Only discrepancy is the guy tweeted 60+2US, the Venezuelans have 21 including the yanks. So maybe some got away. But I'm not sure there would be more yanks – a guy I'm reading a bit at the moment consistenly gives the figure of 2 SF advising a company/120pax of Cambodians during Vietnam, so 2:60 seems consistent with that.
Indeed amusing. Folks will assume Pompeo is behind it but I favour Balsonaro. Anyway there will be a fervent ferment of conspiracy theories (probably happening already on the twit site)…
Having spent a year working in Latin America, I'm aware of just how little most of us are informed about the region. I'm absolutely not pretending to be any kind of authority, but it's worth pointing out that it's a complex region in it's own right and that reflexively blaming the US for everything that goes wrong is tedious. There are many other actors in the region just as capable as the Americans for this ugly little fuck up.
Blaming oil is pretty silly. No-one want Vene oil at the moment and certainly not the US who have plenty of their own.
Where Venezuela got it badly wrong was the same mistake the Cuban's made; inviting Russia and China to gain a platform in the Western hemisphere. The Americans don't mind who you trade with, they don't even really mind if you run a socialist economy. But you have to be on their side against communism. Like it or not that was the deal, and most Latin American countries worked out where the trip wire was out decades ago.
And in an time when oil prices are heading negative, US sanctions or not, Venezuela is in deep trouble. Anyone with money has left, along with anyone with a marketable skill. Hell anyone who could walk has left. What remains is going to be a humanitarian catastrophe. Insisting the glorious socialist experiment must be carried forward, regardless of the human cost, has Stalinist undertones reminiscent of the Ukraine disaster.
“The Americans don’t really mind if you have a “socialist economy”
Yeah sure, they forced regime change in over 80 countries because they “didn’t really mind”.
The USA "squeezing their economy until it bleeds" Britain embargoing State bank accounts, and all the other economic warfare against Venezuela, had nothing to do with it?
Because, Socialism!
Chavez Government, had a State share of the economy, less than New Zealand's, by the way.
And turning to other countries for help, was, after, the USA, fucked them, not before. Just like Vietnam.
And. Why mention Venezuela. There are a plethora of examples of right wing, extreme capitalist dictatorships, imposed by the USA, which are a lot worse off.
There are a plethora of examples of right wing, extreme capitalist dictatorships, imposed by the USA, which are a lot worse off.
I'd be interested to know exactly which Latin American countries you have in mind. No problem finding examples from the 80's, but anything current?
Venezuala has plummeted from the richest Latin American nation to collapse in less than a decade. That kind of incompetence is barely distinguishable from malice.
Does this mean the US is always reasonable, that business interests don't play some part in their foreign policy? Of course not, every nation runs policy to suit their interests, and none are above criticism. Just as for instance NZ doesn't like aspects of Australian policy around deportations.
There is plenty of blame game to go around, but it has to be the worst kind of incompetence and folly that allowed policy disagreements to escalate to the kind of dread consequences the Venezuelans have visited upon themselves.
Even the most competent Government, which I don't think Venezuela's is, would have struggled to cope with the deliberate economic destruction, visited on Venezuela from the outside.
Imagine if it had been Bridges, mob. Or the barely capable back benchers in Labour.
Yes I suppose they could have just bit the bullet and accepted something like Colombia or Honduras. Interesting tbat even after a successful coup against Chavez the people took to the streets and succesfully got him released. Funny thing to do if you really don't like the guy. And of course the embargo on Venezuela has nothing to do with their poverty? To the extent that the US navy is now parked off shore? I guess we're all free to believe what we want to…
The same is true of a very long list of countries. The kind of liberal freedom of speech you are accustomed to here in NZ is largely confined to a relatively short list of about 30 nations.
the same mistake the Cuban's made; inviting Russia and China to gain a platform in the Western hemisphere. The Americans don't mind who you trade with, they don't even really mind if you run a socialist economy.
What utter nonsense. Castro aligned with the Soviet Union out of necessity. He was not even a Communist at the start of the revolution. At first the US was not overly concerned about the revolution but when Castro nationalised US owned assets this quickly changed with the CIA backed Bay of Pigs attempted invasion (April 1961) .
Cuba had of course been invaded by the US during the Spanish-American war. At first the Cubans had hoped that the US would support them to independence by joining with them in their fight to free themselves from the Spanish. What resulted though was the seizing of key assets by US interests. Hello new boss same as the old boss.
Faced with inevitable further aggression from the US Castro had no choice but to turn to the Soviet Union for protection. This led to the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962) when the Soviet Union attempted to put nuclear missiles in Cuba but were met with a naval blockade from the US. While the Soviets had the good sense to not start WW3 and turn back, this action made it clear to the US that the Soviet Union would not tolerate an invasion of Cuba. And so the Revolution endured.
I know a bit about this through the best paper i took at Waikato, a stage 3 paper Sociology of Revolution. It covered the revolutions of France, Russia, China, Cuba, Nicaragua and Peru. It was fascinating.
None of them exactly a fine endorsement for revolution. All of them have history fraught with betrayal of their principles, conflict both internal and external, and economic stagnation.
Sure revolution must look theoretically attractive sitting in a nice warm, comfortable university classroom (all made possible by an evil capitalist system) … but they rarely turn out quite so sweet for the poor bastards cursed to live through them.
Of those four, three are relative success stories, they tell us how socialism can become successfully embedded in a productive, prosperous economy. But it's not an automatic given.
Why Venezuela failed so dismally is not just a story of US perfidy; it's also a story of a democratic govt that wanted to be a revolution, and in doing so became an object lesson in over-reach.
Yes the Western hemisphere is the US's sphere of influence. For better or worse it's how great powers always behave. There are no exceptions to this rule, demanding the USA be different is a fools errand.
That looks like a flying start to the same path Venezuela headed down. Then there is the cocaine issue that of course parks a fucking great bus up the nose of US drugs policy.
