"But then came the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC). The Labour government was panicked into introducing the Crown retail deposit guarantee scheme to prevent a collapse in confidence in the banking and finance company sector.
The taxpayer was suddenly underwriting savers in what mostly looked like sound businesses."
Oh dear, simon thinks he has the scoop, claiming to have a leaked cabinet paper re the cannabis referendum….
Turns out the so called leaked paper he has is out of date….. lolololz…. did any of the news agencies check the story before running it? Will news agencies now set the story straight? If not what does that say about NZ media?
"we’ve invited them to work collaboratively multiple times,"
National are not interested in working collaboratively.
Witness the vicious public attacks on the Green Party and the government by Todd Muller over the Zero Carbon Bill.
Not to mention the resulting "flexible" rubber chicken that is the outcome of trying to pander to them.
Anyone who claims they are surprised, after New Zealand's greenhouse emissions continue to rise, after the passing of the Zero Carbon Act, will be a liar.
It's almost like they find some info, think it's a big scoop, do nothing to fact check and then roll with it, just like last Monday and probably the Monday before that and so on.
Meanwhile Stuff appears to be burying the story while both paula bennet and tova o'brien are looking rather foolish on the twitter.
Chloe, why does that not surprise me at all.
“The paper the Nats have got hold of is out of date”
By the way Chloe; – please tell Julie Anne that we all in HB/Gisborne support her call to lower the speed of all "dangerous roads down to an 80 kms speed to lower the deaths on these narrow winding regional potholed roads.
You must push to restore rail passenger services around our provinces too.
Julie Anne also needs to support us and speak for us in the press to reopen the rail services they promised us before the last election to Gisborne .
Simply so we older retired folks can use rail safely to get to our families.
Actually, it's about a ladder-kicking self-promoter angling for a tilt at the practically-vacant caucus leadership by releasing "leaked" out of date information when they would have had the current information if they'd accepted an invitation to actually participate in the process.
Actually it's not. It's about an irrelevant MP from an irrelevant political party claiming to know the leaked material was old but providing zero evidence. Meanwhile, the Greens continue to be Labours lap dog.
When has the Green Party been the largest political party in NZ?
That would be never.
When have the Greens led a government?
That would be never.
The Greens are nothing more than also rans, a repository for benefit frauds, those who misrepresent their work history, or who seem to think reclaiming the ‘c’ word is somehow virtuous. No wonder bugger all people vote for them.
Precisely. National chose to be irrelevant on this issue, that is why their information is out of date. They should be at the table, rather than going through the rubbish bins.
Alluding to past glories does not hide the fact that the fractured remnants of the nat caucus are in the wastelands of opposition.
keep telling yourself that a coalition party's spokesperson on the relevant issue knows less about cross-party work on the issue than a fifth-rate ladder-kicker who was handed a bit of trash.
I wonder if one of Judith's friends gave Bennett the paper, knowing it was out of date?
lol no, that's how national treated its own coalition "partners". Labour are better than that at making and keeping friends. After all, that's why they're in government and Benefit isn't..
Drowsy, National are simply at a predictable stage of an electoral cycle in which people are more consumed with the PM's baby than with her governments failings. It is amusing, because meanwhile nothing much gets changed, which is all good with me. But let me ask you this. At the same stage of the electoral cycle in 2010, where were Labour? Around 31%, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2011_New_Zealand_general_election.
At the same stage of the electoral cycle in 2010, where were Labour? Around 31%…
Greens were on 9%, so the left parties then were around 40%, about the same as the right parties' current 40%. A situation also known as "Up shit creek with little prospect of winning the next election."
It's actually a little bit sad that many tories don't know how respectful partnerships work between colleagues who are not in complete agreement.
It's as if the only relationship they can envisage in that circumstance is inherently abusive, where the party with the most to lose ends up a manipulated supplicant, forced to endure incessant humiliation and exploitation from the more powerful party.
Irrelevant. Unless you are suggesting the Greens are Labour lacky's?
There are two left-wing parties and two right-wing parties. What matters is the combined support for the two parties, not the proportion of support held by an individual party. It doesn't matter whether a 41% level of support for right-wing parties might be 40% National and 1% ACT, while a 41% level of support for left-wing parties might be 35% Labour and 6% Green. The outlook for election results is the same in both cases – screwed.
Given how the Greens are being treated as the Coalitions lap dog, I doubt Chloe would have a clue.
It's almost comical how the ignorant are often full of confidence that people who know a lot more than them about any given subject actually don't have a clue. Although, on reflection, I might be confusing "comical" with "depressing commentary on the state of humanity."
How are your opinions of relationships between the governing coalition partners relevant to the question of whether Chlöe Swarbrick "would have a clue" about issues of cannabis legalisation?
Because the relationship is so distant that she wouldn't know whether or not the leaked document was current or old. The Greens have been on the outer of so many decisions this government has made they are becoming a joke.
Your theory that the Greens in cabinet don't keep their spokeswoman on this issue up to date on cabinet's deliberations on the subject is an interesting one but not a very likely one.
If a party is considered a "joke" by people who would never vote for it, who in that party would care? I doubt anyone in the ACT Party reads my opinions of David Seymour and thinks "Oh no, this means we're losing our left-wing voter base!"
I don't think the Greens are a joke. I think this government is turning them into a joke.
"We've made it abundantly clear throughout the negotiations that our preferred position was to see legislation passed through parliament before the referendum…"
a major study published a year ago found that Trump's support among non-college-educated whites—arguably the key to his Electoral College success—was driven far more by sexism and racism than by economic anxiety.
Now, a new study that focuses on one key constituency—white people in Iowa who voted for Barack Obama, and later for Trump—comes to that same conclusion.
Yep, it'd pay to be a seething lowlife to back that man. There's no other decent explanation to sink so low except one is bounded by hatred and ignorance and wishing to bestow blame on others for personal limitations.
That'll work. Get a few university elites to tell 'em they're just a bunch of racists. And by the way we can't help or work with racist deplorables. Our work here is done.
I know right. Calling a racist a racist and a sexist a sexist is just plain mean. They should be able to base their lives around falsities, victimising and fear. Calling them out is victimising them.
What these racist wife beaters need is support groups – like the US Republicans.
Grace and decency is all well and good, but you can't meet a bigot in the middle. You can't be nice to racists in the hope that they might be nice to you and fights have always been won by fighting, not cuddling. You may not like it, but it's true.
The town's Open Arms day centre for the homeless says high rents are forcing more people on to the streets as winter approaches – and a number of them have serious disabilities.
"Some are too immobile or in too much pain to get out of their cars to come in for lunch so we take the food out to them in the carpark," manager Sam Cassidy said.
When RNZ paid a visit on Thursday, several regulars were toughing it out in their vehicles, with bedding crammed into the back seats.
One older man was hunched over the driving wheel of his van in obvious discomfort.
The 70-year-old former farm worker has been waiting years for a knee replacement, and he told RNZ he was on morphine for the pain.
Not that it helps much, he said.
"I can't bloody walk at the moment, eh. Might as well cut the leg off and be done with it."
The pensioner left his rental home near Kaikohe last winter when the landlord put the rent up.
"He wanted $200 a week for a leaky home – I couldn't pay that."
He's been living in his van with his small dog, ever since.
I honestly don't know what to say about this.
Elsewhere there's a conversation developing about how badly some folk treat other folk that was triggered by an article featuring an eighty year old fired in an email.
Welcome to 2019, old- timer.
I guess a working eighty year old's dignity deserves greater protection than that of those who perhaps struggle to manage the basics.
But no one deserves to be forced to live in a car.
In pain, injured, living with significant impairments and often mental health and addiction issues.
With a 15 year old son crammed in the back seat of the Suzuki car.
I really don't know…so much for this coalition of kindness, this transformational government claptrap.
These folk aren't feeling the love, that's for sure.
Where are the homes for the homeless Jacinda? You promised.
(And no, sending them off to live in a motel is not the answer.)
Rosemary, I think it's time to go on another media blackout. It's just getting too depressing again. More and more stories like this are going to keep surfacing, but seriously, what's going to change?
Now on the 6 month countdown to the end of my lease and hoping like hell I can get it rolled over. You see, I'm not allowed to drive so I don't have a car to sleep in… why the hell are we having to live (exist) like this??
There is every reason for Robertson to be all over this hands-on approach to moving citizens from welfare to work. He was, after all, the man assigned the task of investigating “The Future of Work” by Labour leader, Jacinda Ardern’s, predecessor, Andrew Little. He knows full well that as artificial intelligence wipes out more-and-more middle-class professional occupations, the whole concept of a “steady, well-paid, nine-to-five job” will become increasingly archaic. The trick, politically, will be to make it possible for the same technological and scientific revolution that is wiping out all these “good” jobs to be harnessed to the task of ensuring that the emerging “gig economy” is both less individually exploitative and more socially beneficial.
