will produce new, different humans. For all sorts of purposes.
Or at the very least I foresee the uber-wealthy gaining control over it, reserving it for the exclusive use of their cast. When money becomes useless, CRISPR will be the new wealth. I agree with PM. Regulation of the ordinary kind will be like locks, only good for keeping honest men out. Money will speak very loud.
Or imagine the issues that arise even with good intent. For example what if we can cure say psychopathy? Or a range of other sociopathic behaviours. Or reduce male testosterone levels even further in order to render them more co-operative and docile? Less inclined to violence and rape.
Or someone finds a way to render one particular species or race sterile altogether? There are so many possible uses and mis-uses.
Maybe a global regime, draconian and absolute which registered the DNA provenance of every living human, and exterminated anything illegal might work. But that’s another nightmare too.
The article quoted may have it’s flaws, but it is right on one thing. This could make nuclear weapons look relatively benign.
Andy Beckett’s long read on Thatcher and Blair and May in link from savenz
On Tony Blair: Most of his conference speech was vigorously applauded. But the passage on economics was received with solemn looks and silence. There was no heckling, as there had been when previous Labour leaders and chancellors delivered what they saw as home truths about the economy. Instead, there was a sense of resignation in the hall: an acceptance by a party of the left that the right had won the economic argument.
In that short silence, why couldn’t someone have stood up, and said (shocking everyone and making a huge reportable point):
“Jesus Tony, are you saying the UK government is going to abandon us all?”
That could have been said, and registered with all, before the security police dragged the person away. And given a bit of comfort to those between a rock and a hard place, and feeling bruised or worse.
It seems to me that in a Fair society, it would be OK to go for broke. Set a social sight high and ground breaking, then pay for it in the long term. Ignore the “Show me the money.” If for example we get the ambulance at the top of the cliff, society would be richer and huge money would be saved in the long run.
This National mob just dabble tiny bits just enough to plug gaps.
Will Labour/Greens go for broke? Hope so.
“The social sector supports all Kiwis by investing in their education, health and wellbeing so they can live fulfilling and productive lives. But some people need more support to thrive and enhance their quality of life.
People are at the centre of social investment.
It’s called social investment, not spending, because it’s about investing resources upfront to enable people in need to thrive over the longer-term.
Four elements of social investment
Use data smarter to better understand people’s current and future needs
Systematically measure the effectiveness of services in meeting people’s needs
Measure long-term outcomes for people over their lifetime and feeding back into decision-making
Understand the fiscal implications of better outcomes and help to manage the long-term costs to government.”
Sounds aspirational…such a pity National and their coalition partners have been trying to do this on the cheap.
And if one takes a gander at the backgrounds of “our people” at the Social Investment Unit….
As someone who has tried (and largely failed) to access government funding to assist in the support someone with very high disability support needs the purpose of their ‘data collection’ (read ‘inquisition’) appears to be to force applicants to exhaust their ‘natural supports’ and when the well is dry, threaten to incarcerate the person with the disability into a residential care facility. Which is paradoxically more expensive than funding a reasonable level of home based care provided by resident family. Unless of course, means and asset testing applies.
“I worry for the future of this country if you think we need a Green Government.
I have no problem with a Green Party, a proper Green Party.
The one we have though is a Communist Party masquerading as a Green Party.”
You are not the only one who is worried Greg, I am more than concerned about NZ after reading “In The Jaws Of The Dragon How China Is Taking Over New Zealand” by Ron Asher, and you are right it will end up as a communist state, a Chinese type communist state so don’t blame the Greens blame the rightwing fuckwits who thought it would be a bit of a “larf” if they destroyed the west’s industrial base for cheap and sometimes slave labour in China. Also at the same time for a cheap dollar and greed sell everything off so there is no added value for NZ. Of course the elitist who are behind this like Key, Shipley, don’t give a flying shit as it will not affect them as they will be classed as the same as the ruling communist elite of China.
Cannot quote passages from the book as the author has very strict rules written about copyright, but I suggest before you cast your vote and if you value the sovereignty, economic future and independance of NZ, get a copy from the library and see the shit that is really going on in this country, and don’t accuse the Greens
of being communists. Aim that at all the right wing fuckwits who have caused this situation.
Sorry that you haven’t found the full crown yet. Widen your reading so that it just doesn’t fuel your prejudices, and then go back and critique that book.
England will NOT get to negotiated trade agreements until they address their border with Ireland, Citizens rights and reconcile the bookkeeping. The 27 Prime Ministers meet in early October to review progress in Brexit negotiations
“…….we will decide together whether sufficient progress has been made on three key issues to allow the Brexit negotiations to proceed to the next phase.”
says Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach. He sound like he is ready to exercise his veto if the rest of the EU doesn’t beat him to it!
By all account the English cabinet couldn’t organise a piss-up in a champagne bar. The EU keeps telling them the clock is ticking, but the numpties just re-run their worn old slogans for the benefit of the Telegraph and Daily Mail readers.
How Neoliberals and Conservatives Came Together to Undo the Welfare State
[…]
This return to Elizabethan poor law principles was made possible, in part, because of an unlikely alliance between neoliberals and social conservatives. Despite their differences on virtually all other issues, neoliberals and social conservatives were in agreement that the bonds of family needed to be encouraged—and at the limit enforced—as a necessary counterpart to market freedom. Though it is often overlooked in the literature, economic liberalism is as much concerned with familial responsibility as it is with personal responsibility, and the neoliberal emphasis on familial relations as a substitute for public relief is an unappreciated, but critical aspect of free-market liberalism. More than anything else, this appeal to familial responsibility sealed the working relationship between free market liberalism and social conservatism, very much defining the shape of social welfare in the contemporary era.
Well, I guess that tells us how well things are likely to continue to go in the Middle East. But our beloved Govt has great confidence…. (or stupid ignorance.)
Well it helps when your Sister is called Betsy de Vos and hey, Price of Blackwater/XE is happy to come back to the US now that his company thugs are cleared of killing civilians left right and centre.
That is the only way to describe an MP "forgetting" to declare $178,000 in donations. The amount of money involved - more than five times the candidate spending cap, and two and a half times the median income - is boggling. How do you just "forget" that amount of money? ...
In this week’s “A View from Afar” podcast Selwyn Manning and spoke about the upcoming US elections and what the possibility of another Trump presidency means for the US role in world affairs. We also spoke about the problems Joe … Continue reading → ...
Hi,Two years ago I briefly featured in Justin Pemberton’s Web of Chaos documentary, which touched on things like QAnon during the pandemic.I mostly prattled on about how intertwined conspiracy narratives are with Evangelical Christian thinking, something Webworm’s explored in the past.(The doc is available on TVNZ+, if you’re not in ...
