Sure Jenny. It is the word that marks the changing of the media’s attitude to Key.
They will no longer see him as the friendly jokester sort but rather as a cut throat merchant banker sort willing to do anything to divert attention away from his misdeeds.
IIRC FYI FWIW, the “Jarhead” moniker comes from their regulation haircut – an extreme short back and sides that makes their heads look as if they have lids like jars.
“It refers to the Marines propensity to follow orders, regardless of consequences or personal safety. Because of their single-minded willingness to put their duty before themselves, Marines are said to have jarheads…hard on the outside and empty on the inside.”
There is a well known phrase from the Second World War when the Marines, a formidable foe, cemented their authority as the best on the ground that the US had:
Running up a hill to take a machine gun nest is not something that most people would do, but a jarhead will do it every time he is ordered.
a contemporary account would be written as:
Running into a village full of families and throwing white phosphorus grenades whilst screaming flame-throwers eradicate all they touch is not something that most people would do, but a jarhead will do it every time he is ordered
Key is a dick. Oh, yeah, sure, he’s got the shop front down to fine art, but when it comes to back office, the guy is a dick.
SCF, Pike River, ChCh (half price govt buying land, etc)…
But what happened to the media?
Key knew this great bloke. Welcome to glass ceiling 101.
Its the only way a white male without security or military
backgrounds can be the top spy master.
Where is the media?
Any CEO that would have done that, shafted the process, and had his own man put in place would have fallen on their sword.
Sure we could see it as an unruly spy agency who saw the flaw decision, who saw the empty seat, and decided from the US to call in a favor… …what a dick of PM to leave such an opening.
But its worse!
Its the giant revolutionary conservative pyramid scheme, if you buy into the Thatcherite excuses then eventually you’ll be rich too. Look how that turned out. The oil wealth squandered on climate destruction, debt mountains and three decades of lost
opportunities to more with the wealth than panzi around. They weren’t invincible, they didn’t create the boom of the last thirty years, in actual fact it was just dicks sings the same tune, we won it, we won it, enough to get most people half believing it.
Now that the GFC has occurred, things aren’t so easy, people aren’t incentivized by the promises of wealth to go the extra mile for their revolutionary conservative leaders. In
fact they are finding that dicks like Key are just fun to trip up.
Actually the knucklehead journalists are the ones who have been Key supporters ever since he rolled Brian Neeson. He’s always shunned the smart ones—he rarely has the courage to come on National Radio’s morning programme. Now even the slavishly pro-Key journalists are turning on him, as was painfully obvious at that press conference the other day.
Muldoon declared himself the enemy of journalists a generation ago; that did him no good at all. In fact, it was disastrous for him. Key has miscalculated, disastrously—for the National Party, anyway.
From wine to whine, from plonk to plonker! Oh how Key must be wishing for those halcyon days when the entire parliamentary media could be bought off for the price of a bottle of pinot.
Jude Wanniski and economist Art Laffer went to that meeting with Kemp, too. They persuaded Reagan that the old linkage — balanced budget first, tax cuts later — was invalid. They told Reagan that the Republicans would never get to the tax cut because it was too hard to balance the budget. They argued that the tax cut would cause so much growth that it would be easier to balance the budget. So they said, “Reverse the order, don’t keep tax cutting hostage to first balancing the budget.” That was the big change.
And that marked a major change for Republicans.
It was the Rubicon. Once the conservative party said, We don’t have to balance the budget first in order to earn a tax cut, then it just became a bidding war as to who could come up with the greatest gimmicks to stimulate growth
In 2008, a man chased down a boy on a South Auckland street and knifed him to death in public. The Sensible Sentencing Trust, which was, and still is, in the habit of calling itself a “victims’ advocate”, came out on the side of…. the (Pākehā) killer, not the (Māori) victim. For weeks and months after the killing, the S.S. Trust led a sustained campaign of denigration of the victim and the victim’s family. The S.S. leader, Garth McVicar has defiantly refused to apologize for his incendiary and contemptuous statements.
The S.S. Trust has since been de-registered as a charity, but it is still deferred to with respect by many in the media. Instead of being shunned, the S.S. Trust has continued to be approached for quotes. Even on National Radio, it is still referred to as “a victims’ advocacy group”.
Now it looks like they might have, finally, taken one step too far….
The head of the Sensible Sentencing Trust reportedly says it is “namby-pamby nonsense” that it could be prosecuted for publishing a pedophile’s details on its website.
The Human Rights Commission is filing court papers against the group, which advocates for tougher sentences for criminals, saying it has breached the man’s privacy, Fairfax Media reports.
The 58-year-old was jailed for a year in 1995 on five counts of committing indecent acts on two girls aged 10 and 14.
The commission says the man, who was promoted to be a Wellington-based chief executive, lost his job and suffered significant loss, humiliation and harm when his past was revealed, despite having name suppression.
However, there is no court record of the man’s name suppression.
“This is namby-pamby nonsense, with the state having a crack at a voluntary organisation trying to balance a crazy offender-friendly system,” trust spokesman Garth McVicar told Fairfax.
The trust removed the man’s details from the website in 2009 when it was first alerted to the possibility of name suppression, but is declining to promise it will never publish his name.
Perhaps the Human Rights Commission should concentrate their efforts on more worthy causes, it pains me to say it but in this instance I am 100% on the Garth McVicar’s side.
On the off chance that your question wasn’t rhetorical, no. 🙂
The Nonsensical Sentencing trust exists purely as a racist hangover from the colonial days, when Maori were to be moved out of the way or exterminated. You have to understand that only Maori (and a few feral whites) actually commit crimes. People like Garrett and that rock spider ex prosecutor just get caught up in circumstances beyond their control.
I can’t figure out why they’d go after a chief executive though. Maybe he paid all the company taxes, or paid above the minimum wage?
Could this finally be the start of some long overdue persistent questioning of the shonkey one and his crew. FFS he would’ve caved in if they done similar over Tranzrail and blind trusts to name a few of his many deceptions.
‘Knucklehead’ shows he really has lost his cool at a time he needed to be hunkering Down for the usual goldfish brain MSM to move onto something else like a pisshead AB or similar.
Could we see the same exposure of appointments such as Susan devoy, blinglish’s brother, Rebstock etc etc please.
This story highlights nothing but what a clusterfuck the Asset Sales are.
Our Government have just told us citizens that lower electricity prices are a bad thing. Ummm not for most citizens billy boy. The Government say this fundamentally anti-New Zealand statement whilst releasing data reporting hundreds of milllions of extra dollars will be winging their way to the pockets of investors when that same money could be going to further secure the development and growth of New Zealand
“”I find it difficult to believe, living in New Zealand, that I can’t receive the assistance I need to pay my bills and support my child when I’m a victim of a crime,” he said. ”
“He is now in the South Island, living with his ex-partner and baby. He is still on crutches and is being cared for by his former partner, but cannot get financial assistance from either ACC or Work and Income.”
“”I’ve never been on a benefit before this and have always worked, and now I can’t get any help when I really need it.”
Some thoughts from a partially trained benefit rights advocate (only just started!) who thinks Work and Income is screwing these people:
– DPB CSI (domestic purposes benefit for care of sick and infirm) for the ex (article states she is caring for him and the child)
– Sickness benefit (for him as he is unable to work temporarily)
– supplements including accommodation supplement, TAS, Disability allowance (cash asset test must be passed)
– the ministry doesn’t appear to have taken into account individual circumstances which they are required to do
– the relationship is not in the nature of marriage (we haven’t covered this part yet….)
– possibly a relocation grant (depending on circumstances and considered on a case by case basis)
I’m always dubious when Work and Income says they have internally reviewed something. That makes it look as though they have sincerely tried….if only the public knew how often things are missed or the decision not to assist someone is overturned at a Benefit Review Committee or at SSAA level.
Good on you for moving into advocacy work. NZ needs good advocates who can work through the legislative and policy and practise that others struggle with. It’s particularly hard if you are tired and hungry to work through obstacles.
’twas one of the most satisfying periods of my life and one I may return to in more than an ad hoc way one day. I have noticed a significant increase in the recent twelve months with neighbours, friends and family asking and needing advice and support.
For benefit stuff WINZ seems to be the only department that has it’s internal policies and staff instructions on line. Make use of that.
This case based on the news information you’ve linked to raises some interesting questions but you would need more information.
There has certainly been previous cases where care is required and has been provided by an ex-partner that is has been determined that a marriage type relationship didn’t exist and individual benefits have been paid.
The nature of their previous relationship will play a part as there are different rules for married and defacto to relationships. For a married couple you have to be living apart from though in the case above that was a married couple who had been separated for 20 years previously. The husband had become very unwell and his ex was the only one was prepared to care for him.
For DPB CSI he would have to otherwise be hospitalised from memory and being on crutches would not be sufficient to qualify for DPB -CSI. It is a relatively high level of care that is needed.
ACC would only apply if he was working at the time. You can’t get 80% of your earnings if you had none. If working as indicated by the article the issue then would be if he was fit to return to work but wasn’t able to because of the safety concerns rather than actually being unfit. ACC wouldn’t pay in that case.
As for the pricks that have done that to him a pox on them all.
