‘The aspect of modern economic thinking I find most depressing is the lack of any emphasis on play or fun or family and friendships.
An economic worldview has evolved that sucks the meaningful marrow out of life. The big question we should be asking is whether our economic system is serving us or are most of us consigned to serving it?
We pay homage to the little scrutinised goal of economic growth as progress towards some undefined Nirvana on earth.
Yet few of us understand what this concept of economic growth actually means. It is a narrow obsession with ensuring that as a nation we make and consume more material stuff. ‘
agree 1000% Ed, we have lost the true simple things in life as the media are busy pumping the financial market forces and the stock market figures and hype relentlessly that we are consumed by their love of chasing money.
Very sad it see; as they just seem to dolise the ‘gold covered figures’ as the romans and spanish did of old eh?
Always remember that the media is owned by the financial industry.
‘From about 2007 financial institutions assumed shareholder control of major media corporations. Previous JMAD media ownership reports (2011-2016) detail how financialisation increasingly affected the New Zealand holdings of four major corporates – Fairfax, Sky TV, APN News and Media and Media Works.’
Good to see him back…..did he get parked whilst granny’s repeaters were shilling for Nationals election loss or have I just missed his down to earth pieces.
Marilyn Waring did some amazing work for the OECD amongst others on GDP taking account, and placing a value upon, unpaid work. She was sadly way ahead of her time.
As is so often the case, she is held in much higher regard overseas than she is at home.
Why is that?
Is it because she ‘betrayed’ the National Party over this..
“Waring precipitated the 1984 general election by threatening to vote for the opposition-sponsored nuclear-free New Zealand legislation, leading Prime Minister Rob Muldoon to call a snap election, stating that Waring’s “feminist anti-nuclear stance” threatened his ability to govern.[3] The nuclear-free New Zealand legislation was subsequently enacted by the new Labour government, and has been a sacrosanct touchstone of New Zealand foreign policy since.”
She also only stood for National cos Labour rebuffed her. She says her views aligned more with Labour. This was an interview I heard many months ago so I may nit be remembering her words acurately.
To be honest I think it is partly because she was a highly intelligent economist amongst men. Once men started saying stuff she said, albeit 2 decades later…
She wrote a letter to the Listener in 1984
” I address you too remembering Adrienne Rich writing in Women and Honour: Some Notes on Lying — “We assume that politicians are without honour. We read their statements trying to crack the code. The scandal of their politics is not that men in high places lie, only that they do so with such indifference, so endlessly, still expecting to be believed. We are accustomed to the contempt inherent in the political life.”
Human beings in modern economics are strictly defined by their production and consumption. Many of us have inadvertently been indoctrinated into this world view.
It wasn’t inadvertent. That indoctrination is how the rich get to control everyone else.
Did anyone recorded this event last night please for the ‘public interest’
“BREAKING: The Daily Blog to livestream TPPA meeting 6pm tonight
By The Daily Blog / December 5, 2017 ”
I missed it while responing to bloggers whjile this event was sent out live by TBD as the events are being ‘secretly’ set up without notifying the public sady.
I am bemused about the lack of “openness and transparency” over these country wide meetings on ‘TPP 11’ (or whatever it is called for now)
There’s something on TDB right now about them putting up the once they’ve loaded it online. I’d post a link but can’t navigate the dog’s breakfast that is their front page.
If you see the replay, please let me know and I’ll put up a post.
Thanks weka I just came in from getting the one foot high front lawn mowed so caught this meesage, wow it’s hot out there, I’m up in the Raukumara ranges 1650 ft above sea level.
It is normally cooler here bthan Gisborne or Opotiki but not this time.
Temp guage says 28 degrees C right now at 1.30pm so that is unheard of up here.
Thanks for that about the TPP11 is being loaded so we can view/listen to the last nights meeting, as we need to beam thiis set of meetings this week out to as many who may be inclined to send a note to their MP that they dont want ‘TPP11’ (or whatever it is called for now). Cheers.
Barry Soper is a compromised corporate puppet who earns his money by writing sycophantic articles to please the financial industries who own the media in New Zealand.
This is what he wrote about climate change. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11953808
Good grief… the gap between the intelligence and reasoning in Monbiot’s writing and Soper’s! It’s not even a chasm… it’s a f**king ocean! Both Monbiot and Attenborough provide very real examples of how humanity is slowly killing itself, while for Soper, climate change is reduced to a (not even clever) comparison of religious belief – as though it’s all in the mind. It’s verbal diarrhoea.
Incidentally, the loss of productive land Monbiot has highlighted is an issue in New Zealand also.
Sometimes I think that the likes of Soper, Hoskings and many of those ZB egg rolls are desperate to remain relevant, and they think the best way to do it is by way of that Okker-style ‘shock jock’ shit. Leighton Smith and Lackwit Larry are the other ones I was trying to think of. In a way you can sort of excuse Duncan ‘Dunks’ Garner and that OnceWas-a-Cricketer guy because they’re obviously getting into their mid-life crisis and wanting to remain down with the kuds.
It’s a shame the ageing process these days doesn’t seem to be as graceful as it once was. No bloody way would I want to be 20 or 30 something again
To be successful in journalism today requires chasing down the ‘African Woman turns Boeing 747 into engagement ring shop for the wealthy Jews of Antarctica.’ stories.
Our culture moves in cycles but it’s always a bit different when we revisit. The new Camaro is only a little bit like the one of the 60’s. The fresh faded look Hawaiian print shirts out for this Summer are a bit different this time round, the yoke, pocket, collar.
Media is not immune to this. The Time Warner, Hearst, Murdoch empires of the past have morphed into Facebook and Twitter.
When the media giants started to rise 100 years ago their well-being prompted those with foresight to explore avenues like ‘I wonder if people would like an indepth view into what’s happening in their town?’ Local papers were born. As the decades passed they gained traction and profitability and ultimately were gobbled up by the media behemoths.
The cycle will repeat but the Facebook Giants won’t be buying The Western Leader, they’ll be buying the new versions. The Standard, Honda Gossip or Breastfeeding Mums interactive readerships.
I’d advertise my cattle prods on the Whale and graffiti paint on The Standard.
Winston Peters’ lawyers signed papers seeking legal action against National leader Bill English and three of his ministers the day before the election was even held.
His action – which also seeks journalists’ phone and email records over the disclosure he was overpaid superannuation for seven years – was set before Peters received his seven percent of the vote and then entered supposedly good faith negotiations with both the National and Labour parties. He chose Labour, ousted National and now serves members of its negotiating team with legal action.
His papers even note that these National ministers were not acting in a ministerial capacity, in the matters that he is seeking documents over, and now have no access to state funds to defend themselves.
The case, if it becomes a case, appears to be over a breach of privacy.
