We are particularly concerned about the plan to increase class sizes at our local primary
school. The teaching staff are enthusiastic and motivated running interesting and engaging programmes for the children. The ERO reports have been outstanding.
The teachers go out of their way to support the children and their families providing extra activities like Saturday morning sport and after-school care.
The community are at a loss to know how an apparently arbitrary staffing figure is going to benefit the children and improve their outcomes when the school is going to lose at least one of these wonderful teachers.
The community is delighted with your decision and thank you for listening to reason.
Perhaps your colleagues will take notice of public opinion on many other matters.
Wondering if any of yous fellas wants to pop over and critique my Superannuation proposal. And I know Pete George has a good round up of the bloggers individuals positions on Super at his place. he may have already pimped it here.
Teacher numbers and Super would be the most topical political stories of this week. http://nowoccupy.blogspot.com/2012/06/superannuation-timebomb.html
I wouldn’t hold your breath. I was complaining about how demographically dumb our super system was in the long term when I was at university at age 18.
The problem is that I’m now 53 and during that entire period only three things have happened. The super age raised to 65, Cullen started doing something sensible with the superannuation with prefunding the bulge before some conservative idiots killed it to pay for unsustainable tax cuts, and I paid a enormous pile of taxes for other peoples super.
You now have quite a few generations who will be pretty damn irritated at attempts at changes because we have invested so damn much into the existing scheme over the decades because our idiot grandparents and parents thought it was a good deal (for them) and will vote accordingly. That includes me. If that means that you and your generations wind up paying more in taxes, then like me you will find it becomes your problem. I’d suggest that you start electing forward thinking governments and ignore idiot conservatives promising tax cuts because it just means more taxes later.
The only effective way to handle it is to increase taxes to prefund the age bulge because everything else is just stupid.. I’d suggest that a capital gains tax and a more progressive tax system.
Something like Kiwisaver will help longer term, but is frankly too little and too late for the age bulge. But will help with subsequent generations as the demographics tilt to a unbulged profile.
lprent
You made the point about Kiwi super fund being frozen by the present government. To my mind, this is one of our big problems. A government institutes, after spendng a lot of taxes to plan and set it up, a program that begins to operate in a positive way and the next one cancels that, any gain is lost and the implementation spending is wasted.
Two ideologies – one that wants to have better lives for all today but also build capability for the future in this country, and one that ignores the future and cares little about the ‘all’ today. But it is masterly at spreading confusion about its practices and motivation. National Party pretends it has great financial wisdom but actually wants to borrow and spend for their present personal advantage and if the country benefits at all, well that’s an accident and they fall on this in their PR as a deliberate outcome of their clever planning..
As a trout fisher I see the effects of dairying in our streams PLUS the malign effects of cattle being grazed in river beds (they eat the native vegetation which native birds and insects etc live in, not to mention the underfoot damage and effluent). Its very hard to stop this as Regional Councils in rural areas are stacked full of farmers and the officials turn a blind eye.
What river beds represent to farmers is supplemental grazing: my contention is that they should fence these areas off as they are public domain i.e they belong to you and me. To assume usage by right is theft. If farmers want to graze these areas they should pay, just as we do with road user charges etc. The money could be poured back into fencing with the goal of preventing stock being in the river bed ever again.
“Regional Councils in rural areas are stacked full of farmers ”
Yep. And that is why Nick Smith advocated pushing the control of these issues back into the regions. So the farmers can do as they wish.
Oh, except for Canterbury where the regional council was stacked with enviro’s and urbanites. Hence it had to be sacked.
Dirty dogs this current govt.
NZ’s rural environments are stuffed. Foreign grasses, few reserves and parks (ever driven from Wgtn to New Plymouth and noticed how little bush there is?), dirty non-drinkable or swimmable waterways, etc. NZ’s rural environment is simply a giant industrial park. It may as well be paved with concrete as the effect is the same.
I don’t think it is as straightforward as that. Farmers are not one homogenous group who share identical practices. There is a big difference between industrial dairying that is pushing the land to the very last inch of ‘productivity’ and a small family farm that has had traditional water access to a river for the last 100 years and has managed that in careful ways. Yes, the latter is still likely to be unsustainable, but the scale of difference in damage needs to be acknowledged.
Farms often carry huge debt, and so banks and financial managers have say in how farms are run not just farmers. The idea that every farm has excess funds for fencing is not real. Each farm would need to be considered individually.
Each waterway also needs to be considered individually. Some will need very high protection, others will be able to sustain the effects of food production.
There is the additional issue that rivers and streams move over time. Often rivers encroach into private land, and the boundaries of who owns what becomes murky. Fencing off is not enough, riparian areas need to be planted to encourage bank stability, and that brings additional costs.
Having riparian strips planted brings many other benefits too of course, but it’s not just farmers that have responsibilities here. Councils and DOC need to stop removing vegetation from river banks if we want to return to better biodiversity and protection of water.
Anyone who can afford to could also be buying more ethically produced dairy. In the South Island that would be from the likes of family farm companies like Retro Organics or Clearwaters (the latter’s yoghurt is in supermarkets, not sure about Retro). Neither are using Fonterra. Those are the people that are leading the way in terms of making changes towards sustainable food production and land management, and we need to support them if we truly want things to be different. Some conventional farmers are also doing good things re waterways. It pays to ask around.
Those are the people that are leading the way in terms of making changes towards sustainable food production and land management, and we need to support them if we truly want things to be different.
Market solutions don’t work which is why we need regulation.
Obviously we need regulation, that’s a given. On its own regulation won’t work if there aren’t farmers with the skills and motivation to farm sustainably.
Regulation needs enforcement and training. No doubt about that. Thus we need education to teach the farmers how to farm and enforcers to ensure that the farmers keep to the regulations.
