Speech has consequences. Speech intended to eliminate a group of people tends to attract ire. Moreso than 'slurs' in general, especially when the term in question was coined by the people who it is being applied to. Only a slur once it became inconvenient.
It still not clear to you that a large group will feel eliminated if certain policy changes will be implemented. Maybe you are not interested, so be it – but your very nasty misogynistic slur outburst got me reacting.
Your attitude belongs much more at home in the front bench of the NP.
I call BS on that. If they had typed “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” you would have been none the wiser and you would have said “What the fuck is trans-exclusionary radical feminist?”. However, if you did know what “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” stands for you would have known the acronym TERF. You could have looked it up yourself or asked nicely but you did neither because you knew exactly what TERF means, didn’t you? Your foul language gave it away, IMHO.
Why? Afraid that you have a TERF skeleton in your closet that I might find? You don’t trust your own memory? I don’t trust mine so I can understand that.
I have zero trust in my own memory. Someone could have told me what it meant last week and I could have forgotten it while retaining contempt for its bullshitty jargon. Do you have any reason to believe that the person it was flung at, is a radical feminist?
Your contempt was obvious, which caught my attention and it begged the question why you’d react in such a way if you didn’t know what you were reacting to and why. It came across as disingenuous and dishonest. So, I will do some detective work and will get back to you with my findings. At this stage, I think I’ll have difficulty accepting the John Key ‘excuse’ of ‘actually, I have no recollection of that but what I can say, at the end of the day, is that it made my blood boil’. Not too late to come clean 😉
I looked up that link Rosemary. Deals with the female-centred wash from idle, amoral minds swamping the world. Really ugly. In the past one didn't know or even suspect the awful side of people's minds and thoughts. Now they flaunt all their sick-minded unlovely negativity and dislike across the world as if it is some revelation to spread for everyone's education.
It is on a par with what Germany suffered at the hands of Nazis. They built up bad attitudes to Jews, which then enabled them to start physical attacks etc. which were largely accepted, despite protests from many and then increased in severity. Society has indulged itself in punishing the 'other' with witch-baiting and burning, watching mad people as if a circus, seeing public hangings as a spectacle.
We need to be careful of building up outrage, one group versus another, when either group becomes swollen with resentment and anger.
There seems to be a madness that arises from a mindset that can grow in societies – to fix on a group or person to be a scapegoat for all to focus their negative feelings on, their discontent either with themselves, others, or anything. In psychology they call this projection.
The approach of focussing the dark thoughts of society on one thing or being was the subject of a play by a USA author. One person would be stoned to death each year as part of the culture of a particular area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lottery
More than ever we need to have the study of human personality and philosophy to help us control what must be atavistic tendencies that need to be controlled by the healthy, balanced mind. So we need more Humanities, not seeing them wiped from tertiary study in favour of Science.
Really ugly. In the past one didn't know or even suspect the awful side of people's minds and thoughts. Now they flaunt all their sick-minded unlovely negativity and dislike across the world as if it is some revelation to spread for everyone's education.
Moving this to OM from the "Jacinda’s address to the Labour Congress" post because I want to address it without derailing another author's post.
I consider TERF to be a slur. Like many words directed at women, it has other uses too, but most use now is perjorative and often abusive (thinking twitter here). It is so ubiquitously used as a pejorative now that this is true irrespective of how the person using it intends.
From a moderator perspective, I will maintain boundaries here for the sake of both trans people and gender critical feminists. Calling a commenter a terf will get my moderator attention, calling women offsite might too. Talking about 'terf' in a gender context I'll take each situation as it goes. In this case Sacha, acknowledging letting your bitchy side come out gave some context, but it was still a flamey derail that in other places would have devolved into a shit show.
I'm not willing to let that shitshow happen on TS, for the sake of TS and also for the sake of trans people, women and GCFs. It's already really hard for women to take part here, especially women authors. That longstanding issue has not been resolved and as a feminist who has to limit what she can write about because of that, I'm not ok with another layer of trouble being added to this space. I also consider TS to not be particularly safe for trans and non-binary people either.
It's possible that the gender war issues will be an election issue. Also possible that people here will want to discuss them. So I'm signalling some boundaries around managing those conversations so that the robust debate and the 'tone/language not excluding others' ethos are maintained.
Happy to have discussion about this if anyone needs clarification. I'm not available for an argument today.
The original comment was an utter derail in itself – like responding to a detailed economic policy post by asking what Labour would do about whale strandings or middle-east political prisoners.
Kind of disappointed it was not moved here along with my response. However I do not see any conversation about this ending constructively in this place. So I won't.
To be clear, I do respect your reasoning and your broader understanding of the context here – and I expected other moderators might have moved my comment at the time. Not aiming to cause trouble when election season will bring plenty of that. Cheers
This Moderator made a judgement call yesterday to leave things as they were and see how the thread would evolve rather than to move it pre-emptively. Robust debate sometimes means hanging out the dirty laundry, having the hard conversations, be open and honest – warts and all – but above all, being respectful of others. Unfortunately, I don’t think the TS commentariat is ready for certain conversations. QED.
All joking aside, New Zealand may have to do a Switzerland and become an armed neutrality in order to distance ourselves from our Anzac partner Australia and its developing and alarming cold war machinations with China.
With China's growing aggression and countries building up their arsenal while strengthening their international ties as a counter, one would expect there will be growing international pressure for us to spend more. Therefore, it is unlikely we will cut back our military spend and more likely we will be pressured to up it.
I think the Defence budget is about right. The country needs to be prepared for military issues. Covid-19 has shown me how important it is to have the defence force to fall back on when it comes to quarantine.
Some air craft needed to be decommissioned a decade ago, not sure if the orions or the hercs but I am surprised they are not dropping out of the sky.
Replacing dilapidated aircraft is not cheap but necessary.
Housing the homeless and ensuring beneficiaries attain enough so they can afford to live is also not cheap. Nor is ensuring nurses, teachers and other public servants are fairly paid.
So I guess it all depends on what you deem is more necessary?
I am not sure how much of the 20 billion that the government already has.
I want a Defence Force which is equipped to be deployed were there a major earthquake in Wellington. A frigate which can become operational at the port, aircraft which can land in Wellington (runway may need to be patched) and personnel which can be deployed on the ground and work with the emergency services.
There is no relying on overseas emergency workers and being response ready which the Defence Force is trained to be is required.
Best answer I saw was from an ex-Hercules pilot who pointed out that if you took a supply flight into somewhere in a conflict/emergency situation without weapons, people who did have them could take your plane pretty fast. May have been drawing on experience somewhere in the Pacific..
Guess the same applies to boats, though NZ certainly under-armed our latest frigates to the point of uselessness in a real war zone.
20 billion is far too much to be spending on the military at this point in time.
IIRC, that $20b was announced by National a while ago and was actually a budget cut over the 15 years they suggested.
Right now, we need to be spending $5 to $10 billion per year just to get our defence forces up to scratch. 30 years of budget cuts have done far too much damage to our defence forces.
Housing the homeless and ensuring beneficiaries attain enough so they can afford to live is also not cheap.
Upping defence spending could give many of those beneficiaries a job.
Then if we did our own R&D and made our own aircraft would produce even more jobs and help build up a local industry where we could use the aluminium that we subsidise the production of.
Defence spending is not exclusive in creating jobs. Upping Government spending in other sectors can also create jobs.
True but defence is a necessary spend that needs to be adequate.
This spend up is largely going offshore, thus it won't be creating too many jobs here in NZ.
Which we actually need to change and make it so that all possible defence spending is onshore. Doing so will up the number of jobs created, help develop our economy and remove the vulnerability that comes from importing all our defence gear.
We have the capability and the capacity to do it so why not?
It'd be cheaper than paying private contractors from other nations to do it for us as military doesn't have the economies of scale to drop profit for each item down to a reasonable level. And importation of military equipment is weakness in our supply as the sea lanes could be cut.
So, government R&D becomes a lowish level ongoing cost with manufacture then contracted out to a local manufacturer to produce the aircraft. The development of better manufacturing processes would also be carried out by government R&D and available to NZ businesses – just like the US has been doing for well over a century (The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato).
And if you really think about it, the Hercules that we're still flying is a 1950s design.
We have the capability and the capacity to do it so why not?
For one, the whole thing is only the price of the club, as Key acknowledged.
Second, interoperability with other forces is a big part of that scam.
And finally, wouldn't we be withdrawing from the world economy anyway from what you've said before? Military cooperation would go down the toilet just like trade, so why waste any energy building war toys?
I supported National on that issue (enough defence resources) providing it was not going to remove money from social spending.
Shortage in housing was 20 years in the making in not investing enough. The tax breaks under Key could have helped fix housing providing the money was redirected.
Investment is needed in defence and it appears that NZ First was the influence.
That may led to a doubling of the current Defence budget and the doubling of the current DCP? So I’m wondering if Jane is prepared for that, which mean raising taxes? As our distance from such trouble spots and our ever reliance of SLOC from imports & exports is far greater now than WW2 since NZ’s domestic manufacturing has almost gone the way of the Dodo. NZ’s MN has gone the same way as it’s domestic manufacturing and it’s railways system is on about a quarter of what it was during WW2 so it’s going to be interesting on how fuel rationing goes once NZ loses access or degraded access to oil refineries in Singers and or MEAO?
This would also mean re-establishment of lost Defence capabilities such as the RNZAF’s Air Strike Wing, MCM Vessels, increase the Air Maritime Patrol Wing, the Frigate Force up to 6 Vessels, 2-3 Ice Capable Southern Ocean Patrol Ships and the tripling of the OPV size fleet armed with at least 76mm/ 3in gun the ability to fight Subs, Surface to Surface and short/ Close Range Air to Air. Also introducing new capabilities such as Unarmed & Armed UAV’s, Air to Air Tankers etc and that’s before we even to start to look at the Defence Estate around the Country including the Chatham Is. As Airport & ports would have to upgrade to allow a dispersal of Defence Assets when the brown stuff hits the fan
While all this is happening the NZDF still has to carry out it day to day mandated tasks as outlined by the NZG which it struggles to do even in today’s NZ political climate as result of 30+ yrs of cuts to capability, Manning, base closures and reduction in equipment since 91when Ruth the Bitch from the “No Mates Party” cut the MoD/ NZDF by 26% in 90’s. While at the same time saw the 5 major UN Peacekeeping including INTERFET/ Timor-Leste which was biggest Deployment of the NZDF since WW2 and it also included an over the beach landing since WW2 which turn into a bit of a Fuck Fight btw and lucky for the NZDF it wasn’t an opposed landing as it could made Gallipoli look like an Sunday picnic beside the seaside
To make this all happen all of our Political Party’s, including the NZ Greens will have to compromise on their Policies with Trade, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Aid Development. A lot of dead rats have to be swallowed if this does happen or else NZ would have to chose between China or its other major Asian Trading Parters within the Indo/ Asian Pacific Region if and when Conflict breaks out within the Region.
Armed Neutrality is the only option if NZ wants to keep out of the pending Conflict in Asia as most Asian countries see the word “Neutrality” as a form of weakness unless you are armed to the hilt and are prepared to Defend, Deny, Delay, “Attack” to Defend, Ambush, any potential aggressor who is dumb or stupid a enough to have a crack at NZ. It also requires ever Man, Woman, Child to do their bit be it active or passive (CD, Red Cross etc) Defenceof NZ’s Neutrality and willing to die for it?
The country cannot afford the cost of armed neutrality. The NZ Defence Force is always playing catch up when it comes to having a partial functioning defence force. If the defence force is operational ready were a major disaster to occur in NZ, then it would have served it's purpose in saving lives.
Staying out of other people's wars other than for giving humanitarian support to civilians probably reduces the duration of the conflict.
NZ is not likely to be attacked unless they become involved in a major incident. Our open shoreline is not going to be able to be protected.
NZ could afford “Armed Neutrality” but that would required total commitment NZG and the population, but that won’t happen as all the political parties and their various mouth pieces having to swallow a number of dead rats IRT to Defence, Trade, Foreign Affairs Aid Development etc. Also the fact that we have one political party screams tax cut, runs every Government Dept into ground, builds roads and other mob trying to rebuild everything back up due to mismanagement of the other mob, means “Armed Neutrality is a mere pip dream.
Unfortunately NZ will get sucked into the next major conflict in the Indo- Asian- Pacific Region weather it wants to or try’s to avoid it. My assumptions are theses,
1. We are a Trading Nation which means we rely on Freedom of Navigation of the Seas, because it allow us to export our goods overseas and import stuff that we use to make here NZ before the NeoCon Lib’s with their economic theory vandalised NZ’s domestic economy. Just have a look at the Fuck Fight that Covid19 has to both Australia’s and NZ’s import reliance on goods that used to be made within those respective countries before the NeoCon Lib’s vandalised the domestic economies.
