Meanwhile, while we weren’t looking, transnational corporates loot the NZ economy, stealing billions from NZers.
“Westpac post record half-year
The local division of the Australasian lender reported interim cash earnings of $432 million yesterday, a 17 per cent increase on the same period a year earlier.”
The Herald posts a front page story about a taxi company ripping off its customers, while hidden inside is a tale of a massive ongoing heist happening to our country.
From CAFCA’s website.
“Transnational corporations (TNCs) make massive profits out of New Zealand. These can truly be called New Zealand’s biggest invisible export. In the year to March 2013 at $8.3 billion their profits were almost as much as the $8.5 billion earned by the combined exports of seafood and milk powder. In the decade 2004-2013, TNCs made $73.4 billion in profits from New Zealand. Only 27% was reinvested.
Yes but all those frontline resources johnny promised to tackle such practices….oh wait they slashed public servants and installed compliant dept heads instead.
I dont recall any action against large corporates by the ird under this regime.
Paul-‘While we weren’t looking..’
Yes. We are too busy over miserable contrived scandals about Collins and that other guy, Williams, McWilliams or whatever his name is? Two politicians whose survival is guaranteed by the majority they hold in right wing electorates. Their reputations are perceptually impaired but provide great distractions from the Key/ English desecration of our once envied egalitarian society.
Its the Judith and Maurice Muppet Show folks!
The important election issues have been successfully sidelined.
Key( Kermit) will be seen as strong, decisive. Collins (Miss Piggy) and Williamson (Gonzo)will be back unharmed and we’ll all applaud another great show..
We all believed deeply in Enspiral – but Enspiral as it was meant to be, not this. None of us had signed up to be anyone’s manager or boss.
We looked at each other around the room. When had supporting the people and the network we loved become so frustrating and depressing? Only a few people were running things behind the scenes, while everyone else was disconnected from the core work. And now those few people were fed up.
Interesting figure that took them to the limit. That magic number, 150 people max comes up over and over again in different guises, effective co-housing, Rank Xerox limited their division sizes at one point to 150.
In practice – anything bigger and you cannot communicate effectively with all members AND have systems in place that allow everyone to fully participate.
when you think back on it..from that first breezy disavowal from collins..
..that spontaneous ‘just dropping into oravida for a cup of tea..on the way to the airport’…
..everything out of her mouth has been a whopping great lie..
..and i think national/key will be surprised at how much this has hurt their third-term aspirations..
..the stench of corruption coming from collins..with key standing behind her..propping her up..(why?..must be the next question..just how postal could collins go..if given the boot..
FFS Screams distraction. And what pray tell me is the cost of these calls- $10? $20?. Why bother with rorts in the millions elsewhere when you can concentrate on this. Wonderful sense of proportion the Herald has.
Has Nigeria sked for interntional help in this matter? No, I don’t think they have.
Is there any similarity at all between a missing civilian passenger jet full of foreign nationals magically disapearing over international waters and what is primarily a domestic matter in a failing state? No, not really.
Is it racist to suggest western intervention because Nigeria obviously can’t deal with it’s own issues. Oh yes, yes it is.
Well you’re the one making unsubstantiated claims. Has Nigeria asked for help – or are you suggesting some sort of unilateral intervention? (because we know how well that usually goes).
You are suggesting that Africa can’t handle Africa’s affairs without the west holding their hand, so if the racist hat fits…
So, has Nigeria asked for international help? Cite reference please?
Yea well – shame Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has stated publicly that she’d like anyone and everyone to assist. She doesn’t give a fuck whether it’s African Union or Western nations intervention getting involved.
(Quest/CNN – to quote a dubious source – but said in plain language)
Pops – you remind me of an IBM operating system: it gets so big and complex before it can get out of its own way to do anything productive – but its ambitious, well-managed/managing, and full of kaka.
(In your case it seems to me to be OVER-ambition, self-aggrandisement, ego-building, various exception responses and sense codes to do with maintaining an aura of plitkul kreckniss, and a starting point from which you can claim you’re always ‘right’ (or at least just a little 3rd way).
Wipe it up, wipe it up with X-L-O (and if that doesn’t work – consult Craig R for an aunt Daisy sloos-shun
Well last time I checked the Minister of Finance doesn’t get to make that call. You seem to be suggesting that we can cavalierly pick and choose who we invade. Arguably the US is supressing terrorists and Taliban in various middle eastern and asian countries by invitation. Arguably Russia invaded Georgia and Crimea by invitation. Unfortunately in the real world these situations are never black and white and inevitably bite the arse of anyone stupid enough to get involved in the sovereign affairs of another state. I’d be very much suprised if you weren’t calling France and the US very bad names over Libya and Syria. About the only occasion such an intervention can be described as legitimate and ethical was Kosovo, and even then you’ll see cretinous Chomskyites using it as an example of US warmongering.
The question isn’t about ‘suggesting western intervention’. It’s noting that there’s a clear disparity in attention and concern when 234 black girls are abducted by religious extremists. If it were 234 white girls in France, you wouldn’t be able to move for headlines about it. The lives of women of colour are treated as less valuable that those of white women. That’s the racism.
it’s a bit bigger than a “domestic matter”… or ought to be. Girls kidnapped for sale because of a belief no females should be educated. Imagine if some skinheads kipnapped some jews for sale as slaves because judaism is evil… and the state didnt ask anyone to intervene, just a domestic matter populuxe?
Well, either the west is morally obliged to unilaterally intervene in other countries or it’s not. Which is it? Basically you are just handing a big fat excuse to Russia, the US and any big power eyeing up their more marginal neighbours. You’ve just justified Libya, Afganistan, Crimea, and god knows what else. Hell, Indonesia could probably use that as an excuse to invade PNG.
The Arab Spring has nothing to do with this (I suspect you were probably one of the people wringing your hands and demanding that the west stay out of Libya and Syria). And yes, today, and most of last week, what’s your fucking point? Shit is happening all over the world all the time. Potential war between nuclear powers in Eastern Europe may be slightly more presing.
And you would advise what Phillip, that the Western World invade 3 countries in search of those kidnapped in what is said to be an act of political revenge upon the Nigerian State for their soldiers involvement in another countries conflict???…
So says the self admitted poly-addict Phillip, your continuous drug rants explaining to us all the danger of the addictive psyche engaging in any drug use,
Trapped forever, scarred by the needle,(and the damage done),a Junky forever…
I haven’t read your article phillip but I would say there appears to be a double standard at work. Consider the almost blind eye treatment towards a large group of abducted Nigerian girls to 7 years of investigations into Madelaine McCann’s disappearance, the trashy mag stories about the heartbreak of the McCann’s and the media attention – it still goes on.
In those 7 years I wonder how many boys and girls have been abducted in human trafficking rings around the world. The pain of those parents will be no different to that of the McCann’s.
i have always had a disquieting question about the McCann’s, ”what sort of parents holidaying in a strange place leave their 3 year old alone in a hotel room while they go out for hours slurping wines and partaking of the local culinary delights”…
Parents do other things beside looking after their children. The McCanns had a right to believe that the children would be safe and were checking on them It is not clear from the reports I have read as to how anyone could get into the apartment, perhaps their windows were open.
Wikipedia –
Madeleine and her younger siblings had been left asleep at 20:30 in the ground-floor apartment while her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined with their travelling companions in a restaurant 50 metres (160 ft) away.[5] The parents checked on the children throughout the evening until Madeleine’s mother discovered she was missing at 22:00.
50 metres is 50 paces at one or two paces per second. So they were not that distant in time or location from the children. The depravity of people who would kidnap a child would be unknown to the McCanns as to most people. Some areas of Europe have a long tradition of kidnap I think.
On a slightly related theme: It seems we still have work to do in NZ in regard to our perceptions of non white kids educational aspirations and access to opportunities.
Yeah Rosie i read that the other day and thought exactly the same thing, how can Maori rise above such stereotyping,(call it what it is, racism), that a professional body seems to regularly take into the classroom with them,
It seems from the outside ”attitudes” have changed, but, deep within the psyche of many within the ”profession” lurks some very ugly beliefs which must color their attitudes to certain students, and, effect the outcomes for those students,
i must admit that my view of those who are tasked with providing education was discolored by being dragged from a social studies class in the early 1970’s and caned for daring to ask the question, ”where were all this lot when this discovery was occurring” as the teacher explained to us all that ”Captain Cook discovered New Zealand”, 3/4 of the class being local Pa kids it seemed at the time a logical question to ask,
Small wonder that Maori are favoring charter schools…
Yeah, it’s interesting, what attitudes are publicly displayed and in contrast, what attitudes remain in the safety and privacy of the living room. Hypocritical really.
Not being a parent and knowing nothing about primary education I had assumed that we must have evolved, culturally and socially since I started out at school in 1975, where incidentally I witnessed many violent episodes such as you experienced. (We also had other teachers who were wonderful, and looking back on it now must have been liberally minded as we were taught peace songs and how to be nice to one another!)
Neither am I qualified to speak of charter schools except to say they sound like an unwise path to go down given the failure of charter schools in the US, that there is something wrong with publicly funded schools being run privately and that they are not subject to the same standards as state schools. However, given the mixed results for Maori achievement, it is understandable, whether it be right or wrong, that Maori would feel inclined to move away from a Pakeha based educational system that they may see is failing them, to a system they can claim as their own, and be of genuine benefit to their children. Maybe this is what they are hoping for.
In the past we’ve tried to squeeze Maori into Pakeha ways of thinking within our institutions, education, health, justice and so on. Maybe they are just trying to reclaim their own autonomy and influence by showing in interest in charter schools.
Who says the world is “relaxed”? I’m horrified, I would be equally horrified if it was 230 purple pygmies from Alaska or 230 blond boys from Wainuiomata. Then again I am not the “world”. The implication is racism is it not? Well I know about it, I heard it on Russian TV, on CNN, on TVNZ so the story has jumped “racism” filters.