If farmers don’t have the motivation then they shouldn’t be farming. IMO, there’s no faster way to becoming a miserable bugger than doing something you don’t want to do.
That all sounds quite disconnected from the real world Draco. We currently don’t have any local or national govt authorities that are capable of enforcing and training sustainability, or even baseline protection of rivers. Some councils are starting to make moves, but in order to get to your vision of enforced rightness there is a missing link.
In the meantime, there are many farmers who are just getting on with doing the right thing. It’s those people who will eventually be the leaders in land management. The more support they get now, the better position we will be in to train other farmers. You can’t go from no knowledge to best practice without something in between.
If we don’t get farmers on board, the idea that they can just not be farmers is kind of silly. Most hands on farmers have the skills needed to farm. If they leave the land, who will take over?
We currently don’t have any local or national govt authorities that are capable of enforcing and training sustainability, or even baseline protection of rivers.
Thus it needs to be implemented.
In the meantime, there are many farmers who are just getting on with doing the right thing.
Organise between those that are making the attempt and the researchers to define Best Practice* and then filter that out through training to the farmers while also taking feedback from the farmers.
If they leave the land, who will take over?
Do we need anyone to do so? IMO, A lot of the destruction that we’re seeing from farming is from over farming and not just bad practice. If that’s the case then we need to do more than change practices.
* A moving target – as more becomes known so Best Practice shifts.
We still need to eat, so we will always need farmers.
“Organise between those that are making the attempt and the researchers to define Best Practice* and then filter that out through training to the farmers while also taking feedback from the farmers”
Yes. Hence my point about regulation not being enough, that we need to support those farmers who are already working towards best practice.
Fencing streams and riparian planting were what we should have been doing instead of the shit useless cycleway. Jobs for fencing crews, plant nurseries & planting teams all over the country. With the benefits to our environment and clean green image. I can’t speak for fencing but $1,000,000 would cover the supply and planting of @150000 natives in a 1L pot or @300000 root trainers. As natives are quite hardy I would expect a survival rate of @ 75% if no maintenance was carried out.
I actually put this idea forward to my local mp’s and the greens at the time and never heard back.
I like that idea, stuff the cycleway. Actually the improvement of waterways would pay handsomely with tourism: trout fisher tourists mainly go to Taupo which is becoming rather restrictive and failing to provide the quality it used to have to attract tourists. Better rivers elsewhere would improve the opportunities to stay longer, spend more and spread the cash: not to mention the return trips and word of mouth promotion.
Exactly, I can’t see any down side that’s for sure. I figured at minimum the queens chain would allow fencing off large chunks of riverbank without having to get to far into land rights and having to make laws etc. We could have done the easy stuff already and be cracking into sorting out the more contentious areas. We certainly would be far further ahead in km’s completed than the cycleway is.
I don’t think the Queens Chain really exists, at least not in the way many people think. And as I said, rivers change course, so land rights are central to this conversation. If a river changes course and now flows through private land, what happens to the Queens Chain?
If we made all rivers sacrosanct today, what would we eat?
No-one would ever be able to use horses to manage land, as all stock is now banned from ever setting one hoof in the water.
Likewise the small block holder who has 5 dairy cows that supply milk to the surrounding area would now have to sell up, because there is a creek in the middle of their land and they’re no longer allowed to shift their cows from one side of the property to the other.
And the big station owner, who runs sheep at a very small number per hectare, is now also selling up because to fence off all the streams and rivers on on their land, including streams that are not being polluted, is going to bankrupt them.
…because there is a creek in the middle of their land and they’re no longer allowed to shift their cows from one side of the property to the other.
Build a bridge.
And the big station owner, who runs sheep at a very small number per hectare, is now also selling up because to fence off all the streams and rivers on on their land, including streams that are not being polluted, is going to bankrupt them.
I’m quite happy for the government to pay for the necessary fencing. The farmers can maintain it after that.
From what I have seen / discovered the non corporate farmer is as likely or more so to assume grazing “rights” over Crown land and river beds as the big business farms: most have been doing so for generations.
That is why I suggest that they pay for the grazing and that the cash is used to gradually reduce the area / access with riparian planting / fencing. On that note one of the reasons stock like the rivers is because they are starved of variety on grass, they need to eat trees etc to get vital nutrients. There has never been a greater case for farmers growing bush for stock food: the problem is stocking rates per hectare would come down.
“From what I have seen / discovered the non corporate farmer is as likely or more so to assume grazing “rights” over Crown land and river beds as the big business farms: most have been doing so for generations.”
That assumes that (a) damage is being done to those rivers, and (b) the farm can afford to pay for access.
But it misses the point. Traditional farming in NZ has done a far amount of damage but it pales in comparison to what industrial dairying is doing, esp with regards to rivers. To lump all farms and farmers in together doesn’t help the situation. We need a more sophisticated analysis of the problems. Yes all waterways should have riparian plantings, but we’re not going to get there by thinking all farms are the same.
What river beds represent to farmers is supplemental grazing: my contention is that they should fence these areas off as they are public domain i.e they belong to you and me.
The rivers/streams/lakes need to be fenced off 30m either side and riparian planted. Any livestock in the riparian zone and the farm is nationalised with no compensation (the loss can be negotiated between the farmer and the bank).
Ah snow, so beautiful and yet I now foresee much whine from the climate change denialist about it, despite all the biological indicators (namely leaves still on trees those leaf drops are controlled by temperature rather than light) and frost free days we’ve had in Christchurch.
And it’s at “giant flakes of doom” stage as of writing this too 😀
An old chap while looking up at snow covered hills said “The snow is a great colour.”
“Huh?” I said as clear intellectual response.
