Unbelievable. What is this LINO government thinking? Where did this public sector pay freeze come from? Are they also going to abolish all the committees and consultants they seem to rely on these days? I really hope this is a spur for all workers to join their unions and get involved in some real action. Deafening silence of any meaningful reporting or analysis the press this morning.
i understand the pay freeze is for those that make 100.000 plus and there will still be increases for those on the lower end"?
Senior leaders and those on more than $100,000 have had their pay frozen entirely.
The government wants pay increases to be targeted to lower-paid public servants, those earning below $60,000, who make up about 25 percent of the public sector.
Public Service Minister Chris Hipkins said the sector had done an exceptional job responding to Covid-19, but it needed to show restraint as other private sectors continue to feel the effects of the pandemic.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the modesty was necessary given the high levels of debt in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.
"Our priority are the people who earn less than $60,000 they are, relatively speaking in the public sector, low paid, bear in mind … if you're under 60, you're still around the average overall. We think that is the correct focus in a restrained environment," Robertson said.
If one is over 100.000NZD than that person is doing much better then most. There are actually people in this country that are really doing it hard. I guess its a mixed bag of goods.
The question about Covid frontline staff and their wages is a different one imo as they should have already be given some generous hazard payments, stress payments, overtime, and some recompensation for still living in a sort of lockdown level 4 specifically the workers that clean the plague hotels.
I imagine that oncologists, and other health professionals (see comment@10 for why that came to mind first), have large student debts to pay off, with $100,000+/ year opportunities (and importantly; better working conditions) in the private sector. So this pay freeze is effectively a death sentence for some NZers trapped in the labyrinth of the public health system.
Because the Labour government does not want to be seen to raise taxes.
it has been proposed a few times now that the government could set up a trade aka, no studentloans or huge write offs for every year worked in NZ after they finish studying. I think that would be something a lot of people could get behind.
The main reason for people leaving is the fact that their income full time does not allow them to live in the towns they work in. And it seems that no one wants to address this.
The issue is not so much income as that the incomes can't keep up with rising housing costs. And we have seen nothing that would change that really, specifically in the rental market.
I think that those who stay in Aotearoa get interest free at least, so that is some incentive to remain. Academic family (no one doing their research field in NZ, so have to live) overseas are pretty much stuck there now with interest outstripping the minimum payments they can scrape together each month. Other people I went to university with have just given up on loan repayments altogether and any intention of returning home along with it.
I do support the trade-in of existing student loans for time spent in NZ. But seriously: Fuck that entire scam! While reluctantly accepting that my generation will be burdened by those shackles until we die, surely; present day students can actually be supported in their studies without having to mortgage their futures? Ending student loans entirely, and fully funding students would be my preference.
Trade appenticeships already get the 'first year no fees' lasting 2 years as their courses are a sort of part time.
Much was made of it being 'university students' but of course very large numbers at level 3 and 4 courses before level 5 university level were eligible for 'First year no fees'
Plenty of articles in the NZ media about it. The lowest paid public servants will still get increases and frankly they need it the most, in my view. No one will be losing their job because of this progressive move.
he first emergency housing motel I went into was cold, damp, and just generally unhygienic. Mould grew on the walls, the lighting was dim and faulty, and cockroaches crawled confidently around in the small, cupboard-sized room the two young people shared.
I could not imagine sleeping there let alone living there. I felt sick just being in the building.
And yet, this was where the young people I was trying to support to find housing had been put when they had asked the Ministry of Social Development to support them with emergency accommodation.
One would be to actually build some 1 bedroom flats dedicated to homeless or endangered youth to live in. Include a 'janitor' aka a live in social worker, and a 'house mother' for support and maybe that would actually be a better solution to getting these children back on the track and out of living on the streets.
I know people really don't want to think about this, but eventually it must trickle down even to the last ones that these are the adults of tomorrow and depending on how good or how bad we treat them now we can expect to be treated tomorrow by them once adults. Apart from that these kids should be in training, having a save place to go to, so that they when their turn comes can be fully participating adults in this society, rather then get lost to the streets and all that it entails. A wasteful approach to the human capital of this country.
Sounds so familiar when you google 19th century poor:
For the first half of the 19th century the rural and urban poor had much in common: unsanitary and overcrowded housing, low wages, poor diet, insecure employment and the dreaded effects of sickness and old age. By 1851 the census showed the urban population was larger than that of the rural areas.
Food can always be sourced from overseas. Places like Singapore are incredibly wealthy and have ZERO chance of ever being self sufficient in food supply.
[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.]
I think you should also move the comments I was responding to then as that had nothing to do with regenerative agriculture as well following your own logic.
Imaging I have a farm of 10 Hectares. It brings in a revenue of $500,000 per year and directly supports me and 4 other people who live and work on the farm. That is $100,000 per person on average.
