Near the end of the Trump Schadenfruede post, there was this- "The global left has a great chance to first enjoy “told you so world”, and secondly rebuild its voter support."
The second part of that sentence is the most important. Othering is almost anti-left and it doesn't serve either group well. Instead we need to put that precious attention into imagining, planning and communicating the alternative. Make it so attractive so it's irresistible to those that don't vote.
The first $15,000 tax free?
Abolish GST, replace with Wealth/Stamp duty/CGT?
Time for some old fashioned protectionism?
Invest in pharmaceutical companies here? Stop direct to customer marketing of pharmaceuticals (apart from NZ ones?).
Living wage at least, paid to all workers who are contracted to the government?
It's far better for our emotional and political health to focus on things that are within our control. Every time Trump is in our thoughts and words, Luxon, Seymour, Peters and their motley crews thank you.
The biggie in my view, and a couple of other regular posters is–return power generation and supply to full public ownership. Compensation for the gentailers if they go quietly. The artificially created power and lines market has just been a money spinner for private enterprise with inadequate reinvestment made by them in maintenance, infrastructure and new sustainable power sources.
Power prices have been hiked 10% just in time for winter. National super annuitants get a heating payment from May to October, filthy beneficiaries of course nothing.
Many years ago, Bill English wanted "the wages to drop" and I do believe National & ACT still prefer lowering minimum and living wages (inflation adjusted).
However, overall "higher wages for New Zealanders" is still possible… if you look at the "average NZ wage", for example pay the CEOs and other top management 10 times more and you will increase the average.
English: gap with Aussie good [The Standard, 9 April 2011]
Here’s English on what he now says are New Zealand’s economic advantages over Australia:
“One is the wage differential. We have a workforce that is better educated, just as productive and 30 per cent cheaper.”
It is a vote winner. Those that have a share portfolio aren't suddenly going to change their vote but it will encourage those that don't vote to partake.
It would be much cheaper and practical to set up a state owned solar power company where most/all sites developed also had grid-linked battery storage attached.
The battery storage would be less expensive than (and instead of) Lake Onslow.
This would also give Labour credibility on the climate change issue.
well as we both know the answer is way too much. Perhaps an idea to look at is a new SOE maybe solar and battery or even the killed off Onslow project so that instead of prices being determined by the most expensive generation (coal?) peak demand is controlled by a storage solution – the batteries or Onslow hydro storage.
The last estimate I heard for Onslow was $17 billion….these days you can buy a hell of a lot of solar panels and batteries for that kind of dosh.
The proposed scheme was to store 5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity. Large scale battery storage costs range from $100 to $300 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Do the sums.
Yes, some have more in that they can tolerate the dividends they receive at the expense of the rest of us.
"New research from First Union, 350 Aotearoa and the Council of Trade Unions said power companies paid out $10.8 billion in dividends over the last decade but invested $4.5b in new power projects"
I think Ad’s talking strategy, but I agree that 3 waters is a bad example. Labour botched it by imposing it without regard for the electorate instead of bringing people along. Likewise co-governance. Lefties might not be bothered by that approach but swing voters are.
It's also a failure of the neoliberal paradigm. Nationalising power is antithetical to neoliberalism, so it's hard to see how Labour could consider it the way things are now. But the conversation is important, and what I'd like to see if lefties develop more on the how. Both the practicalities and the politics. Use Ad's naysaying as a way of testing the ideas.
How though? I’m not naysaying, I’m saying go further, work through the issues and talk about not just what could happen but how.
The shareholders are a shit load of NZers with a kiwisaver. Saying bugger the shareholders contradicts the power to the people messaging. If we want people to vote for system change we have to present a way out of neoliberal capitalism.
As to how, that's where I am woefully out of my depth. There would be far brighter minds than mine with that know how.
We did it with KiwiRail, the government retrieving important infrastructure from private ownership. Perhaps that is a model to follow?
I figure part of the narrative is that the assets were paid for and built by our tipuna but they have been misused. (Way more paid in dividends than in reinvestment into generation or maintenance.)
I agree, I don't see the political courage or imagination in parliament to make that happen, but if we made enough noise…
my point here is that enough noise is insufficient. Why would the parliamentary parties move on this if there was no credible way to do it? I’m not saying there isn’t. It’s possible there are people out there who have started thinking about the how. Go find them and bring their ideas back here and see how the debate changes from ‘we should do this’ to ‘this is how we effect useful change’
Have the Transition Town people done work in this locally or internationally? What about WEALL?
If we want radical change, I think it’s the responsibility of extra-parliamentary groups to lead on this.