His lawyer Brian Henry signed on September 22 the application to force English, Steven Joyce, Paula Bennett and Anne Tolley, plus English’s former chief of staff Wayne Eagleson to provide documents as did one of Peters’ solicitors Clifton Killip Lyon on a separate affidavit.
His lawyers told the High Court they could not formulate their legal action without access to whatever documents the nine listed defendants – including this writer – might possess. And they say some of the defendants might have no “tortious liability” in any case.
Peter’s has the power and the gnat ex ministers will be worried. Hardly an idiot bm just accept it – whoever tried to sanction Winnie by releasing very private information are going to be held to account. Seems pretty solid to me.
By the sounds of it you are the only idiot on this channel BM.
Why you got your knickers in a twist, I do not understand or perhaps you condone the release of private gov’t information to smear people?
geez BM you are really showing a sign of mental breakdown here, hence I am genuinely worried about you.
I am a man that has deep compassion for all our people; – and that includes you.
I can vividly see you are a National Party supporter as I was, – when I returned from Canada to my home in Napier in 1976.
Robert Muldoon was what we saw as a true “Natonalist” PM out to protect what he oddly called “the ordinary kiwi bloke” (meaning family/whanau) at the time.
I was captured by Muldoon’s will to save NZ then and still feel that way even though some run him down as the media did also, as they semed to be again over Winston for a time.
So back to you, – so you are a national supporter and have now suffered a humiliating defeat of National loosing control of running the country.
I do understand your frustration here.
We on the other side; – Labour/NZF/Greens coalition are making solid headway in reversing the last nine years of austerity, and we are happy for this to occur.
We lived for nine years with our hearts lierally in our hands, daily frustrated and fearful of what National would do to us and our country next byselling all our assets and SOE’s set up for sale.
The new government is truly now gaining in confidence in parliament talking the blocking tactics National are trying to put up against the new government.
Changes are now coming BM and as we accept this under nine years of national you do need to make peace with your soul and accept the changes as holding that anger inside will cause you great health harm..
@ BM Peters played National for the fools they are. He had to give the impression they were in the game to get as much out of the coalition talks as possible, but he knew all along he was going with Labour and the Greens if they picked up one or two seats from the specials.
Anybody (including Jacinda) watching the exchanges and body language in parliament over the last 6 years would have known Winston was going with Labour.
Remember his comment “Labour lost the unloseable election” after Cunliffe lost in 2014 It was clear from this he was ready to support Labour then too.
And apparently National also entered into “good faith” negotiations with Peters while having breached his privacy and releasing the information to the public.
Yep. And as Winnie entered into what he thought were deep and meaningful discussions with National with their “boy, have I got a deal for you!”, he soon came to realise he was dealing with what we once referred to as the ‘used-car salesman’ of the dog and lemon.
Those used-car salesmen are still dealing with their grief. Never mind fellas, it’ll be over soon
When my children were younger I notice that there teeth were looking bad I did some research and because there was no fluoride in the water I went to the chemist and started them on fluoride tablets. And 3 out of 4 children teeth are fine the one I spent $4000 on braces later in life got addicted to Coca-Cola and that ruined her teeth I still give her shit about that the others are perfect. Science is all about asking questions and finding the true answer Ka pai
I live in a non-fluoride area. My daughter is 12 and has never had a cavity in either set of teeth. Diet is I think the biggest factor followed by regular brushing with fluoride toothpaste.
The people on the Rock radio rumble are funny buggers lol Roger those buggers set you up so funny but you are good at handling there stick lol Kia kaha
Heaps of the idiots following me around today marked cars to they don’t like there secrets out that they are humans and are not perfect.
They are a gang of intimidating bullies. They don’t like me painting there reality which is they break all the laws they want and they will use anyone to set up there Mark. They don’t care if you are dieing old young a bum they will use you
And not give a shit if there presence cause stress it goes way over there head. One of my clients that they have been using had a heart attack it won’t even register that they caused it these people are shitting on our society and casting a image that they care for you YEA RIGHT. ANA TO KAI
.
One thing which came to me while listening to Morning Report this morning is, this Government and Auckland Super City Council are either too afraid of their own shadow or too money mad to consider the consequences of their actions. The Australian Government is making new laws to curb foreign influence within their Government structures and haven’t found it difficult to do so The Super City is saying that to close the walking tracks to protect our Kauri trees etc will be too expensive to police and difficult to monitor tourists treking through the reserves and parks.
What is so difficult that Andrew Little cannot bring about changes to protect our sovereignity – how can he say he is comfortable that all safe guards are in place over political donations and covert long term strategies that some countries will go to, to blend in with our political systems for their own subversive ends.
Penny Hulse comes across as either too money mad or poorly informed if she thinks this Kauri problem is just too difficult to get her head around – it’s plain to see she isn’t concerned about the demise of this mighty species of tree – all because it is too difficult to tackle.
What a country of useless heaps we have become – what has happened to our courage and doing the right thing when it has to be done.
“What is so difficult that Andrew Little cannot bring about changes to protect our sovereignity – how can he say he is comfortable that all safe guards are in place over political donations and covert long term strategies that some countries will go to, to blend in with our political systems for their own subversive ends.”
Perhaps Little’s position is a consequence of this influence taking hold?
I found her appearance on tv last night endorsing the new prohibition odd given a few days ago she said it was nice but not something she thought coubcil coukd back.
The recognition of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel instead of Tel Aviv is another nail in the coffin on the fate of the Middle East. Jerusalem is a muslim city and this move will NOT be accepted by Islam. The Zionist/USA bloc is making an overly confident move here and is heading for huge trouble. Who will win and at what cost we don’t know but we are in for more American lead mayhem.
Here is some proof that national standards haven’t been working for our kids. So happy we now have a government that listens to the teachers and cares about the kids, now we can have progress.
The legacy of the losing national party has damaged so many facets of our society. But no more!!!
International report shows children’s literacy suffered under National Standards
Thanks for that great link, Cinny. Having got young children the national standards are a complete mess as is the rest of the primary education system.
With the literacy, it seems that if a child misses getting to the right level in year 1, it’s all over and they are then labeled as ‘something wrong’ with the child. These days everyone seems to be an amateur psychologist musing on various conditions that they read up about on the Internet, which itself is completely alarming and it seems to have become a way to excuse the teacher and school from bothering to continue or change strategies to get the child over the line in year 2 and onwards.
Education has become a process of denial and blame on the child and denial of precious resources, rather than actual learning or bothering to make real effort to get 100% literacy within the school.
At the same time the testing and programmic nature of the literacy standards turn the children off the subjects making it worse, the chaotic methods that confuse some children more than help, as well as the new open plan style of classrooms which again are problematic for many children to concentrate in.
