It’s Labor Day in the U.S. and a book has been published about Joe Hill – The Man Who Never Died, by William Adler. I think it’s going to be a must read.
Joe Hill – the migrant labourer, an anarchist and union man in the U.S. He was executed in 1915 for a murder he didn’t commit. He appeared to accept the execution would do more for the cause of the working poor than if he’d lived – told his friends don’t mourn for me – organise!” Amazing story
Joe, a Swedish immigrant and wandering troubadour-troublemaker, was a “Wobbly”, an agitating member of the One Big Union, the red flag International Workers of the World, a harum-scarum, mad-as-hell, happy-in-fellowship bunch of hoboes and gypsy workingmen who scared the pants off business leaders, pious church-goers, police chiefs, governors and all right-thinking citizens in the early part of the last century.
I knew the song, as sung by Joan Baez but never knew his story or that of the International Workers of the World. A bit of history here
Yes Labor Day in the US. And a few people in the MSM are just starting to realise how shit it has been over there, and how the outlook is even worse for the US.
immortal words:
“Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”
I suppose an attitude like that is why Abe Lincoln got shot.
“Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”
I suppose an attitude like that is why Abe Lincoln got shot.
When 37% of all consumer purchases are made by the top 5% income earners it’s quite clear that (1) workers are losing and (2) inequality is killing the economy.
The same warnings on inequality are written in different ways , but surely even the money people should be able to work this one out… spread the money around a bit and everyone will do better, yeah?
I am inclined to think Lincoln was shot because his use of greenbacks during the civil war, and because of his apparent intention to continue their use after the war. Still I’m only guessing.
Yeah Rosy, I’m pretty sure the Wobblies exerted a profound influence on early New Zealand Red Fed (and, later, Labour Party) leaders like “Fighting” Bob Semple, Paddy Webb and, perhaps above all, the brilliant (but, unlike the others, never-elected-to-Parliament) Pat Hickey. Hickey had worked for a few years (around 1904-1906) in a mine in Utah, where he was a member of the Western Federation of Miners, which preached class solidarity and revolutionary industrial unionism.
Interesting whistle-blowing going on around the SCF debacle.
Heads should roll, and given the PM’s unequivocal backing of what is now shown to be a wrong-headed and malicious investigation… he too needs to take some responsibility.
But of course responsibility is an unknown concept to these tory pricks.
How about we got back a few steps and get an inquiry as to why SCF was in the scheme against tresaury advice, blinglish and Key ushered them in as soon as they could, further warnings by treasury were ignored and the payout was at 100% plus interest.
How many other finance company investors were afforded such a risk free outcome ?
Natural justice is certainly lacking when it comes to Allan Hubbard. Hubbard has one of the cleanest track records in NZ when it comes to business. I hope that someone carries the torch for him, as the last 15 months of his life was devoted to amassing the evidence to prove he was not corrupt and also to find out who was behind his departure at Aorangi and how they went about it.
RL Treasury warned John Key And Blingenglish that SCF were breaking the covenants of their contract John Key said we will keep backing them . Key has some answering to do.
The findings of an investigator who works at no cost for the supporters of Allan Hubbard are not particularly independent.
it’s like citing a post from The Standard as evidence to support a post on The Standard.
When a genuinely independent review finds fault in the Companies Office, the Securities Commission and the statutory managers, and that independent review stands up to scrutiny, then I’ll take notice.
Until then your call for heads to roll is irresponsible.
it’s like citing a post from The Standard as evidence to support a post on The Standard.
That doesn’t make any sense Joe (Not that I’m surprised by a RWNJ not making sense). Using evidence to support what you say is usually a good practice. Researchers do it all the time.
When a genuinely independent review finds fault in the Companies Office…
There’s no such thing. The only people who are going to investigate are the people are the people with an interest in the outcome. Now, it could be that this investigation is but that would be up to the reviewers to determine.
Last Sunday on Sunday TV 1 at 7.30 pm there was a good example of how devious witnesses can be. I am refering to Mahon who headed the Erebus Inquiry and how Mahon’s comment “an orchestrated litany of lies” was directed at Air New Zealand (Davis, Chippendale…). The Privy Council ruled that Mahon’s conclusion was correct when it came to the cause of the loss of 257 lives, but when it came to Air New Zealand being held accountable, the Privy Council ruled that natural justice was absent, so Air NZ did not have to face the music when it came to being held responsible for TE 901 crashing into Mt Erebus.
According to the bigots there’s no such thing as racism. So if you say anything mean about racists then you’re just attacking a marginalised oppressed minority. Which makes you a bigot. And therefore probably a racist.
Mutu didn’t seek to identify racist attitudes or beliefs – she demonstrated them.
But don’t take my word.
Here’s David Rankin’s view:
“She obviously thinks of herself as the Robert Mugabe of New Zealand politics, and has caused offence to hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders because of her extreme racist views.”
“As a Maori, I welcome white immigrants,” Rankin said. “They are the ones most likely to bring employment opportunities for our communities, and we don’t see the sort of racism Margaret refers to.”
I don’t think Margaret Mutu’s observations were a joke. Provocative? Yes. Accurate? Yes.
Taking a complaint to the ‘Race Relations? Farcical. Calling for her to lose her job? Ridiculous.
The reaction of the usual right wing suspects? Ah. Now that I do regard as a bit of a joke. But that’s the only reason most of you clowns typo error the comments you do, right? To bring a little mirth into peoples’ days, yes?
And Ant R0Bs “No Paul, to hell with racists.”
And redlogics comment
“The left frequently make the mistake of thinking tolerance must always be the highest principle that trumps all others. Well it ain’t. All too frequently it just finishes up as a proxy for being too lazy or apathetic to stand up for what is right.”
Funny how the aruguement has changed depending on the players involved !!!
I made two comments in that thread you link to Herodotus. Care to point out any inconsistences between what I said on that thread and this one and then I’ll get back to you?
No there was nothing in conflict by you from then or now – My intention was just to assist to refresh your memory back then in the discussion. And anyway there is nothing wrong in changing opinions, additional info can help all of us to see where we are wrong or confirm when we are right 🙂
What makes Mutu’s comments deplorable is not her concern about immigration policy but the conclusion she draws that white people are racist.
Far from being condemned like Clydesdale was a week ago on this self-same website, Mutu’s extrenme dogma is applauded. That’s the sort of meta-racism that only comes from hard-line idealogues.
Whatever happened to the notion that migrants should be assessed as individuals, and decisions based on their level of skills, experience, education, contribution to NZ, &c.? Why should ethnic background matter?
Taking a complaint to the ‘Race Relations? Farcical. Calling for her to lose her job? Ridiculous.
I admit I haven’t read what she said, but my son spoke to me about it yesterday, and he was utterly gob-smacked by her comments. On the basis of what he said, losing her job is the very least she should expect.
A stunning graphic indeed. However Joe will no doubt say that the Times is a lying bunch of Left wing idealogues who twist the facts. And that those very rich folk trickle their wealth down to the workers and are the biggest donors etc etc.
Open question; how much an we attribute to the Reagan/Thatcherite right ‘greed is good’ swing, and how much should we point to the huge adoption of IT technology that more or less dates from exactly the same time?
Yesterday I decided to set up a Wikipedia page for The Jackal blogsite so that people searching for it could more readily find information. I also intend to use it to document controversial and significant topics that relate to New Zealand’s blogosphere, the law and politics in general. Little did I know that it’s a veritable minefield of rules and regulations, which will probably ensure an end to The Jackal article on Wikipedia…
Then why is Kiwibog on there? The Jackal doesn’t sell anything. There is a certain amount of promotion with any content on the Internet, even this comment could be considered promoting The Jackal. I’m linking to my site right now… big deal!
Another very capable informed woman who is an excellent communicator on her subject. On radionz this a.m.
10:05 Connie Hedegaard – European Commissioner for Climate Action
Connie Hedegaard is the European Commissioner for Climate Action. She’s in New Zealand leading the EU’s delegation to the Pacific Islands Forum, where she is also meeting Pacific leaders ahead of international climate negotiations. She was Denmark’s first minister for climate and energy, and is now leading the EU’s efforts towards a low-carbon future and the many different forms that takes. What is the EU doing to move towards a low-carbon economy?
A few days ago I wrote an article entitled New Zealand’s Oil Bonanza… Yeah Right! concerning National’s over inflation of potential income from oil and gas extraction in New Zealand. The sheer level of misreporting going on to promote a destructive process that contributes to climate change, (that threatens human existence on earth) was astounding and completely unacceptable…
Im not talking about open Mike, im talking about the actual writers here, it seems racism is okay with the left as long as its a Maori woman that is being racist.
Still I got a laugh when she told the media what the word racist means.
Below is a quote from an email Mana FB admin posted, http://www.facebook.com/ManaParty, they do so occasionally to let people know what keyboard racists there are out there.
“Still cant believe the Mana party even exsists and if you are such a proud people and party, how about you raise your own party funds and not rely on the NZ people. Your entire party is just too out there and hypocritical for the avg kiwi , but I suppose the hard core niggers like yourselves all get off on this. Send all niggers home!!! Regards lee”
So all you tory toe rags like Brett and Grumpy, “lee” rather supports Margaret Mutu’s contention that racism is alive and hating in NZ.
Did you see my post on their facebook page to that letter, saying that belongs in the Trash. Disgusting someone would write something like that to them. That though has nothing to do
with what Margaret said and her position of power, and I stand by my thoughts, that normally sites like the standard would be outrage with the comments that Margaret Mutu said, but because she isa Maori woman you guys just shut up and say nothing and that is racist in itself.
bit of a difference there Grumpy,
an academic commenting on the integration of immigrants into society and the perceived affects upon her culture is hardly the same as big headed broadcasters espousing basic bigotry
Maybe I’ll do a post on racism in NZ Brett. You know, the fact its all pervasive, insidious and overt.
And maybe I’ll compare it to the very similar ‘culture of superiority’ displayed by the English (British) establishment towards their white colonies within the British Isles.
And maybe I’ll throw in a couple of open ended questions; such as why at the mention of a person being Polynesian, the immediate assumption is that they must be brown in spite of the fact that all white people born in NZ are Polynesian too?
Or why it is that NZ is routinely and casually lumped in with Australasia when it is most decidedly not a part of Australasia, but a part of Polynesia?
Or why it is that so many white people still mainatin that they are European in official forms in spite of the fact that they and their parents and even their parent’s parents were born in Polynesia?
Or how it is possible to have a culture, supposedly based on partnership and that spans generations, to continue encouraging/promoting a European identity/ethnicity among the whites within it?
Got any other revealing questions you’d like to add to the list Brett?
My thoughts are, the only reason we are different races is becaus eof Contineal drift.
