Several years ago I attended a seminar of ‘How to be a winner’. In this seminar they spoke of how both real estate and small businesses were the source of large capital gains. Buy the house – do it up as a tax write off – sell it for profit and keep the lot. The same for a business, buy it, make it look profitable, sell it for large tax free returns. For a simple fee of $2000 this mob was willing to let you in on their methods.
Buy a property, use it as leverage to mortgage a second property, use both as leverage for the next properties… This is how you wind up with owning dozens of homes – becoming multi-millionaires yet contributing nothing to society.
With farms it is a similar method of operation. Farms are brought, their books are polished, farms are sold. Now, the way to polish the books on a farm is to raise production. To do this one uses overstocking, supplementary feedstocks, and fertiliser, many many tons of fertiliser. It pays to avoid any expenses that might stand in the way of profit. Erosion control, planting, diversity enhancement unless aesthetically pleasing to hide some problem – all are detrimental to the fast buck farm scheme.
So the rivers get filled with shit and fertiliser but the farmers books look good and the profits realised are enormous.
Now, not all farmers are tax-avoiding small business shifting wannabe millionaires, but there’s enough of them to turn our farming block into a large scale problem. One whiff of treasure and out come the pirates. This is a terrible shame as our decent Farmers are more valuable than ever, as exemplars and teachers in a changing world.
It is not farmers who’ll miss out with an introduced CGT. Farmers stay on and work on the land. The fuss is largely generated by pretend farmers, those with farming portfolios.
The idle rich are polluting our rivers and streams. CGT will slow them down.
oh it’s worse. free movement of employees to oz means that a employee is better off in oz, and isn’t paying a flatter tax system. A flatter tax system means owners pay less of the revenue for govt, and yes, employees pay more. This sucks out productivity since the best and brightest get compensated better in oz, making their products etc.
But wait. It’s even worse, oz is warmer, its businesses aren’t all paying to feed owners greed. Every supermarket, small business, etc is incentivized by 0% CGT to ring ever last cent to pay for all that financing… …And when they do sell out, they invariable move to oz where everyone doesn’t have a heavily leverage financial portfolio, well, not as heavily incentivized, and every worker isn’t carrying their employer.
What is rent, why is it bad it’s a lot worse when you pay for the upkeep of the house, plus the owners cut, plus the extra risk from the premium banks put on coz everyone is doing riskier deals incentuvized by the flatter tax system.
a 0% CGT means a govt back benefit to monied up Nats funded by hard working battlers
It is not farmers who’ll miss out with an introduced CGT. Farmers stay on and work on the land. The fuss is largely generated by pretend farmers, those with farming portfolios.
So true, and what a lot of money those pretend farmers are going to put into propaganda against a CGT. Pretend farming for capital gain is severely detrimental to both the environment and to people who’d like to become actual farmers, so the government should be coming up with ways to make it unattractive. CGT is one of those ways, so journos’ first question to any farmer whinging about CGT should be “What’s your alternative proposal for making farming for capital gain less attractive?”
In the height of the venison boom, there used to be a term ‘Queen Street farmers’ who would have 4 wheel driver, Land Rovers then, to go to work in bought for and tax diminished by their farming operation. They were a badge of success in Auckland.
Yeah, yeah, there will be some sneers about this having always been the case muttering about the Herald, CNN, Faux News etc, but this really is something new.
For a party that likes to court the “Bible-believing Christian” vote, they’re an ethical wasteland. How any actual Christians can vote for these deceitful bags of filth I’ll never understand. But then Sarah Huckabee Sanders purports to be a Christian and spends all day telling massive bare-faced lies and making excuses for a narcissistic sex pest, so I guess they set the bar fairly low.
Yes. But in the interests of fairness those stairs are equipped with a stairlift, so portly, ruddy-faced, cardiac-arrests-waiting-to-happen are able to navigate the family home without risking a premature demise.
Pretty much cliche stuff though:
You could say it was whitewash to cover the vile truth especially coming from the CA. (Chartered Accountants. One thinks of Monty Python who seem to have had a thing about accountants, I suggest you take these once an hour until all used.)
• In general, New Zealand has higher levels of trust in professionals than Australia
• High levels of trust have significant benefits for businesses and professionals
• The importance of communicating a commitment to honesty and ethical behaviour
• Dishonesty and a lack of ethical behaviour are most likely to decrease trust.</i
Trust is at the core of the legitimacy of political parties and, by extension, the political process and our democracy. Our society depends on these power structures be given the authority by us, the people, to govern us. If we feel that we cannot trust those power structures and/or their brokers then society will suffer and eventually crumble. History 101. Trust takes time to build, to earn, and it can easily be lost. It can also be slowly eroded. This is our problem right now and we are not facing up to it and dealing with it. It is easy to say that it is a politicians’ problem and that they should fix it but this would be very mistaken. How can we deal with anything, big (CC) or small (CGT), if the political structure is broken and we don’t really have much confidence in it? This is the problem of our time: we have lost trust and confidence, in institutions, in authorities, in economic doctrines, in religion, and in ourselves …
If you want to summon Gosman, you have to speak his name backwards three times while anointing yourself in the blood of a charter school student. And remember — don’t set foot outside the circle.
Sounds like america,s been at its dirty work in venezuela for quite a while im amazed just how many filthy tentacles can be at work at the same time!! i mean havnt they just brought about regime change in Ukraine ?You,d think that would be enough for a bit but nope lets up the anti on venezuela no matter how many lies need to be told or how many bribes and threats need to be made .
These mayors are an utter disgrace. They should resign and put themselves out to pasture. They are deliberately making it harder for future generations through their ignorance and stupidity.
“Several New Zealand mayors are still reluctant to say they agree with the scientific consensus that human activities have an impact on climate change.”
Judging by the comments section on this article, they are good representatives of a good number of New Zealanders. We really ought to fund education a whole lot better.
A national policy statement on climate change, would require those mayors and their councils to give consideration to that statement when creating planning documents and making resource management decisions. We would not then need any kind of consensus amongst the councils, which is non-binding anyway.
It would be good to see this national policy statement be issued by our coalition government.
Note though from the article that the houses were sold at a price lower than asked originally by Mike Greer Homes to fall inside the Kiwibuild margins.
In other words, houses that were empty because of price have been made available for sale and occupancy. That indicates that the policy is working to help make homes more affordable.
With the sale and profit from the sale Mike Greer can continue to build homes, hopefully at more affordable prices in the future, maybe even for Kiwibuild.
Another way of looking at it, is that the high prices were unable to be sustained by the market, and Kiwibuild has provided the mechanism by which the gap between the buyer and the seller was filled.
This is a recognised consequence of help-to-buy programmes, and while some are being housed, we should recognise and admit that in the long-term they do nothing for reducing inflated housing costs and providing access to housing for all.
If Bill were back he would have had great schadenfreude with centre-lefts like me who had hoped for great things from Trudeau. Trudeau rose by social media and is now severely wounded by it. Nothing like a Canadian ‘inferred influence’ scandal to look big against the proper-sized scandals in the United States, Israel, and elsewhere.
Why bother, liberals never change, never listen or learn anything – they just keep supporting evil people thinking they will be better this time.
You just want a cathartic moment, without giving up anything or facing the fact your lesser evil, is still evil.
You can’t accept that the systems you keep forcing on people are broken, and are just their to keep up the illusion of democracy, without actually having a democracy.
We live in a world of corporate tyranny and unless you fight it – you nothing but a apologists, at best.
Hardt and Negri did better a decade ago. Even Bill could do better.
We live in one of the cleanest, institutionally strongest, most regulated, safest, most secular, least populated, least protesting, and most contented liberal states on earth.