It is in this potentially game-changing context that the Ministry of Social Development might finally begin to live up to its name. The expertise it gains in assisting the least qualified and most vulnerable citizens into situations where their strengths can be maximised and their weaknesses worked around will become increasingly useful in a society where the work required to make profits for capitalists will be the preserve of intelligent machines, and the work required to sustain social, cultural and physical environments will be the preserve – and delight – of human-beings.
There is every reason for Robertson to be all over this hands-on approach to moving citizens from welfare to work.
Seeing as around half the children living in poverty come from working households, it would be wiser for the Government to first improve work and wage conditions if they want work to be the solution.
This goes beyond political disappointment. This is about denying via delaying further help to real people struggling in poverty. So no, I'm not here to gloat, I'm seeking solutions. Is a new left party the answer or do you think it will be possible to encourage Labour to act with urgency?
No hope for progressive welfare reform from this government – Sue Bradford.
If we’re ever going to hope for transformative and progressive welfare reform, it is now clear it will need to be championed by a party that is not yet in Parliament.
Using McFlock's handy link, the evidence that voters gave no mandate for radical welfare reform:
1. Parties supporting progressive welfare reform of any description (Labour and Green): 54 seats.
2. Parties opposed to progressive welfare reform of any description (National, NZF, ACT): 66 seats.
Now it's your turn (or Bradford's): what evidence is there that Labour/Green have either a mandate from voters or the numbers in Parliament to enact the radical welfare reform you'd like to see?
McFlock’s handy link fails to back your assertion.
Where is your evidence NZF are opposed?
This report (in the link below) counters your NZF assertion.
New Zealand First has shown support for the overhaul, with Tracey Martin, a New Zealand First MP and Minister, saying the working group would be a great support to the "much needed overhaul" of the welfare system.
The Welfare State must be an umbrella to meet genuine and deserving need. Government has a duty to properly determine those needs and respond to them. That said, social welfare must no longer neglect assisting recipients to become independent of the State.
Note the bit about welfare being for the "deserving," and the importance of making recipients independent of the state. I'm not seeing any support for what the likes of Sue Bradford would call "progressive" reform in that.
You're not making sense. Labour and the Greens are willing to commit to this level of action, and you call it "beyond political disappointment" and "denying help to people struggling in poverty." Sue Bradford describes it as "no hope for progressive reform."
NZ First are also willing to commit to this level of action, and you claim it's evidence of their commitment to progressive reform.
So, is this action demonstrative of commitment to progressive reform or not? If it is, stop bad-mouthing Labour and the Greens over it. If it isn't, accept that NZF's fundamental principles are in opposition to the radical reform you and Bradford would prefer to see.
The Greens, Labour, and NZF are all supportive of the report and are committed to doing more, it's the extremely long delay that goes beyond disappointment.
Now you are suggesting NZF's opposition (which you have failed to prove) is the reason for the hold up. Yet, I've yet to hear the Greens, Labour or NZF claim that. Therefore, where is your evidence for this nonsense?
Labour are largely claiming (such as Incognito is) it is going to take years to formulate policy. Which, is total rubbish.
No, I'm suggesting that the government has no mandate from voters for radical welfare reform and that's why it's taking a cautious approach. The retirees and rural conservatives who vote NZF don't do so because of their enthusiasm for radical leftist policy, and Labour also has a considerable bloc of electoral support that is really not very left-wing. The fact that you and Sue Bradford would like the government to pursue a far more radical agenda than it has a mandate for is worth one vote apiece, so you can expect the government to value your preference on that basis.
No, I'm suggesting that the government has no mandate from voters for radical welfare reform and that's why it's taking a cautious approach.
Here we go again. You've yet to prove that. Merely repeating it doesn't make it so.
Sixty-five percent of New Zealand First supporters wanted the party to go with Labour. Who widely campaigned on addressing poverty and inequality.
Additionally, if it were just Bradford and I that are disappointed Labour wouldn't have a problem. Unfortunately for them, the disappointment is widespread.
Moreover, failing to deliver on more of the recommendations sooner will lead to their fiscal management coming under the spotlight. People will question why they aren't prepared to invest now to save the greater cost and social harm of not doing so.
Of course I can't prove that the retirees and rural conservatives voting NZF weren't doing so in the hope that the party would promote a radical left policy agenda. Likewise, I can't prove there aren't fairies at the bottom of your garden.
However, we can have a high level of confidence that there actually aren't fairies at the bottom of your garden, and likewise we can have a high level of confidence that Winston's retirees and rural conservatives really didn't vote for his party because they felt it would promote their desire for radical left reform.
Voter support for radical welfare reform comes from Green voters, a subset of Labour voters, and (presumably) a subset of NZF voters. Most likely there were also some supporters who gave their support to sub-5% parties, but their votes don't count. I'd question whether the voter support for Bradford-style reform was any higher than voter support for further right-wing restrictions on welfare. In short – no mandate.
I'd argue that the reason why Labour is struggling with welfare reform is simply because none of the mainstream parties have a clue how to go about it.
They're stuck fiddling with a fundamentally broken system. If they had a reform model that was efficient and made sense to the majority of people they would have gotten on with it by now.
The report is not a detailed blueprint for transformative policy. The Government needs to take in the report and design a coherent suite of policies, a policy platform, which addresses as many points raised in the report as possible as well as many others that are completely outside the report. That’s the job of the Government and it is a huge one. One of the obstacles they’ll face is that they’ll have to deconstruct to rebuild. That is never an easy thing to do in politics and comes with risk and upheaval. And it takes time!
People are jumping up & down in a frenzy, impatiently shrieking “Scrap this! Do that! The report!!”. As if saying “make it so” makes it so.
Of course, the Government is out of its depth. But they took on the job and they should bloody well get on with it (AKA let’s do this). And I think they are. I have to think so because otherwise we are utterly stuffed. As with Climate Change …
I see, you are a policy analyst now, in fact, a whole team of senior policy analysts. You know exactly how to take the recommendations of the report and turn them into effective policy. You know how to avoid gaps, overlap, duplicity, unintended consequences, clashes with other existing and/or new policies, compliance issues with the Law, budget blowouts, etc. You know how to get these policies pushed through the political system and Parliament, if any bills or amendments are required. You know all these things and yet you don’t tell us or anybody in Government. All you do is criticise in an unconstructive manner. Your concerns lack credibility IMO.
Again, nobody is expecting them to deliver it tomorrow, but as the report highlights, it requires urgent attention and Labour are not acting with urgency, hence the uproar.
This failure to act with urgency will lead to a lot of avoidable social ills and cost the lives of a number of those struggling. It's shameful.
I see, you want Labour to run around like headless chickens giving the impression of urgency and immediate action while serious policy professionals burn the midnight oil to draft policy. What exactly do you want Labour to do urgently, Mr Policy Analyst? Should they call a National Emergency, cancel all rugby matches and flights in and out of Wellington until all recommendations of the report have been fully tested and implemented? Or should they continue to govern this country whilst absorbing the report and putting a coherent plan together? I hear you roar and bark but very little of substance seems to emanate from you.
I said act with urgency (not headless chickens) as the report recommended. So you do understand this isn't just coming from me a single voice in the crowd? Seems you missed my little tutorial on Labour trolls.
Lifting benefits (and all interrelated criteria) must be done first and foremost.
Again, you offer nothing constructive and of substance. You act like an impatient petulant child chanting “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”. Ad infinitum. You feel bolstered because of other ignorant children chanting the same tune. You understand that repeating your own lines it does not make it happen? You understand that your ‘tutorials’ are simply rants? You understand that engaging Government is a little more nuanced than simply stating demands and ‘huffing & puffing’ when they don’t respond immediately?
For the record, benefits need to be lifted and brought into line with wages and CoL. You see, I even agree with you …
National listed the assets they proposed to sell if they were re-elected in 2011. They did it prior to the election. Well they were elected and they did sell the assets. Your mates in the current Government claimed they were going to buy them back, didn't they?
First of all, there had been plenty of polling which show in excess of 75% of people opposed asset sales. And then there was the 2013 referendum which also indicated asset sales lacked a popular mandate, 67% being opposed. A referendum the corrupt Key Kleptocracy naturally ignored.
"That is untrue Stuart, and you know it."
What I know Alwyn, is that you don't have a leg to stand on and as usual you have resorted to making shit up.
To think, not long ago I was on the verge of rejoining the Labour Party.
Two things made me hold off, despite the promises of transformational change and the grand plans – most of which I am/was in agreement with, and which 'resonated' with coalition partners. I'll probably still have to continue with Labour/left (maybe) because, as always it's becoming evident it might be the least worst option
But, the first thing was when being unintentionally stuck half/quarter way up a himalaya unintentionally doing a Ben Fogle for a few months and receiving a sibling/Jacinda Adern's "selfie' at a gorgeous post-election Martinborough Conference. All around me, and half a world away, people and families had been adversely affected in some way by all the "best practice" of NZ (and OZ, UK, and to a lesser extent, Canadian Immigration policy) – i.e. truly ripped off as a result of false promises, outright lying, lack of basic government oversight, and what amounts to the same sort of 19thCentury colonial thinking. In many cases, those "best practice" policies had been just as devastating as the large international corporate impact on farming and subsistence living right throughout families beneath central and north western Himalyan areas – indebtedness, desperation (leading to) suicides, the works! In fact, quite obviously under the previous gNat junta, it had all been not just enabled, but also encouraged. The bizzniss of shitty immigration, shoddy tertiary education, exploitative work practices, ticket clipping – in some cases worse than one expects from 3rd World places.