The other big problem in primary schools is the new reliance on the private sector in public schools. Gone are the swimming pools in many schools, now kids are routinely bused into private centres for an underwhelming overcrowded lesson that parents pay for in their activity fees and is basically pointless. It is not surprising our high drowning statistics if that is what parents have to rely on.
Music has gone, in real terms visual art has gone, drama privatised and school play gone in many schools which of course combined art/music/drama for kids, PE very minimal (at the very same time as due to traffic many kids now don’t walk to school and actually need the exercise first thing in the morning).
No wonder kids are committing suicide and getting depressed, the arty ones, musical ones, drama ones, sporty ones are in some sort of hierarchy of education that whatever they might be good at does not matter and only those who excel initially are raised up. (normally those that can already read and write before entering the school). People who change the world are actually not high flyers in primary or secondary, they often show little talent or are dreamers, so it’s all a complete waste of talent in NZ to write many kids off and let them lose confidence.
Education has become a process that is designed for the top 40% just like the statistics show and everything in schools seem to be helping those kids succeed and this is leading to others becoming disengaged for many reasons at an early age, (and then blamed for it).
Designed to create little cogs for the low wage industry?
““The whole educational and professional training system is a very elaborate filter, which just weeds out people who are too independent, and who think for themselves, and who don’t know how to be submissive, and so on — because they’re dysfunctional to the institutions.” Noam Chomsky
Even worse with the increasing automation both low wage and processing and reporting skills will be made more redundant in youth and it’s the new generation of creative adults that IT can’t replace, that will actually be in demand.
On the whole education topic I also think that the onerous health and safety and responsibility to schools/teachers need to be looked at and reduced by the new government.
It has created too much focus on ridiculous safety measures for teachers and not enough time spent on the actual coursework and teaching. Kids not becoming resilient as every cut/scratch/bruise is monitored and the kids can’t be kids anymore in case they fall down/cut themselves etc. It’s backfiring as well as kids then are anxious (getting a safety messages constantly makes them feeling there may be danger lurking) and can then lead onwards to mental health issues.
I find it hard to understand under the National government how 29 people died at Pike River and not held to account under law, yet every teacher spends way too much time on safety talks and has copious reporting for every injury. You just can’t wrap up kids in cotton wool. Then the poor sods graduate and work for companies like Talleys and cut their hand off. Common sense needs to be introduced.
It’s spread to A&E now too , as one New Years day, some person came in and presented a child at Starship who had minorly cut toe that a plaster could have sorted out, and then emergencies can’t get through. People need to get a grip!
Yep I guess then there is more work for dole type schemes where the taxpayers are footing the wages. Free Labour for employers beats minimum wages or even $2 p/h.
In 2009 the UK govt found National Standards we’re causing a decline in literacy as well as being expensive.
A Toy govt cancelled National Standards while National carried on with this failed costly experiment.
Our National government is even worse than the Tories, sounds hard to believe but probably true! I mean they did take away healthy lunches in schools under urgency. What a priority! Sickening.
This old fool was once a passable minor novelist. He wrote the very good Lucky Jim in 1957, and then coasted for the rest of his cantankerous, “contrarian” life. Unlike normal people, this anti-Semitic, women-hating old goat did not mellow with age, but grew crankier and more extreme in his views. But his worst—by far his worst—legacy to the world is his disgusting son, the novelist and fifth-rate essayist Martin Amis…..
In a highly critical article for his own Daisycutter Sports Digest, reprinted in Media Lens, Breen, author of BERNADINE, or “Hell Hath No Fury” said Amis was the “fluky beneficiary of a famous name”, and that his carefully cultivated Oxbridge stammer and air of studied insouciance fails to cover up the “painfully obvious” fact that he “reads little, and knows virtually nothing about anything.”
Breen’s intervention comes as Amis faces continued reaction from people disgusted with his crude race-baiting, which has proved to be a disturbing re-run of the notorious outbursts against “coons”, “wops”, “darkies” and Jews by his father, the late author Kingsley Amis.
Breen, who said he has spent “much too much” of his time struggling through really third-rate British fiction, also called Mr Amis “humorless”, “talentless”, and a “pathetic creep”, who had traded on his father’s fame and assiduously “sucked up” to the likes of the late Christopher Hitchens, who always poured scorn on Amis’s academic pretensions and treated his attempts to foot it with him intellectually with amused disdain. Breen noted how the notoriously lazy and ill-read Amis had boasted often about his “Congratulatory” Oxford First in English — “the sort where you are called in for a viva and the examiners tell you how much they enjoyed reading your papers.”
Mr Amis was a man “without the slightest semblance of character, leave alone discernible talent”, he added, and cited the academic Terry Eagleton’s opinion of some newspaper opinion pieces Amis had written as akin to the “ramblings of a British National Party thug.”
“Lucky Jim” is wonderful but “The Old Devils” which Amis wrote in 1986, that is 32 years after Lucky Jim, is a great book. This doesn’t fit your “coasting” theory in terms of his literary efforts.
The author of Money, London Fields and Time’s Arrow is “talentless?” You may be confusing your personal likes and dislikes with critical evaluation. They’re not the same thing.
Artists that leave a mark are often fairly outrageous characters in real life. Your head needs to be in a special place to lob your own ear off, build a Disneyland in the backyard, it’s hard not to wonder how much of Hunter S Thompson’s stuff is fiction.
If I’m correctly keeping track of the multiple layers of Morrissey quoting himself, then it appears Martin is indeed the Amis that Morrissey described as “talentless”.
Yes – it was Martin Amis Morrissey was quoting himself referring to as “talentless.” Kingsley is the “anti-Semitic, women-hating old goat” in the story.
Damn, this post just reminds me how much the left is missing the Christopher Hitchens factor these days. Sure, he fucked up on Iraq, wrong conclusion for the right ideas but I’m certain that had he lived to see the ISIS years, he’d have surely accepted that whatever justification there was for being rid of Hussein, his heirs, their clan, and their horrible regime, there had to have been something better than what happened.
It’s been revealed that two cruise ships filled up with water in Napier just before the city’s water crisis.
Nearly one percent of Napier’s water was split between the vessels that left on Sunday afternoon, one at around 3pm and the other at around 4pm….
…The Mayor of Napier blamed the water shortage on excessive use by residents.
“What happens is the reservoirs recharge overnight. Normally we have water usage up until around 8pm and then overnight the reservoirs recharge,” Bill Dalton told The AM Show on Tuesday morning.
“On Sunday night they didn’t. The reason for that is people put their sprinklers on and left them on all night.”
It appears the cruise ships were charged by the port company. So where does that money go? According to their website The Port of Napier Ltd operates as a fully autonomous subsidiary of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Investment Company (HBRIC) which is the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s investment company.