Yeah I can see this working out just fine. /sarc
Because by my reckoning, by any historic comparison the USA has been a relatively benign great power compared to virtually all that proceeded it. Sure there is no objection to being critical of US foreign policy, but to avoid becoming obsessively paranoid about it, I find it helpful to ask "compared to what?"
Now that is my pragmatic hat talking. My idealist sees the same story and takes this to the next level, pointing out that the problem is not the USA in itself, but the paradigm of unlimited national sovereignty all nations are operating to.
If by hypothetical accident of history it was any other nation that happened to be the global superpower at this time, China, Russia, India, Saudi, France … does anyone imagine we would not have the same litany of complaints? Of course not. The problem is not so much that that USA stands for 'Unlimited Supply of Arseholes', it's that the nature of unconstrained sovereignty combined with superior wealth and military strength turns out to be a bad combination for everyone else. Always.
At least the Colombians pretend quite strenuously to oppose the drug cartels and make quite a good show of it.
But you keep missing the point; this is how all great powers act, not just the USA. I note that you never bring up any examples of how the Russians or the CCP have acted in their spheres of influence. (Wanna talk about Chechnya?) Or the British … or any other empire of the damned in history.
Sure feel free to indulge in your anti-US bigotry here at length. You've done so for years, and while I've taken the time to point this out, I doubt you will move from your emotional investment in this.
But it's a dead-end argument that goes nowhere. Imagine if you were to get your fondest wish and the entire USA was wiped off the map tomorrow. The day after some other super-power would be in business and nothing would have changed.
Why can't you ever reply to what i have said about what you have said? Why can't you concede that you might just be wrong?
But no rather you have to throw up a straw man so that you can carry on with your game of wack-a-lefty:
Sure revolution must look theoretically attractive sitting in a nice warm, comfortable university classroom (all made possible by an evil capitalist system) … but they rarely turn out quite so sweet for the poor bastards cursed to live through them.
All i said was that i had studied a number of revolutions and found them fascinating. I also find Nazi Germany fascinating but that does not mean that i fantasise about fascist overthrow of democracy and the rule of law.
What is fascinating is both the successes and the disasters. And the mangling of Marxist theory as each group (not French) adjusts this to fit their context and own ideas. I read Lenin's State and Revolution, for example, and thought it was the most cherry picked load of Cartesian bullshit i was ever likely to find. He was rushing to finish this manual for the revolution as the revolution had already started. On his deathbed he apparently said that every Marxist for the past 30 years had totally misunderstood Marx (including and in particular himself) and to go back and read Hegel, and beware of Stalin. This is not to be taken though that i would think Marx's ideas unproblematic. The Dictatorship of the Proletariat was always a fraught idea. Likewise the Anarchist ideas of his rival Bakunin who argued that the State needed to be smashed from the outset rather than being seized and utilised until it "withered away". Both men though were writing in a time and place where they could not conceive of working people gaining power by any other means. British working class men only got the vote at the end of WW1 when battle hardened troops were returning with fresh knowledge of the success of the Russian revolution.
In Cuba Castro tried the democratic road but Batista seized power in a military coup and cancelled the elections. Things went from bad to worse, to even worse. Sure revolution might look theoretically unattractive sitting in a nice modern stable western democracy with a proportionally representative voting system and the rule of law.
OK that's a lot more nuanced and makes more sense.
Castro aligned with the Soviet Union out of necessity.
And that may well have been his biggest mistake. The US would have been irritated with his nationalising of US assets, but they would have gotten over that. They would have tolerated his socialist ambitions even, but when Castro made an alliance with the Soviets that was the trip wire that was never going to be tolerated. They even have a name for it.
That's the point I'm making here; the one thing the US will not tolerate is a Latin American nation providing a platform for the Soviets (and now the CCP) in the Western hemisphere. Like it or not that is how they define their interests and everyone in the region knows this.
That Chavez and now Maduro have chosen to deliberately, and quite unnecessarily confront the US on this policy was only ever going to end in tears. For their people.
That's some pretty impressive victim-blaming right there, well into the "why do you make me hit you" territory.
Based on the assumption that if you only try for a little bit of independence, the yanks won't hit you. They don't work that way, sorry to break it to you.
The State Department might do half measures unless superpower influence comes into play. CIA does not, and Wall Street does not. Or has Central and South America (not to mention Hawaii) spent the last ~150 years bringing their fates upon themselves?
ps They tried "liberating" Canada, it didn't work out for them.
You have the cart before the horse. The US had backed and armed Batista in the first place. They were responsible for the loss of democracy in Cuba. As Castro overthrew Batista the US held back hoping that this would just be a nationalist revolution but quickly changed tack when US owned assets were nationalised.
Rather than getting over this they then funded and trained Cuban exiles to invade Cuba. This included giving them bomber aircraft which they used to bomb Cuba. The Bay of Pigs invasion also included some US personnel. The US was already not tolerating Cuban independence. It was only rational for Castro to assume they were not at the end of things and that his only option was to align militarily with the Soviet Union.
Clearly there were mistakes and miscalculations on all sides. But remember this was pretty much the height of the Cold War, and any hint of Russian involvement in a nationalist revolution on their own doorstep was always going to be treated with extreme suspicion by the Americans. After all this is all happening just 15 years after the end on WW2 and Stalin himself had only just died five years earlier.
But you have to be on their side against communism
The problem is the the USA have redefined communism to include any government that tries to put the interests of it's own people before the interests of the corporate might of the USA.
For the most part the US viewed 'free trade' as a tool to develop secure middle classes, remove the social drivers of communist revolution, and develop democracy. The underlying idea was they could essential build global security based on the observation that developed, open and liberal democracies didn't go to war with each other. It was driven as much by a security motivation as the opportunity to make money.
Unfortunately what worked in places like post war Germany and Japan, failed dismally in other places and US policy never adapted to this reality. But to blame this failure entirely on an aversion to socialism isn't supported on the evidence.
There are plenty of developed nations, Canada for example, who run far more socialist policies than the USA does without incurring sanctions. You just have to be moderately smart about it.