You so funny, tell that to the kids killing themselves either quickly through suicide (were number 1, or close enough) or slowly killing themselves with Alcohol and drugs. Tell that to the homeless, the prisoners, the aged, the disabled and people hiding from the immigration department.
Tell them that the systems of power have not been taken over by corporate elects.
No wait, your one of them. You have a position which helps keep working people in check. Keeping them on low wages and not voting – because they know people like you won’t give up an inch of your privilege, or actually do anything real to challenge the dominant power structures.
Good to focus on mental health. That’s precisely what you will see in the 2019 Labour-led completely non-revolutionary Government budget.
What that will build on is New Zealand:
– Least corrupt country in the world
– 4th most peaceful in the world
– 10th best for literacy in the world
– 8th best in world for media freedom
– Highest for political rights and civil liberties
– 2nd easiest for doing business
– 4th for economic freedom
– Top 10 for protected conservation areas
– Regularly top place in the world to visit
You can find these in OECD and Wikipedia stats sources.
Aren’t there enough facts linking Trudeau to business interests pushing
projects. He was the brightest hope wasn’t he an_ thought to be right wing but with left pretensions? Each country needs to look to its own problems with sideways checks on what is happening in the USA. The trouble with big ships going down – they drag surrounding things down with them.
7:22 am today
The US trade gap with the rest of the world jumped to a 10-year high of $621bn ($NZ916bn) last year, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump’s deficit reduction plan. https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/384128/us-president-donald-trump-dealt-blow-as-us-trade-deficit-jumps
Reacting to news that the Trump administration has revoked a part of an Obama executive order requiring reporting on civilian casualties, Daphne Eviatar, Amnesty International USA’s Director of Security with Human Rights stated:
“This is a shameful decision that will shroud this administration’s actions in even more secrecy with little accountability for its victims.
Trump will be ecstatic. “Tremendous decision! One of the best decisions this administration has made, and we’ve made a lot of tremendous decisions! But this one, which essentially allows us to shroud our, erm… ‘collateral damage’ in thick, viscous, nigh-on impenetrable veils of secrecy, well, that’s probably the most tremendous decision we’ve made this week! We continue to drain the swamp by pumping out all that nasty swamp water and replacing it with nastier swamp water! Stay tuned for more tremendousness as it comes to hand, America!”
Elizabeth Warren was struggling to contain her emotions and listening to what she saw it’s not hard to understand why.
This is the USA. The country which claims to be the champion of democracy and freedom for all people. Instead it treats people forced to flee their homelands like animals and yet still has the gall to call out other countries they don’t like for doing the same kind of thing.
My heart goes out to the good, decent Americans who are as appalled as the rest of us is at what is being done in their name.
Disgusting foul waters these lowlifes swim and kill in.
And Joe for your info when Hillary was prez she did much much worse than this and you know it why oh why are you suppressing the truth about well you know everything. 😀
The problem with liberals is the lack of intellectual courage to fight, or at the very least, hold power to account. Your too busy going the other side is bad (which it is, I don’t actually need to be reminded of this), our side good (nope not all of them, some are murderous scum).
When the honest response in that those in power don’t give a damn for people, face it, the death empowering tools in power care nothing for you or your family. So rather then run around like some Byzantine peasant chanting ‘Blue’ or ‘Green’ – have a go at power and those who control the mechanisms of power.
Mark Zuckerberg has sold close to 30 million shares of Facebook to fund an ambitious biomedical-research project, called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, with a goal of curing all disease within a generation.
A less publicized initiative related to the $US5 billion program includes work on brain-machine interfaces, devices that essentially translate thoughts into commands. One recent project is a wireless brain implant that can record, stimulate, and disrupt the movement of a monkey in real time.
In a paper published in the highly cited scientific journal Nature on New Year’s Eve, researchers detail a wireless brain device implanted in a primate that records, stimulates, and modifies its brain activity in real time, sensing a normal movement and stopping it immediately. One of those researchers is an investigator with the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a nonprofit medical research group related to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Oh good, just what we needed! What’s the use of having zillions of make-believe money if one oesn’t use it to muck up people’s lives and brains so that they can’t understand anything and can’t enquire and make decisions for themselves and anything else, so being entirely flexible, protean and disposable. Tell them to go jump in the lake! Done!
It is called ‘transhumanism’, gw…wireless tech…smart cities…are the precursors…
Core premise of transhumanism …the human being is broken…weak…a biological liability…mortal…
Clearly the ‘slow kill’ method …is too slow…why invest in the environment…when you can become a machine…which does not share fundamental requirments of biological beings…
It is all coming out into the open…just as many folk decades ago stated would happen…
Which is why…IMO…kiss this biologically habitable planet…goodbye…
Chris Trotter at Bowalley Road applying his questing mind to NZ matters.
Ardern’s game-changing intuition was that all these voters really wanted to hear were different words. Commitments, promises, studies, working-groups, projects: policies filled with good intentions and promoted with powerful displays of empathy. The number of voters eager to focus on the fiscal mechanisms required to pay for Labour’s kinder, gentler New Zealand were considerably fewer.
That had always been the problem with Labour’s dreary procession of earnest middle-aged blokes. They had all been way too keen on the nuts and bolts; far too ready to tell everybody how much fiscal pain they would have to be willing to suffer in order to make all the good things they wanted for New Zealand affordable. Who the hell wanted to hear about that!
That was Jacinda’s gift. A young face. A bright smile. A “Let’s Do This!” willingness to hit the ground running. And, most of all, an extraordinary ability to make her middle-class supporters believe that, as with the relentless rise in the value of their houses, her “politics of kindness” could be brought into being without serious sacrifice or effort.
Under the comments on Ardern’s great style and success which we are all grateful and hopeful for, is the stark thought that it is NZs obvious avarice, weakness of will and moral fibre and compass that may prevent that success. Will we be able to make the bold movement forward needed to cope with the accumulation of neglect and dissolving standards of everything, and more will we forge through with programs that will help to protect and recover from the climatic and societal strikes that are coming to batter us?
Funny I have heard of the same thing in Kaiapoi – houses that failed to sell in the market are now taken over by KiwiBuild.
It could be said that the govt is propping up developers buy purchasing unsold developments. Now isn’t that corporate welfare when the govt saves a failing private enterprise ? But well done to Mike Greer still gets to sell and make a profit 😉 https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/111074456/huapai-kiwibuild-homes-had-already-been-for-sale-on-open-market
What has been is been
What is done is done
there is nothing new under the sun.
THE HOUSING SITUATION.—The number of new houses and flats constructed each year has, approximately doubled since the pre-war period. A peak of 19,200 was reached in each of the years ended 31 March 1956 and 31 March 1957. The total dropped back a little to 18,600 in the year ended 31 March 1958. This rate of house building in relation to population is higher than in most countries. Over 80 per cent of the houses built at present are for private home ownership.
There was a fairly rapid expansion in house building from 1945 to 1951, when there was a noticeable levelling-off at just over 16,000 houses each year. In August 1953 the Government convened a National Housing Conference for the purpose of surveying the general housing situation in New Zealand and investigating ways and means of implementing the Government’s housing policy of promoting the building of more houses at a reasonable cost. The conference was attended by builders and others directly associated with the building industry, and also by employers, workers, welfare organizations, local bodies, organizations interested in housing finance, and other sections of the public. Every aspect of housing was discussed, and action taken on the resolutions adopted by the conference helped to effect a further expansion in house building to the present level. The conference assessed the extent of the housing shortage and set a number of 206,000 houses in ten years as a target to overcome the shortage and provide for the increase in population expected from both natural increase and immigration. This target represented an increase of 25 per cent in the building rate. A National Housing Council was also set up.