The farm is subdivided and allows 100 homes to be built. Each home has one person earning $50,000 per year working from home. The same land is generating 5 million dollars worth of economic activity. That is 10 times the amount the land produced when used for agriculture and 20 times the number of people that are able to be supported (at least).
Why would you keep the land as a farm in such a situation?
[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.]
This goes to the heart of whether we should build homes on "prime agricultural" land. I was responding to a comment from someone who argued we should not be doing this. If you are moving my comment as being off topic can you explain why you don't move the comments that I am responding to?
Because that comment about food growing land is directly related to the post. It also opened a conversation about land use, which I have no problem with so long as it stays broadly on topic eg regenag and sustainability. People can argue any side of that but they have to have read and understood the post.
Your comments had nothing to do with regenag and were blatantly anti sustainability without making any argument as to why within the context of the post. Commenting is not a free for all.
You are quite wrong. The people on the land ARE producing economic value. If I work from home making software and then sell it to someone I am producing something.
If the land is used as a farm, the cows have to be on the farm for it to be a cattle farm, and the cattle farm is a facility of economic production.
If the land is used for homes, by your analogy the homes have to be used as workplaces for them to be economically productive. So whther they are "homes" is irrelevant: your economic production is from industrial development, not homes for people. Why even build homes in that case? Why not just make an IT business incubator?
Except it isn't as simple as that in a modern economy. Cities are massively more productive than rural areas when you compare them at an average dollar earned per square meter level (The exception may be something like an area where there is a mine or well). Generally it would be better from an economic level to turn as much land in to urban land as possible. From an environmental and social level that may not be desirable however.
You made it as simple as that when you invented a scenario where every single household had a member earning a full-time income from home.
Now you're arguing complexity. Ok. What about the longer term economic resilience of actually producing something tangible as well as moving electrons around? The long term insurance of being able to supply at least the bulk of the nation's food requirements should something affect world trade (disease, a canal blockage, an international confrontation astride a major trade route) is a good thing to have, if you want to include complexity.
Thats very true, bùt in saying that you could generate the same economic benefit from your home sited on relatively poor soils and the grower can continue to deprive an albiet less efficient economic benifit from the productive ground… once a house is on it the grower cant move quite so easily so I guess an economic loss there.
We aren't so populated that we need every inch of ground for housing etc we have options and the decision to build over on our best soils is a poor one…
Fucking hard to grow produce on Silverdale clay for example…
That food will still hve to come from somewhere. So that really can lead to shortages and such.
Fact is that we need to build to rent, heck the government with developpers nad NGO's could start that. Build to rent, rather then build crappy cheap McMansions that fall apart and thus keep the good 'dirt' for food production.
At the moment what we do is build houses no one really can afford on the 'good dirt' needed to grow food. And building on that dirt is just going to poison that earth even more then regular emission are already doing.
So what you are advocating is to sell a good that brings a reliable 500.000 every year (and maybe more) to have a one time profit and then pay huge amounts on food for the rest of your and the 4 workers for ever. So no, Gosman, that sounds like a bit of silly plan the longer you think about it.
And also remember, once you sold the family silver you will never ever get it back at that price, so the question after all remains, can you buy the same thing again with the money you have? Chances are not. So now you have no more land, a crappy house on no land, and you have to import all your food.
How about the government (both central and local) gets out of the way and allows the market to determine what type of houses and where they should build them?
Land issues locally according to the CEO of the Council are primarily caused by the deliberate and controlled release of land by the local land-banking developers at a rate that suits their profitability, not at a rate that meets demand.
This is compounded by the market not building enough 1-2 bedroom units, instead going for the high-end 3-5 BR housing on small sections with multiple garaging.
Further compounded by a lack of tradespeople.
The land is available, zoned and awaiting development.
Profit-taking- it has another suitable financial appellation in those circles- is a principle reason. It's also known as 'the market'.
We need to build to rent. And yes, there i agree with you the government could be a bit more active and councils should maybe revisit some of their rules and regulations, but if really you want to see what happens when government allows you to build without rules look at any town in turkey hit by an earthquake and maybe rethink your position?
Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief has travelled to Damascus to meet his Syrian counterpart in the first known meeting of its kind since the outbreak of the Syrian war a decade ago.
[…]
The Saudi delegation was led by Gen Khalid Humaidan, the head of the country’s General Intelligence Directorate. He was received by Syria’s Gen Ali Mamlouk, the architect of the push to crush the early years of the anti-Assad revolution and the key interlocutor with Russian forces, which took a significant stake in the conflict from September 2015.
Once again the Ardern government gets it right by taking a cautious line on travel to the Pacific Islands.
Fiji is at a worrying stage with Lautoka Hospital now locked down. If even the great nations of the UK and the USA, greatest nations in the world*, can be savaged by this virus and their governments' humiliated, the Pacific Islands will always struggle if it got away.
Best wishes to Fiji and I hope the authoritarian nature of their government will be their saving grace here.