Yes! I L-G is a nice guy; J A is a nice compassionate lady; I L-G had himself been exploited and knows what's going on; the gNats have left such a shambles that needs to be fixed, and Rome wasn't built in a day.
And then all that leading to the second. Given all the above, and the apparent awareness among Labour politicians of all the problems left by a decade or more of bullshit, of under-funding and under-resourcing, an apparent lack of awareness of those complicit and encouraging the dysfunction.
I think I've given enough time for sufficient 'conversations' out of which there have been a number of 'learnings' (and as I think I heard JA say on RNZ MR last Thursday or Friday ), some 'resonations' – which presumably means agreements.
The Natives are getting restless, and it'd be a big bloody shame for Labour to piss their political capital (which is well on the credit side of the ledger) up against the wall, on the trivial – especially when there are some really easy things that they could be doing that don't require legislative change that'd earn a few brownie points. Perhaps the problem might be that JA and cohorts are too nice – alternatively that they're a little bit naive.
Meantime, in the absence of anything else, it'll be a case of the least worst option, but it's all a bit reminiscent of a staunch Labour father-in-law abandoning the party when it embraced the neo-liberal religion.
Well that, AND simply more and more becoming disengaged and staying away from the polling booth.
The worst part of it all is that it's not as though Labour and its partners don't have a few quite smart cookies within their ranks. Especially when you contrast it all with the current gNat crop on the front bench.
Like I said, from what I can see, the natives are becoming quite restless whilst the bubblistas continue to sup.
In fact, despite Winnie's fatherly oversight and willingness to protect the current star (who deservedly does have all that star status), I would'nt be surprised if there are a few in NZ1 who're beginning to worry about a bit of the namby pamby-ism. After all, NZ1 have made a few 'compromises' as well when they signed up to it all.
We'll see I 'spose. We get the politicians (and the bullshit artists) we deserve……and apparently, we don't know how lucky we are
From left leaning mouthpieces and social advocates on NZ social media.
The Governments inaction over the Welfare Report is going down like a cup of cold sick.
Moreover, their failure to address more of the reports recommendations looks fiscally irresponsible as the savings it produced going forward would outweigh the cost of investing more now.
" their failure to address more of the reports recommendations looks fiscally irresponsible as the savings it produced going forward would outweigh the cost of investing more now."
Labour and the Greens made all this song and dance about their BRR and being fiscally responsible to avoid attacks from the right, only to now act fiscally irresponsible, gifting National more ammo to shoot them down with. Go figure?
Seems they'd rather risk their fiscal reputation than act fiscally responsible and help the poor.
In an alternative universe, only slightly different to this one, Ghahraman would be leading the charge against kneejerk demands for blanket curbs on hate speech. She would be reminding New Zealanders of what it actually involves: radio stations broadcasting instructions to “kill the cockroaches” (i.e. the Tutsis). She would explain how these incitements to genocide were preceded by many months of unrestrained racial vilification across all media.
n that universe, Ghahraman would be calming down her more zealous followers: warning them that unreasoning zealotry is always the problem – never the solution. She would also be reassuring them that New Zealand’s statute books already contain plenty of legal remedies against dangerously hateful expression.
The reason why the Green Party leadership should pay heed to Quin’s biting criticism of Ghahraman’s failure to supply much-needed guidance on this issue, is because he is very far from the only person expressing misgivings about the Greens’ justice spokesperson.
(I like the quote that Trotter picked:
“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.” ― George Orwell (goodreads)
Super-cynicism there Gabby, but maybe he is saying that Hate Speech is linked to fear or dislike of the truth? Usually it is linked to a false truth, to my mind.
Appreciate your point, Kevin, but let's be clear about this: Bolton is in no way a morally superior or more responsible person than the Sultan of Brunei or anyone else.
Hell, even Prince Jeffie is a saint compared to Bolton.
Behind big oil is the road freight industry and the truck building industry, so they are layered interest groups all pushing to use more oil so their profit rises.
They all hate rail as it uses far less oil and use no tyres that are produced using oil as well, so that is why rail is given the heave ho by these criminals sadly.
The public cheated of building use because of inadequate design allowing for robust and practical use in a coastal position which has led to toxicity and now likely demolishment 20 years later after years of deterioration.
""They're proposing to spend $1.2m on a building worth $1.2m. The only money we should be spending is to run a bulldozer over it.""
This is the second Kapiti Coast council building to be affected. Who were the prime movers involved in enabling the building of these with new unproved systems?
The background to the building of the Paraparaumu Library.
In 1998 the Council agreed to site a new library to the northwest of the Rimu Road council building. This decision reopened questions about a vision for a town centre – and plans for the new library were temporarily put on hold. In April 2001, councillors voted unanimously for the new library concept plan – with a focus for community pride and awareness.
Ironically in April this year there was a meeting there to discuss the problems and hazards of 5g EMF. So while the public are trying to deal with degraded building standards for structures we have been building for centuries, now with perverted methods, they are confronted with new and dangerous future-changing and very likely toxic technology looming over them. Coping with all this, trying to comprehend; how hard, how difficult!
Harry [Harry Dillon, Property consultant with Prendos] questions whether untreated timber framing and various cladding systems should ever have been permissible under New Zealand construction law (use of untreated timber framing in houses has been largely banned since July 2011). The problem was already known in Canada, where it is called “leaky condo syndrome”, he says, and Canadians are now going back to fix what they thought they had already fixed years ago as we are now doing in New Zealand too….
What causes leaky buildings? (See panel.) Harry puts it down to people opting for the cheapest price, and being willing to accept cheaper untreated wood from dominant timber companies. It was also poor design coupled with a drive to maximise the house size on its footprint, typically using Tuscan-styled architecture. Couple these to a general lack of knowledge and skill and a 1991 performance-based building code that permitted “fit-for-purpose” product to be used, and you can have leaky buildings.
The [Canadian] Barrett commission [1998 and 2000] estimated there were serious leaks in about 25 per cent of British Columbia's condominiums (multi-unit apartments or developments) built from 1980-99. Experts later estimated that more than half leaked, and one report put the problem rate as high as 90 per cent….
Canada's experience is effectively the blueprint for New Zealand's leaky building crisis. When the building industry here belatedly woke up to the problem in March, [2002] it called in experts from Vancouver to lead a "weathertightness" conference in Auckland.
So the war on terrorism was started with the death of 3 and a half thousand US citizens lives.
But the US can kill near on 40,000 in Venezuela via sanctions in two year. The real kicker is that media tells us the democratically elected government in Venezuela is evil.
Simply put, which no doubt someone will work out a weaselly way to side track this – the US sanctions would fit the definition of collective punishment of the civilian population as described in both the Geneva and Hague international conventions.
I saw an online interview with a prominent American psychiatrist the other day. He is certain Trump is in the early stages of dementia and regards the Republican Party's refusal to have Trump impeached for this reason alone as bordering on treason.
Great interview from RT with one of the greatest political cartoonists of any period, Steve Bell…about the only thing with any credibility left on The Guardian.
Mondays on Morning Report sounds more like a party political broadcast on behalf of the National Party, who the hell is running RNZ National ? I thought the Silver Fox had gone.
This bad weather that went through America was not well published trump suppressing our reality once again the Papatuanukue has to act NOW to save our decendints future. PLEASE PEOPLE.
We’re talking about an event here of historic proportions, circumstances that nobody ever recalls ever happening in their lifetime,” said Steve Wellman, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture director and third-generation.
The “bomb cyclone” – an intense winter storm – that swept through the US in March followed record-breaking cold in January and unprecedented snow in February. Huge blocks of loose ice jammed waterways, and the Missouri river swelled, topping levees in four states, and breaking DAMS Ka kite ano links below.
He's previously held roles as the Chief Judge of the Māori Land Court and chair of the Waitangi Tribunal – and was appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal last year.
"It's a big leap from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, to the last court, and of course being the first Māori always creates expectations that will undoubtedly not be met, but I'll do my best," he said.
"I am kind of excited and a little afraid for how the future will play out.
Justice Williams said it was important that Māori in the courts came to see their culture was valued, and it was up to the system to signal that it valued Māori culture.
He wanted to see more tikanga Māori and culture and identity programmes in prisons, and cultural training also needed to be targeted at officials, he said.
"I think it is happening and it needs to happen quickly, not just the prison population but those who create the prison population – the officials, the corrections officers, the probation officers, all the way through to the judges.
"Once people at the bottom of the pile see that they are valued, my experience is that that brings quite an important shift in attitude amongst those people."