2. Where are Australia’s Left Flank and the key to the Sth Pacific, which allows it to maintain its supply and military support from the US. Just asmuch as Australia is our right flank as it guarantees our supply line to SEA via the Singapore hub and our supplies of petroleum oil and lubricants (POL) via the Middle East & Singaporean oil refineries. If NZ loses some of its Asian exports, Australia is still one of our major export economy and Vice versa.
So if China wants to take on Australia its got to surround Australia by cutting its supply & support line to its left and right flanks and force those convoy’s into Lat 40& 50deg’s which would make the Russian Convoys look like Cook Strait crossing look quite Pleasant on a rough crossing. This was the long term strategic goal of the Japs in WW2, but they came short with the Battle of the Coral Sea only by a bees dick.
3. We are regarded as the gateway to the Antarctic and the Antarctic Treaty is up for renewal in 2044, if the Antarctic Treaty collapses then we’ll see the last great land grab since western colonisation.
4. NZ has been attack before in the last two World Wars via the indirect route of attacking NZ’s Shipping on the Surface from Surface Raiders and below the surface by the laying of sea mines off NZ Ports and Coastal Sea Lanes. Also NZ in WW2 had two over flights by the Japs from their I Boats ( Submarines) looking for the invasion fleet for Solly’s which they just miss by a number of days and we had also DKM U Boats conduct a couple sorties in NZ waters. Then we have the Frogs in 87 with the Rainbow Warrior as well.
I was thinking more of the line of 5 Direct Action Teams, Cyber Attack on the NZSX, over spin the turbines at Sth Is Power Stations, a couple of mad professors run about with a couple of virals of foot & mouth, PSA Mbiovs etc and a doz + Submarines with orders if it’s floats sink it and lay a few mines near Major Shipping ports.
Probable all up man power inside NZ’s land borders between 100& 120 pers within a population of 5m. Using prearranged dead drops, single use code pads, snail mail, other single use codes listening watch etc.
I hope haven't put you off from discussing this tropic? As I feel that this needs to be discuss at weather NZ adopts "Armed Neutrality" or the other option is which side it picks when jaw jaw stops and becomes war war. Having that discussion then is not a good option, if NZ wants to a adopt "Armed Neutrality" it has to start now.
As it well take time to re-orient the MFAT, Defence, Foreign Aid, NZ's economy including a Carbon Neutral Economy, build up the NZDF in particularly the Airforce and Navy, and finally infrastructure both public and private.
Solid comment Scud. I only wish these issues got more airtime here than all the 'ism wrangling.
All of those points are make a lot of sense, but the one I suspect will bite us in the arse much sooner than we expect is what happens when the Middle East, and the Persian Gulf in particular blows up … as it inevitably will when the US finally goes home altogether.
A couple of missed supertankers and Aus/NZ suddenly look very sick indeed.
The real issue Red is not so much the ME but the economic effect if and when conflict breaks out in Asia. Even just a simple reduction of 25% of POL supplies to the following counties Taiwan, Sth Korea & Japan would cause economic distress to both Oz & NZ before we even consider the economic fallout with China.
My gut feeling is that we are likely first to see conflict in the Indo -Asian -Pacific Region before the Jews, Arabs (Yanks) and the Persians settle a few old scores.
But the flip side to this as you pointed out that, the ME might go first which is likely to dilute the US Naval strength in the Asian- Pacific Region which could just give Chinese parity in the SCS and Taiwan. The question has to be asked, what would the Nth Koreans and Putin's Pacific Military Forces intent? Any offensive action by them would farther dilute the US PACCOM Forces. Which could cause issues in the low half of the Asian- Pacific Region, this would include NZ an the Sth Pacific?
So the next question would be who's side is NZ going to pick or does NZ starts serious looking at Armed Neutrality which means the discussion has to start now and not when Conflict starts.
New Zealand atm reminds of Norway just prior to WW2 where the Norwegian Government (which was a Labour btw) was at odds and reality with its Military not only with its lack of preparedness if and when Hitler makes his move on the West, but also the Military was getting very concern of the activities of both Germany & GB IRT its Neutrality.
If New Zealand want to avoid another oil shock as result of conflict, it has to adopt a Carbon Neutral Economy and rebuild its domestic manufacturing capacity which also in the Government input from the likes of the DSIR & MoW both as we know went the way of the Dodo in the 90's.
Pretty much agree with all of that. Two minor things to add in:
But the flip side to this as you pointed out that, the ME might go first which is likely to dilute the US Naval strength in the Asian- Pacific Region which could just give Chinese parity in the SCS and Taiwan.
It's my belief the US wouldn't commit much resource at all; they're pretty much energy independent now, and highly decoupled from ME oil. And regardless of who wins in November, neither President is likely to put American lives in harm's way to stabilise oil supplies for Europe or Asia. They just don’t care enough anymore.
So the next question would be who's side is NZ going to pick or does NZ starts serious looking at Armed Neutrality.
I can see the appeal of 'Armed Neutrality" but honestly when it came down to it, unless we had nuclear weapons and capable delivery systems, we could never mount an adequate deterrence. While the Pacific gives us a nice defensive space, it also makes it very hard for us to strike back with conventional weapons once the enemy’s navy was blockading our harbours … and that is the only basis on which this strategy might work.
In my view we have two realistic security options; the traditional ANZUS alliance that depending on events in the US may or may not be open to us, or a wholly new configuration of SE Asian nations, consisting of Japan/Korea/Philippines/Indonesia/Malaysia/India/Australia in a new alliance. It's not as unlikely as it seems, after all the Japanese arguably have the second most capable blue-water navy after the US, and if the politics were managed competently the whole alliance would be formidable indeed.
First of all thanks for jointing my memory IRT the US Shale Oil industry, as forgot that the US is almost totally free from the ME Oil dependency these days.
I've roughly crack the numbers on Nuke wpns vs Submarine both D/E and nuclear power vs more bang for your buck. I believe that a Submarine fleet would be practical and cheaper to run long term than if NZ wanted to adopt some form of Nuclear Wpn capability.
The main issue would be what type of Submarine would suit NZ's needs if NZ adopted "Armed Neutrally". Having a Nuclear Powered Attack Sub a has number of benefits on the plus side, but there are number of minuses. Apart from setting a Submarine Fleet would be huge as we have no corporate background in the use of Sub's, also of note that NZ DWP from 1982 or 83 did discuss and crunch the numbers of NZ obtaining Subs. The issue with a Nuke Sub we would still beholding tries to that country we purchase the a fleet of 6-9 Subs for technical support especially for refuelling the reactor and other deep level maintenance that would be require to do at the same time.
A D/E Sub on the other hand well have less risk, it would a lot easily to setup our maintenance in house, the other is being able to tap into the STEM and other technical trades. The other big factors is we won't be beholding to tires any country a part from very minor technical support during refits and the other more options in terms of variety of manufactures of D/E from Sweden with the their "Son of Collins Class", the German UBoats which to some are the Bee's Knees and the Jap S Boats which has combine the best of German and Swedish know how to produce a very capable boat, then we have the French, Russia D/E Subs and of cause the Brits with their U Boats, but like the Yanks haven't built D/E in donkeys years.
A Submarine Force with a Combine Surface and Air Force would give the NZG a number of options in Defence of its "Armed Neutrally". For example NZ would able to conduct Defence in Depth which cause all sort of problems anyone who is stupid a enough to close in on NZ, as they would a long way from support and it would leave them very open for the NZ Submarine Force to attack its Fleet train. Which would less ships up front as more would be need to defence its Fleet train and its support base along the way. Which was something that the Japs forgot to do in WW2, but the Germans did against the Brits and almost pulled it off. If it wasn't for some management issues within the German Sub Fleet command, the SKL (Naval Command) and finally Hitler's melding within the OKW.
There is a lot to think about NZ's direction on weather it adopts "Armed Neutrally" or it attempts to shore up it traditional Alliance aka ANZUS or the FPDA or looks at something similar to what you have mention (I prefer the last two options if NZ decides not to adopt Armed Neutrally") and, or its sides with China which doesn't have any of NZ traditional values.
Above all it would require cross party support and us punters need know the options for & against. Once NZ decided what the option they want and doing nothing is not an option btw, as it would require 100% commitment from everybody from the top end of town to the bottom end of town and in between.
Excellent. I really appreciate your input around a potential submarine fleet to provide a 'defense in depth' capability. Although they aren't cheap or easy, as the Aussies are finding that out with their French subs. I wonder if NZ shouldn't piggy back on that program, just from a support perspective alone.
Incidentally one of the guys I work with most days is ex-Collin Class submariner. They really are a breed apart, and as you say NZ has no corporate experience in this arena; it would be a hell of a commitment to go down this path.
But you are right, whether we went down the 'armed neutrality' or 'SE Asia Alliance' path, submarines would be by far the most useful capability we could have. And given the sheer size of the Pacific, Tasman and Southern Oceans we would have to operate in, maybe there is a case for nuclear, however extreme that might feel at the moment.
Namely the 20 billion to be spent over the next 11 years, which could be much better spent enhancing lives
Yes, because making ourselves even more vulnerable in a world gone haywire is such a Good Idea.
/sarc
BTW, think of how many thousands of people employed by the defence forces that would be out of a job and thus increasing poverty if we didn't spend that money.
Partisans vs democracy. Joshua Ferrer examines their track record of success:
I have spent the past year at the University of Otago studying every reform to New Zealand’s democratic rules of the game since 1970. I have also interviewed over two-dozen politicians, election officials and academic experts on New Zealand election law.
My research has revealed partisan election reforms to be common practice. Politicians have enacted 66 election reforms over the past 50 years. Of these, 19 were passed with only government support. Twenty-nine election reforms involved significant amounts of contention, while only 12 substantive changes to the rules of the game were free of partisan intrigue.
Election reforms can affect voter turnout and alter electoral outcomes. Partisan manipulation of election laws has been shown to erode public faith in the democratic process, faith that is required for the system to have legitimacy in the first place.
All too often, Labour governments have been the propagators of highly partisan election reforms. Over half of Labour’s election reforms have been partisan, compared with only 11% of National’s. Labour governments have passed 15 election reforms with high levels of partisanship, compared with only five reforms passed by National. The current government has now passed more electoral reforms with government-only support than with broader support.
National governments are not completely free of blame. They are responsible for passing 13 election changes that engendered moderate or significant partisan disagreement. More worrisome are the five laws National has passed that have increased barriers to the ballot box or otherwise diminished electoral participation (Labour has passed two).
Joshua concludes by advocating use of "citizens’ assemblies on election reform" to provide "a valuable new form of direct democracy". Seems a worthwhile initiative. To make it happen, we need a citizens' advocacy group with organising skills. However it does create an opportunity for any political party with a tradition of calling itself progressive. They could validate their claim by leading the implementation process!
Without reading the whole article – is this actually looking through the correct lens?
Should the criteria for measuring the reforms be "is this going to expand the democratic franchise and enable more participation with an electoral outcome that reflects those votes"- not which party did it?
The party is a secondary consideration – so is this research with a major flaw or bias?
To call them partisan reforms not partisan outcomes is very poor framing.
To call them partisan reforms not partisan outcomes is very poor framing.
I see where you're coming from, but I suspect he is simply recycling the framing used at the time: touting an act of parliament as a reform is trad pr for both major parties.
I agree that such acts which don't improve democratic participation look more like outcomes than reforms, since reforms are usually interpreted as progress. Technically, a didact could point out that the term originally meant just a change of form though. So no, I see no good reason to assume he's compromised by perceptual flaw or bias.
We need more participation, from informed people. This old business of thinking we are in charge because we voted some bods in, and that they know what they are doing because they convinced us to vote them in, a bit circular what! And they rely on a supposedly effective, efficient and knowledgable group that are either lifetimers in administration (old idea) or interchangeable between private and government (new idea) or university trained in the latest methods of efficiency in any sort of management (neo lib idea).
And all this going on over the heads of unthinking and uncaring (till it hits them on the head like seagull's droppings) citizens stolidly going on their dim-witted way stamping out bushfires preferably before ideas actually start smouldering.
That's democracy at present folks. Getting that changed would be a herculean task to do it right. Of course it could be done a la Roger et Al, who just upended the table and the board game or jigsaw or whatever was being played fell to the floor and never got put together again. If we lived in Holland the dykes would never have been put together sweetly and strongly, we would all be boat people being turned away as undesirable.
Richard Harman assesses the PM's conference speech:
“Poverty, inequality, persistent unemployment. It does not have to be this way, and under Labour, it won’t. We are the Party that puts people first. It is in our DNA.”
That got thunderous and prolonged applause. If it was designed to provoke the “Ruth Richardson” inside National, it didn’t quite hit the mark. The response from Leader, Todd Muller, was hesitant. “Nothing Labour promises you this election will be delivered – except more tax for you to pay,” he said. But National is vulnerable with its “no new taxes” promise; Labour can legitimately ask how, with debt repayments and the social welfare bill likely to increase, what Government services National might cut if it won’t raise any more taxation.
He also claimed that Labour is going it alone this election, that it wants to govern on its own. Another centre right pundit trying to put the last nails in the Green’s coffin.