The Government is leaving the entire construction sector and the community housing sector in limbo. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government released the long-awaited Bill English-led review of Kāinga Ora yesterday, but delayed key decisions on its build plan and how to help community housing providers (CHPs) build ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons Farmers who can’t sleep, worrying they’ll lose everything amid increasing drought. Youth struggling with depression over a future that feels hopeless. Indigenous people grief-stricken over devastated ecosystems. For all these people and more, climate change is taking a clear toll ...
New Zealand’s relationship with China is becoming harder to define, and with that comes a worry that a deteriorating political relationship could spill over into the economic relationship. It is about more than whether New Zealand will join Pillar Two of Aukus, though the Chinese Ambassador, more or less, suggested ...
Been hoping we would see something like this from Sir Geoffrey Palmer. This is excellent.The present Bill goes further than the National Development Act 1979 in stripping away procedures designed to ensure that environmental issues are properly considered. The 1979 approach was not acceptable then and this present approach is ...
He’s Got The Moxie: Only Willie Jackson possesses the credentials to meld together a new Labour message that is, at one and the same moment, staunchly working-class, union-friendly, and which speaks to the hundreds-of-thousands of urban Māori untethered to the neo-tribal capitalist elites of the Iwi Leaders Forum.IT’S ONE OF THE ...
Tree-huggers may well accuse the Government of giving them the fingers, after Energy Minister Simeon Brown announced new measures to protect powerlines from trees, rather than measures to protect trees from powerlines. It can be no coincidence, surely, that this has been announced at the same as Fisheries Minister Shane Jones ...
Willie Jackson will participate in the prestigious Oxford Union debate on Thursday, following in David Lange’s footsteps. Coincidentally, Jackson has also followed Lange’s footsteps by living in his old home in South Auckland. And like Lange, Jackson might be the sort of loud-mouth scrapper who could take over the Labour ...
Barrister Gary Judd KC’s complaint to the Regulatory Review Committee has sparked a fierce debate about the place of tikanga Māori – or Māori customs, values and spiritual beliefs – in the law.Judd opposes the New Zealand Council of Legal Education’s plans to make teaching tikanga compulsory in the legal curriculum.AUT ...
Alwyn Poole writes – In New Zealand we have approximately 460 high schools. The gaps between the schools that produce the best results for students and those at the other end of the spectrum are enormous.In terms of the data for their leavers, the top 30 schools have ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be ...
Brian Eastonwrites – The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am ...
The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. It was Gallant’s open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed Gantz out into the open. ...
On Thursday 17 May, the Mayoral Proposal for Auckland’s Long Term Plan 2024-2034 was passed by Auckland Council, 20 to 1. It is set to be formally adopted by the Governing Body at its June 27th meeting. The entire process took 8 hours, with the vast majority of that time ...
Pakanga o muaTukua, ka ngaroPuritia taku ringaNgaro ana te ara ki pae rauThere's a battle aheadMany battles are lostBut you'll never see the end of the roadWhile you're travelling with meLate yesterday morning I headed to Wynyard Quarter to see Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick give their pre-budget State of ...
Maybe the Prime Minister and his Finance Minister expected the worst, so they mounted a stout defence of the Budget tax cuts to their party faithful at a party conference over the weekend. In turn, they were greeted with applause, which, though it may have been less than wildly enthusiastic, ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 12, 2024 thru Sat, May 18, 2024. Story of the week “The legislation I signed today [will] keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and ...
TL;DR: Here’s six links that stood out to me in the last day in Aotearoa’s political economy to 6:06am on Sunday, May 19:Aotearoa-NZ is the seventh worst in the OECD’s homelessness rankings, just behind the United States and just ahead of Australia. BlackRock thinks rate hikes actually worsen inflation because ...
Halfway up a historic tower in York, we are neither up nor down. At the top you will have views of a city steeped in antiquity, made and remade by Romans, Normans, Vikings, Tescos. Below, you will find a retired minister happy to tell you all about this most astonishing ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Does breathing contribute to CO2 ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: KiwiRail’s seemingly endless requests for more money is damning. At one point, KiwiRail assured Robertson when he was the Finance Minister that the worst-case scenario would be an extra $300 million before requesting $1.2 billion a few months later. Not what most people ...
No one knows what it's likeTo be the bad manTo be the sad manBehind blue eyesNo one knows what it's likeTo be hatedTo be fatedTo telling only liesHave you ever wondered what life must be like for Mike Hosking? Seeing things in black and white through blue tinted specs? In ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past two week’s editions.Share More Than A FeildingBike bling, London Read more ...
Hi,I think we all made it through another week — congratulations. I’ve been digesting the new Arab Strap record, which is astonishing. In other news, I’m going to be doing a Webworm popup in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday July 13. I’ll bring a bunch of merch, and some other ...
The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am going to explore the Bill from the perspective of its proponents with their ...
New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be shooting the proposal in the foot. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Associate Education Minister David Seymour is urging the PostPrimary Teachers Association to put learning ahead of ideology. He wants the union leaders to call off their teachers meetings around the country where they hope to muster the strength to undo the government’s plans to establish several ...
What are police for? "Fighting crime" is the obvious answer. If there's a burglary, they should show up and investigate. Ditto if there's a murder or sexual assault. Speeding or drunk or dangerous driving is a crime, so obviously they should respond to that. And obviously, they should respond to ...
Michael Reddell writes – I got curious yesterday about how the Australia/New Zealand real exchange rate had changed over the last decade, and so dug out the data on the changes in the two countries’ CPIs. Over the 10 years from March 2014 to March 2024, New Zealand’s ...
Graham Adams writes that 20 years after the land march, judges are quietly awarding a swathe of coastal rights to iwi. Early this month, an hour-long documentary was released by TVNZ to mark the 20th anniversary of the land-rights march to oppose Helen Clark’s Foreshore and Seabed Act. The account ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: Suspended Green MP Darleen Tana has passed an unpleasant milestone: she has now been absent for as many parliamentary sitting days as she has been present for this year. Tana is on full pay while she is suspended, and will benefit from a ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is no coincidence that two Labour should-have-been MPs are making the most noise about public sector cuts. As assistant general secretary of the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons has been at the forefront of revealing where the next round of state sector job ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a ...
This is one of the (extra) weekly columns on music or movies. Plenty of solid analyses of Possession exist online and most of them – inevitably – contain spoilers. This column is more in the way of a first-timer’s aid to getting your initial bearings. You don’t need to have ...
I am painting in oil, a portrait of a manWho has taken all the heart aches,And all the pain he can stand.I am using all the colors of blue,I have here on my stand.I am painting in oil, a portrait of a man.This has been an interesting week for me. ...
Helen Clark joins the Hoon as a special guest talking whether Aotearoa should join Aukus II, and her views on the fast track legislation and how Luxon and the new Government are performing. File Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts ...
With an election due in less than nine months, Britain’s embattled PM, Rishi Sunak, gave a useful speech earlier this week. He made a substantial case for his government, perhaps as compelling as is possible in the current environment. Quite an achievement. His overall theme was security, first pulling ...