He said it could be as simple as pronouncing Māori names and place names correctly, understanding concepts of whanaungatanga, mana, tapu and local whakpapa Ka kite ano links below.
Here's a good story about the sad state OUR Papatuanukue and her creature are in at the minute if we act now we can pull back from the brink of Extinction .
There is no need to make mitigateing climate change to complex KEEP IT SIMPLE.
Stop using carbon plastic and recycle everything . At this point in time the only environmental engineering that is smart and simple is design everything to minimise waste and the waste of energy just getting rid of the inefficiency can save millions of tons of carbon emissions being pumped into OUR atmosphere.
May be paint our roofs white but major geo engineering project are only going to pump more carbon into our atmosphere they are just a blind from the carbon barron designed to make us think that we can carry on burning carbon and geo engineering is going to save us but know we have to make sacrifices in our way of living to combat climate changes small price to pay to protect our Mokopuna futures.
'The future of life on Earth lies in the balance' – a picture essay
Almost 600 conservation experts have signed a letter by the wildlife charity WWF, published to coincide with UN report into loss of biodiversity
Overfishing
“We are overfishing our oceans at an alarming rate and choking them with plastic and other pollutants. If we want to see healthy seas that will continue to provide us with food, we need to stop this over-exploitation, protect our incredible marine environments and make sustainable fishing the norm, as we see here. Ka kite ano link below
I think that it's good sacking the health board of Waikato hospital it been a bit of a mess there lately.
HUMANS have disrespected our wildlife and environmental for long enough it time for a change in our attitudes and the ways in how we live its a couple of decades out because of oil barron suppression of the truth about human caused climate change.
We all know that trump cannot resist grabbing good publicity from Rakau Ka pai it's good for multicultural tangata all around te Papatuanukue Kia kaha Rakau.
Condolences to the Whanau of the Maori leader who's has pasted his tangi was in Rotorua sorry I miss his name my te reo and Mokopuna are at fault Kia ora .
Just so long as Maori stop being turned into jailbird because weed a medicine is illegal at the minute what a stupid law.
I support the people protesting about tangata not getting the correct treatment for their cancers at the Beehive.
Tangata whenua O tairawhiti the ones that know the correct history are still greaveing so is Eco Maori about the stuff that was served up to us by the Crown if they want Cooks statue removed and put in a museum so be it Kia kaha Ka kite ano
Cameron it cool that you are checking out your whakpapa.
I think you idea about the youth serving one year in the army no. But one year in civil training and the army teaching trades would be awesome for OUR youths Wairua.
I say that teaching the youth about respect in school is a must the early the better 9 yeas old would be good .
A lot of children with behaviour problems get the imbalances of their chemicals make up from birth when the mother is a drug addict pharmaceutical drugs pee ect its stuffs up the children now everyone's wondering why we have heaps of lost wayward children .
I agree with Verity our new government has made changes for the better it ain't perfect but people's lives are getting better slowly. Ka kite ano
There you go Whanau simon and national useing the housing short they created to damage our new government Mana go figure
Farmers have to be included in our climate change mitigatetion as they are big greenhouse gas emitters if we don't get our farmers emissions down we will have a hard time meeting our Paris agreements..
Mike some people have no care of others people wellbeing ripping those poor foreign workers off is unethical respect is need .
I wonder if trumps m8 sold up their shares yesterday .
That ausse bloke who flooded the hotel in Australia it shows me how the hard drugs stuff you up don't touch the shit whanau .
Its a sad day when tangata whenua lose a leader he was a te reo tohunga .
Its gives Eco Maori a sore face seeing our government committing to combat climate change and setting targets for our fast reduction of green House gas emissions I it's about te Mokopuna.
I agree a few small changes can make a whare dry and warm thermal drapes ruggs and blocking drafts I most times end up having to do that mahi to my whare shut all windows at 5 pm to
Ka pai Turanga health checking the Whanau vehicles to make sure they have the pepi car seats installed correctly.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Fascinating read into the anxious incompetence of supposed sound financial managers, John Key and Bill English.
The pair of them pissed $1B down the drain.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/112420653/was-the-1b-fate-of-scf-sealed-by-this-one-simple-misunderstanding
They made policy in a day, and ditched him in a minute. Not the mates I'd ever want.
two smiles for Muttonbird. absolutely correct.
Show pony ShonKey was a agent of the global elite.
From the same article:
"But then came the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC). The Labour government was panicked into introducing the Crown retail deposit guarantee scheme to prevent a collapse in confidence in the banking and finance company sector.
The taxpayer was suddenly underwriting savers in what mostly looked like sound businesses."
Oh dear, simon thinks he has the scoop, claiming to have a leaked cabinet paper re the cannabis referendum….
Turns out the so called leaked paper he has is out of date….. lolololz…. did any of the news agencies check the story before running it? Will news agencies now set the story straight? If not what does that say about NZ media?
https://twitter.com/_chloeswarbrick/status/1124878753618845696
i don’t see her posting any evidence to back up her claim.
"we’ve invited them to work collaboratively multiple times,"
You reckon that's not true, James?
What would count as evidence?
"we’ve invited them to work collaboratively multiple times,"
National are not interested in working collaboratively.
Witness the vicious public attacks on the Green Party and the government by Todd Muller over the Zero Carbon Bill.
Not to mention the resulting "flexible" rubber chicken that is the outcome of trying to pander to them.
Anyone who claims they are surprised, after New Zealand's greenhouse emissions continue to rise, after the passing of the Zero Carbon Act, will be a liar.
TROLL Jimmy boy. The biggest Billy Goat Gruff is coming.
james aka asswipe
National wont release the paper or say who gave it to them. No evidence.
Maybe Simon had another "slushy" brain fart moment.
It's almost like they find some info, think it's a big scoop, do nothing to fact check and then roll with it, just like last Monday and probably the Monday before that and so on.
Meanwhile Stuff appears to be burying the story while both paula bennet and tova o'brien are looking rather foolish on the twitter.
Probably found it in a rubbish bin and thought they were super dooper secret agents. Didn't occur to them that it might be out of date rubbish.
Chloe, why does that not surprise me at all.
“The paper the Nats have got hold of is out of date”
By the way Chloe; – please tell Julie Anne that we all in HB/Gisborne support her call to lower the speed of all "dangerous roads down to an 80 kms speed to lower the deaths on these narrow winding regional potholed roads.
You must push to restore rail passenger services around our provinces too.
Julie Anne also needs to support us and speak for us in the press to reopen the rail services they promised us before the last election to Gisborne .
Simply so we older retired folks can use rail safely to get to our families.
you speak for “all” do you – but full of your own importance there clean green.
"By the way …"
That's not how portfolio responsibility works.
So how did they get hold of the "out of date" paper?
Who gave it to them?
They retrieved it from the shredder and won't release it because we'd see the pieces sellotaped together so they could read it…
The whisky stains may have been a clue.
Given how the Greens are being treated as the Coalitions lap dog, I doubt Chloe would have a clue.
On said issue Chloe is probably the most versed of all the MP's.
Good on her for calling out paula's shite, once again.
Huh? Paula's 'shite'? This is about an alleged leak, nothing to do with the merits or otherwise of decriminalising drugs.
Actually, it's about a ladder-kicking self-promoter angling for a tilt at the practically-vacant caucus leadership by releasing "leaked" out of date information when they would have had the current information if they'd accepted an invitation to actually participate in the process.
Actually it's not. It's about an irrelevant MP from an irrelevant political party claiming to know the leaked material was old but providing zero evidence. Meanwhile, the Greens continue to be Labours lap dog.
It's about an irrelevant MP from an irrelevant political party claiming to know the leaked material was
oldcurrent but providing zero evidence.When has the Green Party been the largest political party in NZ?
That would be never.
When have the Greens led a government?
That would be never.
The Greens are nothing more than also rans, a repository for benefit frauds, those who misrepresent their work history, or who seem to think reclaiming the ‘c’ word is somehow virtuous. No wonder bugger all people vote for them.
Ah, the "look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" argument as to why paula benefit is anything other than a dumpster-diver.
The issue is 'relevance'.
Precisely. National chose to be irrelevant on this issue, that is why their information is out of date. They should be at the table, rather than going through the rubbish bins.
Alluding to past glories does not hide the fact that the fractured remnants of the nat caucus are in the wastelands of opposition.
So having an opposing opinion to you is 'irrelevance'. You have a history of similar opinions McFlock.
No – a pretender to an opposition throne dumpster-diving to find out what happened at meetings they refused to attend is irrelevant.
I don't even know what Benefit's opinion on MJ is. I just know it won't affect the government decision. Therefore: irrelevant.
So 6.3% of voters is "bugger all people" – how's that working out?
In the context of the comparison you were making, yes, it is bugger all.
keep telling yourself that a coalition party's spokesperson on the relevant issue knows less about cross-party work on the issue than a fifth-rate ladder-kicker who was handed a bit of trash.
I wonder if one of Judith's friends gave Bennett the paper, knowing it was out of date?