So the response? Yeah, lets call in the Good “Ol US Marines…bugger, although they are largely black and latino…well they are needed around some oil war somewhere…and there is no oil up there, or a big enough Monsanto contract so, flag that.
UN Peacekeepers, fully deployed. Legitimate local authorities and forces? Who knows? Send the NZ Army perhaps? The “world”…well who are they? Not saying I don’t want help for these poor girls but how?
Watch them hypocrites dance, the whole Parliament is about to fall all over the place in a gross knee-jerk reaction against legal highs,(John Campbell must be laughing up His sleeve,
No animals will suffer the use of such drugs upon them to ascertain the ‘safe’ level of consumption for us humans, the mantra from the hypocrites being that ”there’s a big difference in testing for recreational drugs and testing for drugs that might save human lives”,
Here is the real story of the testing of ”products” on animals, from the gunk that the humans spread on their bodies to make them feel ”prettier”, smell ”better”, or look ”nicer”, the products of human vanity are regularly tested on animals to the point of those animals deaths,
No one knows the exact numbers of animals that are killed on behalf of human vanity yearly in this country the link below says at least 50% of the 200,000 animals, from rats to dogs, suffer to the point of death on behalf of our vanities each year,
for me..despite the delights on offer from collins..that dairy-based banquet..
..the television moment of the week..(so far..)..was john banks getting sneered at by the compere of that q&a..for his stand against testing legal highs on animals..
..the subject of the overdose test was raised..and the compere sneered:..’we don’t even know what that test is’..
..banks snapped back:..’yes we do..!’
..he then went on to describe how the overdose regime works:..
..ten bred-to-be-used-for-testing beagle dogs are strapped down..(banks said their ears are nailed down..to keep them fixed in one place..to aid testing..)
..the ten dogs are then given ever-increasing doses of these drugs..until five of them die..
..that level of drugs causing the death of the five dogs..
..is then deemed to be the official overdose-level of that drug..
.are we all relaxed/comfortable with that..?
..i can also provide blow-by-blow details of how these scum torture/kill animals to test cosmetics/laundry-products..etc..
..and as for the number of animals tortured/killed in nz by the vivisectors each/every year..?
..my understanding is that it is over 300,000..
..nearly a thousand animals..each and every day..
..and of course..we must not forget that most of that testing could be done using computer-models etc..
..the reason these over 300,000 animals are tortured/killed each/every year by these scum…
..is a matter of cost..
..torturing animals costs much less than using computer-modelling etc..
it’s good to see he cares about animals phi… if he gave a toss about more than 1% of humans in this country, maybe their lives would improve along with their attitudes toward meat eating and animals?
No one knows the exact numbers of animals that are killed on behalf of human vanity yearly in this country.
Looks like Anthony Hubbard from Stuff has some pretty solid numbers in this article
In total, more than 87,000 animals died or were put down during experiments in 2012. In some years the number is much higher – in 2009 it was 163,000.
Personally I cannot see why so many animals need to be tortured? The testing for most products we use was concluded many years ago and the amount of new products is limited. In fact we already have ample products to choose from and so no further animal testing is actually required.
When so many animals are dying, John Key proclaiming that no animals will have synthetic cannabis chemicals tested on them is misleading! His statement to gain media attention is also not based in reality, because it was his government that legislated for synthetic cannabis chemicals to be tested on animals.
Now that there’s a public outcry and Labour have gained the upper hand, John Key pretending he cares about fluffy bunnies and saying “think of the cute little animals” is all a bit dishonest!
Reformulations using existing components/ingredients usually require no additional testing.
So “new” products can certainly appear, but if they are essentially only derivative in nature, and its the same old parabens, colours, stabilisers and flavour enhancers just in a different combo then its very unlikely it will be tested.
+1
With the compound simulators that stampede across vast plains of terabytes these days, the resulting data is probably more controlled and more accurate than any animal testing torture chamber could deliver.
and the easy manner of a wisecracking Scorsese character.
She looks incredible –
with a zest for life that belies her age (85).
She credits ‘masturbation – pot – and raw garlic’..”
(cont..)
(..heh..!..there ya go..!..there’s the formula..
..the mp&g-plan..
..and on that subject..of elder use of cannabis..
..one of the findings coming out of colorado’ new legal-weed regime..
..is that it is not the younger ones using increasing in number..(those that do already do..)
..the jumps in numbers using/buying legal-pot..
..are those in their 40’s-50’s and 60’s..
..(with the aphrodisiac/sex-enhancement qualities of pot appreciated by long-time-together couples..)
..we will see the same thing here..
..when sanity prevails..
..and of course the health-benefits to/for those elders swapping from booze to pot are another (as yet unquantified) positive outcome from ending cannabis prohibition..
Philip you are very naughty!…other recipes for longevity and health
The place to go for longevity ( active over 90) or at least emulate their life style is Ikaria Island in Greece…lots of red wine, lots of coffee, lots of naps, lots of fun, lots of domino playing….a very very simple life style ( opposite of Shanghai or New York …over population and stress….Nact and vulgar money hangers- on can go take a running jump)
Meanwhile the National Party released its immigration policy. You may wonder what this means for the property market. It is clear from research that immigration is one of the key drivers of house price growth.
The logic is simple. If you import more people into the country, then you need more houses. Supply and demand means that prices are then pushed up, this is particularly so in Auckland.
While the latest immigration numbers show the number of people coming into New Zealand is starting to rise, the Nat’s policy looks like it wants to increase immigration levels even further.
(Although it is unclear what sort of number they are targeting.)
This policy is, arguably, a plus for people who want house prices to rise. (But may be not so good for first home owners wanting to buy.)
My guess has always been that property investors lean heavily towards the right rather than the left. (This was made clear in an email newsletter I saw from one developer this week.)
Why are Labour dragging the chain over the nominations for the candidate in the Tamaki-Makaurau seat,
Selecting Shane Taurima at this point would seem to be offering up National a ‘free hit’ in the future, Julian Wilcox i would suggest would make a winning candidate for Labour in the seat,
Mind you the longer the delay the more the contest might be one between the Maori Party and Mana Party…
“Claims that immigrants improve the economy, introduce new technology and grow the business sector are being exaggerated,” Clydesdale said. “Much of the literature suggesting immigrants bring in new technology and contribute to a growing business sector is misleading. “There is often no economic evidence to support the claims made.” He quoted Department of Labour figures that showed only 2% of business immigrants introduced new technology. Many new arrivals under the business, investment and entrepreneurial categories bought existing businesses such as restaurants, cafes and takeaways, Clydesdale said. “There is little new activity. There’s no added value, it’s just a change of ownership,” Clydesdale said. There were also very real costs. “An extra $3600 a year in your pocket, or more immigrants? “The question is one New Zealanders should be considering because it sums up the relationship between rising mortgage interest rates and our current immigration policy,” Clydesdale said. He estimated people with an average $160,000 fixed mortgage would be be $3600 a year better off if rates had remained steady in the latest Reserve Bank rate hike. “Of course, immigration is not the only force driving inflation, but we only need to get inflation down within a limited range to stop the interest rate increases,” Clydesdale said. “Dramatically reducing immigration may keep inflation within that range, without the economic casualties. “The Government’s current policy mix is putting real estate agents ahead of exporters.”
Has Labour started listening to Treasury, Reserve Bank.. Savings Working Group, (Australian Productivity Commission)?
Cunliffe said he had seen the research, but disagreed. “House prices are a complex phenomenon which reflect the interaction of a wide variety of factors,” he said. Those factors included interest rates, wage levels and population growth, of which migration was just one component. “Net migration is itself a balancing factor between people leaving New Zealand and people arriving,” Cunliffe said. According to Statistics New Zealand, during the 12 months to December 31, 2006, the population grew by 45,100 to 4,165,600, Cunliffe said. The contribution of net migration to that was just 14,600 people. “Businesses are still telling us that skills shortages are a constraint to their growth,” Cunliffe said. “There is no denying that we have ageing populations, lower birth rates and the need for a growing workforce. “As Kiwis traditionally go overseas and some do not return, immigration is a must to supplement the workforce we need to ensure our country continues to prosper,” Cunliffe said.
Migrant benefit ‘overstated’ By DAN EATON – The Press | Saturday, 7 April 2007
The more fundamental question need still be asked of the Reserve Bank Governor of why He sees the need to hike the Official Cash Rate twice when inflation is only at an annual rate of 1.6%,
A move which hands the Trading Banks the perfect excuse to dramatically increase their profit taking from the New Zealand economy…
During my visit to Houston there was much fuss about a high-rise apartment being build next to a very plush community of single family homes. The pro-zoning elite were using this as an argument for a comprehensive city plan complete with zoning and the usual host of regulations and controls.
However, people who buy into a neighbourhood controlled by a Homeowners’ Association know very well that the edge properties are vulnerable to such unexpected activities and hence sell at a considerable discount. Buyers pay their money and accept the risk.
Houston – the well-planned City without a Plan
Owen McShane
May 1, 2014 | Updated: May 1, 2014 9:19pm
Developers can move forward with the proposed Ashby high-rise after a much-anticipated ruling Thursday by a judge who agreed the tower is a nuisance for its immediate neighbors but concluded there was no way he could stop the project or determine a more appropriate alternative.
“If an injunction is granted, there is no question but that it will have a chilling effect on other developments in Houston,” wrote state District Judge Randy Wilson, a stance that drew mostly positive comments from the development community for eliminating uncertainty for groups considering future projects.
But Wilson also awarded $1.2 million in damages to 20 of those residents who had filed suit against the developer, Buckhead Investment Partners of Houston. While that is $438,000 less than a jury recommended in December, it still reflects a belief that those who live closest to the project, on a 1.6-acre site at 1717 Bissonnet, will see their property values suffer.
In firmly denying the residents’ primary request, however, Wilson said a permanent injunction would be difficult to enforce and would invite an “endless series of lawsuits” testing various tweaks and revisions to the project’s scope.