I do hope all business-first, right wing nut jobs in New Zealand will now shut up about their tropical holidays for 5 minutes. For the sake of our Pacific neighbour's lives.
Muttonbird, i know quite few others who are not rightwing nutsjobs that equally want the borders to be open. heck i know a few that still believe that Covid is just a flue, that we don't need vaccinations and that we should open the borders fully. And they come from all walks of life.
And here you have me a 'far left' person who would like hte borders shut until we have a high enough part of the population vaccined before we start letting people in in large masses.
Powerless children and when they spoke out they were betrayed again. To have this acknowledged by the state is an important step to having what that child lived, being exposed. The damage which was done to that child, (now an adult) finally has a voice and has rights.
I am not sure if the state will be addressing the part GPs (the old family doctor or doctor attached to the care home) played in knowing a child was sexually abused. I do know that no mandatory reporting was done.
When it comes to medical records I would like to know if a GP had to write down what the physical injuries were at a general consultation and if they told the parent or social welfare if sexual abuse was the cause?
Many children would have presented with swelling, STDS, anxiety etc. Also the way there were no electronic records.
The terrible shadow which was cast and for some it was a long shadow.
Dr Christopher Longhurst certainly thinks so. He's outraged about how the Catholic Church claims things have all been sorted out. He's also wild about how the Catholic Church is treating people who try to access its complaints process.
This was in the ODT yesterday. The guy interviewed is a distant friend of a friend, so; although I haven't talked to them myself recently, I can confirm the broad outline if not any individual details.
…cancer had spread throughout his tongue and neck.
"They didn’t really go into my survival chances at that point but if it was 10%-15% before, I knew it was going to be less,"…
"They said, we will refer you to palliative care … After not hearing anything from Otago Community Hospice, he contacted it, only to discover his referral had not been received…
"I also found out that the waiting list for palliative oncology is something like seven weeks, not that anyone has told me this officially.
"There are something like 27 people in front of me in the queue apparently, but no-one has actually formally told me that.
"I haven’t had a ‘we’re so sorry this is happening to you’ — all I’ve got is a possible treatment date which is maybe a week out from my initial ‘this is how long you are going to live’ date.
Which by today's piece, doesn't seem like an isolated case of neglecting dying NZ citizens by their supposed public Health providers:
The SDHB is failing to meet both 31-day and 62-day cancer treatment targets and the waiting list for radiation oncology is a record 157 people.
Radiation oncologists were "incredibly frustrated and helpless" that systems and budget issues seemed to be failing their patients, medical specialists union Apex national secretary Deborah Powell said…
The SDHB seemed to be incapable of responding to and dealing effectively with long-running cancer treatment waiting list issues, and that had contributed to staff burnout, Dr Powell said.
She also doubted the SDHB would be able to find a new radiation oncologist it had been trying to recruit.
"There are significant issues because they get paid more in Australia and in the private sector, which is also competing for radiation technologists as well."
"This is particularly evident in oncology, where patients suffer and die due to the poor access our population has to imaging services…
"As an example the majority of the population have access to PET scanning for prostate cancer, the SDHB will not approve such scans. This requires patients to self fund scans, often those in great financial hardship, to access effective publicly-funded treatment.
"A number of publicly funded interventions for prostate cancers in particular can only be accessed if the patient can self fund the necessary imaging. This disgraceful situation exacerbates the existing inequity between those who can and cannot pay for private imaging, affecting our rural, Māori and other disadvantaged groups particularly.
"In summary, despite the best efforts of the radiology service, the SDHB fails our patients at multiple stages leading to poorer outcomes for those who neither have private health insurance or the ability to pay for imaging.
"It would be unusual for me to hold a clinic in which I do not have to enquire if patients can self fund their care."
Obviously predatory sexual offending shouldn't be a barrier to budding flyboy attaining his FPP status.
A Dunedin man who sexually offended against two boys has avoided a conviction.
The 20-year-old, whose name was permanently suppressed this afternoon, appeared in the Dunedin District Court after pleading guilty to four charges of sexual conduct with a person under the age of 16 and one of sending an indecent communication to a person under the age of 18.
Judge Kevin Phillips said giving the defendant a criminal record would “destroy” him.
If a conviction is entered his opportunities in his chosen future career are ended, he said.
No matter what the judge says the "no conviction" does minimise the impact on the complainant. Not a mention of how the actions affected his study and career prospects. Plus training to be a pilot (is anybody even doing this now?) never used to be cheap so the amounts paid are tiny.
Plus and I do find this a serious worry – there looks looks like there has been an attempt to blackmail using social media. If this is so then it is plain nasty and has ongoing consequences. That should not have been brushed aside. Any money or family influence involved?
I did not read the article as carefully as I needed to. Had I done so I would have seen that a person was age under 16 and there was repeated offending against them.
Sick and injured patients are being left in hospital corridors and ambulances are queuing outside Auckland emergency departments as demand continues to skyrocket.
Read More
others with high-risk pregnancies have occasionally been transferred out of the Auckland area to give birth, because no beds are available in the region.