The Green Party spokesperson would know very little on any issue. Labour treat them like shite.
lol no, that's how national treated its own coalition "partners". Labour are better than that at making and keeping friends. After all, that's why they're in government and Benefit isn't..
National didn't need to get from 35% to form a government. The tail (NZF) is most definitely this dog. Meanwhile, the Greens aren’t even in the pound.
And National, the biggest party in parliament – where are they?
Sinking into the swamp, with millstone Simon around their neck.
Drowsy, National are simply at a predictable stage of an electoral cycle in which people are more consumed with the PM's baby than with her governments failings. It is amusing, because meanwhile nothing much gets changed, which is all good with me. But let me ask you this. At the same stage of the electoral cycle in 2010, where were Labour? Around 31%, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2011_New_Zealand_general_election.
I too find National's current plight amusing, so we can agree on that.
Wonder how much apparent effort the ‘no mates party’ will put into courting the ‘irrelevant’ 6.3% in 2020.
That you’re all good with nothing much changing is a bit of a giveaway – how much longer to you reckon this golden weather can last?
At the same stage of the electoral cycle in 2010, where were Labour? Around 31%…
Greens were on 9%, so the left parties then were around 40%, about the same as the right parties' current 40%. A situation also known as "Up shit creek with little prospect of winning the next election."
It's actually a little bit sad that many tories don't know how respectful partnerships work between colleagues who are not in complete agreement.
It's as if the only relationship they can envisage in that circumstance is inherently abusive, where the party with the most to lose ends up a manipulated supplicant, forced to endure incessant humiliation and exploitation from the more powerful party.
"Greens were on 9%,"
Irrelevant. Unless you are suggesting the Greens are Labour lacky's?
"It's actually a little bit sad that many tories don't know how respectful partnerships work between colleagues who are not in complete agreement."
It's actually a bit sad when supporters of a government support party don't realise when they're getting screwed over. Which is why you're getting headlines like this https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12228385.
Irrelevant. Unless you are suggesting the Greens are Labour lacky's?
There are two left-wing parties and two right-wing parties. What matters is the combined support for the two parties, not the proportion of support held by an individual party. It doesn't matter whether a 41% level of support for right-wing parties might be 40% National and 1% ACT, while a 41% level of support for left-wing parties might be 35% Labour and 6% Green. The outlook for election results is the same in both cases – screwed.
"There are two left-wing parties and two right-wing parties. "
Yep, you're suggesting the Green are Labour's lacky's. Still, there is ample evidence to back you up.
The National party has no mates – they can't even buy a decent lacky.
The National party lament:
Devious thinking!
Given how the Greens are being treated as the Coalitions lap dog, I doubt Chloe would have a clue.
It's almost comical how the ignorant are often full of confidence that people who know a lot more than them about any given subject actually don't have a clue. Although, on reflection, I might be confusing "comical" with "depressing commentary on the state of humanity."
Or you may simply be naively assuming Labour give a rats backside about what the Greens want. Winston Peters has the last say, not the Greens.
How are your opinions of relationships between the governing coalition partners relevant to the question of whether Chlöe Swarbrick "would have a clue" about issues of cannabis legalisation?
Because the relationship is so distant that she wouldn't know whether or not the leaked document was current or old. The Greens have been on the outer of so many decisions this government has made they are becoming a joke.
Your theory that the Greens in cabinet don't keep their spokeswoman on this issue up to date on cabinet's deliberations on the subject is an interesting one but not a very likely one.
If a party is considered a "joke" by people who would never vote for it, who in that party would care? I doubt anyone in the ACT Party reads my opinions of David Seymour and thinks "Oh no, this means we're losing our left-wing voter base!"
Psycho Milt
Great tennis match, your serves and returns are excellent. You are definitely the winner on all points.
I don't think the Greens are a joke. I think this government is turning them into a joke.
"We've made it abundantly clear throughout the negotiations that our preferred position was to see legislation passed through parliament before the referendum…"
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/cannabis-referendum-to-be-a-yes-no-question-govt-confirms/ar-AAAZhmO?ocid=spartandhp
Another fail.
Trump voters were motivated by racism and sexism, not their finances. https://psmag.com/news/new-study-confirms-again-that-race-not-economics-drove-former-democrats-to-trump
Yep, it'd pay to be a seething lowlife to back that man. There's no other decent explanation to sink so low except one is bounded by hatred and ignorance and wishing to bestow blame on others for personal limitations.
That'll work. Get a few university elites to tell 'em they're just a bunch of racists. And by the way we can't help or work with racist deplorables. Our work here is done.
I know right. Calling a racist a racist and a sexist a sexist is just plain mean. They should be able to base their lives around falsities, victimising and fear. Calling them out is victimising them.
What these racist wife beaters need is support groups – like the US Republicans.
Grace and decency is all well and good, but you can't meet a bigot in the middle. You can't be nice to racists in the hope that they might be nice to you and fights have always been won by fighting, not cuddling. You may not like it, but it's true.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/388549/whangarei-people-with-disabilities-join-city-s-homeless
The town's Open Arms day centre for the homeless says high rents are forcing more people on to the streets as winter approaches – and a number of them have serious disabilities.
"Some are too immobile or in too much pain to get out of their cars to come in for lunch so we take the food out to them in the carpark," manager Sam Cassidy said.
When RNZ paid a visit on Thursday, several regulars were toughing it out in their vehicles, with bedding crammed into the back seats.
One older man was hunched over the driving wheel of his van in obvious discomfort.
The 70-year-old former farm worker has been waiting years for a knee replacement, and he told RNZ he was on morphine for the pain.
Not that it helps much, he said.
"I can't bloody walk at the moment, eh. Might as well cut the leg off and be done with it."
The pensioner left his rental home near Kaikohe last winter when the landlord put the rent up.
"He wanted $200 a week for a leaky home – I couldn't pay that."
He's been living in his van with his small dog, ever since.
I honestly don't know what to say about this.
Elsewhere there's a conversation developing about how badly some folk treat other folk that was triggered by an article featuring an eighty year old fired in an email.
Welcome to 2019, old- timer.
I guess a working eighty year old's dignity deserves greater protection than that of those who perhaps struggle to manage the basics.
But no one deserves to be forced to live in a car.
In pain, injured, living with significant impairments and often mental health and addiction issues.
With a 15 year old son crammed in the back seat of the Suzuki car.
I really don't know…so much for this coalition of kindness, this transformational government claptrap.
These folk aren't feeling the love, that's for sure.
Where are the homes for the homeless Jacinda? You promised.
(And no, sending them off to live in a motel is not the answer.)
I despair.
Rosemary, I think it's time to go on another media blackout. It's just getting too depressing again. More and more stories like this are going to keep surfacing, but seriously, what's going to change?
Now on the 6 month countdown to the end of my lease and hoping like hell I can get it rolled over. You see, I'm not allowed to drive so I don't have a car to sleep in… why the hell are we having to live (exist) like this??
They are waiting for a new machine to be developed to solve the problem.
Maybe the Welfare Working Group report will be a game-changer. Chris Trotter on WWG. https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/99513/chris-trotter-looks-how-sepulonis-welfare-reform-agenda-bumps-against-robertsons
There is every reason for Robertson to be all over this hands-on approach to moving citizens from welfare to work. He was, after all, the man assigned the task of investigating “The Future of Work” by Labour leader, Jacinda Ardern’s, predecessor, Andrew Little. He knows full well that as artificial intelligence wipes out more-and-more middle-class professional occupations, the whole concept of a “steady, well-paid, nine-to-five job” will become increasingly archaic. The trick, politically, will be to make it possible for the same technological and scientific revolution that is wiping out all these “good” jobs to be harnessed to the task of ensuring that the emerging “gig economy” is both less individually exploitative and more socially beneficial.
It is in this potentially game-changing context that the Ministry of Social Development might finally begin to live up to its name. The expertise it gains in assisting the least qualified and most vulnerable citizens into situations where their strengths can be maximised and their weaknesses worked around will become increasingly useful in a society where the work required to make profits for capitalists will be the preserve of intelligent machines, and the work required to sustain social, cultural and physical environments will be the preserve – and delight – of human-beings.
Seeing as around half the children living in poverty come from working households, it would be wiser for the Government to first improve work and wage conditions if they want work to be the solution.
Yes old containers is it GWS?
Govt underwhelms with welfare report response.
Calls again being made for a new political party to better represent the left.
Mouthpieces of the left widely disappointed.
Labour are proving to be unwilling to deliver. The Greens are just bloody hopeless. Is a new party of the left the answer?
Barracuda cruising around waiting for victims to bite and gloat over political disappointments.
This goes beyond political disappointment. This is about denying via delaying further help to real people struggling in poverty. So no, I'm not here to gloat, I'm seeking solutions. Is a new left party the answer or do you think it will be possible to encourage Labour to act with urgency?
No hope for progressive welfare reform from this government – Sue Bradford.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/06-05-2019/no-hope-for-progressive-welfare-reform-from-this-government/?utm_source=The+Bulletin&utm_campaign=be05b653ca-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_03_01_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_552336e15a-be05b653ca-533756713
No hope for progressive welfare reform from this government – Sue Bradford.