“A 21-story residential development is believed by the neighbors (and the jury) to be too big,” Wilson said in the ruling. “However, this court has zero evidence with which to find what size is just right.”
More evidence that Key’s philosophy on life is purely self interest and
making money. The man doesn’t know what a “conscience” is.
It is some comfort to know that we have Joky Hen PM and not Joky Hen MD.
Imagine going to Key as your doctor with symptoms of severe stress. He gives you a
sick note for a few days off but not before you have to face a couple more days of
what has put you into this state… (is he trying to tip you over the top).
The attempt to link NZ First MP Tracey Martin with Williamson is a bit desperate:
“A New Zealand First MP wrote to a senior police boss to voice “significant issues” about the possible transfer of a local sergeant who was also on the same school board of trustee as her.
Tracey Martin wrote a letter to Inspector Scott Webb on her official MP letterhead in her capacity as the chair of the Mahurangi College board of trustees about the redeployment of long-serving Sergeant Bede Haughey, the officer in charge of the Warkworth station.”
Sounds like Martin is doing the job an MP is supposed to do, ie. advocate for a community in their best interests, not try and pervert the course of justice in regard to a rich donor.
Is Jared Savage using the OIA to get these communications or are Collins flunkies releasing them?
not a ps staffer suggested yesterday that as the oias are out of mfat the fingers point toward mccully… fellow strategist of joyce and suffering majorly from small man syndrome. also a major control freak.
That’s total desperation. Tracey Martin is representing her community in a way that MPs used to do, before the ACT wing of Labour imported the idea that community doesn’t exist and they should only help wealthy individuals. I can see how a Herald journalist might get confused after sucking on the neolib Koolaid for 30 years or more. This just makes Winston First look like a party that actually does something.
IMHO The Herald is openly attempting to besmirch the community minded actions of the NZ First MP. Here is an MP simply doing her job. In the letter, (see PDF below) it is clear that Tracey Martin was responsibly advocating for the strength and continuity of her community.
By including the Williamson reference, the NZH is not just ‘presenting context to the story’, it is taking the legitimate actions of a MP who is openly concerned with what she perceived to be uncertainty over significant changes in their community and deliberately associating these actions to Williamson’s active support of a person involved in a domestic violence investigation. This perverse act suggests The Herald is facing a hell of a lot of pressure to muddy the waters as fast and as widely as possible.
National is obviously hurting
Is it 2pm yet 🙂
Question re PDF:
Is the reason Cameron Slater’s name is listed in the index of the PDF something to do with the application process of the OIA?
I recall talking to an English policeman about issues in the force. He must have been a manager. I recall him talking about the need to rotate officers or they can become too comfortable and (perhaps) lead to corruption. It made sense at the time.
I think the difference here is that it is just a community issue rather than a (excuse me) greasy businessman from China.
This story is nothing to do with corruption in the community, or the Police. It even has nothing to do with your suspiciously xenophobic imagination! Staff get rotated, but sometimes these staff movements need to be properly reviewed in case details might have been overlooked. Central office might not have been fully aware of just how heavily involved the officer was in these projects. The obvious concerns of the community were responsibly and sensibly raised by the MP representing that community.
One MP is doing their job, one MP is abusing their position,
Slater must be OIAing something too, maybe the cops used the same master document to produce a number of OIA PDF responses then deleted Slater’s email.
Probably shows that the directions for Slater’s dirt digging and Savage’s are coming from the same source: Collins.
PR, I do not know any details other than what is in the Herald. Maybe they were all secretly involved in illegal activities, but if Slater had any actual [or imagined] details, that showed wrongdoing, then we would all be hearing about it!
Instead we have heinous acts like helping thy neighbour and building a brighter future for their community. What unseen horrors have these people been creating in these community groups? What dark shadows lurk? Based on what is presented I am perplexed that a rational person would think there is anything untoward to see here.
From the wording of the email on WOBH, it is not unreasonable to think that Slater has sent OIA requests to every Police District in the country on a major a fishing expedition. An expedition that will use hundreds of hours of Police time? Is this a justifiable use of resources? If any other person, including journalists, submitted (what we can imagine is) a large number of OIA requests so openly vague in their intention and so obvious in their motivation, they would very likely not get processed without repeated communications requesting more precise definition of the OIA objectives.
Maybe it exposes how much pressure is being applied. The last few days have seen some extraordinary events. From outside the government camp it looks as if stones are being thrown, and thrown blindly in rapid fire succession in every direction. Has Slater considered, even for a moment, the collateral damage his innuendo might inject into these communities? Just suggesting wrongdoing can be enough to permanently destabilise the complex relationships in community groups.
What I see in that NZH article is a MP wanting a good cop to stay on in their community .
I really really want to know what seems so out of place with a MP directly and openly advocating for her community, by writing a letter to the Police in an official capacity using official correspondence?
What MW did is of no comparison apart from both used the english language. Slater’s non-specific fishing trip is a distinctly suspicious waste of public resources. OIA requests are generally not processed in five days. As I said above, when the OIA objective is so poorly defined they are usually not answered at all, except for requests demanding greater detail.
I would wager that the sinkhole has nothing and will deliver nothing on this story.
The story has now plummeted down the NZH page,
that should tell you a lot about how much water the fisherman has in his waders.
Sounds like Slater has some really juicy stuff… LOL no it doesn’t, Slater yet again reveals how much of an entry level political operator he actually is, couldn’t even get Brown with the dirt of the century.
Oh no a MP is telling police how good a cop is for the community! Watchout career ender right there.
has slater posted his requests for oia releases? it would be useful to see what he requested. i dont expect him to post that until he has the info, but for completeness when he posts the docs, it would be useful to see the nature of his request/s
are all his referenced docs stamped with the oia red?
The bill has moved down the agenda (‘order paper’) as a large number of Members bills have been reported back from select committee for second reading – and second readings take precedence over first readings on Members days. At this stage we’re anticipating it will come up in late May/mid-June.
Is it likely to have the votes to pass at first reading?
We need 61 votes and we currently have 60! Hone is continuing to meet with National Party MPs to try to get it passed but National is holding to the line that the KickStart breakfast programme they partially fund is enough. Our analysis shows it feeds about 12,000 of the 100,000 children estimated to go hungry each school day – so it’s not enough at all. We’re still hoping someone in National is able to do the maths and agree to support the bill.
What else has been done to build support?
Hone has continued to promote the bill and recently hosted two events at Parliament (see the MANA website, http://www.mana.org.nz, for speeches and media statements and http://www.feedthekids.org.nz for news stories and photos):
The first was a morning tea to thank the 30+ organisations who’ve supported the bill as part of the Community Coalition for Food in Schools, and helped make it the major policy news story of 2013. Many thanks to the guest speakers, Deborah Morris-Travers (Unicef), Kiri Smith (NZEI), Angela Roberts (PPTA), Lisa Beech (Caritas NZ), Major Pam Waugh (Salvation Army), Rawiri Wright (Ngā Rūnanganui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa), and Katherine Rich (Food and Grocery Council).
The second was a lunch event with 50+ senior students of Naenae College who help run the school’s breakfast club. The students fielded questions with the media, went on a tour of Parliament, and attended question time to watch Hone challenge the government to do more to support the 100,000 students who go to school hungry each day.
What can I do to help?
Continue to lobby your local MP, and especially if they’re John Banks, Peter Dunne, or a National MP! See http://www.feedthekids.org.nz for info and further suggestions.
let them eat cake. the govt has rich guys to assist. have contacted my mp, mr banks. have asked him to show similar compassion to children as he does to animals.
Nope. With work estimated to decrease by about 50% over the next decade or so and more after that we really need to think of something better than wages.
There’s going to be more than enough work to do Draco, that result will be natural in an era where the population is massively aging and fossil fuels are disappearing; it’s just that the economic system as it stands cannot or will not structure that work as paid employment.
Good work CV, you are on the button: when my personal “energy slaves” of fossil fuel no longer is available to “transport me in my metal overcoat”, nor plough the fields, nor truck stuff around…well its back to the humble Clydesdale, the water mill and the gleaners after the fallen corn. We will live in a Constable picture. It will be hard work, and there will be lots of it.
A mate and I moved a bit of firewood in the weekend, not much, maybe 300-400kg’s worth and it didn’t take long. Up and down hills was a piece of cake – with a Falcon V8 and a trailer, that is. With horses and a cart, it would have taken an entire day and been far more troublesome.
Life post fossil-fuels is going to be a lot slower and a lot harder than people are used to right now.
But somehow, all our politicians can keep chanting about is “growth” of one kind or another (green, sustainable, export, global, etc.). It’s like some kind of religious litany.
See, that’s a good example of what’s not going to happen any more as fossil fuels dry up as it will be a lot easier to build and maintain renewable generation and heat pumps. Renewable generation that can also maintain the present farming, mining and pretty much all other industries. About the only thing that it won’t be able to support is private motor vehicles.
Have they changed the boundaries? Has she increased in size and crossed the boundaries without having to move? Do the boundaries neatly bisect her current position? In the absence of Judith challenging Keys leadership is she the next cab off the rank? So many questions!
i know. shes holding her meetings in keys electorate but close to her new seate. so, the convenience of her constituents is irrelevant, shes looking after herself, as she so ineloquently said in parliament today
I thought Paula Bennett may have had a wee snort of something or other today prior to coming into the House. She got a bit carried away there for a while and was generally on a bit of a trip (maybe to Christchurch).
“The rebuild following the Christchurch earthquakes was creating thousands of jobs and there were people ready to take them up but who did not have the means to get to Christchurch.”
“To qualify the job must be for over 30 hours a week and be longer for 91 days. The
payment would be non-taxable and exempt from any income and asset test.”
“If you only qualify after 91 days then the $3000 isn’t going to be available to relocate is it?”
I understand the incentive programme is set up so the job you are being offered must be for longer than 90 days, which means it being a job that the employer is not attaching the 90 trial contract to. Which is immediately removing a large number of employers from the pool of jobs that the Government is counting on.