Heh. Occasional White House spokesgargoyle Kellyalien Conway's hubby Moonface has upset the tinyfingers twittertwat again. The ad his group released is at the end of the piece, it's worth watching, and fuck me it's brutal.
Credit where credits due, good work from that old Labour warhorse Ruth Dyson. On Morning Report this morning, Bridges is being forced to defend the lack of Māori submitters (2 groups in 6 weeks) appearing before his Pandemic Committee, rather than extolling the virtues of his rescue package for small business. Yet another sub par media performance from the Opp Leader.
Don't write National off yet. We need to do our utmost to ensure that Labour gets another term. Simon Bridges, Mark Mitchell, Crusher and Goldsmith will ensure that the future will be that of low wages, bare bones public services, homelessness and high rents, permanent insecurity and US style health care, as well as poisoned rivers and air.
People who have a big issue with the way the government is handling the COVID issue need to ask themselves if they really want a society where there is no welfare, no pensions and healthcare/housing is unaffordable.
I think Labour needs to help itself too. According to the No right turn feeds they are
– ignoring electoral reform. We need to stop the influence of excess money in elections. It favours the rich.
– cutting out the ability for the public to have a say (even if limited ) in the RMA. That's red meat to the right. They turned ECAN into a non democratic outfit and that's defato encouragement to do more than that in the future.
Principles matter and not selling them matters even more
[You are prone to hyperbole, which is great for starting an exercise in futility but otherwise on par with trolling. Please try lifting the quality of your comments, thanks – Incognito]
"…(Rick) Wilson, author of Everything Trump Touches Dies, warned: “They may end up making the situation so bad with a second wave in the summer and a third wave in the fall that we end up with a much worse set of economic challenges than if we’d taken our bitter medicine and stayed shut down until we were through the early part of this crisis…"
Someone should show that to that to the National Party.
Hoskings knew the way to go, should have done same as Ausse, last 6 days infected NZ 2-3-6-1-0-0 Ausse 4-11-14-18-24-24 1ncluding 1 large cluster no way will we have a bubble with them for many months
36 months until some kind of normality and at least 2 or 3 waves of infection. Her only surprise at how it’s panned out? That the US has been the country that’s failed so badly to deal with it.
Krugman's latest piece in the NYT (via Kos) lays the blame squarely on the Trump govt and its science denial and inability to ever admit making a mistake.
Trump and company didn’t make a one-time mistake. They grossly minimized the pandemic and its dangers every step of the way, week after week over a period of months. And they’re still doing it. […]
Trump’s narcissism and solipsism are especially blatant, even flamboyant. But he isn’t an outlier; he’s more a culmination of the American right’s long-term trend toward intellectual degradation. And that degradation, more than Trump’s character, is what is leading to vast numbers of unnecessary deaths.
Check out the Hopkins covid tracker: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html If you eyeball that lower rhs graph, you can see the linear global increase looking inexorable – note the mid-March inflection point when it kicked in. Then select the daily cases tag to get a more current view of the trend.
Now, if you click on the individual countries (left-hand window) you can compare the trajectories in different countries. Note how NZ is one of those levelling-off. Note how the USA is not! Nor the UK. But then check out the daily cases window via the tag on that graph and you see that it stabilised a month ago. I bet Trump just looks at that one!
Interesting how Russia & India seemed fairly immune for a while but no longer. I reckon Putin will be consternated by the late dramatic upswing.
Stunted Mullet Transmission Gully is built on a major Fault line.The Contractor will fix these areas of weakness at no cost to the taxpayer.The economic downturn will cut the amount of traffic for at least 2 years.
Not carried out by National …the whole project was not fully scoped before being handed over to a private consortium who would design, build and finance and MAINTAIN for around 25 years with a fixed yearly fee from NZTA.
If the contract isnt carried out properly , it all falls back on the consortium. Unlike the Peka Peka hwy , they have to pay for any light or heavy maintenance.
Well thats how this private finance project Should work.
The mistake appeared to be in the laying of the road.
There are multiple layers underneath the asphalt you drive on, and if not correctly done the road will fail the necessary tests to get the sign off and has no chance of standing the test of time.
Below the asphalt, layers of rock are mixed together with smaller sand-like bits and a small amount of cement, which then gets compacted.
If the mix is too wet or gets moved around too much the small bits of fine rock and sand fall to the bottom making it hard to compact down properly, and problems arise if if asphalt gets laid on top of that.
What with this project and the recent PekaPeka and Waikato expressways, how has our roadbuilding industry forgotten how to do their basic job so thoroughly?
"Below the asphalt, layers of rock are mixed together with smaller sand-like bits and a small amount of cement, which then gets compacted." I wonder if Charlotte Cook just made this up or if it is actually why the roads are failing.
If a person has ever noticed how roads are constructed they'll know this is not how.
Considerable work goes into forming the base course before fines are added. New Zealand soils, where the soil is compressive clay, poses considerable problems for the roading contractor as the subsoil is prone to contraction and expansion. Hydrated Lime, not cement, is spread once the substrate is laid and compacted to stabilise the road bed.
Please read what you link – This appears to faults in methodology and implementation.
Hard to blame Nat in this case, they don't lay down subgrade, subbase etc. perhaps pull off the eye patch just once 🙈🙉🙊
"Process errors have occurred at isolated locations on Transmission Gully"
""A quality control process is in place to identify such errors, and a set construction method is used to remove and replace the material, which is recycled for use elsewhere on the project.""
So that is an excuse for roads to fail ??? Don’t think so. So if a govt accepted low tenders for Kiwibuild ?? Never 😉 it may surprise you what was involved in those tenders and guess what ?? Many business were cut out due to not being able to be competitive with the low tenders. So it’s not JUST under a National govt.
Nobody else has been building shitty roads which require remedial work in the last decade, just National. Waikato expressway, Kapiti expressway, and now Transmission Gully.
Feel free to comment again under the post, but this time provide some actual content eg cite the history of hospitality sector working groups. Don’t sound bite and stop trolling. Putting you back in premod so I can see the comments as they come through.
I have added another 6 months to your ban so it’s rapidly becoming semi-permanent. It always amazes me how those who are banned continue to shoot themselves in the foot.