I just hate hypocrisy, and judgign the same behaviour diferently. Because Mutu is a Maori woman, the left wasnt offended by her comments.
In terms of immigration I have always thought that the question what Ethnicity are you, should never be asked, because it shouldnt matter, what matters is what type of person you are.
I think you’ll find that continental drift may have given rise to different species Brett and further, that any drift during the entire span of human existence is negligable.
And I think you’ll find that questions of ethnicity are asked in almost all official forms and that answers are limited by the ‘multiple choice’ nature of possible responses.
You might also find that the whole concept of ‘race’ is a discredited one…that there is simply the human race.
But all that aside, you got any interseting or thought provoking questions up your sleeve to be incorporated into a possible post?
If nationality isn’t asked for (alongside proof), then we are talking open borders; freedom of movement for people.
I’m all for that Brett.
But in the meantime, there are immigration policies. And they’re loaded to favour some over others. (Points being awarded on skill set, wealth, age etc.) So in the present scenario, why not load the policy against racists?
I mean, political beliefs already affect the ability of some people to obtain visas etc, ( and by extension residency) so why not?
No problem, I would be more than happy if a white South African extremist was denied entry to NZ. Just as I would be for Islamic extremist for their hatred of women, gays and infidels. How about you?
(Points being awarded on skill set, wealth, age etc.) So in the present scenario, why not load the policy against racists?
And how would you determine that someone was a racist? By their national origin? Or their colour? Absurd. The most determinedly (to the point of being a tad unbalanced) person I ever met, was a social worker at Social Welfare in the 80s, a long-haired blue eyed blond man from Manchester England. (By a bit unbalanced, I mean that he frequently had dreams, he told me, of being in the centre of a group of angry Maori who chided him for not having done enough for Maori, and he always felt that he deserved it, as giving his life and that of his children would not be enough!
“And maybe I’ll throw in a couple of open ended questions; such as why at the mention of a person being Polynesian, the immediate assumption is that they must be brown in spite of the fact that all white people born in NZ are Polynesian too?”
Obviously you did not see Mutu’s interview??? with the World’s Worst Interviewer on Closeup last night.
Apparently we are all just “visitors” in New Zealand. Makes you wonder, with her mixed anscestry, how she sees herself?
As for being an “academic” obviously Auckland University has a very low threshold for that title.
Okay. Just watched it. She said she wanted a discussion on racism. What it is; how it plays out and what to do about it.
‘The ‘walrus’ in his intro said she wanted a universally applied test that would pick up on racist attitudes. What she said was that she didn’t want people coming into the country who would actively pursue to deny others that which rightfully belongs to them.
I can’t see why anyone would have a problem with that.
As an immigrant, my problem was that although I had to jump through numerous hoops with the immigration service there was no official avenue available for me to seek permission from tāngata whenua to live here.
And when I considered citizenship, there was no official avenue for me to approach tāngata whenua, but there was an obligation to swear allegience to a monarch who resides on the other side of the planet.
When I made moves to seek permission from tāngata whenua, the particular people I talked to near fell over backwards. No one had ever approached them before. I thought it was merely the decent thing to do and was genuinely surprised that nobody else had sought to do it. (Besides being common decency, it would have actually meant something whereas being granted permission by a faceless, anonymous bureaucracy means absolutely nothing and is, to my mind permission being granted by an illegitimate authority.)
Meanwhile, getting back tothe point. Racist attitudes are fairly easy to pick and strangely difficult to disguise. So a test is ‘do-able’.
And Margaret Mutu objects to active racists. Not the everyday armchair type who will move along with the broader ‘cultural times’. And wouldn’t it be a good thing to have fewer active racists impacting on the cultural environments of NZ so that the cultural environment moves that bit more speedily?
You have written some awesome comments about this, and related subjects, Bill – thank you for that and what you have written here – you are a good bloke and I hope you do put up a post because you have some very valuable insights and attitudes.
“Apparently we are all just “visitors” in New Zealand.”
That’s not what she said. She said non-Maori are ‘welcome guests’. In order to understand what she means you have to understand Maori concepts of manawhenua and manaakitanga rather than misinterpreting her words through pakeha constructs.
Or why it is that so many white people still mainatin that they are European in official forms in spite of the fact that they and their parents and even their parent’s parents were born in Polynesia?
Firstly, because official forms no longer give the “Pakeha” option, and second in my case, because although I was born here as was my mother, my father wasn’t.
I am now reading the Herald article linked to, and looking at the picture of Mutu – and laughing! She’s whiter than my mother was!
When poor law, bad judgement and kneejerk hysteria are exposed as an expensive waste of time and resources they resort to desperate measures and end up with applying what we can only imagine are the flimsiest of organised crime charges, though it will be interesting to see what the nature of the organised crime actually was . . . .
The fact that she appears to genuinely believe her own spin against all the evidence to the contrary appears to serve her well. She just chants the same mantra no matter what is put in front of her.
@freedom – Your comment was very enigmatic. Why didn’t you put one descriptive word ie Urewera or similar? I had to go to the link to see what you are on about which I find is what I want to comment on.
A recent Court case has resulted in charges in Operation Eight against the Tuhoe group being dropped but nothing can be revealed about the finding according to radionz! There are still 4 to go including Tame Iti for consorting with criminals or similar.
Makes me wonder why we are over in the USA talking about that dodgy TPPPPTTT? Surely the country that dominates this matter is also criminal. It has broken numerous laws, but hey ho why should we worry about dealing with an entity which only washes the top of its hands. Turn them over and see what is on their palms! Let’s have some practical sense not the present non-sense from this government.
prism, exactly why i wrote what i wrote,
( wouldn’t it be be interesting to know what all the other possible articles were that went through people’s heads 🙂 )
Another serious example of self-regulation and slack and lazy control over high standards for business has just been referred to today. Apparently MAF won’t prosecute bad, sloppy bee keepers after serious outbreaks of problem disease and pests. MAF says that it’s better to work with them, but then the bad practices are just continued with. Isn’t this amazing at a time when we know that the vital bee industry is under threat.
What happens is that this foulbrood disease type spreads and infects other hives. The latest outbreak has resulted in 30 hives having to be burnt in an effort to rid the area of the infection.
This hurts other beekeepers trying to run their businesses in a hygienic, responsible way. Enough of having their hives and business destroyed regularly and some beekeepers will give up all together. Not everybody wants to raise bees, not everybody is a good beekeeper either. When can we get our country back from this disease of neo liberalism, this desire for business to selfishly please themselves in their businesses with as few controls or commitment to good standards as possible.
I read that via a Naomi Klein tweet the other day, she quickly retracted once she was corrected, just thought I should point it out. I wish the article had been true…
I found this while browsing on Stuff… http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5572717/Son-13-ready-to-support-family-and-ill-dad?comment_msg=posted#post_comment
and I am not sure where to begin! The child is an idiot… as I said in my comment which is “awaiting approval”, he’s a prime example of the benefits of home-schooling. He says that when his father dies and if he can’t support his family, ”
“If I can’t support my family, they will have to go on the dole. I don’t want that,”
If things still work as they did when I worked for Social Welfare, the boy’s mother will go on to a widow’s benefit. That’s not “the dole”. Presumably the boy isn’t concerned about the amount – in common with the average non-beneficiary out there he probably thinks benefit levels are 3 times what they really are. He’s probably worried about the “shame”… However a 13 year old boy should not be risking other peoples’ lives by driving a truck – he should be getting an education. Apologies if someone’s already mentioned this – I am havinn connection problems!
I am becoming suspicious of certain news items.I think there is a move instigated by Crosby/Textor to drive a wedge between the Greens and Labour. The Left must not fall into a trap from the Right that would have the Greens and Labour competing against each other. We must never forget that although we sometimes differ we are both on the political Left .Lets both insprire for a Labour /Green government. Which Aotearoa badly needs.
Totally agree and the first thing Labour should do, unless it has another plan, is to accept the Greens’ get children out of poverty for $180million plan. That will cement the political relationship and people will know that Labour means what it says about helping children. This is instant. I know Labour has various other policy but it can I’m sure incorporate this strategy and more importantly, acknowledge Greens’ importance in this by giving the Greens the portfolio to make it happen. That way the Greens will get on with it.
Labour needs to acknowledge both Progressives and the Greens. Jim Anderton added a huge plus to that Government with KiwiBank and if Labour had still been in Government Anderton would have had his affordable dental care bill followed up.
Greens missed out for obvious reasons – United Future and NZ First forced them out and Labour had to deal with them in order to keep National out or we would have been even worse off now.
Perhaps people will begin to finally accept that sustainable living along with 21st century lifestyles can live side by side with thoughtful compromise.
The worst thing New Zealanders can do now is keep NActU in once more term; it is this next term whereby New Zealand loses its future. Labour can reinstate the 75% requirement before Local Government assets can be sold, which it laudably legislated for in 2002.
Why on earth isn’t Labour shouting out about what it has achieved and what it has saved New Zealand from if National had manipulated it into giving out more tax cuts. We’ve already seen the damage that NActU has done in this short time. Be warned; they will speed up if they get in again. Give them time on the sidelines while we bring some worker/employer/government balance back to our community.
Helen Clark gave us time to recoup our losses from the previous Douglas/Richardson cuckoos.
Douglas got back; don’t be surprised if Richardson gets back in too. Where did she get thrown out of after destroying their economy? Iceland? Ireland?
Parliament is waxing lyrical over the Local Government Borrowing Bill – sounds good.
Word of caution; anything Rodney Hide touches turns to lead and our country-wide assets will be seen trotting off to foreign parts on JKeyll and Hide’s little piggy legs.
Auckland has $28 billion of assets which Hide stole from all the greater councils around the city. The jury is out on the worthwhile benefits to the country areas that have been completely left out except for a good library service, but even that carries risks if only one area of the Library can buy books. It was noticeable by the books that the libraries were selling off by the bucketload that anything to do with women’s rights and political books that put another point of view to that of the neo-conservative were being reduced.
The country areas don’t have electric trains expected so Stephen Joyce was lying in Parliament today.
Also, Christchurch’s earthquake was extremely convenient for this government to take public view off the fact they had shut down the democratice ECAN in Canterbury. Brownlee will certainly try to force (he is czar after all) Christchurch Council to sell off its assets.
Should Auckland have an earthquake in the future the LG Borrowing Bill debt, which I admit does save us from PPPs, etc. will be used to force the Councils in debt to sell off LG assets.
Read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein and you will see why I am so cynical about this government and its bovver boy Hide. JKeyll is hiding behind these extremists. Remember.
and dont forget goldman sacks. they have stepped up to asist the PM by sticking their oar in and saying that ‘industry’ is being held back because there is not enough liquidity in the sharemarket so therfore sell the state assets so the rugged individualists can play monopol;y with other peoples money. look there goes the march hare and the mad hatter.