Middlemore, Auckland City and North Shore Hospitals sent an alert to ambulances on Monday night warning that they were nearing maximum capacity, the Herald can reveal.
'Staff are burned out': Emergency doctor
Meanwhile, one Auckland emergency doctor told the Herald he was worried about the impact the increased demand was having on staff and the flow-on impact it could have for patient care.
"Staff are burned out. Without the resources, including time and staff support, it's difficult to work effectively."
The specialist did not want to be named out of fear of losing his job.
There's nothing in the article that says why the numbers are over maximum except to hint at winter issues and Monday issues.
Is there any unforeseen illness or other cause as to why these numbers are so high for so long that burnout is now an issue?
Is it a question of staffing, or actual bed spaces? Are people presenting with issues that don't require hospital treatment? In other words, is it to do with doctor's visit fees? Being on a Monday, is it caused by weekend-related activities causing injury or illness?
My last question, which is a point really, what would this mean if our hospital system also had to cope with Covid-19 illness?
a lot of backlog i would assume. Every time there is a lock out peoples surgeries etc get cancelled, people can't go to the doctor etc.
then costs. Yeah, yeah, the government did something but it still is too expensive for many to go to a GP, so they go to the emergency room.
St. Johns is as always happy for any donations to Ambulances as that service is not funded by government, so on certain days its of no use to call an ambulance.
We have a well documented shortage of staff all across the healthsector. High costs or living and low wages don't help.
If we had to deal with any of the covid variants we would be well and truly buggered, and considering that i doubt much investment has been done in upgrading hospitals with seperate covid wards or the like i think i'd give the system about a week or two.
But don't take my ideas to much to heart, i am not a politician nor a nurse, so i am just summing up what one can find in the news.
Increased population with no accompanying increase in capacity…
Many 1000s of people in shite housing…
Increased housing costs making GP costs a stretch or impossible meaning people wait till they're really ill and presenting to A&E where they need admitting…
ca we just cancel these events until it is safe? Surely the cricket fans, or olympic sports fans, or rugby fans can content themsevles with a bit of 'local' sports only?
Or shall we just file this under : No one could have foreseen this, and who would'ave thought this could happen?
Classic stupidity that these are still going ahead. Does the IOC not read the news of how India went from a managed Covid situation in February to totally losing control by the end of April (religious and political mass gatherings)? For sport we are all potentially being placed at extreme risk.
Agree with you & Sabine – no skin off my nose if sports events such as the Olympic Games are postponed again or cancelled. But there's considerable pressure to demonstrate that 'we' are getting back to BAU – regarding the Olympics that pressure isn't coming from a majority of Japanese citizens, but it's coming from somewhere.
“Normal life. That’s what we want, right? Normal life. Normal life. We just want normal life. It’s happening, very quickly.” Trump (Oct. 2020)
This shows the importance of selecting the right vaccine in the first place, and unfortunately the country from where the vaccine was sourced (troubling since we get so many antibiotics from there).
Seychelles, the world's most Covid-vaccinated nation with more than 60 per cent of its adult population having received two jabs, has reintroduced.
All schools have been closed and sporting activities cancelled for two weeks in the idyllic Indian Ocean archipelago, as infections continue to surge.
…
There are currently 1,068 active Covid cases in the Seychelles, of which a third have been detected in people given two doses of either AstraZeneca's or China's Sinopharm vaccine.
It unclear what has triggered the surge in cases but testing has detected the South African variant spreading on the islands.
No vaccine is the "right" vaccine against a variant that emerges after it was developed. There might be slight differences in the efficacy of AZ versus Sp jabs against the new variant, but they're the spanners we have to hand when we find this new and slightly different bolt. Maybe they work and work equally well, maybe they won't.
Currently the Seychelles have an active case rate of 1%, but they're the size of Dunedin. Fewer degrees of separation to get that rate from a given R0.
60% vaccination/immunity doesn't cut it and has never cut it when it comes to limiting community spread of covid.
Interesting exercise in relative risk math though:
pop = 100k active=1k, activerate=1%
vaxpop = 60k activevax=330 (1/3 of 1k) activevaxrate= 0.55%
So on the face of it the vaccines are demonstrably good (but not bulletproof) for personal safety, but they need more coverage in the population before one can judge their effectiveness as a community protection.
Israel will be the country to watch. They have just "opened" up again after vaccinations. You might need a vaccination pass to get into concerts etc, but essential they try to get back to what ever is normal now as soon as possible.
So it will be interesting to see what happens in about 3 weeks if cases raise again, or if their vaccine drive was successful in getting enough jabs into enough arms to provide some sort of herd immunity.
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Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
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 Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’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. ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
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Unbelievable. What is this LINO government thinking? Where did this public sector pay freeze come from? Are they also going to abolish all the committees and consultants they seem to rely on these days? I really hope this is a spur for all workers to join their unions and get involved in some real action. Deafening silence of any meaningful reporting or analysis the press this morning.