The most noteworthy development in house building which has resulted has been the group building scheme. This scheme has been designed to give builders continuity of work, to reduce non-productive time between the finishing of one house and the starting of the next, and to assist builders in administration and supervision by enabling them to build houses for sale in groups. Plans and specifications are checked by the State Advances Corporation, which also inspects the work and, on behalf of the Government, gives an undertaking to take over at approved prices a specified number of any unsold houses. At 31 December 1958 there were 490 builders participating in the scheme, and 12,415 houses had been programmed; of these 9,785 had been completed and sold, and 675 were under construction.
So basically it removes some of the risk if the developer takes a wee discount on the sale price. The other possibility is that maybe the developer slows everything down, maybe puts some subbies on the “pay when I’m ready if I don’t go bankrupt” list.
Now, I’d like to see a ministry of works-style development, but if some deveopers build houses with the kiwibuild backstop in mind, it’s still doing the job of keeping construction going.
Ending poverty is more important than global warming. Everyone benefits from cheap oil prices. Action proposed to stop global warming usually involves raising oil prices through the roof, to the benefit of the oil companies. The result of these policies is to squeeze the middle class. This country has enormous untapped oil and gas reserves. The profits currently go to oligarchs overseas. If these resource extraction companies were state-owned, everyone would all get a tax cut from the profits.
We do need to reduce our oil usage, but until we’ve implemented a workable replacement technology (or more probably a suite of them), using domestic oil would be better both in terms carbon footprints and balance of payments.
I haven’t seen a credible policy designed to reduce our oil consumption yet, so exploration isn’t entirely stupid – except for the Key terms that give 95% of discovered resources to foreign corporations just for finding them.
Bit of over reach and hyperbole there cinny You got facts to back that statement up We get rid of oil a lot of people starve , ie no tractors, no trucks, no harvester, no ships…., we basically grind to a halt and move to preindustrial agriculture to feed a world that is 16x more populated
I think you are missing my point, which is….. drilling for more oil will not reduce poverty.
A massive amount of poverty can be attributed to climate change. Food, water and shelter are the most important factors of a human life. A changing climate affects all of that.
We don’t need tractors to commercially grow food, nor do we need to suffer from floods, droughts etc…. what we do need to do is grow smarter. Think hydroponic food growing warehouses.
Such growing techniques require no soil, no sun and up to 95% less water. Meaning crops would be cheap to grow and not weather dependent. Cheap fresh food helps those in poverty etc etc. Take it to the next level, robots growing food, like at Iron Ox… http://ironox.com/
Free/cheap energy will decrease poverty, drilling for more oil will not.
Don’t think your a twit Cinny but here is some food for thought, excuse the pun 😊
Patrick Moore, the co-founder of the environmentalist group Greenpeace, ripped into New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over the weekend as a “pompous little twit,” saying the Green New Deal plan she’s advocating is “completely crazy.”
Patrick Moore
@EcoSenseNow
Pompous little twit. You don’t have a plan to grow food for 8 billion people without fossil fuels, or get the food into the cities. Horses? If fossil fuels were banned every tree in the world would be cut down for fuel for cooking and heating.
Lmao 🙂 A particularly humorous Roald Dahl book springs to mind 🙂
Anyways…… context is important… so first I found out just who Patrick Moore is…. and hello… a media statement from Greenpeace, back in 2010 appeared..
“Patrick Moore often misrepresents himself in the media as an environmental “expert” or even an “environmentalist,” while offering anti-environmental opinions on a wide range of issues and taking a distinctly anti-environmental stance.
He also exploits long-gone ties with Greenpeace to sell himself as a speaker and pro-corporate spokesperson, usually taking positions that Greenpeace opposes.”
But wait… there’s more…. ‘He claims he “saw the light” but what Moore really saw was an opportunity for financial gain. Since then he has gone from defender of the planet to a paid representative of corporate polluters.’
Let’s continue…. lololol 🙂 here’s my response to your above reply 🙂
‘If fossil fuels were banned every tree in the world would be cut down for fuel for cooking and heating.’
We mostly use renewable energy for power in NZ, so Patrick Moore’s statement seems slightly irrelevant for us, and we grow trees.
‘ You don’t have a plan to grow food for 8 billion people without fossil fuels, or get the food into the cities’
Hydroponic warehouses are often located in cities, that is part of it, a farm in the city, small footprint, tall building.
Free clean energy for all would solve so much poverty, but drilling for more oil won’t accomplish that, instead technology will. Reluctance to engage in finding such answers keeps the planet reliant on a method which is killing it.
Climate change is already causing mass death and the extinction of species. Come to think about it oil rich countries such as saudi arabia also bring about mass death, Yemen.
1: we need to address poverty and AGW both, not one at the expense of the other.
2: Tax cuts help rich people more than poor people, and besides we need to transition to a low-employment automated economy anyway.
3: raising oil prices makes alternative energies more profitable, so they get more development investment rather than developing new fracking methods to go even deeper. Longer term everyone is better off with new, more efficient tech than the internal combustion engine.
I’m trying to work out why Amy Adams has got her knickers in a twist about the census, the lack of reliability of it and the lack of important information which it should have gathered.
James Shaw said today that it took 5-7 years to get it organised to do it right. When he was made Minister he had no more than 47 working days before Christmas for an exercise which was to happen before March 6th. (Comfortably before that I suppose if it was to be done online.)
Not many days to become au fait with all the brilliant things the previous Ministers had been in charge of.
Actually I do know why she’s in the state she’s in – she’s a bloody idiot. She should look to her left in Parliament. Just before her eyes reach David Seymour they should land on Scott Simpson (starts the same as ‘simple’). The eyes would have to travel past another who was involved in the census oversight – Mark Mitchell (doesn’t start the same as ‘simple’ but is that anyway.)
She should ask them about the cock-up they spent years ‘organising.’
The Democrats announce that they will not invite the FOX Network to be a host for the upcoming Democratic Party primary debates, after allegations of corrupt practice by the FOX Netowork.
In response President Trump threatens to ban all other networks from hosting presidential debates. (Presumably all except FOX)
Trump threatens to block networks from hosting debates after Dems reject Fox
Tal Axelrod – March 6, 2019
…..allegations that late Fox News founder Roger Ailes passed along questions to Trump prior to a 2016 Republican primary debate and noted that former Fox executive Bill Shine is now the White House communications director. Several other former Fox News employees and contributors work in the Trump administration….
Kia ora Te ao Maori News Congratulat to Noa Nicholson from Dannvirke 100 years old is a great for A Maori Wahine it looks like the Whanau put on a great hakari for her.
Ka pai for protesting about whenua that was taken by stealf stolen I have one that I will be following my tupuna and taking to Court as the whenua was granted to the wrong WHANAU.
I have a strong interest in Matariki now. I have a lot to learn.
Ka pai to Kanikani 2 cool for there win in America.
Graham Tipene for getting to design that walk way in Auckland it looks awesome with the Maori art involved in the design. Ka kite ano
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This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
Responding to the long-awaited release of judges’ special allowances, including free air travel and hotels for spouses, generous sabbaticals, and access to limousines, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Alex Murphy said: “In what world does your employer ...
Analysis - The United States has unveiled plans to boost the weapons trade with Australia and the UK, on the same day that Winston Peters is expected to sketch NZ's position on AUKUS. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Carson, Professor of Political Communication, Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, La Trobe University Since Australia’s First Nations Voice to Parliament referendum in October 2023, diverse commentaries have sought to explain why it failed. But what does an analysis of media ...