The value of Genesis, Meridian and Mercury (the three mixed ownership power companies) in the Crown accounts is $24.3B and ~51% ownership as at 30 June 2024. Lazy maths say it would therefore cost approx. $23.4B to renationalise those back to 100%.
Our government system is in crisis, as to funding.
We need a 20 year bright-line test on rental property, stamp duty (5% over $2M), and a wealth tax linked to estate tax and more (1% mortgage surcharge on landlord property – 10 year exemption for new builds) just to maintain government, as was developed in the 20thC.
Based around the principles of the UN Declaration of Human Rights (right to health, housing, education, adequate income etc).
The Treasury recommends a 20-year bright-line test or longer. This would capture more capital gains, thereby improving the fairness of the tax system and supporting more sustainable house prices.
Who is correct: Christopher Luxon, who on 7 June 2022 said, "Privatisation is not a big philosophical driver for me at this point in time", or Simeon Brown when he said, "I'd like to see as much planned care—those elective surgeries—done by the private sector"? https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansD_20250311_20250311
Hundreds of Kāinga Ora jobs proposed to go in latest Govt attack on public housing [3 April 2025]
"The Government has been deliberately catastrophising about Kāinga Ora’s finances to suit its privatisation agenda. It is simply setting up a far smaller Kāinga Orato fail.
…
"The Government has made a choice to cut taxes for landlords and turn its back on a successful organisation like Kāinga Ora which has a proud legacy of putting New Zealanders who need a helping hand into warm dry homes.
Cuts to Disability Services Are Part of a Class War
These cuts are part of a war on working class people across Aotearoa. The Coalition’s austerity approach is not confined to disability funding. Other areas that are affected include:
The health system, which is heaving under the pressure of fresh cuts in the wake of decades of underfunding;
State housing, which is being sold off at the exact moment that it has become “nearly impossible” to get into emergency housing thanks to government changes;
The welfare system, where the ‘traffic light’ benefit sanctions are driving the poorest people in Aotearoa into further hardship in the midst of a recession and rising unemployment.
The list could go on. Higher rates of poverty, homelessness and inequality will be the enduring legacy of this class war.
Annual % increase in the minimum wage for the last wee while:
Chris B: "See this tie, mostly blue – the diagonal pattern is a mask to lull the leftists into a false sense of security. But hey, if I go full blue next week and shave my hair off they won't be able to tell us apart."
Chris A: "Nah, won't work. Everyone knows you're banal & I'm venal. Huge difference – 2 whole letters of the alphabet."
Chris B: "Intellectual stuff like that baffles me. I'll see if my minder can explain it."
Meanwhile the Herald analyst reckons Chris B dropped Labour 4.3% because a Green MP made him do it:
The change is mostly due to Labour falling 4.3 points to 29.8% after a difficult week in which Leader Chris Hipkins was forced to distance himself from the anti-Police comments of Green MP Tamatha Paul.
Somehow I can't bring myself to believe that Labour supporters really are that fickle. Worse, woke worked Winston's wondrous whopping wow…
Peters rose a massive 4.2 points to 12.8% – the first time he has polled over 8%… The poll was taken a week after NZ First leader Winston Peters tore strips of Labour in his State of the Nation speech and launched a renewed attack on all things “woke”.
Le Pen evokes spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. as supporters rally in Paris
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said on Sunday she would peacefully fight her five-year ban from running for office and draw inspiration from American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., as thousands of people rallied in Paris to back her.
Government considers u-turn on baby formula rules after industry shift
The government is considering signing up to Trans-Tasman rules on baby formula – after rejecting them amid industry lobbying.
This potential policy shift follows a change of heart from formula companies, including major players Danone and The a2 Milk Company, who had previously campaigned against the standards.
The faster they fell them, the sooner the Atlantic current and AMOC system goes down. That will end global warming … in the northern hemisphere …
The thing to watch is the elites supporting the capacity to have domed communities on the moon or Mars. This capacity is required for there to be survival centres in the case of a 10 degree cooling in the north.
Although very English, there are lessons for us here as well.
"The Labour party, though, was always a coalition of working-class and middle-class voters. What has happened in the post-Thatcher era is a conscious refashioning of that coalition, jettisoning class politics, embracing neoliberal policies and promoting technocratic values. Labour MPs with working-class backgrounds have, as Budd notes, become rare, largely replaced by “political careerists” with a background “in thinktanks or as advisers”.