Or does that fall under Deborah Russels protfolio of 'how can they – small businesses – not survive in a pandemic with no income i have no idea……i am an academic, a beige suit on the government tit, so how the fuck would i know anything about free enterprise and working for ones wages."
Cause as of today, the Government has done fuck all to help people who are stuck owing tens of thousands of dollars to landlords who will NOT negotiate unless they are forced to by Government. Or does that fall in the too fucking hard basket?
And for those that get upset at a little critic thrown at the current government and their leader, suck it up.
This failure to reign in property holders/speculators/landbankers/leeches on society has been a spectacular bipartisan failure of the National Party and the Labour Party. So dear Labour Party and parties of the coalition, go do something. You can not just let people go all the way to bankruptcy just because you don't want to finally tackle the abuse of Landlords that literally everyone, residential or commercial tenants is suffering from.
And for those that want to simply not give a shit about the people of NZ that have businesses please remember that these are the guys generating tax revenue, paying wages, GST, and Rates. Also they are New Zealanders just in case people forgot.
Also remember that the wage subsidy only pays for one thing, Rent at home plus food, or a commercial rent. It does not take care of both.
The owner of a travel agency facing shop closure due to Covid-19, claims she has to pay more than $50,000 if she wants to be released from her lease – with no money back if a new tenant is found.
Part of the small subset of commercial landlords who see a distressed tenant as an opportunity to create a debt, and obtain a judgement to take the tenants assets. One of the risks you take when you go into business
not naming any names, but apparently a local retail landlord wanted to sell their business so got an earthquake structural report pre-covid. They then refused to let any of their commercial tenants off paying rent during lockdown.
Post covid, two of their major tenants aren't renewing their lease, and one is refusing to reopen because of the earthquake report highlighting "health and safety" risks (which suggests to me they're arguing the landlord is failing to provide suitable retail space, so they won't be paying rent until the lease runs out).
Nice to see the occasional bastard get their comeuppance.
Easiest way is to not own anything, why people who own businesses have trusts. Companies don't protect you that much now because everything requires personal guarantees now, especially leases.
yeah, I was a bit surprised at that requirement for a personal guarantee when a group I was involved with was leasing a space. Seems a bit bloody weird to me.
I think Treetop's idea would be reasonable, for some tight criteria. It would be DamienGrant-dodgy to pay the rent with the covid loan and then wind the company up at the end of the lease.
It will probably require a purpose built entity to take the leases off the distressed tenants and deal with the contractual issues with the lease.
This is where Little's bluff fell over, it sort of dealt with the lockdown period, but trying to deal with distressed leases using the ADLS 27.5 and 27.6 clauses was really going cause problems.
Getting a fair deal for the likes of the Travel Agent, but not allowing the wide boys to demand a lease renegotiation will be tricky. Everything will be subjective and nothing meaningfully objective.
From where I'm sitting a Crown agency that takes over leases of genuinely distressed tenants and then manages the reletting could be the way to deal with it. It will probably only do a couple of hundred leases where relationships have broken down completely already and they have got themselves into a corner they can't get out of, and then the message will get through and both sides of the letting relationship will settle down.
Generally Queenstown isn't to bad in this regard. There's a couple of wanker landlords, but also a couple of really good ones which has kept things under control. But I know of a couple of situations that have become disfunctional. But the market's still fluid, someone moves out, then there's someone moving in straight away.
There's also a review of the ADLS lease underway, it gets reviewed every 10 years with updates between. Our beagle is saying this aspect of the lease is in for a major overhaul.
Speaking of commercial leases, this is how Harvey Norman dealt with their landlords.
The Australian-owned company sent the letter to a number of landlords around New Zealand on March 25 telling them that it would not pay rent while its stores were closed.
The letter, provided to Stuff, tells landlords that they had 24 hours to respond otherwise Harvey Norman would consider the matter settled.
Underlying much of this, Brooks argues, is an acceptance of prevailing inequalities — economic, gender, and racial — as natural. The IDW’s leading lights uncritically defend capitalism while drawing on biology and the dreary science of ‘IQ’ to bolster the status quo. They aim to “naturalize or mythologize historically contingent power relations”, as Brooks puts it.
Behind every one of Peterson’s self-help homilies is an unbending fealty to the status quo. Hierarchies are hard-wired because lobsters follow them. Gender differences are real because women gravitate towards people and men towards things. Envy and resentment at the success of others will rot your soul.
Naturalism is littered with conceptual pitfalls, true. But Greens did derive their belief system from nature, and it remains valid, so the lesson to learn is `do it right'.
Meritocracy, as the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu once put it, is an imaginary world in which “every prize can be attained, instantaneously, by everyone, so that at each moment anyone can become anything”.
Meritocracy is a political system in which economic goods and/or political power are vested in individual people on the basis of talent, effort, and achievement, rather than wealth or social class.
Dennis, when I lived in Australia the Govt there argued "Meritocracy" was the reason there was only 1 woman on the front bench in Parliament.
The Liberal Party of Australia, many punters I met said they no longer vote for them as they no longer represent Liberal values, they're actually Right Wing Christian Conservatives.
Yeah men have traditionally struggled to get their heads around the notion that women have complementary skills that are just as valid in politics & governance. I see emotional intelligence, for instance, as a competitive advantage in group psychodynamics. Conservative culture prevents such learning so sexism persists. And I agree that the Oz liberal tag is a misnomer. Justin Trudeau puts them to shame! I read a biography of him from the library a while back. He's authentic.
Liberals in the classic sense seem a different kind of animal. They are as likely to adopt a conservative stance as a progressive stance, for instance. Often centrist.
Not sure why you would want to interpret his call for an evidence-based approach to the issue of war crime responsibility as moral cowardice. Temporary short-circuit in the brain??
As regards wearing a black face, I've never done it – but depends what year he did it eh? Weren't they still broadcasting re-runs of the Black & White Minstrel Show here in the '80s?
Regency Artists Pty Ltd & Bruce Warwick Ltd … proudly present the world's longest running musical show, the fabulous Black & White Minstrel Show. based on the popular BBC TV series. Souvenir N.Z. programme [19]84.
What is shown in the Twitter feed I linked to is that Trudeau swiftly abandoned his call for an evidence-based approach, and supported the Trump regime's highly contentious and unproven allegations. He also, infamously, supported the Trump/Pompeo propaganda line against the elected government of Venezuela.
His black-face shenanigans would not, in themselves, count for very much if taken in isolation. However, considering everything else he has done, they point to someone who is anything but "authentic."
No way would I view Assad favourably so I share your feeling there. But we don't know what intelligence-sharing happened to change his mind, do we? Re Venezuela, that's a typical binary with a path thro the middle for those who prefer a balanced view. I see the idiocies of both sides clearly.
Being stuck in bias is bad for one's mental health often. If you have an open mind, read Justin's autobiography. The only reason I did so was due to the negative views of him expressed by you & one or two others in the past. That got me intrigued and sceptical of his character. I was impressed somewhat against my will as a result. In my local library – probably in yours…
Correction: I read his autobiography, not a biography. You get a better sense of where a person is coming from (in terms of values, motivations,ideals) when you read them telling their own story. For instance, he spent many years determined not to be a politician. What he did during those years is instructive.
Yep , dogs running after phantom sticks again, just when theres talk of withdrawing all the troops
How people still unquestionably believe all the BS emanating from anonymous officials is beyond me .I suspect it's wishful thinking and confirmation bias at work
A clue for the clueless: what makes the russian bounties thing a story is the Great White Shart's reaction to the possibility of russia paying bounties on dead US soldiers, or to be more precise, his utter lack of interest. Much more than whether or not the allegations are accurate.
Of course the lack of any proof is the final confirmation that this story—provided by "unnamed sources"—is true. Those dastardly Russian masterminds and their puppet in Washington!
The Russians are laughing at us. Look at this smug Russki bastard….
Aaahhh, of course good ol' Andre always ready and willing to gulp down what ever unsubstantiated fact free nonsense his MSM liberal tell him..and then spew it back out as fact…a true camp guard, no training needed.
When the same stupid GIF used for the 3rd time and a YT clip are all bring to the table it is obvious that you’ve got nothing of substance to add in which case it might be better that you say nothing.
More clues for the clueless: An organisation that calls itself "Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting" that fails to acknowledge that anonymous sourcing does in fact have a reasonable place in responsible journalism, among other misrepresentations in that piece, itself bears more resemblance to the Ministry of Truth than to what it claims on its label. Particularly given the tiny-fisted fascist's inclination to go hard after everyone that provides information that is even the slightest bit unfavourable to his interests.
Meanwhile, for anyone interested in the appropriate role of anonymous sourcing and how much credence to give anonymously sourced info, here's a few pieces to consider:
RNZ National is full of people who have uncritically gulped down this nonsense, hook, line, and sinker. The problem is that they then use their platform to regurgitate the propaganda. Chief among the Russiagate true believers are Dame Kim Hill, Bernard Hickey, and Jim Mora, the long-time host of the light chat show The Panel.
Back in November 2015, regular Panel guest Ella Henry treated Nat. Radio listeners to the fruits of her extensive knowledge and wide reading on the subject of Russian leader Vladimir Putin:
"Hur hur! I just see an ex-KGB agent, y’know what I’m sayin’?"
In October 2016 poor, bewildered Jesse Mulligan—Mora's replacement as Panel host— tried his hardest to seriously address the m-m-m-m-menace from Moscow….
JESSE MULLIGAN:[speaking very slowly, to convey thoughtfulness] Sometimes when I read this stuff I get the sense that Russia are L-L-L-LOOKIN’ for trouble, are L-L-L-LOOKIN’ to create tension with the U.S. Is that fair?
….Long pause….
PROFESSOR AL GILLESPIE:[slowly, deliberately, to convey deep thinking] Ahhhhhmmm, partly, partly not. I mean, Russia’s there by a treaty it had with Syria from the early 1970s, a legitimate treaty for a defensive alliance, and Assad is still to a degree in power, so Russia’s doing what it was bound to do by treaty. The problem is, that at some point, as long as you’re propping up these sides the war will continue and you may have to, everyone just back out and see what the actual outcome is.
….Long pause…
JESSE MULLIGAN: Meanwhile, there’s this OTHER story around today, that Russia have walked away from the protocol on weapons-grade plutonium control. Can you give us a bit of background to that, Al?
While I think my star sign is Cynical, the MSM has become a slither of it's former selves. Helped, no doubt, by the decades of market reforms, the race to the bottom is picking up speed.
Before clickbait was a thing… I had a pub in a small country town. We had a big Friday night and 3 brothers came in, I knew 2 of them were under age so I asked them to leave. On their way out, they came across the kitchen hand, assumed he had narked on them and proceeded to give him a hiding.
The Monday issue of the local paper has a story headlined "Teens Fight in Local Bar". They go on to quote the local Senior Sergeant who knew nothing about it, about 'youngsters these days….'
Took a few calls to the editor to get a retraction printed, buried deep in the paper. I stopped advertising with them and got creative with other marketing ideas.
The Guardian, oft cited as the font of all wisdom, has sullied or confirmed (depending on your view of it) it's reputation with it's treatment of Jeremy Corbyn.
The opposition said they have a moral obligation to win. No. Winning an election is not a moral obligation.
We are morally obligated to look after New Zealanders, our most vulnerable, our families and our children; to represent our diverse nation, to have people from all walks of life of every colour race and creed sit at the decision-making table.
To do what is best for New Zealand, to govern in the best interests of New Zealanders; to be honest, to be fair.
I understand that addressing commercial leaseholders difficulties has been on the table.
Held up by some snags.
Including NZ first and the banks, but also how do you help out genuinely distressed leases without allowing some big arsehole ones to wriggle out of their obligations.
Good to hear. You don't want the unscrupulous renters voiding leases they can well afford to pay while needing to offer some solution to prevent the unscrupulous landlords bankrupting smaller business owners who have a no or a much reduced business meaning they bear the whole financial outcome of the "covid disruption lottery " and recognising that no rent would also bankrupt some smaller landlords.
Today's bunch of useless under performing employers who can't plan for more than 5 minutes into the future and now want the government to bail them out.
You've had six months to get yourselves organised – why didn't you use it! Be proactive. Why have you rolled some visa's for years instead of training. Bear in mind that it appears only about 10,000 have been here for 5+ years.
Why do these visa holders who have been here so little time apparently have skills that can't be taught in the short term to locals. Many of these visa's would not have been renewed anyway- tourist, student and under 30 work permits so you would have needed to replace them anyway.
I'd like to give a special mention to the Hospo association. Not only is this an industry that will shrink but:
why have you not designed a few basic courses,
found or used a current provider for those courses,
invited employers when they are interviewing to recommend individuals to undertake those courses because they will hire them at the end
Then if you asked for a small government subsidy I'm sure it would have been granted or employers could pay for it. Then you could also promote some existing workers. It's not rocket science.