No mandate from voters for radical welfare reform from this government – Psycho Milt.
Where is your evidence for that?
here
Using McFlock's handy link, the evidence that voters gave no mandate for radical welfare reform:
1. Parties supporting progressive welfare reform of any description (Labour and Green): 54 seats.
2. Parties opposed to progressive welfare reform of any description (National, NZF, ACT): 66 seats.
Now it's your turn (or Bradford's): what evidence is there that Labour/Green have either a mandate from voters or the numbers in Parliament to enact the radical welfare reform you'd like to see?
McFlock’s handy link fails to back your assertion.
Where is your evidence NZF are opposed?
This report (in the link below) counters your NZF assertion.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/05/welfare-reform-government-announces-law-changes.html
Well, duh – if it wasn't willing to support these limited actions that you're turning your nose up at, the actions wouldn't be happening.
The party's fundamental principles state:
The Welfare State must be an umbrella to meet genuine and deserving need. Government has a duty to properly determine those needs and respond to them. That said, social welfare must no longer neglect assisting recipients to become independent of the State.
Note the bit about welfare being for the "deserving," and the importance of making recipients independent of the state. I'm not seeing any support for what the likes of Sue Bradford would call "progressive" reform in that.
That (what you posted) doesn't counter their stated support of the "much needed overhaul."
You're not making sense. Labour and the Greens are willing to commit to this level of action, and you call it "beyond political disappointment" and "denying help to people struggling in poverty." Sue Bradford describes it as "no hope for progressive reform."
NZ First are also willing to commit to this level of action, and you claim it's evidence of their commitment to progressive reform.
So, is this action demonstrative of commitment to progressive reform or not? If it is, stop bad-mouthing Labour and the Greens over it. If it isn't, accept that NZF's fundamental principles are in opposition to the radical reform you and Bradford would prefer to see.
But he is not here to concern troll Winston First.
The Greens, Labour, and NZF are all supportive of the report and are committed to doing more, it's the extremely long delay that goes beyond disappointment.
Whereas, you've claimed NZF opposes the overhaul. Which, evidently isn't so.
Now you are suggesting NZF's opposition (which you have failed to prove) is the reason for the hold up. Yet, I've yet to hear the Greens, Labour or NZF claim that. Therefore, where is your evidence for this nonsense?
Labour are largely claiming (such as Incognito is) it is going to take years to formulate policy. Which, is total rubbish.
No, I'm suggesting that the government has no mandate from voters for radical welfare reform and that's why it's taking a cautious approach. The retirees and rural conservatives who vote NZF don't do so because of their enthusiasm for radical leftist policy, and Labour also has a considerable bloc of electoral support that is really not very left-wing. The fact that you and Sue Bradford would like the government to pursue a far more radical agenda than it has a mandate for is worth one vote apiece, so you can expect the government to value your preference on that basis.
Here we go again. You've yet to prove that. Merely repeating it doesn't make it so.
Sixty-five percent of New Zealand First supporters wanted the party to go with Labour. Who widely campaigned on addressing poverty and inequality.
Additionally, if it were just Bradford and I that are disappointed Labour wouldn't have a problem. Unfortunately for them, the disappointment is widespread.
Moreover, failing to deliver on more of the recommendations sooner will lead to their fiscal management coming under the spotlight. People will question why they aren't prepared to invest now to save the greater cost and social harm of not doing so.
lol
2/3 NZ1 voters supported Labour's welfare policies? OK, let's be generous and take that interpretation. 6 of NZ1's 9 seats go left.
labgrnNZ1(left):46+8+6 = 60
NACTNZ1(noreform):56+1+3 = 60
60:60 is not a mandate for radical welfare reform.
Of course I can't prove that the retirees and rural conservatives voting NZF weren't doing so in the hope that the party would promote a radical left policy agenda. Likewise, I can't prove there aren't fairies at the bottom of your garden.
However, we can have a high level of confidence that there actually aren't fairies at the bottom of your garden, and likewise we can have a high level of confidence that Winston's retirees and rural conservatives really didn't vote for his party because they felt it would promote their desire for radical left reform.
Voter support for radical welfare reform comes from Green voters, a subset of Labour voters, and (presumably) a subset of NZF voters. Most likely there were also some supporters who gave their support to sub-5% parties, but their votes don't count. I'd question whether the voter support for Bradford-style reform was any higher than voter support for further right-wing restrictions on welfare. In short – no mandate.
I'd argue that the reason why Labour is struggling with welfare reform is simply because none of the mainstream parties have a clue how to go about it.
I doubt that is the hold up.
They're stuck fiddling with a fundamentally broken system. If they had a reform model that was efficient and made sense to the majority of people they would have gotten on with it by now.
The report highlights what is required. Therefore, it's not that they don't have a clue.
They aren't stuck fiddling, they are stalling.
The report is not a detailed blueprint for transformative policy. The Government needs to take in the report and design a coherent suite of policies, a policy platform, which addresses as many points raised in the report as possible as well as many others that are completely outside the report. That’s the job of the Government and it is a huge one. One of the obstacles they’ll face is that they’ll have to deconstruct to rebuild. That is never an easy thing to do in politics and comes with risk and upheaval. And it takes time!
People are jumping up & down in a frenzy, impatiently shrieking “Scrap this! Do that! The report!!”. As if saying “make it so” makes it so.
Of course, the Government is out of its depth. But they took on the job and they should bloody well get on with it (AKA let’s do this). And I think they are. I have to think so because otherwise we are utterly stuffed. As with Climate Change …
I never stated the report is a detailed blueprint. But it is a comprehensive report that outlines what is required.
Nevertheless, I understand formulating policy will take time, but it shouldn't take years. Hence, the widespread disappointment and public uproar.
If Labour were wise and wanted to keep supporters onside, they will offer more in the up coming Budget.
The last thing Labour will want is a new left party forming out of the growing disappointment (TPP, CGT, welfare reform etc…).
I see, you are a policy analyst now, in fact, a whole team of senior policy analysts. You know exactly how to take the recommendations of the report and turn them into effective policy. You know how to avoid gaps, overlap, duplicity, unintended consequences, clashes with other existing and/or new policies, compliance issues with the Law, budget blowouts, etc. You know how to get these policies pushed through the political system and Parliament, if any bills or amendments are required. You know all these things and yet you don’t tell us or anybody in Government. All you do is criticise in an unconstructive manner. Your concerns lack credibility IMO.
Again, nobody is expecting them to deliver it tomorrow, but as the report highlights, it requires urgent attention and Labour are not acting with urgency, hence the uproar.
This failure to act with urgency will lead to a lot of avoidable social ills and cost the lives of a number of those struggling. It's shameful.
I see, you want Labour to run around like headless chickens giving the impression of urgency and immediate action while serious policy professionals burn the midnight oil to draft policy. What exactly do you want Labour to do urgently, Mr Policy Analyst? Should they call a National Emergency, cancel all rugby matches and flights in and out of Wellington until all recommendations of the report have been fully tested and implemented? Or should they continue to govern this country whilst absorbing the report and putting a coherent plan together? I hear you roar and bark but very little of substance seems to emanate from you.
I said act with urgency (not headless chickens) as the report recommended. So you do understand this isn't just coming from me a single voice in the crowd? Seems you missed my little tutorial on Labour trolls.
Lifting benefits (and all interrelated criteria) must be done first and foremost.
Again, you offer nothing constructive and of substance. You act like an impatient petulant child chanting “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”. Ad infinitum. You feel bolstered because of other ignorant children chanting the same tune. You understand that repeating your own lines it does not make it happen? You understand that your ‘tutorials’ are simply rants? You understand that engaging Government is a little more nuanced than simply stating demands and ‘huffing & puffing’ when they don’t respond immediately?
For the record, benefits need to be lifted and brought into line with wages and CoL. You see, I even agree with you …
There wasn't any mandate for asset sales either. Didn't seem to trouble the pollies.
That is untrue Stuart, and you know it.
National listed the assets they proposed to sell if they were re-elected in 2011. They did it prior to the election. Well they were elected and they did sell the assets. Your mates in the current Government claimed they were going to buy them back, didn't they?
Well how is that going?
First of all, there had been plenty of polling which show in excess of 75% of people opposed asset sales. And then there was the 2013 referendum which also indicated asset sales lacked a popular mandate, 67% being opposed. A referendum the corrupt Key Kleptocracy naturally ignored.
"That is untrue Stuart, and you know it."
What I know Alwyn, is that you don't have a leg to stand on and as usual you have resorted to making shit up.
Good luck with that Chairman.”encourage Labour to act with urgency?”
No Labour is being run by the treasuy surely you can see that.
So where to for the left from here, cleangreen?
If Labour’s response to the Welfare Report results in a big slide in their polling, do you think that will encourage them to change?
To think, not long ago I was on the verge of rejoining the Labour Party.