The Port of Napier Ltd sounds like Ports of Auckland, totally unaccountable to the ratepayers but still getting everything on the cheap from ratepayers (like water) but pretending it’s all profit.
Interesting to know what the council charged the ports for the water.
P.S. cruise ships are one of the most polluting ways to travel and often use close to slave labour while being domiciled in tax havens and paying little to zero taxes. Not sure if this was the case with these cruise ships.
Anyway usual shocking neoliberal be warned tale, of the ordinary folks being blamed and told to tighten up and it’s all their fault, and behind the scenes some quasi corp is taking the water during a shortage for another corp which is probably not taxed in NZ or not even using NZ staff.
Breaking news! Bill English is DESPARATE for simple Christmas cake recipes as Mary has said he has to make one. Why can’t he just use an Edmonds Cookery Book instead of going to the media… No where near cute and folksy.. TWAT!!
Sorry if this has already been put up, but if you missed the live streaming of Jacinda Ardern discussing climate change with Al Gore last evening on the “Climate Reality Project 24 Hours Of Reality”, here is a link to TVNZ which still have a video of the full interview on its website
Former speechwriter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and current ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Aydın Ünal on Monday threatened Turkish journalists in exile with extrajudicial killings, in his column published in the pro-Erdoğan Yeni Şafak daily.
Strongly criticizing journalists in exile for covering the case of Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian gold trader who was arrested in Miami in March 2016 on charges of evading US sanctions on Iran, Ünal said: “Better to get ready for intra-organization extrajudicial killings instead of carrying out operations over judicial theater [the Zarrab case].”
The much awaited Performance Improvement Framework Review for Ministry of Health which probably cost the career of Chai Chuah.
Chai Chuah, who just the other day said…
“… it was not an easy decision to make.
“As I am immensely proud of the progress that we have made as a ministry over the last four years.
“I recognise there is a lot more work yet to do, however, I believe the foundations are now in place for the Ministry of Health to take the next step. I am optimistic that the important shift our health system needs to make is already in motion,” he said. ”
I wonder if anyone on here knows anything about results based accountability. When I Google it it seems to be a great tool however I am aware of a small ngo using it to prove their worth but the language is confusing and putting off the community they claim to serve. They are putting lots of effort into consulting and refining goals but not appearing to do much.
Auckland Transport’s secret further 150 km, $635 million Auckland cycleway plan was EXPOSED at Auckland Council Audit and Risk Ctte meeting 6/12/2017
Subject matter included:
1) The risk to Auckland Council following the alleged failure of Auckland Transport as a Council Controlled Organisation, to comply with its statutory duties arising from the Local Government Act 2002 (s.59), and the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Act 2010, sections 38,39 and 40, regarding the effective imposition of ‘cycleways’ upon local communtities, without full and proper consultation; the cost of these ‘cycleway’ projects, and the cost of remediation of these ‘cycleway’ projects, such as West Lynn.
2) The ‘risk’ regarding the complete lack of public consultation regarding an effectively ‘secret’ AT plan for a further 150 kms of Auckland cycleways, costing $635 million.
“CONFIDENTIAL Cycling Programme Business Case Recommendation
That the Board: i. Endorse the recommended strategic direction for future investment in cycling in Auckland, the funding of which will be subject to prioritisation through the Integrated Transport Programme (ITP).
Executive summary
1 There is a significant opportunity for cycling to play a more substantial role in contributing to a more effective transport system for Auckland.
During the programme period, transport demands will continue to grow strongly alongside population and employment across the region, placing increasing pressure on congested networks and, in particular, on access to the city centre.
2 We analysed a range of options to identify which package would most effectively deliver the benefits and objectives of the programme, carried out economic modelling and conducted extensive engagement to arrive at a preferred programme of investment.
3 This programme business case recommends an investment of $635m in cycling over the period 2018-2028 to most effectively meet the objectives of the programme.
This would provide benefits of $1.9 to $4.6 for every $1 invested, and would deliver 150km of new cycleways linking to key activity centres and maximising access to public transport.
The investment would see an increase in modal share of trips to work for cycling from 1 per cent to 4 per cent across the Auckland region. ..”
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David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Peter Lyon.
‘The aspect of modern economic thinking I find most depressing is the lack of any emphasis on play or fun or family and friendships.
An economic worldview has evolved that sucks the meaningful marrow out of life. The big question we should be asking is whether our economic system is serving us or are most of us consigned to serving it?
We pay homage to the little scrutinised goal of economic growth as progress towards some undefined Nirvana on earth.
Yet few of us understand what this concept of economic growth actually means. It is a narrow obsession with ensuring that as a nation we make and consume more material stuff. ‘
More here
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11953817
agree 1000% Ed, we have lost the true simple things in life as the media are busy pumping the financial market forces and the stock market figures and hype relentlessly that we are consumed by their love of chasing money.
Very sad it see; as they just seem to dolise the ‘gold covered figures’ as the romans and spanish did of old eh?
Always remember that the media is owned by the financial industry.
‘From about 2007 financial institutions assumed shareholder control of major media corporations. Previous JMAD media ownership reports (2011-2016) detail how financialisation increasingly affected the New Zealand holdings of four major corporates – Fairfax, Sky TV, APN News and Media and Media Works.’
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/12/04/new-zealand-media-ownership-why-it-matters/
Or by the Uber wealthy as Koch bros have just funded Meredith’s into buying time inc.
Good to see him back…..did he get parked whilst granny’s repeaters were shilling for Nationals election loss or have I just missed his down to earth pieces.
Marilyn Waring did some amazing work for the OECD amongst others on GDP taking account, and placing a value upon, unpaid work. She was sadly way ahead of her time.
http://www.marilynwaring.com/
As is so often the case, she is held in much higher regard overseas than she is at home.
Why is that?
Is it because she ‘betrayed’ the National Party over this..
“Waring precipitated the 1984 general election by threatening to vote for the opposition-sponsored nuclear-free New Zealand legislation, leading Prime Minister Rob Muldoon to call a snap election, stating that Waring’s “feminist anti-nuclear stance” threatened his ability to govern.[3] The nuclear-free New Zealand legislation was subsequently enacted by the new Labour government, and has been a sacrosanct touchstone of New Zealand foreign policy since.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Waring
And are the ‘left’ so ideologically constipated they can’t see the worth of an activist who was a National Party member?
Sigh. Politics is so complicated.
She also only stood for National cos Labour rebuffed her. She says her views aligned more with Labour. This was an interview I heard many months ago so I may nit be remembering her words acurately.