The focus is stated to be on 18-24 year olds, this makes this is a quizzical incentive as they are the group most likely to be faced with a 90 day trial contract.
Maybe it is the cynic in me but on one hand I feel the actual number of these incentives that will be paid out, according to what they have ascribed to the policy, is likely to be very small. On the other, I suspect the programme will be manipulated somehow and ‘special circumstances’ will see the incentivet applied to jobs that turn out not to be so permanent after all.
It could be simply that the job is intended to be permanent, so even with a 90-day trial you can still get the incentive. Probably worth holding on to it though, for when you find yourself in a city far from your family and friends, newly unemployed, again.
According to what the Government has said, the job must be for over 90 days, I take that to mean the 90 day trial can not be applied to any job that is taken as ‘collateral’ for the incentive payment.
What I understand that to say is any persons taking up this offer will not have to sign a 90 day trial contract. If any of these jobs are unfairly terminated or fail to be permanent, the lucky employees will be able to utilize all aspects of our employment laws, not just a select few.
Certainly is an added bonus for those who find a job 🙂
Which is a shame, because the idea of WINZ paying people’s relocation costs to get them jobs in areas which need workers isn’t bad. But it needs to be their actual relocation costs, not some pittance, and it needs to be risk-free for them. Relocating to another city for a job is risky enough, and WINZ should be trying to reduce that risk, rather than pile more on top of it.
something has to be done about this nostrum abroad that MP’s are employees. They are there to represent the electorate in the parliament. as long as people have the idea that MP’s are employees then people like collins can bamboozle ordinary folks that she can do the sort of shit she has been putting down in china.
Spot on Captain, I also despise the whole language of government that crept in with Roger and Geoff Palmer. making it a corporate professional place where a man had to wear a suit. Fekk it if I ever get elected I will wear a “boiler suit”. A bright orange one. And I will refuse to have “clients”, or even “constituents” (a much older word)…just “people” I “represent” and “advocate for”..
justifying the unjustifiable. his voice is cracking as he tries to equate refunded secret donations with telling the cops to do a thorough job cos your mate has lots of money… even he doesnt believe the shite he is spouting.
key making others front speaks volumes about his lack of leadership.
closing by norman was great… linking the low standards to the lack of leadership. not that the leader would have heard. as if to prove normans point, he was long gone.
The discipline of the opposition during qt was good to see, it started slipping by about Q7 but tomorrow is a new day and I hope we see a lot more of such discipline.
Good spine shown by Mallard too.
I get the distinct feeling there is some clear agreement amongst the opposition in how to manage National’s behaviour in the House. Silence is often the loudest argument.
It shows up National for the school yard principles that are their modus operandi and would certainly limit how selective The Speaker can be in what he perceives as having occurred.
US tax payers fleeced by oligarchs through costly, opaque public pension fund investments
For all you peeps who think that making KiwiSaver compulsory and giving even more workers’ money to Wall St is a good idea.
When you think of the term “public pension fund,” you probably imagine hyper-cautious investment strategies kept in check by no-nonsense fiduciary laws.
But you probably shouldn’t.
An increasing number of those pension funds are being stealthily diverted into high-fee, high-risk “alternative investments” that deliver spectacular rewards for the Wall Street firms paid to manage them – but not such great returns for pensioners and taxpayers.
And yet… despite the fact that they deal with the expenditure of taxpayer money, the agreements between public pension systems and alternative investment firms are almost entirely secret.
Surely it is better that we push for tight rules on how that money is invested rather than have it handed over to banks who will conduct the same corrupt practices with it – and considerably more on top of those ones anyway?
A very good performance by John Key “paraphrasing Helen Clark” was a good ending but wheres the passion from Cunliffe? Sounded like he was reading out his shopping list, at least Norman gets excited every now and then…
Whatever Cunliffe manage to garner in his election trust is pretty small beer don’t you think, compared to the nationwide scam called Cabinet Club that National is running. Where if you pay enough cash you get facetime with a Cabinet Minister. Once again the Cabinet Manual is just a guideline eh?
At the moment sir, the cut off point seems to be a taxpayer funded trip to China where you use your ministerial kudos to try an influence a border official to go easy on a dairy company that your husband happens to be a director of and which is run by close friends. Mind you, given what we’ve learned tonight about National’s shoddy scam to raise funds it’s no wonder Collins and Williamson don’t think they’ve done anything wrong.
The ironing was strong today when the PM described Twitter users (who dared front up to Judith, using her own language and medium of choice) as bottom feeders and trolls. This, when his own office “employs” a certain bottom feeding, trolling blog-which-wants-to-be-known-as-media to do its dirty work.
It’s funny how the will is found to report things like cabinet club once journos get pissed off. Must not have been much of secret around the press gallery.
Also it’s correspondingly scary that the only political discourse some people are exposed to is shaped by these chumps.
As much as I’m glad the Nats are taking a pounding the idea that the major improprieties of a government only get reported if the journos get all ornery is pretty unsettling.
The unemployed in the UK are to lose the benefit for three months or more as sanction if they refuse to take a zero guaranteed hours job.
Does anyone know Work and Income’s rules around refusing to accept jobs with no guaranteed hours?
It’s not clear from the ‘obligations’ section of Work and Income’s website what constitutes suitable work.
Unbelievable! And then the UK government will crow about improved employment stats. How inhumane are such MPs?
More than one in 10 employers are using such contracts, which are most likely to be offered to women, young people and people over 65. The figure rises to almost half of all employers in the tourism, catering and food sector.
The article says that benefits will be paid for the weeks not worked – fluctuating payments. But i can’t see WINZ organising that efficiently. And in the UK critics are saying it’ll be hard to do training to improve work prospects, or to get another job, if a person has a zero hour job.
As I understand it, if you don’t accept a suitable job you will get your benefit cut. I have no idea as to what they mean by the word suitable. I’d say that a job that could leave you worse off would be unsuitable but National’s in power so they may consider a job with no hours suitable.
The spectre of flooding and drought in different parts of the world appears to be looming large as an increasing number of climate scientists predict the return of El Nino.
————————–
The last major El Nino was in 1997-8. It was blamed for the flooding along the Yangtze River in China, which killed more than 1,500 people.
Globally, the economic cost of this event was calculated at $35 to $45 billion, largely as a result of its impact on the agriculture and fishing industries.
And, yeah, it’s looking like it’s going to be a big one.
Globally, the economic cost of this event was calculated at $35 to $45 billion, largely as a result of its impact on the agriculture and fishing industries.
It’s so common, news sources framing the impact of environmental, political and social disruption in terms of how it affects capitalism and investors. Meh.
Of course Labours for it because they can’t raise any decent money on their own, I’m against it because I support National so why would I want any of my tax payers money go towards the Greens
xox
Where are all the libertarians shouting about nanny state taking away individuals rights on legal highs. The same ones who shouted out about lightbulbs, shower roses, and compulsory insulation and superannuation. And Helping out needy Warners, Rio Tinto, Americas Cup, Sky, etc. The hypocrisy and our msm complicity is incredible. We have been had.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
Meanwhile, while we weren’t looking, transnational corporates loot the NZ economy, stealing billions from NZers.
“Westpac post record half-year
The local division of the Australasian lender reported interim cash earnings of $432 million yesterday, a 17 per cent increase on the same period a year earlier.”
The Herald posts a front page story about a taxi company ripping off its customers, while hidden inside is a tale of a massive ongoing heist happening to our country.
From CAFCA’s website.
“Transnational corporations (TNCs) make massive profits out of New Zealand. These can truly be called New Zealand’s biggest invisible export. In the year to March 2013 at $8.3 billion their profits were almost as much as the $8.5 billion earned by the combined exports of seafood and milk powder. In the decade 2004-2013, TNCs made $73.4 billion in profits from New Zealand. Only 27% was reinvested.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11249942
That’s what you get when private banks have the privilege to print a countries money with interest.
Yes but all those frontline resources johnny promised to tackle such practices….oh wait they slashed public servants and installed compliant dept heads instead.
I dont recall any action against large corporates by the ird under this regime.
which explains why their economists are always talking up interest rate increased. legalised theft boys and girls.
The entire banking system is legalised theft and needs to be thrown out.
Paul-‘While we weren’t looking..’
Yes. We are too busy over miserable contrived scandals about Collins and that other guy, Williams, McWilliams or whatever his name is? Two politicians whose survival is guaranteed by the majority they hold in right wing electorates. Their reputations are perceptually impaired but provide great distractions from the Key/ English desecration of our once envied egalitarian society.
Its the Judith and Maurice Muppet Show folks!
The important election issues have been successfully sidelined.
Key( Kermit) will be seen as strong, decisive. Collins (Miss Piggy) and Williamson (Gonzo)will be back unharmed and we’ll all applaud another great show..
The big issues will have been forgotten.
COLLABORATIVE FUNDING: DISSOLVE AUTHORITY, EMPOWER EVERYONE, AND CROWDSOURCE A SMARTER, TRANSPARENT BUDGET
Which is what every manager needs to do.
which is why “its just a job” was such a transparent cop out.
Good read.
Interesting figure that took them to the limit. That magic number, 150 people max comes up over and over again in different guises, effective co-housing, Rank Xerox limited their division sizes at one point to 150.
In practice – anything bigger and you cannot communicate effectively with all members AND have systems in place that allow everyone to fully participate.
she went to china to lecture them on transparency in government. what a bloody lie. These tories dont know up from down and cant lie straight in bed.
when you think back on it..from that first breezy disavowal from collins..
..that spontaneous ‘just dropping into oravida for a cup of tea..on the way to the airport’…
..everything out of her mouth has been a whopping great lie..
..and i think national/key will be surprised at how much this has hurt their third-term aspirations..
..the stench of corruption coming from collins..with key standing behind her..propping her up..(why?..must be the next question..just how postal could collins go..if given the boot..
..why is key scared of her..?..)
..that stench is getting overwhelming..
..this govt. is rotting from the head down..
q-time was largely an anti-climax..let’s hope they try harder 2morrow..