Lawyers representing two iwi as well as the Māori Women’s Welfare League on Wednesday asked the Court of Appeal to overturn last week’s High Court decision on the Waitangi Tribunal’s decision to summons Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Tribunal is currently investigating the Government’s decision to repeal section 7AA of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will introduce legislation to ban deepfake pornography and provide more funding for the eSafety Commission to pilot age-assurance technologies. The contribution of internet sites to gender-based violence was one major issue ...
Average ordinary time hourly earnings, as measured by the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), increased 5.2 percent in the year to the March 2024 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. Annual wage cost inflation, as measured by the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dimitrios Salampasis, FinTech Capability Lead | Senior Lecturer, Emerging Technologies and FinTech, Swinburne University of Technology Clem Onojeghuo/Unsplash In the digital era, the job market is increasingly becoming a minefield – demanding and difficult to navigate. According to the Australian Bureau ...
As of the March 2024 quarter, we can now look back on 20 years of data related to youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET), as collected by the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS), according to figures released by Stats NZ today. "The ...
Thousands of workers attended public events in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch today to celebrate International Workers’ Day (May Day), but union representatives are urging caution and vigilance over the Government’s blatantly "anti-worker" ...
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in the March 2024 quarter, compared with 4.0 percent in the previous quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. ...
The PSA is warning the Government that the sensitive information of New Zealanders held by various agencies will fall into the wrong hands if the latest round of proposed cuts goes ahead. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Talitha Best, Professor of Psychology, CQUniversity Australia Victoria Rodriguez/Unsplash How do sugar rushes work? – W.H, age nine, from Canberra What a terrific question W.H! Let’s explore this, starting with some of the basics. What is sugar? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karinna Saxby, Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne MART PRODUCTION/Pexels Increasing income support could help keep women and children safe according to new work demonstrating strong links between financial insecurity and domestic violence. ...
ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark A Gregory, Associate Professor, School of Engineering, RMIT University The telecommunications industry faces a major shakeup following the release of the post-incident report on last November’s 12-hour Optus outage. Telecommunications companies will have to share more information with customers during future ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Eden Denyer, bookseller at Unity Books Auckland.Weirdest question/request you’ve had on the shop floorA mother came in looking for anything we might have on Alaskan bison as that was her little boy’s ...
NZCTU Economist Craig Renney said new data released by Statistics New Zealand shows the need for Government to act now, with unemployment rising from 3.4% to 4.3%. ...
The outpouring of anger over Maiki Sherman’s hyperbolic presentation of this week’s ‘nightmare’ poll is itself an overreaction, argues Stewart Sowman-Lund. Politicians love nothing more than to pretend they don’t care about polls. This week, deputy prime minister Winston Peters said he didn’t give a “rat’s derriere” about a TVNZ ...
Asia Pacific Report Ngāti Kahungunu in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay region has become the first indigenous Māori iwi (tribe) to sign a resolution calling for a “ceasefire in Palestine”, reports Te Ao Māori News. Reporter Te Aniwaniwa Paterson talked to Te Otāne Huata, who has been organising peace rallies ...
By Dale Luma in Port Moresby “We want grants and not concessional loans,” is the crisp message from Papua New Guinea businesses directly affected by the Black Wednesday looting four months ago. The businesses, which lost millions after the January 10 rioting and looting, say they need grants as part ...
Happy May Day. Join a union. Q: What’s worse than a staff break room where the only place to sit and have a cup of tea is on a teetering stack of old pornography magazines? A: Your boss replacing the magazine stacks with chairs that are “heartily encrusted with ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Former opposition leader Matthew Wale has been announced as the second prime ministerial candidate ahead of the election in Solomon Islands tomorrow. He will face off against former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele, who was announced by the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation ...
We get but one birthday a year – why not make it last as long as possible by scheduling as many meals with friends and family as you can? This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. How do you celebrate your birthday? Do you celebrate at ...
A Koi Tū discussion paper released today proposes sweeping changes to New Zealand’s media industry. The principal’s key author, Gavin Ellis, explains how journalists have a key role to play in making others value their role in society. This is an abridged version of a piece first published on knightlyviews.com ...
The Government’s spending cuts are again targeting support for Māori with proposed reform of the agency charged with advising on Māori wellbeing and development. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Douglas, Honorary Senior Lecturer, UNSW Aviation., UNSW Sydney The history of budget jet airlines in Australia is a long road littered with broken dreams. New entrants have consistently struggled to get a foothold. Low-cost carrier Bonza has just become the industry’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosalind Dixon, Director, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, UNSW Sydney Australia is finally having a sustained conversation about violence against women and what we can do about it. It is more than time. Australian women and girls continue to experience ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne stockfour/Shutterstock Preliminary bulk billing data released this week shows a 2.1% rise in bulk billing up to March. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Schulz, Senior Lecturer, University of Adelaide Australia is once again grappling with how we can stop gendered violence in our country. Protests over the weekend show there is enormous community anger over the number of women who are dying and National ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University AnastasiaDudka/Shutterstock What if the government was doing everything it could to stop thieves making off with our money, except the one thing that could really work? That’s how it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin Harrington, Senior Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies, University of Canterbury The Conversation It seems to be a time of old favourites. This month our experts have recommended two new seasons – the second season of Alone Australia (although ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland A bright Eta Aquariid meteor photobombed this photo of comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN) in May 2020.Jonti Horner Meteors – commonly known as shooting stars – can be seen on any night of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Flannery, Honorary fellow, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Current concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in Earth’s atmosphere are unprecedented in human history. But CO₂ levels today, and those that might occur in coming decades, did occur millions of years ago. ...
Winston Peters has been keen to dismiss speculation on our involvement in Aukus but will give a speech tonight on the direction of our foreign policy, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Usmar, Lecturer in Critical Media Literacies, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images With the coalition government’s ban of student mobile phones in New Zealand schools coming into effect this week, reaction has ranged from the sceptical (kids will just get ...
Hospitals around the country are not allowed to make a single hiring decision without the approval of Te Whatu Ora's head office, including for cleaners and administration staff. ...
A new report on protecting journalism and democracy in New Zealand recommends a levy be charged on global platforms like Facebook and Google to fund media firms undertaking public interest reporting. It also calls for the reinstatement of a powerful Broadcasting Commission to distribute public funding for journalism and other ...
On International Workers' Day, also known as May Day, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi and the wider union movement are celebrating the proud history of the labour movement during a tough time for working people. ...
From bills to beards, a walk through the former Green co-leader’s time in politics. After close to a decade in politics, James Shaw is preparing to bid farewell to parliament. Tonight will see the former minister deliver his valedictory address, certain to be a speech filled with Shaw’s trademark wit ...
Two months ago, MPs unanimously voted to give themselves a week off in Efeso Collins’ honour. On Tuesday, most were too busy to give even an hour of their time. The day Fa’anānā Efeso Collins died, parliament felt different. In a building that operates at a breakneck pace, everyone stopped ...
India’s election involves hundreds of millions of people and is a months-long affair. Here’s how voting works and what’s at stake.The biggest-ever election in world history started on April 19, with more than 10% of the world’s population eligible to vote. Elections in India, the world’s most populous country ...
After the Christchurch earthquake, the then-national civil defence boss compared his experience to “putting a team on the rugby field who have never ever played together before”. Now, eight years later – and following a damning inquiry into the emergency response of cyclones Gabrielle, Hale and the Auckland anniversary weekend floods – ...
“I had just come off the end of a major robbery case which I had been working on for six months when I got a call on the afternoon of September 1, 1992, that some remains had been found at a building site in Devonport, so I drove over with ...
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Comment: Journalists are very good at telling other people’s stories, but they fall well short when writing about their own profession. Perhaps that is why it is so undervalued. Every successive poll on the public’s attitude toward journalism is more alarming than the last. In the last month we have ...