To be honest I think it is partly because she was a highly intelligent economist amongst men. Once men started saying stuff she said, albeit 2 decades later…
She wrote a letter to the Listener in 1984
” I address you too remembering Adrienne Rich writing in Women and Honour: Some Notes on Lying — “We assume that politicians are without honour. We read their statements trying to crack the code. The scandal of their politics is not that men in high places lie, only that they do so with such indifference, so endlessly, still expecting to be believed. We are accustomed to the contempt inherent in the political life.”
http://www.noted.co.nz/archive/listener-nz-2012/a-letter-to-my-sisters/
It wasn’t inadvertent. That indoctrination is how the rich get to control everyone else.
Did anyone recorded this event last night please for the ‘public interest’
“BREAKING: The Daily Blog to livestream TPPA meeting 6pm tonight
By The Daily Blog / December 5, 2017 ”
I missed it while responing to bloggers whjile this event was sent out live by TBD as the events are being ‘secretly’ set up without notifying the public sady.
I am bemused about the lack of “openness and transparency” over these country wide meetings on ‘TPP 11’ (or whatever it is called for now)
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/12/05/breaking-the-daily-blog-to-livestream-tppa-meeting-6pm-tonight/#comment-410082
If someone recorded this event can they give us a portal to hear/review this first meeting on ‘TPP11’ please?
There’s something on TDB right now about them putting up the once they’ve loaded it online. I’d post a link but can’t navigate the dog’s breakfast that is their front page.
If you see the replay, please let me know and I’ll put up a post.
Thanks weka I just came in from getting the one foot high front lawn mowed so caught this meesage, wow it’s hot out there, I’m up in the Raukumara ranges 1650 ft above sea level.
It is normally cooler here bthan Gisborne or Opotiki but not this time.
Temp guage says 28 degrees C right now at 1.30pm so that is unheard of up here.
Thanks for that about the TPP11 is being loaded so we can view/listen to the last nights meeting, as we need to beam thiis set of meetings this week out to as many who may be inclined to send a note to their MP that they dont want ‘TPP11’ (or whatever it is called for now). Cheers.
George Monbiot is an informed, fearless and independent journalist.
This is what he as written recently about climate change.
http://www.monbiot.com/2017/10/23/insectageddon/
David Attenborough is a highly respected and renowned broadcaster on the natural world.
This is what his most recent show Blue Panet 2 says about climate change.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=11953732
Barry Soper is a compromised corporate puppet who earns his money by writing sycophantic articles to please the financial industries who own the media in New Zealand.
This is what he wrote about climate change.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11953808
Want this to be a guest post Ed? With quotes of course.
Yes that would be good. Have drafted a version.
How do I send it to you?
gregpresland@gmail.com
What a load of billshit Soper writes – I wasted a whole 2 mins of my morning trying to find something relevant in what he wrote.
Good grief… the gap between the intelligence and reasoning in Monbiot’s writing and Soper’s! It’s not even a chasm… it’s a f**king ocean! Both Monbiot and Attenborough provide very real examples of how humanity is slowly killing itself, while for Soper, climate change is reduced to a (not even clever) comparison of religious belief – as though it’s all in the mind. It’s verbal diarrhoea.
Incidentally, the loss of productive land Monbiot has highlighted is an issue in New Zealand also.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11944763
Horticulture NZ CEO interviewed Q+A in Oct 2017 on the same subject:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1710/S00284/qa-mike-chapman-interviewed-by-corin-dann.htm
Barry Soper said this sadly; “And to all the naysayers in this country who say climate change is cool, well warm, and it should be encouraged”
Ed, am I reading this right?
If so; – does this indicate Barry Soper is encouraging climate change deniers/naysayers?
Just want to confirm if I ‘comprehend’ Sopers views correctly?
Only Soper knows.
He is an utter disgrace.
Sometimes I think that the likes of Soper, Hoskings and many of those ZB egg rolls are desperate to remain relevant, and they think the best way to do it is by way of that Okker-style ‘shock jock’ shit. Leighton Smith and Lackwit Larry are the other ones I was trying to think of. In a way you can sort of excuse Duncan ‘Dunks’ Garner and that OnceWas-a-Cricketer guy because they’re obviously getting into their mid-life crisis and wanting to remain down with the kuds.
It’s a shame the ageing process these days doesn’t seem to be as graceful as it once was. No bloody way would I want to be 20 or 30 something again
Journalists used to be measured and paid depending on the esteem they were held in by editors, the board, advertisers and readers.
Now it’s come down to ‘So how many clicks did the Soper story get?’
To be successful in journalism today requires chasing down the ‘African Woman turns Boeing 747 into engagement ring shop for the wealthy Jews of Antarctica.’ stories.
Our culture moves in cycles but it’s always a bit different when we revisit. The new Camaro is only a little bit like the one of the 60’s. The fresh faded look Hawaiian print shirts out for this Summer are a bit different this time round, the yoke, pocket, collar.
Media is not immune to this. The Time Warner, Hearst, Murdoch empires of the past have morphed into Facebook and Twitter.
When the media giants started to rise 100 years ago their well-being prompted those with foresight to explore avenues like ‘I wonder if people would like an indepth view into what’s happening in their town?’ Local papers were born. As the decades passed they gained traction and profitability and ultimately were gobbled up by the media behemoths.
The cycle will repeat but the Facebook Giants won’t be buying The Western Leader, they’ll be buying the new versions. The Standard, Honda Gossip or Breastfeeding Mums interactive readerships.
I’d advertise my cattle prods on the Whale and graffiti paint on The Standard.
Winston Peter’s case against National breach of privacy goes to court tomorrow firstly as “discovery” on 7/12/17.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/11/07/58644/winston-goes-fishing
Peters filed against Nats before election
Winston Peters’ lawyers signed papers seeking legal action against National leader Bill English and three of his ministers the day before the election was even held.
His action – which also seeks journalists’ phone and email records over the disclosure he was overpaid superannuation for seven years – was set before Peters received his seven percent of the vote and then entered supposedly good faith negotiations with both the National and Labour parties. He chose Labour, ousted National and now serves members of its negotiating team with legal action.
His papers even note that these National ministers were not acting in a ministerial capacity, in the matters that he is seeking documents over, and now have no access to state funds to defend themselves.
The case, if it becomes a case, appears to be over a breach of privacy.
His lawyer Brian Henry signed on September 22 the application to force English, Steven Joyce, Paula Bennett and Anne Tolley, plus English’s former chief of staff Wayne Eagleson to provide documents as did one of Peters’ solicitors Clifton Killip Lyon on a separate affidavit.
His lawyers told the High Court they could not formulate their legal action without access to whatever documents the nine listed defendants – including this writer – might possess. And they say some of the defendants might have no “tortious liability” in any case.
Peters is a fucking idiot and one of the main reasons why this government has had no honeymoon at all.
Backtracking and weaselling out on multiple election promises hasn’t helped either.