“Yep,” grunted. “A great culler.”
And there’s the price of “tough on crime” bullshit, a prison system that’s too overtaxed to be able to rehabilitate prisoners so they can get back into society, with a dash of the horrors of significant under-funding on the mental health system. Because why help people when you can just lock em away and proclaim “justice is done”?
Good early news RADIONZ this morning on new courts in Auckland pilot. Problem solving instead of punitive judgmentalism n NZ – who’d have thought!!
Homeless people have more troubles than the rest of us and get into police notice more often. There is a system started in Auckland where they are talking to these people and helping these people and what do you know there is an improvement in stats on petty crime and recidivism and police do something else that they are suited for.
Nick S That is awful stuff about Britains prisons. What is worse is that right wing politicians think this is is acceptable, reasonable policy and what’s even worse is that the Pretenders of Labour there have followed them and in doing that dragged their ideals and real humanistic concerns for people down an alley and socked them in the head. Here they are trying to stagger out but need help to recover.
Horrifying.
And more evidence that ‘third-way’ labour movements are at least and dangerous as the Tories. I would argue that they are more dangerous because they close off alternative discourse and the possibility of change.
To me they both look like possible signs of improving business, but with the fluctuations it’s hard to say. The actuals are ahead of the budget forecast but still less than the pre-election forecast so it might be just picking up a bit after a slower than expected recovery.
Like I say, I’m not anything like an economist, so I’m probly thinking it all wrong. But those numbers right.
Corp profits are up. Good sign right.
Govts’ GST take is up,. Again good sign right.
GST is up because the refund side of it is down. Oh, wait.
If GST take was up because receipts were up, that would say there was more consumer activity, which would be good. But there’s no mention of that.
The take is apparently up because companies are claiming fewer than expected refunds. Doesn’t that mean they are spending less? And would that go some way to explaining increased profit in a pretty stagnant economy?
Just piping up at the end of the thread thingy, but all businesses want to be paying GST, not receiving it, because that means your revenue is exceeding your expenses. The other way upside down means you going backwards buster…
LIFTOFF! “Council moves to expose interests” Rob Stock Sunday Star Times 3 June 2012
“THE COUNTRY’S largest local authority says it wants more transparency.
Auckland Mayor Len Brown said Auckland Council would work towards establishing a public register of the commercial interests of councillors who control the city’s vast budget, huge assets and are ultimately responsible for awarding hundreds of millions of dollars worth of business contracts. ……”
Once people join up the mates network, they will see where the real money disappears to…I like to keep track of where some of them end up….Let’s take a look at Own McCall (ex warehouse),
Now can be found running the “Transformation” of Auckland Council IS. McCall is ex Deloitte, which no surprises so is the Head of IS, Mike Foley. What does “Transformation” mean, well I guess it remains to be seen, but the relationships are clear, as is the trail of funds which are being deposited directly to the consultant, either to the company, or to their Alumni, via juicy no responsibilty direct hire “consultant” contracts!
According to RT news, the FBI are indeed preparing a case against Julian Assange. It seems that they have been watching his interview programme on RT and have detained a couple of his guests at the airport as they transited through the US. They were all asked questions related to Assange.
One was threatened with arrest when he asked what rights he had as a non-US citizen.
Another was later followed by a number of guys (read…Spooks) who approached him and asked if he would spy on Assange for them.
Susan Wood holds Michelle Boag’s feet to the fire
NewstalkZB, Tuesday June 5, 2012
PR trout and ex-McCully squeeze Michelle Boag has an established reputation as a brutal National Party power-broker. She is feared and resented by a substantial section of the National Party, including the Bill English faction, since her campaign for the Double Dipper to be ousted in favour of Don Brash in 2003. She is also persona non grata with the influential right-wing blogger Cameron “Whaleoil” Slater, not because she is morally disgusting and contemptuous of democracy, but because of her vicious behaviour towards his father John, who was president of the party before she lobbied against and replaced him in 2001.
Most people will be familiar with Boag’s frequent appearances as a cruel and malicious media commentator. She is a regular guest on Jim Mora’s National Radio show The Panel, where she takes the opportunity to indulge in free-ranging right wing rants without fear of being contradicted by either the host or by Brian Edwards, with whom she is almost always paired. The only guest to ever challenge her was Bomber Bradbury, who on one memorable occasion goaded her into a snarling display of incoherent fury by asking her to justify her contention that self-exiled tax dodgers like “Sir” Douglas Myers were a loss to this country. She couldn’t, of course, and I would not be surprised if she had then used her influence with the Radio New Zealand board to initiate steps to get rid of Bradbury, who was fired a year or so later, after daring to criticize the prime minister on the programme.
In 2008, after the Radio Sport blatherer Tony Veitch publicly confessed to pushing his fiancée to the ground and repeatedly kicking her until he broke her back, Boag went on TV1’s Closeup to praise what she called Veitch’s “great performance” and pointedly demeaned the woman he had crippled by holding up and waggling her fingers as quote marks when she said the word “victim”. Of course, Mark Sainsbury said nothing, and neither did John Tamihere.
So, as an eloquent and aggressive bully, with hardly anyone daring to cross her and provoke that acid tongue, Boag enjoys pretty much of a dream run when she comes on the radio.
Listeners to NewstalkZB would have been surprised, then, to hear her being given a hard time during Larry Williams’ Drive programme. She was on the programme to speak about the Bronwyn Pullar versus ACC case. Boag has acted as Ms. Pullar’s “supporter” in her battles with the ACC, and has unwisely decided to support the right of her friend to hold onto thousands of confidential files which were accidentally sent to her.
Unfortunately for Boag, the not very intelligent, and always supine, normal host, Larry Williams, was not there yesterday. His replacement was Susan Wood, who immediately put Boag on the spot….