Opinion: A young Māori woman and her Pacific partner arrive at their local hospital by ambulance. She has gone into labour at just under 24 weeks, but the couple haven’t recognised the symptoms – and don’t know the risks of premature birth for their baby. By the time they arrive, ...
Behind closed doors, NZ First will be arguing fiercely against any watering down of the ministerial decision-making powers in the Bill The post Bishop backtracks after fast-track backlash appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Emotional scenes played out in the Invercargill courthouse on the first two days of the coronial inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones, in which the boy’s mother was accused of disposing of her son’s body. The second season of Newsroom’s award-nominated podcast The Boy in the Water ...
Opinion: The impression from the carpark is very inviting. The area is well fenced but barred so there is easy visibility of loved ones. Inside, the spaces are welcoming and clean and staff are friendly and clearly comfortable. I am greeted by ‘Kim’. She has worked here for three years, ...
Asia Pacific Report A Pacific civil society alliance has condemned French neocolonial policies in Kanaky New Caledonia, saying Paris is set on “maintaining the status quo” and denying the indigenous Kanak people their inalienable right to self-determination. The Pacific Regional Non-Governmental Organisations (PRNGOs) Alliance, representing some 15 groups, said in ...
Koi Tū New Zealand cannot sit back and see the collapse of its Fourth Estate, the director of Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, Sir Peter Gluckman, says in the foreword of a paper published today. The paper, “If not journalists, then who?” paints a picture of an industry ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Foreign investment proposals with implications for Australia’s strategic or economic security will face tougher scrutiny, under a policy overhaul to be announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday. At the same time, the government ...
A Waitangi Tribunal inquiry report has warned government that a repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act could cause harm to children in care. ...
The Treasury has published today three new papers covering government consumption multipliers, automatic stabilisers and the impacts of global shocks on New Zealand’s economy. ...
Asia Pacific Report The Pacific state of Hawai’i’s House of Representatives has joined the state’s Senate in calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza, becoming the first state to pass such a resolution, reports Hawaii News Now. In March, the Senate passed a ceasefire resolution with a 24–1 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Ferrie, A/Prof, UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research and ARC DECRA Fellow, University of Technology Sydney PsiQuantum The Australian government has announced a pledge of approximately A$940 million (US$617 million) to PsiQuantum, a quantum computing start-up company based in Silicon Valley. Half ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hunter Bennett, Lecturer in Exercise Science, University of South Australia Cameron Prins/Shutterstock If you spend a lot of time exploring fitness content online, you might have come across the concept of heart rate zones. Heart rate zone training has become more ...
Clean Streams and Capital Gains Tax.
Several years ago I attended a seminar of ‘How to be a winner’. In this seminar they spoke of how both real estate and small businesses were the source of large capital gains. Buy the house – do it up as a tax write off – sell it for profit and keep the lot. The same for a business, buy it, make it look profitable, sell it for large tax free returns. For a simple fee of $2000 this mob was willing to let you in on their methods.
Buy a property, use it as leverage to mortgage a second property, use both as leverage for the next properties… This is how you wind up with owning dozens of homes – becoming multi-millionaires yet contributing nothing to society.
With farms it is a similar method of operation. Farms are brought, their books are polished, farms are sold. Now, the way to polish the books on a farm is to raise production. To do this one uses overstocking, supplementary feedstocks, and fertiliser, many many tons of fertiliser. It pays to avoid any expenses that might stand in the way of profit. Erosion control, planting, diversity enhancement unless aesthetically pleasing to hide some problem – all are detrimental to the fast buck farm scheme.
So the rivers get filled with shit and fertiliser but the farmers books look good and the profits realised are enormous.
Now, not all farmers are tax-avoiding small business shifting wannabe millionaires, but there’s enough of them to turn our farming block into a large scale problem. One whiff of treasure and out come the pirates. This is a terrible shame as our decent Farmers are more valuable than ever, as exemplars and teachers in a changing world.
It is not farmers who’ll miss out with an introduced CGT. Farmers stay on and work on the land. The fuss is largely generated by pretend farmers, those with farming portfolios.
The idle rich are polluting our rivers and streams. CGT will slow them down.
oh it’s worse. free movement of employees to oz means that a employee is better off in oz, and isn’t paying a flatter tax system. A flatter tax system means owners pay less of the revenue for govt, and yes, employees pay more. This sucks out productivity since the best and brightest get compensated better in oz, making their products etc.
But wait. It’s even worse, oz is warmer, its businesses aren’t all paying to feed owners greed. Every supermarket, small business, etc is incentivized by 0% CGT to ring ever last cent to pay for all that financing… …And when they do sell out, they invariable move to oz where everyone doesn’t have a heavily leverage financial portfolio, well, not as heavily incentivized, and every worker isn’t carrying their employer.
What is rent, why is it bad it’s a lot worse when you pay for the upkeep of the house, plus the owners cut, plus the extra risk from the premium banks put on coz everyone is doing riskier deals incentuvized by the flatter tax system.
a 0% CGT means a govt back benefit to monied up Nats funded by hard working battlers
It is not farmers who’ll miss out with an introduced CGT. Farmers stay on and work on the land. The fuss is largely generated by pretend farmers, those with farming portfolios.
So true, and what a lot of money those pretend farmers are going to put into propaganda against a CGT. Pretend farming for capital gain is severely detrimental to both the environment and to people who’d like to become actual farmers, so the government should be coming up with ways to make it unattractive. CGT is one of those ways, so journos’ first question to any farmer whinging about CGT should be “What’s your alternative proposal for making farming for capital gain less attractive?”
In the height of the venison boom, there used to be a term ‘Queen Street farmers’ who would have 4 wheel driver, Land Rovers then, to go to work in bought for and tax diminished by their farming operation. They were a badge of success in Auckland.
I think you’ll like this. I’d like to read the textbook myself.
’20 minutes of TED talk has done more than 50 years of struggling against official opposition’
This is not that TED talk 😀
‘Running Out Of Time”
Thanks WtB I’ll put that on my list for today. I’m off to save the world. Hah.
Another deceptive dirty politics tactic – creating entire new websites disguised as legitimate news outlets to spread political propaganda.
https://www.salon.com/2019/03/05/republicans-launch-propaganda-sites-designed-to-look-like-local-news-outlets/
Yeah, yeah, there will be some sneers about this having always been the case muttering about the Herald, CNN, Faux News etc, but this really is something new.
For a party that likes to court the “Bible-believing Christian” vote, they’re an ethical wasteland. How any actual Christians can vote for these deceitful bags of filth I’ll never understand. But then Sarah Huckabee Sanders purports to be a Christian and spends all day telling massive bare-faced lies and making excuses for a narcissistic sex pest, so I guess they set the bar fairly low.
Thanks for that link, dang!
Houston, we have a problem with our trusters.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1903/S00082/experts-defy-falling-public-trust.htm
Would have been interesting if political party trust had been broken down into each party. Which one would you trust most?
That’s conducted every election.
No its not. There would be many National supporters who would not Trust National but at election time, they could not vote for anyone else.
Who would you most trust to babysit your grandchildren? Gerry Brownlee, or Trevor Mallard?
Take all the time you need.
Does the babysitting location contain stairs?
Yes. But in the interests of fairness those stairs are equipped with a stairlift, so portly, ruddy-faced, cardiac-arrests-waiting-to-happen are able to navigate the family home without risking a premature demise.
One million people don’t vote. Do you think lack of trust has got anything to do with this?
