Is the Speaker on a promise? All that smirking, sly little smiles and glances of admiration to John Key who was as usual impolite, evasive, insulting, abusive, unable to answer perfectly coherent questions but instead goes into incandescent, incoherent rants. Carter did everything but spring up and high five Key at one point. Absolutely appalling. Have noticed a lot less tittering and clapping of flippers from the trained seals lately. Novelty of key’s wit and wisdom wearing off perhaps. Carter is letting our yapping pm away with too much. Bit of man love there.
Watched a section of it last night and in oz such a blatant abuse of the position would be broadcast on primetime news as time and again they behave like juveniles to prevent the govt being made to answer opposition questions.
Carter is a disgrace and has childish tantrums but then none of the nats give a F about democracy so they love it.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 1.1.1
But you really get the feel that Dr Smith raised the bar back, which was good.
Then we get this guy, who actually makes Wilson look not that bad – That makes me shudder, as I agree with you The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell, Wilson was awful.
Begs the question, is it a race to the gutter with this lot?
Our least trusted groups are bloggers and MPs, with only 5% and 8% of New Zealanders expressing complete or lots of trust in them.
Trust in MPs and government ministers appears to have fallen over the last three years, with over half of respondents saying they trust them a lot or a little less. This is followed by bloggers and the media, with net losses of 43% and 40% respectively.
Only 9% of adults find the newspapers and magazines they use totally credible: there is a nett credibility gap overall of -16%.
Only 36% feel their newspapers and magazines are doing as well as they possibly can, and there is a large number planning to stop buying them or who will definitely or might stop using them – equivalent to an audience loss of another 447,785 New Zealanders nationwide.
Can’t say that any of that really surprises me.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 1.1.1.1.1.1
Lockwood was the best we ever had. Given their experience under Wilson, I think the Nats were pissed off at how even-handed he was. So, they weren’t going to make that mistake again.
Yesterdays bias and abuse of the speakers position by Carter was appalling and he should be removed
Key and his shitty liver ,the white coats should have been taking him to detox
Iceland’s embattled prime minister has resigned amid a controversy over his offshore holdings, a Cabinet minister said as outrage over the accounts roiled the North Atlantic island nation.
Susie Ferguson conducts another miserable interview where she fails again to hold the government to account.
Instead she simply allows Joyce to blather on without questioning the bs he spouts.
How does she let him get away with the lies he says?
RNZ. Not good enough.
It really is kind of sad at the moment, but I hope that as we get nearer to a change of government, National Radio will put their teeth back in and start biting the arse of the likes of Joyce and Key. Somebody in the msm has to hold National to account, and if not RNZ, who?
The corporate media, are being exposed as a lost cause, I do love how the RWNJ scream there is a liberal bias. And RNZ is just not enough, I gave up on them when they started to use PR sniper Hooton. Actually, there is another problem, there are more PR people than there are journalists – no wonder no one knows what truth looks like.
That said, more and more people are getting their news off the internet, and checking there sources. OK maybe not the second part. But I know I check way more now.
“As the ripples from the biggest leak in journalistic history continue to spread, academic Brooke Harrington – who spent the better part of a decade investigating wealth management – says the corruption goes well beyond Mossack Fonseca.”
No, he gave up on them. What part of “Matthew Hooton tells lies for money and anyone who employs him diminishes their reputation by doing so” are you having trouble with?
RNZ providing as lot of misinformation today.
Now propaganda about Sanders and Clinton being disseminated.
The ‘Democratic strategist’ Mary Anne Marsh was simply appalling.
Why can’t RNZ do some simple research on the US election rather than relying on such shills for the establishment?
Because of Obama’s black African past a surge of over-zealous and liberal idealism were effective in clinching his election to the presidency. Despite Hillary’s consistent support of American violent and widespread intervention her gender similarly is playing into the hands of distorted idealism.
“…Pol said criminals involved in drugs and human trafficking generated the greatest amount of illicit funds.
But the criminals who had set up trusts in New Zealand were more likely to be involved in large-scale cartels, corruption and professional “trade-based” money-laundering.
One New Zealand trust has already been associated with Unaoil, a Monaco company under investigation for helping multinationals bribe oil ministers and officials in the Middle East.
Woodhouse and Prime Minister John Key had said the OECD had “looked at our foreign trust rules in the past and had no concerns”.
Labour leader Andrew Little said an OECD report published in 2013 showed that was incorrect.
The report said improvements might be needed to laws and regulations to ensure that people who owned shares in companies could be identified where those shares were held by nominees.
Corin Dann on TV1 breakfast news this morning has stated that Australian journalists perusing these Panama files has discovered there have been 60,000 mentions of NZ in the files. That is a hell of a lot of mentions for a supposedly squeaky clean tax regime country. Also he said, more worrying for the Government was that we are the only OECD country to provide the services of tax trusts for overseas customers in the manner the files are disclosing.
Maybe if the Gods smile on us, we may see a resignation of an important public servant in the near future.
And therefore presumably anyone who was in the last Labour govt should also resign, given that the current regime is nearly 30 years old.
Having said that, the zeitgeist moves on. What was OK once may not be OK today.
And there is no doubt a lot more concern about corporate tax avoidance than there used to be.
An interesting aspect is that Europeans seem much more caught up in it than Americans.
I have always thought this is a response to uncertainly about govt trustworthiness, which has much deeper well springs than we can really imagine In New Zealand. Fundamentally we know that our govt, over many decades, is inherently trustworthy.
For instance if your country has been invaded, subject to revolution, people persecuted and subject to pogroms, and property confiscated, either by outright govt theft or by extreme taxes (north of 70%), then you might want your assets in a place that is not accessible to govt.
A large number of European nations have suffered one or more of these fates in the last hundred years. But we have never had experience (in New Zealand) of any of these things, and I would also say neither are we likely to. But many migrants to New Zealand certainly understand these risks.
So the reason why people act in the way they do is not just about avoiding legitimate taxes, there may be much deeper reasons, which are in part sociological, to use offshore havens, or for that matter Swiss bank accounts.
the implications of the panama papers are significantly deeper then tax avoidance and asset suppression,they are the transfer of sovereign power and oversight under the guise of FTA.
Sanders for example railed against the FTA with Panama in 2011
“In fact, combating tax haven abuse in Panama would be a violation of this free trade agreement, exposing the U.S. to fines from international authorities,” he stressed.
The problems that arise from the panama papers are not only about tax avoidance and asset obfuscation ,but also the transfer of sovereign ownership and legislative oversight as Sanders correctly identified with the Panama FTA.
“In fact, combating tax haven abuse in Panama would be a violation of this free trade agreement, exposing the U.S. to fines from international authorities,” he stressed.
And therefore presumably anyone who was in the last Labour govt should also resign, given that the current regime is nearly 30 years old.
But the bit that allows secretive tax avoiding trusts is only 4/5 years old and passed by this government.
What was OK once may not be OK today.
Actually, it was never Ok – it was always immoral but the government tried to persuade people that it was fine and dandy so as to help the rich people steal from everybody else.
An interesting aspect is that Europeans seem much more caught up in it than Americans.
The US seems to have a few internal tax havens which means that they don’t have to go offshore for them.
Fundamentally we know that our govt, over many decades, is inherently trustworthy.
Wrong. We don’t know that at all and trust in government has been falling.
For instance if your country has been invaded, subject to revolution, people persecuted and subject to pogroms, and property confiscated, either by outright govt theft or by extreme taxes (north of 70%), then you might want your assets in a place that is not accessible to govt.
You don’t have that right. If you don’t want to pay the taxes of a particular country then your only option is to leave. Anything else is sociopathic BS.
But we have never had experience (in New Zealand) of any of these things,
I think you need to speak more to Māori who do have direct experience of these things over the last century or so.
I was simply pointing out how trust in the government being able to protect civil and economic rights (at a fundamental level) will influence behaviour.
For instance could you blame people in Eastern Europe getting as many of their assets (and indeed themselves) out of their countries following the communist takeovers of the 1940’s.
As for Maori, the issues you refer to primarily relate to the activities of the Crown in the nineteenth century. Since 1893 New Zealand has been a continuous democracy where everyone has had the vote. And a robust respect for the rule of law.
Is it perfect, no. But compared to most of the world, yes.
Then there was Bastion Point in the 70s where hundreds of police surrounded the rightful owners and went on to evict them.
Then when the rule of law compensates an iwi like Rangitāne o Manawatū through the treaty they get given back the Manawatu river, now one of the shittiest, polluted rivers in the world. The few million dollars they get back in the treaty claim was worked out by Metiria Turei as “$27 an acre” for the land taken from them. Sweet deal for over a century of settler profiteering?
A fair point about Maori, particularly in respect of actions in the nineteenth century.
But as a broader point, my perspective is not an unreasonable view of New Zealand in contrast with most other nations in the world, given that we been a comprehensive democracy since 1893.
Continental Europe has obviously been less stable than New Zealand throughout the twentieth century. Ask the people of the former Yugoslavia as recently as twenty years ago.
Sure why not, I’m all for the labour MP who helped pass these acts resigning as well. Individual responsibility and all that.
Notice how you avoid that one, and went on some lame anti communist rant, fear murmuring is so last century.
So this is the defence for defrauding other people of tax revenue, I think you may have to come up with something better than that paranoid delusion. You might convince the public here, but the Aussies I’m talking to – just think we are a bunch of “thieving w*&^%rs”. Other people are look at us with disgust now. Go on, view some of the message boards across the globe. Wake up man, it ant pretty.
“Fundamentally we know that our govt, over many decades, is inherently trustworthy.” And it took the Tories to tear down that edifice. I think maybe you living in a wee bit of a bubble Wayne, I get it. I’m white, it’s easy to indulge in that privilege.
But the reality is really quite different.
Politicians are despised, people don’t vote and then people like you come here and spin. The sociological spin was deeply ironic, considering Marx was one of the founders of sociology. And by the way, I’m anti-authoritarian. So no great fan of Marx or communism myself.