What was that valuable piece of information on the Stock Exchange? That it has nothing to do with the overall financial well-being of New Zealand and New Zealanders – just a place for mostly men with pots of money they’ve stolen off other people to go and play paper wars with.
Next year is an election year, and Labour needs money to fund its campaign. So naturally, they're selling access:Labour is charging wealthy business figures $1500-a-head to lunch with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at its annual conference later this month. [...] On the weekend beginning November 29th, around 800 delegates will ...
Yesterday the government announced its changes to tenancy laws, including an end to no-cause evictions, limits on rent increases, and anonyminity for tenants who defend their rights against bad landlords (sadly necessary because landlords are scum who maintain blacklists of "uppity" tenants). They're all good moves, and have resulted in ...
In 2003 New Zealand sent a Provincial Reconstruction Team to Afghanistan to support America's doomed war there. While there, they conducted regular weapons practice on local firing ranges, littering the landscape with unexploded ammunition. These ranges weren't secure - they're on land used by locals for animal herding - so ...
Green MP Gareth Hughes has announced he will retire at the election. Its understandable - he's been there ten years, and wants to actually see his children grow up rather than miss it while drowning in the toxic parliamentary sewer. But his departure is also a huge loss for the ...
Words and images by Jacqui GibsonGone are Auckland Museum’s days of doing science using a museum-centric academic approach, after Māori land rights holders Ngāti Kuri gave the museum an ultimatum.Tom Trnski holding a fossilised whale tooth from the Far North.Aussie-born Head of Natural Sciences at Auckland Museum ...
MediaWorks announced in October 2019 that it intended to sell off its struggling television business and cancel or cut back on several popular local programmes, including New Zealand Today, Married at First SightNew Zealand and 7 Days. Its radio and outdoor advertising arms are currently performing well, but MediaWorks’ ...
Westminster voting intention:CON: 44% (+3)LAB: 28% (-1)LDEM: 14% (-1)BREX: 6% (-)via @OpiniumResearch, surveyed this weekChgs. w/ 08 Nov— Britain Elects (@britainelects) 16 November 2019 This, of course, doesn't look good. Labour have been chucking big, headline grabbing policies left, right and centre ... Well, maybe not right. Left, left ...
Some readers may remember that I mentioned last year that I was applying for NZ citizenship. I filled out the paperwork and had my original citizenship interview in February. Everything went well until they discovered that, because I had spent five months in the US in 2017, I had not ...
by Deirdre O’Neill It is becoming quite acceptable for certain sections of the left to declare that people like me – women who are ‘gender critical’ – should not be allowed in leftist or anarchist spaces. Leaving aside the arrogance and implicit authoritarianism of this claim, its lack of critical ...
There is an article in The Conversation, written by Jeremy P. Shapiro (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University), about what he sees as the psychologically-based underpinnings of three main matters that seem to vex people all around the planet. The article is titled “The Thinking ...
. . Blogger Martyn Bradbury has won his case against unreasonable search and surveillance against the NZ Police; and subsequent Police attempts to produce evidence in secrecy, in a closed Court. His case highlights a disturbing growing trend in Aotearoa New Zealand for State power to be used against ...
The Committee of Disobedient Women has intercepted an email from Dr Emma Eejut, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Massey University to the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Jan Thomas. Dear Jan, Thank you for your courageous move. I think 10 pages of blether** should tie any of the students game enough to try holding ...
That's the only response to the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation into LGOIMA practices at the Christchurch City Council:My investigation identified serious concerns about the Council’s leadership and culture, and its commitment to openness and transparency. In particular, Council staff raised concerns with me about various methods employed by some ...
NZ First seems to be nakedly trying to enrich itself from public office:A powerful New Zealand First figure helped establish a forestry company that then pushed for money from two key funding streams controlled by a New Zealand First Minister. An RNZ investigation has found Brian Henry, lawyer for Winston ...
Behrouz Boochani is an award winning author and journalist. He is also a refugee, who for the past six years has been detained in Australia's offshore gulag on Manus Island, and in Papua New Guinea. But last night, with the cooperation of the WORD Christchurch festival and Amnesty International, he ...
Different Strokes: If a multicultural immigration policy imposes no obligation on immigrant communities to acknowledge and ultimately embrace their host nation’s most cherished traditions and values, then how is that nation to prevent itself from being reduced to a collection of inward-looking and self-replicating ethnic and cultural enclaves?THE COALITION GOVERNMENT’S ...
Protective Zone: Reading the rules and guidelines released by Massey University, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that its governing body considers the whole concept of free speech a disruptive threat to the orderly imparting of orthodox academic knowledge.IN TRUE ORWELLIAN fashion, Massey University has announced its commitment to ...
Farmers held a hate-march on Parliament today, complete with MAGA hats, gun-nut signs, and gendered insults. While supposedly about a grab-bag of issues - including, weirdly, mental health - it was clear that the protest was about one thing, and one thing only: climate change. And specifically, forestry "destroying" rural ...
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security released their annual report today, and I've been busy reading through it. In amongst the usual review of what they've been doing all year, there's a few interesting bits. For example, a discussion on "agency retention and disposal of information", which points out that ...
Recently more than 150 post-graduate students and young scientists presented an open letter to the Green Party via The Spinoff, encouraging them to reconsider their position on genetic modification. Their target is tackling climate change issues.[1] Can any party continue to be dismissive about genetic modification (GM) contributing to ...
by Deirdre O’Neill Under Thatcher and then Blair and continuing up until our contemporary moment, the working class has seen its culture slowly and progressively destroyed. The change from an industrial society to a service society produced a marked shift in focus from the working class as the backbone of ...
Since 2013, the Australian government has detained refugees without trial in Pacific gulags, where they are abused, tortured, and driven to suicide. The policy is not just an abuse of human rights and possible crime against humanity; it has also had a corrosive effect on the states Australia uses as ...
It seems fair to say that we currently live in a problematic political moment in world history. Democracies are in decline and dictatorships are on the rise. Primordial, sectarian and post-modern divisions have re-emerged, are on the rise or have been accentuated by political evolutions of the moment such as ...
Last month, Greenpeace head Russel Norman surrendered his speaking slot at an EPA conference to student climate activist Sorcha Carr, who told the EPA exactly what she thought of them. It was a bold move, which confronted both regulators and polluters (or, as the EPA calls them, "stakeholders") with the ...
The core principle supposedly underlying New Zealand's electoral finance regime is transparency: parties can accept large donations from rich people wanting to buy policy, but only if they tell the public they've been bought. Most parties abide by this, so we know that TOP was wholly-owned by Gareth Morgan, and ...
Today is a Member's Day, probably the second-to-last one of the year, and its a big one, with the Third Reading of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. last Member's Day it was reported back from committee, after MPs voted narrowly to make it subject to a (rules TBA) ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThe growth of the human population over the last 70 ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...
by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
The Referendums Framework Bill was due back from select committee today. But there's no report on it. Instead, the bill has been bounced back to the House under Standing order 29593) because the Committee didn't bother to produce one. They probably tried. But given the membership of the committee (which ...
Two years into New Zealand’s Labour-led government, the long-delayed Zero Carbon Bill became law on 7 November. Passed essentially unanimously, the lengthy public debates and political manoeuvring faded away until the final passage was even anticlimactic: Flipping through the @nzstuff@DomPost I was starting to wonder if I’d dreamt ...
Now the Zero Carbon Bill is law, what's next? Obviously, the ETS changes currently before select committee are going to be the next battleground. But we're also going to get a good idea of where we're going, and if the progress the Zero Carbon Act promises is good enough, during ...
Grant PearceThe effects of the current Australian bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland (and also again in California) are devastating and far-reaching. To date, the fires have resulted in several lives being lost and many homes and properties destroyed. Here in New Zealand, the impacts have been only ...
A passing comment in a post the other day about the labour force participation rates of older people prompted me to pull down the fuller data and see what we could see about various participation rates over the decades since the HLFS began in 1986. As it happens, the ...
Distract And Divert: The rise of what we have come to call “Identity Politics” represents the ideological manifestation of the ruling class’s objective need to destroy class politics, and of the middle-class’s subjective need to justify their participation in the process.THE RELIEF of the ruling class can only be imagined. ...
"I saw a newspaper picture,From the political campaignA woman was kissing a child,Who was obviously in pain.She spills with compassion,As that young child'sFace in her hands she gripsCan you imagine all that greed and avariceComing down on that child's lips?" ...
Dr Matt Boyd, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick WilsonThe Global Health Security Index which considers pandemic threats has just been published. Unfortunately, NZ scores approximately half marks (54/100), coming in 35th in the world rankings – far behind Australia. This poor result suggests that the NZ Government needs to ...
The Zero Carbon Act is inadequate, with a weak methane target designed to give farmers a free ride. But it turns out it could have been worse: Climate Change Minister James Shaw was so desperate to get National on board, he wanted to gut that target, and leave it in ...
The Herald reprints an Australian story on a couple of tragic deaths in Bali from drinking cocktails that had methanol in them. The story argues that methanol is likely the result of home distillation. But what the young tourists were experiencing was far from a hangover. They’d consumed a toxic cocktail ...
Last month, the police announced a trial of specialist roaming armed units, which would drive round (poor, brown) areas in armoured SUVs, armed to the teeth. When they announced the trial, they told us it was about having armed police "ready to attend major incidents at any time if needed". ...
Spain went to the polls today in the second elections this year, after the Socialists (who had come to power in a confidence vote, then gone to the polls in April) rejected the offer of a coalition with the left-wing PoDemos, and instead decided to gamble n a better outcome ...
A couple of days ago I attended (and spoke at) the University of Waikato’s “LearnFest” event. There were lots of talks and sessions on very diverse aspects of teaching, mostly at tertiary level. One was by Myra Williamson from Te Piringa Faculty of Law here at Waikato, on Contract Cheating ...
There will be a transit of Mercury – the planet Mercury will pass across the face of the Sun – taking place at sunrise in New Zealand on Tuesday, 12th November. It was by observing such an event 250 years ago that James Cook and his scientist colleagues were able ...
Since becoming the world’s first openly transexual mayor and member of parliament, Georgina Beyer has been recognised as a trailblazer for trans rights. Daphna Whitmore talks with her about where she sees the current trans movement We start out talking about legislation the government put on hold that would have ...
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ...
National Messiah? Chris Luxon identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. If he is genuine in this self-characterisation, then he will take every opportunity his public office provides to proselytise on behalf of his faith. He will also feel obliged to bear witness against beliefs and practices he believes to be ...