Pretty much cliche stuff though:
You could say it was whitewash to cover the vile truth especially coming from the CA. (Chartered Accountants. One thinks of Monty Python who seem to have had a thing about accountants, I suggest you take these once an hour until all used.)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrsB1RfksEA
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuFMHybILuw
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg0l8bn5UuM
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5aN0VmvFn4
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YUiBBltOg4
The Crimson Assurance
Meaning of Life – The Crimson Permanent Assurance
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSO9OFJNMBA
The Crimson Assurance Part 2 7.+mins
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNlYBNTCBG8
Other key report findings include:
• In general, New Zealand has higher levels of trust in professionals than Australia
• High levels of trust have significant benefits for businesses and professionals
• The importance of communicating a commitment to honesty and ethical behaviour
• Dishonesty and a lack of ethical behaviour are most likely to decrease trust.</i
Trust is at the core of the legitimacy of political parties and, by extension, the political process and our democracy. Our society depends on these power structures be given the authority by us, the people, to govern us. If we feel that we cannot trust those power structures and/or their brokers then society will suffer and eventually crumble. History 101. Trust takes time to build, to earn, and it can easily be lost. It can also be slowly eroded. This is our problem right now and we are not facing up to it and dealing with it. It is easy to say that it is a politicians’ problem and that they should fix it but this would be very mistaken. How can we deal with anything, big (CC) or small (CGT), if the political structure is broken and we don’t really have much confidence in it? This is the problem of our time: we have lost trust and confidence, in institutions, in authorities, in economic doctrines, in religion, and in ourselves …
Greg Palast – clears a few things up.
Excellent. Thanks Adam.
Where’s our resident Venezuela expert Gosman on this?
If you want to summon Gosman, you have to speak his name backwards three times while anointing yourself in the blood of a charter school student. And remember — don’t set foot outside the circle.
Sounds like america,s been at its dirty work in venezuela for quite a while im amazed just how many filthy tentacles can be at work at the same time!! i mean havnt they just brought about regime change in Ukraine ?You,d think that would be enough for a bit but nope lets up the anti on venezuela no matter how many lies need to be told or how many bribes and threats need to be made .
These mayors are an utter disgrace. They should resign and put themselves out to pasture. They are deliberately making it harder for future generations through their ignorance and stupidity.
“Several New Zealand mayors are still reluctant to say they agree with the scientific consensus that human activities have an impact on climate change.”
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/111063926/several-mayors-unsure-whether-human-activities-contribute-to-climate-change
Judging by the comments section on this article, they are good representatives of a good number of New Zealanders. We really ought to fund education a whole lot better.
A national policy statement on climate change, would require those mayors and their councils to give consideration to that statement when creating planning documents and making resource management decisions. We would not then need any kind of consensus amongst the councils, which is non-binding anyway.
It would be good to see this national policy statement be issued by our coalition government.
A good read on cost-benefit analyses as applied to the idea of carbon taxes.
https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2019/03/06/green-new-deal-000884
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/111074456/huapai-kiwibuild-homes-had-already-been-for-sale-on-open-market
Slow hand clap anyone?
Twyford strikes again!
Note though from the article that the houses were sold at a price lower than asked originally by Mike Greer Homes to fall inside the Kiwibuild margins.
In other words, houses that were empty because of price have been made available for sale and occupancy. That indicates that the policy is working to help make homes more affordable.
With the sale and profit from the sale Mike Greer can continue to build homes, hopefully at more affordable prices in the future, maybe even for Kiwibuild.
But its not increasing the number of homes available
Yes it is . That builder can now get on with the next ones he was going build instead of sitting on his hands doing renos while they sell.
It is increasing the number of houses below the Kiwibuild threshold price.
The builder, as bwaghorn below says, gets on with building new houses.
The builder might just join the Kiwibuild scheme in a bigger way.
These are all pluses.
Another way of looking at it, is that the high prices were unable to be sustained by the market, and Kiwibuild has provided the mechanism by which the gap between the buyer and the seller was filled.
This is a recognised consequence of help-to-buy programmes, and while some are being housed, we should recognise and admit that in the long-term they do nothing for reducing inflated housing costs and providing access to housing for all.
If Bill were back he would have had great schadenfreude with centre-lefts like me who had hoped for great things from Trudeau. Trudeau rose by social media and is now severely wounded by it. Nothing like a Canadian ‘inferred influence’ scandal to look big against the proper-sized scandals in the United States, Israel, and elsewhere.
Come back Bill and spank us liberals .
Why bother, liberals never change, never listen or learn anything – they just keep supporting evil people thinking they will be better this time.
You just want a cathartic moment, without giving up anything or facing the fact your lesser evil, is still evil.
You can’t accept that the systems you keep forcing on people are broken, and are just their to keep up the illusion of democracy, without actually having a democracy.
We live in a world of corporate tyranny and unless you fight it – you nothing but a apologists, at best.
Harder
That’s what you’ve got?
Hardt and Negri did better a decade ago. Even Bill could do better.
We live in one of the cleanest, institutionally strongest, most regulated, safest, most secular, least populated, least protesting, and most contented liberal states on earth.
Rebellion? Not here.
You so funny, tell that to the kids killing themselves either quickly through suicide (were number 1, or close enough) or slowly killing themselves with Alcohol and drugs. Tell that to the homeless, the prisoners, the aged, the disabled and people hiding from the immigration department.
Tell them that the systems of power have not been taken over by corporate elects.
No wait, your one of them. You have a position which helps keep working people in check. Keeping them on low wages and not voting – because they know people like you won’t give up an inch of your privilege, or actually do anything real to challenge the dominant power structures.
Good to focus on mental health. That’s precisely what you will see in the 2019 Labour-led completely non-revolutionary Government budget.
What that will build on is New Zealand:
– Least corrupt country in the world
– 4th most peaceful in the world
– 10th best for literacy in the world
– 8th best in world for media freedom
– Highest for political rights and civil liberties
– 2nd easiest for doing business
– 4th for economic freedom
– Top 10 for protected conservation areas
– Regularly top place in the world to visit
You can find these in OECD and Wikipedia stats sources.
Plenty to do, but lots to build on.
Yeah wonderful – if you’ve financial security. Otherwise it’s miserable.
Aren’t there enough facts linking Trudeau to business interests pushing
projects. He was the brightest hope wasn’t he an_ thought to be right wing but with left pretensions? Each country needs to look to its own problems with sideways checks on what is happening in the USA. The trouble with big ships going down – they drag surrounding things down with them.
7:22 am today
The US trade gap with the rest of the world jumped to a 10-year high of $621bn ($NZ916bn) last year, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump’s deficit reduction plan.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/384128/us-president-donald-trump-dealt-blow-as-us-trade-deficit-jumps
Best to lower your political expectation standards and avoid perpetual disappointment.
Prefer to maintain high expectations re our politicians – I can handle perpetual disappointment, both receiving and giving. 🙂
Somehow this thread reminds me of …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NP-kD4C1SA
Dunno why.
Of course HRC was the real villain.
/
Reacting to news that the Trump administration has revoked a part of an Obama executive order requiring reporting on civilian casualties, Daphne Eviatar, Amnesty International USA’s Director of Security with Human Rights stated:
“This is a shameful decision that will shroud this administration’s actions in even more secrecy with little accountability for its victims.
https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/trump-administration-makes-shameful-decision-to-shroud-civilian-casualties-in-secrecy/
Trump will be ecstatic. “Tremendous decision! One of the best decisions this administration has made, and we’ve made a lot of tremendous decisions! But this one, which essentially allows us to shroud our, erm… ‘collateral damage’ in thick, viscous, nigh-on impenetrable veils of secrecy, well, that’s probably the most tremendous decision we’ve made this week! We continue to drain the swamp by pumping out all that nasty swamp water and replacing it with nastier swamp water! Stay tuned for more tremendousness as it comes to hand, America!”