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/new-zealand-parliament-list-of-questions-for-oral-answer-tuesday-6-may-2014/
The sound of barrels being scraped at the Herald re Len Brown’s phone use. No wonder the authorities dislike pay as you go phones!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11249986
FFS Screams distraction. And what pray tell me is the cost of these calls- $10? $20?. Why bother with rorts in the millions elsewhere when you can concentrate on this. Wonderful sense of proportion the Herald has.
Really, where the hell did that come from? That’s been a closed case for nearly a year now. More distraction from National’s troubles by the NZHerald?
Names being bandied about in the expected Labour reshuffle of portfolios caused by ‘Shane Who’s’ resignation,
Trevor Mallard, Clayton Cosgrove, Damien O’Conner, damn refreshing i have to say…
…Mens men through and through. Earth to Labour… there is in some circumstances a time for ‘man bans’.
hopefully its misinformation so the real shadows will be embraced wildly
am i the only one feeling/surprised by this..?
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/boko-haram-claims-responsibility-for-kidnapping-nigeria-schoolgirls-comment-how-is-this-not-the-most-telling-example-of-international-racism-in-a-very-long-time/
(excerpt..)
“…next question:..
..would the world have been so relaxed about this..
..if these 200+ kidnapped girls had been blond/european..?..”
from the usa…
Has Nigeria sked for interntional help in this matter? No, I don’t think they have.
Is there any similarity at all between a missing civilian passenger jet full of foreign nationals magically disapearing over international waters and what is primarily a domestic matter in a failing state? No, not really.
Is it racist to suggest western intervention because Nigeria obviously can’t deal with it’s own issues. Oh yes, yes it is.
ok pops..so i’m the ‘racist’..for asking the question..?
..ok..
..carry on..!
..and a strong/evidence-based case you make:..eh..?
“..Has Nigeria sked for interntional help in this matter? No, I don’t think they have…”
(should we categorise that purler as an unproven orifice-pluck..?..)
Well you’re the one making unsubstantiated claims. Has Nigeria asked for help – or are you suggesting some sort of unilateral intervention? (because we know how well that usually goes).
You are suggesting that Africa can’t handle Africa’s affairs without the west holding their hand, so if the racist hat fits…
So, has Nigeria asked for international help? Cite reference please?
Yea well – shame Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has stated publicly that she’d like anyone and everyone to assist. She doesn’t give a fuck whether it’s African Union or Western nations intervention getting involved.
(Quest/CNN – to quote a dubious source – but said in plain language)
Pops – you remind me of an IBM operating system: it gets so big and complex before it can get out of its own way to do anything productive – but its ambitious, well-managed/managing, and full of kaka.
(In your case it seems to me to be OVER-ambition, self-aggrandisement, ego-building, various exception responses and sense codes to do with maintaining an aura of plitkul kreckniss, and a starting point from which you can claim you’re always ‘right’ (or at least just a little 3rd way).
Wipe it up, wipe it up with X-L-O (and if that doesn’t work – consult Craig R for an aunt Daisy sloos-shun
Well last time I checked the Minister of Finance doesn’t get to make that call. You seem to be suggesting that we can cavalierly pick and choose who we invade. Arguably the US is supressing terrorists and Taliban in various middle eastern and asian countries by invitation. Arguably Russia invaded Georgia and Crimea by invitation. Unfortunately in the real world these situations are never black and white and inevitably bite the arse of anyone stupid enough to get involved in the sovereign affairs of another state. I’d be very much suprised if you weren’t calling France and the US very bad names over Libya and Syria. About the only occasion such an intervention can be described as legitimate and ethical was Kosovo, and even then you’ll see cretinous Chomskyites using it as an example of US warmongering.
The question isn’t about ‘suggesting western intervention’. It’s noting that there’s a clear disparity in attention and concern when 234 black girls are abducted by religious extremists. If it were 234 white girls in France, you wouldn’t be able to move for headlines about it. The lives of women of colour are treated as less valuable that those of white women. That’s the racism.
I am unable to move for headlines about it:
http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-nigeria-boko-haram-girls-20140505,0,1087730.story#axzz30sULsmep
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/world/africa/nigeria-kidnapped-girls.html?_r=0
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/05/world/africa/nigeria-abducted-girls/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/05/nigerian-president-faults-abducted-girls-parents-admits-he-has-no-idea-where-girls-are/
http://news.sky.com/story/1255454/boko-haram-to-sell-abducted-nigerian-girls
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/05/nigeria-appeal-find-abducted-girls-20145423528504411.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/05/us-nigeria-bokoharam-idUSBREA440BJ20140505
http://abcnews.go.com/International/nigerian-kidnapped-girls/story?id=23590323
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/04/nigerian-president-directive-kidnapped-girls
it’s a bit bigger than a “domestic matter”… or ought to be. Girls kidnapped for sale because of a belief no females should be educated. Imagine if some skinheads kipnapped some jews for sale as slaves because judaism is evil… and the state didnt ask anyone to intervene, just a domestic matter populuxe?
Well, either the west is morally obliged to unilaterally intervene in other countries or it’s not. Which is it? Basically you are just handing a big fat excuse to Russia, the US and any big power eyeing up their more marginal neighbours. You’ve just justified Libya, Afganistan, Crimea, and god knows what else. Hell, Indonesia could probably use that as an excuse to invade PNG.
you miss the arab spring too?
you cant move for headlines over it TODAY
The Arab Spring has nothing to do with this (I suspect you were probably one of the people wringing your hands and demanding that the west stay out of Libya and Syria). And yes, today, and most of last week, what’s your fucking point? Shit is happening all over the world all the time. Potential war between nuclear powers in Eastern Europe may be slightly more presing.
And you would advise what Phillip, that the Western World invade 3 countries in search of those kidnapped in what is said to be an act of political revenge upon the Nigerian State for their soldiers involvement in another countries conflict???…
I am experiencing the unacustomed sensation of being in agreement with bad over something
Yes, i too am experiencing a level of consternation over such agreement, this behavior will have to stop…
Let us never speak of this again
that should be very disturbing for bad..
It should be even more disturbing for you, if only to underline how wrong you are
do you also share his belief that cannabis is as bad for you as heroin is..?
..how are you on that loon-thread..?
..he is probably one of those who tried pot once..got all paranoid..
..and has been an anti-disciple ever since..
..he does seem to be a somewhat uptight/highly-strung individual..
..he fits that pattern/model..
No, but what’s that got to do with the price of fish?
just trying to place you both within the loon-paradigm..
Yo Pot. It’s Kettle. Whazzzup my Nizz?
Quite a way below you on the loon scale I would suggest.
However I too am curious what you are suggesting here. Do you think the West should intervene to rescue these girls – Yes or No?
So says the self admitted poly-addict Phillip, your continuous drug rants explaining to us all the danger of the addictive psyche engaging in any drug use,
Trapped forever, scarred by the needle,(and the damage done),a Junky forever…
i am afraid that i am unable to engage with you..
..as you seem to have carte-blanche to say whatever you like to whoever you like .. however many times you like..
..whereas i accrued a ban for correcting a factual/perception-error you had made..
..i choose not to engage with you on such a tilted playing-field..
..so you just carry on..!
..the best you will get from me will be oblique..(but i hope potent) third-party references..
..( a pattern you may or may not have already noticed..)
..mm-kay..?
I haven’t read your article phillip but I would say there appears to be a double standard at work. Consider the almost blind eye treatment towards a large group of abducted Nigerian girls to 7 years of investigations into Madelaine McCann’s disappearance, the trashy mag stories about the heartbreak of the McCann’s and the media attention – it still goes on.
In those 7 years I wonder how many boys and girls have been abducted in human trafficking rings around the world. The pain of those parents will be no different to that of the McCann’s.
i have always had a disquieting question about the McCann’s, ”what sort of parents holidaying in a strange place leave their 3 year old alone in a hotel room while they go out for hours slurping wines and partaking of the local culinary delights”…
I can only assume they’ve asked themselves the same question, in hindsight…………….
Parents do other things beside looking after their children. The McCanns had a right to believe that the children would be safe and were checking on them It is not clear from the reports I have read as to how anyone could get into the apartment, perhaps their windows were open.
Wikipedia –
Madeleine and her younger siblings had been left asleep at 20:30 in the ground-floor apartment while her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined with their travelling companions in a restaurant 50 metres (160 ft) away.[5] The parents checked on the children throughout the evening until Madeleine’s mother discovered she was missing at 22:00.
50 metres is 50 paces at one or two paces per second. So they were not that distant in time or location from the children. The depravity of people who would kidnap a child would be unknown to the McCanns as to most people. Some areas of Europe have a long tradition of kidnap I think.
Rosie @ 6.4 +1
On a slightly related theme: It seems we still have work to do in NZ in regard to our perceptions of non white kids educational aspirations and access to opportunities.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED1405/S00019/students-thesis-shows-teachers-bias-against-maori-pupils.htm
What a shocker.
Yeah Rosie i read that the other day and thought exactly the same thing, how can Maori rise above such stereotyping,(call it what it is, racism), that a professional body seems to regularly take into the classroom with them,
It seems from the outside ”attitudes” have changed, but, deep within the psyche of many within the ”profession” lurks some very ugly beliefs which must color their attitudes to certain students, and, effect the outcomes for those students,
i must admit that my view of those who are tasked with providing education was discolored by being dragged from a social studies class in the early 1970’s and caned for daring to ask the question, ”where were all this lot when this discovery was occurring” as the teacher explained to us all that ”Captain Cook discovered New Zealand”, 3/4 of the class being local Pa kids it seemed at the time a logical question to ask,
Small wonder that Maori are favoring charter schools…
Yeah, it’s interesting, what attitudes are publicly displayed and in contrast, what attitudes remain in the safety and privacy of the living room. Hypocritical really.