Bridges is a thoroughly nasty character. Doesn’t have any redeeming qualities at all. Dr Bloomfield on the other hand is a thoroughly decent and well qualified person who most reasonable people would take notice of. Hence the nationwide admiration for him. People know it when they see it.
“In the end, NZ’s response has been quintessentially democratic. Not because the pandemic emergency response committee is chaired, at the government’s behest, by the Leader of the Opposition. Not because it has allowed for full throated criticism of its actions and used its emergency (coercive) powers very selectively and discretely. Not because it put science above partisanship and politics when addressing the threat. Mostly, because its balancing approach encapsulates the essence of democracy as a social contract: it is not about everyone getting everything they want all of the time, but about everyone getting some of what they want some of the time. In other words, it is about settling for mutual second-best options.
That may not be always the case in NZ and democracies elsewhere. But it is what has been done in this instance. Beyond the positive statistics of the policy response itself, this is the most significant and enduring achievement to come out of this crisis.”
…On the organics front, an almost 40-year ongoing study by Rodale Institute has shown that organic farms produce 40% more yields during times of drought as compared to conventional farms, in part due to higher levels of organic soil matter.
Similarly to soil carbon, there is little peer-reviewed science from NZ on the drought resilience of organics, or the suggestion that regen ag reduces nutrient run-off from farms. I came across plenty of anecdotal examples during the process of researching this article, of farmers saying that their pastures retain more water and are more resilient to drought, after they transitioned to regen ag. A partnership between data analytics platform Takiwā and Australian company EcoDetection hopes to provide better insight into levels of nutrient runoff from individual regeneratively managed farms, using state-of-the-art nitrate and nitrite sensors. Read more about that initiative in our story featuring Mike Taitoko….
Something useful will come out of that nz-oz connection. Can we have some discrete ones and by-pass the heavies in Canberra? Go for individual states that try to establish their own zeitgeist.
this would be high in my list of reasons to get substantially more Green MPs in government. Shifting a big chunk of govt support for farming to regenag, including research.
btw, not sure why your italics tags didn't work, might have been the . . . . , but I changed them to quotes.
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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, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
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’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
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 ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
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 ...
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This has got to be he best use of A-wim-a-weh in a long, long time – and it's both funny and politically effective:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coY19wXp16k
Yes nice one. And in the deeply riven landscape that is US politics it treads the narrow path skillfully.
Not a single black face in that Trump take-down…all a bit odd.
I think that's very smart targeting.
So, this is pretty funny. US business as usual, a couple of ex-sf with a few dozen Venezuelans got caught trying to sneak into Venezuela to start a revolution. How is that funny? The G Gordon Liddy wannabe in the US who ran the op tweeted it. Then nuked any slim chance of his guys not being done for it to the max by claiming them as his personnel. So much for maybe being smugglers driving the boats or something less than active participants in a coup.
Even the Bay of Pigs was better run than that.
Only discrepancy is the guy tweeted 60+2US, the Venezuelans have 21 including the yanks. So maybe some got away. But I'm not sure there would be more yanks – a guy I'm reading a bit at the moment consistenly gives the figure of 2 SF advising a company/120pax of Cambodians during Vietnam, so 2:60 seems consistent with that.
Indeed amusing. Folks will assume Pompeo is behind it but I favour Balsonaro. Anyway there will be a fervent ferment of conspiracy theories (probably happening already on the twit site)…
Having spent a year working in Latin America, I'm aware of just how little most of us are informed about the region. I'm absolutely not pretending to be any kind of authority, but it's worth pointing out that it's a complex region in it's own right and that reflexively blaming the US for everything that goes wrong is tedious. There are many other actors in the region just as capable as the Americans for this ugly little fuck up.
Blaming oil is pretty silly. No-one want Vene oil at the moment and certainly not the US who have plenty of their own.
Where Venezuela got it badly wrong was the same mistake the Cuban's made; inviting Russia and China to gain a platform in the Western hemisphere. The Americans don't mind who you trade with, they don't even really mind if you run a socialist economy. But you have to be on their side against communism. Like it or not that was the deal, and most Latin American countries worked out where the trip wire was out decades ago.
And in an time when oil prices are heading negative, US sanctions or not, Venezuela is in deep trouble. Anyone with money has left, along with anyone with a marketable skill. Hell anyone who could walk has left. What remains is going to be a humanitarian catastrophe. Insisting the glorious socialist experiment must be carried forward, regardless of the human cost, has Stalinist undertones reminiscent of the Ukraine disaster.
“The Americans don’t really mind if you have a “socialist economy”
Yeah sure, they forced regime change in over 80 countries because they “didn’t really mind”.
The USA "squeezing their economy until it bleeds" Britain embargoing State bank accounts, and all the other economic warfare against Venezuela, had nothing to do with it?
Because, Socialism!
Chavez Government, had a State share of the economy, less than New Zealand's, by the way.
And turning to other countries for help, was, after, the USA, fucked them, not before. Just like Vietnam.
And. Why mention Venezuela. There are a plethora of examples of right wing, extreme capitalist dictatorships, imposed by the USA, which are a lot worse off.
You are right. You don't have a clue.
There are a plethora of examples of right wing, extreme capitalist dictatorships, imposed by the USA, which are a lot worse off.
I'd be interested to know exactly which Latin American countries you have in mind. No problem finding examples from the 80's, but anything current?
Venezuala has plummeted from the richest Latin American nation to collapse in less than a decade. That kind of incompetence is barely distinguishable from malice.
Even a broad outline of the whole story is quite complex, but in a nutshell Chavez went out of his way to buy a fight he was never going to win. The large majority of the 200 nations on earth manage to find a way to live with the US without incurring total economic sanctions, so it's clearly not an impossible ask. Moreover it's not only the US which has sanctions; quite a few other nations have been persuaded to introduce them as well. Hell even Saint Obama got in the act.
Does this mean the US is always reasonable, that business interests don't play some part in their foreign policy? Of course not, every nation runs policy to suit their interests, and none are above criticism. Just as for instance NZ doesn't like aspects of Australian policy around deportations.