Re the DPB, I’m guessing the issue is that they share a dwelling AND he contributes financially and in other ways to the raising of the kids. It’s got nothing to do with whether they have a sexual relationship or not. It’s a pretty fucked up policy, because the best thing they could do financially would be to live in separate houses, which creates a set of other problems including financial ones.
On the other hand, I don’t know how you make this fair. I’ve asked this of UBI proponents as well – how do you set rates for people on low incomes that make it fair for single people, couples, and people with dependents?
“Ahhhh, ummmm, ahhhhh, look, ummmm”
Those razor-sharp New Zealand business commentators
Susan Wood, in for Larry Williams Drive, NewstalkZB, Thursday 4 April 2013
More than a decade ago, Susan Wood made herself into a national laughing-stock when she flirted live on television with the sleazy Irish-American dancer/impresario Michael Flatley. She was filling in for Paul Holmes on that occasion; Hawkes Bay’s finest was off work, busy trying to salvage his disastrous first marriage. Wood has made substituting for unpleasant males her stock-in-trade: she often covers for Larry “Lackwit” Williams when he is absent from his pisspoor Larry Williams Drive show.
Let’s cut to the good news first: at least Larry “Lackwit” Williams himself was not on his eponymous show this afternoon. Otherwise, though, it’s strictly bad news. Wood is still playing the dim blonde to a succession of slimeballs and second-raters. But none of the men she interviews now has the saving grace of being able to dance….
6:30 P.M….. SUSAN WOOD:[tones of jubilation] It’s finally happening! Mighty River Power shares are going on sale at last! Patrick Smellie from Business Desk joins us! Patrick, there’ll be a lot of relief that it’s finally happening! PATRICK SMELLIE: Yes, they’ll be pouring a few glasses of champagne at the offices of Tony Ryall and Bill English this evening! SUSAN WOOD: Rio Tinto is on the back foot, isn’t it! SMELLIE:[soberly] Yes I think the government is not going to be intimidated. SUSAN WOOD: Mighty River Power boss Mark Binns—we know him from when he was with Fletchers! He’s one tough cookie! He and the Prime Minister—they’re BOTH a couple of TOUGH negotiators aren’t they! SMELLIE: Yes, that’s correct. Mark Binns is a real head-knocker.
6.35 P.M….. SUSAN WOOD: All right, we’re joined by Rob Hosking from the National Business Review! Ohhhhh, the GCSB row! It feels like it’s been going on in my head for MONTHS now! ROB HOSKING: Look, ahhhhhhmmmm, as I wrote in my column today, ahhhh, ummm, this is a Bowen Triangle story. SUSAN WOOD: He he he he! ROB HOSKING: The Bowen Triangle is like the Bermuda Triangle. Ahhhhhmmm. There’s this small area in the middle of Wellington. Ahhhhhmmmm. You’ve got Parliament, the Beehive, the Public Service Tower, and Treasury over the road. It’s like the Bermuda Triangle. It’s an alternative reality. SUSAN WOOD: He he he he! ROB HOSKING: Common sense disappears there. SUSAN WOOD: He he he he! ROB HOSKING: Look, the right guy got appointed. SUSAN WOOD: Yeah!!! ROB HOSKING: And the thing is, who cares HOW he was appointed? SUSAN WOOD: Yeah!!!! So who cares? That’s the thing! ROB HOSKING: And it all amounts to a huge fuss over one phone call—or a couple of phone calls. SUSAN WOOD: Exactly! And I still have not heard one person who thinks that the appointment of Ian Fletcher was a bad idea! ROB HOSKING: No.
[Several seconds of silence follow as Wood and Hosking, and no doubt the few sentient listeners in their audience, ponder the absurdity and brazen dishonesty of that assertion.]
SUSAN WOOD: I like the name “Bowen Triangle”! Like it! Anyway, they’re off to China next week and the news agenda will change. They’re going to announce a whole lot of good things! ROB HOSKING: Yep! SUSAN WOOD: The dairy payout announced today means more good news for farmers! ROB HOSKING: Ahhhhhhmmm, I think we’ll have good news this coming week. SUSAN WOOD: Well, hallelujah! It’s about time! Rob Hosking, thank you! Liam Dann next!
6:45 P.M….. SUSAN WOOD: Liam Dann, business writer for the New Zealand Herald joins us now. Liam, the death of 2 Degrees boss Eric Hertz was a TRAGEDY wasn’t it! LIAM DANN: Yeah, ahhhhhhh, a real loss, ahhhhh, I guess, ummmm. Ahhhh, ummmm, ahhhhh, look, ummmm, he was a very good CEO by all accounts, ummmmm…..
…et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam, ad absurdum….
INTERESTING FACT….
One of NewstalkZB’s slogans is “Tune Your Mind.”
The threats against the United States by North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong-un, are “probably all bluster”, said Gary Samore, until recently the top nuclear proliferation expert on President Barack Obama’s national security staff.
The North Koreans “are not suicidal. They know that any kind of direct attack (on the United States) would be end of their country,” he added.
T_T
You’d think analysts would know by know the numerous failure states of the M.A.D. Doctrine, particularly the rather real problem that the humans who make decisions at the state level can be rather irrational in their choices…
In the case of NK, we are very much not dealing with a system that could be called “rational”. For decades it’s starved it’s civilian population in order to continue to maintain and increase it’s military capabilities, all the while pumping out levels of state propaganda that would embarrass even zombie Stalin with it’s severe detachment from reality. Then there’s the chronic use of threats and military posturing, along with maintaining a rather stupid amount of artillery pointed at Seoul. And to boot we have little information on whether or not the military leaders believe their own lies about NK’s capabilities. Furthermore, I suspect not even China has sufficient intelligence gained via human intelligence resources on the actual mentality of the NK state leadership. Thus assuming rational actors lead NK strikes me as somewhat faulty reasoning.
Will it end in some form of military conflict? Probably, but the scale of any conflict(s) is rather difficult to determine, especially as China’s interests are mainly focused on stopping a flood of NK refugees over it’s borders, along with maintaining it’s usual trade interests with SK. Which in the event of a large scale military conflict would likely be severely disrupted by NK attacks on SK economic infrastructure and/or the likely flood of NK refugees to SK. Thus I think China will likely use a range of bribes, threats and promises of military retaliation on NK in order to try and force the NK leadership to back down. The outcome of China’s efforts thus will likely determine the level of conflict that will occur.
Worst case scenario? NK drops a nuke with destructive capacity similar to the Fat Man bomb used on Nagasaki on a high value target, along with saturation artillery and missile attacks. Targeting firstly SK govt, but primarily military infrastructure with in SK in order to limit the capability of SK and US military forces to mount a counter attack. Along with targeting civilian centres to split off remaining SK-US forces to deal with refugees and the injured.
– Given the lack of a suitable delivery platform, NK would likely use it’s sole nuke close to the DMZ, or may try dropping it after hitting SK-US air-defences with artillery (NK lacks tech-base to accurately hit things with missiles, artillery on the other hand is well within their capacities…). HV targets could include any invasion attempts, but suspect NK relying on first strike tactics, rather than deterrence.
– Missiles will mostly hit SK, with some overseas targets for propaganda reasons in Japan and other US military bases.
– China likely to lock down their border with NK, or depending on what the Chinese leadership decides, invade NK to “stabilise” it and maintain NK as a buffer state. While SK-US fight off NK troop surge with low-ish causalities and deal with a refugee surge.
– Unlikely that small scale nuclear exchange will occur, due to change in nuclear doctrines of cold-war actors.
Best Case Scenario?- NK fires off some artillery rounds in a similar display to the shelling of Yeonpyeong in 2010. Resulting in low civilian causalities, highly likely though they’ll try for a small SK or US military site to really “show” they’re a threat.
– This however assumes business as usual within the leadership of NK, which per prior reasoning is somewhat problematic…
Current Projection – NK hits multiple, low value civilian targets close to it’s border with SK, with the aim to force concessions from regional powers, who do not retaliate fully and evacuate civilian were need be. Likely to cause further sanctions rather than remove them, could very likely result in the current Kim becoming merely a figure head. Civilian reaction in SK rather muted after the shock wears off, rather than revenge minded.
– Likely small scale retaliation against NK military assets, targeting artillery emplacements and any naval forces close to NK’s maritime borders.
– Possible strike on NK nuclear assets, but only if China and Russia agree to it.
– Probable China will move more military assets to it’s border to put more pressure on NK leadership to behave.
– Low-ish chance NK may air-test a nuclear weapon as a display of power, but due to low capacity of it’s nuclear infrastructure, it’s unlikely they have a another device ready.
Pretty much, if there was better HUMINT on NK’s plans etc, or they weren’t so secretive it’d be easier for planners to know wtf NK is up to and plan accordingly, heck even the USSR got this and usually “co-operated”. But what we seem to have is a deformed workers republic leadership that believes it’s own ideology and thinks threats will always work, with a young, untested hereditary leader.
Luckily this isn’t the cold war and the US government at present dislikes getting involved conflicts (if it was Bush….), while China is ruled by plutocrats those main aim is teh monies and so while they’ll posture to keep the proletariat happy and stay regional hegemone, war tends to fuck up trade badly.