Peter’s has the power and the gnat ex ministers will be worried. Hardly an idiot bm just accept it – whoever tried to sanction Winnie by releasing very private information are going to be held to account. Seems pretty solid to me.
Attempt to derail again??
By the sounds of it you are the only idiot on this channel BM.
Why you got your knickers in a twist, I do not understand or perhaps you condone the release of private gov’t information to smear people?
geez BM you are really showing a sign of mental breakdown here, hence I am genuinely worried about you.
I am a man that has deep compassion for all our people; – and that includes you.
I can vividly see you are a National Party supporter as I was, – when I returned from Canada to my home in Napier in 1976.
Robert Muldoon was what we saw as a true “Natonalist” PM out to protect what he oddly called “the ordinary kiwi bloke” (meaning family/whanau) at the time.
I was captured by Muldoon’s will to save NZ then and still feel that way even though some run him down as the media did also, as they semed to be again over Winston for a time.
So back to you, – so you are a national supporter and have now suffered a humiliating defeat of National loosing control of running the country.
I do understand your frustration here.
We on the other side; – Labour/NZF/Greens coalition are making solid headway in reversing the last nine years of austerity, and we are happy for this to occur.
We lived for nine years with our hearts lierally in our hands, daily frustrated and fearful of what National would do to us and our country next byselling all our assets and SOE’s set up for sale.
The new government is truly now gaining in confidence in parliament talking the blocking tactics National are trying to put up against the new government.
Changes are now coming BM and as we accept this under nine years of national you do need to make peace with your soul and accept the changes as holding that anger inside will cause you great health harm..
Big Moaner still crying in your Beersies Much,if Winston had gone with National you would be defending him.
Better Move on Begrudging Minion.
@ BM Peters played National for the fools they are. He had to give the impression they were in the game to get as much out of the coalition talks as possible, but he knew all along he was going with Labour and the Greens if they picked up one or two seats from the specials.
Anybody (including Jacinda) watching the exchanges and body language in parliament over the last 6 years would have known Winston was going with Labour.
Remember his comment “Labour lost the unloseable election” after Cunliffe lost in 2014 It was clear from this he was ready to support Labour then too.
You can take the man out of National but not the National out of the man ey BM?
I genuinely do not understand why Nat supporters are upset at someone behaving as their National Ministers and PMs have.
You’re still really upset that Winston and NZ1st went with Labour rather than National aren’t you? Despite National offering more baubles.
What was that you were saying about the honeymoon BM…?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/watch-jacinda-ardern-interrupts-speech-warmly-welcome-delighted-school-kids-into-room?auto=5669088682001
+1 CleanGreen. Good luck Winston. NZ Citizens information should be kept private, let alone leaked to influence elections.
And apparently National also entered into “good faith” negotiations with Peters while having breached his privacy and releasing the information to the public.
Yep. And as Winnie entered into what he thought were deep and meaningful discussions with National with their “boy, have I got a deal for you!”, he soon came to realise he was dealing with what we once referred to as the ‘used-car salesman’ of the dog and lemon.
Those used-car salesmen are still dealing with their grief. Never mind fellas, it’ll be over soon
When my children were younger I notice that there teeth were looking bad I did some research and because there was no fluoride in the water I went to the chemist and started them on fluoride tablets. And 3 out of 4 children teeth are fine the one I spent $4000 on braces later in life got addicted to Coca-Cola and that ruined her teeth I still give her shit about that the others are perfect. Science is all about asking questions and finding the true answer Ka pai
Flouride, is not singularly the reason for good, or bad oral health
Neither is coca-cola
No, but both contribute (one in a good way, one in a bad way).
Neither of the two are necessary
Both contribute in negative ways
Coca Cola is bad for your teeth.
That is not debatable.
Everything is debatable, Ed
The world is flat?
Gravity doesn’t exist?
Good on you ecomaori.
Ignorance kills. Fortunately there cure is education.
I live in a non-fluoride area. My daughter is 12 and has never had a cavity in either set of teeth. Diet is I think the biggest factor followed by regular brushing with fluoride toothpaste.
I used to have lots of cavities when I was young until they added fluoride to the Tauranga water supply at which time lots became almost nil.
I grew up in a fluoridated and had lots of fillings all my childhood. And lots of lollies.
The people on the Rock radio rumble are funny buggers lol Roger those buggers set you up so funny but you are good at handling there stick lol Kia kaha
Heaps of the idiots following me around today marked cars to they don’t like there secrets out that they are humans and are not perfect.
They are a gang of intimidating bullies. They don’t like me painting there reality which is they break all the laws they want and they will use anyone to set up there Mark. They don’t care if you are dieing old young a bum they will use you
And not give a shit if there presence cause stress it goes way over there head. One of my clients that they have been using had a heart attack it won’t even register that they caused it these people are shitting on our society and casting a image that they care for you YEA RIGHT. ANA TO KAI
.
One thing which came to me while listening to Morning Report this morning is, this Government and Auckland Super City Council are either too afraid of their own shadow or too money mad to consider the consequences of their actions. The Australian Government is making new laws to curb foreign influence within their Government structures and haven’t found it difficult to do so The Super City is saying that to close the walking tracks to protect our Kauri trees etc will be too expensive to police and difficult to monitor tourists treking through the reserves and parks.
What is so difficult that Andrew Little cannot bring about changes to protect our sovereignity – how can he say he is comfortable that all safe guards are in place over political donations and covert long term strategies that some countries will go to, to blend in with our political systems for their own subversive ends.
Penny Hulse comes across as either too money mad or poorly informed if she thinks this Kauri problem is just too difficult to get her head around – it’s plain to see she isn’t concerned about the demise of this mighty species of tree – all because it is too difficult to tackle.
What a country of useless heaps we have become – what has happened to our courage and doing the right thing when it has to be done.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018624347/kauri-dieback-forces-13-waitakere-tracks-to-close
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018624346/nz-urged-to-crack-down-on-foreign-political-influence
“What is so difficult that Andrew Little cannot bring about changes to protect our sovereignity – how can he say he is comfortable that all safe guards are in place over political donations and covert long term strategies that some countries will go to, to blend in with our political systems for their own subversive ends.”
Perhaps Little’s position is a consequence of this influence taking hold?
I found her appearance on tv last night endorsing the new prohibition odd given a few days ago she said it was nice but not something she thought coubcil coukd back.
The recognition of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel instead of Tel Aviv is another nail in the coffin on the fate of the Middle East. Jerusalem is a muslim city and this move will NOT be accepted by Islam. The Zionist/USA bloc is making an overly confident move here and is heading for huge trouble. Who will win and at what cost we don’t know but we are in for more American lead mayhem.
Here is some proof that national standards haven’t been working for our kids. So happy we now have a government that listens to the teachers and cares about the kids, now we can have progress.