Sections of the working class, feeling abandoned and voiceless, have themselves, over time, abandoned Labour, some gravitating towards the Tories and more recently towards Reform. It is difficult to see how you can address the issues Budd so adroitly raises without reclaiming some form of class politics. Not least because Winnick’s point that those who “act as the champions of the white person against immigrants” rarely “defend the interests of the white working class” is even more pertinent today than it was half a century ago. The left’s neglect of class politics has allowed parties such as Reform, whose policies, on topics from trade unions to welfare, are deeply regressive, to be able to portray themselves as championing working-class interests."
Reading Fungi of Aotearoa in the weekend it touched on how the mycorrzhial network is a big carbon sink.
Regular tilling of the soil and certain sprays undo this good work.
"Plants photosynthesize using sunlight and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert them into energy. During that process, the plants fix carbon – turning it from its gaseous form into organic carbon compounds. The plants then use this carbon to build their structures. Flowers, leaves, stems – those are all made from organic carbon compounds"
I became interested in Trump's use of executive orders to implement his policies, as he seems to be acting like the US version of Joseph Stalin. Can't Congress rein him in?
Not really, as both houses are under control of the Republican Party & most of the Republican moderates are like possums trap between the Lights of a incoming MAGA Truck.
The Best hope for everyone is the mid term elections atm?
If that fails? Then we and most US citizens are Fucked!
And what I mean "We" is the world feeling the effects of Trump's Tariffs/ American First & Trump's Foreign Policy's.
“This is a con on a global scale. Trump is not rejecting the corporate trade model. He’s weaponizing it”.
Trump’s mob will be rebating tariffs for countries that prioritise US rules. Such as corporate rights over countries internal policies.
Seymours regulatory standards Bill, is an echo of the ultimate aim of Trumps puppet masters.
Should go on to point out that National are already defunding the police more than any sensible budget policy would suggest, and that they have zero chance of hitting their recruitment targets in their term.
To judge by recent form, the Greens will have given 'em plenty more ammo by that time. No need to hoard it.
(I've voted Green in the last three GEs, but am getting increasingly exasperated at the way their candidate selection – and the candidates themselves – keep leaving them open to cheapo attacks that distract from the message.)
All nation states have a right to defend themselves. But do regimes enjoy an equal right to self-defence? Is the security of a particular party-in-power a fundamental right of nations? The Chinese government is asking ...
A modest attempt to analyse Donald Trump’s tariff policies.Alfred Marshall, whose text book was still in use 40 years after he died wrote ‘every short statement about economics is misleading with the possible exception of my present one.’ (The text book is 719 pages.) It’s a timely reminder that any ...
If nothing else, we have learned that the economic and geopolitical turmoil caused by the Trump tariff see-saw raises a fundamental issue of the human condition that extends beyond trade wars and “the markets.” That issue is uncertainty and its centrality to individual and collective life. It extends further into ...
To improve its national security, South Korea must improve its ICT infrastructure. Knowing this, the government has begun to move towards cloud computing. The public and private sectors are now taking a holistic national-security approach ...
28 April 2025 Mournfor theDead FightFor theLiving Every week in New Zealand 18 workers are killed as a consequence of work. Every 15 minutes, a worker suffers ...
The world is trying to make sense of the Trump tariffs. Is there a grand design and strategy, or is it all instinct and improvisation? But much more important is the question of what will ...
OPINION:Yesterday was a triumphant moment in Parliament House.The “divisive”, “disingenous”, “unfair”, “discriminatory” and “dishonest” Treaty Principles Bill, advanced by the right wing ACT Party, failed.Spectacularly.11 MP votes for (ACT).112 MP votes against (All Other Parties).As the wonderful Te Pāti Māori MP, Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke said: We are not divided, but united.Green ...
The Pacific Response Group (PRG), a new disaster coordination organisation, has operated through its first high-risk weather season. But as representatives from each Pacific military leave Brisbane to return to their home countries for the ...
The Treaty Principles Bill has been defeated in Parliament with 112 votes in opposition and 11 in favour, but the debate about Te Tiriti and Māori rights looks set to stay high on the political agenda. Supermarket giant Woolworths has confirmed a new operating model that Workers First say will ...
1. What did Seymour say after his obnoxious bill was buried 112 to 11?a. Watch this spaceb. Mea culpac. I am not a crookd. Youse are all such dumbasses2. Which lasted longest?a. Liz Trussb. Trump’s Tariffsc. The Lettuced. Too soon to say but the smart money’s on the vegetable 3. ...
And this is what I'm gonna doI'm gonna put a call to you'Cause I feel good tonightAnd everything's gonna beRight-right-rightI'm gonna have a good time tonightRock and roll music gonna play all nightCome on, baby, it won't take longOnly take a minute just to sing my songSongwriters: Kirk Pengilly / ...