Except in this case the nation actors involved have very, very deep trade ties (all bar NK) trade ties which if disrupted would lead to major socio-economic issues*, along with lacking the ideological excuses for justifying major conflict. Although yes, with increased debt levels, there’s greater social stress, so smaller ethno-religious conflicts tend to have a nasty habit of breaking out and right-wing/authoritarian fuckwits have greater political appeal and in order to maintain power, stupidly start conflicts they can’t win e.g. Falklands War, Georgia’s incursion into Sth Ossetia.
______________________________________________________________
*r.e. The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention, it doesn’t apply universally though, as ethno-religious/nationalist and treaty obligations can bring otherwise developed, economically close states into war. Albeit in the case of Russia attacking Georgia, it’s more short term, quick strike conflicts. Resource issues can also trigger them, but risks negative international reaction.
1: You have no idea who has been controlling NK, nor from reading your comment, are you aware of the historical formation of NK, and the various parties which had hands in it.
2: Have a look into the relationship development betweeen NK/SK/Japan, then guess who might have the most to lose by not having that wonderful *boogie man*, North Korea, in such a *convenient location*
You’re a person-non-gratis in my view, so you’ve been shit-binned into my “skip comment” mental list and given recent info about your aims, it’s richly deserved.
Can anyone point me in the direction of the impressive post on here that details all of nationals lies and failings. – the very long (and growing) list that it is?
I feel a bit sick, Tracy Watkins just dumped ten deaths in Helen Clark’s lap,
“This is the world she has thrown Kiwi troops into – a war zone that will ultimately claim the lives of 10 New Zealand soldiers, and end up being our longest-ever combat mission – longer by far than either of the two world wars. ” no mention that the reason they are dead is that John Key kept them there far longer than necessary ( regardless of whether they should have been there at all). Tracy Watkins goes on to further encrust the pants of platitude with a boy’s own “ain’t he a hero” line.
” IF the war defined Helen Clark’s early years in power, it has had an equally personal impact on John Key. He has never known a time as prime minister when New Zealand wasn’t at war. “
That agreement is what it is, but it isn’t NATO, ffs.
For starters, members of NATO have mutual defence obligations. If any member is being attacked, they can invoke NATO clauses that deem the attack to be on all NATO members. That’s the foundational purpose of NATO, and there is nothing like it in our agreement with the US.
Not seeing any where in that piece, or the one of yours you link to in comments over there that says we are members of NATO.
I’d would be very disturbed to see such a thing if it exists.
The so called Washington Declaration does no such thing of course, it is a weaker agreement even than ANZUS, which was itself a much weaker agreement than the one binding NATO countries together.
I’m sorry that I keep asking for evidence for the stuff you claim to be true, but I have my reasons for that, based on your reliability in the past.
Now, maybe Watkins needs to be reminded of a few things – as shown in this Scoop 2007 copy from Hansard in 2003, re NZ sending troops to join the coalition of the willing’s front line forces in invading Iraq:
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Leader of the Opposition): The National Party will be supporting a coalition of the willing. We believe that it is in the interests of global peace and the long-term interests of New Zealand to see Saddam decisively disarmed. National has supported the United Nations process up until the time that it has failed. Along with the Government, we supported Resolution 1441. More recently, we supported the moves by the United Kingdom, Australia, the US, and others, to bring forward a second resolution to the United Nations. We did so, not in the belief that war could necessarily be averted, but in the belief that if there was a war, it should have the broad support of the international community. There is now no second resolution, and we believe that in the absence of such a resolution, it is the correct choice for New Zealand to support the coalition of the willing, which includes our traditional allies the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia….
But in 2003, as a newly elected MP, he boasted that National would indeed be sending troops to Iraq, in defiance of the United Nations.
At that time, Key attacked Labour’s disloyalty to the United States and proudly offered to send our young men and women in uniform as part of Bush’s invasion of an innocent and defenceless people.
He got rather carried away, espousing all sorts of nonsense, including that blood was thicker than water when it came to supporting the United States over the United Nations.
“” IF the war defined Helen Clark’s early years in power, it has had an equally personal impact on John Key. He has never known a time as prime minister when New Zealand wasn’t at war. “
Eh?!
Excuse me but I dont recall the economy being directed to focus on the war effort, with factories being retooled to make munitions and tanks? I dont recall seeing footage of towns farewelling all their menfolk as they march off, or households encouraged to preserve food for the war effort? Anyone recall blackouts being imposed, or being issued with ration books? Travelling being restricted for essential purposes only?
I would hardly call a deployment of a handful or personnell to a UN sanctioned military operation being ‘at war’.
got off lightly, considering, unlike the US Forces…unlike the nationals who remain. Been a few analyses of likely Afghanistan future; Iraq anybody? Power loves a vacuum, ain’t that the Ugly Truth.
Heresy. I’m getting the feeling that The Standard is becoming not much more than a middle class ineffectual protest outlet managed by the traitorous Labour party. A carousel of meaningless protest! 🙁
“emergent service worker” ackshully; at your service, well, on call -houses moved, gardens turned, hungry fed, cats adopted, causes concerned, words wound, commentors admired, or not, *sighs* loaned…sigh “As Good As It Gets” and Puddleglum come to mind…
– We seek a 50% reduction in New Zealand’s carbon-equivalent net emissions, as compared to 1990 levels, by 2050. 50 by 50. We will write the target into law.
(Respectfully request crowd sourcing here – I can see there are few that didn’t come out due to my poor typing but now I can see them, I’ll fix them. If you’re in the mood, please click a couple or more of the links and let me know if there are any duds. If lots of people click a few random ones, should get through them all. Thanks in advance.)
You rock, thanks mate. I’ve patched up a couple that didn’t format correctly. The RNZ one? Is that the one which links to the media watch programme in regard to the “the public made me change the law for the Hobbits” ??
Thank youse all, kind words and checking much appreciated. I will write up a post including the list and submit it for publication here some time around when John Key gets back from his current photo-op tiki tour.
Who pays for this expensive recovery of bodies from the deep sea? The poverty-stricken government? And how sad that a quick response can be made to mount this recovery operation while Pike River workers’ families wait and wait.
Was all the high-tech stuff that presumably is available used for exploring the Pike River mine? Weren’t there small radio-controlled planes that could be mounted with a camera sort of like DOC does in surveilling their areas of responsibility?
People using private boats and planes should have to participate in some insurance scheme that helps to meet the costs of search and rescue, or be faced with a set charge per day that might have to come out of their estates. The government can weigh people down with heavy fines for being lax or stupid and someone who had a road accident was being charged for assistance rendered, which if it was an accident is a burden on a low income person. Is everybody paying their fair share for rescue services?
People using private boats and planes should have to participate in some insurance scheme that helps to meet the costs of search and rescue…
I’ve been thinking of boating licenses and boat registration. Admittedly, that’s from listening to my family and hearing the stories of people out driving boats who obviously have NFI what the give way rules are but it would still apply.
Boat licences would be a great idea. I can’t remember the number of times I was almost run into rocks crossing river bars by clueless idiots in expensive boats. I’ve also had to pull the pick up more than a couple of times to avoid getting run over by gin palaces on autpilot between Auckland and the Bay of Islands. They seem to think that once they get past Kawau, the sea a few miles offshore will be empty until they hit Cape Brett. While we’re at it, make them start with nothing more powerful than 25 hp and outlaw jetskis altogether.
Offshore rescue responsibilities are also something I’ve thought about, without reaching any conclusions. We are responsible for a huge area, so that if someone from Europe sets off in a leaky boat and makes it into the Southern Ocean somewhere south of the Auckland Islands, we can be responsible for rescuing them. It doesn’t seem quite right that we should pay for that while we can’t put lunches in front of kids at school, for example. It also doesn’t seem right to leave them to drown, but……..
We can’t afford to look after NZs properly Murrayv O. This high seas bit – who pays for the container ship rerouted to save some unfortunate or stupid people ‘out of their depth’ in the southern waters. We need to help boat people, and make them an important priority, and can’t afford to be the back-up. People are being run down at night by computer driven container ships on top of the increased rough weather that is going to be a continual problem to sea travellers.
Two men had to take a lifeboat after the sinking of a fishing vessel from Nelson that was trying to get a haul of fish but keep the location secret. The skipper took on some guys who didn’t have much work. The boat went down, the skipper with it, and the two men drifted lost till they died of thirst and starvation I think. We need to help the unfortunate and then look at some recovery of expenses if they can afford it. By no means should they be expected to pay all recovery costs though. At present a teenage girl can determine to sail round the world in the knowledge that she can be sure of rescue as the world’s media spotlights her every move.
The sea and also the wild places in NZ are not places where one can easily survive when weakened or under attack by natural forces. Expectation of reimbursement for say half of the rescue costs must be made in NZ and an insurance scheme set up to cover such costs. It wouldn’t even be complete user pays, it would be a contribution. But those who had big assets would pay above their insurance payout for advanced services if they had been called on, such as provided to the alcohol magnate Michael Erceg in his helicopter and now these wealthy people on the seabed.
Then perhaps some compassionate care for injured and dead workers could be afforded.
The leader of the Australian opposition is an incompetent, inconsistent, blithering idiot who can hardly string a coherent system. He’s widely predicted to win election to PM by a landslide. One difference is that he has virtually all the media promoting him and denigrating the government. Is this what Labour will be counting on with Shearer? Now that Shonkey has called journalists knuckleheads, is their secret plan working?
Sorry Murray, but Gillard hasn’t shown the guts and the principle that the electorate has been looking for. Tony won’t win the election; Julia is going to lose it.