Not very nice for the essential workers that worked so hard over the pandemic especially nurses, police etc.
i understand the pay freeze is for those that make 100.000 plus and there will still be increases for those on the lower end"?
If one is over 100.000NZD than that person is doing much better then most. There are actually people in this country that are really doing it hard. I guess its a mixed bag of goods.
The question about Covid frontline staff and their wages is a different one imo as they should have already be given some generous hazard payments, stress payments, overtime, and some recompensation for still living in a sort of lockdown level 4 specifically the workers that clean the plague hotels.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/wage-shame-why-miq-cleaners-have-fallen-through-the-cracks/XW24PKHC7QZI4XZ6ILVFPEVFB4/
I imagine that oncologists, and other health professionals (see comment@10 for why that came to mind first), have large student debts to pay off, with $100,000+/ year opportunities (and importantly; better working conditions) in the private sector. So this pay freeze is effectively a death sentence for some NZers trapped in the labyrinth of the public health system.
Because the Labour government does not want to be seen to raise taxes.
it has been proposed a few times now that the government could set up a trade aka, no studentloans or huge write offs for every year worked in NZ after they finish studying. I think that would be something a lot of people could get behind.
The main reason for people leaving is the fact that their income full time does not allow them to live in the towns they work in. And it seems that no one wants to address this.
The issue is not so much income as that the incomes can't keep up with rising housing costs. And we have seen nothing that would change that really, specifically in the rental market.
I think that those who stay in Aotearoa get interest free at least, so that is some incentive to remain. Academic family (no one doing their research field in NZ, so have to live) overseas are pretty much stuck there now with interest outstripping the minimum payments they can scrape together each month. Other people I went to university with have just given up on loan repayments altogether and any intention of returning home along with it.
I do support the trade-in of existing student loans for time spent in NZ. But seriously: Fuck that entire scam! While reluctantly accepting that my generation will be burdened by those shackles until we die, surely; present day students can actually be supported in their studies without having to mortgage their futures? Ending student loans entirely, and fully funding students would be my preference.
Trade appenticeships already get the 'first year no fees' lasting 2 years as their courses are a sort of part time.
Much was made of it being 'university students' but of course very large numbers at level 3 and 4 courses before level 5 university level were eligible for 'First year no fees'
funny story, i got paid during my three years apprenticeship, and ended up with degree and no debt at all. What a way to go!
Plenty of articles in the NZ media about it. The lowest paid public servants will still get increases and frankly they need it the most, in my view. No one will be losing their job because of this progressive move.
Does this mean our parliamentarians will have a 3 year wage freeze to?
Haha. That's a good one. Does anyone know if they actually ended up taking the decrease to 80% last year over the covid period?
Yes
Thanks. I knew it was happening but wasn't sure when.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-mps-pay-cuts-finally-in-effect-after-jacinda-ardern-promised-them-three-months-ago/WDCQYJTS4UOTTA3AXLMKRPHKA4/
and our homeles kids our youth also gets shoved in to motels for emergency housing and it appears they are not hte five start ones either.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/aaron-hendry-our-wretched-treatment-of-homeless-youth/JDC6ETUK76ZIPZT6L7IJ2LBOUE/
One would be to actually build some 1 bedroom flats dedicated to homeless or endangered youth to live in. Include a 'janitor' aka a live in social worker, and a 'house mother' for support and maybe that would actually be a better solution to getting these children back on the track and out of living on the streets.
I know people really don't want to think about this, but eventually it must trickle down even to the last ones that these are the adults of tomorrow and depending on how good or how bad we treat them now we can expect to be treated tomorrow by them once adults. Apart from that these kids should be in training, having a save place to go to, so that they when their turn comes can be fully participating adults in this society, rather then get lost to the streets and all that it entails. A wasteful approach to the human capital of this country.
This is wishful thinking I am sorry to say.
Sounds so familiar when you google 19th century poor:
For the first half of the 19th century the rural and urban poor had much in common: unsanitary and overcrowded housing, low wages, poor diet, insecure employment and the dreaded effects of sickness and old age. By 1851 the census showed the urban population was larger than that of the rural areas.
we have come full circle.
What a mess.
Slavoj Zizek on the Horror of Tulips….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5yoqjABeBM
hahahashahahahah, and that is why i have planted all my flowers. for the insects to come and ……..lol.
thanks.
Food can always be sourced from overseas. Places like Singapore are incredibly wealthy and have ZERO chance of ever being self sufficient in food supply.
[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.]
The post is about sustainability. Don’t derail comments with off topic neolib talking points
I think you should also move the comments I was responding to then as that had nothing to do with regenerative agriculture as well following your own logic.
Please don’t tell Authors & Mods how to moderate here, as it will end badly, for you.
Let me put it to you this way.