Open access notablesPublicly expressed climate scepticism is greatest in regions with high CO2 emissions, Pearson et al., Climatic Change:We analysed a recently released corpus of climate-related tweets to examine the macro-level factors associated with public declarations of climate change scepticism. Analyses of over 2 million geo-located tweets in the U.S. showed that climate ...
You can be all negative about these charter schools if you want, but I’m here to accentuate the positive. You can get all worked up, if you want to, by the contradiction of Luxon saying We’re going to make sure that every school in the country is teaching exactly the same ...
Losing The Room: One can only speculate about what has persuaded the Coalition Government that it will pay no electoral price for unreasonably pushing ahead with policies that are so clearly against the national interest. They seem quite oblivious to the risk that by doing so they will convince an increasing ...
Name suppression decisions can be tough sometimes. No matter your views on free speech, you have to be hard-hearted not to be torn by the tug of the competing arguments. I think you can feel the Supreme Court wrestling with that in M v The King. The case for ...
The Merchants of Menace: The Coalition Government has convinced itself that the “Brahmins’” emollient functions have become much too irksome and expensive. Those who see themselves as the best hope of rebuilding New Zealand’s ailing capitalist system, appear to have convinced themselves that a little bit of blunt trauma is what their mollycoddled ...
When National first proposed its Muldoonist "fast-track" law, they were warned that it would inevitably lead to corruption. And that is exactly what has happened, with Resources Minister Shane Jones taking secret meetings with potential applicants:On Tuesday, in a Newsroom story, questions were raised about a dinner Jones ...
Buzz from the Beehive One day – hopefully – we will push that Russian rascal, Vladimir Putin, beyond breaking point. Perhaps it will happen today, when he learns that Foreign Minister Winston Peters is again tightening the thumbscrews. Peters announced further sanctions, this time on 28 individuals and 14 entities ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought New Zealand to the brink of economic and cultural chaos.TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition Government’s failure to retain, and build upon, the public ...
“Members of Parliament don’t work for us, they represent us, an entirely different thing. As with so much that has turned out badly, the re-organising of MPs’ responsibilities began with the Fourth Labour Government. That’s when they began to be treated like employees – public servants – whose diaries had ...
It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a third medical school in New Zealand, ...
Time To Choose: Like it or not, the Kiwis are either going into AUKUS’s “Pillar 2” – or they are going to China.HAD ZHENG HE’S FLEET sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks ...
Henry Ergas writes – When in Randall Jarrell’s Pictures from an Institution, a college president is accused of being a hypocrite, the novel’s narrator retorts that the description is grossly unfair. After all, the man is still far from the stage of moral development at which the charge ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ reports: The Education Review Office says too many new teachers feel poorly prepared for their jobs. In a report published on Monday, the review office said 60 percent of the principals it interviewed said their new teachers were not ready. ...
New Zealand’s economic performance and the PM’s vision Michael Reddell writes – When I wrote yesterday morning’s post, highlighting how poorly both New Zealand and its Anglo peer countries have been doing in respect of productivity in recent times (ie, in the case of New ...
Hi all,Firstly - thank you! You guys are awesome. The response I’ve received to last night’s mail has been quite overwhelming. It’s a ghastly day outside, but there are no clouds in here.In case you didn’t read my email and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about you can ...
If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gaye Taylor As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate. No longer quenched by winter, nor quelled by the ...
Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
Seeing that, in order to discredit the figures and achieve moral superiority while attempting to deflect attention away from the military assault on Rafa, Israel supporters in NZ have seized on reports that casualty numbers in Gaza may be inflated … Continue reading → ...
David Farrar writes – Newstalk ZB report: The man responsible for a horror hit and run in central Wellington last year was on a suspended licence and was so drunk he later asked police, “Did I kill someone?” Jason Tuitama injured two women when he ran a red ...
Muriel Newman writes – Former US President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.” The fight for ...
Why Courts should have said Waitangi Tribunal could not summons Karen Chhour Gary Judd writes – In the High Court, Justice Isacs declined to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal to compel Minister for Children, Karen Chhour, to appear before it to be ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The number of voices raising concerns about the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill is rapidly growing. This is especially apparent now that Parliament’s select committee is listening to submissions from the public to evaluate the proposed legislation. Twenty-seven thousand submissions have been made to Parliament ...
An average of 166 New Zealand citizens left the country every day during the March quarter, up 54% from a year ago.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy and housing market is sinking into a longer recession through the winter after a slump in business and consumer confidence in ...
The government has made it abundantly clear they’re addicted to the smell of new asphalt. On Tuesday they introduced a new term to the country’s roading lexicon, the Roads of Regional Significance (RoRS), a little brother for the Roads of National (Party) Significance (RoNS). Driving ahead with Roads of Regional ...
School is outAnd I walk the empty hallwaysI walk aloneAlone as alwaysThere's so many lucky penniesLying on the floorBut where the hell are all the lucky peopleI can't see them any moreYesterday morning, I’d just sent out my newsletter on Tama Potaka, and I was struggling to make the coffee. ...
The Government has yet again failed to do the one thing that needs to happen to ensure houses can be built – commit to ongoing funding, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Treasury officials have outlined many ways in which the Fast Track Approvals Bill is deeply flawed, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking says. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick used this year's State of the Planet to call on the Government to prioritise people and planet as the delivery of the Budget approaches. A full transcript of their speeches can be found below. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have used their State of the Planet speeches to challenge the Government to prioritise people and planet over profit as the delivery of the Budget approaches. ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing ...
The Coalition Government will introduce legislation this year that will enable roadside drug testing as part of our commitment to improve road safety and restore law and order, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Alcohol and drugs are the number one contributing factor in fatal road crashes in New Zealand. In ...
The Government has announced a series of immediate actions in response to the independent review of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “Kāinga Ora is a large and important Crown entity, with assets of $45 billion and over $2.5 billion of expenditure each year. It ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour is pleased that Pseudoephedrine can now be purchased by the general public to protect them from winter illness, after the coalition government worked swiftly to change the law and oversaw a fast approval process by Medsafe. “Pharmacies are now putting the medicines back on their ...
Tēnā koutou katoa. Da jia hao. Good morning everyone. Prime Minister Luxon, your excellency, a great friend of New Zealand and my friend Ambassador Wang, Mayor of what he tells me is the best city in New Zealand, Wayne Brown, the highly respected Fran O’Sullivan, Champion of the Auckland business ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
The coalition Government is launching Roads of Regional Significance to sit alongside Roads of National Significance as part of its plan to deliver priority roading projects across the country, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Roads of National Significance (RoNS) built by the previous National Government are some of New Zealand’s ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Peter Jackson is bringing Lord of the Rings back to Wellington, producing two new Gollum films in Wellington. Madeleine Chapman (Gollum) argues with Madeleine Chapman (Smeagol) about it. First of all, I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation. Of course it’s great news!I don’t know, it gives me ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a part-time media librarian and superannuitant explains how he spends and saves. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Male Age: 65 Ethnicity: EuropeanRole: Media librarian ...