My English is getting worse. “Coherent system” should be “coherent sentence together.”
In reply to CV: Gillard has shown plenty of guts and ability. She’s held a minority government together despite everything that’s been thrown at her. It’s her principles that are suspect. She stands somewhere close to Key on the political spectrum.
If there is a serious point to my post, it is that the Australian media is deciding the election. They do it in a far, far more blatant way than the Kiwi media, but subtlety probably would go over the heads of their readership/audience. The “respectable” newspapers publish stuff that makes WhaleSpew look balanced, and the shock jocks make Michael Laws look like a proponent of Tino Rangatiratanga.
As to losers: the Australian workers and anyone without a Southern Cross tattooed on their scrawny bicep will be the ones who lose. And they will lose big time.
Does anybody remember JANET GROSSMAN, the hot shot cut and slash manager hired to become Work and Income’s Deputy CEO in July 2011?
This is what the NZ Herald reported on her sudden, unexpected resignation in June last year, barely a year in her senior job then. Rumours had it, that she was furious about a so-called Welfare Board, set up or led by Paula Rebstock, to oversee her work to “reform” the department and “improve” their systems.
According to that she was officially employed by WINZ until August 2012. So she got paid for the notice period that is likely to have applied, plus probably for her return move to the UK, by the public purse. No wonder Paula Bandit (aka “Benefit” or “Bennett”) did not front up with any figures, nor the state services agency that looks after paying public service CEOs.
AND to make it all more interesting: GROSSMAN apparently had a new senior job LINED UP in the UK. She did already in September 2012 take up a new senior position as ‘Non Executive Member of the Board’ for the UK Ministry of Justice, Public Guardian Office!
A month later she took on a second appointment, yes a SECOND JOB, which she does besides of the one just mentioned, at Her Majesty’s Royal Customs – Valuation Office Agency!
Now if she had some serious family matters to attend to, how could she then so soon take on two important jobs of that calibre?
Hence THE TRUTH IS OUT, Grossman left, because Bennett and the government p***ed her off something HUGE, and in some ways apparently must also have breached her employment contract (by not disclosing others would interfere with her job, or changing the terms without consultation), which gave her a good, justified reason to THROW IN THE TOWEL WITH MSD AND WINZ!
Interesting stuff, is it not? Why are the MSM not delivering us such news???
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
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Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
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Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
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Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
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“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
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Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
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Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
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The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
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The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
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Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
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Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
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Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
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Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
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The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
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A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
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There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules – and costs – that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didn’t know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race he’d dreamed ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 24 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
COMMENTARY:By Murray Horton New Zealand needs to get tough with Israel. It’s not as if we haven’t done so before. When NZ authorities busted a Mossad operation in Auckland 20 years ago, the government didn’t say: “Oh well, Israel has the right to defend itself.” No, it arrested, prosecuted, ...
NEWSMAKERS:By Vijay Narayan, news director of FijiVillage Blessed to be part of the University of Fiji (UniFiji) faculty to continue to teach and mentor those who want to join our noble profession, and to stand for truth and justice for the people of the country. I was privileged to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, ...
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The government's plan to reintroduce a three strikes regime is being strongly opposed by lawyers, who argue there is no evidence it reduces crime or helps people rehabilitate. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Professor specialising in Internet law, Bond University Do Australian courts have the right to decide what foreign citizens, located overseas, view online on a foreign-owned platform? Anyone inclined to answer “yes” to this question should perhaps also ask ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni E Ferreira, NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney Last week in a post on X, owner of the platform Elon Musk recommended people look into disc replacement if they’re experiencing severe neck or back pain. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University anek.soowannaphoom/Shutterstock NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey caught the headlines yesterday, courtesy of a blistering speech condemning the latest GST carve-up. New South Wales, he claimed, would be A$11.9 billion worse off over the ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived at Kokoda Station, Northern province, at the start of his state visit to Papua New Guinea. Both Albanese and Prime Minister James Marape will meet with the locals and the Northern Provincial government before they begin their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of Canberra Shutterstock An important principle was invoked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week in defence of the government’s Future Made in Australia industry ...
And the word of the day is …
Knuckleheads!
Would you like to expand on this statemment Micky?
Sure Jenny. It is the word that marks the changing of the media’s attitude to Key.
They will no longer see him as the friendly jokester sort but rather as a cut throat merchant banker sort willing to do anything to divert attention away from his misdeeds.
But surely this change in perception by the media is more rational than knuckleheaded?
Did you not see that yesterday Key said MSM journalists (who dare to ask him searching questions) are “knuckleheads”.
Edit: “searching” may be a bit of an overstatement. Maybe just political journalists doing their jobs and asking questions, sometimes critical.
Ah, I understand the reference now.
Micky meant knuckleheads, in a good way.
Good on the media. Keep asking the hard knuckle questions of Key. (And all politicians).
Maybe for journalists, from a term of abuse, knucklehead could transform into a term of respect, a compliment of a job well done.
“knucklehead could transform into a term of respect, a compliment of a job well done.”
Who ever wrote John Campbell’s opening line last night must think so.
Jarhead a term that when used by civilians to describe Marines is considered derogatory. But when used among Marines is a sign of respect.
“Oorah jarhead, semper fi!”
Oorah knucklehead, semper fi (stay loyal) to the best traditions of the journalist ethos.
I get you, I’m just having a dig at JC’s script writers.
IIRC FYI FWIW, the “Jarhead” moniker comes from their regulation haircut – an extreme short back and sides that makes their heads look as if they have lids like jars.
like our PM says, there are other opinions though
“It refers to the Marines propensity to follow orders, regardless of consequences or personal safety. Because of their single-minded willingness to put their duty before themselves, Marines are said to have jarheads…hard on the outside and empty on the inside.”
There is a well known phrase from the Second World War when the Marines, a formidable foe, cemented their authority as the best on the ground that the US had:
Running up a hill to take a machine gun nest is not something that most people would do, but a jarhead will do it every time he is ordered.
a contemporary account would be written as:
Running into a village full of families and throwing white phosphorus grenades whilst screaming flame-throwers eradicate all they touch is not something that most people would do, but a jarhead will do it every time he is ordered
Key is a dick. Oh, yeah, sure, he’s got the shop front down to fine art, but when it comes to back office, the guy is a dick.
SCF, Pike River, ChCh (half price govt buying land, etc)…
But what happened to the media?
Key knew this great bloke. Welcome to glass ceiling 101.
Its the only way a white male without security or military
backgrounds can be the top spy master.
Where is the media?
Any CEO that would have done that, shafted the process, and had his own man put in place would have fallen on their sword.
Sure we could see it as an unruly spy agency who saw the flaw decision, who saw the empty seat, and decided from the US to call in a favor… …what a dick of PM to leave such an opening.
But its worse!
Its the giant revolutionary conservative pyramid scheme, if you buy into the Thatcherite excuses then eventually you’ll be rich too. Look how that turned out. The oil wealth squandered on climate destruction, debt mountains and three decades of lost
opportunities to more with the wealth than panzi around. They weren’t invincible, they didn’t create the boom of the last thirty years, in actual fact it was just dicks sings the same tune, we won it, we won it, enough to get most people half believing it.
Now that the GFC has occurred, things aren’t so easy, people aren’t incentivized by the promises of wealth to go the extra mile for their revolutionary conservative leaders. In
fact they are finding that dicks like Key are just fun to trip up.
Novopay….
Our PM is a dick.
“Our PM is a dick”. So, what does that make the opposition ? Shearer, Robertson, Mallard, Cosgrove……. You tell me when to stop.
Actually the knucklehead journalists are the ones who have been Key supporters ever since he rolled Brian Neeson. He’s always shunned the smart ones—he rarely has the courage to come on National Radio’s morning programme. Now even the slavishly pro-Key journalists are turning on him, as was painfully obvious at that press conference the other day.
Muldoon declared himself the enemy of journalists a generation ago; that did him no good at all. In fact, it was disastrous for him. Key has miscalculated, disastrously—for the National Party, anyway.
From wine to whine, from plonk to plonker! Oh how Key must be wishing for those halcyon days when the entire parliamentary media could be bought off for the price of a bottle of pinot.
http://www.3news.co.nz/John-Key-and-his-vineyard-investments/tabid/1382/articleID/157713/Default.aspx
Former Reagan cabinet member David Stockman: We’re Going to Have a Crisis’
So what happened in Kemp’s meeting with Reagan?
Jude Wanniski and economist Art Laffer went to that meeting with Kemp, too. They persuaded Reagan that the old linkage — balanced budget first, tax cuts later — was invalid. They told Reagan that the Republicans would never get to the tax cut because it was too hard to balance the budget. They argued that the tax cut would cause so much growth that it would be easier to balance the budget. So they said, “Reverse the order, don’t keep tax cutting hostage to first balancing the budget.” That was the big change.
And that marked a major change for Republicans.
It was the Rubicon. Once the conservative party said, We don’t have to balance the budget first in order to earn a tax cut, then it just became a bidding war as to who could come up with the greatest gimmicks to stimulate growth
edit: machine ate the link.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/were-going-to-have-a-crisis-david-stockmans-stark-warning-for-america/274554/
“edit: machine ate the link.”
The ghost (of Reagan doing his master’s bidding) in the machine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zHN4vCfwh4
He’s still a nut.