Two things made me hold off, despite the promises of transformational change and the grand plans – most of which I am/was in agreement with, and which 'resonated' with coalition partners. I'll probably still have to continue with Labour/left (maybe) because, as always it's becoming evident it might be the least worst option
But, the first thing was when being unintentionally stuck half/quarter way up a himalaya unintentionally doing a Ben Fogle for a few months and receiving a sibling/Jacinda Adern's "selfie' at a gorgeous post-election Martinborough Conference. All around me, and half a world away, people and families had been adversely affected in some way by all the "best practice" of NZ (and OZ, UK, and to a lesser extent, Canadian Immigration policy) – i.e. truly ripped off as a result of false promises, outright lying, lack of basic government oversight, and what amounts to the same sort of 19thCentury colonial thinking. In many cases, those "best practice" policies had been just as devastating as the large international corporate impact on farming and subsistence living right throughout families beneath central and north western Himalyan areas – indebtedness, desperation (leading to) suicides, the works! In fact, quite obviously under the previous gNat junta, it had all been not just enabled, but also encouraged. The bizzniss of shitty immigration, shoddy tertiary education, exploitative work practices, ticket clipping – in some cases worse than one expects from 3rd World places.
Yes! I L-G is a nice guy; J A is a nice compassionate lady; I L-G had himself been exploited and knows what's going on; the gNats have left such a shambles that needs to be fixed, and Rome wasn't built in a day.
And then all that leading to the second. Given all the above, and the apparent awareness among Labour politicians of all the problems left by a decade or more of bullshit, of under-funding and under-resourcing, an apparent lack of awareness of those complicit and encouraging the dysfunction.
I think I've given enough time for sufficient 'conversations' out of which there have been a number of 'learnings' (and as I think I heard JA say on RNZ MR last Thursday or Friday ), some 'resonations' – which presumably means agreements.
The Natives are getting restless, and it'd be a big bloody shame for Labour to piss their political capital (which is well on the credit side of the ledger) up against the wall, on the trivial – especially when there are some really easy things that they could be doing that don't require legislative change that'd earn a few brownie points. Perhaps the problem might be that JA and cohorts are too nice – alternatively that they're a little bit naive.
Meantime, in the absence of anything else, it'll be a case of the least worst option, but it's all a bit reminiscent of a staunch Labour father-in-law abandoning the party when it embraced the neo-liberal religion.
, despite
It will no doubt be the position of a number on the left.
Well that, AND simply more and more becoming disengaged and staying away from the polling booth.
The worst part of it all is that it's not as though Labour and its partners don't have a few quite smart cookies within their ranks. Especially when you contrast it all with the current gNat crop on the front bench.
Like I said, from what I can see, the natives are becoming quite restless whilst the bubblistas continue to sup.
In fact, despite Winnie's fatherly oversight and willingness to protect the current star (who deservedly does have all that star status), I would'nt be surprised if there are a few in NZ1 who're beginning to worry about a bit of the namby pamby-ism. After all, NZ1 have made a few 'compromises' as well when they signed up to it all.
We'll see I 'spose. We get the politicians (and the bullshit artists) we deserve……and apparently, we don't know how lucky we are
Charman, where did you get that load of crap. Hosking or Hooton ?
From left leaning mouthpieces and social advocates on NZ social media.
The Governments inaction over the Welfare Report is going down like a cup of cold sick.
Moreover, their failure to address more of the reports recommendations looks fiscally irresponsible as the savings it produced going forward would outweigh the cost of investing more now.
" their failure to address more of the reports recommendations looks fiscally irresponsible as the savings it produced going forward would outweigh the cost of investing more now."
Absolutely.
Labour and the Greens made all this song and dance about their BRR and being fiscally responsible to avoid attacks from the right, only to now act fiscally irresponsible, gifting National more ammo to shoot them down with. Go figure?
Seems they'd rather risk their fiscal reputation than act fiscally responsible and help the poor.
yes WTB
"Penny wise pound foolish"
So who are these left leaning mouthpieces chairman, speak up we are waiting.
Sue Bradford
Max Rashbrooke
Susan St John
Martyn Bradbury
Bryan Bruce
The Salvation Army
God, You are Pathetic.
A post on TDB on hate speech, George Orwell, Phil Quin, Stuff and Golriz Ghahraman by Chris Trotter in April 2019. I think Trotter makes good points. (For those who didn't see it earlier.) https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/04/15/recognising-hate-speech-when-you-see-it/
In an alternative universe, only slightly different to this one, Ghahraman would be leading the charge against kneejerk demands for blanket curbs on hate speech. She would be reminding New Zealanders of what it actually involves: radio stations broadcasting instructions to “kill the cockroaches” (i.e. the Tutsis). She would explain how these incitements to genocide were preceded by many months of unrestrained racial vilification across all media.
n that universe, Ghahraman would be calming down her more zealous followers: warning them that unreasoning zealotry is always the problem – never the solution. She would also be reassuring them that New Zealand’s statute books already contain plenty of legal remedies against dangerously hateful expression.
The reason why the Green Party leadership should pay heed to Quin’s biting criticism of Ghahraman’s failure to supply much-needed guidance on this issue, is because he is very far from the only person expressing misgivings about the Greens’ justice spokesperson.
(I like the quote that Trotter picked:
“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.” ― George Orwell (goodreads)
So the Trotsker reckons hate speech is the truth? Lovely.
Super-cynicism there Gabby, but maybe he is saying that Hate Speech is linked to fear or dislike of the truth? Usually it is linked to a false truth, to my mind.
So now we have Fake Truth. ?
Hmmmm, despotic leader, implementation of sharia based law, shit loads of oil…
Anyone told John Bolton?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/05/brunei-says-it-will-not-enforce-lgbt-gay-sex-death-penalty-after-backlash?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Appreciate your point, Kevin, but let's be clear about this: Bolton is in no way a morally superior or more responsible person than the Sultan of Brunei or anyone else.
Hell, even Prince Jeffie is a saint compared to Bolton.
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/brunei-sultans-salacious-family-secret/news-story/8ba6a2827705c8a699f01335487b2649
To morrissey. Bolton is a 'industry armament agent' initiating more war,
The sooner we find an alternative to oil, the better. Not just for environmental reasons, but political as well.
Where would all these evil dictatorships be without the oil to prop up their insanity?
Agreed peter,
Behind big oil is the road freight industry and the truck building industry, so they are layered interest groups all pushing to use more oil so their profit rises.
They all hate rail as it uses far less oil and use no tyres that are produced using oil as well, so that is why rail is given the heave ho by these criminals sadly.
It’s World Press Freedom Day
https://newmatilda.com/2019/05/05/where-is-julian-assange-on-world-press-freedom-day-and-whats-torture-got-to-do-with-it/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=socialnetwork
The public cheated of building use because of inadequate design allowing for robust and practical use in a coastal position which has led to toxicity and now likely demolishment 20 years later after years of deterioration.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/110570207/at-least-16-years-of-leaks-revealed-for-kapiti-library-now-closed-due-to-mould (February 2019)
and
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/112427024/its-a-writeoff-kpiti-coast-council-reveals-yet-another-leaky-mouldy-building (May 2019)
Councillor Scott serves up the indigestible facts on the Paraparaumu library.
""They're proposing to spend $1.2m on a building worth $1.2m. The only money we should be spending is to run a bulldozer over it.""
This is the second Kapiti Coast council building to be affected. Who were the prime movers involved in enabling the building of these with new unproved systems?
In February, it was revealed 16 years of known leaks led to last year's closure of the Waikanae library due to toxic mould. About 27,000 books were decontaminated but its reopening date remains unclear.
The background to the building of the Paraparaumu Library.
In 1998 the Council agreed to site a new library to the northwest of the Rimu Road council building. This decision reopened questions about a vision for a town centre – and plans for the new library were temporarily put on hold. In April 2001, councillors voted unanimously for the new library concept plan – with a focus for community pride and awareness.
Fletcher Construction received the contract to build the new library designed by Warren and Mahoney Architects. The new Paraparaumu Public Library opened in November 2002. https://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/libraries/my-library/about-the-library/history-mission-statement/
Ironically in April this year there was a meeting there to discuss the problems and hazards of 5g EMF. So while the public are trying to deal with degraded building standards for structures we have been building for centuries, now with perverted methods, they are confronted with new and dangerous future-changing and very likely toxic technology looming over them. Coping with all this, trying to comprehend; how hard, how difficult!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaky_homes_crisis
https://www.prendos.co.nz/leaky-buildings-hide-their-secrets/
Harry [Harry Dillon, Property consultant with Prendos] questions whether untreated timber framing and various cladding systems should ever have been permissible under New Zealand construction law (use of untreated timber framing in houses has been largely banned since July 2011). The problem was already known in Canada, where it is called “leaky condo syndrome”, he says, and Canadians are now going back to fix what they thought they had already fixed years ago as we are now doing in New Zealand too….