Not being a parent and knowing nothing about primary education I had assumed that we must have evolved, culturally and socially since I started out at school in 1975, where incidentally I witnessed many violent episodes such as you experienced. (We also had other teachers who were wonderful, and looking back on it now must have been liberally minded as we were taught peace songs and how to be nice to one another!)
Neither am I qualified to speak of charter schools except to say they sound like an unwise path to go down given the failure of charter schools in the US, that there is something wrong with publicly funded schools being run privately and that they are not subject to the same standards as state schools. However, given the mixed results for Maori achievement, it is understandable, whether it be right or wrong, that Maori would feel inclined to move away from a Pakeha based educational system that they may see is failing them, to a system they can claim as their own, and be of genuine benefit to their children. Maybe this is what they are hoping for.
In the past we’ve tried to squeeze Maori into Pakeha ways of thinking within our institutions, education, health, justice and so on. Maybe they are just trying to reclaim their own autonomy and influence by showing in interest in charter schools.
While I am for the most part against charter schools, I can see possible utility in allowing individual iwi to operate their own schools.
Who says the world is “relaxed”? I’m horrified, I would be equally horrified if it was 230 purple pygmies from Alaska or 230 blond boys from Wainuiomata. Then again I am not the “world”. The implication is racism is it not? Well I know about it, I heard it on Russian TV, on CNN, on TVNZ so the story has jumped “racism” filters.
So the response? Yeah, lets call in the Good “Ol US Marines…bugger, although they are largely black and latino…well they are needed around some oil war somewhere…and there is no oil up there, or a big enough Monsanto contract so, flag that.
UN Peacekeepers, fully deployed. Legitimate local authorities and forces? Who knows? Send the NZ Army perhaps? The “world”…well who are they? Not saying I don’t want help for these poor girls but how?
What do you suggest?
Watch them hypocrites dance, the whole Parliament is about to fall all over the place in a gross knee-jerk reaction against legal highs,(John Campbell must be laughing up His sleeve,
No animals will suffer the use of such drugs upon them to ascertain the ‘safe’ level of consumption for us humans, the mantra from the hypocrites being that ”there’s a big difference in testing for recreational drugs and testing for drugs that might save human lives”,
Here is the real story of the testing of ”products” on animals, from the gunk that the humans spread on their bodies to make them feel ”prettier”, smell ”better”, or look ”nicer”, the products of human vanity are regularly tested on animals to the point of those animals deaths,
No one knows the exact numbers of animals that are killed on behalf of human vanity yearly in this country the link below says at least 50% of the 200,000 animals, from rats to dogs, suffer to the point of death on behalf of our vanities each year,
http://www.safe.org.nz/campaigns/animal-testing/
Send a message to Slippery the Prime Minister and this Government that ALL animal testing should be banned in this country, below,
http://www.safeshopper.org.nz/…/be-cruelty-free-ban-animal-tested-cosmetics
for me..despite the delights on offer from collins..that dairy-based banquet..
..the television moment of the week..(so far..)..was john banks getting sneered at by the compere of that q&a..for his stand against testing legal highs on animals..
..the subject of the overdose test was raised..and the compere sneered:..’we don’t even know what that test is’..
..banks snapped back:..’yes we do..!’
..he then went on to describe how the overdose regime works:..
..ten bred-to-be-used-for-testing beagle dogs are strapped down..(banks said their ears are nailed down..to keep them fixed in one place..to aid testing..)
..the ten dogs are then given ever-increasing doses of these drugs..until five of them die..
..that level of drugs causing the death of the five dogs..
..is then deemed to be the official overdose-level of that drug..
.are we all relaxed/comfortable with that..?
..i can also provide blow-by-blow details of how these scum torture/kill animals to test cosmetics/laundry-products..etc..
..and as for the number of animals tortured/killed in nz by the vivisectors each/every year..?
..my understanding is that it is over 300,000..
..nearly a thousand animals..each and every day..
..and of course..we must not forget that most of that testing could be done using computer-models etc..
..the reason these over 300,000 animals are tortured/killed each/every year by these scum…
..is a matter of cost..
..torturing animals costs much less than using computer-modelling etc..
..are we all comfortable/relaxed with that..?
it’s good to see he cares about animals phi… if he gave a toss about more than 1% of humans in this country, maybe their lives would improve along with their attitudes toward meat eating and animals?
did lots of rats and dogs and monkey’s get cancer during the testing by tobacco companies to satisfy the FDA?
what happened to all the rats, dogs and monkey’s who were made drunk on alcohol?
”What happened to all the rats, dogs, and, monkey’s who were made drunk on alcohol”???,
Lolz better ask Phillip that one…
they are then killed..tracey..
I know thst phil. I meant were those substances found to be safe
they were never tested..
..they have always been with us..
like cannabis and opium
of course cannabis should be legalised..
..and with the gold card should come ability to access medical-opium..
..should said pensioner so desire..
..where is the harm in that..?
bad12
Looks like Anthony Hubbard from Stuff has some pretty solid numbers in this article
Personally I cannot see why so many animals need to be tortured? The testing for most products we use was concluded many years ago and the amount of new products is limited. In fact we already have ample products to choose from and so no further animal testing is actually required.
When so many animals are dying, John Key proclaiming that no animals will have synthetic cannabis chemicals tested on them is misleading! His statement to gain media attention is also not based in reality, because it was his government that legislated for synthetic cannabis chemicals to be tested on animals.
Now that there’s a public outcry and Labour have gained the upper hand, John Key pretending he cares about fluffy bunnies and saying “think of the cute little animals” is all a bit dishonest!
Really? The amount of new products is limited?
How many new products do you see coming to market Lanthanide? Most of the products we buy have been around for ages.
Reformulations using existing components/ingredients usually require no additional testing.
So “new” products can certainly appear, but if they are essentially only derivative in nature, and its the same old parabens, colours, stabilisers and flavour enhancers just in a different combo then its very unlikely it will be tested.
Exactly! Makes you wonder why so many animals are dying because of experiments then?
+1
With the compound simulators that stampede across vast plains of terabytes these days, the resulting data is probably more controlled and more accurate than any animal testing torture chamber could deliver.
(as a bit of ‘relief’ from matters judith…)
“..Masturbation: the secret to a long life?..”
“..Dodson has a mouth like a sailor –
and the easy manner of a wisecracking Scorsese character.
She looks incredible –
with a zest for life that belies her age (85).
She credits ‘masturbation – pot – and raw garlic’..”
(cont..)
(..heh..!..there ya go..!..there’s the formula..
..the mp&g-plan..
..and on that subject..of elder use of cannabis..
..one of the findings coming out of colorado’ new legal-weed regime..
..is that it is not the younger ones using increasing in number..(those that do already do..)
..the jumps in numbers using/buying legal-pot..
..are those in their 40’s-50’s and 60’s..
..(with the aphrodisiac/sex-enhancement qualities of pot appreciated by long-time-together couples..)
..we will see the same thing here..
..when sanity prevails..
..and of course the health-benefits to/for those elders swapping from booze to pot are another (as yet unquantified) positive outcome from ending cannabis prohibition..
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/05/masturbation-secret-to-a-long-life-betty-dodson-self-love
(see what i did with the ‘relief’ there..?..)
There are no health benefits from swapping addictions Phillip, whether that swap is from Alcohol to Marijuana, or, Heroin to Marijuana,
Swapping addictions is simply the addicts device of denial of the addiction…
heh..!..seriously gone out on a limb there..
..i’ll just leave those logic/fact-fails to fester…
..they need no comment/rebuttal..
lol…bad12 …what is the difference between a habit and an addiction?…i have to agree with phillip ure….swapping addictions could be a winner
Philip you are very naughty!…other recipes for longevity and health
The place to go for longevity ( active over 90) or at least emulate their life style is Ikaria Island in Greece…lots of red wine, lots of coffee, lots of naps, lots of fun, lots of domino playing….a very very simple life style ( opposite of Shanghai or New York …over population and stress….Nact and vulgar money hangers- on can go take a running jump)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where-people-forget-to-die.html?hp&_r=0
http://www.yourzenlife.com/post/why-you-should-move-to-ikaria-greece
phillip ure…just looked at that link….that woman Betty Dodson is amazing!…what a HOOT!
From The Landlord Says prior to last election:
Why are Labour dragging the chain over the nominations for the candidate in the Tamaki-Makaurau seat,
Selecting Shane Taurima at this point would seem to be offering up National a ‘free hit’ in the future, Julian Wilcox i would suggest would make a winning candidate for Labour in the seat,
Mind you the longer the delay the more the contest might be one between the Maori Party and Mana Party…
Julian Wilcox would be awesome
I agree, seats up for the taking.
Has Labour started listening to Treasury, Reserve Bank.. Savings Working Group, (Australian Productivity Commission)?
Migrant benefit ‘overstated’ By DAN EATON – The Press | Saturday, 7 April 2007
The more fundamental question need still be asked of the Reserve Bank Governor of why He sees the need to hike the Official Cash Rate twice when inflation is only at an annual rate of 1.6%,
A move which hands the Trading Banks the perfect excuse to dramatically increase their profit taking from the New Zealand economy…
Libertarian Urban Plan
Houston – the well-planned City without a Plan
Owen McShane
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Ashby-ruling-allows-high-rise-to-go-forward-5447064.php?cmpid=twitter-premium&t=edb67c600d3b9e5e12
More evidence that Key’s philosophy on life is purely self interest and
making money. The man doesn’t know what a “conscience” is.
It is some comfort to know that we have Joky Hen PM and not Joky Hen MD.
Imagine going to Key as your doctor with symptoms of severe stress. He gives you a
sick note for a few days off but not before you have to face a couple more days of
what has put you into this state… (is he trying to tip you over the top).
The attempt to link NZ First MP Tracey Martin with Williamson is a bit desperate:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11250250
Sounds like Martin is doing the job an MP is supposed to do, ie. advocate for a community in their best interests, not try and pervert the course of justice in regard to a rich donor.