As long as he just has mild disagreements with Wanniski, imma just gonna write the rest off.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/feast-the-wingnuts
Just how crazy those guys were is pretty wildly underestimated IMO.
…douglas….insanity..fuck..
Is this the end for the S.S. Trust?
In 2008, a man chased down a boy on a South Auckland street and knifed him to death in public. The Sensible Sentencing Trust, which was, and still is, in the habit of calling itself a “victims’ advocate”, came out on the side of…. the (Pākehā) killer, not the (Māori) victim. For weeks and months after the killing, the S.S. Trust led a sustained campaign of denigration of the victim and the victim’s family. The S.S. leader, Garth McVicar has defiantly refused to apologize for his incendiary and contemptuous statements.
The S.S. Trust has since been de-registered as a charity, but it is still deferred to with respect by many in the media. Instead of being shunned, the S.S. Trust has continued to be approached for quotes. Even on National Radio, it is still referred to as “a victims’ advocacy group”.
Now it looks like they might have, finally, taken one step too far….
Trust prosecuted over pedophile’s details
NZ Newswire April 6, 2013, 7:52 am
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/16587896/trust-prosecuted-over-pedophiles-details/
The head of the Sensible Sentencing Trust reportedly says it is “namby-pamby nonsense” that it could be prosecuted for publishing a pedophile’s details on its website.
The Human Rights Commission is filing court papers against the group, which advocates for tougher sentences for criminals, saying it has breached the man’s privacy, Fairfax Media reports.
The 58-year-old was jailed for a year in 1995 on five counts of committing indecent acts on two girls aged 10 and 14.
The commission says the man, who was promoted to be a Wellington-based chief executive, lost his job and suffered significant loss, humiliation and harm when his past was revealed, despite having name suppression.
However, there is no court record of the man’s name suppression.
“This is namby-pamby nonsense, with the state having a crack at a voluntary organisation trying to balance a crazy offender-friendly system,” trust spokesman Garth McVicar told Fairfax.
The trust removed the man’s details from the website in 2009 when it was first alerted to the possibility of name suppression, but is declining to promise it will never publish his name.
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/16587896/trust-prosecuted-over-pedophiles-details/
Perhaps the Human Rights Commission should concentrate their efforts on more worthy causes, it pains me to say it but in this instance I am 100% on the Garth McVicar’s side.
That explains your head-wear, you hapless moron.
wow …… why iyo am I a hapless moron ?
For supporting McVicar. Duh.
And yet wasn’t it mcvictim who supported name suppression for that nice mr garret who stole the identity of a dead baby ?
Indeed it was. McVicar has also repeatedly insisted that he thinks Garrett is an outstanding person, who has been treated harshly.
SST lose their moral high ground if they won’t follow the law. Hopefully this is a nail in their coffin.
SST lose their moral high ground if they won’t follow the law.
The S.S. Trust has moral high ground to lose?
On the off chance that your question wasn’t rhetorical, no. 🙂
The Nonsensical Sentencing trust exists purely as a racist hangover from the colonial days, when Maori were to be moved out of the way or exterminated. You have to understand that only Maori (and a few feral whites) actually commit crimes. People like Garrett and that rock spider ex prosecutor just get caught up in circumstances beyond their control.
I can’t figure out why they’d go after a chief executive though. Maybe he paid all the company taxes, or paid above the minimum wage?
No one likes peadophiles, but if the SS Trust carry on the way it is going, we will be having lynchings in the street.
If this man is dragged from his house and lynched by an angry mob…??
Not all police are pigs
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/03/30/west-midlands-police-officers-in-animal-onesies-arrest-man/
Half the comment was missing.
Not all police are pigs
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/03/30/west-midlands-police-officers-in-animal-onesies-arrest-man/
Next to that was another story about yellow carding tenants.
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/crime/2013/04/05/yellow-card-warning-for-parents-of-sandwell-yobs/
I’m not sure which story is more farcical but the Monty Python crew would never have thought this stuff would ever come to be.
Could this finally be the start of some long overdue persistent questioning of the shonkey one and his crew. FFS he would’ve caved in if they done similar over Tranzrail and blind trusts to name a few of his many deceptions.
‘Knucklehead’ shows he really has lost his cool at a time he needed to be hunkering Down for the usual goldfish brain MSM to move onto something else like a pisshead AB or similar.
Could we see the same exposure of appointments such as Susan devoy, blinglish’s brother, Rebstock etc etc please.
How we can STOP the sale of Mighty River Power!
Pick out all the info in this Mighty River Power prospectus – which you believe to be ‘misleading’ – and send it back to me.
ASAP 🙂
Mighty River Power prospectus:
https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=18afffb768&view=att&th=13ddc0c862efa428&attid=0.0&disp=inline&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P-I5Cd-lIWIP7LzmJSi9erv&sadet=1365196872571&sads=BaBgh2d7WPMMI0nfouL8Nl_jJ3A
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
This story highlights nothing but what a clusterfuck the Asset Sales are.
Our Government have just told us citizens that lower electricity prices are a bad thing. Ummm not for most citizens billy boy. The Government say this fundamentally anti-New Zealand statement whilst releasing data reporting hundreds of milllions of extra dollars will be winging their way to the pockets of investors when that same money could be going to further secure the development and growth of New Zealand
are we citizens or chattels ?
“lower electricity prices as a result of Tiwai closure are a lie.”-Tim Shadbolt. hmmm…?
I think Tim Shadbolt lost whatever credibility he ever had about 1970. He was never much more than a one man circus act.
yes, find the south may be crutching at stalls.
Nah, you may be underestimating Shadbolt. He’s run some outstanding initiatives for generating economic growth in Invercargill and Southland.
yes, yet, what are the odds of a provincially based / biased initiative altering the run of play regarding the global smeltering of aluminium.
Hi Penny,
It won’t open for me – the link goes to the gmail login page.
“”I find it difficult to believe, living in New Zealand, that I can’t receive the assistance I need to pay my bills and support my child when I’m a victim of a crime,” he said. ”
“He is now in the South Island, living with his ex-partner and baby. He is still on crutches and is being cared for by his former partner, but cannot get financial assistance from either ACC or Work and Income.”
“”I’ve never been on a benefit before this and have always worked, and now I can’t get any help when I really need it.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/8516503/Beaten-dad-forced-to-flee-town-from-gang
Some thoughts from a partially trained benefit rights advocate (only just started!) who thinks Work and Income is screwing these people:
– DPB CSI (domestic purposes benefit for care of sick and infirm) for the ex (article states she is caring for him and the child)
– Sickness benefit (for him as he is unable to work temporarily)
– supplements including accommodation supplement, TAS, Disability allowance (cash asset test must be passed)
– the ministry doesn’t appear to have taken into account individual circumstances which they are required to do
– the relationship is not in the nature of marriage (we haven’t covered this part yet….)
– possibly a relocation grant (depending on circumstances and considered on a case by case basis)
I’m always dubious when Work and Income says they have internally reviewed something. That makes it look as though they have sincerely tried….if only the public knew how often things are missed or the decision not to assist someone is overturned at a Benefit Review Committee or at SSAA level.
Good on you for moving into advocacy work. NZ needs good advocates who can work through the legislative and policy and practise that others struggle with. It’s particularly hard if you are tired and hungry to work through obstacles.
’twas one of the most satisfying periods of my life and one I may return to in more than an ad hoc way one day. I have noticed a significant increase in the recent twelve months with neighbours, friends and family asking and needing advice and support.
For benefit stuff WINZ seems to be the only department that has it’s internal policies and staff instructions on line. Make use of that.
This case based on the news information you’ve linked to raises some interesting questions but you would need more information.
There has certainly been previous cases where care is required and has been provided by an ex-partner that is has been determined that a marriage type relationship didn’t exist and individual benefits have been paid.
The nature of their previous relationship will play a part as there are different rules for married and defacto to relationships. For a married couple you have to be living apart from though in the case above that was a married couple who had been separated for 20 years previously. The husband had become very unwell and his ex was the only one was prepared to care for him.
For DPB CSI he would have to otherwise be hospitalised from memory and being on crutches would not be sufficient to qualify for DPB -CSI. It is a relatively high level of care that is needed.
ACC would only apply if he was working at the time. You can’t get 80% of your earnings if you had none. If working as indicated by the article the issue then would be if he was fit to return to work but wasn’t able to because of the safety concerns rather than actually being unfit. ACC wouldn’t pay in that case.
As for the pricks that have done that to him a pox on them all.
Re the DPB, I’m guessing the issue is that they share a dwelling AND he contributes financially and in other ways to the raising of the kids. It’s got nothing to do with whether they have a sexual relationship or not. It’s a pretty fucked up policy, because the best thing they could do financially would be to live in separate houses, which creates a set of other problems including financial ones.
On the other hand, I don’t know how you make this fair. I’ve asked this of UBI proponents as well – how do you set rates for people on low incomes that make it fair for single people, couples, and people with dependents?
“Ahhhh, ummmm, ahhhhh, look, ummmm”
Those razor-sharp New Zealand business commentators
Susan Wood, in for Larry Williams Drive, NewstalkZB, Thursday 4 April 2013
More than a decade ago, Susan Wood made herself into a national laughing-stock when she flirted live on television with the sleazy Irish-American dancer/impresario Michael Flatley. She was filling in for Paul Holmes on that occasion; Hawkes Bay’s finest was off work, busy trying to salvage his disastrous first marriage. Wood has made substituting for unpleasant males her stock-in-trade: she often covers for Larry “Lackwit” Williams when he is absent from his pisspoor Larry Williams Drive show.