What causes leaky buildings? (See panel.) Harry puts it down to people opting for the cheapest price, and being willing to accept cheaper untreated wood from dominant timber companies. It was also poor design coupled with a drive to maximise the house size on its footprint, typically using Tuscan-styled architecture. Couple these to a general lack of knowledge and skill and a 1991 performance-based building code that permitted “fit-for-purpose” product to be used, and you can have leaky buildings.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=2847786 Lessons our Builders should have learned. September 2002
The [Canadian] Barrett commission [1998 and 2000] estimated there were serious leaks in about 25 per cent of British Columbia's condominiums (multi-unit apartments or developments) built from 1980-99. Experts later estimated that more than half leaked, and one report put the problem rate as high as 90 per cent….
Canada's experience is effectively the blueprint for New Zealand's leaky building crisis. When the building industry here belatedly woke up to the problem in March, [2002] it called in experts from Vancouver to lead a "weathertightness" conference in Auckland.
So the war on terrorism was started with the death of 3 and a half thousand US citizens lives.
But the US can kill near on 40,000 in Venezuela via sanctions in two year. The real kicker is that media tells us the democratically elected government in Venezuela is evil.
Simply put, which no doubt someone will work out a weaselly way to side track this – the US sanctions would fit the definition of collective punishment of the civilian population as described in both the Geneva and Hague international conventions.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1905/S00001/40000-dead-venezuelans-under-us-sanctions-media-ignores.htm
Simon's scapegoat resigns.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/nationals-emotional-junior-staffer-resigns
NZEI vice president Liam Rutherford says the results send a clear message to the Government, now is the time to do something.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/05/public-overwhelmingly-backs-more-money-for-teachers-poll.html
Conflict with Iran another step closer.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/06/us-deploys-aircraft-carrier-and-bombers-after-troubling-indications-from-iran
Jesus Christ!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12228263
I saw an online interview with a prominent American psychiatrist the other day. He is certain Trump is in the early stages of dementia and regards the Republican Party's refusal to have Trump impeached for this reason alone as bordering on treason.
Sorry, I don't know where I saw it.
Great interview from RT with one of the greatest political cartoonists of any period, Steve Bell…about the only thing with any credibility left on The Guardian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hUvCwO9o5A
I enjoy their reporting on the football.
Mondays on Morning Report sounds more like a party political broadcast on behalf of the National Party, who the hell is running RNZ National ? I thought the Silver Fox had gone.
Crap ring Jacinda.
Send him back to the shops.
1.5 e colour, VVS1, or better.
Come on team.
Didn't pick you for a fashionista!
Recycling (a family heirloom) might be preferable to consumerism – walking the talk
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute
https://youtu.be/tgIqecROs5M
This bad weather that went through America was not well published trump suppressing our reality once again the Papatuanukue has to act NOW to save our decendints future. PLEASE PEOPLE.
We’re talking about an event here of historic proportions, circumstances that nobody ever recalls ever happening in their lifetime,” said Steve Wellman, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture director and third-generation.
The “bomb cyclone” – an intense winter storm – that swept through the US in March followed record-breaking cold in January and unprecedented snow in February. Huge blocks of loose ice jammed waterways, and the Missouri river swelled, topping levees in four states, and breaking DAMS Ka kite ano links below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/27/us-farmers-count-cost-of-catastrophic-bomb-cyclone-in-midwest P. S Hope the hard working farmers are given the correct tools to servive this
Ka pai Hohepa I hope your voice can rise above the many others Ki Kaha
Last week, he was announced as the newest member of the the country's highest bench.
He's previously held roles as the Chief Judge of the Māori Land Court and chair of the Waitangi Tribunal – and was appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal last year.
"It's a big leap from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, to the last court, and of course being the first Māori always creates expectations that will undoubtedly not be met, but I'll do my best," he said.
"I am kind of excited and a little afraid for how the future will play out.
Justice Williams said it was important that Māori in the courts came to see their culture was valued, and it was up to the system to signal that it valued Māori culture.
He wanted to see more tikanga Māori and culture and identity programmes in prisons, and cultural training also needed to be targeted at officials, he said.
"I think it is happening and it needs to happen quickly, not just the prison population but those who create the prison population – the officials, the corrections officers, the probation officers, all the way through to the judges.
"Once people at the bottom of the pile see that they are valued, my experience is that that brings quite an important shift in attitude amongst those people."
He said it could be as simple as pronouncing Māori names and place names correctly, understanding concepts of whanaungatanga, mana, tapu and local whakpapa Ka kite ano links below.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/388649/first-maori-on-the-supreme-court-bench-wants-a-focus-on-his-culture
https://youtu.be/DgGr_n4fgyI
Here's a good story about the sad state OUR Papatuanukue and her creature are in at the minute if we act now we can pull back from the brink of Extinction .
There is no need to make mitigateing climate change to complex KEEP IT SIMPLE.
Stop using carbon plastic and recycle everything . At this point in time the only environmental engineering that is smart and simple is design everything to minimise waste and the waste of energy just getting rid of the inefficiency can save millions of tons of carbon emissions being pumped into OUR atmosphere.
May be paint our roofs white but major geo engineering project are only going to pump more carbon into our atmosphere they are just a blind from the carbon barron designed to make us think that we can carry on burning carbon and geo engineering is going to save us but know we have to make sacrifices in our way of living to combat climate changes small price to pay to protect our Mokopuna futures.
The Guardian picture essay
'The future of life on Earth lies in the balance' – a picture essay
Almost 600 conservation experts have signed a letter by the wildlife charity WWF, published to coincide with UN report into loss of biodiversity
Overfishing
“We are overfishing our oceans at an alarming rate and choking them with plastic and other pollutants. If we want to see healthy seas that will continue to provide us with food, we need to stop this over-exploitation, protect our incredible marine environments and make sustainable fishing the norm, as we see here. Ka kite ano link below
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/07/the-future-of-life-on-Earth-lies-in-the-balance-a-picture-essay P.S we need to invest heavily into combating climate change
https://youtu.be/gOsM-DYAEhY
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute
https://youtu.be/IuwxZSIS__4
They are saving carbon now Whanau
Kia ora Newshub.
Congratulat on the new pepi tama.
I think that it's good sacking the health board of Waikato hospital it been a bit of a mess there lately.
HUMANS have disrespected our wildlife and environmental for long enough it time for a change in our attitudes and the ways in how we live its a couple of decades out because of oil barron suppression of the truth about human caused climate change.
We all know that trump cannot resist grabbing good publicity from Rakau Ka pai it's good for multicultural tangata all around te Papatuanukue Kia kaha Rakau.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora Te ao Maori News
Condolences to the Whanau of the Maori leader who's has pasted his tangi was in Rotorua sorry I miss his name my te reo and Mokopuna are at fault Kia ora .
Just so long as Maori stop being turned into jailbird because weed a medicine is illegal at the minute what a stupid law.
I support the people protesting about tangata not getting the correct treatment for their cancers at the Beehive.
Tangata whenua O tairawhiti the ones that know the correct history are still greaveing so is Eco Maori about the stuff that was served up to us by the Crown if they want Cooks statue removed and put in a museum so be it Kia kaha Ka kite ano
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/5Yj4j_lZMBo
It gives me a sore face when I see all the tangata whenua teeth Kia kaha
Kia ora The AM Show.
Cameron it cool that you are checking out your whakpapa.
I think you idea about the youth serving one year in the army no. But one year in civil training and the army teaching trades would be awesome for OUR youths Wairua.
I say that teaching the youth about respect in school is a must the early the better 9 yeas old would be good .
A lot of children with behaviour problems get the imbalances of their chemicals make up from birth when the mother is a drug addict pharmaceutical drugs pee ect its stuffs up the children now everyone's wondering why we have heaps of lost wayward children .
I agree with Verity our new government has made changes for the better it ain't perfect but people's lives are getting better slowly. Ka kite ano
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute
https://youtu.be/CFwm3Vi66A4
Thanks to all the tangata that Tau toko Eco Maori from here and around the Papatuanukue
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/IPfJnp1guPc
Whanau everythings cool just fixing the Waka
Kia ora Newshub .
There you go Whanau simon and national useing the housing short they created to damage our new government Mana go figure
Farmers have to be included in our climate change mitigatetion as they are big greenhouse gas emitters if we don't get our farmers emissions down we will have a hard time meeting our Paris agreements..
Mike some people have no care of others people wellbeing ripping those poor foreign workers off is unethical respect is need .
I wonder if trumps m8 sold up their shares yesterday .
That ausse bloke who flooded the hotel in Australia it shows me how the hard drugs stuff you up don't touch the shit whanau .
Ka kite ano
Kia ora Te ao Maori News
Its a sad day when tangata whenua lose a leader he was a te reo tohunga .
Its gives Eco Maori a sore face seeing our government committing to combat climate change and setting targets for our fast reduction of green House gas emissions I it's about te Mokopuna.
I agree a few small changes can make a whare dry and warm thermal drapes ruggs and blocking drafts I most times end up having to do that mahi to my whare shut all windows at 5 pm to
Ka pai Turanga health checking the Whanau vehicles to make sure they have the pepi car seats installed correctly.
Ka kite ano