SUSAN WOOD: let me ask you this: if you were sent more than seven thousand confidential files, would YOU have held onto them?
BOAG:[long pause] That has never happened to me.
SUSAN WOOD: I’ll try again. Do you think it was right to hold onto more than seven thousand confidential files?
BOAG:[another long, uncomfortable pause] I… I…. that has never happened to me.
SUSAN WOOD: I’ll try it again. If you found thousands of dollars had been put into your bank account, would you or would you not tell the bank immediately?
BOAG:[barely concealing her anger] You’re asking me a hypothetical question. That has never happened to me.
Susan Wood never got an honest or straight answer out of her, but the discomfort and the omissions spoke volumes.
Paula Bennett is upping the ante and proposing court orders to stop people having babies.
You can just imagine the CT memos flying around at this stage:
“Guys you are stuffing up big time. We are no longer able to provide cover for you. The people are seeing through our carefully constructed veneer and are seeing you for what you are. We do not understand why but ordinary people really hate the wealthy engorging themselves further on communal assets. If something is not done soon your chances next election will be ruined.
So we recommend that all stops are pulled out.
Beneficiary bashing is always popular and is ideal to divert attention. Parodoxically the more extreme the treatment the more support it garners. Our last proposal of contraception for solo mums went down really well so we wish to move to stage 2 of this campaign. We propose you give the Courts power to order “bad” parents not to have babies. The potential numbers will be small but the outcry will be such that Parata’s stuff ups may be pushed to the background.
The practicalities do not matter. How you are going to stop people doing the wild thing is beyond our brief as well as beyond the power of any Government. But the mere mention of a ban will ensure plenty of helpful publicity.
Best if you get that Bennett woman to do it. She has no sense of irony. If the policy develops in the manner intended and was applied in the 1990s she could have been caught herself but she is far too thick skinned to worry about the hypocricy of her making the proposal.”
Fact: Collins now knows that the ACC Chairman and the ACC CEO have mislead her.
Fact: Pullar and Boag have been defamed by the ACC Chairman and the ACC CEO and they both say the matter is now closed, also that ACC are sticking by what their managers have said.
Fact: Collins says it is an operational matter with ACC as they made the police complaint alleging extortion by Pullar
Well it is not that simple as Collins has one standard for herself when she perceives that she has been defamed and another standard when she is the minister of a department and that her CEO and Chairman have been proved to have made defamatory statements to her.
The only action that Collins can take is to sack the ACC Chairman and the ACC CEO as what they are saying is also malicious. ACC is far sicker than I realised it was and I do not have confidence in it improving as the CEO and the Chairman appear to be deluded about the December 2011 meeting transcript.
I send my well wishes to Ms Pullar and I hope that it is the beginning of the end to her interminable situation with ACC. I would like to see Pullar have a QC assigned for them to do an inquiry and to independently settle her case.
Why? The ACC Minister, the ACC CEO and the ACC Chairman are incompetent when it comes to Pullar.
Wasn’t the ACC Chairman a Smith appointee after the previous Chair was forbidden to defend ACC when Nick Smith was busy explaining that ACC was a “disaster?” A fine Chair he turned out to be.
When the Chair and CEO of a major corporation do not know what their logo stands for: ACC, Prevention, Care, Recovery they are in the wrong job.
19 September 2011 Ralph Stewart became the CEO of ACC, he replaced Dr Jan White who was CEO for 6 years. Stewart had 27 years experience in insurance and asset management. I do not know about the ACC Chairman’s background. The buck has to stop with the ACC CEO and the ACC Minister.
When it comes to Pullar receiving ACC client emails, at this stage after 9 years the situation with ACC was a me and them situation and not an us. I feel that Pullar would have sent the emails back a lot sooner had matters not reached the point they had got to. Pullar is still being hung out to dry by ACC and this is not good for her well being or anyone else who finds themself in a goliath and the stone situation.
The decision I want to hear is the one from the Privacy Commissioner as then the public will know that there was a systemic problem with the breaching of client emails.
Will ACC try and blame Pullar for ACCs systemic privacy breach?
No ones case should drag on for 9 years and have the ACC Chairman and ACC CEO misleading the ACC Minister.
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Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
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 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 3 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Dearest Hekia
We are particularly concerned about the plan to increase class sizes at our local primary
school. The teaching staff are enthusiastic and motivated running interesting and engaging programmes for the children. The ERO reports have been outstanding.
The teachers go out of their way to support the children and their families providing extra activities like Saturday morning sport and after-school care.
The community are at a loss to know how an apparently arbitrary staffing figure is going to benefit the children and improve their outcomes when the school is going to lose at least one of these wonderful teachers.
With our deepest concern,
Yours sincerely,
NZ Advance combined team.
Did you send it to her as well as post that here?
Dearest Hekia
The community is delighted with your decision and thank you for listening to reason.
Perhaps your colleagues will take notice of public opinion on many other matters.
Wondering if any of yous fellas wants to pop over and critique my Superannuation proposal. And I know Pete George has a good round up of the bloggers individuals positions on Super at his place. he may have already pimped it here.
Teacher numbers and Super would be the most topical political stories of this week.
http://nowoccupy.blogspot.com/2012/06/superannuation-timebomb.html
[lprent: removed the dup comment. ]
I wouldn’t hold your breath. I was complaining about how demographically dumb our super system was in the long term when I was at university at age 18.
The problem is that I’m now 53 and during that entire period only three things have happened. The super age raised to 65, Cullen started doing something sensible with the superannuation with prefunding the bulge before some conservative idiots killed it to pay for unsustainable tax cuts, and I paid a enormous pile of taxes for other peoples super.