There is plenty of blame game to go around, but it has to be the worst kind of incompetence and folly that allowed policy disagreements to escalate to the kind of dread consequences the Venezuelans have visited upon themselves.
Even the most competent Government, which I don't think Venezuela's is, would have struggled to cope with the deliberate economic destruction, visited on Venezuela from the outside.
Imagine if it had been Bridges, mob. Or the barely capable back benchers in Labour.
Yes I suppose they could have just bit the bullet and accepted something like Colombia or Honduras. Interesting tbat even after a successful coup against Chavez the people took to the streets and succesfully got him released. Funny thing to do if you really don't like the guy. And of course the embargo on Venezuela has nothing to do with their poverty? To the extent that the US navy is now parked off shore? I guess we're all free to believe what we want to…
Oh great. So Colombia and Honduras are now great places to live. Sure. If you say the right things. But if not your death is not a pretty affair..
And Haiti.
The same is true of a very long list of countries. The kind of liberal freedom of speech you are accustomed to here in NZ is largely confined to a relatively short list of about 30 nations.
Watch. Bolivia.
The presence of US PMCs in the group ups the odds that someone in the US knew of it and gave tacit approval, at the very least.
the same mistake the Cuban's made; inviting Russia and China to gain a platform in the Western hemisphere. The Americans don't mind who you trade with, they don't even really mind if you run a socialist economy.
What utter nonsense. Castro aligned with the Soviet Union out of necessity. He was not even a Communist at the start of the revolution. At first the US was not overly concerned about the revolution but when Castro nationalised US owned assets this quickly changed with the CIA backed Bay of Pigs attempted invasion (April 1961) .
Cuba had of course been invaded by the US during the Spanish-American war. At first the Cubans had hoped that the US would support them to independence by joining with them in their fight to free themselves from the Spanish. What resulted though was the seizing of key assets by US interests. Hello new boss same as the old boss.
Faced with inevitable further aggression from the US Castro had no choice but to turn to the Soviet Union for protection. This led to the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962) when the Soviet Union attempted to put nuclear missiles in Cuba but were met with a naval blockade from the US. While the Soviets had the good sense to not start WW3 and turn back, this action made it clear to the US that the Soviet Union would not tolerate an invasion of Cuba. And so the Revolution endured.
I know a bit about this through the best paper i took at Waikato, a stage 3 paper Sociology of Revolution. It covered the revolutions of France, Russia, China, Cuba, Nicaragua and Peru. It was fascinating.
France. The Terror
Russia. The Gulags
China. The Great Leap Backwards
Cuba. Decay and stagnation
Nicaragua. Violence and refugees
Peru. A century of conflict and the Shining Path
None of them exactly a fine endorsement for revolution. All of them have history fraught with betrayal of their principles, conflict both internal and external, and economic stagnation.
Sure revolution must look theoretically attractive sitting in a nice warm, comfortable university classroom (all made possible by an evil capitalist system) … but they rarely turn out quite so sweet for the poor bastards cursed to live through them.
Venezuela. Democratically elected Government. Not revolution.
New Zealand. First Labour Government. Democratically elected.
Roosevelts New Deal. Democratically elected.
Norway. "Taking their country back. Democratic.
It is not "Socialism" that requires, revolution!
Of those four, three are relative success stories, they tell us how socialism can become successfully embedded in a productive, prosperous economy. But it's not an automatic given.
Why Venezuela failed so dismally is not just a story of US perfidy; it's also a story of a democratic govt that wanted to be a revolution, and in doing so became an object lesson in over-reach.
Wrong.
The USA regards Latin America as their toys.
Bolivia, is the latest example.
Yes the Western hemisphere is the US's sphere of influence. For better or worse it's how great powers always behave. There are no exceptions to this rule, demanding the USA be different is a fools errand.
Let's see what wikipedia has to say:
That looks like a flying start to the same path Venezuela headed down. Then there is the cocaine issue that of course parks a fucking great bus up the nose of US drugs policy.
Yeah I can see this working out just fine. /sarc
Because by my reckoning, by any historic comparison the USA has been a relatively benign great power compared to virtually all that proceeded it. Sure there is no objection to being critical of US foreign policy, but to avoid becoming obsessively paranoid about it, I find it helpful to ask "compared to what?"
Now that is my pragmatic hat talking. My idealist sees the same story and takes this to the next level, pointing out that the problem is not the USA in itself, but the paradigm of unlimited national sovereignty all nations are operating to.
If by hypothetical accident of history it was any other nation that happened to be the global superpower at this time, China, Russia, India, Saudi, France … does anyone imagine we would not have the same litany of complaints? Of course not. The problem is not so much that that USA stands for 'Unlimited Supply of Arseholes', it's that the nature of unconstrained sovereignty combined with superior wealth and military strength turns out to be a bad combination for everyone else. Always.
Then there is Brazil, of course.
An even better example of US fuckery starting.
"Cocaine issue".
Like Columbia? But the USA likes that Government.
At least the Colombians pretend quite strenuously to oppose the drug cartels and make quite a good show of it.
But you keep missing the point; this is how all great powers act, not just the USA. I note that you never bring up any examples of how the Russians or the CCP have acted in their spheres of influence. (Wanna talk about Chechnya?) Or the British … or any other empire of the damned in history.
Sure feel free to indulge in your anti-US bigotry here at length. You've done so for years, and while I've taken the time to point this out, I doubt you will move from your emotional investment in this.
But it's a dead-end argument that goes nowhere. Imagine if you were to get your fondest wish and the entire USA was wiped off the map tomorrow. The day after some other super-power would be in business and nothing would have changed.
Strawman. Much.
The three are examples of how, Socialism, makes for a productive, successful, economy, not, the other way around.
Why can't you ever reply to what i have said about what you have said? Why can't you concede that you might just be wrong?