It looks like NZ could be up there with the likes of British Virgin Islands as a tax haven. Redlogix posted this fascinating ABC documentary (45 mins) yesterday about how it all works and some of the major players, although it doesn’t focus on NZ so much. http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2016/04/04/4434529.htm
People need to get across this debate here, a tax haven is where you choose to pay your tax or no tax as the case may be as your your centre of business. interest or business domicile re world wide income. In essence you structure your affairs legally to choose a domicile to pay the minimal tax, your legal and democratic right In NZ case people are just parking money here in trusts not using NZ as there domicile or centre of business interest , NZ tax rates, laws etc are not beneficial like the virgin island, Ireland etc that are real tax havens. I am not sure what the big issue is here, if money is been laundered or hidden here to avoid tax NZ is party to multiple tax treaties and international convention. if there is suspion A NZ trust is been used to evade tax by an offshore tax regime the NZ tax regime won’t protect you
Uh-huh. So some people are far too rich. A mere millionaire probably wouldn’t go to all the cost and bother of squirreling several hundred thousands away out of sight….and out of reach of the tax regime that fills the public purse, that provides the infrastructure and services that society needs.
Any info on any of this money that’s been squirreled away being put towards bettering the common good? I mean, that’s what free market fundamentalism suggests should happen. Don’t need any pesky government determining public expenditure; the rich, using market mechanisms that are their exposal, will see us right.
Not disagreeing Bill I am just highlighting that NZ is not a tax haven ( that keeps been thrown out) , ie it’s not about paying tax in NZ or NZ attracting business as a center of interest due to its low tax regime or that NZ law will protect offshore illegal tax avoidance should a tax avoider be pursued here. it’s simply a story that some people are using our trust regime ( and innovation and benefit of English law separating ownership and control of assets) to potentially hide money
Today I will be on the Raglan Radio Morning Show with host Aaron at 9:35 AM I will be talking about the Panama Papers, John Key’s MO and Soros among others!
people from overseas not paying tax? Not my business.
People from NZ not paying tax? Only my business if they are middle to lower class people without trusts. Rich people with Trusts? Thats not my business.
“Well, there are two features of a tax haven as far as I’m aware.
“One is a very low, or no, tax base and the other is secrecy. We have neither of those things, we have a requirement for all people who earn income in New Zealand to pay tax and we share with other jurisdictions.”
Mr Woodhouse said as these were overseas trusts, they had overseas settlors, assets and income and the New Zealand Inland Revenue (IRD) had no interest in their obligations to pay tax overseas.” Quote End
@Sabine – don’t forget the beneficiaries who are constantly being surveilled in case they might have, shock ‘a relationship’ and apparently 50% of WINZ debts are overpayments by WINZ. The government went to extreme lengths to avoid paying beneficiaries their underpayments however.
Sounds like corporations are also underpaying holiday pay etc etc…. Kiwis are being ripped off constantly, just an accident apparently. Look a panda everyone…
Avoiding and hiding millions or billions via trusts is fine for Key’s Government, (in fact encouraged). Don’t forget the tax payers union are also ‘relaxed’ about multinationals not paying the same tax as NZ based companies. Free market does not seem to matter if the 0.0001% can profit. Paying tax in NZ by the rich listers is now a voluntary exercise.
Love how for years Natz have pitted the middle class against the beneficiaries as ‘taking their hard earned savings’ and all along making NZ a secret tax haven mentioned 60 times in the Panama leaks. Co incidence (and that John Key trained as an accountant – I think that is his sole qualification). Does not sound like it.
Yep it’s just like the financial melt down again, when the dodgy high flying CFO’s often with accountancy qualifications pushed entire countries into crisis and then still managed to get their bonuses with taxpayers money… Meanwhile the middle class are homeless, job less and pensionless or without security …. and told lucky they don’t have to fill out the 70+ pages of unemployment benefit application when for example Fonterra lay off 100 workers (while CEO receives 4 million salary).
At a time where our state houses have just been tendered off cheap to offshore companies and corporations… MSM blackout while the Bachelor makes headlines each day… Oh what a joke we have become in NZ!
(and that John Key trained as an accountant – I think that is his sole qualification)
IIRC, he trained as a financier which is a different thing altogether and far more dangerous as they seem to believe that you can make money from money and not have to produce anything.
FYI – tomorrow I have been given 30 minutes by the Local Government and Environment Select Committee to give evidence in person to support my petition calling for an urgent inquiry into Auckland Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs).
After trying to illegally steal our Harbour in cahoots with Auckland council Planners, it is pretty clear these COO’s answer to nobody but themselves.
Apparently in a free market companies are supposed to answer to the shareholders (who in the councils case should be the ratepayers) so why are they not accountable to ratepayers?
It sounds like, from what Mr Woodhouse says that we NZ are supplying and allowing a conduit to facilitate these trusts and buggar the morality of it, but yes, that’s okay it’s legal for this country. Now wasn’t that what Kim Dot Com was arguing, that he was just providing the conduit to access entertainment media and that he couldn’t be blamed for people using it in nefarious ways. Look what it has done for Kim Dot Com, extradition probably on the way, this Government doesn’t and isn’t seeing it for being legal at all. How do they explain their hypocrisy over this situation? Pity we don’t have an impeachment mechanism here.
“Pity we don’t have an impeachment mechanism here”
But we do have question time, the General Debate and a media of sorts…
Our government may have a bit of trouble explaining that juxtaposition. In the same way they are going to have to explain to other governments why our trust ownership and taxation rules are out of phase with other jurisdictions allowing tax evasion and laundering.
But we do have question time, the General Debate and a media of sorts…
And that gets on prime time news when?
Our government may have a bit of trouble explaining that juxtaposition.
Well, they would have difficulty explaining that if it go several weeks of prime time news with the journalists asking hard questions. Instead we’re likely to get a few minutes worth, a bit of a giggle between the host and the PM and that will be it.
The people of Rojava…we could open a kind of book on who gets to take them out in the end. Will it be the US, Russia or Turkey? Maybe a combined NATO thing? Maybe Syrian armed forces after the country regains some stability?
I’m picking a slow brutal demise at the hands of Assad’s forces, while the west and Russia sit back and either inform their respective audiences (us) that their hands are tied due to whatever settlement has resulted in Syria, or that Assad is just clearing away the last of any terrorist presence from the country.
Who’d be a fucking democrat?
btw. The Kurds in the vid are all about an independent Kurdistan. That’s inimical to the democratic aspirations in Rojava.
I’m picking Turkey. Look how fast they are to blame them for anything going wrong in Turkey. My guess it will be sold to the west as dealing with Terrorism. The Turkish government is using drones on them daily as it is.
I’m hopeful that the rest of the Kurds will engage with the people of Rojava, I hear they have been. These women were in Iraq, and the Iraq Kurds are talking to the Rojava Kurds. They know the history of the West and Turkey lying to them. That they won’t get an independent Kurdistan, it just won’t happen, they can not be that stupid.
OK believing in Masoud Barzani, is that stupid. Oh crap – I despair.
Panorama BBC have an edition,
“Tax Havens of the Rich and Powerful Exposed
Panorama
The rich and powerful have hidden billions of dollars in tax havens. They thought their financial secrets were safe, but now a huge leak of documents has revealed a world of secrecy, lies and crimes. ”
Explains with case studies how the money laundering/tax evasion works in Britain.
Nice to see at some reporting from this Panama stuff move beyond the stupid shallow gasping over the fact that rich pricks are doing rich prick stuff with regards tax avoidance.
From ‘The Guardian’
Revealed in the leaked documents was the fact that 2,800 Mossack Fonseca companies are connected to more than 6,000 UK title deeds, worth at least £7bn
Maybe Phil Twyford (or who-ever…probably best if it’s ‘who-ever’) would like to get on to it and see how many title deeds in NZ are linked back to Mossack Fonseca companies?
From book Affluenza by Oliver James I’m reading.
On today’s democracy: Dunn asserts that the age of democracy has actually entailed a far greater control of citizens by governments: ‘The world in which we all now live is governed more extensively and more intimately than it has ever been before.’
(Cambridge political theorist John Dunn.)
Democracy, in English-speaking nations today has come to mean the handing over of a vast number of decisions and powers to rulers in return for the freedom to pursue egotistical, hedonistic consumer choices (as Herbert Marcuse predicted it would, back in the 1960s).
I recommend this book, which has theory, ideas and anecdotes with something for everyone to agree and disagree with, which is good mind exercise fodder!
In an age of potentially catastrophic climate change, where the future survival of civilisation and even humanity itself depends on cutting back on fossil fuels, this scandal makes the current tax avoidance scandal that the world seems to be concentrating on, seem petty by comparison.
“The publication of the report, putting Unaoil at the very center of a massive international bribery ring, was met with head scratching by many energy analysts. Despite its seemingly crucial role in so many oil and gas contracts awarded around the world, very few have heard of the company.
The alleged operation was relatively straightforward. The clients – exploration companies, construction and engineering firms, and oilfield service contractors – would pay Unaoil large sums, and Unaoil would secure contracts for them by bribing government officials in the country of interest. Many of Unaoil’s clients claim that they did not know that Unaoil was bribing government officials on their behalf, but the report asserts that some were either willfully blind or were fully aware of the corruption.”
The fact that Unaoil’s “ownership” can be traced back to a shell company registered in New Zealand; Warrants investigation to determine if the Unaoil “Bribe Factory” was one of the “lobbyists” used by the “exploration companies, construction and engineering firms, and oilfield service contractors” in this country?
And further; Were Unaoil one of the oil industry lobbyists that persuaded the National government to pass special laws targetting anti fossil fuel protesters?
zinger? Nah.
Probably followup along the lines of “if NZ isn’t a tax haven in accordance with the pm’s assertions, why are there 60,000 references to NZ in the internal documents of a company that specialises in sheltering clients’ money in tax havens?” and moving on from there.
Winston likes tax evaders. Lots of paperwork to table in parliament…
This is quite distasteful stuff, heavy suppression orders in place yet almost salacious reporting allowed
In this cases it should be name suppression of the accused, suppression of any and all details of the victims and then, if found guilty, name the offender but leave all details identifying the victims in place and, if found not guilty, leave all suppression orders in place
But this whole reporting from the trial is just sleazy imho
The fact that the complainants were afraid no-one would believe them lends credence to their claims. Women/girls of any age who have been victims of violence where there is no visible or physical evidence available, knows there is a strong chance they will not be believed. It happens all the time.