Imaging I have a farm of 10 Hectares. It brings in a revenue of $500,000 per year and directly supports me and 4 other people who live and work on the farm. That is $100,000 per person on average.
The farm is subdivided and allows 100 homes to be built. Each home has one person earning $50,000 per year working from home. The same land is generating 5 million dollars worth of economic activity. That is 10 times the amount the land produced when used for agriculture and 20 times the number of people that are able to be supported (at least).
Why would you keep the land as a farm in such a situation?
[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.]
Because of what I wrote in the post. Stay out of this discussion if you’re going to ignore the topic. Count this as a second warning.
This goes to the heart of whether we should build homes on "prime agricultural" land. I was responding to a comment from someone who argued we should not be doing this. If you are moving my comment as being off topic can you explain why you don't move the comments that I am responding to?
Because that comment about food growing land is directly related to the post. It also opened a conversation about land use, which I have no problem with so long as it stays broadly on topic eg regenag and sustainability. People can argue any side of that but they have to have read and understood the post.
Your comments had nothing to do with regenag and were blatantly anti sustainability without making any argument as to why within the context of the post. Commenting is not a free for all.
But the land isn't producing anything. It's just where the producers happen to be.
You are quite wrong. The people on the land ARE producing economic value. If I work from home making software and then sell it to someone I am producing something.
Your location is irrelevant. Cows have to be on farms.
Not farms in NZ.
If the land is used as a farm, the cows have to be on the farm for it to be a cattle farm, and the cattle farm is a facility of economic production.
If the land is used for homes, by your analogy the homes have to be used as workplaces for them to be economically productive. So whther they are "homes" is irrelevant: your economic production is from industrial development, not homes for people. Why even build homes in that case? Why not just make an IT business incubator?
Except it isn't as simple as that in a modern economy. Cities are massively more productive than rural areas when you compare them at an average dollar earned per square meter level (The exception may be something like an area where there is a mine or well). Generally it would be better from an economic level to turn as much land in to urban land as possible. From an environmental and social level that may not be desirable however.
You made it as simple as that when you invented a scenario where every single household had a member earning a full-time income from home.
Now you're arguing complexity. Ok. What about the longer term economic resilience of actually producing something tangible as well as moving electrons around? The long term insurance of being able to supply at least the bulk of the nation's food requirements should something affect world trade (disease, a canal blockage, an international confrontation astride a major trade route) is a good thing to have, if you want to include complexity.
Thats very true, bùt in saying that you could generate the same economic benefit from your home sited on relatively poor soils and the grower can continue to deprive an albiet less efficient economic benifit from the productive ground… once a house is on it the grower cant move quite so easily so I guess an economic loss there.
We aren't so populated that we need every inch of ground for housing etc we have options and the decision to build over on our best soils is a poor one…
Fucking hard to grow produce on Silverdale clay for example…
Try eating nothing but economic activity for a month then come back and tell us how it went.
If I make enough money I can but food produced pretty much anywhere on the planet.
That food will still hve to come from somewhere. So that really can lead to shortages and such.
Fact is that we need to build to rent, heck the government with developpers nad NGO's could start that. Build to rent, rather then build crappy cheap McMansions that fall apart and thus keep the good 'dirt' for food production.
At the moment what we do is build houses no one really can afford on the 'good dirt' needed to grow food. And building on that dirt is just going to poison that earth even more then regular emission are already doing.
So what you are advocating is to sell a good that brings a reliable 500.000 every year (and maybe more) to have a one time profit and then pay huge amounts on food for the rest of your and the 4 workers for ever. So no, Gosman, that sounds like a bit of silly plan the longer you think about it.
And also remember, once you sold the family silver you will never ever get it back at that price, so the question after all remains, can you buy the same thing again with the money you have? Chances are not. So now you have no more land, a crappy house on no land, and you have to import all your food.
Yeah, nah nah.
How about the government (both central and local) gets out of the way and allows the market to determine what type of houses and where they should build them?
Because the market's rigged?
Because they have distorted it by their actions.
Tried that in the 1990s.
The market preferred leaky, unhealthy slums
Sapiens fortunam fingit sibi.
The market is blind, and all too often allows short-term greed to trump long-term good.
The market makes a reasonable servant, but a very poor master.
Worship of the market is a blind alley of evolution.
End of story.
And we have only to look back on the 1980s and 1990s (and the results today) to see where the blind faith in 'the market' has led us.
Land issues locally according to the CEO of the Council are primarily caused by the deliberate and controlled release of land by the local land-banking developers at a rate that suits their profitability, not at a rate that meets demand.
This is compounded by the market not building enough 1-2 bedroom units, instead going for the high-end 3-5 BR housing on small sections with multiple garaging.
Further compounded by a lack of tradespeople.
The land is available, zoned and awaiting development.
Profit-taking- it has another suitable financial appellation in those circles- is a principle reason. It's also known as 'the market'.
Gabby asks a fair question here.
Is it rigged?