But no rather you have to throw up a straw man so that you can carry on with your game of wack-a-lefty:
Sure revolution must look theoretically attractive sitting in a nice warm, comfortable university classroom (all made possible by an evil capitalist system) … but they rarely turn out quite so sweet for the poor bastards cursed to live through them.
All i said was that i had studied a number of revolutions and found them fascinating. I also find Nazi Germany fascinating but that does not mean that i fantasise about fascist overthrow of democracy and the rule of law.
What is fascinating is both the successes and the disasters. And the mangling of Marxist theory as each group (not French) adjusts this to fit their context and own ideas. I read Lenin's State and Revolution, for example, and thought it was the most cherry picked load of Cartesian bullshit i was ever likely to find. He was rushing to finish this manual for the revolution as the revolution had already started. On his deathbed he apparently said that every Marxist for the past 30 years had totally misunderstood Marx (including and in particular himself) and to go back and read Hegel, and beware of Stalin. This is not to be taken though that i would think Marx's ideas unproblematic. The Dictatorship of the Proletariat was always a fraught idea. Likewise the Anarchist ideas of his rival Bakunin who argued that the State needed to be smashed from the outset rather than being seized and utilised until it "withered away". Both men though were writing in a time and place where they could not conceive of working people gaining power by any other means. British working class men only got the vote at the end of WW1 when battle hardened troops were returning with fresh knowledge of the success of the Russian revolution.
In Cuba Castro tried the democratic road but Batista seized power in a military coup and cancelled the elections. Things went from bad to worse, to even worse. Sure revolution might look theoretically unattractive sitting in a nice modern stable western democracy with a proportionally representative voting system and the rule of law.
OK that's a lot more nuanced and makes more sense.
Castro aligned with the Soviet Union out of necessity.
And that may well have been his biggest mistake. The US would have been irritated with his nationalising of US assets, but they would have gotten over that. They would have tolerated his socialist ambitions even, but when Castro made an alliance with the Soviets that was the trip wire that was never going to be tolerated. They even have a name for it.
That's the point I'm making here; the one thing the US will not tolerate is a Latin American nation providing a platform for the Soviets (and now the CCP) in the Western hemisphere. Like it or not that is how they define their interests and everyone in the region knows this.
That Chavez and now Maduro have chosen to deliberately, and quite unnecessarily confront the US on this policy was only ever going to end in tears. For their people.
That's some pretty impressive victim-blaming right there, well into the "why do you make me hit you" territory.
Based on the assumption that if you only try for a little bit of independence, the yanks won't hit you. They don't work that way, sorry to break it to you.
The State Department might do half measures unless superpower influence comes into play. CIA does not, and Wall Street does not. Or has Central and South America (not to mention Hawaii) spent the last ~150 years bringing their fates upon themselves?
ps They tried "liberating" Canada, it didn't work out for them.
You have the cart before the horse. The US had backed and armed Batista in the first place. They were responsible for the loss of democracy in Cuba. As Castro overthrew Batista the US held back hoping that this would just be a nationalist revolution but quickly changed tack when US owned assets were nationalised.
Rather than getting over this they then funded and trained Cuban exiles to invade Cuba. This included giving them bomber aircraft which they used to bomb Cuba. The Bay of Pigs invasion also included some US personnel. The US was already not tolerating Cuban independence. It was only rational for Castro to assume they were not at the end of things and that his only option was to align militarily with the Soviet Union.
Not much different in Vietnam.
Initially they appealed to the USA. "Land of the Free", to support their independence from France.
As always the whole story is more complex than one comment can do justice to.
The bottom line for the US was the involvement of the Soviets in Cuba right from WW2 onward.
Clearly there were mistakes and miscalculations on all sides. But remember this was pretty much the height of the Cold War, and any hint of Russian involvement in a nationalist revolution on their own doorstep was always going to be treated with extreme suspicion by the Americans. After all this is all happening just 15 years after the end on WW2 and Stalin himself had only just died five years earlier.
The whole story is quite sad really.
The problem is the the USA have redefined communism to include any government that tries to put the interests of it's own people before the interests of the corporate might of the USA.
The corporate might of the USA is greatly overestimated. Their exports are a smaller fraction of their GDP than any other developed nation, and big business faces more hurdles in buying political influence than ever before. It is one lens to view US foreign policy through, but it's not the only one.
For the most part the US viewed 'free trade' as a tool to develop secure middle classes, remove the social drivers of communist revolution, and develop democracy. The underlying idea was they could essential build global security based on the observation that developed, open and liberal democracies didn't go to war with each other. It was driven as much by a security motivation as the opportunity to make money.
Unfortunately what worked in places like post war Germany and Japan, failed dismally in other places and US policy never adapted to this reality. But to blame this failure entirely on an aversion to socialism isn't supported on the evidence.
There are plenty of developed nations, Canada for example, who run far more socialist policies than the USA does without incurring sanctions. You just have to be moderately smart about it.
Sure, they'd never use the military to back a favoured General Foods company.
Just because yankistan has its own oil doesn't mean it doesn't see benefits in controlling who gets other countries' oil.
In Venezuela its that lovely man Abrams who is in charge. Think Oliver North and Contras
lol followup to the tweet:
Heh. Occasional White House spokesgargoyle Kellyalien Conway's hubby Moonface has upset the tinyfingers twittertwat again. The ad his group released is at the end of the piece, it's worth watching, and fuck me it's brutal.
https://www.motherjones.com/2020-elections/2020/05/trump-lincoln-project-ad/
Yes that is excellent
Lolz, agent orange was up till 1am on a twitter tantrum because of that. Good job.
Lol, what?!
Credit where credits due, good work from that old Labour warhorse Ruth Dyson. On Morning Report this morning, Bridges is being forced to defend the lack of Māori submitters (2 groups in 6 weeks) appearing before his Pandemic Committee, rather than extolling the virtues of his rescue package for small business. Yet another sub par media performance from the Opp Leader.