Elizabeth Warren on ‘Murican tremendousness
https://twitter.com/SenWarren/status/1103427009290608640
Elizabeth Warren was struggling to contain her emotions and listening to what she saw it’s not hard to understand why.
This is the USA. The country which claims to be the champion of democracy and freedom for all people. Instead it treats people forced to flee their homelands like animals and yet still has the gall to call out other countries they don’t like for doing the same kind of thing.
My heart goes out to the good, decent Americans who are as appalled as the rest of us is at what is being done in their name.
Disgusting foul waters these lowlifes swim and kill in.
And Joe for your info when Hillary was prez she did much much worse than this and you know it why oh why are you suppressing the truth about well you know everything. 😀
The problem with liberals is the lack of intellectual courage to fight, or at the very least, hold power to account. Your too busy going the other side is bad (which it is, I don’t actually need to be reminded of this), our side good (nope not all of them, some are murderous scum).
When the honest response in that those in power don’t give a damn for people, face it, the death empowering tools in power care nothing for you or your family. So rather then run around like some Byzantine peasant chanting ‘Blue’ or ‘Green’ – have a go at power and those who control the mechanisms of power.
Daniel Graystone?
Mark Zuckerberg has sold close to 30 million shares of Facebook to fund an ambitious biomedical-research project, called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, with a goal of curing all disease within a generation.
A less publicized initiative related to the $US5 billion program includes work on brain-machine interfaces, devices that essentially translate thoughts into commands. One recent project is a wireless brain implant that can record, stimulate, and disrupt the movement of a monkey in real time.
In a paper published in the highly cited scientific journal Nature on New Year’s Eve, researchers detail a wireless brain device implanted in a primate that records, stimulates, and modifies its brain activity in real time, sensing a normal movement and stopping it immediately. One of those researchers is an investigator with the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a nonprofit medical research group related to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/chan-zuckerberg-research-implantable-brain-device-primates-2018-12
Oh good, just what we needed! What’s the use of having zillions of make-believe money if one oesn’t use it to muck up people’s lives and brains so that they can’t understand anything and can’t enquire and make decisions for themselves and anything else, so being entirely flexible, protean and disposable. Tell them to go jump in the lake! Done!
It is called ‘transhumanism’, gw…wireless tech…smart cities…are the precursors…
Core premise of transhumanism …the human being is broken…weak…a biological liability…mortal…
Clearly the ‘slow kill’ method …is too slow…why invest in the environment…when you can become a machine…which does not share fundamental requirments of biological beings…
It is all coming out into the open…just as many folk decades ago stated would happen…
Which is why…IMO…kiss this biologically habitable planet…goodbye…
Some semblance of justice for a courageous journalist.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/111098258/nicky-hager-settles-with-westpac-after-personal-information-released-to-police
Now, has any police officer faced investigation for making the unjustified request?
Or is that being handled by officer forgetful?
Chris Trotter at Bowalley Road applying his questing mind to NZ matters.
Ardern’s game-changing intuition was that all these voters really wanted to hear were different words. Commitments, promises, studies, working-groups, projects: policies filled with good intentions and promoted with powerful displays of empathy. The number of voters eager to focus on the fiscal mechanisms required to pay for Labour’s kinder, gentler New Zealand were considerably fewer.
That had always been the problem with Labour’s dreary procession of earnest middle-aged blokes. They had all been way too keen on the nuts and bolts; far too ready to tell everybody how much fiscal pain they would have to be willing to suffer in order to make all the good things they wanted for New Zealand affordable. Who the hell wanted to hear about that!
That was Jacinda’s gift. A young face. A bright smile. A “Let’s Do This!” willingness to hit the ground running. And, most of all, an extraordinary ability to make her middle-class supporters believe that, as with the relentless rise in the value of their houses, her “politics of kindness” could be brought into being without serious sacrifice or effort.
Under the comments on Ardern’s great style and success which we are all grateful and hopeful for, is the stark thought that it is NZs obvious avarice, weakness of will and moral fibre and compass that may prevent that success. Will we be able to make the bold movement forward needed to cope with the accumulation of neglect and dissolving standards of everything, and more will we forge through with programs that will help to protect and recover from the climatic and societal strikes that are coming to batter us?
Funny I have heard of the same thing in Kaiapoi – houses that failed to sell in the market are now taken over by KiwiBuild.
It could be said that the govt is propping up developers buy purchasing unsold developments. Now isn’t that corporate welfare when the govt saves a failing private enterprise ? But well done to Mike Greer still gets to sell and make a profit 😉
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/111074456/huapai-kiwibuild-homes-had-already-been-for-sale-on-open-market
Needs must when the devil drives. Old saying.
And the Labour Coalition isn’t the devil here.
What has been is been
What is done is done
there is nothing new under the sun.
THE HOUSING SITUATION.—The number of new houses and flats constructed each year has, approximately doubled since the pre-war period. A peak of 19,200 was reached in each of the years ended 31 March 1956 and 31 March 1957. The total dropped back a little to 18,600 in the year ended 31 March 1958. This rate of house building in relation to population is higher than in most countries. Over 80 per cent of the houses built at present are for private home ownership.
There was a fairly rapid expansion in house building from 1945 to 1951, when there was a noticeable levelling-off at just over 16,000 houses each year. In August 1953 the Government convened a National Housing Conference for the purpose of surveying the general housing situation in New Zealand and investigating ways and means of implementing the Government’s housing policy of promoting the building of more houses at a reasonable cost. The conference was attended by builders and others directly associated with the building industry, and also by employers, workers, welfare organizations, local bodies, organizations interested in housing finance, and other sections of the public. Every aspect of housing was discussed, and action taken on the resolutions adopted by the conference helped to effect a further expansion in house building to the present level. The conference assessed the extent of the housing shortage and set a number of 206,000 houses in ten years as a target to overcome the shortage and provide for the increase in population expected from both natural increase and immigration. This target represented an increase of 25 per cent in the building rate. A National Housing Council was also set up.
The most noteworthy development in house building which has resulted has been the group building scheme. This scheme has been designed to give builders continuity of work, to reduce non-productive time between the finishing of one house and the starting of the next, and to assist builders in administration and supervision by enabling them to build houses for sale in groups. Plans and specifications are checked by the State Advances Corporation, which also inspects the work and, on behalf of the Government, gives an undertaking to take over at approved prices a specified number of any unsold houses. At 31 December 1958 there were 490 builders participating in the scheme, and 12,415 houses had been programmed; of these 9,785 had been completed and sold, and 675 were under construction.
https://www3.stats.govt.nz/New_Zealand_Official_Yearbooks/1959/NZOYB_1959.html?_ga=2.6355505.2035999012.1551916704-443778311.1515815050#idchapter_1_211608
So basically it removes some of the risk if the developer takes a wee discount on the sale price. The other possibility is that maybe the developer slows everything down, maybe puts some subbies on the “pay when I’m ready if I don’t go bankrupt” list.
Now, I’d like to see a ministry of works-style development, but if some deveopers build houses with the kiwibuild backstop in mind, it’s still doing the job of keeping construction going.
“He said the company had to discount the houses to get to the KiwiBuild price threshold, which caps two-bedroom properties in Auckland at $600,000.”
So says the Mike Greer manager.
Part of the deal for kiwibuild is to get prices down to more affordable levels, yes? And inhabited.
Six houses uninhabited helps no-one, except those who own’ghost’ houses for the sole purpose of making capital gains.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/latest/103962397/minister-of-housing-blames-national-for-empty-ghost-houses
Twyford said “Ghost houses can be blamed on the previous government’s policies that have allowed rampant capital gain.”
Another good reason for a CGT. Auckland at one stage had 33,000 empty houses.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11654495
Sounds like a successful public-private partnership.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/383693/arrow-the-latest-pawn-in-construction-chess-match
A good report on the construction industry’s woes from 3/1/2019.