“In this episode of the Keiser Report Max and Stacy discuss the curious case of Putin’s photo being used to sell #panamapapers when his name is allegedly not even mentioned in the 11 million pages of documents.
They also look at #WikiGreeks as someone leaks the transcript of a conversation between IMF officials hoping for a ‘credit event’ to ‘resolve’ the ongoing Greek tragedy.
In the second half, Max interviews Joel Benjamin and Jamie Griffiths of Debt Resistance UK about the LOBO loans pushing local UK councils to the brink of insolvency.”
Yeah. That news was politely buried in the article I linked. As one comment below the piece noted on the language used by ‘The Guardian’ Cruz apparently “crushed” Trump while Sanders’s bigger percentage win over Clinton was merely Sanders “beating” Clinton…with, I’d add, all the usual qualifiers politely explaining how he’s a lost cause just wasting everyone’s time.
Sanders – 56.5% he wins 45 delegates
Clinton – 43.5% she wins 31 delegates
I read Sanders will need to win by roughly this margin in the all of the remaining primaries to overtake Clinton and beat her with total no. of delegates.
The big one is going to be New York in 2 weeks where 247 delegates are up for grabs. Feel the Bern!
I understand there are still ten delegates to be allocated in Wisconsin to make a total of 86 delegates.
I also heard that Washington state delegates had also not been fully allocated yet (whatever ‘allocated’ in this context means given I thought they were automatically generated from vote percentage).
Are there odds being offered here on the USA elections? Seems a very interesting contest and sports betting seems to be a regular feature in these days.
Sanders needed to win by 16% in order to be on track to beat Clinton. He only won by 13.5%, so he’s still going backwards. Hence why he didn’t “crush” Clinton, whereas Cruz has landed a heavy blow at Trumps chances of winning.
Has anyone ever wondered why Auckland does not have a public/community Television station. A quick count of other areas gives me:
Cue Television
TV Central
Dunedin TV
Canterbury Television
TV Rotorua
Info-Rotorua
East Coast TV
Channel North
Television Hawkes Bay
Mainland TV
South TV
I may have missed some I think Nelson has their own channel.
The one thinsg all these channels can do is show stories of interest to the people that live in the area.
For some reason Auckland misses out. I am sick of commercail TV1,2,3,prime etc with their one size fits all for all of NZ. I want to see stories about Auckland.
In the past TVNZ did their best to stop local TV in Auckland by buying out stations and then closing them down. Remember Max and Horizon Television?
Just wonder if anyone else in Auckland would like to see programmes about Auckland.
hi ron, you can add tararua television to yr mix, too.
a friend and i were talking about the potential of a true local newspaper, as our one here in feilding is being “improved” and folded in with two other ‘local’ papers.
kinda like how the evening standard is 3/4s of the dominion.
slightly different real estate ads though.
Well who knows dog ? I’m not a liar, I’m not an effete simpering dick, I don’t lappishly colonise Richie’s arse to compensate for a lack of testo’, I don’t make giggles about child rapists and murderers, I don’t repeatedly assault young women, I’m not illiterate and most of all I’m not a troll backing an embarrassing disgrace. Quite the reverse of your spectacular fetidness Bowel.
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On The Way Out: Gaurav Sharma has clearly had enough of Parliament and is more than ready to return to his life as a medical professional. What he has been willing to do on the way out, however, is draw aside the curtain, if only for a moment, and let ...
The Empire Within Which Bullying Never Ceased: The bitter truth about Great Britain’s “public” schools (and their many imitators in the Empire’s far-flung dominions) is that they were consciously designed to produce a very particular kind of imperial administrator. These men needed to be courageous, but not compassionate; clever, but ...
A most amazingly air-tight conspiracy Not research, but research-related. Skeptical Science reader John G. writes to point out an omission in our collection of rebuttals: "You are failing to rebut a prevailing narrative which blames a Globalist Elite for promoting CC as part of The Great Reset."Thank you John, ...
The travails of National MP Sam Uffindell are bad news for the National party in more ways than one. The obvious question is as to how an applicant with such a disreputable history could have secured the nomination as the National candidate in the Tauranga by-election. National’s vetting procedures seem ...
The “A View from Afar” podcast with Selwyn Manning and I resumed after a months hiatus. We discussed the PRC-Taiwan tensions in the wake of Nancy Pelosi’s visit and what pathways, good and bad, may emerge from the escalation of hostilities between the mainland and island. You can find it ...
A ballot for one member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill (Eugenie Sage) The bill is pitched as protecting conservation land, and it does immediately do that. But it also goes further, doing exactly what it ...
Sam Uffindell’s defenders keep reminding us that he was only 16 at the time of the King’s College incident, and haven’t we all done things in our teens that, as adults, we look back on with shame and embarrassment? True. Let’s be honest. Haven’t we all at one time or ...
Our media insists on telling us that Ukraine is a unified country suffering aggression from its neighbour the Russian Federation. But it is hardly unified. A violent civil war has raged there since the overthrow of the democratically elected government in February 2014. This civil war arose from deep ...
If National causes yet another by-election to be held in Tauranga, not only will it cost the taxpayers another unnecessary $1m for the taxpayers after Simon Bridges called it quits earlier in the year, but National will also pay a big price in terms of its reputation and integrity. A ...
Representing Pakeha Racism: The important thing to remember about Rob Muldoon, and the racist policies with which his name is associated, is that he drew his power from the hundreds-of-thousands of anxious, angry, and yes – racist – Pakeha who voted for him, and that his most effective campaign slogan was: “New Zealand the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The U.S. Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act by a single vote on Sunday, August 7. The bill, headed to the House of Representatives within days, includes by far the largest and most consequential measures to reduce domestic climate pollution in the nation’s ...
I remember feeling anxious before making the phone call, although not at anxious I might have expected. But what sticks most in my mind is how the phone call ended. It was the late 1990s. I was deputy editor of the NZ Listener and I had to ring a guy ...
National is dripping “blue blood” again. The revelations over Sam Uffindell’s violent assault indicate that the National Party under Christopher Luxon hasn’t quite shed the toxicity and internal damage of the last few years. The crises besetting the party have recently been well documented in journalist Andrea Vance’s new book ...
Most of us believe in redemption and atonement… But the timing, the nature and the semantics of Sam Uffindell‘s apology for his role in a gang that beat a younger kid (reportedly) with wooden bed legs, has left much to be desired. The victim seems pretty clear about the motivation ...
Yesterday the news broke that newly elected National MP Sam Uffindell was asked to leave private Auckland school King’s College at the end of his fifth form year after being part of a group that viciously beat a younger student one night. There are many elements to this latest political ...
You’ve got to wonder why the National Party knowingly hid information from the public about their newest MP, Sam Uffindell. Surely they must’ve realised that their secret would eventually leak into the public domain. New Zealand is far too small for cover-ups of this kind to be effective.Despite his violent ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk With high energy prices and increasing urgency to reduce fossil fuel burning, it makes sense to get the most out of every gallon of gasoline or kilowatt-hour of electricity. A previous post showed that charging an EV costs around $1.41 per gallon ...
Back in the 1990s, Tony Blair rebranded The British Labour Party as “New Labour”, to try and draw a line under past failures. It’s as if Christopher Luxon is attempting to follow suit, and launch “New National” at the moment – a party that’s fresh-looking, has made some big breaks ...
Back in June Sam Uffindell was elected to parliament in the Tauranga by-election. Turns out he's a bully who beat a kid with a bed-leg at school: The National Party’s newest MP, Sam Uffindell, was asked to leave his exclusive boarding school after viciously beating a younger student late ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Electoral Amendment Bill. Submissions are due by Wednesday, 31 August 2022, and can be made at the link above. The bill improves disclosure of party finances, lowering the declaration threshold to $5,000 and requiring parties to disclose their annual financial statements. ...
Laughing With The Poor Folks - Or At Them? Christopher Luxon took rapper LunchMoney Lewis’s lyrics at their face value. “Bills”, as heard by Luxon, is a cri-de-cœur from a hard-working man determined to pull himself and his family up by their own bootstraps. It simply wouldn’t occur to him ...
On the rare occasions when it ever gets asked, the public keeps rejecting tax cuts as such, as a policy priority. It keeps saying it wants tax levels to either stay the same or be increased, so that public services can be maintained, or even (perish the thought) improved. In ...
Europe has been baking in a heatwave, of course. Not so much this part of the world, which benefits by still being in Winter (though let’s just say I am not looking forward to January 2023). Not that it’s been a particularly cold Winter – we haven’t had one ...
The Wagner Group is a private military company – effectively mercenaries. It has been used for the military activity of the Russian Federation in various parts of the world. Currently, it is operating in Ukraine and apparently has a reputation as a very brave and effective force in the ...
I have said this in other forums, but here is the deal: PRC military exercises after Pelosi’s visit are akin to male gorillas who run around thrashing branches and beating their chests when annoyed, disturbed or seeking to show dominance. They are certainly dangerous and not to be ignored, but ...
From July 7 to 26 we tried something new on our Facebook page by sharing one Cranky Uncle cartoon each day for 20 days in a row. There were two reasons for doing this: firstly, we wanted to ensure that at least one post would get published each day while I was ...
Too many commentators on current price pressures have not understood that this time it is very different from the 1970s. Their prescriptions may accelerate inflation.The New Zealand economy is experiencing an external price shock arising from the Covid pandemic and the Ukrainian invasion compounded by related supply chain difficulties. It ...
During the years of the Key government one hardy perennial of political journalism was that whenever the Labour Opposition would suggest a policy alternative to the status quo, the hard bitten response from the Gallery realists would be “But how’re you gonna pay for it?” National in Opposition has been ...
In The Wizard’s Garden: George Dunlop Leslie, 1904IT ALL SEEMS so long ago now, and, to be fair, in human terms, 48 years is a long time. New Zealand was a different country in 1974. Someone unafraid of courting controversy might say it had achieved “Peak Pakeha”. Although the Labour Government of ...
Proximate Cause: Tellingly, it was Helen Clark who was seated close by when, earlier this week, Jacinda Ardern delivered a speech carefully crafted to keep New Zealand’s dairy exports heading China’s way. Photo by PolitikPURISTS WOULD ARGUE that New Zealand’s foreign policy should not be determined by who its Prime Minister ...