The legacy of the losing national party has damaged so many facets of our society. But no more!!!
International report shows children’s literacy suffered under National Standards
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/99534189/international-report-shows-childrens-literacy-suffered-under-national-standards
Thanks for that great link, Cinny. Having got young children the national standards are a complete mess as is the rest of the primary education system.
With the literacy, it seems that if a child misses getting to the right level in year 1, it’s all over and they are then labeled as ‘something wrong’ with the child. These days everyone seems to be an amateur psychologist musing on various conditions that they read up about on the Internet, which itself is completely alarming and it seems to have become a way to excuse the teacher and school from bothering to continue or change strategies to get the child over the line in year 2 and onwards.
Education has become a process of denial and blame on the child and denial of precious resources, rather than actual learning or bothering to make real effort to get 100% literacy within the school.
At the same time the testing and programmic nature of the literacy standards turn the children off the subjects making it worse, the chaotic methods that confuse some children more than help, as well as the new open plan style of classrooms which again are problematic for many children to concentrate in.
The other big problem in primary schools is the new reliance on the private sector in public schools. Gone are the swimming pools in many schools, now kids are routinely bused into private centres for an underwhelming overcrowded lesson that parents pay for in their activity fees and is basically pointless. It is not surprising our high drowning statistics if that is what parents have to rely on.
Music has gone, in real terms visual art has gone, drama privatised and school play gone in many schools which of course combined art/music/drama for kids, PE very minimal (at the very same time as due to traffic many kids now don’t walk to school and actually need the exercise first thing in the morning).
No wonder kids are committing suicide and getting depressed, the arty ones, musical ones, drama ones, sporty ones are in some sort of hierarchy of education that whatever they might be good at does not matter and only those who excel initially are raised up. (normally those that can already read and write before entering the school). People who change the world are actually not high flyers in primary or secondary, they often show little talent or are dreamers, so it’s all a complete waste of talent in NZ to write many kids off and let them lose confidence.
Education has become a process that is designed for the top 40% just like the statistics show and everything in schools seem to be helping those kids succeed and this is leading to others becoming disengaged for many reasons at an early age, (and then blamed for it).
Designed to create little cogs for the low wage industry?
““The whole educational and professional training system is a very elaborate filter, which just weeds out people who are too independent, and who think for themselves, and who don’t know how to be submissive, and so on — because they’re dysfunctional to the institutions.” Noam Chomsky
Also to push kids into charter schools and private sector learning.
The failures become little cogs for low wages industry.
The successes one dimensional non creatives who excel in processes and reporting back what they have heard.
Even worse with the increasing automation both low wage and processing and reporting skills will be made more redundant in youth and it’s the new generation of creative adults that IT can’t replace, that will actually be in demand.
Typical Natz screw up.
I don’t think it was a “Natz screw up” I think it was done deliberately in the full knowledge that it was a dud
On the whole education topic I also think that the onerous health and safety and responsibility to schools/teachers need to be looked at and reduced by the new government.
It has created too much focus on ridiculous safety measures for teachers and not enough time spent on the actual coursework and teaching. Kids not becoming resilient as every cut/scratch/bruise is monitored and the kids can’t be kids anymore in case they fall down/cut themselves etc. It’s backfiring as well as kids then are anxious (getting a safety messages constantly makes them feeling there may be danger lurking) and can then lead onwards to mental health issues.
I find it hard to understand under the National government how 29 people died at Pike River and not held to account under law, yet every teacher spends way too much time on safety talks and has copious reporting for every injury. You just can’t wrap up kids in cotton wool. Then the poor sods graduate and work for companies like Talleys and cut their hand off. Common sense needs to be introduced.
It’s spread to A&E now too , as one New Years day, some person came in and presented a child at Starship who had minorly cut toe that a plaster could have sorted out, and then emergencies can’t get through. People need to get a grip!
Yep I guess then there is more work for dole type schemes where the taxpayers are footing the wages. Free Labour for employers beats minimum wages or even $2 p/h.
Certainly has that look to it in many ways.
DTB The Oil industry gets $700 million a year in subsidies.
Comalco millions more.
Irrigation $350 million.
Many other examples.
Working for families.
In 2009 the UK govt found National Standards we’re causing a decline in literacy as well as being expensive.
A Toy govt cancelled National Standards while National carried on with this failed costly experiment.
Our National government is even worse than the Tories, sounds hard to believe but probably true! I mean they did take away healthy lunches in schools under urgency. What a priority! Sickening.
Deadbeat Dads
No. 6: KINGSLEY AMIS
This old fool was once a passable minor novelist. He wrote the very good Lucky Jim in 1957, and then coasted for the rest of his cantankerous, “contrarian” life. Unlike normal people, this anti-Semitic, women-hating old goat did not mellow with age, but grew crankier and more extreme in his views. But his worst—by far his worst—legacy to the world is his disgusting son, the novelist and fifth-rate essayist Martin Amis…..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1565696/Family-defends-racist-Sir-Kingsley-Amis.html
Keep up with ALL the Deadbat Dads…
1 Sir John Key, 2 Bill “Double Dipper” English; 3 Sir Douglas Graham; 4 John Banks; 5 David Cameron
@Morrissey
“Lucky Jim” is wonderful but “The Old Devils” which Amis wrote in 1986, that is 32 years after Lucky Jim, is a great book. This doesn’t fit your “coasting” theory in terms of his literary efforts.
The author of Money, London Fields and Time’s Arrow is “talentless?” You may be confusing your personal likes and dislikes with critical evaluation. They’re not the same thing.
Artists that leave a mark are often fairly outrageous characters in real life. Your head needs to be in a special place to lob your own ear off, build a Disneyland in the backyard, it’s hard not to wonder how much of Hunter S Thompson’s stuff is fiction.
@Psycho…..all three of those were written by Martin Amis
If I’m correctly keeping track of the multiple layers of Morrissey quoting himself, then it appears Martin is indeed the Amis that Morrissey described as “talentless”.
Yes – it was Martin Amis Morrissey was quoting himself referring to as “talentless.” Kingsley is the “anti-Semitic, women-hating old goat” in the story.
oops ….sorry Psycho didn’t read it properly
Damn, this post just reminds me how much the left is missing the Christopher Hitchens factor these days. Sure, he fucked up on Iraq, wrong conclusion for the right ideas but I’m certain that had he lived to see the ISIS years, he’d have surely accepted that whatever justification there was for being rid of Hussein, his heirs, their clan, and their horrible regime, there had to have been something better than what happened.
“National” Standards a failure
Literacy goes down under National Standards.
A right wing failure they still defend.
+1 Tricledrown
Cruise ships took Napier’s water before crisis
It’s been revealed that two cruise ships filled up with water in Napier just before the city’s water crisis.