I'm going to make a Reckless Prediction™ that the Tories have 'topped out' in the 'poll of polls' / Britain Elects multipoll tracker at about 38%, and in the next week we will start to see Labour creep up on them.In fact, we might just be seeing the start of ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
Did you know there once was a time when it was illegal to be a gypsy (aka Romani) in Britain?That was between 1530, when the Egyptians Act was passed, and 1856, when it was repealed.Amongst other things, the act forbade the entry of 'Egyptians' into England, ordered those already there ...
Some days I sit and think, “what will I write…?” What do you say when you get to 1000 posts? Maybe you just start where you are, diverge to where this all began, then offer a collection of reader’s favourite posts, and a few of your own? (And throw in ...
Counter-Puncher: The “activists” and “radicals” (his own words) from the Indian community who took such strong exception to Shane Jones’ remarks about Immigration NZ’s treatment of arranged marriages, may end up bitterly regretting their intervention. Jones is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to his critics.SHANE ...
In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
Oh dear. Extraordinary interview on PM with Andrew Bridgen and @EvanHD just now. Bridgen was defending Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments. Evan asked him if JRM had meant to say he would have left ...
Collision Course? In conditions of ideological white-out, the international bankers’ “Woop-Woop! Pull Up!” warning may have come too late to save global capitalism.WHAT DOES IT MEAN when international bankers are more willing to embrace radical solutions than our politicians and their electors? At both the International Monetary Fund and the ...
Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has just passed its third reading, uanimously. In the end, National supported it - but we all know they'll turn around and gut it the moment they regain power. Meanwhile, I guess ACT's David Seymour didn't even bother to show up. I am on record as ...
Dr Lindsay Robertson, Dr Jerram Bateman, Professor Janet HoekMembers of the public health community hold divergent views on how access to vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products should be arranged. Some believe ENDS should be as widely available as smoked tobacco and argue for liberal ...
When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger ...
Last month, in response to a wave of protests by Extinction Rebellion, the British government purported to ban their protests from the whole of London. It was a significant interference with the freedoms of expression and assembly, and another sign of the country's decline into tyranny. But now, a court ...
Last year, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security reported on significant problems with the intelligence warrant system. While they were unwilling to declare any warrant "irregular" (meaning unlawful) due to the recent law change, they were also not willing to give the system a clean bill of health. Now, they've ...
The National Party has come out in support of encouraging greater vaccination uptake. But it sure isn’t the way I’d do it. National’s suggested docking the benefits of those on benefit whose kids aren’t keeping up with their vaccinations. Some in National have suggested extending that to payments under Working ...
Feeding The Flames: It is simply not enough to demand an end to “corruption”, or “inequality”, or the overbearing influence of the authorities in Beijing. These are just “lowest common denominator” demands: the sort of slogans that pull people onto the streets. They are not a plan.WHERE’S THE PLAN? Across ...
The labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has risen to 4.2%. There are 115,000 unemployed - 11,000 fewer than when Labour took office. In that time the minimum wage has gone up by $2 an hour, which shows that the right's fears about increases causing unemployment are simply ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has called for submissions on Andrew Little's tyrannicalTerrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill. Normally I encourage participation in the democratic process. I am not doing so in this case. Instead, I encourage all of you to boycott this submissions process, and to post ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIf tiny concentrations of carbon dioxide can hold enough heat ...
Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and within it, one of the fastest sources is elite travel: billionaires flitting around the world in their private jets, spewing excessive pollution into the atmosphere just so they can avoid mixing with us dirty peasants. But in ...
That's what we face if we don't stop climate change, according to a warning from 11,000 scientists:The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists. “We declare clearly and unequivocally ...
by Phil Duncan Here’s just a few of the kind of threats issued day in and day out against gender-critical women – feminists, marxists, etc – overwhelmingly by MEN (albeit men identifying as women). “Kill all Terfs”. “Shoot a Terf today”. “All terfs deserve to be shot in the head”. ...
This is the third of the synopses of parts of the opening chapter of John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century (New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016). The synopsis and commentary below is written by Phil Duncan. Unlike the humble cup of coffee and t-shirt that we looked at in ...
Tom MooreTraditionally a food source and cutting tool, freshwater mussels/kākahi are now widely valued as water filters that help clean our waterbodies and maintain ecosystem health throughout Aotearoa. The improvement they provide in water quality can make it easier for other animals to live in streams and rivers, as ...
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…Installation complete: this was nothing ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is back in the House today for its second reading. While this isn't the final stage, its still effectively D-Day for the bill. Because today, at around 5pm, is when we're going to find out if it has a majority, whether National will support it or ...
The chairman of the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISCS) working group, Wayne Brown, has hit back at critics of his group’s recommendations to relocate the Ports of Auckland cargo operations to Whangarei’s deepwater port of Northport. The working group's recommendation to close Auckland waterfront to all but cruise ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters met with Korea Racing Authority Chairperson Nak Soon Kim in Seoul today to discuss closer cooperation between the New Zealand and Korean horse racing industries. As part of the visit to the Seoul Racecourse, Mr Peters witnessed ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $10 million to establish Otago as the centre of New Zealand’s creative digital industry over the next ten years, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “The initiative will bring us closer to the vision of ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)’s skills and employment programme will help young Otago people into long-term forestry careers, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Te Ara Mahi will invest $63,000 in the 2020 school year to support eight 17 and 18 ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will support local plans to revitalise and stimulate economic development opportunities in Otago, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The four Regional Economic Development Ministers have approved an in-principle investment of $19.9 million towards the region’s ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is pleased to have received the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) report on the Coalition Government’s Mycoplasma bovis eradication efforts, which shows significant progress in the fight against the disease. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, says the report’s findings ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon David Parker, Minister for Trade and Export Growth The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing to support economic growth opportunities for Otago’s engineering and manufacturing sectors, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Trade and Export Minister David Parker announced today. Almost $20 million ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, discussed in Seoul today opportunities to work more closely in the Pacific and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Mr Peters and Minister Kang confirmed New Zealand and the ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Minister for Māori Development The three marae in the historic Parihaka Pa complex in Taranaki have been upgraded to high speed broadband with the support of the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Connecting the ...
Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins today introduced into Parliament a Bill that will make it easier for the public service to tackle the biggest challenges facing Governments. The Bill represents the most significant change in the public service in 30 years. The State Sector Act 1988 will be repealed ...
The families of more than 416,000 students will be better off next year as their schools have signed up to the Government’s donations scheme, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. The scheme will see almost $62.5 million in additional Government funding go to schools nationwide next year. “I’m really pleased ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced further support as the Government of Samoa responds to a serious measles outbreak. “New Zealand will deploy a further 18 vaccination nurses, bringing the total to 30 working in Samoa over the next four weeks,” Mr Peters said. “A New Zealand Medical Assistance ...
Fa’atalofa atu, malo e lelei, Kia ora koutou katoa Thank you to the Child Poverty Action Group for asking me to be here today to provide an update on some of the things that have been happening across my the social development portfolio. Can I firstly acknowledge the vast ...
***Please check against delivery*** Good morning everyone. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning to open this year’s New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Conference and AGM. Firstly, thank you Dr Alan Jackson, NZTR Chair for your introduction. And let us acknowledge also: The NZTR Board; Dean McKenzie, Chair ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...
A marine conservation milestone - the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve - is being celebrated today at a community event in Tairāwhiti/East Coast attended by the Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “The creation of this marine reserve in November 1999 was a game ...
The Government is asking the food industry to step up work to tackle obesity including reducing sugar, fat and salt in their products, better information for consumers, and tighter restrictions on advertising to children. Health Minister David Clark and Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor have responded to a ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
Nelson’s Salisbury School is to be rebuilt, creating a modern and suitable learning environment for students at the residential special school, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The school for girls aged 8-15, in Richmond, was earmarked for closure by National until the process ...
The panel undertaking a comprehensive review of the Resource Management Act has identified the main issues to be addressed and options for reform and is calling for feedback to inform its final report. In July the Government announced the comprehensive review of the resource management system, including the RMA - ...
An important safety valve has been added to New Zealand’s criminal justice system with the third reading of the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill today. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) will investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “We’ve seen how our justice system can very occasionally get things spectacularly wrong, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters welcomes the tabling of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) 2019 Annual Report in Parliament today. He says the 2019 Annual Report marks the point when New Zealand’s racing industry’s decline was arrested and a turnaround started. RITA’s 2019 Annual Report recorded an industry net profit ...
The New Zealand Government is today sending 21 firefighters to help fight the ongoing catastrophic Australian bushfires. “The fires in Australia are in some of the toughest, most challenging conditions ever,” says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “As of yesterday morning, there were 100 active bushfire-related incidents across Queensland and ...
More frontline support for schools through a new education agency, as part of a redesigned Ministry of Education More support for principals and school boards including through a new centre of leadership and local leadership advisor roles New independent disputes panels for parents and students Management of school property ...
The Government’s reform of the Tomorrow’s Schools system is a watershed moment in education and an opportunity to create meaningful change for ākonga Māori and their whānau, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis said today. “Last year through Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation, Māori teachers, parents, ākonga, whānau, hapū and iwi ...
Infrastructure Minister is welcoming the first of many updated project pipelines from the newly established New Zealand Infrastructure Commission today. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, has released an expanded pipeline of major capital projects – another crucial step towards delivering better infrastructure outcomes. “The first iteration of the ...
Tougher gun laws designed to improve public safety through firearms prohibition orders are proposed in a new document released for public input. Police Minister Stuart Nash says firearms prohibition orders (FPOs) would give new powers to Police to ensure high-risk individuals come nowhere near firearms. “We have already prohibited the ...
Andy Coupe has been confirmed as TVNZ’s new Board Chair. “Mr Coupe has strong commercial and capital markets experience and TVNZ has benefited from his technical knowledge of business and finance, as well as his extensive governance experience,” the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Kris Faafoi said. Andy ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today officially opened a separated pathway, following the completion of the Kaiwharawhara Stream bridge, which will improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians along Hutt Road. The $6.8m Hutt Road project provides a separated path for cycling and pedestrians, the replacement of informal parking ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of career diplomat Si’alei van Toor as New Zealand’s next Ambassador to Russia. “I’m pleased to appoint Ms van Toor to this position. She brings a wealth of experience to the role having previously served as Senior Trade Adviser to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janet Stanley, Associate professor/Principal Research Fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne It’s hard to comprehend why someone would deliberately light a bushfire. Yet this behaviour regularly occurs in Australia and other countries. We would go a long way to preventing ...
There are 540,000 dwellings in Auckland and 580,000 households. The result is misery no matter how you try to square things through tenancy regulation. ...