You now have quite a few generations who will be pretty damn irritated at attempts at changes because we have invested so damn much into the existing scheme over the decades because our idiot grandparents and parents thought it was a good deal (for them) and will vote accordingly. That includes me. If that means that you and your generations wind up paying more in taxes, then like me you will find it becomes your problem. I’d suggest that you start electing forward thinking governments and ignore idiot conservatives promising tax cuts because it just means more taxes later.
The only effective way to handle it is to increase taxes to prefund the age bulge because everything else is just stupid.. I’d suggest that a capital gains tax and a more progressive tax system.
Something like Kiwisaver will help longer term, but is frankly too little and too late for the age bulge. But will help with subsequent generations as the demographics tilt to a unbulged profile.
lprent
You made the point about Kiwi super fund being frozen by the present government. To my mind, this is one of our big problems. A government institutes, after spendng a lot of taxes to plan and set it up, a program that begins to operate in a positive way and the next one cancels that, any gain is lost and the implementation spending is wasted.
Two ideologies – one that wants to have better lives for all today but also build capability for the future in this country, and one that ignores the future and cares little about the ‘all’ today. But it is masterly at spreading confusion about its practices and motivation. National Party pretends it has great financial wisdom but actually wants to borrow and spend for their present personal advantage and if the country benefits at all, well that’s an accident and they fall on this in their PR as a deliberate outcome of their clever planning..
Dirty dairying in New Zealand
It costs ratepayers millions of dollars per year to take dirty dairy farmers to court. These costs should be met by the industry…
As a trout fisher I see the effects of dairying in our streams PLUS the malign effects of cattle being grazed in river beds (they eat the native vegetation which native birds and insects etc live in, not to mention the underfoot damage and effluent). Its very hard to stop this as Regional Councils in rural areas are stacked full of farmers and the officials turn a blind eye.
What river beds represent to farmers is supplemental grazing: my contention is that they should fence these areas off as they are public domain i.e they belong to you and me. To assume usage by right is theft. If farmers want to graze these areas they should pay, just as we do with road user charges etc. The money could be poured back into fencing with the goal of preventing stock being in the river bed ever again.
There must be thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who use our waterways ‘recreationally’. We need to unite to push this cause.
“Regional Councils in rural areas are stacked full of farmers ”
Yep. And that is why Nick Smith advocated pushing the control of these issues back into the regions. So the farmers can do as they wish.
Oh, except for Canterbury where the regional council was stacked with enviro’s and urbanites. Hence it had to be sacked.
Dirty dogs this current govt.
NZ’s rural environments are stuffed. Foreign grasses, few reserves and parks (ever driven from Wgtn to New Plymouth and noticed how little bush there is?), dirty non-drinkable or swimmable waterways, etc. NZ’s rural environment is simply a giant industrial park. It may as well be paved with concrete as the effect is the same.
Google Earth gives a much better indication of the destruction we’ve levelled upon our small land.
I don’t think it is as straightforward as that. Farmers are not one homogenous group who share identical practices. There is a big difference between industrial dairying that is pushing the land to the very last inch of ‘productivity’ and a small family farm that has had traditional water access to a river for the last 100 years and has managed that in careful ways. Yes, the latter is still likely to be unsustainable, but the scale of difference in damage needs to be acknowledged.
Farms often carry huge debt, and so banks and financial managers have say in how farms are run not just farmers. The idea that every farm has excess funds for fencing is not real. Each farm would need to be considered individually.
Each waterway also needs to be considered individually. Some will need very high protection, others will be able to sustain the effects of food production.
There is the additional issue that rivers and streams move over time. Often rivers encroach into private land, and the boundaries of who owns what becomes murky. Fencing off is not enough, riparian areas need to be planted to encourage bank stability, and that brings additional costs.
Having riparian strips planted brings many other benefits too of course, but it’s not just farmers that have responsibilities here. Councils and DOC need to stop removing vegetation from river banks if we want to return to better biodiversity and protection of water.
Anyone who can afford to could also be buying more ethically produced dairy. In the South Island that would be from the likes of family farm companies like Retro Organics or Clearwaters (the latter’s yoghurt is in supermarkets, not sure about Retro). Neither are using Fonterra. Those are the people that are leading the way in terms of making changes towards sustainable food production and land management, and we need to support them if we truly want things to be different. Some conventional farmers are also doing good things re waterways. It pays to ask around.
Market solutions don’t work which is why we need regulation.
Obviously we need regulation, that’s a given. On its own regulation won’t work if there aren’t farmers with the skills and motivation to farm sustainably.
Regulation needs enforcement and training. No doubt about that. Thus we need education to teach the farmers how to farm and enforcers to ensure that the farmers keep to the regulations.
If farmers don’t have the motivation then they shouldn’t be farming. IMO, there’s no faster way to becoming a miserable bugger than doing something you don’t want to do.
That all sounds quite disconnected from the real world Draco. We currently don’t have any local or national govt authorities that are capable of enforcing and training sustainability, or even baseline protection of rivers. Some councils are starting to make moves, but in order to get to your vision of enforced rightness there is a missing link.
In the meantime, there are many farmers who are just getting on with doing the right thing. It’s those people who will eventually be the leaders in land management. The more support they get now, the better position we will be in to train other farmers. You can’t go from no knowledge to best practice without something in between.
If we don’t get farmers on board, the idea that they can just not be farmers is kind of silly. Most hands on farmers have the skills needed to farm. If they leave the land, who will take over?
Thus it needs to be implemented.
Organise between those that are making the attempt and the researchers to define Best Practice* and then filter that out through training to the farmers while also taking feedback from the farmers.
Do we need anyone to do so? IMO, A lot of the destruction that we’re seeing from farming is from over farming and not just bad practice. If that’s the case then we need to do more than change practices.