We need to build to rent. And yes, there i agree with you the government could be a bit more active and councils should maybe revisit some of their rules and regulations, but if really you want to see what happens when government allows you to build without rules look at any town in turkey hit by an earthquake and maybe rethink your position?
You are the true Messiah.
A match made in heaven.
/
Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief has travelled to Damascus to meet his Syrian counterpart in the first known meeting of its kind since the outbreak of the Syrian war a decade ago.
[…]
The Saudi delegation was led by Gen Khalid Humaidan, the head of the country’s General Intelligence Directorate. He was received by Syria’s Gen Ali Mamlouk, the architect of the push to crush the early years of the anti-Assad revolution and the key interlocutor with Russian forces, which took a significant stake in the conflict from September 2015.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/04/meeting-between-saudi-and-syrian-intelligence-chiefs-hints-at-detente
Not nearly as much of a match made in Heaven as the USA…..as we all well know.
U.S. Is Expected to Approve Some Arms Sales to U.A.E. and Saudis
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/14/us/politics/arms-sales-uae-saudi-arabia.html
Once again the Ardern government gets it right by taking a cautious line on travel to the Pacific Islands.
Fiji is at a worrying stage with Lautoka Hospital now locked down. If even the great nations of the UK and the USA, greatest nations in the world*, can be savaged by this virus and their governments' humiliated, the Pacific Islands will always struggle if it got away.
Best wishes to Fiji and I hope the authoritarian nature of their government will be their saving grace here.
I do hope all business-first, right wing nut jobs in New Zealand will now shut up about their tropical holidays for 5 minutes. For the sake of our Pacific neighbour's lives.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/20 … -case.html
*Not.
Muttonbird, i know quite few others who are not rightwing nutsjobs that equally want the borders to be open. heck i know a few that still believe that Covid is just a flue, that we don't need vaccinations and that we should open the borders fully. And they come from all walks of life.
And here you have me a 'far left' person who would like hte borders shut until we have a high enough part of the population vaccined before we start letting people in in large masses.
Go figure.
So, this was the NZ I grew up in:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/abuse-in-state-care-sexual-abuse-survivor-tells-inquiry-of-being-labelled-a-liar-by-state/2E3UDRUBYNR7VJF53OSEZ6H57Y/
I'm ashamed to be a New Zealander.
Powerless children and when they spoke out they were betrayed again. To have this acknowledged by the state is an important step to having what that child lived, being exposed. The damage which was done to that child, (now an adult) finally has a voice and has rights.
I am not sure if the state will be addressing the part GPs (the old family doctor or doctor attached to the care home) played in knowing a child was sexually abused. I do know that no mandatory reporting was done.
When it comes to medical records I would like to know if a GP had to write down what the physical injuries were at a general consultation and if they told the parent or social welfare if sexual abuse was the cause?
Many children would have presented with swelling, STDS, anxiety etc. Also the way there were no electronic records.
The terrible shadow which was cast and for some it was a long shadow.
Yes Anne, totally agree. The 'good old days' were never good for many of our most vulnerable, that's for sure.
I would venture that it still happens.
Dr Christopher Longhurst certainly thinks so. He's outraged about how the Catholic Church claims things have all been sorted out. He's also wild about how the Catholic Church is treating people who try to access its complaints process.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/433489/survivors-of-abuse-in-care-of-the-catholic-church-say-their-voices-matter
This was in the ODT yesterday. The guy interviewed is a distant friend of a friend, so; although I haven't talked to them myself recently, I can confirm the broad outline if not any individual details.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/treatment-%E2%80%98absolute-disaster%E2%80%99
Which by today's piece, doesn't seem like an isolated case of neglecting dying NZ citizens by their supposed public Health providers:
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/despair-radiation-oncology
Update from an SDHB Oncologist leaked to RNZ:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/441954/southern-dhb-fails-our-patients-at-multiple-stages-oncologist
It would be interesting to know who set this policy.
Government. All of them.
SDHB
Obviously predatory sexual offending shouldn't be a barrier to budding flyboy attaining his FPP status.
A Dunedin man who sexually offended against two boys has avoided a conviction.
The 20-year-old, whose name was permanently suppressed this afternoon, appeared in the Dunedin District Court after pleading guilty to four charges of sexual conduct with a person under the age of 16 and one of sending an indecent communication to a person under the age of 18.
Judge Kevin Phillips said giving the defendant a criminal record would “destroy” him.
If a conviction is entered his opportunities in his chosen future career are ended, he said.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/crime/offenders-life-would-be-totally-ruined-conviction-judge
Speaking of people being destroyed (all the Trigger Warnings!):
Reply to 11.1
Can another judge enter a conviction as the perpetrator pleaded guilty?
Consent was not given, if it had been given the perpetrator would not have pleaded guilty.
The no conviction has a reflection on whether or not a person would make a complaint. The judge has done a disservice to the community.
Were the perpetrators name to be known other people could come forward.