Ending poverty is more important than global warming. Everyone benefits from cheap oil prices. Action proposed to stop global warming usually involves raising oil prices through the roof, to the benefit of the oil companies. The result of these policies is to squeeze the middle class. This country has enormous untapped oil and gas reserves. The profits currently go to oligarchs overseas. If these resource extraction companies were state-owned, everyone would all get a tax cut from the profits.
Global warming aka Climate Change is a massive reason why people are in poverty. Failing crops, displacement due to climate, flooding, fires etc etc
Drilling for more oil won’t do bugger all for either poverty or climate change IMHO.
We do need to reduce our oil usage, but until we’ve implemented a workable replacement technology (or more probably a suite of them), using domestic oil would be better both in terms carbon footprints and balance of payments.
I haven’t seen a credible policy designed to reduce our oil consumption yet, so exploration isn’t entirely stupid – except for the Key terms that give 95% of discovered resources to foreign corporations just for finding them.
Bit of over reach and hyperbole there cinny You got facts to back that statement up We get rid of oil a lot of people starve , ie no tractors, no trucks, no harvester, no ships…., we basically grind to a halt and move to preindustrial agriculture to feed a world that is 16x more populated
I think you are missing my point, which is….. drilling for more oil will not reduce poverty.
A massive amount of poverty can be attributed to climate change. Food, water and shelter are the most important factors of a human life. A changing climate affects all of that.
“climate change is an acute threat to poorer people across the world, with the power to push more than 100 million people back into poverty over the next fifteen years.”
https://www.gfdrr.org/en/feature-story/managing-impacts-climate-change-poverty
We don’t need tractors to commercially grow food, nor do we need to suffer from floods, droughts etc…. what we do need to do is grow smarter. Think hydroponic food growing warehouses.
Such growing techniques require no soil, no sun and up to 95% less water. Meaning crops would be cheap to grow and not weather dependent. Cheap fresh food helps those in poverty etc etc. Take it to the next level, robots growing food, like at Iron Ox… http://ironox.com/
Free/cheap energy will decrease poverty, drilling for more oil will not.
Don’t think your a twit Cinny but here is some food for thought, excuse the pun 😊
Patrick Moore, the co-founder of the environmentalist group Greenpeace, ripped into New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over the weekend as a “pompous little twit,” saying the Green New Deal plan she’s advocating is “completely crazy.”
Patrick Moore
@EcoSenseNow
Pompous little twit. You don’t have a plan to grow food for 8 billion people without fossil fuels, or get the food into the cities. Horses? If fossil fuels were banned every tree in the world would be cut down for fuel for cooking and heating.
You would bring about mass death.
Lmao 🙂 A particularly humorous Roald Dahl book springs to mind 🙂
Anyways…… context is important… so first I found out just who Patrick Moore is…. and hello… a media statement from Greenpeace, back in 2010 appeared..
“Patrick Moore often misrepresents himself in the media as an environmental “expert” or even an “environmentalist,” while offering anti-environmental opinions on a wide range of issues and taking a distinctly anti-environmental stance.
He also exploits long-gone ties with Greenpeace to sell himself as a speaker and pro-corporate spokesperson, usually taking positions that Greenpeace opposes.”
But wait… there’s more…. ‘He claims he “saw the light” but what Moore really saw was an opportunity for financial gain. Since then he has gone from defender of the planet to a paid representative of corporate polluters.’
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/greenpeace-statement-on-patric/
Let’s continue…. lololol 🙂 here’s my response to your above reply 🙂
‘If fossil fuels were banned every tree in the world would be cut down for fuel for cooking and heating.’
We mostly use renewable energy for power in NZ, so Patrick Moore’s statement seems slightly irrelevant for us, and we grow trees.
‘ You don’t have a plan to grow food for 8 billion people without fossil fuels, or get the food into the cities’
Hydroponic warehouses are often located in cities, that is part of it, a farm in the city, small footprint, tall building.
Free clean energy for all would solve so much poverty, but drilling for more oil won’t accomplish that, instead technology will. Reluctance to engage in finding such answers keeps the planet reliant on a method which is killing it.
Climate change is already causing mass death and the extinction of species. Come to think about it oil rich countries such as saudi arabia also bring about mass death, Yemen.
Nitey nite 🙂 Bedtime for me.
1: we need to address poverty and AGW both, not one at the expense of the other.
2: Tax cuts help rich people more than poor people, and besides we need to transition to a low-employment automated economy anyway.
3: raising oil prices makes alternative energies more profitable, so they get more development investment rather than developing new fracking methods to go even deeper. Longer term everyone is better off with new, more efficient tech than the internal combustion engine.
Energy poverty in the North Island in may is a real risk.What is this hi tech stuff going to run on ?
https://nzgb.redspider.co.nz/
Fucked if I know, but increasing fossil fuel mining won’t fix a May problem, either.
Electricity.
Which we have plenty of. If we use the off peak power.
Stella performance by Soimon in the house today during question time.
“Stella”? Was he drunk?
I guess it’s hard to tell with Simon…
Dang Tony, that’s than better a married at first sight bait advert…lmao
*skips off grinning to find the clip*
Laughing here, can’t find him on any of today’s clips. Was it a stella performance because he wasn’t there?
I’m trying to work out why Amy Adams has got her knickers in a twist about the census, the lack of reliability of it and the lack of important information which it should have gathered.
James Shaw said today that it took 5-7 years to get it organised to do it right. When he was made Minister he had no more than 47 working days before Christmas for an exercise which was to happen before March 6th. (Comfortably before that I suppose if it was to be done online.)
Not many days to become au fait with all the brilliant things the previous Ministers had been in charge of.
Actually I do know why she’s in the state she’s in – she’s a bloody idiot. She should look to her left in Parliament. Just before her eyes reach David Seymour they should land on Scott Simpson (starts the same as ‘simple’). The eyes would have to travel past another who was involved in the census oversight – Mark Mitchell (doesn’t start the same as ‘simple’ but is that anyway.)
She should ask them about the cock-up they spent years ‘organising.’
“can’t handle the truth”
Meet the new one party US state broadcaster
The Democrats announce that they will not invite the FOX Network to be a host for the upcoming Democratic Party primary debates, after allegations of corrupt practice by the FOX Netowork.
In response President Trump threatens to ban all other networks from hosting presidential debates. (Presumably all except FOX)
Trump threatens to block networks from hosting debates after Dems reject Fox
Tal Axelrod – March 6, 2019
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/432961-trump-threatens-to-block-networks-from-hosting-debates-after-dems
…..allegations that late Fox News founder Roger Ailes passed along questions to Trump prior to a 2016 Republican primary debate and noted that former Fox executive Bill Shine is now the White House communications director. Several other former Fox News employees and contributors work in the Trump administration….
Any Capital Gains Tax is really a punishment for planning,thinking ,saving,investing and distributing to those who don’t.
or cannot
I fully agree and they should call it Capital Punishment Tax.
Just like income tax is really a punishment for having a job and GST is really a punishment for needing to eat – ie, no not really at all.
Kia ora Te ao Maori News Congratulat to Noa Nicholson from Dannvirke 100 years old is a great for A Maori Wahine it looks like the Whanau put on a great hakari for her.
Ka pai for protesting about whenua that was taken by stealf stolen I have one that I will be following my tupuna and taking to Court as the whenua was granted to the wrong WHANAU.
I have a strong interest in Matariki now. I have a lot to learn.
Ka pai to Kanikani 2 cool for there win in America.
Graham Tipene for getting to design that walk way in Auckland it looks awesome with the Maori art involved in the design. Ka kite ano