The Government’s Environmental Select Committee is refusing to engage meaningfully when it matters the most over new fast tracking environmental legislation, says Ngāti Ruanui. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Marsh, Senior Research Fellow in Public Health, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Christoph Soeder/dpa New Zealand’s decision to no longer offer free influenza vaccines for all children under 12 will likely wipe out recent gains in uptake. And it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexis Anja Kallio, Deputy Director (Research), Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University Many young people in contact with the justice system come from backgrounds of extreme poverty, parental abuse or neglect, parental incarceration and disrupted education. These complex traumas often manifest as addictions ...
The agency was found to be underperforming and ‘not financially viable’, explains Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A damning report A government-ordered ...
Asia Pacific Report For more than 76 years, Palestinians have resisted occupation, dispossession and ethnic cleansing, culminating in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Yet in the midst of this catastrophic seven months of “hell on earth”, it is a paradox that there exists an extraordinary oasis of peace and nature. ...
You’ll never set foot in one. But its emissions still effect you. Shanti Mathias reports on a campaign to make private jet owners pay for their emissions in some way. The private jet passengers saunter down the red carpet, wearing sunglasses and heels; paparazzi cameras flash. The sky is blue, ...
Quality teachers back on the front line can only be a good thing. One of the difficult things we teach in senior English classes at secondary school is the development of an idea. This involves deepening your argument, without instead “going sideways” and merely adding examples while repeating the same ...
Opinion: People with certain types of health conditions are more likely than others to have their symptoms dismissed, minimised or disbelieved. These conditions are diagnosed based on the patient self-report of symptoms, where there is no definitive diagnostic test that can prove the existence of disease or demonstrate structural or ...
The intensity of it, ironically, can feel like bullying. Social media activism is reaching something of a peak with the war in Gaza, using the hashtag Blockout2024. It started at this year’s MetGala when influencer and model Haley Kalil was caught on video muttering ‘let them eat cake’ – suddenly ...
It’s 2011 and I am 43 years old. My partner, Christine, and I got together when I was 36. We had been friends for about 10 years before that. One of the first things I asked Christine was whether she wanted to have kids. I had just come out of ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,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, Tuesday 21 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: As an indication of the eye-watering sums involved for the mega-prison plans announced two weeks ago by Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell, consider that $932 million has already been spent on a separate facility due to open at Waikeria next year – that’s about $1.5 million for each of the ...
New Caledonia’s Tontouta International Airport remains closed, and Air New Zealand’s next scheduled flight is on Saturday — although it is not ruling out adding extra services. Air NZ’s Captain David Morgan said on Monday evening flights would only resume when they were assured of the security of the airport ...
Asia Pacific Report As Israel drives the Palestinians deeper into another Nakba in Gaza with its assault on Rafah, the Palestine Youth Aotearoa (PYA) and solidarity supporters in Aotearoa New Zealand tonight commemorated the original Nakba — “the Catastrophe” — of 1948. The 1948 Nakba . . . more than ...
Young people on the streets in New Caledonia are saying they will “never give up” pushing back against France’s hold on the Pacific territory, a Kanak journalist in Nouméa says. Pro-independence Radio Djiido’s Andre Qaeze told RNZ Pacific young people had said that “Paris must respect us” and what had ...
This episode of A View from Afar podcast was recorded live from 12:45pm May 20, 2024 (NZST). Political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning examine: The United States and how the world is engaging with it geopolitically.Specifically, Paul and Selwyn analyse what has changed in this regard in ...
Analysis - Power is not being abused, but it is not being well managed either. New Zealand democracy, unique and currently brittle, should be handled with greater care, Alexander Gillespie writes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University Forest Conservation Victoria, CC BY-NC-ND Victoria’s native forest logging industry ended on January 1 this year. The news was met with jubilation from conservationists. But did logging really ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University Rose Marinelli/ShutterstockThis article is part two of The Conversation’s “Business Basics” series where we ask leading experts to discuss key concepts in business, economics and finance. How governments should manage their budgets, and how ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole George, Associate Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Queensland On Sunday afternoon, Australian citizens who have been trapped in New Caledonia were called to a meeting at one of the large hotels in the capital, Noumea. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Soong, Senior Lecturer and Socio-cultural researcher, UniSA Education Futures, University of South Australia International students have come under fire from both sides of federal politics in the past week. The Albanese government introduced legislation to parliament last Thursday to put ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jake Renzella, Lecturer, Director of Studies (Computer Science), UNSW Sydney An example of shrimp Jesus.Shutterstock AI Generator If you search “shrimp Jesus” on Facebook, you might encounter dozens of images of artificial intelligence (AI) generated crustaceans meshed in various forms with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua McLeod, Lecturer in Sport Management, Deakin University Being a sport administrator comes with many perks, so it’s no surprise many want to stay in their positions as long as possible. Recently, a trend has emerged whereby leaders in sport are seeking ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland Joyisjoyful/Shutterstock If you buy your olive oil in bulk, you’ve likely been in for a shock in recent weeks. Major supermarkets have been selling olive oil for up to ...
A conversation with artist and home cook Prairie Hatchard-McGill, aka @cacioeprairie. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. A few weeks ago, I spotted Prairie strolling down Ponsonby Road at sunset, a bunch of celery tucked under her arm. She was too far away for me ...
The Haka Challenge invites anyone to learn and record the Ka Mate haka as performed by the All Blacks, to show their support for "the South Pacific's greatest truth teller". ...
At the Christchurch rally in support of Palestine, he started his hunger strike and vowed to continue until the government stops supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza. ...
With Nouméa reeling as mainly young, politically active Kanak people take to the streets and protest, a spirit that has been dormant since the 1980s has awoken. Tāmaki Makaurau-based Kanak Joseph Xulué provides some context.As reports continue to emphasise the fires burning through the streets of Nouméa (the capital ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Newspoll, conducted after the May 14 budget from a sample of over 1,200 people, gave Labor a 52–48% lead over ...
A New Zealander studying at the University of New Caledonia says students have been taught to use fire extinguishers as firefighters are unlikely to come help if there is an emergency. It comes as days of unrest followed a controversial proposed constitutional amendment which would allow more French residents of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Getty Images There have been so many submissions on the government’s proposed Fast-track Approvals Bill – 27,000 written, with 2,900 wanting to appear before the select committee in person – that a ballot ...
We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+. If you love feral robots: Atlas (Netflix, May 24)Look, if you thought This is Me…Now: A Love Story was Jennifer Lopez at her most intense, then ...
The LIVE Recording of A View from Afar podcast will begin today at 12:45pm May 20, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, 8:30pm (USEST). Today, political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning will examine: The United States and how the world is engaging with it geopolitically.Specifically, we will ...