We have a new clip out of The Rings of Power. It sees Galadriel and the affectionately nicknamed Gigwit* venturing into dark places in search of evil. At fifty-odd seconds, it also constitutes the longest single piece of show dialogue we have seen thus far. *An acronym. “Galadriel Is ...
Rising To The Challenge: Te Pāti Māori is reassuring the angry and the alienated that in 2023 voting will make a difference. Aotearoa is changing. Pakeha – especially young Pakeha – are changing. The racism is still there, of course, heightened, it would seem, by the prospect of Labour, the ...
"CAGW." A thing? With its provocative title and remarks grounded in respected published research, the perspective Climate Endgame: Exploring catastrophic climate change scenarios just published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has caused a few ripples reaching into popular media. "Endgame" and "catastrophic" lean hard in the direction of "pay ...
In the past there's been a few interesting data points about the New Zealand Intelligence Community's desire to covertly manipulate public opinion through media and academic mouthpieces. In 2015 the Council for Civil Liberties revealed the existence of an NZIC "Strategic Communications Group" tasked with persuading the public that spying ...
Inflation is through the roof, and "coincidentally" so is oil company profiteering. UN Secretary-General António Guterres calls it what it is: grotesque: The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has described the record profits of oil and gas companies as immoral and urged governments to introduce a windfall tax, using ...
What on earth is going on with the main opposition parties at the moment? Both National and ACT have been making numerous flip-flops and miscommunications, clearly indicating that they aren’t a viable alternative to the current Labour led Government.Of particular note is the duplicitous reasoning given for why they support ...
A ballot for two member's bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Housing Infrastructure (GST-sharing) Bill (Brooke van Velden) Prohibition on Seabed Mining Legislation Amendment Bill (Debbie Ngarewa-Packer) Ngarewa-Packer's bill looks likely to start a shitfight with Labour, and not just because the ...
As you might have noticed, I have an on-going interest in working my way through old and intellectually influential reading material. Occasionally I even share my thoughts on it, which allows me to take a break from my generally-dominant Tolkien analysis. Well, today I thought I would take a ...
Golriz Ghahraman's Electoral (Strengthening Democracy) Amendment Bill will probably face its first reading today. And three months after it was introduced - pissing on the "as soon as practicable" requirement of Standing Order 269 - it has received a section 7 report from Attorney-General David Parker stating that its proposed ...
There's an interesting select committee report out today, from the Petitions Committee on the Petition of Conrad Petersen: The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA). The petitioner raises some concerns about the slowness of the IPCA process and its lack of oversight, and suggests some solutions. The committee doesn't seem keen ...
Today is a Member's Day, but likely to be a boring one. There's no general debate today, and instead the House will move right into the third reading of the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Bill, which will add unelected, inherently conflicted Ngai Tahu representatives to ECan. Then there's ...
That gormlessly glum picture of Christopher Luxon in Samoa graphically tells us what kind of image New Zealand would be projecting abroad if there’s a change of government next year. The glumness is understandable. For months, National and ACT had been dog whistling to the bigots who oppose the creation ...
There is no corruption in New Zealand. At least that’s what authorities want the public to believe. For decades now our system of political finance regulation has been portrayed as highly rigorous, ensuring our politicians cannot be bought. Unfortunately, that’s just not true. Although politicians and officials have claimed tight ...
Pundits have come out of the woodwork to defend the Greens co-leader, after he was stripped of his leadership last week by unhappy party members. The defences have all stuck to basically the same script: Shaw is a successful leader and minister who’s handed the party big victories in politics ...
Our Government wants New Zealand to be the best place in the world to be a child, and we have a plan to make sure that’s a reality. We’ve put the wellbeing of children and families at the heart of our work since taking office in 2017 – from putting ...
The Green Party backs the Human Rights Commission’s call for an immediate rent freeze followed by reform of the rental system to guarantee that everyone has a warm, dry, affordable place to live. ...
The Green Party has once again shown that bringing people together to demand change works, with the announcement today that the Government will give communities a greater say over how their local transport services are run. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to ensure that as a nation which produces enough food to feed 40 million people, everyone in New Zealand can put an abundance of nourishing, nutritious kai on the table. ...
Following months of work by the Green Party and community and environmental organisations, Parliament will have the opportunity to pass legislation to protect public conservation land and waters from mining. ...
New evidence released today by Alcohol Healthwatch shows there’s never been a better time for Parliament to pass Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick’s Alcohol Harm Minimisation Bill. ...
We’re helping more Kiwis into work, to help support whānau, grow our skilled workforce and secure our economy for future generations. During our time in Government, we’ve delivered record low unemployment rates, as well as a steady fall in the number of New Zealanders receiving a main benefit, and we’re ...
The Green Party once again calls on the Government to ban bottom trawling on all seamounts following the release of an industry white paper on so-called ‘sustainable’ trawling. ...
Urgent reform is essential to ensure disabled people have equal access to the care and support they need, the Green Party says in response to a new report that challenges politicians to fix the current system. ...
Emerging from an energetic selection meeting, we’re pleased to announce that Kaydee Zabelin and Brent Barrett are your Green Party candidates for Palmerston North City Council. ...
COVID-19 is here to stay and so the Government needs to put in place long-term protection measures, including mandatory ventilation standards, the Green Party says. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to overhaul the Recognised Seasonal Employers scheme in the wake of revelations of shocking human rights violations. ...
The Green Party is calling for a cross-party commitment to guaranteeing at least a living wage and safe working conditions to people seeking employment, instead of continuing benefit sanctions. ...
The Green Party is once again calling on the Government to announce its support for a moratorium on deep sea mining, and to support a member’s bill going to select committee. ...
The Government must take steps to ensure that the way we build our homes is helping to meet New Zealand’s climate change targets, the Green Party said. ...
The Government’s employment initiatives led by the Ministry of Social Development must guarantee liveable incomes and fair working conditions, the Green Party says. ...
New Zealanders deserve a health system that works for everyone, no matter who you are or where you live. Our Government has a plan to make this a reality, and we’re taking the next steps. We now have thousands more health professionals, such as doctors and nurses, working in New ...
During her time as Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern has navigated New Zealand through unprecedented times. Through it all, she’s become known as someone who leads with kindness, compassion and strength, while keeping the wellbeing of Kiwis at the heart of her approach. To celebrate five years of Jacinda leading the ...
Since taking office in 2017, our Government has worked hard to lift wages and make life more affordable for New Zealanders, as we move forward with our plan to grow a secure economy for all. ...
The Government must use the opportunity of the Electoral Amendment Bill in Parliament to close the loophole in the political donations regime, the Green Party says. ...
The Government is continuing to make regional economies stronger and more resilient with investment in a project that will likely create the world’s first commercial seaweed-based nanocellulose manufacturing plant. The innovative $1.5 million project in Paeroa in the Waikato is being supported with a $750,000 loan from the Government’s Regional ...
A new partnership strategy aimed at putting the decision-making and support for children in need in the hands of the community has been officially launched in Kaitaia by Minister for Children Kelvin Davis. TE ATATŪ, formed in partnership with Te Kahu Oranga Whānau and Oranga Tamariki, is the first such ...
$6million investment in research into three green hydrogen projects New Zealand research teams now able to access European green hydrogen research facilities and expertise A green hydrogen research programme has been established with Germany will support Aotearoa New Zealand’s move towards a more sustainable, low-emissions economy, Research, Science and Innovation ...
Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson today announced the allocation of the remaining $14.9 million of the $20 million Budget 2021 investment into the Māori Boarding Schools initiative. The four Māori boarding schools play a significant role in the development of future Māori leaders. They have been long-standing, staunch advocates ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta today announced the appointment of Andre Van Der Walt as New Zealand’s next High Commissioner to Kiribati. “As a Pacific nation we value our strong and enduring relationships throughout the region, especially with Kiribati,” Nanaia Mahuta said. “Our two nations share a strong partnership based on ...
More than a third of eligible migrants are now New Zealand residents thanks to the Government’s one-off, simplified path to residence, providing a way forward for migrant families and certainty for New Zealand businesses, Minister of Immigration Michael Wood has announced. “This is great news for our migrant families and ...
New Zealand is making a further significant deployment of 120 New Zealand Defence Force personnel to the United Kingdom to help train Ukraine soldiers, as part of an international effort to help Ukraine continue to defend itself against Russia’s illegal war. It follows a completed deployment of 30 NZDF personnel ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta will visit Niue and Tonga this week to engage kanohi ki te kanohi with counterparts, and progress work on Aotearoa New Zealand’s Pacific Resilience and climate action priorities. “After the disruption caused by COVID-19 border closures, this is another opportunity to connect in-person with our ...
Our new approach to public transport will: Support ‘on-demand’ public transport services Allow councils to own and operate services in house Improve pay and working conditions Deliver routes and services that reflect community needs Incentivise the decarbonisation of the fleet Workers and public transport users are at the heart of ...
As-salamu alaykum, Tena tatou katoa, Thank you all for being here today. To the Afghan human rights defenders and your family members, welcome to Aotearoa. And thank you Your Excellency for hosting us all here at Government House. We have with us today from Afghanistan, human rights advocates, journalists, judges, ...
It’s my great pleasure to be able to speak with you about a really positive move for the Build-to-Rent sector. As you know, we announced changes last year to help steer property investors way from the existing pool of housing and toward solving New Zealand’s grave housing shortage - by ...
· Tax changes aimed at growing quality, secure rental supply · New and existing build-to-rent developments exempt from interest limitation rules in perpetuity, when offering ten-year tenancies · Exemption to apply from 1 October 2021. The Government is encouraging more long-term rental options by giving developers tax incentives for as ...
The Government has marked another milestone in its push for better rural connectivity, welcoming the delivery of Rural Connectivity Group’s (RCG) 350th tower. Waikato’s Te Ākau, which sits roughly 50 kilometres out of Hamilton is home to the new tower. “The COVID 19 pandemic has highlighted the ever-increasing importance of ...
Biosecurity co-operation topped the agenda when Australia and New Zealand’s agriculture ministers met yesterday. Australia’s Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Senator Murray Watt met with his New Zealand counterpart, Damien O’Connor, Minister of Agriculture, Biosecurity, and Rural Communities in a conference call, which had particular focus on foot and ...