Lastly why does the news media just accept the employer whinging without any further inquiry or hard facts. A lot of those dairy jobs are short term to cover the start of the season.
And the hospo industry is claiming to be a 40 billion dollar industry, talk about "don't you know who I am-ism ". What a load of bullshit, that would make a city of 50,000 have a hospo industry of 400 million. I have had a gutsful of this inflating of value every time some entity is trying to extract something from the government.
Absolute crap regarding dairy farmers. The truth is we have received no wage subsidies,Jacinda is sending key workers back to poverty and disease and There is no way NZ unemployed will fill the gap.The treatment of our workers by a so called Kind government is disgusting.
Er I think these statements may prove my point. But hey why didn't the dairy industry not try to make itself more resilient? The rewards have been high enough – maybe profit sharing like say 'sharemilkers'?
What is it about having to do "courses " to do anything from carrying a cup of coffee from a kitchen to a table or wash a floor or clean a bench. If a person can't do any of most things required to hold down a simple job then they must have been on 24 hour life support since birth. You don't need training just get on and fucking do it.
I don't really think they need courses for a lot of this stuff either. Maybe an hour or two to make sure the bed making is up to standard. But the onus should be pushed back onto these industry groups to come up with concrete plans for how to manage (beyond "we need work visas") so then the government pen can be put through 2 week bed making courses.
The hospo industry should also have been asked for how many of these employees needed are at or close to the minimum wage. Which suggests jobs that don't need huge skills.
and FWIW 56000 extra people have registered for the unemployment plus those who don't need to but could work. Trademe and seek – who will overlap- show around 13000 to 14000 listings for the last 4 weeks
News media seem to accept this employer whinging uncritically without any challenge or filter.
Companies have done a great job over recent decades shifting responsibility for staff training onto everybody else to pay for.
We really need to get NZ out of the low-wage economy trap where employers fear to set their prices high enough to cover such costs unless they are only serving the luxury market. And more profits need to come back to workers, not owners.
Yep and step one would be for the media to expand their horizons and stop printing employer whinging without question or pushback, They seem to have lost that skill and stuff being now locally owned needs to find it in spades.
After a life in kitchens, I learnt a good tip during my 'Chemicals training': Spray your cleaning cloth with the fluid (sanitiser/window cleaner), not the surface. You use less and get a better finish.
On the other hand, and no doubt with support from the Labour government, I am having post earthquake remediation finally, using a firm who employs three female apprentices. Today, on learning that one apprentice was receiving her first visit from her industry supervisor/ trainer/ inspector person, I congratulated him on his willingness to train apprentices. Lots of 'doing', but with supervision and advice ongoing.
Adrian agree 100%. Worked in hospo in my 20's . No training, just figuring it out.
Also thinking about all those unemployed flight attendants. Surely their skills generalize? Good customer service, serving people coffee etc. It's just bollock that we have to have migrants to fill these jobs.
NSW is to close the border with Victoria midnight tomorrow. First time it’s been closed in a hundred years. 53 cases – 16 new today – at the Melbourne public housing towers. 127 new cases in Victoria overall today.
This Melbourne case should be kept in mind when public housing is built here again. Do not use this type of tower block housing, it is bad for human mental and physical health to be WAREHOUSED. Under one picture of someone looking out from a window: '
The units have no balconies and windows that only open a small amount.'. No wonder some complain there is no fresh air, and also they say there is no sunlight. When you see how closely the huge blocks stand together, it is plain that there would never be sunlight in some of them. There isn't any room for it to angle into any of the rooms.
This is an unpleasant note from officialdom's view of the public housing lockdown, that they are places where viruses may be "incubating":
"This is not just a matter of 23- to 30-odd people, this is a matter of many hundreds who have already been exposed and who may already be incubating," Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said on Saturday.
Some of them may be nearly starving soon.
…It was only when Tekeste Hailu tried to leave his building that he realised he was one of 3,000 people in mandatory lockdown. Mr Hailu, 27, lives with his grandmother in public housing on Racecourse Rd, one of nine Melbourne buildings that was placed into sudden "hard lockdown" on Saturday afternoon. But the first Mr Hailu was told was when he tried to leave to buy groceries, only to be greeted by "the whole building surrounded by police".
…Hulya Selin, who lives with her young son in a two-bedroom apartment on the 12th floor of a tower on Racecourse Road, said losing her freedom removed was "scary"…. Ms Selin said by 10:000am Sunday, 18 hours after the lockdown began, no-one had come to the door to provide her with any information or food. She first heard about the lockdown from a post on Facebook. "I went downstairs just to check if this was all true and there were so many police officers there at that point," she said. "I actually spoke to one of the officers and he said the only information they had was that no-one is allowed out." She said she was told by an officer later that having food delivered was OK, but when the delivery worker arrived, they were not allowed near the building…
Other comment: There have also been concerns raised about the lack of information in languages other than English. By late on Saturday night, Mr Hailu said he was yet to see any professional health workers, social workers or interpreters to support the hundreds of residents in his building….
Residents from three separate towers said it was common for lifts in the high-rise buildings to be out of order on a regular basis, meaning there was one way up and down the buildings [the stairs] for hundreds of residents. Jenny said she took the stairs because she was "fit and young", but that was impossible for many others.
Is this high-rise nightmare what Auckland will try to come up with, having mismanaged its residential requirements for so long, and letting developers play housie with what are commodities to them, but expensive essential services to the peeps?
…The most visible legacy of the Commission is the 47 or so high-rise apartment towers in inner Melbourne, all built using the same pre-cast concrete panel technology. .. Approximately 27 of these precast concrete 20 to 30 storey height buildings were constructed around Melbourne, until the type of development fell into disrepute. By 1970 nearly 4000 privately owned dwellings had been compulsory acquired and replaced by nearly 7000 high rise flats..
I think it will be sometime before we have sufficient evidence to categorically rule, in or out, China's involvement in this global pandemic, there certainly is plenty of speculation, but I'll wait for tangible evidence before I make up my mind
As an aside I am intrigued by the use of "apace." Dr Bloomfield used it in his reports a number of times. "Development in that process is happening apace." Now I have heard "apace" being used in news reports several times recently. How cute is that?
The Government is developing post Covid policies apace.
I am very retiring Adrian. At pace. O'clock. (Of the clock) Must be others around. But I like the idea that a great Public Servant can insert an old word word into the consciousness and usage of others.
You're right, of course, ianmac. I just wanted to get a joke in. 'Never let the truth stand in the way of a good joke', as they say. You, of course, might respond that you're still waiting…….
The selection committee, advisers say, hasn’t finished assembling a final shortlist of candidates for consideration by Biden, who has made it clear he’ll take his time and make his selection by Aug. 1 based on his personal relationship with the candidate and how “simpatico” they are.
The foundation’s research also shows that women are generally viewed as having more empathy and being multi-taskers who are perceived as having a “virtue advantage” over men because they’re more trustworthy…
in 2018, a record number of women were elected to Congress, and many won by emphasizing their personal life experience instead of just political experience.
I gave the running mate a thought the other day. Needs to be energetic, able to be presidential and in the early fifties or late forties of African American heritage.
Physically I doubt Trump would last another term and Pence is not visible or able to have a different point of view than Trump.
I mentioned the other day the likelihood of Biden dying in office. Feasibility of that scenario would be driving the advice from long-time Democrat stalwarts. So the non-white woman he selects has to be tough enough to survive & prosper in the top job. And already seen as such by those who matter (in the liberal US establishment).
I assume Biden is open to advice from Hilary Clinton on that. Her life-long progression from ultra-conservative to democrat proves her capacity to transcend established political categories in a life-transforming way. Her selection of a short list of candidates for Biden would be extremely useful. Probably the first time I've ever written something favourable about that woman! 🙃
I assume Biden is open to advice from Hilary Clinton on that. Her life-longprogression from ultra-conservative to democratproves her capacity to transcend established political categories in a life-transforming way.
She backed Biden's horrific Crime Bill in 1994, and denounced black teenagers as "predators." She and her husband started the racist allegation, taken up with a vengeance by Donald Trump, that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. After the horrific death of Colonel Gaddafi—U.S./U.K.-supported Islamist fanatics sodomized him with swords—she laughed her head off about it: "He came, he saw, he DID!"
Going from Goldwater Girl to Democrat Senator. Obviously! I suspect you're just playing dumb, of course, but sometimes people do need to have the obvious pointed out to them. You're welcome. 😉
Once sung by descendants of the 7th Cavalry, Irish air "Garrymore" will no longer cause pain for Native Americans.
“Garryowen,” an Irish drinking song with a marching cadence, is to Native Americans what “Deutschland Uber Alles” is to Jews, a hated reminder of the evil past.
“Garryowen” was the marching song of the 7th Cavalry and the infamous Lt Colonel George Custer when they massacred native American villages in the all-out campaign in the 1870s to rid the plains and the west of “redskins.” The tune was played quite deliberately right before attacks.
How does this sort of nonsensical trash get past the editors at Stuff?
"The Greens elect their list on an internal party ballot, which means party members prefer Swarbrick over a minister with tangible results under her belt. And if party members think this way, their voters must be even more ambivalent about real policy wins."
This idiot's whole theory is based on one totally illogical assumption, which is that the way the party determines its list means that Green voters don't care value policy wins. There's a lot of truth in the view that sees only three kinds of right winger, which are eitther stupid, nasty or both.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
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Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
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I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
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Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
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Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
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Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’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. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
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Yep, sucking up to TERFs is surely the key to our recovery. Wonder how it got missed from her speech..
[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.]
[non-bold, general moderator comment below. Everyone please read before commenting in this subthread – weka]
Expecting this irrelevant comment to be moved to Open Mike in 3,2,1..
Your comment seems uncharacteristically off!?
TERFs bring out my bitchy side.
We all have our Achilles’ heels.
Irrelevant bandwagonning is another #MatchingPair
Sasha
Who needs misogyny when you have women who use slurs to shut other women up – the mob cancel culture.
Who dare they to express their concerns.
Tubletennis
Speech has consequences. Speech intended to eliminate a group of people tends to attract ire. Moreso than 'slurs' in general, especially when the term in question was coined by the people who it is being applied to. Only a slur once it became inconvenient.
It still not clear to you that a large group will feel eliminated if certain policy changes will be implemented. Maybe you are not interested, so be it – but your very nasty misogynistic slur outburst got me reacting.
Your attitude belongs much more at home in the front bench of the NP.
Perhaps reflect on 'feels' eliminated vs actually being eliminated. I'm sure the KKK feel really victimised these days too.
….reflect on 'feels'…
Kinda like 'feeling' like a woman and actually being a woman?
Essentialism will not end where you want it to.
What the fuck is TERF?
WTF don’t you use Google or another search engine?
First hit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TERF
So lazy fuckers take the time to type their bullshitty jargon out in full that's why the fuck.
I call BS on that. If they had typed “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” you would have been none the wiser and you would have said “What the fuck is trans-exclusionary radical feminist?”. However, if you did know what “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” stands for you would have known the acronym TERF. You could have looked it up yourself or asked nicely but you did neither because you knew exactly what TERF means, didn’t you? Your foul language gave it away, IMHO.
I know now and it was clearly a lie, which would have been apparent had it been written in full. Probably why it wasn't, IMHO.
Let’s do a search here on TS on “Gabby” and “TERF” and see what comes up, shall we?
Any guesses what we might find?
Go on then, IYHO what are you predicting?
My guess is that there’s high chance that it will show that in all likelihood you knew the meaning of the acronym. Are you still denying that?
Have you done it yet?
No, not yet, but I’ll get to it, don’t you worry. I can’t stand dishonesty.
I'm not a big fan of dishonesty either.
Well I've just invested 30 secs of time and .. nuttin. Looking forward to your findings.
Why? Afraid that you have a TERF skeleton in your closet that I might find? You don’t trust your own memory? I don’t trust mine so I can understand that.
I have zero trust in my own memory. Someone could have told me what it meant last week and I could have forgotten it while retaining contempt for its bullshitty jargon. Do you have any reason to believe that the person it was flung at, is a radical feminist?
Your contempt was obvious, which caught my attention and it begged the question why you’d react in such a way if you didn’t know what you were reacting to and why. It came across as disingenuous and dishonest. So, I will do some detective work and will get back to you with my findings. At this stage, I think I’ll have difficulty accepting the John Key ‘excuse’ of ‘actually, I have no recollection of that but what I can say, at the end of the day, is that it made my blood boil’. Not too late to come clean 😉
Do you have any reason to believe that the person hectored is a radical feminist? That's what the RF stands for.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/category/womens-rights-womens-liberation/
Fill your boots Gabby.
I looked up that link Rosemary. Deals with the female-centred wash from idle, amoral minds swamping the world. Really ugly. In the past one didn't know or even suspect the awful side of people's minds and thoughts. Now they flaunt all their sick-minded unlovely negativity and dislike across the world as if it is some revelation to spread for everyone's education.