After falling victim to a scam over the phone, Russell Brown spent the day with One NZ’s cyber defence and fraud prevention teams to see the work they do to stop millions of scam attempts every year.The only windows in the Cyber Defence Centre at One NZ’s Auckland headquarters ...
Treasury officials have outlined many ways in which the Fast Track Approvals Bill is deeply flawed, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking says. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marika Sosnowski, Postdoctoral research fellow, The University of Melbourne Ever since armed conflict has existed, ceasefires have been thought of as a bridge between war and peace. Consequently, their success has been measured by their ability to stop violence between warring parties ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antonia Shand, Research Fellow, Obstetrician, University of Sydney Backgroundy/Shutterstock Oral retinoids are a type of medicine used to treat severe acne. They’re sold under the brand name Roaccutane, among others. While oral retinoids are very effective, they can have harmful effects ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Renwick, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Lincoln University, New Zealand This month the federal government announced a plan to ban live sheep exports, set to come into effect from May 1 2028. The announcement coincided with the release of a highly ...
Another technical answer: ‘no one really knows.’ It smells like hot fat and fish. You hug the warm bundle of newspaper, translucent with grease, swaddling it like a newborn babe. Behind the counter is a small child doing her homework, and the grumpiest Chinese lady in the world. Above you, ...
New Zealanders are being called on to give Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones “the finger” in a cheeky new campaign that aims to dramatically boost marine protection in Aotearoa. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nic Rawlence, Senior Lecturer in Ancient DNA, University of Otago Auckland Island merganser. Artistic reconstruction by J. G. Keulemans from Bullers Birds of New Zealand (1888)Bullers Birds of New Zealand, Author provided Ask a bird lover if they have heard of ...
It’s been great to see the specialists in Dunedin come out hard against Minister Coleman. Good timing for electoral purposes to find a public voice. But I’d like the cameras to interview willing patients as well. And I’d like the media to connect the crumbling service with the crumbling facilities.
I seriously get the impression Dunedin and Otago health never ever gets funding because it’s our last city to consistently vote Labour. Deliberate political neglect.
We need a new politics that gives expression to grassroots healthcare resistance. We want a party that pledges a free national health care system, a fully funded and caring health system, healthcare that we can be confident about again. The system is just not doing its’ job and we need a party that shows it will completely change it.
These are lofty goals but health is a bottomless pit $wise, and will only get worse. We will never solve it adequately, especially with so many boomers lining up, and all the sport /recreation accidents, and rampant diabetes, and drunk/drugged idiots, not to mention increasingly expensive medical procedures/drugs. I don’t think any party would be able to deliver what you are asking for, however there is room for improvement, just don’t expect a blank cheque.
Dealing with alcohol will reduce a lot of unnecessary costs.
‘• A 2009 study, applying a methodology endorsed by the World Health Organization, estimated harmful alcohol use cost New Zealand $4.9 billion in 2005/06 (Berl 2009). However, previous estimates have ranged from
$735 million to $16.1 billion (Law Commission 2009, p168).’
In May 2008, a study in the Hawke’s Bay Regional Hospital emergency
department found that alcohol contributed to 18.2% of injury presentations,
rising to 67% between midnight and 6am.XXI
• ACC estimates that up to 22% of all ACC claims had alcohol as a
contributing factor, suggesting that alcohol-related claims to ACC alone cost
around $650 million each year.XXII
http://www.ahw.org.nz/resources/Toolkit%202009/Fact%20Sheet%20Alcohol%20Harm%20in%20New%20Zealand%20final%202009.pdf
Er, yes, if people didn’t use recreational drugs, health costs would go down. Which is like saying, if people stopped stealing things, crime costs would go down. The list of pointless contributions that could be made to a discussion is effectively infinite – perhaps it would be better not to do it?
I’m rather anti-drugs. Recreational whatever. And predictably I don’t drink much either. Nothing much good comes from any of it, and the only people really qualified to speak on the topic are the hospital EMTs who spend their nights cleaning up the mess.
Yet emphatically criminalisation is an utterly useless, counterproductive response to drug use. Whatever the reason a person uses any particular drug, in any social or addictive context, the legal system is always a wrong answer.
On the other hand the amoral scum who profit from the trade in drugs, who literally murder souls just to make money … well personally I’m with Hone Harawira.
Dunedin also marched by the thousands and stopped National stealing their neurology service.
Is the fraud from a few years ago part of why the DHB struggles financially? Both not having enough money and being punished for it?
Coleman on Campbell yesterday was gobsmacking. It’s like he was channelling Key. NZ has a serious problem if it lets those lies glide by while baying for beneficiary blood. But then we will get the govt we deserve.
The Listener article DIY Doctors, by Jessica McAllen in the latest Listener Aug 12-18
(Sorry, can’t get link.)
Jonathan Coleman is speaking complete BS when he says that DHBs have enough money. He is downright lying, he knows it and we know it!
He must have taken the Hypocritic oath by mistake!
Wow, has the Listener removed all its old online content?
Is that quote behind a paywall?
Yes, in that RNZ interview Coleman shows himself to be a consummate liar like FJK.
I have the magazine article in front of me; I am a paid up subscriber with full access to the website. For some reason McAllen’s article is not to be found on the website. Either they have not posted it yet, or they have toadied to people higher up in their commercialised chain who do not want the article aired any further.
I find it hard to see why the reasoning that the DHB gets the same as everyone else is considered reasonable and without question.
1. Do small capital purchases or maintenance come out of that budget? If buildings, equipment and plant are old then they will be requiring replacement, and the running costs will be higher?
2. Dunedin will have higher heating and transport costs compared to other DHB’s, that means that in order to provide the same service – they will require more money.
Essentially, the KPI’s given were to reduce costs not improve patient outcomes and reduce waiting times. Until the finances to do this are allocated, the DHB will be unable to offer their patients a quality service.
Another white ring wing entitled member of the commentariat saying it’s ok to ask woman if they are going to have children.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11898826
Lolz the commentator is a man. Am sure if he could grow a child in his belly he would probably have a different opinion.
+100
Intrigued how John Roughan seems to know what text messages Jacinda is getting. Either the rats are being totally open about their abuse of power and the security apparatus or they are just making shit up. Again. And need to called out on it. Again. And hard, just like Mark Richardson.
“Jacinda Ardern received some very good advice from Helen Clark by text from Europe this week: “Ignore the sexist attack and get on with the job.” Clark knew, as Hillary Clinton did not, that gender politics doesn’t work.”
But really it’s the patriarchy that learnt in 1999 – 2002 that gender politics doesn’t work. Bill English took National to a shocking 21% defeat at that election, due in a large part to the patriarchal attitude of their attack politics in that term. Bring it on guys, you can do it. Again
Unless Team Ardern is leaking such things to promote the idea Ardern has Clark’s seal of approval?
An article worth reading.