* A moving target – as more becomes known so Best Practice shifts.
We still need to eat, so we will always need farmers.
“Organise between those that are making the attempt and the researchers to define Best Practice* and then filter that out through training to the farmers while also taking feedback from the farmers”
Yes. Hence my point about regulation not being enough, that we need to support those farmers who are already working towards best practice.
Fencing streams and riparian planting were what we should have been doing instead of the shit useless cycleway. Jobs for fencing crews, plant nurseries & planting teams all over the country. With the benefits to our environment and clean green image. I can’t speak for fencing but $1,000,000 would cover the supply and planting of @150000 natives in a 1L pot or @300000 root trainers. As natives are quite hardy I would expect a survival rate of @ 75% if no maintenance was carried out.
I actually put this idea forward to my local mp’s and the greens at the time and never heard back.
I like that idea, stuff the cycleway. Actually the improvement of waterways would pay handsomely with tourism: trout fisher tourists mainly go to Taupo which is becoming rather restrictive and failing to provide the quality it used to have to attract tourists. Better rivers elsewhere would improve the opportunities to stay longer, spend more and spread the cash: not to mention the return trips and word of mouth promotion.
Exactly, I can’t see any down side that’s for sure. I figured at minimum the queens chain would allow fencing off large chunks of riverbank without having to get to far into land rights and having to make laws etc. We could have done the easy stuff already and be cracking into sorting out the more contentious areas. We certainly would be far further ahead in km’s completed than the cycleway is.
I don’t think the Queens Chain really exists, at least not in the way many people think. And as I said, rivers change course, so land rights are central to this conversation. If a river changes course and now flows through private land, what happens to the Queens Chain?
All private land needs to be changed to a lease system anyway and rivers should be sacrosanct no matter where they’re flowing.
The situation already exists on leasehold land, where rivers have changed course.
And whatever needs to change in the bigger picture, in the meantime we can protect our rivers by taking a more pragmatic approach now.
If we made all rivers sacrosanct today, what would we eat?
No-one would ever be able to use horses to manage land, as all stock is now banned from ever setting one hoof in the water.
Likewise the small block holder who has 5 dairy cows that supply milk to the surrounding area would now have to sell up, because there is a creek in the middle of their land and they’re no longer allowed to shift their cows from one side of the property to the other.
And the big station owner, who runs sheep at a very small number per hectare, is now also selling up because to fence off all the streams and rivers on on their land, including streams that are not being polluted, is going to bankrupt them.
Build a bridge.
I’m quite happy for the government to pay for the necessary fencing. The farmers can maintain it after that.
From what I have seen / discovered the non corporate farmer is as likely or more so to assume grazing “rights” over Crown land and river beds as the big business farms: most have been doing so for generations.
That is why I suggest that they pay for the grazing and that the cash is used to gradually reduce the area / access with riparian planting / fencing. On that note one of the reasons stock like the rivers is because they are starved of variety on grass, they need to eat trees etc to get vital nutrients. There has never been a greater case for farmers growing bush for stock food: the problem is stocking rates per hectare would come down.
“From what I have seen / discovered the non corporate farmer is as likely or more so to assume grazing “rights” over Crown land and river beds as the big business farms: most have been doing so for generations.”
That assumes that (a) damage is being done to those rivers, and (b) the farm can afford to pay for access.
But it misses the point. Traditional farming in NZ has done a far amount of damage but it pales in comparison to what industrial dairying is doing, esp with regards to rivers. To lump all farms and farmers in together doesn’t help the situation. We need a more sophisticated analysis of the problems. Yes all waterways should have riparian plantings, but we’re not going to get there by thinking all farms are the same.
The rivers/streams/lakes need to be fenced off 30m either side and riparian planted. Any livestock in the riparian zone and the farm is nationalised with no compensation (the loss can be negotiated between the farmer and the bank).
Ah snow, so beautiful and yet I now foresee much whine from the climate change denialist about it, despite all the biological indicators (namely leaves still on trees those leaf drops are controlled by temperature rather than light) and frost free days we’ve had in Christchurch.
And it’s at “giant flakes of doom” stage as of writing this too 😀
An old chap while looking up at snow covered hills said “The snow is a great colour.”
“Huh?” I said as clear intellectual response.
“Yep,” grunted. “A great culler.”
It hasn’t occurred during lambing though, so no cheap lambskin gloves this year :/
And my poor rocoto chilli’s may end up dropping their leaves finally.
Is anyone else fed up with token democracy? I think the system needs an overhaul before things get to the violent revolution stage.
Key also arrived in Britain with a gift of cheese for the Queen. “She loves cheese,” Key said.
Never a truer word spoken……
He met with his mate David Cameron – comparing notes on how to f-up an economy and how to get more breaks for the rich.
Hey s y d, he probably gave her a smiley photo of himself, plenty of cheese there.
http://johannhari.com/2007/01/30/the-real-solution-to-our-prisons-crisis/
And there’s the price of “tough on crime” bullshit, a prison system that’s too overtaxed to be able to rehabilitate prisoners so they can get back into society, with a dash of the horrors of significant under-funding on the mental health system. Because why help people when you can just lock em away and proclaim “justice is done”?
Good early news RADIONZ this morning on new courts in Auckland pilot. Problem solving instead of punitive judgmentalism n NZ – who’d have thought!!
Homeless people have more troubles than the rest of us and get into police notice more often. There is a system started in Auckland where they are talking to these people and helping these people and what do you know there is an improvement in stats on petty crime and recidivism and police do something else that they are suited for.
Nick S That is awful stuff about Britains prisons. What is worse is that right wing politicians think this is is acceptable, reasonable policy and what’s even worse is that the Pretenders of Labour there have followed them and in doing that dragged their ideals and real humanistic concerns for people down an alley and socked them in the head. Here they are trying to stagger out but need help to recover.