The PM says she's set a very clear expectation that the clearing of firing ranges in Afghanistan will be sped up, but says it's not possible to conclude NZ is responsible for civilian deaths. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Former prime minister Paul Keating has launched a scathing attack on the Australian media for its coverage of China, denouncing “the nominally pious belchings of ‘do-gooder’ journalists” who live on leaks from security agencies. Keating ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University A parasite is an organism that lives in or on an organism of another species. Three main classes of parasites can cause disease in humans: protozoa, helminths, and ectoparasites. Protozoa and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Lilburn, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Melbourne You’re driving down an unfamiliar street on a clear spring evening. You’ve been invited to a friend of a friend’s party, at a house you’ve never been to before. Tracking the street numbers, you ...
Crimestoppers New Zealand launched its updated website www.crimestoppers-nz.org today. As well as catering for traditional anonymous reports the site now supports mobile users and allows files and images to be attached. The changes support people of all ...
Prince Andrew has spoken for the first time in public about his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. What did he say to create such a media storm, and how did he get into this mess in the first place? First thing’s first: who is Prince Andrew? Prince Andrew, Duke ...
Sam Brooks interviews the three guest curators of the New Zealand Festival of Arts: Bret McKenzie, Laurie Anderson and Lemi Ponifasio.An Oscar-winning Conchord, the world’s most beloved multimedia artist, and a world-renowned director and choreographer with an attitude. Three weeks, three unique visions of what a festival can and should ...
Plans are being put in place to increase methyl bromide monitoring following a theoretical modelling report about how the log fumigant disperses into the environment after use. ...
It’s the most beautiful time of the year! Comedian Sera Devcich joins Emily Writes to share the joy and investigate the top 10 toys your ungrateful kids will want this Christmas.It’s November which means it’s officially time for your kids to start bugging you day in and day out about ...
Proposed changes to tenancy rights are trickle down, not transformational, change says the Manawatu Tenants’ Union (MTU). There are however improvements for renters, and these efforts must be commended according to the MTU. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Stokes, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Deakin University “To be dead,” wrote the 20th century French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, “is to be a prey for the living.” Even Sartre, though, would have struggled to imagine casting James Dean in a movie 64 ...
The Good Citizen podcast focuses on the way good design – and good people – can change cities for the better. In this episode, Jeremy Hansen talks to architect Richard Goldie about his bold idea for a partially submerged stadium on Auckland’s waterfront, a project that’s now a finalist in ...
Former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC has published two books with Andrew Butler calling for a written, codified constitution that sets out ‘in an accessible form and a single document the fundamental rules and principles under which New Zealand is to be governed’. A road trip and consultation attracted ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Housing Luke Malpass and Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government hikes claims thresholds for bad landlords, increases ...
People with intellectual disabilities and their families are struggling to access support more than ever before, as the disability sector faces a now $574 million annual funding shortfall, says IHC. ...
The Labour-led coalition may have to generate a second wave of Jacindamania if it is to win another term in the Beehive. Re-election is not an impossible dream, despite the failure of Labour to deliver what many of those who voted for it in 2017 expected. Retiring Green MP Gareth Hughes ...
A corporate undertaker talks top tips for making sure you get paid, reining in rogue liquidators, and having a heart for those who’ve lost money.PwC’s John Fisk has handled high profile company failures from Pike River to Lombard Finance and the Ross Asset Management Ponzi scheme. He also chairs the ...
Armed police represent a serious cause for concern, especially for the most vulnerable, writes the chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation.The Mental Health Foundation has publicly condemned the police trial of special armed response teams patrolling three districts around New Zealand. We’re extremely worried these trials will result in ...
International crime rings are increasingly targeting New Zealanders’ bank accounts to launder proceeds from scams and fraud. Bronwyn Groot, Fraud Education Manager at the Commission for Financial Capability (CFFC) is highlighting the rising incidence ...
A just-released report shows that the food industry wants to stay in a business-as-usual mode with a few minor tweaks around the edges. In response, the New Zealand Government appeared comfortable with that approach, and provided no Government plans for comprehensive ...
New Zealand consumers will be left in the dark about foods grown in Australia that have been created using gene editing techniques. On the 13 November the Australian Senator Rice put up a motion to disallow, or overturn, the recently passed Gene Technology ...
As Aotearoa plans for festive season celebrations, The Salvation Army is preparing to make its house a home to hundreds of men, women and children who have nowhere else to stay. ...
Landlords say they feel under siege with the government planning to make it tougher for them to boot out troublesome tenants; and skilled immigrants waiting for a residents visa say its unfair officials are fast tracking applications for those on salaries over $105,000. ...
Standing with the farmers, New Conservative is committed to pushing back against the lunacy of the ETS and Carbon Zero commitments by this government. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tomas Trescak, Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Systems, Western Sydney University Just a few years ago, virtual reality (VR) was being showered with very real money. The industry raised an estimated US$900 million in venture capital in 2016, but by 2018 that figure ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rowena Maguire, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Institute for Future Environments, Queensland University of Technology Over the past two weeks, bushfires have raged across New South Wales and Queensland. While the narrative appears focused on potential causes and political point-scoring, what’s lost ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Davis, Chair of Women’s Health, Monash University At menopause, a woman’s ovaries lose their reproductive function. Eggs are no longer released and the production of the hormones oestrogen and progesterone falls. It’s the lowered levels of oestrogen after menopause that gives ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Bolleter, Deputy Director, Australian Urban Design Research Centre, University of Western Australia Around the world, the vast majority of people are flocking to cities not to dwell in their centres but to live in the new suburbs expanding their outer limits. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Natalya Saldanha, Academic, RMIT University Like any eight-year-old, Ryan Kaji loves to play with toys. But when Ryan plays, millions watch. Since the age of four he’s been the star of his own YouTube channel. All up his videos have gained ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kieran Wong, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Indigenous voices are finally being acknowledged as important voices in Australian galleries and museums. Since 2014, I have worked as an advisor to Western Australia’s New Museum, a A$450 million project and one of ...
Retiring Green MP Gareth Hughes says the pace of change in the current Government is not fast enough for his liking but that is not the reason he is quitting politics. ...
The Superdiversity Institute for Law, Policy and Business is releasing its latest report today on Culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse parties in the Courts: A Chinese case study . The Report’s author, Mai Chen, Chair of the Superdiversity ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Doubts emerge about Auckland port move, NZDF leaves death-causing material behind in Afghanistan, and laws around renting to be shaken up.Over the last week, the ramifications of moving most of the operations of Auckland’s port north to Whangarei have been ...
Catriona MacLennan helped conduct a survey of the top NZ companies to establish the ethnicity of their directors. The results were not surprising, but also far from encouraging. ...
Episode 1 in a series on the trials of injured animals as they’re rescued, rehabilitated and released back into the wild follows the rescue of a yellow-eyed penguin. ...
An ambitious new partnership between Sky Sports and more than 50 sports promises more free sport for Kiwis. Suzanne McFadden looks at how it will change the way we see female athletes ...
New Zealand Defence Force's failed to clean up properly after itself in Afghanistan - with the result that seven children have been killed and another 10 civilians injured. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Chinese embassy has lashed out at two Liberal members of parliament, Andrew Hastie and James Paterson, saying they would need to “repent and redress their mistakes” before they would be welcome in China. The ...
Tim Costley National’s new candidate in Otaki Local party members have selected Tim Costley as National’s candidate in Ōtaki for the 2020 General Election. Mr Costley is replacing retiring MP Nathan Guy, who is standing down after five terms. ...
“Compelling research out of the UK reaffirms vaping’s life-saving role. Here’s hoping our Government’s pending legislation reflects vaping’s increasingly documented health benefits for smokers,” say Ben Pryor, co-owner of the largest Kiwi-owned ...
Government has announced a raft of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act. The Minister has said he does not want to be seen to unduly punishing landlords. These changes do more than punish landlords however. They will punish anyone living next ...
Democracy under Fire on Firearms Law Reform - COLFO SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2019 The Government supposedly wants to “hear from all New Zealanders” about firearms law reform – unless you happen to be a licenced firearms owner. ...
From Monday 18 November New Zealand women are working for free until the end of the year because of the gender pay imbalance between men and women. ...
Award-winning investigative team Stuff Circuit is releasing its most hard-hitting documentary yet, exposing a secret the NZ Defence Force doesn’t want Kiwis to know. ...
The government has announced a suite of practical changes to the Residential Tenancies Act in its bid to make renting fairer and more secure. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happening?A number of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) has just been announced by associate minister of housing Kris ...
US Trumpian Inspired Rhetoric From Anti-Trans Group Not a Good Fit with Nz Society Trans-rights support groups around the country have been dismayed by recent divisive and repellent comments by Stand Up For Women (SUFW), a group calling itself feminist ...
Sam Brooks reviews the third season of The Crown, a show that can’t decide whether it wants to humanise the monarchy or tear it all down.This review contains very mild spoilers for world history, 1964-1977.Three seasons in, there’s no doubt that The Crown is the, well, crown jewel in Netflix’s ...
An easy, flavour-packed noodle recipe from Bounty – Cooking With Vegetables, the new cookbook from national food education charity the Garden to Table Trust.The fresh flavours of these noodles are less complex than many Thai dishes, as the simple spice paste uses just a few ingredients. If you’d rather not ...
Part 2: In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department explains what ministers should be told by public servants ...
In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department summarises our governing arrangements. ...
With the 2020 cannabis referendum fast approaching, New Zealanders have a unique opportunity to let the government know what they want from drug reform. It will then be up to our policy makers to decide whether drug reform will focus on changing outcomes for those struggling under historically racist policy.By ...
It breaks my heart to think of young queer and trans people seeing this sign, and thinking there are no spaces where they will ever belong, writes Hadassah Grace. The first time I ventured into a gay bar, I vowed never to go back.It was a vulnerable time in my life. ...
It breaks my heart to think of young queer and trans people seeing this sign, and thinking there are no spaces where they will ever belong, writes Hadassah Grace. The first time I ventured into a gay bar, I vowed never to go back.It was a vulnerable time in my life. ...
Hayden Donnell looks for inspiration and innovation on how to house the city’s future.Auckland Council’s Unitary Plan has enabled a building boom. More than 14,600 building consents were issued in the city in the year to September. Despite that, houses remain extremely expensive and out-of-reach for many first home buyers. ...
Open mike 06/09/2011 
Next year is an election year, and Labour needs money to fund its campaign. So naturally, they're selling access:Labour is charging wealthy business figures $1500-a-head to lunch with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at its annual conference later this month. [...] On the weekend beginning November 29th, around 800 delegates will ...6 hours ago
Words and images by Jacqui Gibson Gone are Auckland Museum’s days of doing science using a museum-centric academic approach, after Māori land rights holders Ngāti Kuri gave the museum an ultimatum.