‘Yesterday Jacinda made a pretty speech in parliament about how she doesn’t like unfairness. One time she lived for a little while in a small forestry town plagued by poverty. Jacinda thinks poverty is unfair and she doesn’t like that. Most of all Jacinda doesn’t think it is fair that anything should get in the way of her ambition to be Prime Minister. She “didn’t come in to parliament to be in opposition,” she said.
Today she made it clear that under no circumstances would she be sticking her ambitious neck out to defend Green party co-leader Metiria Turei. For days on end Metiria has been under a barrage of right-wing attacks for getting a little extra allowance while trying to survive on a sole benefit in the 1990s. Jacinda showed her solidarity by sending a message to Metiria to fall on her sword, and that she would not be getting a cabinet position in a Labour-led government.
The vicious welfare cuts of the early ’90s made benefits impossible to live on. Metiria was not simply a student in a flatting situation, she had a child she was raising while studying law. Those benefit cuts were never reversed by Labour in government from 1999 to 2008. Jacinda hasn’t got anything to say about that unfairness.”
All of the article here.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/jacinta-redefines-fairness/
Oh wow, it says she went to a book presentation by Paul Henry and saw Blair speak at Eden Park. Shock! Horror!
Definitely earth shattering.
My votes going back to Labour…Peters will have to do without me.
@Ed Yes, agreed, but Kelvin Davis bagging Metiria on breakfast TV was the worst. The MSM media gleefully reported it again and again-they take any opportunity to drive a wedge between the Greens and Labour. Davis really needs to be reigned in. Has he not heard of the MOU and growing the overall vote for the Left?
Over-the-top (and factually inaccurate) attacks on Green leaders are stupid and counterproductive. Another good reason to vote Green.
” The MSM media gleefully reported it again and again-they take any opportunity to drive a wedge between the Greens and Labour”.
And didn’t you see how happy Davis looked? That is exactly what the Labour Party want.
That is his job, after all. That is the sort of things leaders try and pretend they are above and palm off on their juniors. It is the job Trevor Mallard did for Helen Clark, isn’t it?
The Labour Party can see very clearly, and I suspect their polls are reinforcing the message, that the majority of the New Zealand population are opposed to what Turei has done. Did you not see the polls on whether they approved of MTs actions?
Davis is doing his very best to try and persuade the public that Metiria’s activities have nothing to do with Labour and that they will have nothing to do with her. She, and her acolytes are meanwhile doing everything they can to grasp Labour into their death clutch. They think, most wishfully that they, and Turei, can survive.
And that is what keeps Labour out of government. But, then, you know that and is what you actually want.
Of course they are because admitting that they intend to keep the law broken by forcing people to break it probably isn’t a winning strategy.
Metiria’s actions most definitely have something to do with Labour in that they’re promising to keep the same punitive and unworkable laws in place.
Popularity != righteousness.
15% in the polls where you ACT party mates don’t even register Alwyn.
The Greens are doing just fine and with Jacinda we are now looking at something like 34+14=48% which may be enough for Lab/Gr to rule alone, but only if Davis can engage his brain before speaking.
And Davis gleeful?? Give us a break – he is a show- pony who always tries to look gleeful. Seen him look serious and unhappy yet? (I guess he would if he lost his wallet.) Sorry – I have yet to be impressed by him.
Agree entirely-he was made D-PM to destroy the Maori Party
Someone should remind Davis about glasshouses and throwing stones…
Mr not so squeaky clean.
Hate to say it ,but I told you all that Davis is a prick.
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?
by Andrew Geddis.
‘That then leaves the question of how much moral or political opprobrium to level at Turei for her actions. Well, I guess that depends how harshly you want to judge a late-40s person for the fun-at-the-time-but-dumb-in-hindsight mistakes made in their early 20s.
Treating the electoral system’s rules as a bit of a joke (she was in a political party called “McGillicuddy Serious”, for crying out loud) seems to me to be pretty much at the lower end of that stupid shit scale. It certainly ranks below “got pissed but drove home anyway” – a crime I’m pretty sure many of our current MPs committed in their youth, but you can bet will never ‘fess up to.
So Turei has to live with what she did some 24-years ago – and as I have been typing this, I see she’s accepted the price of those actions includes forgoing a ministerial role in any post-September alternative Government. That’s a pretty heavy personal cost for her to bear, given that she’s waited some 15 years to have a chance at actually making the changes she wants for New Zealand.’
https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/who-breaks-a-butterfly-upon-a-wheel
The Jacinda effect almost knocked me off my feet yesterday.
My anti labour, john key voting, urban professional, city dwelling brother, rang yesterday. He’s been fence sitting since Key resigned. He’s voting labour this election and has signed up as a volunteer for Jacinda.
I almost fell over, so proud of him, he was raving about her. Love my brother so much but we’ve never agreed when it came to politics. He’s now encouraging everyone he knows to get out and vote this year and he knows so many many people, I’m buzzing out about it. Geez he was excited.
Rock on Jacinda ! 😀
Your brother sounds like a shallow fool.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
Winston Churchill
Not a shallow fool, rather someone who has been brainwashed by big business into believing that national were the only answer.
The manipulating way corporations go about ensuring their loopholes remain intact, brainwash management who then perpetuate it to the workers.
If the workers are uneducated re politics, and if they trust their management, they may well look towards them for advice on who to vote for.
Trickle down effect of persuasion.
With Key not around to feed the propaganda, and the reality being reported constantly in the media (housing crisis, dirty water etc etc), many have been stirred into realising… ‘what the f was i thinking, it’s time for a change’
Arrogant BM. Easy to quote Churchill’s aphorisms. Sign of an equally shallow fool, to my mind. You do not know Cinny’s brother, and should apologise.
I can also quote Bernard-Shaw: “Democracy stems from the failure of every other system.” Ha ha, very clever.
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
Says the man who claims he doesn’t care what happens with this election.
The thing is though, Weka, BM is right…. the average voter is a dipstick. Joe Bloggs doesn’t give a rat’s arse about politics.
That’s why we have commercial advertising.
Democracy reflects the will of the people, the majority of whom are partially informed at best and largely susceptible to spin-bait. Small wonder Churchill added democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others.
There you go again, pretending that the average voter didn’t vote for National and Key for the past three elections.
+111
No pretence at all, -spin generated by Crosby Textor was highly effective compelling the ‘unthinkings’ to lap up National and their erstwhile leader.
Although my comment appeared under yours (not indented), it was a reply to BM, who was pushing the same barrow a day or two ago. It seems voters are only shallow when they don’t vote the way BM thinks they should. I find it especially funny in the context of the “Most New Zealanders think that…” comments that righties seem to love.
Winston Churchill was an idiot in many ways.
You mean apart from Gallipoli, concentration camps, and his open admiration for Benito.
So BM. The average voter is also you?
I have a sneaking suspicion that BM just might count himself as ‘Above Average.’ A bit like all the children at Lake Wobegon, if you have listened to Garrison Keillor..
similar experience here…5 people i know (who were never going to vote labour) have told me they are going to vote for Jacinda in the past couple of days….the test will be whether thats sustained for a few more weeks.