It is on a par with what Germany suffered at the hands of Nazis. They built up bad attitudes to Jews, which then enabled them to start physical attacks etc. which were largely accepted, despite protests from many and then increased in severity. Society has indulged itself in punishing the 'other' with witch-baiting and burning, watching mad people as if a circus, seeing public hangings as a spectacle.
We need to be careful of building up outrage, one group versus another, when either group becomes swollen with resentment and anger.
There seems to be a madness that arises from a mindset that can grow in societies – to fix on a group or person to be a scapegoat for all to focus their negative feelings on, their discontent either with themselves, others, or anything. In psychology they call this projection.
Psychological projection is a defense mechanism people subconsciously employ in order to cope with difficult feelings or emotions. Psychological projection involves projecting undesirable feelings or emotions onto someone else, rather than admitting to or dealing with the unwanted feelings. https://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/psychological-projection-dealing-with-undesirable-emotions/
eg as in – https://rdln.wordpress.com/2020/06/24/new-misogyny-has-many-forms/
and then a heightened response to every comment prevents any rationality in discussion – https://rdln.wordpress.com/2020/06/20/stuff-continues-the-diatribes-against-j-k-rowling/
The approach of focussing the dark thoughts of society on one thing or being was the subject of a play by a USA author. One person would be stoned to death each year as part of the culture of a particular area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lottery
More than ever we need to have the study of human personality and philosophy to help us control what must be atavistic tendencies that need to be controlled by the healthy, balanced mind. So we need more Humanities, not seeing them wiped from tertiary study in favour of Science.
Really ugly. In the past one didn't know or even suspect the awful side of people's minds and thoughts. Now they flaunt all their sick-minded unlovely negativity and dislike across the world as if it is some revelation to spread for everyone's education.
Yep.
https://lesbian-rights-nz.org/shame-receipts/
Moving this to OM from the "Jacinda’s address to the Labour Congress" post because I want to address it without derailing another author's post.
I consider TERF to be a slur. Like many words directed at women, it has other uses too, but most use now is perjorative and often abusive (thinking twitter here). It is so ubiquitously used as a pejorative now that this is true irrespective of how the person using it intends.
From a moderator perspective, I will maintain boundaries here for the sake of both trans people and gender critical feminists. Calling a commenter a terf will get my moderator attention, calling women offsite might too. Talking about 'terf' in a gender context I'll take each situation as it goes. In this case Sacha, acknowledging letting your bitchy side come out gave some context, but it was still a flamey derail that in other places would have devolved into a shit show.
I'm not willing to let that shitshow happen on TS, for the sake of TS and also for the sake of trans people, women and GCFs. It's already really hard for women to take part here, especially women authors. That longstanding issue has not been resolved and as a feminist who has to limit what she can write about because of that, I'm not ok with another layer of trouble being added to this space. I also consider TS to not be particularly safe for trans and non-binary people either.
It's possible that the gender war issues will be an election issue. Also possible that people here will want to discuss them. So I'm signalling some boundaries around managing those conversations so that the robust debate and the 'tone/language not excluding others' ethos are maintained.
Happy to have discussion about this if anyone needs clarification. I'm not available for an argument today.
edited.
The original comment was an utter derail in itself – like responding to a detailed economic policy post by asking what Labour would do about whale strandings or middle-east political prisoners.
Kind of disappointed it was not moved here along with my response. However I do not see any conversation about this ending constructively in this place. So I won't.
To be clear, I do respect your reasoning and your broader understanding of the context here – and I expected other moderators might have moved my comment at the time. Not aiming to cause trouble when election season will bring plenty of that. Cheers
This Moderator made a judgement call yesterday to leave things as they were and see how the thread would evolve rather than to move it pre-emptively. Robust debate sometimes means hanging out the dirty laundry, having the hard conversations, be open and honest – warts and all – but above all, being respectful of others. Unfortunately, I don’t think the TS commentariat is ready for certain conversations. QED.
Great stuff Weka. Thanks
Will Labour review the Defence budget in light of the economic effect of Covid?
Namely the 20 billion to be spent over the next 11 years, which could be much better spent enhancing lives
I'm all for the idea of armed neutrality
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/122026503/new-defence-recruits-may-be-buy-into-a-sea-of-trouble
With China's growing aggression and countries building up their arsenal while strengthening their international ties as a counter, one would expect there will be growing international pressure for us to spend more. Therefore, it is unlikely we will cut back our military spend and more likely we will be pressured to up it.
It's a losing game, the NY Police force has a bigger budget than the NZ military, and that's with the NYP slashing theirs by a billion dollars.
It's largely a loss for our economy but no doubt a gain for the arms dealers.
Armed neutrality is very expensive. I propose allowing the people who own the country to defend it. That's Australia and China mostly.
Hah!
I'm sure they can agree
I think the Defence budget is about right. The country needs to be prepared for military issues. Covid-19 has shown me how important it is to have the defence force to fall back on when it comes to quarantine.
Some air craft needed to be decommissioned a decade ago, not sure if the orions or the hercs but I am surprised they are not dropping out of the sky.
National supported the 20 billion spend. Little wasn't convinced but Labour's stance changed when Jacinda became leader.
109 trades on offer in Defence. I have seen overseas how important it is to be able to deploy the military in your own country.
Replacing dilapidated aircraft is not cheap but necessary.
Housing the homeless and ensuring beneficiaries attain enough so they can afford to live is also not cheap. Nor is ensuring nurses, teachers and other public servants are fairly paid.
So I guess it all depends on what you deem is more necessary?
All necessary and more.
What sort of Defence Force would you like NZ to have?
One that better reflects our ability to fund it.
With all the problems we currently face in this small country, 20 billion is far too much to be spending on the military at this point in time.
I am not sure how much of the 20 billion that the government already has.
I want a Defence Force which is equipped to be deployed were there a major earthquake in Wellington. A frigate which can become operational at the port, aircraft which can land in Wellington (runway may need to be patched) and personnel which can be deployed on the ground and work with the emergency services.
There is no relying on overseas emergency workers and being response ready which the Defence Force is trained to be is required.
No weapons needed then.
I knew that question would come up.
It depends on what the operation is. Aircraft need to have the capacity to carry weapons, this does not mean that they are carried when unwarranted.
And weapons do kill innocent people just like drunk drivers do and alcohol is still sold. Neither is right and both cause a lot of harm.
There would need to be a total ban on weapons and alcohol across the globe to save lives from weapon use and drinking alcohol.
Best answer I saw was from an ex-Hercules pilot who pointed out that if you took a supply flight into somewhere in a conflict/emergency situation without weapons, people who did have them could take your plane pretty fast. May have been drawing on experience somewhere in the Pacific..
Guess the same applies to boats, though NZ certainly under-armed our latest frigates to the point of uselessness in a real war zone.
IIRC, that $20b was announced by National a while ago and was actually a budget cut over the 15 years they suggested.
Right now, we need to be spending $5 to $10 billion per year just to get our defence forces up to scratch. 30 years of budget cuts have done far too much damage to our defence forces.
Yes, it was announced by National, hence they support it.
We could spend billions on our military, but as a nation, it all comes down to what we think is more a priority – ie education, health, poverty, etc.
We could spend billions on our military, but as a nation, it all comes down to what we think is more a priority – ie education, health, poverty, etc.
Incorrect. As a nation we can do all of them if we use our resources correctly which the free-market is failing to do.
Upping defence spending could give many of those beneficiaries a job.
Then if we did our own R&D and made our own aircraft would produce even more jobs and help build up a local industry where we could use the aluminium that we subsidise the production of.
Defence spending is not exclusive in creating jobs. Upping Government spending in other sectors can also create jobs.
This spend up is largely going offshore, thus it won't be creating too many jobs here in NZ.
True but defence is a necessary spend that needs to be adequate.
Which we actually need to change and make it so that all possible defence spending is onshore. Doing so will up the number of jobs created, help develop our economy and remove the vulnerability that comes from importing all our defence gear.
Local military plane manufacture? Dreaming.
Oh I dunno. Take a leaf out of Erik Prince's book and set to work on some of Pacific Aerospace's products in Hamilton …
Or not.
Its only 'dreaming' if we don't do it.
We have the capability and the capacity to do it so why not?
It'd be cheaper than paying private contractors from other nations to do it for us as military doesn't have the economies of scale to drop profit for each item down to a reasonable level. And importation of military equipment is weakness in our supply as the sea lanes could be cut.
So, government R&D becomes a lowish level ongoing cost with manufacture then contracted out to a local manufacturer to produce the aircraft. The development of better manufacturing processes would also be carried out by government R&D and available to NZ businesses – just like the US has been doing for well over a century (The Entrepreneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato).
And if you really think about it, the Hercules that we're still flying is a 1950s design.
For one, the whole thing is only the price of the club, as Key acknowledged.
Second, interoperability with other forces is a big part of that scam.
And finally, wouldn't we be withdrawing from the world economy anyway from what you've said before? Military cooperation would go down the toilet just like trade, so why waste any energy building war toys?
Minimising trade isn't the same as withdrawing from the world.
What would we pay for imports with if we no longer take part in the world finance scam?
National created it.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11652807
I supported National on that issue (enough defence resources) providing it was not going to remove money from social spending.
Shortage in housing was 20 years in the making in not investing enough. The tax breaks under Key could have helped fix housing providing the money was redirected.
Investment is needed in defence and it appears that NZ First was the influence.
Yeah I think it was warranted.
There are only so many layers of gaffer tape you can add to bodge fix planes before they start falling out of the sky.
Lol
There is so much wastage of money going into repairs of the aircraft.
Mind you a lot of wastage of money having gone into leaky hospital buildings and poor earthquake design of buildings.
Some other infrastructure has had a high blowout.
That may led to a doubling of the current Defence budget and the doubling of the current DCP? So I’m wondering if Jane is prepared for that, which mean raising taxes? As our distance from such trouble spots and our ever reliance of SLOC from imports & exports is far greater now than WW2 since NZ’s domestic manufacturing has almost gone the way of the Dodo. NZ’s MN has gone the same way as it’s domestic manufacturing and it’s railways system is on about a quarter of what it was during WW2 so it’s going to be interesting on how fuel rationing goes once NZ loses access or degraded access to oil refineries in Singers and or MEAO?
This would also mean re-establishment of lost Defence capabilities such as the RNZAF’s Air Strike Wing, MCM Vessels, increase the Air Maritime Patrol Wing, the Frigate Force up to 6 Vessels, 2-3 Ice Capable Southern Ocean Patrol Ships and the tripling of the OPV size fleet armed with at least 76mm/ 3in gun the ability to fight Subs, Surface to Surface and short/ Close Range Air to Air. Also introducing new capabilities such as Unarmed & Armed UAV’s, Air to Air Tankers etc and that’s before we even to start to look at the Defence Estate around the Country including the Chatham Is. As Airport & ports would have to upgrade to allow a dispersal of Defence Assets when the brown stuff hits the fan
While all this is happening the NZDF still has to carry out it day to day mandated tasks as outlined by the NZG which it struggles to do even in today’s NZ political climate as result of 30+ yrs of cuts to capability, Manning, base closures and reduction in equipment since 91when Ruth the Bitch from the “No Mates Party” cut the MoD/ NZDF by 26% in 90’s. While at the same time saw the 5 major UN Peacekeeping including INTERFET/ Timor-Leste which was biggest Deployment of the NZDF since WW2 and it also included an over the beach landing since WW2 which turn into a bit of a Fuck Fight btw and lucky for the NZDF it wasn’t an opposed landing as it could made Gallipoli look like an Sunday picnic beside the seaside
To make this all happen all of our Political Party’s, including the NZ Greens will have to compromise on their Policies with Trade, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Aid Development. A lot of dead rats have to be swallowed if this does happen or else NZ would have to chose between China or its other major Asian Trading Parters within the Indo/ Asian Pacific Region if and when Conflict breaks out within the Region.
Armed Neutrality is the only option if NZ wants to keep out of the pending Conflict in Asia as most Asian countries see the word “Neutrality” as a form of weakness unless you are armed to the hilt and are prepared to Defend, Deny, Delay, “Attack” to Defend, Ambush, any potential aggressor who is dumb or stupid a enough to have a crack at NZ. It also requires ever Man, Woman, Child to do their bit be it active or passive (CD, Red Cross etc) Defence of NZ’s Neutrality and willing to die for it?
The country cannot afford the cost of armed neutrality. The NZ Defence Force is always playing catch up when it comes to having a partial functioning defence force. If the defence force is operational ready were a major disaster to occur in NZ, then it would have served it's purpose in saving lives.
Staying out of other people's wars other than for giving humanitarian support to civilians probably reduces the duration of the conflict.
NZ is not likely to be attacked unless they become involved in a major incident. Our open shoreline is not going to be able to be protected.
NZ could afford “Armed Neutrality” but that would required total commitment NZG and the population, but that won’t happen as all the political parties and their various mouth pieces having to swallow a number of dead rats IRT to Defence, Trade, Foreign Affairs Aid Development etc. Also the fact that we have one political party screams tax cut, runs every Government Dept into ground, builds roads and other mob trying to rebuild everything back up due to mismanagement of the other mob, means “Armed Neutrality is a mere pip dream.