MediaWorks announced in October 2019 that it intended to sell off its struggling television business and cancel or cut back on several popular local programmes, including New Zealand Today, Married at First Sight New Zealand and 7 Days. Its radio and outdoor advertising arms are currently performing well, but MediaWorks’ ...13 hours ago
Some readers may remember that I mentioned last year that I was applying for NZ citizenship. I filled out the paperwork and had my original citizenship interview in February. Everything went well until they discovered that, because I had spent five months in the US in 2017, I had not ...1 day ago
by Deirdre O’Neill It is becoming quite acceptable for certain sections of the left to declare that people like me – women who are ‘gender critical’ – should not be allowed in leftist or anarchist spaces. Leaving aside the arrogance and implicit authoritarianism of this claim, its lack of critical ...1 day ago
There is an article in The Conversation, written by Jeremy P. Shapiro (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University), about what he sees as the psychologically-based underpinnings of three main matters that seem to vex people all around the planet. The article is titled “The Thinking ...2 days ago
. . Blogger Martyn Bradbury has won his case against unreasonable search and surveillance against the NZ Police; and subsequent Police attempts to produce evidence in secrecy, in a closed Court. His case highlights a disturbing growing trend in Aotearoa New Zealand for State power to be used against ...2 days ago
Different Strokes: If a multicultural immigration policy imposes no obligation on immigrant communities to acknowledge and ultimately embrace their host nation’s most cherished traditions and values, then how is that nation to prevent itself from being reduced to a collection of inward-looking and self-replicating ethnic and cultural enclaves?THE COALITION GOVERNMENT’S ...3 days ago
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...6 days ago
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ... 1 week ago
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…
Installation complete: this was nothing ... 2 weeks ago
The chairman of the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISCS) working group, Wayne Brown, has hit back at critics of his group’s recommendations to relocate the Ports of Auckland cargo operations to Whangarei’s deepwater port of Northport. The working group's recommendation to close Auckland waterfront to all but cruise ...3 hours ago
We're setting our young people up for success, investing in education around the country. ...10 hours ago
Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins today introduced into Parliament a Bill that will make it easier for the public service to tackle the biggest challenges facing Governments. The Bill represents the most significant change in the public service in 30 years. The State Sector Act 1988 will be repealed ...2 hours ago
A parliamentary hearing on gun reforms was cut short when a submitter alleged he sold ammunition to the accused Christchurch gunman. ...2 mins ago
The Govt wants to crack down on exports that could be used to commit human rights abuses - but NZ universities say the proposal is "unworkable". ...2 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janet Stanley, Associate professor/Principal Research Fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne It’s hard to comprehend why someone would deliberately light a bushfire. Yet this behaviour regularly occurs in Australia and other countries. We would go a long way to preventing ...31 mins ago
The State Services Minister has introduced legislation to make what he describes as the most significant change to the public sector in 30 years. ...44 mins ago
There are 540,000 dwellings in Auckland and 580,000 households. The result is misery no matter how you try to square things through tenancy regulation. ...53 mins ago
Internet Service Providers relied on ad hoc tools, including Google Docs, to coordinate blocking access to the Christchurch shooting video. ...2 hours ago
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) is seeking feedback on its proposed energy levy-funded activities for the 2020/21 year. ...2 hours ago
Prince Andrew has spoken for the first time in public about his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. What did he say to create such a media storm, and how did he get into this mess in the first place? First thing’s first: who is Prince Andrew? Prince Andrew, Duke ...3 hours ago
Hamilton Press Club life president Steve Braunias on the next guest speaker - embattled TV3 employee Patrick Gower. ...3 hours ago
Pay TV operator Sky Television expects its revenue and earnings to fall after investing in new content, new services and sponsorship deals. ...5 hours ago
Air New Zealand has cancelled some of its international flights due to ongoing issues with its Rolls-Royce engines. ...6 hours ago
Air New Zealand has cancelled some of its international flights due to ongoing issues with its Rolls-Royce engines. ...7 hours ago
The Labour-led coalition may have to generate a second wave of Jacindamania if it is to win another term in the Beehive. Re-election is not an impossible dream, despite the failure of Labour to deliver what many of those who voted for it in 2017 expected. Retiring Green MP Gareth Hughes ...7 hours ago
Landlords say they feel under siege with the government planning to make it tougher for them to boot out troublesome tenants; and skilled immigrants waiting for a residents visa say its unfair officials are fast tracking applications for those on salaries over $105,000. ...10 hours ago
Retiring Green MP Gareth Hughes says the pace of change in the current Government is not fast enough for his liking but that is not the reason he is quitting politics. ...10 hours ago
Labour is charging wealthy business figures $1500-a-pop to lunch with Jacinda Ardern; and NZ First-linked forestry company pushed for govt funds. ...11 hours ago
Catriona MacLennan helped conduct a survey of the top NZ companies to establish the ethnicity of their directors. The results were not surprising, but also far from encouraging. ...13 hours ago
Episode 1 in a series on the trials of injured animals as they’re rescued, rehabilitated and released back into the wild follows the rescue of a yellow-eyed penguin. ...13 hours ago
Steve Braunias reviews the as-told-to book of All Blacks skipper Kieran Read, and fully expects it to suck. ...13 hours ago
An ambitious new partnership between Sky Sports and more than 50 sports promises more free sport for Kiwis. Suzanne McFadden looks at how it will change the way we see female athletes ...13 hours ago
The disastrous impact of banks selling risky financial derivatives to farmers is still being felt in rural communities more than a decade later. ...14 hours ago
New Zealand Defence Force's failed to clean up properly after itself in Afghanistan - with the result that seven children have been killed and another 10 civilians injured. ...14 hours ago
Many fund managers are overconfident and the public buy the illusion. ...1 day ago
Part 2: In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department explains what ministers should be told by public servants ...1 day ago
In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department summarises our governing arrangements. ...1 day ago
New Zealand's coroners learnt lessons of cultural competency and communication from March 15. ...1 day ago
It’s Labor Day in the U.S. and a book has been published about Joe Hill – The Man Who Never Died, by William Adler. I think it’s going to be a must read.
Joe Hill – the migrant labourer, an anarchist and union man in the U.S. He was executed in 1915 for a murder he didn’t commit. He appeared to accept the execution would do more for the cause of the working poor than if he’d lived – told his friends don’t mourn for me – organise!” Amazing story
I knew the song, as sung by Joan Baez but never knew his story or that of the International Workers of the World. A bit of history here
Yes Labor Day in the US. And a few people in the MSM are just starting to realise how shit it has been over there, and how the outlook is even worse for the US.
immortal words:
I suppose an attitude like that is why Abe Lincoln got shot.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/labor-day-blues/2011/09/04/gIQAr8fb2J_story.html?hpid=z2
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-fallacy-of-post-industrial-prosperity/2011/09/04/gIQAk4Ob2J_story.html?hpid=z2
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/achenblog?hpid=z2
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-last-labor-day/2011/09/04/gIQA11Ob2J_story.html?hpid=z2
immortal words:
I suppose an attitude like that is why Abe Lincoln got shot.
When 37% of all consumer purchases are made by the top 5% income earners it’s quite clear that (1) workers are losing and (2) inequality is killing the economy.
The same warnings on inequality are written in different ways , but surely even the money people should be able to work this one out… spread the money around a bit and everyone will do better, yeah?
I am inclined to think Lincoln was shot because his use of greenbacks during the civil war, and because of his apparent intention to continue their use after the war. Still I’m only guessing.
Probably both – they attack the private banking system.
If you’re a fan…
Rebel Press of Wellington have just released ‘Remains to be Seen: tracing Joe Hills Ashes in New Zealand’ – available as a book or free PDF
Yeah Rosy, I’m pretty sure the Wobblies exerted a profound influence on early New Zealand Red Fed (and, later, Labour Party) leaders like “Fighting” Bob Semple, Paddy Webb and, perhaps above all, the brilliant (but, unlike the others, never-elected-to-Parliament) Pat Hickey. Hickey had worked for a few years (around 1904-1906) in a mine in Utah, where he was a member of the Western Federation of Miners, which preached class solidarity and revolutionary industrial unionism.
Interesting whistle-blowing going on around the SCF debacle.
Heads should roll, and given the PM’s unequivocal backing of what is now shown to be a wrong-headed and malicious investigation… he too needs to take some responsibility.
But of course responsibility is an unknown concept to these tory pricks.
Well spotted Red. There have been consistent concerns about the process used by the “system”. Surely the “experts” couldn’t have been wrong?
How about we got back a few steps and get an inquiry as to why SCF was in the scheme against tresaury advice, blinglish and Key ushered them in as soon as they could, further warnings by treasury were ignored and the payout was at 100% plus interest.
How many other finance company investors were afforded such a risk free outcome ?
Natural justice is certainly lacking when it comes to Allan Hubbard. Hubbard has one of the cleanest track records in NZ when it comes to business. I hope that someone carries the torch for him, as the last 15 months of his life was devoted to amassing the evidence to prove he was not corrupt and also to find out who was behind his departure at Aorangi and how they went about it.
RL Treasury warned John Key And Blingenglish that SCF were breaking the covenants of their contract John Key said we will keep backing them . Key has some answering to do.
The findings of an investigator who works at no cost for the supporters of Allan Hubbard are not particularly independent.
it’s like citing a post from The Standard as evidence to support a post on The Standard.
When a genuinely independent review finds fault in the Companies Office, the Securities Commission and the statutory managers, and that independent review stands up to scrutiny, then I’ll take notice.
Until then your call for heads to roll is irresponsible.
That doesn’t make any sense Joe (Not that I’m surprised by a RWNJ not making sense). Using evidence to support what you say is usually a good practice. Researchers do it all the time.
There’s no such thing. The only people who are going to investigate are the people are the people with an interest in the outcome. Now, it could be that this investigation is but that would be up to the reviewers to determine.
Last Sunday on Sunday TV 1 at 7.30 pm there was a good example of how devious witnesses can be. I am refering to Mahon who headed the Erebus Inquiry and how Mahon’s comment “an orchestrated litany of lies” was directed at Air New Zealand (Davis, Chippendale…). The Privy Council ruled that Mahon’s conclusion was correct when it came to the cause of the loss of 257 lives, but when it came to Air New Zealand being held accountable, the Privy Council ruled that natural justice was absent, so Air NZ did not have to face the music when it came to being held responsible for TE 901 crashing into Mt Erebus.
No word yet from Eddie about crowning Margaret Mutu as New Zealand’s new “most racist academic”.
What’s racist about seeking to identify racist attitudes/beliefs?
According to the bigots there’s no such thing as racism. So if you say anything mean about racists then you’re just attacking a marginalised oppressed minority. Which makes you a bigot. And therefore probably a racist.