The Indonesian military has a new role in cybersecurity but, worryingly, no clear doctrine on what to do with it nor safeguards against human rights abuses. Assignment of cyber responsibility to the military is part ...
The StrategistBy Gatra Priyandita and Christian Guntur Lebang
Another Friday, another roundup. Autumn is starting to set in, certainly getting darker earlier but we hope you enjoy some of the stories we found interesting this week. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday we ran a guest post from the wonderful Darren Davis about what’s happening ...
Long stories shortest:The White House confirms Donald Trump’s total tariffs now on China are 145%, not 125%. US stocks slump again. Gold hits a record high. PM Christopher Luxon joins a push for a new rules-based trading system based around CPTPP and EU, rather than US-led WTO. Winston Peters ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics and climate, including Donald Trump’s shock and (partial) backflip; and,Health Coalition Aotearoa Chair ...
USAID cuts and tariffs will harm the United States’ reputation in the Pacific more than they will harm the region itself. The resilient region will adjust to the economic challenges and other partners will fill ...
National's racist and divisive Treaty Principles Bill was just voted down by the House, 112 to 11. Good fucking riddance. The bill was not a good-faith effort at legislating, or at starting a "constitutional conversation". Instead it was a bad faith attempt to stoke division and incite racial hatred - ...
Democracy watch Indonesia’s parliament passed revisions to the country’s military law, which pro-democracy and human rights groups view as a threat to the country’s democracy. One of the revisions seeks to expand the number of ...
The StrategistBy Linus Cohen, Astrid Young and Alice Wai
Australia should follow international examples and develop a civilian cyber reserve as part of a whole-of-society approach to national defence. By setting up such a reserve, the federal government can overcome a shortage of expertise ...
A ballot for three Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Life Jackets for Children and Young Persons Bill (Cameron Brewer) Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Restrictions on Issue of Off-Licences and Low and No Alcohol Products) Amendment Bill (Mike Butterick) Crown ...
Te Whatu Ora is proposing to slash jobs from a department that brings in millions of dollars a year and ensures safety in hospitals, rest homes and other community health providers. The Treaty Principles Bill is back in Parliament this evening and is expected to be voted down by all parties, ...
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has repeatedly asserted the country’s commitment to a non-aligned foreign policy. But can Indonesia still credibly claim neutrality while tacitly engaging with Russia? Holding an unprecedented bilateral naval drills with Moscow ...
The NZCTU have launched a new policy programme and are calling on political parties to adopt bold policies in the lead up to the next election. The Government is scrapping the 30-day rule that automatically signs an employee up to the collective agreement when they sign on to a new ...
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te must have been on his toes. The island’s trade and defence policy has snapped into a new direction since US President Donald Trump took office in January. The government was almost ...
Auckland’s ongoing rail pain will intensify again from this weekend as Kiwirail shut down the network for two weeks as part of their push to get the network ready for the City Rail Link. KiwiRail will progress upgrade and renewal projects across Auckland’s rail network over the Easter holiday period ...
This is a re-post from The Electrotech Revolution by Daan Walter Last week, UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch took the stage to advocate for slowing the rollout of renewables, arguing that they ultimately lead to higher costs: “Huge amounts are being spent on switching round how we distribute electricity ...
That there, that's not meI go where I pleaseI walk through wallsI float down the LiffeyI'm not hereThis isn't happeningI'm not hereI'm not hereSongwriters: Philip James Selway / Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood / Edward John O'Brien / Thomas Edward Yorke / Colin Charles Greenwood.I had mixed views when the first ...
(A note to subscribers:I’m going to keep these daily curated news updates shorter in future to ensure an earlier and more regular delivery.Expect this format and delivery around 7 am Monday to Friday from now on. My apologies for not delivering yesterday. There was too much news… This ...
As Donald Trump zigs and zags on tariffs and trashes America’s reputation as a safe and stable place to invest, China has a big gun that it could bring to this tariff knife fight. Behind Japan, China has the world’s second largest holdings of American debt. As a huge US ...
Civilian exploration may be the official mission of a Chinese deep-sea research ship that sailed clockwise around Australia over the past week and is now loitering west of the continent. But maybe it’s also attending ...
South Korea’s internal political instability leaves it vulnerable to rising security threats including North Korea’s military alliance with Russia, China’s growing regional influence and the United States’ unpredictability under President Donald Trump. South Korea needs ...
Here are 5 updates that you may be interested in today:Speed kills and costs - so why does National want more of it?James (Jim) Grenon Board Takeover Gets Shaky - As Canadian Calls An Australian Shareholder a “Flake” Billionaire Bust-ups -The World’s Richest Men Are UncomfortableOver 3,500 Australian doctors on ...