Is Jared Savage using the OIA to get these communications or are Collins flunkies releasing them?
snap 🙂
Tweet from Dave Armstrong:
World record for OIA must have been broken on that request, overnight service 😀
not a ps staffer suggested yesterday that as the oias are out of mfat the fingers point toward mccully… fellow strategist of joyce and suffering majorly from small man syndrome. also a major control freak.
That’s total desperation. Tracey Martin is representing her community in a way that MPs used to do, before the ACT wing of Labour imported the idea that community doesn’t exist and they should only help wealthy individuals. I can see how a Herald journalist might get confused after sucking on the neolib Koolaid for 30 years or more. This just makes Winston First look like a party that actually does something.
What’s your take on this?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11250250
IMHO The Herald is openly attempting to besmirch the community minded actions of the NZ First MP. Here is an MP simply doing her job. In the letter, (see PDF below) it is clear that Tracey Martin was responsibly advocating for the strength and continuity of her community.
By including the Williamson reference, the NZH is not just ‘presenting context to the story’, it is taking the legitimate actions of a MP who is openly concerned with what she perceived to be uncertainty over significant changes in their community and deliberately associating these actions to Williamson’s active support of a person involved in a domestic violence investigation. This perverse act suggests The Herald is facing a hell of a lot of pressure to muddy the waters as fast and as widely as possible.
National is obviously hurting
Is it 2pm yet 🙂
Question re PDF:
Is the reason Cameron Slater’s name is listed in the index of the PDF something to do with the application process of the OIA?
I recall talking to an English policeman about issues in the force. He must have been a manager. I recall him talking about the need to rotate officers or they can become too comfortable and (perhaps) lead to corruption. It made sense at the time.
I think the difference here is that it is just a community issue rather than a (excuse me) greasy businessman from China.
greasy businessman from China.
…..
a successfull Chinese property developer would come out a bit greasy?
This story is nothing to do with corruption in the community, or the Police. It even has nothing to do with your suspiciously xenophobic imagination! Staff get rotated, but sometimes these staff movements need to be properly reviewed in case details might have been overlooked. Central office might not have been fully aware of just how heavily involved the officer was in these projects. The obvious concerns of the community were responsibly and sensibly raised by the MP representing that community.
One MP is doing their job, one MP is abusing their position,
do you know which is which jh?
Slater must be OIAing something too, maybe the cops used the same master document to produce a number of OIA PDF responses then deleted Slater’s email.
Probably shows that the directions for Slater’s dirt digging and Savage’s are coming from the same source: Collins.
If you want to know the reason:
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2014/05/exclusive-will-winston-peters-say-tracey-martin-meddling-police-operational-matters/
Theres likely going to be more as hes put in more OIA requests
PR, I do not know any details other than what is in the Herald. Maybe they were all secretly involved in illegal activities, but if Slater had any actual [or imagined] details, that showed wrongdoing, then we would all be hearing about it!
Instead we have heinous acts like helping thy neighbour and building a brighter future for their community. What unseen horrors have these people been creating in these community groups? What dark shadows lurk? Based on what is presented I am perplexed that a rational person would think there is anything untoward to see here.
From the wording of the email on WOBH, it is not unreasonable to think that Slater has sent OIA requests to every Police District in the country on a major a fishing expedition. An expedition that will use hundreds of hours of Police time? Is this a justifiable use of resources? If any other person, including journalists, submitted (what we can imagine is) a large number of OIA requests so openly vague in their intention and so obvious in their motivation, they would very likely not get processed without repeated communications requesting more precise definition of the OIA objectives.
Maybe it exposes how much pressure is being applied. The last few days have seen some extraordinary events. From outside the government camp it looks as if stones are being thrown, and thrown blindly in rapid fire succession in every direction. Has Slater considered, even for a moment, the collateral damage his innuendo might inject into these communities? Just suggesting wrongdoing can be enough to permanently destabilise the complex relationships in community groups.
What I see in that NZH article is a MP wanting a good cop to stay on in their community .
Whaleoil drip feeds the information, there’ll be more to come
what do you expect to see PR?
I really really want to know what seems so out of place with a MP directly and openly advocating for her community, by writing a letter to the Police in an official capacity using official correspondence?
What MW did is of no comparison apart from both used the english language. Slater’s non-specific fishing trip is a distinctly suspicious waste of public resources. OIA requests are generally not processed in five days. As I said above, when the OIA objective is so poorly defined they are usually not answered at all, except for requests demanding greater detail.
I would wager that the sinkhole has nothing and will deliver nothing on this story.
The story has now plummeted down the NZH page,
that should tell you a lot about how much water the fisherman has in his waders.
looks like the slater followers, incarnations have done their reading today so they know what to think about collins.
If you really really want to know then keep visiting this site:
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/
He likes to drip feed information so its best to keep visiting the multiple times per day
😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆
you are being an idiot.
its about money, to make mugs like you click and click and click…
Sounds like Slater has some really juicy stuff… LOL no it doesn’t, Slater yet again reveals how much of an entry level political operator he actually is, couldn’t even get Brown with the dirt of the century.
Oh no a MP is telling police how good a cop is for the community! Watchout career ender right there.
has slater posted his requests for oia releases? it would be useful to see what he requested. i dont expect him to post that until he has the info, but for completeness when he posts the docs, it would be useful to see the nature of his request/s
are all his referenced docs stamped with the oia red?
Slater… your hero …says a lot
More to come? More evidence of opposition MPs doing their jobs? The fat slug is even more stupid than I’d suspected.
The reason is the oily one is trying to produce distractions to protect Collins.
on what youve read so far do you equate this mps actions with williamsons.
the robertson and nz first examples only make williamsons actions look worse imo.
http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/document/pdf/201419/NZ%20Herald%20OIA%20Jared%20Savage%20Response%20060514.pdf
try this as the PDF link in my post at 15 above seems to have fallen over
Feed the Kids Members Bill – update
When will the bill be up for its first reading?
The bill has moved down the agenda (‘order paper’) as a large number of Members bills have been reported back from select committee for second reading – and second readings take precedence over first readings on Members days. At this stage we’re anticipating it will come up in late May/mid-June.
Is it likely to have the votes to pass at first reading?
We need 61 votes and we currently have 60! Hone is continuing to meet with National Party MPs to try to get it passed but National is holding to the line that the KickStart breakfast programme they partially fund is enough. Our analysis shows it feeds about 12,000 of the 100,000 children estimated to go hungry each school day – so it’s not enough at all. We’re still hoping someone in National is able to do the maths and agree to support the bill.
What else has been done to build support?
Hone has continued to promote the bill and recently hosted two events at Parliament (see the MANA website, http://www.mana.org.nz, for speeches and media statements and http://www.feedthekids.org.nz for news stories and photos):
The first was a morning tea to thank the 30+ organisations who’ve supported the bill as part of the Community Coalition for Food in Schools, and helped make it the major policy news story of 2013. Many thanks to the guest speakers, Deborah Morris-Travers (Unicef), Kiri Smith (NZEI), Angela Roberts (PPTA), Lisa Beech (Caritas NZ), Major Pam Waugh (Salvation Army), Rawiri Wright (Ngā Rūnanganui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa), and Katherine Rich (Food and Grocery Council).
The second was a lunch event with 50+ senior students of Naenae College who help run the school’s breakfast club. The students fielded questions with the media, went on a tour of Parliament, and attended question time to watch Hone challenge the government to do more to support the 100,000 students who go to school hungry each day.
What can I do to help?
Continue to lobby your local MP, and especially if they’re John Banks, Peter Dunne, or a National MP! See http://www.feedthekids.org.nz for info and further suggestions.
let them eat cake. the govt has rich guys to assist. have contacted my mp, mr banks. have asked him to show similar compassion to children as he does to animals.
‘
Wouldn’t it be better to agitate for higher wages so families can feed their kids? Just askin’.
Nope. With work estimated to decrease by about 50% over the next decade or so and more after that we really need to think of something better than wages.
There’s going to be more than enough work to do Draco, that result will be natural in an era where the population is massively aging and fossil fuels are disappearing; it’s just that the economic system as it stands cannot or will not structure that work as paid employment.
Good work CV, you are on the button: when my personal “energy slaves” of fossil fuel no longer is available to “transport me in my metal overcoat”, nor plough the fields, nor truck stuff around…well its back to the humble Clydesdale, the water mill and the gleaners after the fallen corn. We will live in a Constable picture. It will be hard work, and there will be lots of it.
A mate and I moved a bit of firewood in the weekend, not much, maybe 300-400kg’s worth and it didn’t take long. Up and down hills was a piece of cake – with a Falcon V8 and a trailer, that is. With horses and a cart, it would have taken an entire day and been far more troublesome.
Life post fossil-fuels is going to be a lot slower and a lot harder than people are used to right now.
But somehow, all our politicians can keep chanting about is “growth” of one kind or another (green, sustainable, export, global, etc.). It’s like some kind of religious litany.
” With horses and a cart, it would have taken an entire day and been far more troublesome.”
but it would have had its good moments too CV 🙂
See, that’s a good example of what’s not going to happen any more as fossil fuels dry up as it will be a lot easier to build and maintain renewable generation and heat pumps. Renewable generation that can also maintain the present farming, mining and pretty much all other industries. About the only thing that it won’t be able to support is private motor vehicles.
palua bennetts community meeting on april 28 was in hobsonville.
is hobsonville in her current electorate? its in john keys.
so, she has already abandoned her constituents that she loves so much as being her precious westies.
Have they changed the boundaries? Has she increased in size and crossed the boundaries without having to move? Do the boundaries neatly bisect her current position? In the absence of Judith challenging Keys leadership is she the next cab off the rank? So many questions!
i know. shes holding her meetings in keys electorate but close to her new seate. so, the convenience of her constituents is irrelevant, shes looking after herself, as she so ineloquently said in parliament today
” national likes people to help themselves.”
I thought Paula Bennett may have had a wee snort of something or other today prior to coming into the House. She got a bit carried away there for a while and was generally on a bit of a trip (maybe to Christchurch).