Unfortunately NZ will get sucked into the next major conflict in the Indo- Asian- Pacific Region weather it wants to or try’s to avoid it. My assumptions are theses,
1. We are a Trading Nation which means we rely on Freedom of Navigation of the Seas, because it allow us to export our goods overseas and import stuff that we use to make here NZ before the NeoCon Lib’s with their economic theory vandalised NZ’s domestic economy. Just have a look at the Fuck Fight that Covid19 has to both Australia’s and NZ’s import reliance on goods that used to be made within those respective countries before the NeoCon Lib’s vandalised the domestic economies.
2. Where are Australia’s Left Flank and the key to the Sth Pacific, which allows it to maintain its supply and military support from the US. Just asmuch as Australia is our right flank as it guarantees our supply line to SEA via the Singapore hub and our supplies of petroleum oil and lubricants (POL) via the Middle East & Singaporean oil refineries. If NZ loses some of its Asian exports, Australia is still one of our major export economy and Vice versa.
So if China wants to take on Australia its got to surround Australia by cutting its supply & support line to its left and right flanks and force those convoy’s into Lat 40& 50deg’s which would make the Russian Convoys look like Cook Strait crossing look quite Pleasant on a rough crossing. This was the long term strategic goal of the Japs in WW2, but they came short with the Battle of the Coral Sea only by a bees dick.
3. We are regarded as the gateway to the Antarctic and the Antarctic Treaty is up for renewal in 2044, if the Antarctic Treaty collapses then we’ll see the last great land grab since western colonisation.
4. NZ has been attack before in the last two World Wars via the indirect route of attacking NZ’s Shipping on the Surface from Surface Raiders and below the surface by the laying of sea mines off NZ Ports and Coastal Sea Lanes. Also NZ in WW2 had two over flights by the Japs from their I Boats ( Submarines) looking for the invasion fleet for Solly’s which they just miss by a number of days and we had also DKM U Boats conduct a couple sorties in NZ waters. Then we have the Frogs in 87 with the Rainbow Warrior as well.
Several strategically placed long range non radioactive missiles and it is all over for NZ.
I was thinking more of the line of 5 Direct Action Teams, Cyber Attack on the NZSX, over spin the turbines at Sth Is Power Stations, a couple of mad professors run about with a couple of virals of foot & mouth, PSA Mbiovs etc and a doz + Submarines with orders if it’s floats sink it and lay a few mines near Major Shipping ports.
Probable all up man power inside NZ’s land borders between 100& 120 pers within a population of 5m. Using prearranged dead drops, single use code pads, snail mail, other single use codes listening watch etc.
I usually do not contribute to a thread on the military.
Not sure why, other than the thought of being placed on a list for expressing my thoughts.
I hope haven't put you off from discussing this tropic? As I feel that this needs to be discuss at weather NZ adopts "Armed Neutrality" or the other option is which side it picks when jaw jaw stops and becomes war war. Having that discussion then is not a good option, if NZ wants to a adopt "Armed Neutrality" it has to start now.
As it well take time to re-orient the MFAT, Defence, Foreign Aid, NZ's economy including a Carbon Neutral Economy, build up the NZDF in particularly the Airforce and Navy, and finally infrastructure both public and private.
Solid comment Scud. I only wish these issues got more airtime here than all the 'ism wrangling.
All of those points are make a lot of sense, but the one I suspect will bite us in the arse much sooner than we expect is what happens when the Middle East, and the Persian Gulf in particular blows up … as it inevitably will when the US finally goes home altogether.
A couple of missed supertankers and Aus/NZ suddenly look very sick indeed.
The real issue Red is not so much the ME but the economic effect if and when conflict breaks out in Asia. Even just a simple reduction of 25% of POL supplies to the following counties Taiwan, Sth Korea & Japan would cause economic distress to both Oz & NZ before we even consider the economic fallout with China.
My gut feeling is that we are likely first to see conflict in the Indo -Asian -Pacific Region before the Jews, Arabs (Yanks) and the Persians settle a few old scores.
But the flip side to this as you pointed out that, the ME might go first which is likely to dilute the US Naval strength in the Asian- Pacific Region which could just give Chinese parity in the SCS and Taiwan. The question has to be asked, what would the Nth Koreans and Putin's Pacific Military Forces intent? Any offensive action by them would farther dilute the US PACCOM Forces. Which could cause issues in the low half of the Asian- Pacific Region, this would include NZ an the Sth Pacific?
So the next question would be who's side is NZ going to pick or does NZ starts serious looking at Armed Neutrality which means the discussion has to start now and not when Conflict starts.
New Zealand atm reminds of Norway just prior to WW2 where the Norwegian Government (which was a Labour btw) was at odds and reality with its Military not only with its lack of preparedness if and when Hitler makes his move on the West, but also the Military was getting very concern of the activities of both Germany & GB IRT its Neutrality.
If New Zealand want to avoid another oil shock as result of conflict, it has to adopt a Carbon Neutral Economy and rebuild its domestic manufacturing capacity which also in the Government input from the likes of the DSIR & MoW both as we know went the way of the Dodo in the 90's.
Pretty much agree with all of that. Two minor things to add in:
But the flip side to this as you pointed out that, the ME might go first which is likely to dilute the US Naval strength in the Asian- Pacific Region which could just give Chinese parity in the SCS and Taiwan.
It's my belief the US wouldn't commit much resource at all; they're pretty much energy independent now, and highly decoupled from ME oil. And regardless of who wins in November, neither President is likely to put American lives in harm's way to stabilise oil supplies for Europe or Asia. They just don’t care enough anymore.
So the next question would be who's side is NZ going to pick or does NZ starts serious looking at Armed Neutrality.
I can see the appeal of 'Armed Neutrality" but honestly when it came down to it, unless we had nuclear weapons and capable delivery systems, we could never mount an adequate deterrence. While the Pacific gives us a nice defensive space, it also makes it very hard for us to strike back with conventional weapons once the enemy’s navy was blockading our harbours … and that is the only basis on which this strategy might work.
In my view we have two realistic security options; the traditional ANZUS alliance that depending on events in the US may or may not be open to us, or a wholly new configuration of SE Asian nations, consisting of Japan/Korea/Philippines/Indonesia/Malaysia/India/Australia in a new alliance. It's not as unlikely as it seems, after all the Japanese arguably have the second most capable blue-water navy after the US, and if the politics were managed competently the whole alliance would be formidable indeed.
Sorry for my late reply to this,
First of all thanks for jointing my memory IRT the US Shale Oil industry, as forgot that the US is almost totally free from the ME Oil dependency these days.
I've roughly crack the numbers on Nuke wpns vs Submarine both D/E and nuclear power vs more bang for your buck. I believe that a Submarine fleet would be practical and cheaper to run long term than if NZ wanted to adopt some form of Nuclear Wpn capability.
The main issue would be what type of Submarine would suit NZ's needs if NZ adopted "Armed Neutrally". Having a Nuclear Powered Attack Sub a has number of benefits on the plus side, but there are number of minuses. Apart from setting a Submarine Fleet would be huge as we have no corporate background in the use of Sub's, also of note that NZ DWP from 1982 or 83 did discuss and crunch the numbers of NZ obtaining Subs. The issue with a Nuke Sub we would still beholding tries to that country we purchase the a fleet of 6-9 Subs for technical support especially for refuelling the reactor and other deep level maintenance that would be require to do at the same time.
A D/E Sub on the other hand well have less risk, it would a lot easily to setup our maintenance in house, the other is being able to tap into the STEM and other technical trades. The other big factors is we won't be beholding to tires any country a part from very minor technical support during refits and the other more options in terms of variety of manufactures of D/E from Sweden with the their "Son of Collins Class", the German UBoats which to some are the Bee's Knees and the Jap S Boats which has combine the best of German and Swedish know how to produce a very capable boat, then we have the French, Russia D/E Subs and of cause the Brits with their U Boats, but like the Yanks haven't built D/E in donkeys years.
A Submarine Force with a Combine Surface and Air Force would give the NZG a number of options in Defence of its "Armed Neutrally". For example NZ would able to conduct Defence in Depth which cause all sort of problems anyone who is stupid a enough to close in on NZ, as they would a long way from support and it would leave them very open for the NZ Submarine Force to attack its Fleet train. Which would less ships up front as more would be need to defence its Fleet train and its support base along the way. Which was something that the Japs forgot to do in WW2, but the Germans did against the Brits and almost pulled it off. If it wasn't for some management issues within the German Sub Fleet command, the SKL (Naval Command) and finally Hitler's melding within the OKW.
There is a lot to think about NZ's direction on weather it adopts "Armed Neutrally" or it attempts to shore up it traditional Alliance aka ANZUS or the FPDA or looks at something similar to what you have mention (I prefer the last two options if NZ decides not to adopt Armed Neutrally") and, or its sides with China which doesn't have any of NZ traditional values.
Above all it would require cross party support and us punters need know the options for & against. Once NZ decided what the option they want and doing nothing is not an option btw, as it would require 100% commitment from everybody from the top end of town to the bottom end of town and in between.
Excellent. I really appreciate your input around a potential submarine fleet to provide a 'defense in depth' capability. Although they aren't cheap or easy, as the Aussies are finding that out with their French subs. I wonder if NZ shouldn't piggy back on that program, just from a support perspective alone.
Incidentally one of the guys I work with most days is ex-Collin Class submariner. They really are a breed apart, and as you say NZ has no corporate experience in this arena; it would be a hell of a commitment to go down this path.
But you are right, whether we went down the 'armed neutrality' or 'SE Asia Alliance' path, submarines would be by far the most useful capability we could have. And given the sheer size of the Pacific, Tasman and Southern Oceans we would have to operate in, maybe there is a case for nuclear, however extreme that might feel at the moment.
am pretty sure nz cant afford 20 billion per (over rated and under performing) submarine…not to mention the additional maintenance and training costs
Yes, because making ourselves even more vulnerable in a world gone haywire is such a Good Idea.
/sarc
BTW, think of how many thousands of people employed by the defence forces that would be out of a job and thus increasing poverty if we didn't spend that money.
Partisans vs democracy. Joshua Ferrer examines their track record of success:
Joshua concludes by advocating use of "citizens’ assemblies on election reform" to provide "a valuable new form of direct democracy". Seems a worthwhile initiative. To make it happen, we need a citizens' advocacy group with organising skills. However it does create an opportunity for any political party with a tradition of calling itself progressive. They could validate their claim by leading the implementation process!
Without reading the whole article – is this actually looking through the correct lens?
Should the criteria for measuring the reforms be "is this going to expand the democratic franchise and enable more participation with an electoral outcome that reflects those votes"- not which party did it?
The party is a secondary consideration – so is this research with a major flaw or bias?
To call them partisan reforms not partisan outcomes is very poor framing.
To call them partisan reforms not partisan outcomes is very poor framing.
I see where you're coming from, but I suspect he is simply recycling the framing used at the time: touting an act of parliament as a reform is trad pr for both major parties.
I agree that such acts which don't improve democratic participation look more like outcomes than reforms, since reforms are usually interpreted as progress. Technically, a didact could point out that the term originally meant just a change of form though. So no, I see no good reason to assume he's compromised by perceptual flaw or bias.
We need more participation, from informed people. This old business of thinking we are in charge because we voted some bods in, and that they know what they are doing because they convinced us to vote them in, a bit circular what! And they rely on a supposedly effective, efficient and knowledgable group that are either lifetimers in administration (old idea) or interchangeable between private and government (new idea) or university trained in the latest methods of efficiency in any sort of management (neo lib idea).
And all this going on over the heads of unthinking and uncaring (till it hits them on the head like seagull's droppings) citizens stolidly going on their dim-witted way stamping out bushfires preferably before ideas actually start smouldering.
That's democracy at present folks. Getting that changed would be a herculean task to do it right. Of course it could be done a la Roger et Al, who just upended the table and the board game or jigsaw or whatever was being played fell to the floor and never got put together again. If we lived in Holland the dykes would never have been put together sweetly and strongly, we would all be boat people being turned away as undesirable.
Probably due to the natsys fighting tooth and nail to resist any reform that enhanced democracy in praxis eh.
Richard Harman assesses the PM's conference speech:
He also claimed that Labour is going it alone this election, that it wants to govern on its own. Another centre right pundit trying to put the last nails in the Green’s coffin.
So is the Government finally going to do something for people that can't pay their commercial leases because their business is dead?
Cause this is what you can 'have' – nothing, zilch, nada, fuck all as per the CAB
https://www.cab.org.nz/article/KB00039675
Or does that fall under Deborah Russels protfolio of 'how can they – small businesses – not survive in a pandemic with no income i have no idea……i am an academic, a beige suit on the government tit, so how the fuck would i know anything about free enterprise and working for ones wages."