Nearly one percent of Napier’s water was split between the vessels that left on Sunday afternoon, one at around 3pm and the other at around 4pm….
…The Mayor of Napier blamed the water shortage on excessive use by residents.
“What happens is the reservoirs recharge overnight. Normally we have water usage up until around 8pm and then overnight the reservoirs recharge,” Bill Dalton told The AM Show on Tuesday morning.
“On Sunday night they didn’t. The reason for that is people put their sprinklers on and left them on all night.”
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/12/cruise-ships-took-1pct-of-napier-s-water-before-crisis.html
What is not been reported is how much each cruise ship paid for the water. Was is charged? Free? Who knows with this type of reporting.
Our local rag this morning had a bit more detail.
Port says cruise ships not the cause
It appears the cruise ships were charged by the port company. So where does that money go? According to their website The Port of Napier Ltd operates as a fully autonomous subsidiary of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Investment Company (HBRIC) which is the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s investment company.
The Port of Napier Ltd sounds like Ports of Auckland, totally unaccountable to the ratepayers but still getting everything on the cheap from ratepayers (like water) but pretending it’s all profit.
Interesting to know what the council charged the ports for the water.
P.S. cruise ships are one of the most polluting ways to travel and often use close to slave labour while being domiciled in tax havens and paying little to zero taxes. Not sure if this was the case with these cruise ships.
Anyway usual shocking neoliberal be warned tale, of the ordinary folks being blamed and told to tighten up and it’s all their fault, and behind the scenes some quasi corp is taking the water during a shortage for another corp which is probably not taxed in NZ or not even using NZ staff.
Breaking news! Bill English is DESPARATE for simple Christmas cake recipes as Mary has said he has to make one. Why can’t he just use an Edmonds Cookery Book instead of going to the media… No where near cute and folksy.. TWAT!!
Pineapple and mixed fruit pizza Bill.
With Don Brashes corned beef and mushy peas for the main course.
Let them eat cake.
Is this going to go on for three years or are they going to Christmas Roll him soon….
Sorry if this has already been put up, but if you missed the live streaming of Jacinda Ardern discussing climate change with Al Gore last evening on the “Climate Reality Project 24 Hours Of Reality”, here is a link to TVNZ which still have a video of the full interview on its website
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/full-interview-jacinda-ardern-chats-al-gore-new-zealands-role-in-fight-against-climate-change
A well worthwhile use of c 13 minutes, IMO.
Well Putin gets away with it…..
Former speechwriter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and current ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Aydın Ünal on Monday threatened Turkish journalists in exile with extrajudicial killings, in his column published in the pro-Erdoğan Yeni Şafak daily.
Strongly criticizing journalists in exile for covering the case of Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian gold trader who was arrested in Miami in March 2016 on charges of evading US sanctions on Iran, Ünal said: “Better to get ready for intra-organization extrajudicial killings instead of carrying out operations over judicial theater [the Zarrab case].”
https://www.turkishminute.com/2017/12/04/erdogans-deputy-threatens-journalists-with-extrajudicial-killings/
It’s here!!!
http://www.ssc.govt.nz/sites/all/files/pif-review-health-dec2017.pdf
The much awaited Performance Improvement Framework Review for Ministry of Health which probably cost the career of Chai Chuah.
Chai Chuah, who just the other day said…
“… it was not an easy decision to make.
“As I am immensely proud of the progress that we have made as a ministry over the last four years.
“I recognise there is a lot more work yet to do, however, I believe the foundations are now in place for the Ministry of Health to take the next step. I am optimistic that the important shift our health system needs to make is already in motion,” he said. ”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99525479/directorgeneral-of-health-steps-down–hunt-for-new-health-boss-starts
Bugger me…”proud”?
Not a lot to be proud of in this…
Crist, what are they doing now?
I wonder if anyone on here knows anything about results based accountability. When I Google it it seems to be a great tool however I am aware of a small ngo using it to prove their worth but the language is confusing and putting off the community they claim to serve. They are putting lots of effort into consulting and refining goals but not appearing to do much.
RBA is mainly a collaborative planning tool. It was initially promoted in NZ by MSD’s Family and Community Services section as a way to get measurable goals between a range of local partners in community initiatves: https://www.msd.govt.nz/what-we-can-do/providers/results-based-accountability/index.html
It seems to have been picked up since by contracting agencies like the Ministry of Health and I do not know how well it’s working in that context.
Thanks for that link Sacha. I guess like any tool it depends on how it is used and that is the issue I am concerned with.
Auckland Transport’s secret further 150 km, $635 million Auckland cycleway plan was EXPOSED at Auckland Council Audit and Risk Ctte meeting 6/12/2017
Subject matter included:
1) The risk to Auckland Council following the alleged failure of Auckland Transport as a Council Controlled Organisation, to comply with its statutory duties arising from the Local Government Act 2002 (s.59), and the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Act 2010, sections 38,39 and 40, regarding the effective imposition of ‘cycleways’ upon local communtities, without full and proper consultation; the cost of these ‘cycleway’ projects, and the cost of remediation of these ‘cycleway’ projects, such as West Lynn.
2) The ‘risk’ regarding the complete lack of public consultation regarding an effectively ‘secret’ AT plan for a further 150 kms of Auckland cycleways, costing $635 million.
https://at.govt.nz/media/1974191/item114-auckland-cycling-programme-for-investmentfinal.pdf
“CONFIDENTIAL Cycling Programme Business Case Recommendation
That the Board: i. Endorse the recommended strategic direction for future investment in cycling in Auckland, the funding of which will be subject to prioritisation through the Integrated Transport Programme (ITP).
Executive summary
1 There is a significant opportunity for cycling to play a more substantial role in contributing to a more effective transport system for Auckland.
During the programme period, transport demands will continue to grow strongly alongside population and employment across the region, placing increasing pressure on congested networks and, in particular, on access to the city centre.
2 We analysed a range of options to identify which package would most effectively deliver the benefits and objectives of the programme, carried out economic modelling and conducted extensive engagement to arrive at a preferred programme of investment.
3 This programme business case recommends an investment of $635m in cycling over the period 2018-2028 to most effectively meet the objectives of the programme.
This would provide benefits of $1.9 to $4.6 for every $1 invested, and would deliver 150km of new cycleways linking to key activity centres and maximising access to public transport.
The investment would see an increase in modal share of trips to work for cycling from 1 per cent to 4 per cent across the Auckland region. ..”
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner
…..
Not seeing the problem penny. Seems like good planning to me.
Top Secret! Oh, except for https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2017/08/02/next-steps-aucklands-cycling-revolution/ and https://www.bikeauckland.org.nz/bike-future-10-year-plan-cycling-auckland/ in August. How did they find out? And published in full on AT’s own website as linked above. Diabolical, batman!