Jeez Bill, a bit of sensitivity please.
Self inflicted slap up the side of the head duly administered.
thankyou for pointing out the error of my ways Felix 😉
Mutu didn’t seek to identify racist attitudes or beliefs – she demonstrated them.
But don’t take my word.
Here’s David Rankin’s view:
“She obviously thinks of herself as the Robert Mugabe of New Zealand politics, and has caused offence to hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders because of her extreme racist views.”
“As a Maori, I welcome white immigrants,” Rankin said. “They are the ones most likely to bring employment opportunities for our communities, and we don’t see the sort of racism Margaret refers to.”
and his complaint to Joris de Bres
So why do you treat it as a joke?
‘It’ being?
I don’t think Margaret Mutu’s observations were a joke. Provocative? Yes. Accurate? Yes.
Taking a complaint to the ‘Race Relations? Farcical. Calling for her to lose her job? Ridiculous.
The reaction of the usual right wing suspects? Ah. Now that I do regard as a bit of a joke. But that’s the only reason most of you clowns typo error the comments you do, right? To bring a little mirth into peoples’ days, yes?
So then how do you reconcile this oponion with the post – That you participated in
And Ant R0Bs “No Paul, to hell with racists.”
And redlogics comment
“The left frequently make the mistake of thinking tolerance must always be the highest principle that trumps all others. Well it ain’t. All too frequently it just finishes up as a proxy for being too lazy or apathetic to stand up for what is right.”
Funny how the aruguement has changed depending on the players involved !!!
I made two comments in that thread you link to Herodotus. Care to point out any inconsistences between what I said on that thread and this one and then I’ll get back to you?
No there was nothing in conflict by you from then or now – My intention was just to assist to refresh your memory back then in the discussion. And anyway there is nothing wrong in changing opinions, additional info can help all of us to see where we are wrong or confirm when we are right 🙂
got it in one Herodotus.
What makes Mutu’s comments deplorable is not her concern about immigration policy but the conclusion she draws that white people are racist.
Far from being condemned like Clydesdale was a week ago on this self-same website, Mutu’s extrenme dogma is applauded. That’s the sort of meta-racism that only comes from hard-line idealogues.
Whatever happened to the notion that migrants should be assessed as individuals, and decisions based on their level of skills, experience, education, contribution to NZ, &c.? Why should ethnic background matter?
I admit I haven’t read what she said, but my son spoke to me about it yesterday, and he was utterly gob-smacked by her comments. On the basis of what he said, losing her job is the very least she should expect.
A picture paints a thousand words.
Stunning graphic from the New York times clearly identifying what has been happening over the past 30 years.
It would be great if we had a Kiwi version.
A stunning graphic indeed. However Joe will no doubt say that the Times is a lying bunch of Left wing idealogues who twist the facts. And that those very rich folk trickle their wealth down to the workers and are the biggest donors etc etc.
putting words in other peoples mouths again IM?
That 1980 transition fascinates me.
Open question; how much an we attribute to the Reagan/Thatcherite right ‘greed is good’ swing, and how much should we point to the huge adoption of IT technology that more or less dates from exactly the same time?
What effects do you think IT has had over the last 3 decades?
PS, Some one copy this thread over to the post please.
Oops I/S bet me to it. Hat tip to him.
Will Wikipedia Kill The Jackal?
Yesterday I decided to set up a Wikipedia page for The Jackal blogsite so that people searching for it could more readily find information. I also intend to use it to document controversial and significant topics that relate to New Zealand’s blogosphere, the law and politics in general. Little did I know that it’s a veritable minefield of rules and regulations, which will probably ensure an end to The Jackal article on Wikipedia…
In other words you wanted to use it to boost you traffic? Wiki ain’t a SEO
Then why is Kiwibog on there? The Jackal doesn’t sell anything. There is a certain amount of promotion with any content on the Internet, even this comment could be considered promoting The Jackal. I’m linking to my site right now… big deal!
Was Margaret Mutu’s out-burst coming from her Maori side or her Pakeha side?
You mean she has a “split personality”?
Who would have thought……….??
Another very capable informed woman who is an excellent communicator on her subject. On radionz this a.m.
10:05 Connie Hedegaard – European Commissioner for Climate Action
Connie Hedegaard is the European Commissioner for Climate Action. She’s in New Zealand leading the EU’s delegation to the Pacific Islands Forum, where she is also meeting Pacific leaders ahead of international climate negotiations. She was Denmark’s first minister for climate and energy, and is now leading the EU’s efforts towards a low-carbon future and the many different forms that takes. What is the EU doing to move towards a low-carbon economy?
Denmark???? DENMARK????? You must be f’ing joking!!!!
400,000 Israelis march for social justice
General strike in Italy tomorrow
NZ Press finally and irrevocably confirmed as Tory PR dept and less use than tits on a nun
Watch those sharemarkets today, brothers and sisters, this could be the big one.
….evocative of someone we know perhaps?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/05/going-to-the-store-film_n_949133.html
Right Wing Can’t Count
A few days ago I wrote an article entitled New Zealand’s Oil Bonanza… Yeah Right! concerning National’s over inflation of potential income from oil and gas extraction in New Zealand. The sheer level of misreporting going on to promote a destructive process that contributes to climate change, (that threatens human existence on earth) was astounding and completely unacceptable…
Why no posts from the writers about Margaret Mutu? Theres the odd mention here at open mike, but no actual post about the whole suitation.
It’s open mike, Brett. Knock yourself out.
Felix:
Im not talking about open Mike, im talking about the actual writers here, it seems racism is okay with the left as long as its a Maori woman that is being racist.
Still I got a laugh when she told the media what the word racist means.
Below is a quote from an email Mana FB admin posted, http://www.facebook.com/ManaParty, they do so occasionally to let people know what keyboard racists there are out there.
“Still cant believe the Mana party even exsists and if you are such a proud people and party, how about you raise your own party funds and not rely on the NZ people. Your entire party is just too out there and hypocritical for the avg kiwi , but I suppose the hard core niggers like yourselves all get off on this. Send all niggers home!!! Regards lee”
So all you tory toe rags like Brett and Grumpy, “lee” rather supports Margaret Mutu’s contention that racism is alive and hating in NZ.
Tiger Mountain:
Did you see my post on their facebook page to that letter, saying that belongs in the Trash. Disgusting someone would write something like that to them. That though has nothing to do
with what Margaret said and her position of power, and I stand by my thoughts, that normally sites like the standard would be outrage with the comments that Margaret Mutu said, but because she isa Maori woman you guys just shut up and say nothing and that is racist in itself.
@Brett Dale – I hadn’t heard about Margaret Mutu’s latest controversy Brett. Here’s the latest link I found – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10749746
Well done to Nga Puhi leader David Rankin.
Rankin’s just some news whoring kupapa chump they trotted out to slag his own people…well done on getting his name in the media again…fuckwit
funny stuff pollywog – you give the same impression
Funny Brett, I thought the same. Remember the outrage over “Cheeky Darkie” and Paul Henry???
bit of a difference there Grumpy,
an academic commenting on the integration of immigrants into society and the perceived affects upon her culture is hardly the same as big headed broadcasters espousing basic bigotry
Freedom:
Oh that is what she was doing, huh????
Grumpy:
Look at my posts in regards to Murray Deaker, I was shocked that he wasnt fired and quite disgusted.
Maybe I’ll do a post on racism in NZ Brett. You know, the fact its all pervasive, insidious and overt.
And maybe I’ll compare it to the very similar ‘culture of superiority’ displayed by the English (British) establishment towards their white colonies within the British Isles.
And maybe I’ll throw in a couple of open ended questions; such as why at the mention of a person being Polynesian, the immediate assumption is that they must be brown in spite of the fact that all white people born in NZ are Polynesian too?
Or why it is that NZ is routinely and casually lumped in with Australasia when it is most decidedly not a part of Australasia, but a part of Polynesia?
Or why it is that so many white people still mainatin that they are European in official forms in spite of the fact that they and their parents and even their parent’s parents were born in Polynesia?
Or how it is possible to have a culture, supposedly based on partnership and that spans generations, to continue encouraging/promoting a European identity/ethnicity among the whites within it?
Got any other revealing questions you’d like to add to the list Brett?
edit. Apologies felix. couldn’t help myself.
BIll:
My thoughts are, the only reason we are different races is becaus eof Contineal drift.
I just hate hypocrisy, and judgign the same behaviour diferently. Because Mutu is a Maori woman, the left wasnt offended by her comments.
In terms of immigration I have always thought that the question what Ethnicity are you, should never be asked, because it shouldnt matter, what matters is what type of person you are.
I think you’ll find that continental drift may have given rise to different species Brett and further, that any drift during the entire span of human existence is negligable.
And I think you’ll find that questions of ethnicity are asked in almost all official forms and that answers are limited by the ‘multiple choice’ nature of possible responses.
You might also find that the whole concept of ‘race’ is a discredited one…that there is simply the human race.
But all that aside, you got any interseting or thought provoking questions up your sleeve to be incorporated into a possible post?
Brett’s proposed new question for the census:
‘What kind of person are you?
a. virtuous, right wing, hard working ordinary New Zealander
b. evil, bludging, leftie traitor’
It’s all we need to know about people.
🙂
(Apologies Brett, I just couldn’t resist it.)
Puddlegum:
I am neither hard working or virtuous.
I still dont think someone should be kept out the country because of their ethnic background, thus I dont think it should be on an immigration form.
As someone who has also worked on three census’s, that was quite funny.
Where does it ask about ethnicity on immigration forms? Far as I’m aware, nationality is what is asked.
BIll:
Nationally shouldnt be asked then.
If National had their way we wouldn’t even have a fucking census
They like to keep the country ignorant about its status after all.
If nationality isn’t asked for (alongside proof), then we are talking open borders; freedom of movement for people.
I’m all for that Brett.
But in the meantime, there are immigration policies. And they’re loaded to favour some over others. (Points being awarded on skill set, wealth, age etc.) So in the present scenario, why not load the policy against racists?
I mean, political beliefs already affect the ability of some people to obtain visas etc, ( and by extension residency) so why not?
No problem, I would be more than happy if a white South African extremist was denied entry to NZ. Just as I would be for Islamic extremist for their hatred of women, gays and infidels. How about you?
reiterating
“…political beliefs already affect the ability of some people to obtain visas etc, ( and by extension residency)…”
Haters of women and gays are already here in NZ
Whats a few more.
Really CV??? Is that Labour Party policy now???