RNZ story
https://twitter.com/teaniwahuri/status/1257075095916277760
Perhaps Simon thought he was the only Maori in this village:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/415943/simon-bridges-ignored-proposals-for-maori-at-epidemic-response-committee-mp-says
Don't write National off yet. We need to do our utmost to ensure that Labour gets another term. Simon Bridges, Mark Mitchell, Crusher and Goldsmith will ensure that the future will be that of low wages, bare bones public services, homelessness and high rents, permanent insecurity and US style health care, as well as poisoned rivers and air.
People who have a big issue with the way the government is handling the COVID issue need to ask themselves if they really want a society where there is no welfare, no pensions and healthcare/housing is unaffordable.
Aye that's why I'll be voting for the greens cause frankly they have a much better welfare plan.
I think Labour needs to help itself too. According to the No right turn feeds they are
– ignoring electoral reform. We need to stop the influence of excess money in elections. It favours the rich.
– cutting out the ability for the public to have a say (even if limited ) in the RMA. That's red meat to the right. They turned ECAN into a non democratic outfit and that's defato encouragement to do more than that in the future.
Principles matter and not selling them matters even more
National in government will mean:
No payrises for 10 years at least
No retirement for low paid workers
No secure housing
User pays education and health
[You are prone to hyperbole, which is great for starting an exercise in futility but otherwise on par with trolling. Please try lifting the quality of your comments, thanks – Incognito]
Millsy Austerity is Nationals Mantra in a time of recession this will compound any recession.
Really have you got a reference for any of those assertions ? They look rather unlikely to me.
Stunted Mullet 2008 till 2017 per head of population spending on health and education fell by more than 10%.
No pay rises over the 9yrs the inflation rate averaged 1.3% wage rises 1.3% a 9% pay cut.
Housing National sold more than they built without the Canterbury rebuild that would have shown an even bigger decline.
More of the health system farmed out to dodgy contractors ie vaccine distribution
Constant increases in education costs no money for leaky schools built under Nationals no regulation building codes.
Doctors visits costing 25% more prescriptions 150% more!
Which country were you in bottom feeader
Inflation should read 2.3%
See my Moderation note @ 8:27 AM.
Actually in line with National's stated, and actual, policies until very recently.
Raising the retirement age.
Stopping minimum wage rises.
Selling off State housing.
Privatising parts of the health sector.
All things they were already doing or have, promised.
Simon also said they would remove 200 regulations.
"Bonfire of regulations" and "tax cuts".
National talks about social issues when in opposition then sells off everything that isn't nailed down when in power
Interesting comment in a piece in the Guardian today: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/05/donald-trump-coronavirus-economic-recovery
"…(Rick) Wilson, author of Everything Trump Touches Dies, warned: “They may end up making the situation so bad with a second wave in the summer and a third wave in the fall that we end up with a much worse set of economic challenges than if we’d taken our bitter medicine and stayed shut down until we were through the early part of this crisis…"
Someone should show that to that to the National Party.
Sanctuary 80% of NZers back the tough lockdown.Bridges has changed his tune as the reality of the Polls sink in to the National Party.
Hoskings knew the way to go, should have done same as Ausse, last 6 days infected NZ 2-3-6-1-0-0 Ausse 4-11-14-18-24-24 1ncluding 1 large cluster no way will we have a bubble with them for many months
Yep. We can't let them in if they are not going to take it seriously.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-prediction-laurie-garrett.htm
36 months until some kind of normality and at least 2 or 3 waves of infection. Her only surprise at how it’s panned out? That the US has been the country that’s failed so badly to deal with it.
Krugman's latest piece in the NYT (via Kos) lays the blame squarely on the Trump govt and its science denial and inability to ever admit making a mistake.
(my emphasis)
https://youtu.be/Q5BZ09iNdvo
Check out the Hopkins covid tracker: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html If you eyeball that lower rhs graph, you can see the linear global increase looking inexorable – note the mid-March inflection point when it kicked in. Then select the daily cases tag to get a more current view of the trend.
Now, if you click on the individual countries (left-hand window) you can compare the trajectories in different countries. Note how NZ is one of those levelling-off. Note how the USA is not! Nor the UK. But then check out the daily cases window via the tag on that graph and you see that it stabilised a month ago. I bet Trump just looks at that one!
Interesting how Russia & India seemed fairly immune for a while but no longer. I reckon Putin will be consternated by the late dramatic upswing.
Rapture time.
/
https://twitter.com/dwallacewells/status/1257357311749881862
https://twitter.com/MattPStout/status/1257380246137036801
This was a National Government project, wasn't it?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/415959/transmission-gully-project-a-circus-sections-to-be-re-laid
The party of infrastructure!
Phil Twyford will save us.
Stunted Mullet Transmission Gully is built on a major Fault line.The Contractor will fix these areas of weakness at no cost to the taxpayer.The economic downturn will cut the amount of traffic for at least 2 years.
"The Contractor will fix these areas of weakness at no cost to the taxpayer."
Actually, that remains to be seen.
The TA have their best people on it.
Ha. Yes, Simon Bridges was National’s Transport Minister still insisting in 2017 that it would be finished on time and under budget.
Simon can't build bridges (10 in Northland promised 1 delivered)
Simon should be taken to the employment tribunal for bullying and intimidation.
But he is making a bigger dick of himself than ever.Distracting and attacking the chief medical officer.
Victoria was on par with us in quashing outbreaks then suddenly 35 new cases in one new cluster.
Simple Soimon should stop being a clusterfuck and show he can build bridges .
Suddenly, privileged advice must be made public, unlike Pike River, cos it's umpreesudentud.
Infrastructure designed, planned and carried out by National. But according to the Nats spokesperson a couple of days ago… all Labour's fault!
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/frustration-grows-transmission-gully-project-delayed-again
Not carried out by National …the whole project was not fully scoped before being handed over to a private consortium who would design, build and finance and MAINTAIN for around 25 years with a fixed yearly fee from NZTA.
If the contract isnt carried out properly , it all falls back on the consortium. Unlike the Peka Peka hwy , they have to pay for any light or heavy maintenance.
Well thats how this private finance project Should work.