People could spend less time in hospital, thanks to a smart new remote device that lets patients be monitored at home, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “Technology has the potential to really change the way we do things – to do things that are better for patients and at the ...
Concrete steps to clarify inclusive, evidence-informed teaching practices Strengthen capability supports along the professional pathway Enhance partnerships between the education system and whānau, iwi, communities Embed equitable additional learning supports and assessment tools that help teachers effectively notice and respond to the needs of students Improved student achievement is a ...
Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to strengthen global prevention, preparedness and responses to future pandemics with seed funding for a new World Bank initiative, Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “We cannot afford to wait until the next pandemic. We must all play our part to support developing countries ...
A law change to ensure that forestry conversions by overseas investors benefit New Zealand has passed its final reading in Parliament. Previously, overseas investors wishing to convert land, such as farm land, into forestry only needed to meet the “special forestry test”. This is a streamlined test, designed to encourage ...
International tourism recovery well underway with higher level of overseas visitor arrivals than previously expected UK and US card spend already back at pre-COVID levels Visitors staying in New Zealand longer and spending more compared to 2019 Govt support throughout pandemic helped tourism sector prepare for return of international ...
The Ministry for Ethnic Communities has released its first strategy, setting out the actions it will take over the next few years to achieve better wellbeing outcomes for ethnic communities Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities Priyanca Radhakrishnan announced today. “The Strategy that has been released today sets out ...
The Prime Minister has officially opened the Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatic Centre today saying it is a huge asset to the region and to the country. “This is a world class facility which will be able to host national and international events including the world championships. With a 10-lane Olympic ...
The Associate Minister of Education, Aupito William Sio, has today announced the recipients of the Tulī Takes Flight scholarships which were a key part of last year’s Dawn Raids apology. The scholarships are a part of the goodwill gesture of reconciliation to mark the apology by the New Zealand Government ...
96% of estimated menstruating students receive free period products 2085 schools involved 1200 dispensers installed Supports cost of living, combats child poverty, helps increase attendance Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti today hailed the free period products in schools, Ikura | Manaakitia te whare tangata, a huge success, acknowledging ...
The Tourism Industry Transformation Plan outlines key actions to improve the sector This includes a Tourism and Hospitality Accord to set employment standards Developing cultural competency within the workforce Improving the education and training system for tourism Equipping business owners and operators with better tools and enabling better work ...
Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications Dr David Clark welcomes Google Cloud’s decision to make New Zealand a cloud region. “This is another major vote of confidence for New Zealand’s growing digital sector, and our economic recovery from COVID 19,” David Clark said. “Becoming a cloud region will mean ...
A package of changes to NCEA and University Entrance announced today recognise the impact COVID-19 has had on senior secondary students’ assessment towards NCEA in 2022, says Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti. “We have heard from schools how significant absences of students and teachers, as a result of COVID-19, ...
Te Reo Māori tauparapara… Tapatapa tū ki te Rangi! Ki te Whei-ao! Ki te Ao-mārama Tihei mauri ora! Stand at the edge of the universe! of the spiritual world! of the physical world! It is the breath of creation Formal acknowledgments… [Your Highness Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II and Masiofo] ...
The Government’s commitment to combatting firearms violence has reached another significant milestone today with the passage of the Firearms Prohibition Order Legislation Bill, Police Minister Chris Hipkins says. The new law helps to reduce firearm-related crime by targeting possession, use, or carriage of firearms by people whose actions and behaviours ...
Minister for Veterans, Hon Meka Whaitiri sends her condolences to the last Battle for Crete veteran. “I am saddened today to learn of the passing of Cyril Henry Robinson known as Brant Robinson, who is believed to be the last surviving New Zealand veteran of the Battle for Crete, Meka ...
Legislation to repeal the ‘Three Strikes’ law has passed its third reading in Parliament. “The Three Strikes Legislation Repeal Bill ends an anomaly in New Zealand’s justice system that dictates what sentence judges must hand down irrespective of relevant factors,” Justice Minister Kiri Allan said. “The three strikes law was ...
Work is under way on preliminary steps to improve the Government’s support for survivors of abuse in care while a new, independent redress system is designed, Public Service Minister Chris Hipkins says. These steps – recommended by the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry – include rapid payments for ...
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki Online Forum 77 years ago today, an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. Three days earlier, on the 6th of August 1945, the same fate had befallen the people of Hiroshima. Tens of thousands died instantly. In the years that followed 340,000 ...
An agreement signed today between the New Zealand and United States governments will provide new opportunities for our space sector and closer collaboration with NASA, Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash said. Stuart Nash signed the Framework Agreement with United States Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman. The signing ...
An agreement signed today between New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the United States’ Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will strengthen global emergency management capability, says Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty. “The Government is committed to continually strengthening our emergency management system, and this Memorandum of Cooperation ...
New Zealand will remain at the Orange traffic light setting, while hospitalisations remain elevated and pressure on the health system continues through winter. “There’s still significant pressure on hospitals from winter illnesses, so our current measures have an ongoing role to play in reducing the number of COVID-19 cases and ...
Streets will soon be able to be transformed from unsafe and inaccessible corridors to vibrant places for all transport modes thanks to new legislation proposed today, announced Transport Minister Michael Wood. “We need to make it safe, quicker and more attractive for people to walk, ride and take public transport ...
More young minds eyeing food and fibre careers is the aim of new Government support for agricultural and horticultural science teachers in secondary schools, Agriculture and Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. The Government is committing $1.6 million over five years to the initiative through the Ministry for Primary ...
Kākāpō numbers have increased from 197 to 252 in the 2022 breeding season, and there are now more of the endangered parrots than there have been for almost 50 years, Conservation Minister Poto Williams announced today. The flightless, nocturnal parrot is a taonga of Ngāi Tahu and a species unique ...
The relationship between Aotearoa New Zealand and Malaysia is to be elevated to the status of a Strategic Partnership, to open up opportunities for greater co-operation and connections in areas like regional security and economic development. Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta met her Malaysian counterpart Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah today during a ...
With additional trains operating across the network, powered by the Government’s investment in rail, there is need for a renewed focus on rail safety, Transport Minister Michael Wood emphasised at the launch of Rail Safety Week 2022. “Over the last five years the Government has invested significantly to improve level ...
There has been little progress in closing the gender pay gap despite record low unemployment, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions said today following the release of labour market data by Statistics NZ. The overall gender pay gap has stubbornly ...
“There are far too many dairies now also operating as licenced ‘Specialist Vape Retailers’. It makes a mockery of our vaping laws and so we’re pleased the Government is going to tidy up this unintended consequence,” says Nancy Loucas, co-founder ...
Median weekly earnings from wages and salaries rose by 8.8 percent to $1,189 in the year to the June 2022 quarter, Stats NZ said today. The 8.8 percent annual increase in median weekly earnings from wages and salaries was the largest annual increase ...
Hamilton West MP Gaurav Sharma's office has one staff member and no further decisions have been made on his staffing since he publicly accused Labour colleagues of bullying. ...
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, Deputy Mayor Bill Cashmore and Regulatory Committee Chair Linda Cooper will today present Auckland Council’s submission [speaking notes attached] to the government’s Finance Expenditure Committee hearing on the proposed Water ...
The MP's suspension from Labour's caucus will be reviewed in December but caucus could agree to expel him sooner if he breaches party rules again, the Prime Minister says. ...
The Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill is aimed at addressing the accessibility barriers faced by disabled people, tāngata whaikaha, and others, so they can live independently and participate fully in all areas of life. The bill also aims to ensure ...
Labour MPs may well be determining the fate of Hamilton West MP Gaurav Sharma at a special caucus meeting, as this post is being written. According to Stuff, the party’s MPs will enter a virtual meeting at 2.30pm on Tuesday and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was expected to speak to ...
Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr has a lot on his plate at present. He is battling to hose down prices which have been rising faster than they have done for 30 years, while at the same time “maximising” sustainable employment. It’s a task none of his predecessors had to undertake. ...
Te Tari Taiwhenua is inviting members of the public to apply to the current funding round of the Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust. The Trust chairman, Mr Paul Chin, encourages people to make applications for proposals that support the aims of the Trust. The ...
The Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IMM) says that disabled people’s human rights will not be fully realised in Aotearoa unless there is a jointly owned and implemented cross government agency approach. The IMM today released its third general update ...
Buzz from the Beehive Comings and goings were the common factor in the latest Beehive announcements. Immigration Minister Michael Wood handled the “inward” movements by regurgitating migrant statistics he presumably wanted to crow about. The “outward” movements are recorded in three statements – a further deployment of 120 New Zealand ...
Greenpeace Aotearoa is urging the New Zealand government to back the strongest possible Global Oceans Treaty as the latest round of negotiations for the long-awaited treaty kick off in New York. UN member states are meeting this week to hammer out the details ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ron May, Emertius Fellow, attached to the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program, Australian National University Paramilitary police and soldiers patrol ballot boxes at Tari airport, Southern Highlands, PNGAAP Image Despite Australia “stepping up” its relations with the Pacific since ...
With less than a year until its launch, Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson says he is willing to address opposition concerns over the independence of the new government funded public media entity. ...
Births and deaths releases provide statistics on the number of births and deaths of people resident in New Zealand that are registered during a given period, along with selected fertility and mortality rates. They may differ from statistics presented ...
New Zealand's resident population provisionally grew by 12,700 or 0.2 percent over the year, to reach 5.12 million at 30 June 2022, Stats NZ said today. This is the lowest annual growth rate since June 1986 when the population barely changed (0.0 ...
Retail NZ welcomes two policy initiatives from the ACT Party Law and Order policy document to combat retail crime – infringement notices and three strikes for burglary. “The announcement today from the ACT Party of two specific policies that will help ...
The departure of the Human Right’s Commission from its core role to defend classical human rights into left wing ideological advocacy would be comical if the policies it is pushing weren’t so dangerous, says the Taxpayers’ Union. “This was always ...
Given climate change not only poses a serious challenge to Auckland but New Zealand as a whole, mayoral candidate Efeso Collins is pledging to form a Coalition of Mayors For Climate Action. Collins says it’s vital local councils work closely together ...