“The rebuild following the Christchurch earthquakes was creating thousands of jobs and there were people ready to take them up but who did not have the means to get to Christchurch.”
“To qualify the job must be for over 30 hours a week and be longer for 91 days. The
payment would be non-taxable and exempt from any income and asset test.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11250450
If you only qualify after 91 days then the $3000 isn’t going to be available to relocate is it?
Also too bad if you’re let go under the 90 day probation period – you’d have to pay to relocate and then miss out on the $3000.
“If you only qualify after 91 days then the $3000 isn’t going to be available to relocate is it?”
I understand the incentive programme is set up so the job you are being offered must be for longer than 90 days, which means it being a job that the employer is not attaching the 90 trial contract to. Which is immediately removing a large number of employers from the pool of jobs that the Government is counting on.
The focus is stated to be on 18-24 year olds, this makes this is a quizzical incentive as they are the group most likely to be faced with a 90 day trial contract.
Maybe it is the cynic in me but on one hand I feel the actual number of these incentives that will be paid out, according to what they have ascribed to the policy, is likely to be very small. On the other, I suspect the programme will be manipulated somehow and ‘special circumstances’ will see the incentivet applied to jobs that turn out not to be so permanent after all.
It could be simply that the job is intended to be permanent, so even with a 90-day trial you can still get the incentive. Probably worth holding on to it though, for when you find yourself in a city far from your family and friends, newly unemployed, again.
According to what the Government has said, the job must be for over 90 days, I take that to mean the 90 day trial can not be applied to any job that is taken as ‘collateral’ for the incentive payment.
What I understand that to say is any persons taking up this offer will not have to sign a 90 day trial contract. If any of these jobs are unfairly terminated or fail to be permanent, the lucky employees will be able to utilize all aspects of our employment laws, not just a select few.
Certainly is an added bonus for those who find a job 🙂
I want to know where they’re going to house all these enthusiastic young people.
And NRT has it sussed:
young people dont need a house. especially unemployed young people. young people today need to toughen up. cue the four yorkshiremen monty pyhton.
It’s not going to do them much good if they have nowhere to live
Trevor Mallard ordered out of Parliament!
something has to be done about this nostrum abroad that MP’s are employees. They are there to represent the electorate in the parliament. as long as people have the idea that MP’s are employees then people like collins can bamboozle ordinary folks that she can do the sort of shit she has been putting down in china.
Spot on Captain, I also despise the whole language of government that crept in with Roger and Geoff Palmer. making it a corporate professional place where a man had to wear a suit. Fekk it if I ever get elected I will wear a “boiler suit”. A bright orange one. And I will refuse to have “clients”, or even “constituents” (a much older word)…just “people” I “represent” and “advocate for”..
amen.
nz inc is an insult to us all.
its precisely cos our leads treat the nation as a business that the environment, society and most of the people are fucked.
money is a by product not an end in itself.
Urgent debate on Maurice Williamson now under way in the House.
GREAT SPEECH RUSSELL NORMAN.
john key nowhere to be seen.
he left very soon after his q.t. answers were delivered
Guess he didn’t want the cameras to see him wincing during Collins’ performance
( wow, compare the content of Norman’s speech to this crap by English )
justifying the unjustifiable. his voice is cracking as he tries to equate refunded secret donations with telling the cops to do a thorough job cos your mate has lots of money… even he doesnt believe the shite he is spouting.
key making others front speaks volumes about his lack of leadership.
Cunliffe: focused & controlled. Without the OTT shouty stuff he does a lot. “These are the lowest ministerial standards in a generation”.
closing by norman was great… linking the low standards to the lack of leadership. not that the leader would have heard. as if to prove normans point, he was long gone.
The discipline of the opposition during qt was good to see, it started slipping by about Q7 but tomorrow is a new day and I hope we see a lot more of such discipline.
Good spine shown by Mallard too.
I get the distinct feeling there is some clear agreement amongst the opposition in how to manage National’s behaviour in the House. Silence is often the loudest argument.
It shows up National for the school yard principles that are their modus operandi and would certainly limit how selective The Speaker can be in what he perceives as having occurred.
US tax payers fleeced by oligarchs through costly, opaque public pension fund investments
For all you peeps who think that making KiwiSaver compulsory and giving even more workers’ money to Wall St is a good idea.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-05/leaked-documents-show-how-blackstone-fleeces-taxpayers-public-pension-funds
…Labour should make it compulsorily reinvested in New Zealand
Your comment has questionable logic CV,
Surely it is better that we push for tight rules on how that money is invested rather than have it handed over to banks who will conduct the same corrupt practices with it – and considerably more on top of those ones anyway?
A very good performance by John Key “paraphrasing Helen Clark” was a good ending but wheres the passion from Cunliffe? Sounded like he was reading out his shopping list, at least Norman gets excited every now and then…
Speaker David Carter bought shares in Mighty River Power & Meridian Energy. I/S calls it corruption.
Paul Foster Bell also bought shares in Mighty River Power.
The register showed Labour leader David Cunliffe’s new trust, which he used to take donations for his leadership bid last year.
The TR Trust collected around $9500 in donations from supporters Selwyn Pellett, Perry Keenan and Tony Gibbs and two anonymous donors.
Don’t be scared Dave tell us who the donators are and what they want for their money
yawn Try hard. That one’s already been answered. Then there’s the Cabinet Clud….
So who were the secret donors then if its been answered?
Weak attempt at distraction – National’s Cabinet Club is mind boggling.
Whatever Cunliffe manage to garner in his election trust is pretty small beer don’t you think, compared to the nationwide scam called Cabinet Club that National is running. Where if you pay enough cash you get facetime with a Cabinet Minister. Once again the Cabinet Manual is just a guideline eh?
Oh well since its only small beer thats ok, perhaps you could let us know what the cut off point is?
At the moment sir, the cut off point seems to be a taxpayer funded trip to China where you use your ministerial kudos to try an influence a border official to go easy on a dairy company that your husband happens to be a director of and which is run by close friends. Mind you, given what we’ve learned tonight about National’s shoddy scam to raise funds it’s no wonder Collins and Williamson don’t think they’ve done anything wrong.
Nothing to say about National under pressure over it’s widespread encouragement of big money into government? And Paula Bennett lying about it?
Tough times for NAct astroturfers!
campbell live has an interview with the inventor of legal-highs..
..he sez they are dangerous..
..should not be consumed..
..and should all be banned..
and my favourite pot-story from today..
“..Marijuana May Heal Health Problems That Come With Old Age: How Can People Living in Senior Homes Get It?..”
“..From pain and trouble sleeping –
pot can be a godsend for seniors..”
(cont..)
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/marijuana-may-heal-health-problems-come-old-age-how-can-people-living-senior-homes-get-it
godsend for seniors but not necessarily for juniors under 20 ( brains still developing until 25)
yes chooky..but a legal/age-restricted regime will help in some way to prevent that..
..but as it stands now..
..you go to any town in nz..and if u want to score pot..
..you ask the nearest teenager where the local tinny house is..
..and they always know…
..and tinny-houses don’t ask for i.d..
and the inventor of the legal-highs said that pot should be legalised..
..that that is ‘the only way’ to stop people taking these dangerous chemicals..
..i hope john key is listening..
..it’s ‘the only way’..that will work..
The ironing was strong today when the PM described Twitter users (who dared front up to Judith, using her own language and medium of choice) as bottom feeders and trolls. This, when his own office “employs” a certain bottom feeding, trolling blog-which-wants-to-be-known-as-media to do its dirty work.
It’s funny how the will is found to report things like cabinet club once journos get pissed off. Must not have been much of secret around the press gallery.
Also it’s correspondingly scary that the only political discourse some people are exposed to is shaped by these chumps.
As much as I’m glad the Nats are taking a pounding the idea that the major improprieties of a government only get reported if the journos get all ornery is pretty unsettling.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/05/jobseekers-zero-hours-contracts
The unemployed in the UK are to lose the benefit for three months or more as sanction if they refuse to take a zero guaranteed hours job.
Does anyone know Work and Income’s rules around refusing to accept jobs with no guaranteed hours?
It’s not clear from the ‘obligations’ section of Work and Income’s website what constitutes suitable work.
Unbelievable! And then the UK government will crow about improved employment stats. How inhumane are such MPs?
The article says that benefits will be paid for the weeks not worked – fluctuating payments. But i can’t see WINZ organising that efficiently. And in the UK critics are saying it’ll be hard to do training to improve work prospects, or to get another job, if a person has a zero hour job.
It normalises these arrangements, which should be shunned by governments for the social and health harms they cause.
As I understand it, if you don’t accept a suitable job you will get your benefit cut. I have no idea as to what they mean by the word suitable. I’d say that a job that could leave you worse off would be unsuitable but National’s in power so they may consider a job with no hours suitable.
The return of El Nino
And, yeah, it’s looking like it’s going to be a big one.
It’s been a barmy autumn in Auckland so far. Today still seems like summer.
It’s so common, news sources framing the impact of environmental, political and social disruption in terms of how it affects capitalism and investors. Meh.
Yeah, I was disturbed by that as well but, unfortunately, some people seemingly just can’t understand the changes in any other terms.
I’m surprised I haven’t seen more recent debate on further state funding of political parties.
The Greens made a statement back in January that partial public funding would help to avoid parties being captured by wealthy interests.
Mike Williams is on record as calling for state funding when he was president, and Key is on record as opposing it as of late 2013.
I believe that a similar discussion is being had in the UK.
Of course Labours for it because they can’t raise any decent money on their own, I’m against it because I support National so why would I want any of my tax payers money go towards the Greens
Your tax-payers money can go to National and bribes and Oravida. The Greens can have mine.
xox
Where are all the libertarians shouting about nanny state taking away individuals rights on legal highs. The same ones who shouted out about lightbulbs, shower roses, and compulsory insulation and superannuation. And Helping out needy Warners, Rio Tinto, Americas Cup, Sky, etc. The hypocrisy and our msm complicity is incredible. We have been had.