No matter what the judge says the "no conviction" does minimise the impact on the complainant. Not a mention of how the actions affected his study and career prospects. Plus training to be a pilot (is anybody even doing this now?) never used to be cheap so the amounts paid are tiny.
Plus and I do find this a serious worry – there looks looks like there has been an attempt to blackmail using social media. If this is so then it is plain nasty and has ongoing consequences. That should not have been brushed aside. Any money or family influence involved?
Any words on how the actions of this young man will affect the future of his victims?
I guess not.
I did not read the article as carefully as I needed to. Had I done so I would have seen that a person was age under 16 and there was repeated offending against them.
Any day now something will change, right?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-hospitals-overloaded-patients-waiting-in-corridors-as-demand-skyrockets/NIU26VB3XCSZFHHGASKSXOXP2A/
There's nothing in the article that says why the numbers are over maximum except to hint at winter issues and Monday issues.
Is there any unforeseen illness or other cause as to why these numbers are so high for so long that burnout is now an issue?
Is it a question of staffing, or actual bed spaces? Are people presenting with issues that don't require hospital treatment? In other words, is it to do with doctor's visit fees? Being on a Monday, is it caused by weekend-related activities causing injury or illness?
My last question, which is a point really, what would this mean if our hospital system also had to cope with Covid-19 illness?
a lot of backlog i would assume. Every time there is a lock out peoples surgeries etc get cancelled, people can't go to the doctor etc.
then costs. Yeah, yeah, the government did something but it still is too expensive for many to go to a GP, so they go to the emergency room.
St. Johns is as always happy for any donations to Ambulances as that service is not funded by government, so on certain days its of no use to call an ambulance.
We have a well documented shortage of staff all across the healthsector. High costs or living and low wages don't help.
If we had to deal with any of the covid variants we would be well and truly buggered, and considering that i doubt much investment has been done in upgrading hospitals with seperate covid wards or the like i think i'd give the system about a week or two.
But don't take my ideas to much to heart, i am not a politician nor a nurse, so i am just summing up what one can find in the news.
It'll be a combo…
Increased population with no accompanying increase in capacity…
Many 1000s of people in shite housing…
Increased housing costs making GP costs a stretch or impossible meaning people wait till they're really ill and presenting to A&E where they need admitting…
ca we just cancel these events until it is safe? Surely the cricket fans, or olympic sports fans, or rugby fans can content themsevles with a bit of 'local' sports only?
Or shall we just file this under : No one could have foreseen this, and who would'ave thought this could happen?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/black-caps/125046098/nz-cricket-confirms-plans-for-india-evacuation-of-players-coaches-after-ipl-postponement
And the Tokyo Olympics in July?
Classic stupidity that these are still going ahead. Does the IOC not read the news of how India went from a managed Covid situation in February to totally losing control by the end of April (religious and political mass gatherings)? For sport we are all potentially being placed at extreme risk.
the sponsors demand their pound of flesh?
Bread and Circuses.
Agree with you & Sabine – no skin off my nose if sports events such as the Olympic Games are postponed again or cancelled. But there's considerable pressure to demonstrate that 'we' are getting back to BAU – regarding the Olympics that pressure isn't coming from a majority of Japanese citizens, but it's coming from somewhere.
Wanting something and having it, there is a difference.
The world does not need the Covid Olympics.
Who other than the IOC want the Olympic Games to go ahead?
When it comes to the competitors attending there are going to be gaps. Auction the medals.
This shows the importance of selecting the right vaccine in the first place, and unfortunately the country from where the vaccine was sourced (troubling since we get so many antibiotics from there).
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9544921/Seychelles-reintroduced-Covid-19-measures-despite-vaccinated-nation-world.html
A few points:
No vaccine is the "right" vaccine against a variant that emerges after it was developed. There might be slight differences in the efficacy of AZ versus Sp jabs against the new variant, but they're the spanners we have to hand when we find this new and slightly different bolt. Maybe they work and work equally well, maybe they won't.
Currently the Seychelles have an active case rate of 1%, but they're the size of Dunedin. Fewer degrees of separation to get that rate from a given R0.
60% vaccination/immunity doesn't cut it and has never cut it when it comes to limiting community spread of covid.
Interesting exercise in relative risk math though:
pop = 100k active=1k, activerate=1%
vaxpop = 60k activevax=330 (1/3 of 1k) activevaxrate= 0.55%
unvaxpop= 40k activeunvax=660 activeunvaxrate= 1.65%
So on the face of it the vaccines are demonstrably good (but not bulletproof) for personal safety, but they need more coverage in the population before one can judge their effectiveness as a community protection.
Israel will be the country to watch. They have just "opened" up again after vaccinations. You might need a vaccination pass to get into concerts etc, but essential they try to get back to what ever is normal now as soon as possible.
So it will be interesting to see what happens in about 3 weeks if cases raise again, or if their vaccine drive was successful in getting enough jabs into enough arms to provide some sort of herd immunity.