Let’s cut to the good news first: at least Larry “Lackwit” Williams himself was not on his eponymous show this afternoon. Otherwise, though, it’s strictly bad news. Wood is still playing the dim blonde to a succession of slimeballs and second-raters. But none of the men she interviews now has the saving grace of being able to dance….
6:30 P.M…..
SUSAN WOOD: [tones of jubilation] It’s finally happening! Mighty River Power shares are going on sale at last! Patrick Smellie from Business Desk joins us! Patrick, there’ll be a lot of relief that it’s finally happening!
PATRICK SMELLIE: Yes, they’ll be pouring a few glasses of champagne at the offices of Tony Ryall and Bill English this evening!
SUSAN WOOD: Rio Tinto is on the back foot, isn’t it!
SMELLIE: [soberly] Yes I think the government is not going to be intimidated.
SUSAN WOOD: Mighty River Power boss Mark Binns—we know him from when he was with Fletchers! He’s one tough cookie! He and the Prime Minister—they’re BOTH a couple of TOUGH negotiators aren’t they!
SMELLIE: Yes, that’s correct. Mark Binns is a real head-knocker.
6.35 P.M…..
SUSAN WOOD: All right, we’re joined by Rob Hosking from the National Business Review! Ohhhhh, the GCSB row! It feels like it’s been going on in my head for MONTHS now!
ROB HOSKING: Look, ahhhhhhmmmm, as I wrote in my column today, ahhhh, ummm, this is a Bowen Triangle story.
SUSAN WOOD: He he he he!
ROB HOSKING: The Bowen Triangle is like the Bermuda Triangle. Ahhhhhmmm. There’s this small area in the middle of Wellington. Ahhhhhmmmm. You’ve got Parliament, the Beehive, the Public Service Tower, and Treasury over the road. It’s like the Bermuda Triangle. It’s an alternative reality.
SUSAN WOOD: He he he he!
ROB HOSKING: Common sense disappears there.
SUSAN WOOD: He he he he!
ROB HOSKING: Look, the right guy got appointed.
SUSAN WOOD: Yeah!!!
ROB HOSKING: And the thing is, who cares HOW he was appointed?
SUSAN WOOD: Yeah!!!! So who cares? That’s the thing!
ROB HOSKING: And it all amounts to a huge fuss over one phone call—or a couple of phone calls.
SUSAN WOOD: Exactly! And I still have not heard one person who thinks that the appointment of Ian Fletcher was a bad idea!
ROB HOSKING: No.
[Several seconds of silence follow as Wood and Hosking, and no doubt the few sentient listeners in their audience, ponder the absurdity and brazen dishonesty of that assertion.]
SUSAN WOOD: I like the name “Bowen Triangle”! Like it! Anyway, they’re off to China next week and the news agenda will change. They’re going to announce a whole lot of good things!
ROB HOSKING: Yep!
SUSAN WOOD: The dairy payout announced today means more good news for farmers!
ROB HOSKING: Ahhhhhhmmm, I think we’ll have good news this coming week.
SUSAN WOOD: Well, hallelujah! It’s about time! Rob Hosking, thank you! Liam Dann next!
6:45 P.M…..
SUSAN WOOD: Liam Dann, business writer for the New Zealand Herald joins us now. Liam, the death of 2 Degrees boss Eric Hertz was a TRAGEDY wasn’t it!
LIAM DANN: Yeah, ahhhhhhh, a real loss, ahhhhh, I guess, ummmm. Ahhhh, ummmm, ahhhhh, look, ummmm, he was a very good CEO by all accounts, ummmmm…..
…et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam, ad absurdum….
INTERESTING FACT….
One of NewstalkZB’s slogans is “Tune Your Mind.”
‘One of NewstalkZB’s slogans is “Tune Your Mind.”’
What? I thought it was “Chewin’ Your Mind”.
Lolz
Great work, Morrissey, very entertaining as usual.
hallelujah? for what? Kim Hill interviewing Rick Bryant?
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/north-korea-warns-diplomats-evacuate-5396508
T_T
You’d think analysts would know by know the numerous failure states of the M.A.D. Doctrine, particularly the rather real problem that the humans who make decisions at the state level can be rather irrational in their choices…
In the case of NK, we are very much not dealing with a system that could be called “rational”. For decades it’s starved it’s civilian population in order to continue to maintain and increase it’s military capabilities, all the while pumping out levels of state propaganda that would embarrass even zombie Stalin with it’s severe detachment from reality. Then there’s the chronic use of threats and military posturing, along with maintaining a rather stupid amount of artillery pointed at Seoul. And to boot we have little information on whether or not the military leaders believe their own lies about NK’s capabilities. Furthermore, I suspect not even China has sufficient intelligence gained via human intelligence resources on the actual mentality of the NK state leadership. Thus assuming rational actors lead NK strikes me as somewhat faulty reasoning.
Will it end in some form of military conflict? Probably, but the scale of any conflict(s) is rather difficult to determine, especially as China’s interests are mainly focused on stopping a flood of NK refugees over it’s borders, along with maintaining it’s usual trade interests with SK. Which in the event of a large scale military conflict would likely be severely disrupted by NK attacks on SK economic infrastructure and/or the likely flood of NK refugees to SK. Thus I think China will likely use a range of bribes, threats and promises of military retaliation on NK in order to try and force the NK leadership to back down. The outcome of China’s efforts thus will likely determine the level of conflict that will occur.
Worst case scenario? NK drops a nuke with destructive capacity similar to the Fat Man bomb used on Nagasaki on a high value target, along with saturation artillery and missile attacks. Targeting firstly SK govt, but primarily military infrastructure with in SK in order to limit the capability of SK and US military forces to mount a counter attack. Along with targeting civilian centres to split off remaining SK-US forces to deal with refugees and the injured.
– Given the lack of a suitable delivery platform, NK would likely use it’s sole nuke close to the DMZ, or may try dropping it after hitting SK-US air-defences with artillery (NK lacks tech-base to accurately hit things with missiles, artillery on the other hand is well within their capacities…). HV targets could include any invasion attempts, but suspect NK relying on first strike tactics, rather than deterrence.
– Missiles will mostly hit SK, with some overseas targets for propaganda reasons in Japan and other US military bases.
– China likely to lock down their border with NK, or depending on what the Chinese leadership decides, invade NK to “stabilise” it and maintain NK as a buffer state. While SK-US fight off NK troop surge with low-ish causalities and deal with a refugee surge.
– Unlikely that small scale nuclear exchange will occur, due to change in nuclear doctrines of cold-war actors.
Best Case Scenario?- NK fires off some artillery rounds in a similar display to the shelling of Yeonpyeong in 2010. Resulting in low civilian causalities, highly likely though they’ll try for a small SK or US military site to really “show” they’re a threat.
– This however assumes business as usual within the leadership of NK, which per prior reasoning is somewhat problematic…
Current Projection – NK hits multiple, low value civilian targets close to it’s border with SK, with the aim to force concessions from regional powers, who do not retaliate fully and evacuate civilian were need be. Likely to cause further sanctions rather than remove them, could very likely result in the current Kim becoming merely a figure head. Civilian reaction in SK rather muted after the shock wears off, rather than revenge minded.
– Likely small scale retaliation against NK military assets, targeting artillery emplacements and any naval forces close to NK’s maritime borders.
– Possible strike on NK nuclear assets, but only if China and Russia agree to it.
– Probable China will move more military assets to it’s border to put more pressure on NK leadership to behave.
– Low-ish chance NK may air-test a nuclear weapon as a display of power, but due to low capacity of it’s nuclear infrastructure, it’s unlikely they have a another device ready.
not an equilibrium then
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium
/nod
Pretty much, if there was better HUMINT on NK’s plans etc, or they weren’t so secretive it’d be easier for planners to know wtf NK is up to and plan accordingly, heck even the USSR got this and usually “co-operated”. But what we seem to have is a deformed workers republic leadership that believes it’s own ideology and thinks threats will always work, with a young, untested hereditary leader.
Luckily this isn’t the cold war and the US government at present dislikes getting involved conflicts (if it was Bush….), while China is ruled by plutocrats those main aim is teh monies and so while they’ll posture to keep the proletariat happy and stay regional hegemone, war tends to fuck up trade badly.
The problem is international debt levels. When debt levels have been this high historically, war has always been a factor.
Except in this case the nation actors involved have very, very deep trade ties (all bar NK) trade ties which if disrupted would lead to major socio-economic issues*, along with lacking the ideological excuses for justifying major conflict. Although yes, with increased debt levels, there’s greater social stress, so smaller ethno-religious conflicts tend to have a nasty habit of breaking out and right-wing/authoritarian fuckwits have greater political appeal and in order to maintain power, stupidly start conflicts they can’t win e.g. Falklands War, Georgia’s incursion into Sth Ossetia.
______________________________________________________________
*r.e. The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention, it doesn’t apply universally though, as ethno-religious/nationalist and treaty obligations can bring otherwise developed, economically close states into war. Albeit in the case of Russia attacking Georgia, it’s more short term, quick strike conflicts. Resource issues can also trigger them, but risks negative international reaction.