Good buzz Pat. Personally am really looking forward to voters feelings and feedback from the leaders debates
Interested in what james has to say.I reckon he might be coming across the divide about now. Welcome if you are james. No hard feelings -and all that.
With any luck James got himself banned. So many good decisions lately..
Are we really that fickle Cinny?
I hope not.
Those of us (and I’m sure I’m not the only one) who are immune to the “Jacinda effect” are looking for more from the new Labour leadership team in order to secure our vote.
Korero Pono is right… 😀https://thestandard.org.nz/i-too-am-not-resigning/#comment-1363099 in saying ….
” I am disappointed at her lack of steel, she should, at the very least defended the position that Metiria found herself in back in the 90s and highlighted the disadvantage faced by women and children every day, forcing many into making decisions that may well criminalise them. Instead Ardern bends to the dominant narrative, a narrative that primarily punishes women and does little to support her supposed feminist principles. This type of hypocrisy reinforces my disappointment in Labour because it suggests that we are simply going to get more of the same from them and let’s face it, Labour (along with National) have done very little over 30 plus years to alleviate the plight of the most vulnerable in this country, and if they (Labour) cannot even stand up for their supposed coalition partner, then more fool them because those missing million and those wavering between Labour and Greens will continue as they have done and that may mean another 3 years stuck with National.”
Jacinda is firmly putting a stake in the ground.
So think about it for a minute or two….
Jacinda totally represents the establishment and hence the status quo.
And further hence…those Nat and undecided voters who are currently infatuated with NZ politics’ latest charismatic ‘leader’ will have another think come polling day and decide that if it comes to a choice between a centre right or centre left government they may as well choose the evil we already live with.
Are we really that fickle?
I guess that all depends on peoples circumstances, their wants and needs. It’s all connected, and everyone thinks differently.
Some prioritise their own needs, some look at the bigger picture in a less selfish manner.
Politics etc etc should be taught and discussed in schools, education would help so many to make a well informed choice.
All I want is a change of government (so sick of so many suffering), everything else will come in due course.
Tautoko, Cinny. If we are sitting waiting for the party that suits our ideals exactly, then that will never happen. We need to change the government first to one which has some excellent, vocal and energetic young members who believe in the principles of social justice. We have had 9 years of economic considerations over-ruling all else. Many decisions made have pushed costs on to future generations. Short term savings by squeezing hospitals are now being exposed, the cost of a fence at the top of the cliff is a helluva lot cheaper than the cost of the cleanup at the bottom. The current government has been unable, or unwilling to consider costs as a whole.
Let’s be pragmatic. Step 1. Clean out this government .
Step 2. Start paying back social debt and environmental debt, which should take precedence over fiscal surpluses,.
Stuck with it now. U know where u turns lead.
Agree number 1 mission is to get rid of National, BUT opposition division is one of MSM’s biggest news stories, so maybe Labour and Greens should try to be kinder to each other (esp Kevin Davis) and NOT give MSM soundbites against each other. And to speak no ill of NZ First.
That way, MSM might just have to do articles about National their frauds, and their policies and prospects…
They sort of get it both ways, Kelve does give voice to those who think Turei just might be a bit slippery and untrustworthy. People who are a bit more ‘whatever it takes’ in their moral outlook can interpret his words that way.
That is fantastic!
Jacinda’s speeches are refreshingly unfiltered, unlike the glassy – eyed ramblings of our older right-wing politicians. Is this merely an index of her newness on the leadership scene? I hope not as her present mode should resonate (that word again!) with many of our younger non-voters.
Soundbite from this mornings The Nation, interview with paula bennett is hinting about national doing something to change drug laws…. dang this should be interesting. Will desperation for votes cause them to do another flip flop on their ideology. Show starts at 9.30am, paula also being asked about gun laws
Thought about whether I would listen to Bennett or have a hot chilli enema.
The enema won.
Glenn, whatever floats your boat dude, lola
Don’t suppose she brought up her spell on benefits.
Now here is a whole new can of worms:
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ezp8me/genetic-editing-could-cause-the-next-cold-war
Really? That’s the binary?
Godless scientific Chinese, verses the US theists holding humanity back?
Note 4 out of 5 submitters to the euthanasia select committee were opposed. Not the casual polls on the matter, the opinion leaders and experts who fronted.
What is the difference between editing a gene for a therapy, and editing a gene for say eye colour, or gender, or skin tone? If you think there’s a therapeutic v cosmetic distinction, what about baldness, or obesity, or varicose veins, or athletic propensity, warts, or moles? There is nowhere to draw the line yet. It will be very hard to.
If scientists proceed ahead of society, they will be shut down by society. As they should.
Note 4 out of 5 submitters to the euthanasia select committee were opposed.
It was a real credit to the organisational capacity of the churches involved, but not useful in any wider sense.
If scientists proceed ahead of society, they will be shut down by society. As they should.
But they won’t. If a technology is known and feasible, society’s ability to prevent its adoption and use is minimal. Especially if there are a lot of countries where enforcement of regulations is a matter of who makes the better cash offer. This genie ain’t going back in the bottle, so best start figuring out how to regulate it.
It wasn’t just the churches. But good on them anyway.
Plenty of technologies have died. Plenty of others have been delayed until society caught up. Shutting down – or even hugely limiting – a technology with regulation is precisely the objective until ethics subjects technology.
Fair enough Ad the binary framing of the article only served as fluff to get attention. And attention from an American perspective at that.
Declaration of personal interest. Had this technology been available some decades ago I would absolutely have chosen to use it. At least three of the living members of my immediate family would have directly benefited.
Equally there is no question the Chinese (and at the moment they are the leaders in this area) will use their headstart to create new generations of workers, soldiers and intellectuals that are smarter, stronger and more enduring. It won’t be straight out of X-Men but it is the stuff of many a scientific dystopia. It will prove harder than expected to get the desired outcomes, but with time there is no question they will produce new, different humans. For all sorts of purposes.
Or at the very least I foresee the uber-wealthy gaining control over it, reserving it for the exclusive use of their cast. When money becomes useless, CRISPR will be the new wealth. I agree with PM. Regulation of the ordinary kind will be like locks, only good for keeping honest men out. Money will speak very loud.
Or imagine the issues that arise even with good intent. For example what if we can cure say psychopathy? Or a range of other sociopathic behaviours. Or reduce male testosterone levels even further in order to render them more co-operative and docile? Less inclined to violence and rape.
Or someone finds a way to render one particular species or race sterile altogether? There are so many possible uses and mis-uses.
Maybe a global regime, draconian and absolute which registered the DNA provenance of every living human, and exterminated anything illegal might work. But that’s another nightmare too.