Cause as of today, the Government has done fuck all to help people who are stuck owing tens of thousands of dollars to landlords who will NOT negotiate unless they are forced to by Government. Or does that fall in the too fucking hard basket?
And for those that get upset at a little critic thrown at the current government and their leader, suck it up.
This failure to reign in property holders/speculators/landbankers/leeches on society has been a spectacular bipartisan failure of the National Party and the Labour Party. So dear Labour Party and parties of the coalition, go do something. You can not just let people go all the way to bankruptcy just because you don't want to finally tackle the abuse of Landlords that literally everyone, residential or commercial tenants is suffering from.
And for those that want to simply not give a shit about the people of NZ that have businesses please remember that these are the guys generating tax revenue, paying wages, GST, and Rates. Also they are New Zealanders just in case people forgot.
Also remember that the wage subsidy only pays for one thing, Rent at home plus food, or a commercial rent. It does not take care of both.
There's some mongrels out there
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12337502
Part of the small subset of commercial landlords who see a distressed tenant as an opportunity to create a debt, and obtain a judgement to take the tenants assets. One of the risks you take when you go into business
not naming any names, but apparently a local retail landlord wanted to sell their business so got an earthquake structural report pre-covid. They then refused to let any of their commercial tenants off paying rent during lockdown.
Post covid, two of their major tenants aren't renewing their lease, and one is refusing to reopen because of the earthquake report highlighting "health and safety" risks (which suggests to me they're arguing the landlord is failing to provide suitable retail space, so they won't be paying rent until the lease runs out).
Nice to see the occasional bastard get their comeuppance.
Is there some way that a form of pandemic bankruptcy can be declared without losing your home and car?
Easiest way is to not own anything, why people who own businesses have trusts. Companies don't protect you that much now because everything requires personal guarantees now, especially leases.
yeah, I was a bit surprised at that requirement for a personal guarantee when a group I was involved with was leasing a space. Seems a bit bloody weird to me.
I think Treetop's idea would be reasonable, for some tight criteria. It would be DamienGrant-dodgy to pay the rent with the covid loan and then wind the company up at the end of the lease.
It will probably require a purpose built entity to take the leases off the distressed tenants and deal with the contractual issues with the lease.
This is where Little's bluff fell over, it sort of dealt with the lockdown period, but trying to deal with distressed leases using the ADLS 27.5 and 27.6 clauses was really going cause problems.
Getting a fair deal for the likes of the Travel Agent, but not allowing the wide boys to demand a lease renegotiation will be tricky. Everything will be subjective and nothing meaningfully objective.
From where I'm sitting a Crown agency that takes over leases of genuinely distressed tenants and then manages the reletting could be the way to deal with it. It will probably only do a couple of hundred leases where relationships have broken down completely already and they have got themselves into a corner they can't get out of, and then the message will get through and both sides of the letting relationship will settle down.
Generally Queenstown isn't to bad in this regard. There's a couple of wanker landlords, but also a couple of really good ones which has kept things under control. But I know of a couple of situations that have become disfunctional. But the market's still fluid, someone moves out, then there's someone moving in straight away.
There's also a review of the ADLS lease underway, it gets reviewed every 10 years with updates between. Our beagle is saying this aspect of the lease is in for a major overhaul.
Sabine, your anger is better directed at Winston. He's the prick who has proudly thwarted govt help on commercial leases/rent.
Speaking of commercial leases, this is how Harvey Norman dealt with their landlords.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120728348/harvey-norman-tells-landlords-it-wont-pay-rent
Into cultural analysis? Check this out: https://unherd.com/2020/07/the-emptiness-of-the-intellectual-dark-web/
Naturalism is littered with conceptual pitfalls, true. But Greens did derive their belief system from nature, and it remains valid, so the lesson to learn is `do it right'.
Crap. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy
Dennis, when I lived in Australia the Govt there argued "Meritocracy" was the reason there was only 1 woman on the front bench in Parliament.
The Liberal Party of Australia, many punters I met said they no longer vote for them as they no longer represent Liberal values, they're actually Right Wing Christian Conservatives.
Yeah men have traditionally struggled to get their heads around the notion that women have complementary skills that are just as valid in politics & governance. I see emotional intelligence, for instance, as a competitive advantage in group psychodynamics. Conservative culture prevents such learning so sexism persists. And I agree that the Oz liberal tag is a misnomer. Justin Trudeau puts them to shame! I read a biography of him from the library a while back. He's authentic.
Justin Trudeau puts them to shame! I read a biography of him from the library a while back. He's authentic.
???????
Funny, but to anyone with eyes he looks like a racist and a moral coward.
https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/post/teens-react-to-images-of-justin-trudeau-in-blackface
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/850364412397531138?lang=en
But he was comparing him to the current Liberal Govt in Australia, and by that comparison, Trudeau ptobably is more Liberal.
Just is
Liberals in the classic sense seem a different kind of animal. They are as likely to adopt a conservative stance as a progressive stance, for instance. Often centrist.
Not sure why you would want to interpret his call for an evidence-based approach to the issue of war crime responsibility as moral cowardice. Temporary short-circuit in the brain??
As regards wearing a black face, I've never done it – but depends what year he did it eh? Weren't they still broadcasting re-runs of the Black & White Minstrel Show here in the '80s?
I recall them from the 1970s but not the 80s.
The stage show toured during the 80's
Regency Artists Pty Ltd & Bruce Warwick Ltd … proudly present the world's longest running musical show, the fabulous Black & White Minstrel Show. based on the popular BBC TV series. Souvenir N.Z. programme [19]84.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22799132?search%5Bi%5D%5Bname_authority_id%5D=-145880&search%5Bpath%5D=items
What is shown in the Twitter feed I linked to is that Trudeau swiftly abandoned his call for an evidence-based approach, and supported the Trump regime's highly contentious and unproven allegations. He also, infamously, supported the Trump/Pompeo propaganda line against the elected government of Venezuela.
His black-face shenanigans would not, in themselves, count for very much if taken in isolation. However, considering everything else he has done, they point to someone who is anything but "authentic."
No way would I view Assad favourably so I share your feeling there. But we don't know what intelligence-sharing happened to change his mind, do we? Re Venezuela, that's a typical binary with a path thro the middle for those who prefer a balanced view. I see the idiocies of both sides clearly.
Being stuck in bias is bad for one's mental health often. If you have an open mind, read Justin's autobiography. The only reason I did so was due to the negative views of him expressed by you & one or two others in the past. That got me intrigued and sceptical of his character. I was impressed somewhat against my will as a result. In my local library – probably in yours…
Correction: I read his autobiography, not a biography. You get a better sense of where a person is coming from (in terms of values, motivations,ideals) when you read them telling their own story. For instance, he spent many years determined not to be a politician. What he did during those years is instructive.
I find it interesting that TV3 has not provided their poll yet. Is Toll Mudler's attack method not moving the numbers in the desired direction?
Perhaps we have seen it all before?
Maybe they’re too skint to conduct one?
Maybe the numbers are so bad that they're doing what Simon Bridges did with his polling numbers, not tell anyone
More unsubstantiated news, often referred to as fake news, being disseminated by international MSM and mindlessly parroted by our own beloved RNZ….
In ‘Russian Bounty’ Story, Evidence-Free Claims From Nameless Spies Became Fact Overnight
https://fair.org/home/in-russian-bounty-story-evidence-free-claims-from-nameless-spies-became-fact-overnight/
Yep , dogs running after phantom sticks again, just when theres talk of withdrawing all the troops
How people still unquestionably believe all the BS emanating from anonymous officials is beyond me .I suspect it's wishful thinking and confirmation bias at work
"I suspect it's wishful thinking and confirmation bias at work" Yeah true that..unfortunately.
A clue for the clueless: what makes the russian bounties thing a story is the Great White Shart's reaction to the possibility of russia paying bounties on dead US soldiers, or to be more precise, his utter lack of interest. Much more than whether or not the allegations are accurate.
Of course the lack of any proof is the final confirmation that this story—provided by "unnamed sources"—is true. Those dastardly Russian masterminds and their puppet in Washington!
The Russians are laughing at us. Look at this smug Russki bastard….
https://media1.tenor.com/images/111dc5bade94457d9f91e5eafa38c7f3/tenor.gif?itemid=7576941
Aaahhh, of course good ol' Andre always ready and willing to gulp down what ever unsubstantiated fact free nonsense his MSM liberal tell him..and then spew it back out as fact…a true camp guard, no training needed.
Here's our friend Andre back in the 1950s…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maLIXQLxvvA
When the same stupid GIF used for the 3rd time and a YT clip are all bring to the table it is obvious that you’ve got nothing of substance to add in which case it might be better that you say nothing.
More clues for the clueless: An organisation that calls itself "Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting" that fails to acknowledge that anonymous sourcing does in fact have a reasonable place in responsible journalism, among other misrepresentations in that piece, itself bears more resemblance to the Ministry of Truth than to what it claims on its label. Particularly given the tiny-fisted fascist's inclination to go hard after everyone that provides information that is even the slightest bit unfavourable to his interests.
Meanwhile, for anyone interested in the appropriate role of anonymous sourcing and how much credence to give anonymously sourced info, here's a few pieces to consider:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/when-to-trust-a-story-that-uses-unnamed-sources/
https://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/resources/publications/ethics-in-the-news/handling-sources
https://www.ap.org/about/news-values-and-principles/telling-the-story/anonymous-sources
In a way I am impressed your sticking to this line even days later.
I guess you will be pitching for a less wooden actor in the headline role come November?
RNZ National is full of people who have uncritically gulped down this nonsense, hook, line, and sinker. The problem is that they then use their platform to regurgitate the propaganda. Chief among the Russiagate true believers are Dame Kim Hill, Bernard Hickey, and Jim Mora, the long-time host of the light chat show The Panel.
Back in November 2015, regular Panel guest Ella Henry treated Nat. Radio listeners to the fruits of her extensive knowledge and wide reading on the subject of Russian leader Vladimir Putin:
In October 2016 poor, bewildered Jesse Mulligan—Mora's replacement as Panel host— tried his hardest to seriously address the m-m-m-m-menace from Moscow….
et cetera, ad absurdum, ad nauseam…
While I think my star sign is Cynical, the MSM has become a slither of it's former selves. Helped, no doubt, by the decades of market reforms, the race to the bottom is picking up speed.
Before clickbait was a thing… I had a pub in a small country town. We had a big Friday night and 3 brothers came in, I knew 2 of them were under age so I asked them to leave. On their way out, they came across the kitchen hand, assumed he had narked on them and proceeded to give him a hiding.
The Monday issue of the local paper has a story headlined "Teens Fight in Local Bar". They go on to quote the local Senior Sergeant who knew nothing about it, about 'youngsters these days….'
Took a few calls to the editor to get a retraction printed, buried deep in the paper. I stopped advertising with them and got creative with other marketing ideas.
The Guardian, oft cited as the font of all wisdom, has sullied or confirmed (depending on your view of it) it's reputation with it's treatment of Jeremy Corbyn.
STOP PRESS! (Is that still a thing?)
Stuff shows it ain't just about the money, principles play a part: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/122048365/stuff-stops-all-activity-on-facebook-in-trial-inspired-by-principle
Anyone else keen to boycott the platform?
Boom!
The opposition said they have a moral obligation to win. No. Winning an election is not a moral obligation.
We are morally obligated to look after New Zealanders, our most vulnerable, our families and our children; to represent our diverse nation, to have people from all walks of life of every colour race and creed sit at the decision-making table.
To do what is best for New Zealand, to govern in the best interests of New Zealanders; to be honest, to be fair.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/kelvin-davis-our-moral-obligation
This from a party of no morals, as proven daily on any media format
Graeme's comment at 5.1.
I understand that addressing commercial leaseholders difficulties has been on the table.
Held up by some snags.
Including NZ first and the banks, but also how do you help out genuinely distressed leases without allowing some big arsehole ones to wriggle out of their obligations.
Good to hear. You don't want the unscrupulous renters voiding leases they can well afford to pay while needing to offer some solution to prevent the unscrupulous landlords bankrupting smaller business owners who have a no or a much reduced business meaning they bear the whole financial outcome of the "covid disruption lottery " and recognising that no rent would also bankrupt some smaller landlords.
Snags 'including' NZ First?
All about them wagging the dog.
Today's bunch of useless under performing employers who can't plan for more than 5 minutes into the future and now want the government to bail them out.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300050195/bosses-scramble-to-fill-jobs-as-visas-set-to-expire-en-masse
You've had six months to get yourselves organised – why didn't you use it! Be proactive. Why have you rolled some visa's for years instead of training. Bear in mind that it appears only about 10,000 have been here for 5+ years.
Why do these visa holders who have been here so little time apparently have skills that can't be taught in the short term to locals. Many of these visa's would not have been renewed anyway- tourist, student and under 30 work permits so you would have needed to replace them anyway.