Nick a couple of things:
1: You have no idea who has been controlling NK, nor from reading your comment, are you aware of the historical formation of NK, and the various parties which had hands in it.
2: Have a look into the relationship development betweeen NK/SK/Japan, then guess who might have the most to lose by not having that wonderful *boogie man*, North Korea, in such a *convenient location*
🙄
You’re a person-non-gratis in my view, so you’ve been shit-binned into my “skip comment” mental list and given recent info about your aims, it’s richly deserved.
*Mental list* – Is that some sort of ironic self projection, Nick!
just o change the subject, or maybe not…
Five Freedoms
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10875785
Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare
Can anyone point me in the direction of the impressive post on here that details all of nationals lies and failings. – the very long (and growing) list that it is?
The latest from BLiP
http://thestandard.org.nz/rennie-key-vetoed-the-shortlist/#comment-614124
http://thestandard.org.nz/?s=BLiP&isopen=block&search_comments=true&search_sortby=date
I suggest that you also look at the very comprehensive list in the first comment under this post on the Daily Blog today
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/04/06/6-reasons-david-shearer-cant-front-john-keys-gcsb-brain-fade/
and Blip has posted the full list with links just down below
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06042013/#comment-614934
More to ignore.
http://theweek.com/article/index/242394/why-1600-years-of-ice-melting-in-25-years-is-a-bad-omen?
I feel a bit sick, Tracy Watkins just dumped ten deaths in Helen Clark’s lap,
“This is the world she has thrown Kiwi troops into – a war zone that will ultimately claim the lives of 10 New Zealand soldiers, and end up being our longest-ever combat mission – longer by far than either of the two world wars. ” no mention that the reason they are dead is that John Key kept them there far longer than necessary ( regardless of whether they should have been there at all). Tracy Watkins goes on to further encrust the pants of platitude with a boy’s own “ain’t he a hero” line.
” IF the war defined Helen Clark’s early years in power, it has had an equally personal impact on John Key. He has never known a time as prime minister when New Zealand wasn’t at war. “
yeah, a real crappy dishonest attitude from Watkins there.
Who signed us into the bloody NATO alliance then..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/national/7133939/Agreement-with-US-sees-NZ-as-de-facto-ally
TW – Moronic!
That agreement is what it is, but it isn’t NATO, ffs.
For starters, members of NATO have mutual defence obligations. If any member is being attacked, they can invoke NATO clauses that deem the attack to be on all NATO members. That’s the foundational purpose of NATO, and there is nothing like it in our agreement with the US.
Yeah ok mate…
Shill. More and more… You are getting to be quite desperate aren’t you?
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/partners-across-the-asia-pacific-nato-reinforces-pentagons-shift-to-east/
Just waiting to find out if and when we will be supplying cannon fodder to the illegal invasions of Syria and soon Iran!
Not seeing any where in that piece, or the one of yours you link to in comments over there that says we are members of NATO.
I’d would be very disturbed to see such a thing if it exists.
The so called Washington Declaration does no such thing of course, it is a weaker agreement even than ANZUS, which was itself a much weaker agreement than the one binding NATO countries together.
I’m sorry that I keep asking for evidence for the stuff you claim to be true, but I have my reasons for that, based on your reliability in the past.
It seeems that like Jane Clifton, Watkins is selectively re-writing history – see Trotter on Clifton’s shocker.
Now, maybe Watkins needs to be reminded of a few things – as shown in this Scoop 2007 copy from Hansard in 2003, re NZ sending troops to join the coalition of the willing’s front line forces in invading Iraq:
And Matt McCarten on John Key’s 2007 Uturn:
Yeah he’s quite the patriot. Just has trouble remembering which country…
“” IF the war defined Helen Clark’s early years in power, it has had an equally personal impact on John Key. He has never known a time as prime minister when New Zealand wasn’t at war. “
Eh?!
Excuse me but I dont recall the economy being directed to focus on the war effort, with factories being retooled to make munitions and tanks? I dont recall seeing footage of towns farewelling all their menfolk as they march off, or households encouraged to preserve food for the war effort? Anyone recall blackouts being imposed, or being issued with ration books? Travelling being restricted for essential purposes only?
I would hardly call a deployment of a handful or personnell to a UN sanctioned military operation being ‘at war’.
got off lightly, considering, unlike the US Forces…unlike the nationals who remain. Been a few analyses of likely Afghanistan future; Iraq anybody? Power loves a vacuum, ain’t that the Ugly Truth.
Heresy. I’m getting the feeling that The Standard is becoming not much more than a middle class ineffectual protest outlet managed by the traitorous Labour party. A carousel of meaningless protest! 🙁
Nice day under the bridge is it.
I call this piece The Mirror Thought and dedicate it to johnm
“emergent service worker” ackshully; at your service, well, on call -houses moved, gardens turned, hungry fed, cats adopted, causes concerned, words wound, commentors admired, or not, *sighs* loaned…sigh “As Good As It Gets” and Puddleglum come to mind…
John Key’s lies . . . UPDATED
– I promise to always be honest
– We’re not proposing to change the Employment Relations Act in a way that weakens unions
– we are not going to sack public servants, the attrition rate will reduce costs
– we are not going to cut working for families
– I firmly believe in climate change and always have
– We seek a 50% reduction in New Zealand’s carbon-equivalent net emissions, as compared to 1990 levels, by 2050. 50 by 50. We will write the target into law.
– National Ltd™ will provide a consistent incentive for both biofuel and biodiesel by exempting them from excise tax or road user charges
– I didn’t know about The Bretheren election tactics
– If they came to us now with that proposal [re trans-Tasman Therapeutic Goods regime], we will sign it
– I can’t remember my position on the 1981 Springbok Tour
– Tranzrail shares
– Lord Ashcroft
– National Ltd™ would have sent troops into Iraq
– Standard & Poors credit downgrade
– I did not mislead the House
– I didn’t say I want wages to drop
– the real rate of inflation is 3.3 percent.
– the tourism sector has not lost 7,000 jobs
– I won’t raise GST
– the purchase of farmland, by overseas buyers will be limited to ten farms per purchase
– capping, not cutting the public service
– raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour will cost 6000 jobs
– north of $50 a week
– privatisation won’t significantly help the economy
– wave goodbye to higher taxes, not your loved ones
– I never offered Brash a diplomatic job in London
– Tariana Turia is “totally fine” with the Tuhoe Treaty Claim deal
– Kiwisaver
– National Ltd™ is not going to radically reorganise the structure of the public sector
– tax cuts won’t require additional borrowing
– New Zealand does not have a debt problem
– New Zealand troops in Afghanistan will only be involved in training, not fighting
– 14,000 new apprentices will start training over the next five years, over and above the number previously forecast
– Our amendments to the ETS ensure we will continue to do our fair share internationally
– we are committed to honouring our Kyoto Protocol obligations
– any changes to the ETS will be fiscally neutral
– we [NZ} have grown for eight of the last nine quarters”
– National Ltd™ will tender out the government banking contract
– we will be back in surplus by 2014-15
– Nicky Hager’s book “Other People’s Wars” is a work of fiction
– unemployment is starting to fall
– we have created 45,000 jobs
– we are likely to create 170,000 jobs in the next 4 years
– I don’t know if I own a vineyard
– I did not mislead the House (again)
– the Ma href= http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5311491/Investigation-cleared-Israelis-of-spy-claims-PM> Isreali spy killed in the Christchurch quake had “only one” passport
– the Police will not need to make savings by losing jobs
– GCSB re Kim Dotcom x 3 (that we know about)
– I did not mislead the House (again)
– I voted to keep the drinking age at 20
– New Zealand is 100% Pure
– I’ve been prime minister for four years, and it’s really 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year
– baseball in New Zealand is attracting more government support
– I wasn’t told thatMinisterial Services, which I am in charge of, was going to buy brand new BMWs
– the public demanded that we change the labour laws for The Hobbit
– “The Hobbit” created 3000 new jobs
– we have delivered 1000 extra doctors in the public service
– I wasn’t working at Elders when the sham foreign exchange deals took place
– I was starting School Certificate exams in 1978
– I don’t know who arrived on the CIA jet to visit the spies I am responsible for
– reducing barriers to property developers will increase the availability of affordable housing
– Labour left the economy in poor shape
– forecasts show unemployment will fall
– we have closed the wage gap with Australia by $27
– I have met with Ngati Porou and Whanau Apanui representatives and they reiterated they were not opposed to progress or mining
– I have not had any meetings with Media Works
– our [NZ’s] terms of trade remain high
– the TPP is an example of democracy
– National Ltd™ will use the proceeds of state asset sales to invest in other public assets, like schools and hospitals
– New Zealand troops will be out of Afghanistan by April 2013
– overseas investment in New Zealand adds to what New Zealanders can invest on their own
– overseas investment in New Zealand creates jobs, boosts incomes, and helps the economy grow
– National Ltd™ will build 2000 houses over the next two years
– there are only 4 New Zealand SAS soldiers in Bamiyan and all working in the area of logistics and planning only
– selling state assets will give cash equity to those companies
– the Sky City deal doesn’t mean more pokies
– there was nothing improper about the Sky City deal
– my office has had no correspondence, no discussions, no involvement with the Sky City deal
– SkyCity will only get “a few more” pokie machines at the margins
– any changes to gambling regulations will be subject to a full public submission process,
– Sky City has approached TVNZ about the purchase/use of government-owned land
– the Auditor General has fully vindicated National over the Sky City deal
– there’s a 50/50 chance the Hobbit is going off shore unless we do something
– David Shearer has signed up for the purchase of shares in Mighty River
– Solid Energy asked the government for a $1 billion capital investment
– fracking has been going safely on in Taranaki for the past 30 years without any issues
– no front line positions will be lost at DoC
– Iain Rennie came to me and recommended Fletcher for the GCSB job
– I forgot that after I scrapped the shortlist for GCSB job I phoned a life-long friend to tell him to apply for the position
– I told Rennie I would contact Fletcher
(Respectfully request crowd sourcing here – I can see there are few that didn’t come out due to my poor typing but now I can see them, I’ll fix them. If you’re in the mood, please click a couple or more of the links and let me know if there are any duds. If lots of people click a few random ones, should get through them all. Thanks in advance.)