Power Play - Labour MPs will be meeting for an urgent caucus early this afternoon, as the party tries to manage the snowballing damage from the serious allegations being made by one of its own, Gaurav Sharma. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ryan Heneghan, Lecturer in Mathematical Ecology, Queensland University of Technology US Department of Energy Even a relatively small nuclear war would create a worldwide food crisis lasting at least a decade in which hundreds of millions would starve, according to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Livingstone, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University Shutterstock The popularity of plant-based proteins, or “fake meat”, has increased in recent years as consumers look to eat fewer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arindam Basu, Associate Professor, Epidemiology and Environmental Health, University of Canterbury Yang Jianzheng/VCG via Getty Images Within less than three years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared two public health emergencies of international concern: COVID-19 in February 2020 and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Halog, Lecturer/Research Group Leader in Industrial Ecology and Circular Economy, The University of Queensland The Brisbane 2032 Olympic organising committee boardDarren England/AAP In a year of major sporting events – the Commonwealth Games, the FIFA World Cup, cricket’s T20 World ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne O’Mara, Associate Professor in Education, Deakin University Shutterstock It’s hard for parents to help kids with homework without doing it for them. It can be especially difficult to work out where to start when your child is preparing a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Day, PhD Student, Economic and Industrial Policy, Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, University of Sydney Shutterstock The NSW government’s industrial dispute with rail unions over the new intercity trains is tipped to add hundreds of millions of dollars ...
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Is the Speaker on a promise? All that smirking, sly little smiles and glances of admiration to John Key who was as usual impolite, evasive, insulting, abusive, unable to answer perfectly coherent questions but instead goes into incandescent, incoherent rants. Carter did everything but spring up and high five Key at one point. Absolutely appalling. Have noticed a lot less tittering and clapping of flippers from the trained seals lately. Novelty of key’s wit and wisdom wearing off perhaps. Carter is letting our yapping pm away with too much. Bit of man love there.
Watched a section of it last night and in oz such a blatant abuse of the position would be broadcast on primetime news as time and again they behave like juveniles to prevent the govt being made to answer opposition questions.
Carter is a disgrace and has childish tantrums but then none of the nats give a F about democracy so they love it.
You’ve obviously forgotten what Wilson was like.
Pathetic was Wilson, I agree.
But you really get the feel that Dr Smith raised the bar back, which was good.
Then we get this guy, who actually makes Wilson look not that bad – That makes me shudder, as I agree with you The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell, Wilson was awful.
Begs the question, is it a race to the gutter with this lot?
The populace thinks so:
And talking about the media:
Can’t say that any of that really surprises me.
Lockwood was the best we ever had. Given their experience under Wilson, I think the Nats were pissed off at how even-handed he was. So, they weren’t going to make that mistake again.
PS. “Begs the question” does not mean what you think it means.
Don’t think he was the best but he was pretty good.
Although you’re right, that was a quote.
But then again it’s language and language, just like culture, changes over the decades.
Maybe. Best that I can recall, then.
Yesterdays bias and abuse of the speakers position by Carter was appalling and he should be removed
Key and his shitty liver ,the white coats should have been taking him to detox
Who is next???
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11617590
Iceland’s embattled prime minister has resigned amid a controversy over his offshore holdings, a Cabinet minister said as outrage over the accounts roiled the North Atlantic island nation.
+100 Penny…let the imagination run wild…another PM closer to home?
Susie Ferguson conducts another miserable interview where she fails again to hold the government to account.
Instead she simply allows Joyce to blather on without questioning the bs he spouts.
How does she let him get away with the lies he says?
RNZ. Not good enough.
Yeah, very poor interview. At the end of it, all we got from Joyce was platitudes, when what we need is jobs.
I once thought she was quite good, but she’s now obeying Griffin’s dictats.
It really is kind of sad at the moment, but I hope that as we get nearer to a change of government, National Radio will put their teeth back in and start biting the arse of the likes of Joyce and Key. Somebody in the msm has to hold National to account, and if not RNZ, who?
The corporate media, are being exposed as a lost cause, I do love how the RWNJ scream there is a liberal bias. And RNZ is just not enough, I gave up on them when they started to use PR sniper Hooton. Actually, there is another problem, there are more PR people than there are journalists – no wonder no one knows what truth looks like.
That said, more and more people are getting their news off the internet, and checking there sources. OK maybe not the second part. But I know I check way more now.
Kathryn Ryan was good though…this interview is interesting
‘Wealth Management researcher on Panama Papers’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201795957/wealth-management-researcher-on-panama-papers
“As the ripples from the biggest leak in journalistic history continue to spread, academic Brooke Harrington – who spent the better part of a decade investigating wealth management – says the corruption goes well beyond Mossack Fonseca.”
You haven’t listened to RNZ for 13 years?
No, he gave up on them. What part of “Matthew Hooton tells lies for money and anyone who employs him diminishes their reputation by doing so” are you having trouble with?
One Anonymous Bloke
Hugs bro Hugs!
I could not have said it better.
+100
What lies?
The ones where his lips move.
RNZ providing as lot of misinformation today.
Now propaganda about Sanders and Clinton being disseminated.
The ‘Democratic strategist’ Mary Anne Marsh was simply appalling.
Why can’t RNZ do some simple research on the US election rather than relying on such shills for the establishment?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201795934/chaos-expected-as-us-primary-circus-hits-wisconsin
The ever-insightful J. Pilger.
Because of Obama’s black African past a surge of over-zealous and liberal idealism were effective in clinching his election to the presidency. Despite Hillary’s consistent support of American violent and widespread intervention her gender similarly is playing into the hands of distorted idealism.
http://johnpilger.com/articles/trump-and-clinton-censoring-the-unpalatable
Is this true?
I for one am looking forward to an official statement from the OECD…..
” Woodhouse and Prime Minister John Key had said the OECD had “looked at our foreign trust rules in the past and had no concerns”. ”
http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/78585843/foreign-trusts-hiding-darker-secrets-than-tax-avoidance-says-expert
“…Pol said criminals involved in drugs and human trafficking generated the greatest amount of illicit funds.
But the criminals who had set up trusts in New Zealand were more likely to be involved in large-scale cartels, corruption and professional “trade-based” money-laundering.
One New Zealand trust has already been associated with Unaoil, a Monaco company under investigation for helping multinationals bribe oil ministers and officials in the Middle East.
Woodhouse and Prime Minister John Key had said the OECD had “looked at our foreign trust rules in the past and had no concerns”.
Labour leader Andrew Little said an OECD report published in 2013 showed that was incorrect.
The report said improvements might be needed to laws and regulations to ensure that people who owned shares in companies could be identified where those shares were held by nominees.
The OECD in Paris has been contacted for comment.
…..”
_______________________
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Thanks Penny. Will await outcomes with interest.
Ah, so John Key lied – yet again.
Yes.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1604/S00066/key-misleading-over-oecd-tax-haven-report.htm
Corin Dann on TV1 breakfast news this morning has stated that Australian journalists perusing these Panama files has discovered there have been 60,000 mentions of NZ in the files. That is a hell of a lot of mentions for a supposedly squeaky clean tax regime country. Also he said, more worrying for the Government was that we are the only OECD country to provide the services of tax trusts for overseas customers in the manner the files are disclosing.
Maybe if the Gods smile on us, we may see a resignation of an important public servant in the near future.
I would have thought the whole cabinet should resign over this one.
Individual responsibility and all that…
I’m thinking that the whole cabinet needs to be jailed over this one.
Adam,
And therefore presumably anyone who was in the last Labour govt should also resign, given that the current regime is nearly 30 years old.
Having said that, the zeitgeist moves on. What was OK once may not be OK today.
And there is no doubt a lot more concern about corporate tax avoidance than there used to be.
An interesting aspect is that Europeans seem much more caught up in it than Americans.
I have always thought this is a response to uncertainly about govt trustworthiness, which has much deeper well springs than we can really imagine In New Zealand. Fundamentally we know that our govt, over many decades, is inherently trustworthy.
For instance if your country has been invaded, subject to revolution, people persecuted and subject to pogroms, and property confiscated, either by outright govt theft or by extreme taxes (north of 70%), then you might want your assets in a place that is not accessible to govt.
A large number of European nations have suffered one or more of these fates in the last hundred years. But we have never had experience (in New Zealand) of any of these things, and I would also say neither are we likely to. But many migrants to New Zealand certainly understand these risks.
So the reason why people act in the way they do is not just about avoiding legitimate taxes, there may be much deeper reasons, which are in part sociological, to use offshore havens, or for that matter Swiss bank accounts.
the implications of the panama papers are significantly deeper then tax avoidance and asset suppression,they are the transfer of sovereign power and oversight under the guise of FTA.
Sanders for example railed against the FTA with Panama in 2011
“In fact, combating tax haven abuse in Panama would be a violation of this free trade agreement, exposing the U.S. to fines from international authorities,” he stressed.
http://www.salon.com/2016/04/05/sanders_ardently_opposed_the_trade_deal_that_helped_make_the_panama_papers_scandal_clinton_supported_it/
Gnats – consistently defending tax-evading drug cartels since Key took power.
They started before Key took over.
The problems that arise from the panama papers are not only about tax avoidance and asset obfuscation ,but also the transfer of sovereign ownership and legislative oversight as Sanders correctly identified with the Panama FTA.
“In fact, combating tax haven abuse in Panama would be a violation of this free trade agreement, exposing the U.S. to fines from international authorities,” he stressed.
http://www.salon.com/2016/04/05/sanders_ardently_opposed_the_trade_deal_that_helped_make_the_panama_papers_scandal_clinton_supported_it/
But the bit that allows secretive tax avoiding trusts is only 4/5 years old and passed by this government.
Actually, it was never Ok – it was always immoral but the government tried to persuade people that it was fine and dandy so as to help the rich people steal from everybody else.
The US seems to have a few internal tax havens which means that they don’t have to go offshore for them.
Wrong. We don’t know that at all and trust in government has been falling.
You don’t have that right. If you don’t want to pay the taxes of a particular country then your only option is to leave. Anything else is sociopathic BS.
I think you need to speak more to Māori who do have direct experience of these things over the last century or so.