And how would you determine that someone was a racist? By their national origin? Or their colour? Absurd. The most determinedly (to the point of being a tad unbalanced) person I ever met, was a social worker at Social Welfare in the 80s, a long-haired blue eyed blond man from Manchester England. (By a bit unbalanced, I mean that he frequently had dreams, he told me, of being in the centre of a group of angry Maori who chided him for not having done enough for Maori, and he always felt that he deserved it, as giving his life and that of his children would not be enough!
funny, I wasn’t aware that human sacrifice was required – lucky it was just a dream
“And maybe I’ll throw in a couple of open ended questions; such as why at the mention of a person being Polynesian, the immediate assumption is that they must be brown in spite of the fact that all white people born in NZ are Polynesian too?”
Obviously you did not see Mutu’s interview??? with the World’s Worst Interviewer on Closeup last night.
Apparently we are all just “visitors” in New Zealand. Makes you wonder, with her mixed anscestry, how she sees herself?
As for being an “academic” obviously Auckland University has a very low threshold for that title.
Okay. Just watched it. She said she wanted a discussion on racism. What it is; how it plays out and what to do about it.
‘The ‘walrus’ in his intro said she wanted a universally applied test that would pick up on racist attitudes. What she said was that she didn’t want people coming into the country who would actively pursue to deny others that which rightfully belongs to them.
I can’t see why anyone would have a problem with that.
As an immigrant, my problem was that although I had to jump through numerous hoops with the immigration service there was no official avenue available for me to seek permission from tāngata whenua to live here.
And when I considered citizenship, there was no official avenue for me to approach tāngata whenua, but there was an obligation to swear allegience to a monarch who resides on the other side of the planet.
When I made moves to seek permission from tāngata whenua, the particular people I talked to near fell over backwards. No one had ever approached them before. I thought it was merely the decent thing to do and was genuinely surprised that nobody else had sought to do it. (Besides being common decency, it would have actually meant something whereas being granted permission by a faceless, anonymous bureaucracy means absolutely nothing and is, to my mind permission being granted by an illegitimate authority.)
Meanwhile, getting back tothe point. Racist attitudes are fairly easy to pick and strangely difficult to disguise. So a test is ‘do-able’.
And Margaret Mutu objects to active racists. Not the everyday armchair type who will move along with the broader ‘cultural times’. And wouldn’t it be a good thing to have fewer active racists impacting on the cultural environments of NZ so that the cultural environment moves that bit more speedily?
You have written some awesome comments about this, and related subjects, Bill – thank you for that and what you have written here – you are a good bloke and I hope you do put up a post because you have some very valuable insights and attitudes.
“Apparently we are all just “visitors” in New Zealand.”
That’s not what she said. She said non-Maori are ‘welcome guests’. In order to understand what she means you have to understand Maori concepts of manawhenua and manaakitanga rather than misinterpreting her words through pakeha constructs.
Firstly, because official forms no longer give the “Pakeha” option, and second in my case, because although I was born here as was my mother, my father wasn’t.
I am now reading the Herald article linked to, and looking at the picture of Mutu – and laughing! She’s whiter than my mother was!
“Why no posts from the writers about Margaret Mutu?”
How about getting off your lazy arse and submitting one for consideration as a “guest post”?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10749743
When poor law, bad judgement and kneejerk hysteria are exposed as an expensive waste of time and resources they resort to desperate measures and end up with applying what we can only imagine are the flimsiest of organised crime charges, though it will be interesting to see what the nature of the organised crime actually was . . . .
The Minister’s claim that the Invercargill Principals, who signed an open letter expressing concerns with National Standards, are part of a Green Party stunt stretches credibility.
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/2011/09/just-political-stunt-claims-tolley.html
Sir Anne must be on the right track. She has been elevated in the Nat List rankings. Future PM in the making?
thanks for that ianmac, i will have nightmares now ,
The fact that she appears to genuinely believe her own spin against all the evidence to the contrary appears to serve her well. She just chants the same mantra no matter what is put in front of her.
Typical RWNJ then putting ideology before reality.
She could become Acts education spokes person then
@freedom – Your comment was very enigmatic. Why didn’t you put one descriptive word ie Urewera or similar? I had to go to the link to see what you are on about which I find is what I want to comment on.
A recent Court case has resulted in charges in Operation Eight against the Tuhoe group being dropped but nothing can be revealed about the finding according to radionz! There are still 4 to go including Tame Iti for consorting with criminals or similar.
Makes me wonder why we are over in the USA talking about that dodgy TPPPPTTT? Surely the country that dominates this matter is also criminal. It has broken numerous laws, but hey ho why should we worry about dealing with an entity which only washes the top of its hands. Turn them over and see what is on their palms! Let’s have some practical sense not the present non-sense from this government.
prism, exactly why i wrote what i wrote,
( wouldn’t it be be interesting to know what all the other possible articles were that went through people’s heads 🙂 )
Another serious example of self-regulation and slack and lazy control over high standards for business has just been referred to today. Apparently MAF won’t prosecute bad, sloppy bee keepers after serious outbreaks of problem disease and pests. MAF says that it’s better to work with them, but then the bad practices are just continued with. Isn’t this amazing at a time when we know that the vital bee industry is under threat.
What happens is that this foulbrood disease type spreads and infects other hives. The latest outbreak has resulted in 30 hives having to be burnt in an effort to rid the area of the infection.
This hurts other beekeepers trying to run their businesses in a hygienic, responsible way. Enough of having their hives and business destroyed regularly and some beekeepers will give up all together. Not everybody wants to raise bees, not everybody is a good beekeeper either. When can we get our country back from this disease of neo liberalism, this desire for business to selfishly please themselves in their businesses with as few controls or commitment to good standards as possible.
Nice to see people-power is still alive and well…
http://evolutionnews.co.nz/capitalist-exploitation/a-story-missing-from-our-media-iceland’s-on-going-revolution/
I read that via a Naomi Klein tweet the other day, she quickly retracted once she was corrected, just thought I should point it out. I wish the article had been true…
http://grapevine.is/Features/ReadArticle/A-Deconstruction-of-Icelands-Ongoing-Revolution
The Reykjavik Grapevine seems to provide good factual reading.
I found this while browsing on Stuff…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5572717/Son-13-ready-to-support-family-and-ill-dad?comment_msg=posted#post_comment
and I am not sure where to begin! The child is an idiot… as I said in my comment which is “awaiting approval”, he’s a prime example of the benefits of home-schooling. He says that when his father dies and if he can’t support his family, ”
“If I can’t support my family, they will have to go on the dole. I don’t want that,”
If things still work as they did when I worked for Social Welfare, the boy’s mother will go on to a widow’s benefit. That’s not “the dole”. Presumably the boy isn’t concerned about the amount – in common with the average non-beneficiary out there he probably thinks benefit levels are 3 times what they really are. He’s probably worried about the “shame”… However a 13 year old boy should not be risking other peoples’ lives by driving a truck – he should be getting an education. Apologies if someone’s already mentioned this – I am havinn connection problems!
I am becoming suspicious of certain news items.I think there is a move instigated by Crosby/Textor to drive a wedge between the Greens and Labour. The Left must not fall into a trap from the Right that would have the Greens and Labour competing against each other. We must never forget that although we sometimes differ we are both on the political Left .Lets both insprire for a Labour /Green government. Which Aotearoa badly needs.
The Pink Postman
Totally agree and the first thing Labour should do, unless it has another plan, is to accept the Greens’ get children out of poverty for $180million plan. That will cement the political relationship and people will know that Labour means what it says about helping children. This is instant. I know Labour has various other policy but it can I’m sure incorporate this strategy and more importantly, acknowledge Greens’ importance in this by giving the Greens the portfolio to make it happen. That way the Greens will get on with it.
Hear hear!
Marsman,
Labour needs to acknowledge both Progressives and the Greens. Jim Anderton added a huge plus to that Government with KiwiBank and if Labour had still been in Government Anderton would have had his affordable dental care bill followed up.
Greens missed out for obvious reasons – United Future and NZ First forced them out and Labour had to deal with them in order to keep National out or we would have been even worse off now.
Perhaps people will begin to finally accept that sustainable living along with 21st century lifestyles can live side by side with thoughtful compromise.
The worst thing New Zealanders can do now is keep NActU in once more term; it is this next term whereby New Zealand loses its future. Labour can reinstate the 75% requirement before Local Government assets can be sold, which it laudably legislated for in 2002.
Why on earth isn’t Labour shouting out about what it has achieved and what it has saved New Zealand from if National had manipulated it into giving out more tax cuts. We’ve already seen the damage that NActU has done in this short time. Be warned; they will speed up if they get in again. Give them time on the sidelines while we bring some worker/employer/government balance back to our community.
Helen Clark gave us time to recoup our losses from the previous Douglas/Richardson cuckoos.
Douglas got back; don’t be surprised if Richardson gets back in too. Where did she get thrown out of after destroying their economy? Iceland? Ireland?
Parliament is waxing lyrical over the Local Government Borrowing Bill – sounds good.
Word of caution; anything Rodney Hide touches turns to lead and our country-wide assets will be seen trotting off to foreign parts on JKeyll and Hide’s little piggy legs.
Auckland has $28 billion of assets which Hide stole from all the greater councils around the city. The jury is out on the worthwhile benefits to the country areas that have been completely left out except for a good library service, but even that carries risks if only one area of the Library can buy books. It was noticeable by the books that the libraries were selling off by the bucketload that anything to do with women’s rights and political books that put another point of view to that of the neo-conservative were being reduced.
The country areas don’t have electric trains expected so Stephen Joyce was lying in Parliament today.
Also, Christchurch’s earthquake was extremely convenient for this government to take public view off the fact they had shut down the democratice ECAN in Canterbury. Brownlee will certainly try to force (he is czar after all) Christchurch Council to sell off its assets.
Should Auckland have an earthquake in the future the LG Borrowing Bill debt, which I admit does save us from PPPs, etc. will be used to force the Councils in debt to sell off LG assets.
Read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein and you will see why I am so cynical about this government and its bovver boy Hide. JKeyll is hiding behind these extremists. Remember.
This tickled me.
http://gizmodo.com/5835821/1-in-10-dead-bosses-are-murdered
and dont forget goldman sacks. they have stepped up to asist the PM by sticking their oar in and saying that ‘industry’ is being held back because there is not enough liquidity in the sharemarket so therfore sell the state assets so the rugged individualists can play monopol;y with other peoples money. look there goes the march hare and the mad hatter.
Randal,
What was that valuable piece of information on the Stock Exchange? That it has nothing to do with the overall financial well-being of New Zealand and New Zealanders – just a place for mostly men with pots of money they’ve stolen off other people to go and play paper wars with.
Aaron Gilmour – for PM – the leadership coup begins
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aaron-Gilmore-for-Prime-Minister/118195268201661
or
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5572501/MP-spoofed-in-faux-Facebook-page,
or even better!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Gilmore
NB none of them are my own work!