+ 1 Good stuff BLiP, I checked 7 links – all good.
Blip, we owe you a tall cold one, or three
Have been sharing the list, and on behalf of quite a few people I shake your hand with hearty appreciation.
Awesome work BLiP.
The bottom ten links are all working. Not sure how the RNZ link relates (ie which audio is being referred to). Can you make that clearer?
ok, the bottom 30 links are all working. That’s from “- I don’t know who arrived on the CIA jet to visit the spies I am responsible for” down.
This list really needs its own website, so it can be easily updated, linked to, and spread around the webs. Or maybe it could have a place here at ts?
List is great, needs source links to be really useful.
‘
The source links are those words which appear in blue, click on a few and see if they come up okay.
Duh! Yep, they work. Me dumbo. 🙂 Cheers. That’s brilliant.
‘
You rock, thanks mate. I’ve patched up a couple that didn’t format correctly. The RNZ one? Is that the one which links to the media watch programme in regard to the “the public made me change the law for the Hobbits” ??
It was the Shearer buying shares one
– David Shearer has signed up for the purchase of shares in Mighty River
.
Gotchya, fixed. Cheers mate.
“I didn’t know about The Bretheren election tactics” goes to the cover of Hollow Men, may need a deeper link on that one.
‘
Fixed with better link that spells it out. Thanks.
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16623/exclusive-brethren-told-brash-and-key-plans-in-may
Fine work 🙂
If someone in parliament were to quote just one more post from the standard, this should be it.
Every wednesday please. For starters.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5311491/SIS-on-trail-of-suspected-Israeli-spies
http://web.archive.org/web/20110721235949/http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5311491/Investigation-cleared-Israelis-of-spy-claims-PM
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5311491/*
Outstanding.
I will copy and paste it into my email and pass it on.
It should be a front-page post at TS, as well.
BLiP – Fantastic work, a real masterpiece!
This list definitely requires a public position of its own, Weka is spot on !
‘
Thank youse all, kind words and checking much appreciated. I will write up a post including the list and submit it for publication here some time around when John Key gets back from his current photo-op tiki tour.
Who pays for this expensive recovery of bodies from the deep sea? The poverty-stricken government? And how sad that a quick response can be made to mount this recovery operation while Pike River workers’ families wait and wait.
Was all the high-tech stuff that presumably is available used for exploring the Pike River mine? Weren’t there small radio-controlled planes that could be mounted with a camera sort of like DOC does in surveilling their areas of responsibility?
People using private boats and planes should have to participate in some insurance scheme that helps to meet the costs of search and rescue, or be faced with a set charge per day that might have to come out of their estates. The government can weigh people down with heavy fines for being lax or stupid and someone who had a road accident was being charged for assistance rendered, which if it was an accident is a burden on a low income person. Is everybody paying their fair share for rescue services?
User pays?
I’ve been thinking of boating licenses and boat registration. Admittedly, that’s from listening to my family and hearing the stories of people out driving boats who obviously have NFI what the give way rules are but it would still apply.
Boat licences would be a great idea. I can’t remember the number of times I was almost run into rocks crossing river bars by clueless idiots in expensive boats. I’ve also had to pull the pick up more than a couple of times to avoid getting run over by gin palaces on autpilot between Auckland and the Bay of Islands. They seem to think that once they get past Kawau, the sea a few miles offshore will be empty until they hit Cape Brett. While we’re at it, make them start with nothing more powerful than 25 hp and outlaw jetskis altogether.
Offshore rescue responsibilities are also something I’ve thought about, without reaching any conclusions. We are responsible for a huge area, so that if someone from Europe sets off in a leaky boat and makes it into the Southern Ocean somewhere south of the Auckland Islands, we can be responsible for rescuing them. It doesn’t seem quite right that we should pay for that while we can’t put lunches in front of kids at school, for example. It also doesn’t seem right to leave them to drown, but……..
We can’t afford to look after NZs properly Murrayv O. This high seas bit – who pays for the container ship rerouted to save some unfortunate or stupid people ‘out of their depth’ in the southern waters. We need to help boat people, and make them an important priority, and can’t afford to be the back-up. People are being run down at night by computer driven container ships on top of the increased rough weather that is going to be a continual problem to sea travellers.
Two men had to take a lifeboat after the sinking of a fishing vessel from Nelson that was trying to get a haul of fish but keep the location secret. The skipper took on some guys who didn’t have much work. The boat went down, the skipper with it, and the two men drifted lost till they died of thirst and starvation I think. We need to help the unfortunate and then look at some recovery of expenses if they can afford it. By no means should they be expected to pay all recovery costs though. At present a teenage girl can determine to sail round the world in the knowledge that she can be sure of rescue as the world’s media spotlights her every move.
The sea and also the wild places in NZ are not places where one can easily survive when weakened or under attack by natural forces. Expectation of reimbursement for say half of the rescue costs must be made in NZ and an insurance scheme set up to cover such costs. It wouldn’t even be complete user pays, it would be a contribution. But those who had big assets would pay above their insurance payout for advanced services if they had been called on, such as provided to the alcohol magnate Michael Erceg in his helicopter and now these wealthy people on the seabed.
Then perhaps some compassionate care for injured and dead workers could be afforded.
The leader of the Australian opposition is an incompetent, inconsistent, blithering idiot who can hardly string a coherent system. He’s widely predicted to win election to PM by a landslide. One difference is that he has virtually all the media promoting him and denigrating the government. Is this what Labour will be counting on with Shearer? Now that Shonkey has called journalists knuckleheads, is their secret plan working?
Sorry Murray, but Gillard hasn’t shown the guts and the principle that the electorate has been looking for. Tony won’t win the election; Julia is going to lose it.
My English is getting worse. “Coherent system” should be “coherent sentence together.”
In reply to CV: Gillard has shown plenty of guts and ability. She’s held a minority government together despite everything that’s been thrown at her. It’s her principles that are suspect. She stands somewhere close to Key on the political spectrum.
If there is a serious point to my post, it is that the Australian media is deciding the election. They do it in a far, far more blatant way than the Kiwi media, but subtlety probably would go over the heads of their readership/audience. The “respectable” newspapers publish stuff that makes WhaleSpew look balanced, and the shock jocks make Michael Laws look like a proponent of Tino Rangatiratanga.
As to losers: the Australian workers and anyone without a Southern Cross tattooed on their scrawny bicep will be the ones who lose. And they will lose big time.
Does anybody remember JANET GROSSMAN, the hot shot cut and slash manager hired to become Work and Income’s Deputy CEO in July 2011?
This is what the NZ Herald reported on her sudden, unexpected resignation in June last year, barely a year in her senior job then. Rumours had it, that she was furious about a so-called Welfare Board, set up or led by Paula Rebstock, to oversee her work to “reform” the department and “improve” their systems.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10811934
She left within days after announcing her return to the UK, supposedly to attend to family matters there.
Now that seems rather ODD now, since her newly update Linked In profile and CV reveal some NEW information.
http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/janet-grossman/1a/b33/238
According to that she was officially employed by WINZ until August 2012. So she got paid for the notice period that is likely to have applied, plus probably for her return move to the UK, by the public purse. No wonder Paula Bandit (aka “Benefit” or “Bennett”) did not front up with any figures, nor the state services agency that looks after paying public service CEOs.
AND to make it all more interesting: GROSSMAN apparently had a new senior job LINED UP in the UK. She did already in September 2012 take up a new senior position as ‘Non Executive Member of the Board’ for the UK Ministry of Justice, Public Guardian Office!
A month later she took on a second appointment, yes a SECOND JOB, which she does besides of the one just mentioned, at Her Majesty’s Royal Customs – Valuation Office Agency!
Now if she had some serious family matters to attend to, how could she then so soon take on two important jobs of that calibre?
Hence THE TRUTH IS OUT, Grossman left, because Bennett and the government p***ed her off something HUGE, and in some ways apparently must also have breached her employment contract (by not disclosing others would interfere with her job, or changing the terms without consultation), which gave her a good, justified reason to THROW IN THE TOWEL WITH MSD AND WINZ!
Interesting stuff, is it not? Why are the MSM not delivering us such news???
Because they’re not looking.
I think an All Black got married that year. The MSM has priorities.
MO
😀