Draco,
I was simply pointing out how trust in the government being able to protect civil and economic rights (at a fundamental level) will influence behaviour.
For instance could you blame people in Eastern Europe getting as many of their assets (and indeed themselves) out of their countries following the communist takeovers of the 1940’s.
As for Maori, the issues you refer to primarily relate to the activities of the Crown in the nineteenth century. Since 1893 New Zealand has been a continuous democracy where everyone has had the vote. And a robust respect for the rule of law.
Is it perfect, no. But compared to most of the world, yes.
And you were wrong as this government rapidly erodes any trust that the people once had in government.
Maybe primarily but that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t occured this century as well.
Basically, you seem to be making shit up and re-writing history to fit your belief of how things are rather than accepting things as they are.
I think it’s fair to say there are countless examples of Māori having land taken off them in the 20th century too. So much for the rule of law Wayne.
Here’s an example from the 1940s in Waiwhetu: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/hutt-valley/69662452/Confiscated-land-returned-to-Waiwhetu-Maori
Then there was Bastion Point in the 70s where hundreds of police surrounded the rightful owners and went on to evict them.
Then when the rule of law compensates an iwi like Rangitāne o Manawatū through the treaty they get given back the Manawatu river, now one of the shittiest, polluted rivers in the world. The few million dollars they get back in the treaty claim was worked out by Metiria Turei as “$27 an acre” for the land taken from them. Sweet deal for over a century of settler profiteering?
Christ on a bike Wayne!
Those things being
Speechless.
Bill,
A fair point about Maori, particularly in respect of actions in the nineteenth century.
But as a broader point, my perspective is not an unreasonable view of New Zealand in contrast with most other nations in the world, given that we been a comprehensive democracy since 1893.
Continental Europe has obviously been less stable than New Zealand throughout the twentieth century. Ask the people of the former Yugoslavia as recently as twenty years ago.
Sheesh Wayne, you’re out there.
Clearly the ONLY reason those things have not happened here yet is the time factor…
…. have you noticed the prevalence of European heritage among our citizens? The very same Europeans that you refer to above?
that really is a Wayne’s World moment for you Wayne
Sure why not, I’m all for the labour MP who helped pass these acts resigning as well. Individual responsibility and all that.
Notice how you avoid that one, and went on some lame anti communist rant, fear murmuring is so last century.
So this is the defence for defrauding other people of tax revenue, I think you may have to come up with something better than that paranoid delusion. You might convince the public here, but the Aussies I’m talking to – just think we are a bunch of “thieving w*&^%rs”. Other people are look at us with disgust now. Go on, view some of the message boards across the globe. Wake up man, it ant pretty.
“Fundamentally we know that our govt, over many decades, is inherently trustworthy.” And it took the Tories to tear down that edifice. I think maybe you living in a wee bit of a bubble Wayne, I get it. I’m white, it’s easy to indulge in that privilege.
But the reality is really quite different.
Politicians are despised, people don’t vote and then people like you come here and spin. The sociological spin was deeply ironic, considering Marx was one of the founders of sociology. And by the way, I’m anti-authoritarian. So no great fan of Marx or communism myself.
It looks like NZ could be up there with the likes of British Virgin Islands as a tax haven. Redlogix posted this fascinating ABC documentary (45 mins) yesterday about how it all works and some of the major players, although it doesn’t focus on NZ so much.
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2016/04/04/4434529.htm
People need to get across this debate here, a tax haven is where you choose to pay your tax or no tax as the case may be as your your centre of business. interest or business domicile re world wide income. In essence you structure your affairs legally to choose a domicile to pay the minimal tax, your legal and democratic right In NZ case people are just parking money here in trusts not using NZ as there domicile or centre of business interest , NZ tax rates, laws etc are not beneficial like the virgin island, Ireland etc that are real tax havens. I am not sure what the big issue is here, if money is been laundered or hidden here to avoid tax NZ is party to multiple tax treaties and international convention. if there is suspion A NZ trust is been used to evade tax by an offshore tax regime the NZ tax regime won’t protect you
Uh-huh. So some people are far too rich. A mere millionaire probably wouldn’t go to all the cost and bother of squirreling several hundred thousands away out of sight….and out of reach of the tax regime that fills the public purse, that provides the infrastructure and services that society needs.
Any info on any of this money that’s been squirreled away being put towards bettering the common good? I mean, that’s what free market fundamentalism suggests should happen. Don’t need any pesky government determining public expenditure; the rich, using market mechanisms that are their exposal, will see us right.
Not disagreeing Bill I am just highlighting that NZ is not a tax haven ( that keeps been thrown out) , ie it’s not about paying tax in NZ or NZ attracting business as a center of interest due to its low tax regime or that NZ law will protect offshore illegal tax avoidance should a tax avoider be pursued here. it’s simply a story that some people are using our trust regime ( and innovation and benefit of English law separating ownership and control of assets) to potentially hide money
Ok it appears people are parking money in New Zealand companies to avoid tax in their own country. How is that not a tax haven or a form of one?
Watch that angle as Oz still posess an independant media, unlike here.
Today I will be on the Raglan Radio Morning Show with host Aaron at 9:35 AM I will be talking about the Panama Papers, John Key’s MO and Soros among others!
+100…and please link here
people from overseas not paying tax? Not my business.
People from NZ not paying tax? Only my business if they are middle to lower class people without trusts. Rich people with Trusts? Thats not my business.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/300718/overseas-trust-activities-not-nz's-concern-minister
Quote: But Mr Woodhouse said that was wrong.
“Well, there are two features of a tax haven as far as I’m aware.
“One is a very low, or no, tax base and the other is secrecy. We have neither of those things, we have a requirement for all people who earn income in New Zealand to pay tax and we share with other jurisdictions.”
Mr Woodhouse said as these were overseas trusts, they had overseas settlors, assets and income and the New Zealand Inland Revenue (IRD) had no interest in their obligations to pay tax overseas.” Quote End
@Sabine – don’t forget the beneficiaries who are constantly being surveilled in case they might have, shock ‘a relationship’ and apparently 50% of WINZ debts are overpayments by WINZ. The government went to extreme lengths to avoid paying beneficiaries their underpayments however.
Sounds like corporations are also underpaying holiday pay etc etc…. Kiwis are being ripped off constantly, just an accident apparently. Look a panda everyone…
Avoiding and hiding millions or billions via trusts is fine for Key’s Government, (in fact encouraged). Don’t forget the tax payers union are also ‘relaxed’ about multinationals not paying the same tax as NZ based companies. Free market does not seem to matter if the 0.0001% can profit. Paying tax in NZ by the rich listers is now a voluntary exercise.
Love how for years Natz have pitted the middle class against the beneficiaries as ‘taking their hard earned savings’ and all along making NZ a secret tax haven mentioned 60 times in the Panama leaks. Co incidence (and that John Key trained as an accountant – I think that is his sole qualification). Does not sound like it.
Yep it’s just like the financial melt down again, when the dodgy high flying CFO’s often with accountancy qualifications pushed entire countries into crisis and then still managed to get their bonuses with taxpayers money… Meanwhile the middle class are homeless, job less and pensionless or without security …. and told lucky they don’t have to fill out the 70+ pages of unemployment benefit application when for example Fonterra lay off 100 workers (while CEO receives 4 million salary).
At a time where our state houses have just been tendered off cheap to offshore companies and corporations… MSM blackout while the Bachelor makes headlines each day… Oh what a joke we have become in NZ!
Someone has posted this…
http://www.theguardian.com/news/commentisfree/2016/apr/05/millennials-rent-trap-panama-papers-british-property-housing-young-people
IIRC, he trained as a financier which is a different thing altogether and far more dangerous as they seem to believe that you can make money from money and not have to produce anything.
FYI – tomorrow I have been given 30 minutes by the Local Government and Environment Select Committee to give evidence in person to support my petition calling for an urgent inquiry into Auckland Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs).
Thursday 7 April 2016
9.30 – 10am.
Select Committee Room 2.
Kind regards
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Good Luck Penny.
After trying to illegally steal our Harbour in cahoots with Auckland council Planners, it is pretty clear these COO’s answer to nobody but themselves.
Apparently in a free market companies are supposed to answer to the shareholders (who in the councils case should be the ratepayers) so why are they not accountable to ratepayers?
It sounds like, from what Mr Woodhouse says that we NZ are supplying and allowing a conduit to facilitate these trusts and buggar the morality of it, but yes, that’s okay it’s legal for this country. Now wasn’t that what Kim Dot Com was arguing, that he was just providing the conduit to access entertainment media and that he couldn’t be blamed for people using it in nefarious ways. Look what it has done for Kim Dot Com, extradition probably on the way, this Government doesn’t and isn’t seeing it for being legal at all. How do they explain their hypocrisy over this situation? Pity we don’t have an impeachment mechanism here.
“Pity we don’t have an impeachment mechanism here”
But we do have question time, the General Debate and a media of sorts…
Our government may have a bit of trouble explaining that juxtaposition. In the same way they are going to have to explain to other governments why our trust ownership and taxation rules are out of phase with other jurisdictions allowing tax evasion and laundering.
And that gets on prime time news when?
Well, they would have difficulty explaining that if it go several weeks of prime time news with the journalists asking hard questions. Instead we’re likely to get a few minutes worth, a bit of a giggle between the host and the PM and that will be it.
Good point Kate. Good for the goose but…
A couple of quick videos from vice news. Both are shorter than 2 minutes.
I’d be impressed if the Russians keep their word on this. Wouldn’t Princess Diana be proud.
Any chance we can support the Kurds against ISIS yet?
The people of Rojava…we could open a kind of book on who gets to take them out in the end. Will it be the US, Russia or Turkey? Maybe a combined NATO thing? Maybe Syrian armed forces after the country regains some stability?
I’m picking a slow brutal demise at the hands of Assad’s forces, while the west and Russia sit back and either inform their respective audiences (us) that their hands are tied due to whatever settlement has resulted in Syria, or that Assad is just clearing away the last of any terrorist presence from the country.
Who’d be a fucking democrat?
btw. The Kurds in the vid are all about an independent Kurdistan. That’s inimical to the democratic aspirations in Rojava.