I'd like to give a special mention to the Hospo association. Not only is this an industry that will shrink but:
why have you not designed a few basic courses,
found or used a current provider for those courses,
invited employers when they are interviewing to recommend individuals to undertake those courses because they will hire them at the end
Then if you asked for a small government subsidy I'm sure it would have been granted or employers could pay for it. Then you could also promote some existing workers. It's not rocket science.
Lastly why does the news media just accept the employer whinging without any further inquiry or hard facts. A lot of those dairy jobs are short term to cover the start of the season.
And the hospo industry is claiming to be a 40 billion dollar industry, talk about "don't you know who I am-ism ". What a load of bullshit, that would make a city of 50,000 have a hospo industry of 400 million. I have had a gutsful of this inflating of value every time some entity is trying to extract something from the government.
Absolute crap regarding dairy farmers. The truth is we have received no wage subsidies,Jacinda is sending key workers back to poverty and disease and There is no way NZ unemployed will fill the gap.The treatment of our workers by a so called Kind government is disgusting.
Er I think these statements may prove my point. But hey why didn't the dairy industry not try to make itself more resilient? The rewards have been high enough – maybe profit sharing like say 'sharemilkers'?
The Merriam Webster's definition of "SHAMBOLIC"
"Obviously disorganised or confused"
First used in 1970, evidently.
Nationals new go to word.
In reality it eloquently describes John Keys reign of destruction.
What is it about having to do "courses " to do anything from carrying a cup of coffee from a kitchen to a table or wash a floor or clean a bench. If a person can't do any of most things required to hold down a simple job then they must have been on 24 hour life support since birth. You don't need training just get on and fucking do it.
I don't really think they need courses for a lot of this stuff either. Maybe an hour or two to make sure the bed making is up to standard. But the onus should be pushed back onto these industry groups to come up with concrete plans for how to manage (beyond "we need work visas") so then the government pen can be put through 2 week bed making courses.
The hospo industry should also have been asked for how many of these employees needed are at or close to the minimum wage. Which suggests jobs that don't need huge skills.
and FWIW 56000 extra people have registered for the unemployment plus those who don't need to but could work. Trademe and seek – who will overlap- show around 13000 to 14000 listings for the last 4 weeks
News media seem to accept this employer whinging uncritically without any challenge or filter.
Companies have done a great job over recent decades shifting responsibility for staff training onto everybody else to pay for.
We really need to get NZ out of the low-wage economy trap where employers fear to set their prices high enough to cover such costs unless they are only serving the luxury market. And more profits need to come back to workers, not owners.
Yep and step one would be for the media to expand their horizons and stop printing employer whinging without question or pushback, They seem to have lost that skill and stuff being now locally owned needs to find it in spades.
After a life in kitchens, I learnt a good tip during my 'Chemicals training': Spray your cleaning cloth with the fluid (sanitiser/window cleaner), not the surface. You use less and get a better finish.
Private business can charge to train people which will either be paid for by the person or by government and is thus a profitable business.
Actually training people takes time and money which the business doesn't want to spend.
Put these two together and we have the perfect profit making excuse to bring people in from offshore and thus lower wages here.
On the other hand, and no doubt with support from the Labour government, I am having post earthquake remediation finally, using a firm who employs three female apprentices. Today, on learning that one apprentice was receiving her first visit from her industry supervisor/ trainer/ inspector person, I congratulated him on his willingness to train apprentices. Lots of 'doing', but with supervision and advice ongoing.
Great news. Are they dragging it up from the river and nailing to the bank at last?
Couldn't help myself.
Adrian agree 100%. Worked in hospo in my 20's . No training, just figuring it out.
Also thinking about all those unemployed flight attendants. Surely their skills generalize? Good customer service, serving people coffee etc. It's just bollock that we have to have migrants to fill these jobs.
NSW is to close the border with Victoria midnight tomorrow. First time it’s been closed in a hundred years. 53 cases – 16 new today – at the Melbourne public housing towers. 127 new cases in Victoria overall today.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/coronavirus-australia-updates-live-global-covid-19-cases-surpass-11-3-million-australia-death-toll-at-104-20200706-p559a2.html
But Australia are doing better than us!
Certainly played into the PM’s hands and shut the Tasman bubble-pushers right up.
Would that be the places put into 'hard lockdown'? https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/122045148/nine-melbourne-tower-blocks-put-into-hard-lockdown–what-does-it-mean-and-will-it-work
When can we get that here? Muller knows plenty of tradies could be employed to be hard!
Today Victoria also reported 645 active cases, 31 in hospital, 5 in ICU and 1 new death.
https://mobile.twitter.com/covidliveau/status/1279941831812235265
https://www.twitter.com/JennyMikakos/status/1279988308068585472
No doubt the military will be required to police the check points.
I need to look up and see what support the Aboriginal communities are getting.
This Melbourne case should be kept in mind when public housing is built here again. Do not use this type of tower block housing, it is bad for human mental and physical health to be WAREHOUSED. Under one picture of someone looking out from a window: '
The units have no balconies and windows that only open a small amount.'. No wonder some complain there is no fresh air, and also they say there is no sunlight. When you see how closely the huge blocks stand together, it is plain that there would never be sunlight in some of them. There isn't any room for it to angle into any of the rooms.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-06/why-melbourne-locked-down-public-towers-are-a-coronavirus-worry/12423934
This is an unpleasant note from officialdom's view of the public housing lockdown, that they are places where viruses may be "incubating":
"This is not just a matter of 23- to 30-odd people, this is a matter of many hundreds who have already been exposed and who may already be incubating," Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said on Saturday.
Some of them may be nearly starving soon.
…It was only when Tekeste Hailu tried to leave his building that he realised he was one of 3,000 people in mandatory lockdown.
Mr Hailu, 27, lives with his grandmother in public housing on Racecourse Rd, one of nine Melbourne buildings that was placed into sudden "hard lockdown" on Saturday afternoon.
But the first Mr Hailu was told was when he tried to leave to buy groceries, only to be greeted by "the whole building surrounded by police".
…Hulya Selin, who lives with her young son in a two-bedroom apartment on the 12th floor of a tower on Racecourse Road, said losing her freedom removed was "scary"….
Ms Selin said by 10:000am Sunday, 18 hours after the lockdown began, no-one had come to the door to provide her with any information or food.
She first heard about the lockdown from a post on Facebook.
"I went downstairs just to check if this was all true and there were so many police officers there at that point," she said.
"I actually spoke to one of the officers and he said the only information they had was that no-one is allowed out."
She said she was told by an officer later that having food delivered was OK, but when the delivery worker arrived, they were not allowed near the building…
Other comment: There have also been concerns raised about the lack of information in languages other than English.
By late on Saturday night, Mr Hailu said he was yet to see any professional health workers, social workers or interpreters to support the hundreds of residents in his building….
Residents from three separate towers said it was common for lifts in the high-rise buildings to be out of order on a regular basis, meaning there was one way up and down the buildings [the stairs] for hundreds of residents.
Jenny said she took the stairs because she was "fit and young", but that was impossible for many others.
Is this high-rise nightmare what Auckland will try to come up with, having mismanaged its residential requirements for so long, and letting developers play housie with what are commodities to them, but expensive essential services to the peeps?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_Commission_of_Victoria
…The most visible legacy of the Commission is the 47 or so high-rise apartment towers in inner Melbourne, all built using the same pre-cast concrete panel technology. ..
Approximately 27 of these precast concrete 20 to 30 storey height buildings were constructed around Melbourne, until the type of development fell into disrepute. By 1970 nearly 4000 privately owned dwellings had been compulsory acquired and replaced by nearly 7000 high rise flats..
Since there is so much fevered speculation that 'China done it' …
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300050250/coronavirus-pandemic-may-not-have-started-in-china-experts-say
Either way, let's hope science keep the debate honest, rather than conspiracy theory.
aj
I think it will be sometime before we have sufficient evidence to categorically rule, in or out, China's involvement in this global pandemic, there certainly is plenty of speculation, but I'll wait for tangible evidence before I make up my mind
quote from RNZ
"Nationally, Spain's outbreak has been essentially brought under control."
now they only just a teensy bit pregnant
As an aside I am intrigued by the use of "apace." Dr Bloomfield used it in his reports a number of times. "Development in that process is happening apace." Now I have heard "apace" being used in news reports several times recently. How cute is that?
The Government is developing post Covid policies apace.
Haha. Would that be a-payce or ahparchay?
Is it an old English abbreviation of "at pace ". You were a school teacher Ian, give us a lesson. Cheers.
I am very retiring Adrian. At pace. O'clock. (Of the clock) Must be others around. But I like the idea that a great Public Servant can insert an old word word into the consciousness and usage of others.
Funnily, I used the word to describe the remediation work, mentioned in 14.4., in an email today as "continuing apace".
It is the opposite in meaning to 'soon' which is, in the great Irish joke, similar in meaning to 'manãnã' but 'without the same sense of urgency'!
Thought it meant quickly:
That's what I thought it meant
I always thought it meant "in a measured way " ie not fast and not slow.
Language history is fascinating, I wish I had paid more attention in school instead of just doodling and eating my lunch.
You're right, of course, ianmac. I just wanted to get a joke in. 'Never let the truth stand in the way of a good joke', as they say. You, of course, might respond that you're still waiting…….
Oops Mac 1. I shoulda checked 14.4. Sorry.
apace in Thorndon circles means at a recklessly normal speed for everyone else. 🙂
Biden's way of choosing his running mate: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/30/biden-vice-president-346149
I gave the running mate a thought the other day. Needs to be energetic, able to be presidential and in the early fifties or late forties of African American heritage.
Physically I doubt Trump would last another term and Pence is not visible or able to have a different point of view than Trump.
I mentioned the other day the likelihood of Biden dying in office. Feasibility of that scenario would be driving the advice from long-time Democrat stalwarts. So the non-white woman he selects has to be tough enough to survive & prosper in the top job. And already seen as such by those who matter (in the liberal US establishment).
I assume Biden is open to advice from Hilary Clinton on that. Her life-long progression from ultra-conservative to democrat proves her capacity to transcend established political categories in a life-transforming way. Her selection of a short list of candidates for Biden would be extremely useful. Probably the first time I've ever written something favourable about that woman! 🙃
I am neutral on the gender for Vice President. What is important is the manifesto to address inequality and injustice.
I assume Biden is open to advice from Hilary Clinton on that. Her life-long progression from ultra-conservative to democrat proves her capacity to transcend established political categories in a life-transforming way.
She backed Biden's horrific Crime Bill in 1994, and denounced black teenagers as "predators." She and her husband started the racist allegation, taken up with a vengeance by Donald Trump, that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. After the horrific death of Colonel Gaddafi—U.S./U.K.-supported Islamist fanatics sodomized him with swords—she laughed her head off about it: "He came, he saw, he DID!"
Where's the "life-transforming" part about her?
Where's the "life-transforming" part about her?
Going from Goldwater Girl to Democrat Senator. Obviously! I suspect you're just playing dumb, of course, but sometimes people do need to have the obvious pointed out to them. You're welcome. 😉
Queensland's finest, Pauline Hanson: ‘Drug addict’ refugees to blame for lockdown.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12345818
Yea, it's an impediment, the same one Trump has.
Neither have any idea what the definition of Diplomacy is.
Both get the same reactions to their statements, you either love them or hate them, not much inbetween.
Article surveying some current NZ stances on tax (includes the usual silliness) https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/122025044/tax-is-back-how-do-you-fix-a-49-billion-hole
感谢您的忠诚服务同志。
Todd Muller defends Chinese Communist Party-linked National MP Jian Yang.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/todd-muller-defends-chinese-communist-party-linked-national-mp-jian-yang-who-s-accused-of-avoiding-english-media.html
'Close to' 10 in 18 months (ie not even 10)? Jeez Comrade Colonel, let someone else get a word in.
Deliberate, pervasive cruelty.
But her emails.
/
https://twitter.com/D_historyMan/status/1279939327963906049
Once sung by descendants of the 7th Cavalry, Irish air "Garrymore" will no longer cause pain for Native Americans.
“Garryowen,” an Irish drinking song with a marching cadence, is to Native Americans what “Deutschland Uber Alles” is to Jews, a hated reminder of the evil past.
“Garryowen” was the marching song of the 7th Cavalry and the infamous Lt Colonel George Custer when they massacred native American villages in the all-out campaign in the 1870s to rid the plains and the west of “redskins.” The tune was played quite deliberately right before attacks.
'
https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/ireland-song-garryowen-banned-custer
Tory filth.
https://twitter.com/TheSpinoffTV/status/1279187626235293696
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/122019615/the-greens-bear-responsibility-for-capitulation-to-nz-first-and-big-fish
How does this sort of nonsensical trash get past the editors at Stuff?
"The Greens elect their list on an internal party ballot, which means party members prefer Swarbrick over a minister with tangible results under her belt. And if party members think this way, their voters must be even more ambivalent about real policy wins."
This idiot's whole theory is based on one totally illogical assumption, which is that the way the party determines its list means that Green voters don't care value policy wins. There's a lot of truth in the view that sees only three kinds of right winger, which are eitther stupid, nasty or both.