Horrifying.
And more evidence that ‘third-way’ labour movements are at least and dangerous as the Tories. I would argue that they are more dangerous because they close off alternative discourse and the possibility of change.
Brilliant! You think John Key is bad? Here is Obama’s brilliant economic plan:
http://wp.me/p638n-378
Bomber Bradbury vs Imperator Fish
Oh dear, there’s something terribly wrong when Slater starts cheerleading…
Funny thing about this page – When I go to the right to check the comments list I can’t get it but have to go Home to see it.
Hmmm, I’m not seeing them on any pages at all now.
+1
+1. I blamed my own computer, since something I did last night, not sure what, deleted all the cookies.
I thought we were supposed to delete the cookies?
Anyone else had problems posting comments today?
Perhaps we are, and my computer got fed up with me. I am not by any stretch a true techy.
Most commenters here seem to fit into the “true techy” category. I catch a few useful snippets here and there, but, by comparison, know very little.
Just two weeks after the Budget the Treasury budget deficit has been shown to be $1.4b out.
Maybe this is a sign of where the economy is heading? Don’t hold your breath. Treasury Budget deficit forecast was wrong.
Pete, what do you make of the fact that corp profits were up, while GST refunds were down?
I’m no big city economist, but that doesn’t look like a good sign to me.
To me they both look like possible signs of improving business, but with the fluctuations it’s hard to say. The actuals are ahead of the budget forecast but still less than the pre-election forecast so it might be just picking up a bit after a slower than expected recovery.
Why do you think it may not be a good sign?
Like I say, I’m not anything like an economist, so I’m probly thinking it all wrong. But those numbers right.
Corp profits are up. Good sign right.
Govts’ GST take is up,. Again good sign right.
GST is up because the refund side of it is down. Oh, wait.
If GST take was up because receipts were up, that would say there was more consumer activity, which would be good. But there’s no mention of that.
The take is apparently up because companies are claiming fewer than expected refunds. Doesn’t that mean they are spending less? And would that go some way to explaining increased profit in a pretty stagnant economy?
Way to work the problem, pb.
I bet most business talking heads simply say “oh great, we’re gaining more GST revenue, things must be getting better”.
Just piping up at the end of the thread thingy, but all businesses want to be paying GST, not receiving it, because that means your revenue is exceeding your expenses. The other way upside down means you going backwards buster…
I’d say that’s a sign of stagflation.
LIFTOFF! “Council moves to expose interests” Rob Stock Sunday Star Times 3 June 2012
“THE COUNTRY’S largest local authority says it wants more transparency.
Auckland Mayor Len Brown said Auckland Council would work towards establishing a public register of the commercial interests of councillors who control the city’s vast budget, huge assets and are ultimately responsible for awarding hundreds of millions of dollars worth of business contracts. ……”
https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=18afffb768&view=att&th=137beb1ea4783741&attid=0.1&disp=inline&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P-I5Cd-lIWIP7LzmJSi9erv&sadet=1338936453187&sads=4KnP6ICGbfets8ISuvMqvN0VSSE
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
Once people join up the mates network, they will see where the real money disappears to…I like to keep track of where some of them end up….Let’s take a look at Own McCall (ex warehouse),
Now can be found running the “Transformation” of Auckland Council IS. McCall is ex Deloitte, which no surprises so is the Head of IS, Mike Foley. What does “Transformation” mean, well I guess it remains to be seen, but the relationships are clear, as is the trail of funds which are being deposited directly to the consultant, either to the company, or to their Alumni, via juicy no responsibilty direct hire “consultant” contracts!
http://www.wordsshiftminds.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/iStart-council-IT-feature1.pdf
The link is a good review of where Aucklanders are being relieved of their money, in just one part of the AKL Council..
The 2012 Green Conference proved that the Greens are ready to govern!
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/green-partys-2012-agm-has-just-finished.html
Dave Kennedy. Absolutely agreed!! The terrible shame is that a populace does not want intelligence in governance.
According to RT news, the FBI are indeed preparing a case against Julian Assange. It seems that they have been watching his interview programme on RT and have detained a couple of his guests at the airport as they transited through the US. They were all asked questions related to Assange.
One was threatened with arrest when he asked what rights he had as a non-US citizen.
Another was later followed by a number of guys (read…Spooks) who approached him and asked if he would spy on Assange for them.
According to RT news, the FBI are indeed preparing a case against Julian Assange
And it seems, a great way they’re going about it! Oh dear…
An ex LDS member posts the Mormon Flow Chart For Your Soul.
lolwut?
Hell! Here I come!
Susan Wood holds Michelle Boag’s feet to the fire
NewstalkZB, Tuesday June 5, 2012
PR trout and ex-McCully squeeze Michelle Boag has an established reputation as a brutal National Party power-broker. She is feared and resented by a substantial section of the National Party, including the Bill English faction, since her campaign for the Double Dipper to be ousted in favour of Don Brash in 2003. She is also persona non grata with the influential right-wing blogger Cameron “Whaleoil” Slater, not because she is morally disgusting and contemptuous of democracy, but because of her vicious behaviour towards his father John, who was president of the party before she lobbied against and replaced him in 2001.
Most people will be familiar with Boag’s frequent appearances as a cruel and malicious media commentator. She is a regular guest on Jim Mora’s National Radio show The Panel, where she takes the opportunity to indulge in free-ranging right wing rants without fear of being contradicted by either the host or by Brian Edwards, with whom she is almost always paired. The only guest to ever challenge her was Bomber Bradbury, who on one memorable occasion goaded her into a snarling display of incoherent fury by asking her to justify her contention that self-exiled tax dodgers like “Sir” Douglas Myers were a loss to this country. She couldn’t, of course, and I would not be surprised if she had then used her influence with the Radio New Zealand board to initiate steps to get rid of Bradbury, who was fired a year or so later, after daring to criticize the prime minister on the programme.