I’m picking Turkey. Look how fast they are to blame them for anything going wrong in Turkey. My guess it will be sold to the west as dealing with Terrorism. The Turkish government is using drones on them daily as it is.
I’m hopeful that the rest of the Kurds will engage with the people of Rojava, I hear they have been. These women were in Iraq, and the Iraq Kurds are talking to the Rojava Kurds. They know the history of the West and Turkey lying to them. That they won’t get an independent Kurdistan, it just won’t happen, they can not be that stupid.
OK believing in Masoud Barzani, is that stupid. Oh crap – I despair.
😉
FYI:
http://sputniknews.com/world/20160406/1037543197/soros-putin-clinton-cameron-panama.html
How the Putin/Cello player system works is in Panorama @ 13 below.
Panorama BBC have an edition,
“Tax Havens of the Rich and Powerful Exposed
Panorama
The rich and powerful have hidden billions of dollars in tax havens. They thought their financial secrets were safe, but now a huge leak of documents has revealed a world of secrecy, lies and crimes. ”
Explains with case studies how the money laundering/tax evasion works in Britain.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b076vwwy
Oops Sorry. That link to Panorama does not work outside UK . We watched via Apple. Pity. Excellent program.
Google is your friend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX7fQ180Gyo
Brilliant Joe. I had felt a little foolish above so you saved my blushes. The Putin connection @8:18.
The Cameron connection @ 16:15.
Nice to see at some reporting from this Panama stuff move beyond the stupid shallow gasping over the fact that rich pricks are doing rich prick stuff with regards tax avoidance.
From ‘The Guardian’
Revealed in the leaked documents was the fact that 2,800 Mossack Fonseca companies are connected to more than 6,000 UK title deeds, worth at least £7bn
http://www.theguardian.com/news/commentisfree/2016/apr/05/millennials-rent-trap-panama-papers-british-property-housing-young-people
Maybe Phil Twyford (or who-ever…probably best if it’s ‘who-ever’) would like to get on to it and see how many title deeds in NZ are linked back to Mossack Fonseca companies?
+1
According to this, 47 entities have been created in NZ.
https://mobile.twitter.com/AFP/status/717200510902734853
+1 Joe. Shocking. Lets have the trust owners names and the addresses of the NZ property!
Can’t do that saveNZ,
It would go against david seymour as the defender of the weak and helpless.
I love politics from the ACT party, it’s so obviously dirty these days.
Well as one Troll has pointed out in defence of the 0.0001% who control 50% of the world wealth.
They are just being sustainable – because imagine the consumption if 50% of people had a fair share of wealth.
My God, we might have to radically shift how we use resources such as housing and water and power and transport and food!
So the right wing discourse is that 0.0001% are taking 50% of the worlds assets for ‘environmental’ reasons apparently.
LOL
From book Affluenza by Oliver James I’m reading.
On today’s democracy:
Dunn asserts that the age of democracy has actually entailed a far greater control of citizens by governments: ‘The world in which we all now live is governed more extensively and more intimately than it has ever been before.’
(Cambridge political theorist John Dunn.)
Democracy, in English-speaking nations today has come to mean the handing over of a vast number of decisions and powers to rulers in return for the freedom to pursue egotistical, hedonistic consumer choices (as Herbert Marcuse predicted it would, back in the 1960s).
I recommend this book, which has theory, ideas and anecdotes with something for everyone to agree and disagree with, which is good mind exercise fodder!
“The World’s Biggest Oil Bribery Scandal”
In an age of potentially catastrophic climate change, where the future survival of civilisation and even humanity itself depends on cutting back on fossil fuels, this scandal makes the current tax avoidance scandal that the world seems to be concentrating on, seem petty by comparison.
The fact that Unaoil’s “ownership” can be traced back to a shell company registered in New Zealand; Warrants investigation to determine if the Unaoil “Bribe Factory” was one of the “lobbyists” used by the “exploration companies, construction and engineering firms, and oilfield service contractors” in this country?
And further; Were Unaoil one of the oil industry lobbyists that persuaded the National government to pass special laws targetting anti fossil fuel protesters?
Just noticed this statistic.
We have more migrants arriving than children being born in NZ…
Estimated resident population at 31 December 2015: 4,649,700 P
Births December 2015 year: 61,038
Deaths December 2015 year: 31,608
Net migration February 2016 year: 67,391
http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/snapshots-of-nz/top-statistics.aspx
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Prime Minister: Given his answer to Oral Question No. 1 yesterday, how does he stand by his statements?
Winston obviously has thought of a zinger to the answer he got yesterday. Never works once the moment has passed.
zinger? Nah.
Probably followup along the lines of “if NZ isn’t a tax haven in accordance with the pm’s assertions, why are there 60,000 references to NZ in the internal documents of a company that specialises in sheltering clients’ money in tax havens?” and moving on from there.
Winston likes tax evaders. Lots of paperwork to table in parliament…
Sanfords used to register their fishing boats in Panama.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11617867
At least shes seen the light
Ongoing trial of the Prominent New Zealander: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/78618365/prominent-new-zealander-trial-cross-examination-reveals-inconsistencies
Starting to look like there might have been more smoke than actual fire. Or at least, not enough evidence / certainty for a conviction.
I suspect if he is not convicted, the suppression orders won’t be lifted.
This is quite distasteful stuff, heavy suppression orders in place yet almost salacious reporting allowed
In this cases it should be name suppression of the accused, suppression of any and all details of the victims and then, if found guilty, name the offender but leave all details identifying the victims in place and, if found not guilty, leave all suppression orders in place
But this whole reporting from the trial is just sleazy imho
Nowhere near as sleazy as the deception of ordinary New Zealanders by your hero Key on the sale of KiwiBank..
The government still retains 100% ownership vto, don’t let emotion and hyperbole get the better of you
what a pile of deceptive bullshit
by your reckoning the government owns everything in the whole country by dint of its over-arching sovereignty
So if the government doesn’t own it who does?
The question is: how does the government own anything at all?
The fact that the complainants were afraid no-one would believe them lends credence to their claims. Women/girls of any age who have been victims of violence where there is no visible or physical evidence available, knows there is a strong chance they will not be believed. It happens all the time.
And from the herald:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11617818
https://www.rt.com/shows/keiser-report/338447-episode-max-keiser-897/
“In this episode of the Keiser Report Max and Stacy discuss the curious case of Putin’s photo being used to sell #panamapapers when his name is allegedly not even mentioned in the 11 million pages of documents.
They also look at #WikiGreeks as someone leaks the transcript of a conversation between IMF officials hoping for a ‘credit event’ to ‘resolve’ the ongoing Greek tragedy.
In the second half, Max interviews Joel Benjamin and Jamie Griffiths of Debt Resistance UK about the LOBO loans pushing local UK councils to the brink of insolvency.”
I see the mainstream is poo poo-ing another Sander’s victory again.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/05/ted-cruz-crushes-donald-trump-wisconsin-primaries
just heard on the tranny, sanders beats clinton in winsconsin by more than 10 points.
nothing to see here, move on.
just the sixth straight victory for sanders.
i wonder if ther panama papers release is likely to hurt either of the democratic candidates?
Yeah. That news was politely buried in the article I linked. As one comment below the piece noted on the language used by ‘The Guardian’ Cruz apparently “crushed” Trump while Sanders’s bigger percentage win over Clinton was merely Sanders “beating” Clinton…with, I’d add, all the usual qualifiers politely explaining how he’s a lost cause just wasting everyone’s time.
Sanders – 56.5% he wins 45 delegates
Clinton – 43.5% she wins 31 delegates
I read Sanders will need to win by roughly this margin in the all of the remaining primaries to overtake Clinton and beat her with total no. of delegates.
The big one is going to be New York in 2 weeks where 247 delegates are up for grabs. Feel the Bern!
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/superdelegates-might-not-save-hillary-clinton/
I don’t claim to fully understand the us electoral system yet , but there is an interesting graph showing when Obama over took Clinton in this link.
I understand there are still ten delegates to be allocated in Wisconsin to make a total of 86 delegates.
I also heard that Washington state delegates had also not been fully allocated yet (whatever ‘allocated’ in this context means given I thought they were automatically generated from vote percentage).
Or, then again, this link suggests that there are 96 delegates to be allocated in total in Wisconsin and reports that the allocation is currently 45 to 36.
Are there odds being offered here on the USA elections? Seems a very interesting contest and sports betting seems to be a regular feature in these days.
Sanders needed to win by 16% in order to be on track to beat Clinton. He only won by 13.5%, so he’s still going backwards. Hence why he didn’t “crush” Clinton, whereas Cruz has landed a heavy blow at Trumps chances of winning.
Has anyone ever wondered why Auckland does not have a public/community Television station. A quick count of other areas gives me:
Cue Television
TV Central
Dunedin TV
Canterbury Television
TV Rotorua
Info-Rotorua
East Coast TV
Channel North
Television Hawkes Bay
Mainland TV
South TV
I may have missed some I think Nelson has their own channel.
The one thinsg all these channels can do is show stories of interest to the people that live in the area.
For some reason Auckland misses out. I am sick of commercail TV1,2,3,prime etc with their one size fits all for all of NZ. I want to see stories about Auckland.
In the past TVNZ did their best to stop local TV in Auckland by buying out stations and then closing them down. Remember Max and Horizon Television?
Just wonder if anyone else in Auckland would like to see programmes about Auckland.
hi ron, you can add tararua television to yr mix, too.
a friend and i were talking about the potential of a true local newspaper, as our one here in feilding is being “improved” and folded in with two other ‘local’ papers.
kinda like how the evening standard is 3/4s of the dominion.
slightly different real estate ads though.
This one never was a Kiwi ! You reckon you could ever have a truly satisfying beer with this simpering, effete, lying, never was a Kiwi ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11618024
Are you a true Kiwi, North.?
A good beer drinking, rugger bloke, the real men of NZ?
Well who knows dog ? I’m not a liar, I’m not an effete simpering dick, I don’t lappishly colonise Richie’s arse to compensate for a lack of testo’, I don’t make giggles about child rapists and murderers, I don’t repeatedly assault young women, I’m not illiterate and most of all I’m not a troll backing an embarrassing disgrace. Quite the reverse of your spectacular fetidness Bowel.