The article quoted may have it’s flaws, but it is right on one thing. This could make nuclear weapons look relatively benign.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/aug/04/how-britain-fell-out-of-love-with-the-free-market
Andy Beckett’s long read on Thatcher and Blair and May in link from savenz
On Tony Blair:
Most of his conference speech was vigorously applauded. But the passage on economics was received with solemn looks and silence. There was no heckling, as there had been when previous Labour leaders and chancellors delivered what they saw as home truths about the economy. Instead, there was a sense of resignation in the hall: an acceptance by a party of the left that the right had won the economic argument.
In that short silence, why couldn’t someone have stood up, and said (shocking everyone and making a huge reportable point):
“Jesus Tony, are you saying the UK government is going to abandon us all?”
That could have been said, and registered with all, before the security police dragged the person away. And given a bit of comfort to those between a rock and a hard place, and feeling bruised or worse.
Global warming.
Extreme heat warnings issued in Europe as temperatures pass 40C
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/04/extreme-heat-warnings-issued-europe-temperatures-pass-40c
Less than 2 °C warming by 2100 is unlikely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PERCDA7CQjY&feature=youtu.be
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate3352.html
It seems to me that in a Fair society, it would be OK to go for broke. Set a social sight high and ground breaking, then pay for it in the long term. Ignore the “Show me the money.” If for example we get the ambulance at the top of the cliff, society would be richer and huge money would be saved in the long run.
This National mob just dabble tiny bits just enough to plug gaps.
Will Labour/Greens go for broke? Hope so.
That sounds very Social Investment there ianmac….https://siu.govt.nz/about-us/our-people/
“The social sector supports all Kiwis by investing in their education, health and wellbeing so they can live fulfilling and productive lives. But some people need more support to thrive and enhance their quality of life.
People are at the centre of social investment.
It’s called social investment, not spending, because it’s about investing resources upfront to enable people in need to thrive over the longer-term.
Four elements of social investment
Use data smarter to better understand people’s current and future needs
Systematically measure the effectiveness of services in meeting people’s needs
Measure long-term outcomes for people over their lifetime and feeding back into decision-making
Understand the fiscal implications of better outcomes and help to manage the long-term costs to government.”
Sounds aspirational…such a pity National and their coalition partners have been trying to do this on the cheap.
And if one takes a gander at the backgrounds of “our people” at the Social Investment Unit….
As someone who has tried (and largely failed) to access government funding to assist in the support someone with very high disability support needs the purpose of their ‘data collection’ (read ‘inquisition’) appears to be to force applicants to exhaust their ‘natural supports’ and when the well is dry, threaten to incarcerate the person with the disability into a residential care facility. Which is paradoxically more expensive than funding a reasonable level of home based care provided by resident family. Unless of course, means and asset testing applies.
On Open Mike 4/08/17 Greg wrote this.
“I worry for the future of this country if you think we need a Green Government.
I have no problem with a Green Party, a proper Green Party.
The one we have though is a Communist Party masquerading as a Green Party.”
You are not the only one who is worried Greg, I am more than concerned about NZ after reading “In The Jaws Of The Dragon How China Is Taking Over New Zealand” by Ron Asher, and you are right it will end up as a communist state, a Chinese type communist state so don’t blame the Greens blame the rightwing fuckwits who thought it would be a bit of a “larf” if they destroyed the west’s industrial base for cheap and sometimes slave labour in China. Also at the same time for a cheap dollar and greed sell everything off so there is no added value for NZ. Of course the elitist who are behind this like Key, Shipley, don’t give a flying shit as it will not affect them as they will be classed as the same as the ruling communist elite of China.
Cannot quote passages from the book as the author has very strict rules written about copyright, but I suggest before you cast your vote and if you value the sovereignty, economic future and independance of NZ, get a copy from the library and see the shit that is really going on in this country, and don’t accuse the Greens
of being communists. Aim that at all the right wing fuckwits who have caused this situation.
Sorry that you haven’t found the full crown yet. Widen your reading so that it just doesn’t fuel your prejudices, and then go back and critique that book.
Greens have done their job to squeeze out any competitor for the hard left vote. It’s 10%.
No crossover potential.
But at least won’t go backward, Stops any foolish bleed to Mana or other commies.
10% is fine.
The NRA included the #ClenchedFistOfTruth hashtag and Dana’s having a wee cry because she said FISK, not Fist.
https://twitter.com/NRATV/status/893230656125149185/video/1
England will NOT get to negotiated trade agreements until they address their border with Ireland, Citizens rights and reconcile the bookkeeping. The 27 Prime Ministers meet in early October to review progress in Brexit negotiations
“…….we will decide together whether sufficient progress has been made on three key issues to allow the Brexit negotiations to proceed to the next phase.”
says Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach. He sound like he is ready to exercise his veto if the rest of the EU doesn’t beat him to it!
By all account the English cabinet couldn’t organise a piss-up in a champagne bar. The EU keeps telling them the clock is ticking, but the numpties just re-run their worn old slogans for the benefit of the Telegraph and Daily Mail readers.
Here is Varadkar’s Belfast speech.
https://sluggerotoole.com/2017/08/04/leo-varadkar-we-need-to-build-more-bridges-and-fewer-borders/
Third – wayism.
All in the Family Debt
How Neoliberals and Conservatives Came Together to Undo the Welfare State
[…]
This return to Elizabethan poor law principles was made possible, in part, because of an unlikely alliance between neoliberals and social conservatives. Despite their differences on virtually all other issues, neoliberals and social conservatives were in agreement that the bonds of family needed to be encouraged—and at the limit enforced—as a necessary counterpart to market freedom. Though it is often overlooked in the literature, economic liberalism is as much concerned with familial responsibility as it is with personal responsibility, and the neoliberal emphasis on familial relations as a substitute for public relief is an unappreciated, but critical aspect of free-market liberalism. More than anything else, this appeal to familial responsibility sealed the working relationship between free market liberalism and social conservatism, very much defining the shape of social welfare in the contemporary era.
http://bostonreview.net/class-inequality/melinda-cooper-all-family-debt
The Blackwater thugs who killed 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007 have had their convictions overturned.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/murder-conviction-in-blackwater-case-thrown-out-other-sentences-overturned/2017/08/04/a14f275c-792e-11e7-9eac-d56bd5568db8_story.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisour_Square_massacre
Well, I guess that tells us how well things are likely to continue to go in the Middle East. But our beloved Govt has great confidence…. (or stupid ignorance.)
Well it helps when your Sister is called Betsy de Vos and hey, Price of Blackwater/XE is happy to come back to the US now that his company thugs are cleared of killing civilians left right and centre.
Echo Papa’s latest venture.
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/13193/blackwater-founder-thinks-his-private-air-force-can-help-afghanistan
https://theintercept.com/2016/04/11/blackwater-founder-erik-prince-drive-to-build-private-air-force/
yep, i read that.
sad, innit?
If the media do not press Paula Bennett on her time on a benefit, then clear bias is being taken by them.
+ 100