In 2008, after the Radio Sport blatherer Tony Veitch publicly confessed to pushing his fiancée to the ground and repeatedly kicking her until he broke her back, Boag went on TV1’s Closeup to praise what she called Veitch’s “great performance” and pointedly demeaned the woman he had crippled by holding up and waggling her fingers as quote marks when she said the word “victim”. Of course, Mark Sainsbury said nothing, and neither did John Tamihere.
So, as an eloquent and aggressive bully, with hardly anyone daring to cross her and provoke that acid tongue, Boag enjoys pretty much of a dream run when she comes on the radio.
Listeners to NewstalkZB would have been surprised, then, to hear her being given a hard time during Larry Williams’ Drive programme. She was on the programme to speak about the Bronwyn Pullar versus ACC case. Boag has acted as Ms. Pullar’s “supporter” in her battles with the ACC, and has unwisely decided to support the right of her friend to hold onto thousands of confidential files which were accidentally sent to her.
Unfortunately for Boag, the not very intelligent, and always supine, normal host, Larry Williams, was not there yesterday. His replacement was Susan Wood, who immediately put Boag on the spot….
SUSAN WOOD: let me ask you this: if you were sent more than seven thousand confidential files, would YOU have held onto them?
BOAG: [long pause] That has never happened to me.
SUSAN WOOD: I’ll try again. Do you think it was right to hold onto more than seven thousand confidential files?
BOAG: [another long, uncomfortable pause] I… I…. that has never happened to me.
SUSAN WOOD: I’ll try it again. If you found thousands of dollars had been put into your bank account, would you or would you not tell the bank immediately?
BOAG: [barely concealing her anger] You’re asking me a hypothetical question. That has never happened to me.
Susan Wood never got an honest or straight answer out of her, but the discomfort and the omissions spoke volumes.
Paula Bennett is upping the ante and proposing court orders to stop people having babies.
You can just imagine the CT memos flying around at this stage:
“Guys you are stuffing up big time. We are no longer able to provide cover for you. The people are seeing through our carefully constructed veneer and are seeing you for what you are. We do not understand why but ordinary people really hate the wealthy engorging themselves further on communal assets. If something is not done soon your chances next election will be ruined.
So we recommend that all stops are pulled out.
Beneficiary bashing is always popular and is ideal to divert attention. Parodoxically the more extreme the treatment the more support it garners. Our last proposal of contraception for solo mums went down really well so we wish to move to stage 2 of this campaign. We propose you give the Courts power to order “bad” parents not to have babies. The potential numbers will be small but the outcry will be such that Parata’s stuff ups may be pushed to the background.
The practicalities do not matter. How you are going to stop people doing the wild thing is beyond our brief as well as beyond the power of any Government. But the mere mention of a ban will ensure plenty of helpful publicity.
Best if you get that Bennett woman to do it. She has no sense of irony. If the policy develops in the manner intended and was applied in the 1990s she could have been caught herself but she is far too thick skinned to worry about the hypocricy of her making the proposal.”
Fact: Collins now knows that the ACC Chairman and the ACC CEO have mislead her.
Fact: Pullar and Boag have been defamed by the ACC Chairman and the ACC CEO and they both say the matter is now closed, also that ACC are sticking by what their managers have said.
Fact: Collins says it is an operational matter with ACC as they made the police complaint alleging extortion by Pullar
Well it is not that simple as Collins has one standard for herself when she perceives that she has been defamed and another standard when she is the minister of a department and that her CEO and Chairman have been proved to have made defamatory statements to her.
The only action that Collins can take is to sack the ACC Chairman and the ACC CEO as what they are saying is also malicious. ACC is far sicker than I realised it was and I do not have confidence in it improving as the CEO and the Chairman appear to be deluded about the December 2011 meeting transcript.
I send my well wishes to Ms Pullar and I hope that it is the beginning of the end to her interminable situation with ACC. I would like to see Pullar have a QC assigned for them to do an inquiry and to independently settle her case.
Why? The ACC Minister, the ACC CEO and the ACC Chairman are incompetent when it comes to Pullar.
Wasn’t the ACC Chairman a Smith appointee after the previous Chair was forbidden to defend ACC when Nick Smith was busy explaining that ACC was a “disaster?” A fine Chair he turned out to be.
When the Chair and CEO of a major corporation do not know what their logo stands for: ACC, Prevention, Care, Recovery they are in the wrong job.
19 September 2011 Ralph Stewart became the CEO of ACC, he replaced Dr Jan White who was CEO for 6 years. Stewart had 27 years experience in insurance and asset management. I do not know about the ACC Chairman’s background. The buck has to stop with the ACC CEO and the ACC Minister.
When it comes to Pullar receiving ACC client emails, at this stage after 9 years the situation with ACC was a me and them situation and not an us. I feel that Pullar would have sent the emails back a lot sooner had matters not reached the point they had got to. Pullar is still being hung out to dry by ACC and this is not good for her well being or anyone else who finds themself in a goliath and the stone situation.
The decision I want to hear is the one from the Privacy Commissioner as then the public will know that there was a systemic problem with the breaching of client emails.
Will ACC try and blame Pullar for ACCs systemic privacy breach?
No ones case should drag on for 9 years and have the ACC Chairman and ACC CEO misleading the ACC Minister.
Paula Bennett’s dog whistle
Clearly Paula Bennett hasn’t based her
announcementdog whistle on anything resembling research…