NZTA dont sign contracts so they can threaten their suppliers.
https://www.employmentcourt.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Decisions/2019-NZEmpC-187-Byrne-v-NZ-Transport-Agency-jud-131219.pdf
peter houba from wsp opus in whangarei,9NZTA witness at the above hearing) testified in court to this.
I/S concisely from the sidebar: http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-death-knell-for-ppps.html
From the RNZ story:
What with this project and the recent PekaPeka and Waikato expressways, how has our roadbuilding industry forgotten how to do their basic job so thoroughly?
"Below the asphalt, layers of rock are mixed together with smaller sand-like bits and a small amount of cement, which then gets compacted." I wonder if Charlotte Cook just made this up or if it is actually why the roads are failing.
If a person has ever noticed how roads are constructed they'll know this is not how.
Considerable work goes into forming the base course before fines are added. New Zealand soils, where the soil is compressive clay, poses considerable problems for the roading contractor as the subsoil is prone to contraction and expansion. Hydrated Lime, not cement, is spread once the substrate is laid and compacted to stabilise the road bed.
Please read what you link – This appears to faults in methodology and implementation.
Hard to blame Nat in this case, they don't lay down subgrade, subbase etc. perhaps pull off the eye patch just once 🙈🙉🙊
"Process errors have occurred at isolated locations on Transmission Gully"
""A quality control process is in place to identify such errors, and a set construction method is used to remove and replace the material, which is recycled for use elsewhere on the project.""
after failing a "compaction and moisture test"
We know they loved to direct government agencies to accept the lowest tender.
So that is an excuse for roads to fail ??? Don’t think so. So if a govt accepted low tenders for Kiwibuild ?? Never 😉 it may surprise you what was involved in those tenders and guess what ?? Many business were cut out due to not being able to be competitive with the low tenders. So it’s not JUST under a National govt.
Nobody else has been building shitty roads which require remedial work in the last decade, just National. Waikato expressway, Kapiti expressway, and now Transmission Gully.
"Do it on the cheap" is their motto.
NZTA dont give a rats arse mate.
this is their priorities.
https://www.employmentcourt.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Decisions/2019-NZEmpC-187-Byrne-v-NZ-Transport-Agency-jud-131219.pdf
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/employment/news/article.cfm?c_id=11&objectid=12296643
over 200 grand taxpayers money to try and ruin my wifes career because our neighbour who works for nzta doesnt like us.
go nzta go you are real troopers
A hospitality sector working group – yeah that will be helpful to have another talkfest.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Feel free to comment again under the post, but this time provide some actual content eg cite the history of hospitality sector working groups. Don’t sound bite and stop trolling. Putting you back in premod so I can see the comments as they come through.
Bridges performance with Bloomfield at the epidemic committee won't have won many votes today. Back to his worst.
Bloomfield's self-control is super-human. I don't know how he does it.
At the 1 pm press conference a journo starts with "can you guarantee … ?"
My answer, shouting at TV: "Of course he can't guarantee because it's human life you f***ing idiot with zero grasp of basic medical science!"
His answer was rather more restrained. As always.
Yes, appalling from Bridges. Good on Michael Wood for calling him out on it. There would have been some frosty exchanges after the cameras went out.
+100 serve that was totally deserved. And should have made the news. To infer that Bloomfield was a government shill was disgusting.
Weka reminds me of Te Ururoa Flavel when he was trying to get rid of Hone Harawira from the Māori party. So passionate yet so wrong.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
as far as I can tell, you’ve got a permanent ban.
ah not permanent, just until April next year.
I have added another 6 months to your ban so it’s rapidly becoming semi-permanent. It always amazes me how those who are banned continue to shoot themselves in the foot.
Bridges is a thoroughly nasty character. Doesn’t have any redeeming qualities at all. Dr Bloomfield on the other hand is a thoroughly decent and well qualified person who most reasonable people would take notice of. Hence the nationwide admiration for him. People know it when they see it.
Pablo on point again.
“In the end, NZ’s response has been quintessentially democratic. Not because the pandemic emergency response committee is chaired, at the government’s behest, by the Leader of the Opposition. Not because it has allowed for full throated criticism of its actions and used its emergency (coercive) powers very selectively and discretely. Not because it put science above partisanship and politics when addressing the threat. Mostly, because its balancing approach encapsulates the essence of democracy as a social contract: it is not about everyone getting everything they want all of the time, but about everyone getting some of what they want some of the time. In other words, it is about settling for mutual second-best options.
That may not be always the case in NZ and democracies elsewhere. But it is what has been done in this instance. Beyond the positive statistics of the policy response itself, this is the most significant and enduring achievement to come out of this crisis.”
Full article here: http://www.kiwipolitico.com/2020/05/between-push-and-shove/
Regenerative agriculture is perhaps showing us a formula for regenerative democracy.
https://thedig.nz/apocaloptimism/insight-into-regenerative-agriculture-in-new-zealand-the-good-the-bad-and-the-opportunity/
Something useful will come out of that nz-oz connection. Can we have some discrete ones and by-pass the heavies in Canberra? Go for individual states that try to establish their own zeitgeist.
this would be high in my list of reasons to get substantially more Green MPs in government. Shifting a big chunk of govt support for farming to regenag, including research.
btw, not sure why your italics tags didn't work, might have been the . . . . , but I changed them to quotes.
Is he unwell ?
Simon Bridges is a massive embarrassment. Does he really need to scream in Parliament, dragging his tiresome Babel behind him?
Kia Ora Newshub.
Let's hope that it will work out OK.
The dryest summer on record for Tamiki Makaru that was pridicted by our scientists.
Maybe there should be A online template for A virus health and safety plan for small businesses.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Well I say that our government has done a good job leading Aotearoa and Tangata Whenua through the virus issues.???????????.
Te Marama is shining bright tonight
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora The Am Show.
We do need to plant billions of trees.
The new Auckland water restrictions time to get tanks and catch rain water many positive effects from doing that.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Newshub.
Banks are just using this situation to fleece people.
Making the safe moves down the levels is better than taking big risk.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Its great to see all the Aohai and koha of Kai in Aotearoa during these hard times.
Ka kite Ano