Australia is in a race against time. Cyber adversaries are exploiting vulnerabilities faster than we can identify and patch them. Both national security and economic considerations demand policy action. According to IBM’s Data Breach Report, ...
The ever brilliant Kate Nicholls has kindly agreed to allow me to re-publish her substack offering some under-examined backdrop to Trump’s tariff madness. The essay is not meant to be a full scholarly article but instead an insight into the thinking (if that is the correct word) behind the current ...
In the Pacific, the rush among partner countries to be seen as the first to assist after disasters has become heated as part of ongoing geopolitical contest. As partners compete for strategic influence in the ...
The StrategistBy Miranda Booth, Henrietta McNeill and Genevieve Quirk
We’ve seen this morning the latest step up in the Trump-initiated trade war, with the additional 50 per cent tariffs imposed on imports from China. If the tariff madness persists – but in fact even if were wound back in some places (eg some of the particularly absurd tariffs on ...
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Australian policy makers are vastly underestimating how climate change will disrupt national security and regional stability across the Indo-Pacific. A new ASPI report assesses the ways climate impacts could threaten Indonesia’s economic and security interests ...
So here we are in London again because we’re now at the do-it-while-you-still-can stage of life. More warm wide-armed hugs, more long talks and long walks and drinks in lovely old pubs with our lovely daughter.And meanwhile the world is once more in one of its assume-the-brace-position stages.We turned on ...
Hi,Back in September of 2023, I got pitched an interview:David -Thanks for the quick response to the DM! Means the world. Re-stating some of the DM below for your team’s reference -I run a business called Animal Capital - we are a venture capital fund advised by Noah Beck, Paris ...
I didn’t want to write about this – but, alas, the 2020s have forced my hand. I am going to talk about the Trump Tariffs… and in the process probably irritate nearly everyone. You see, alone on the Internet, I am one of those people who think we need a ...
Maybe people are only just beginning to notice the close alignment of Russia and China. It’s discussed as a sudden new phenomenon in world affairs, but in fact it’s not new at all. The two ...
The High Court has just ruled that the government has been violating one of the oldest Treaty settlements, the Sealord deal: The High Court has found the Crown has breached one of New Zealand's oldest Treaty Settlements by appropriating Māori fishing quota without compensation. It relates to the 1992 ...
Darwin’s proposed Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct is set to be the heart of a new integrated infrastructure network in the Northern Territory, larger and better than what currently exists in northern Australia. However, the ...
Local body elections are in October, and so like a lot of people, I received the usual pre-election enrolment confirmation from the Orange Man in the post. And I was horrified to see that it included the following: Why horrified? After all, surely using email, rather ...
Australia needs to deliver its commitment under the Seoul Declaration to create an Australian AI safety, or security, institute. Australia is the only signatory to the declaration that has yet to meet its commitments. Given ...
Ko kōpū ka rere i te paeMe ko Hine RuhiTīaho mai tō arohaMe ko Hine RuhiDa da da ba du da da ba du da da da ba du da da da da da daDa da da ba du da da ba du da da da ba du da da ...
Army, Navy and AirForce personnel in ceremonial dress: an ongoing staffing exodus means we may get more ships, drones and planes but not have enough ‘boots on the ground’ to use them. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning:PM Christopher Luxon says the Government can ...
If you’re a qualified individual looking to join the Australian Army, prepare for a world of frustration over the next 12 to 18 months. While thorough vetting is essential, the inefficiency of the Australian Defence ...
I’ve inserted a tidbit and rumours section1. Colonoscopy wait times increase, procedures drop under NationalWait times for urgent, non-urgent and surveillance colonoscopies all progressively worsened last year. Health NZ data shows the total number of publicly-funded colonoscopies dropped by more than 7 percent.Health NZ chief medical officer Helen Stokes-Lampard blamed ...
Three billion dollars has been wiped off the value of New Zealand’s share market as the rout of global financial markets caught up with the local market. A Sāmoan national has been sentenced for migrant exploitation and corruption following a five-year investigation that highlights the serious consequences of immigration fraud ...
This is a guest post by Darren Davis. It originally appeared on his excellent blog, Adventures in Transitland, which we encourage you to check out. It is shared by kind permission. Rail Network Investment Plan quietly dropped While much media attention focused on the 31st March 2025 announcement that the replacement Cook ...
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The StrategistBy Alfin Febrian Basundoro and Jascha Ramba Santoso
So New Zealand is about to spend $12 billion on our defence forces over the next four years – with $9 million of it being new money that is not being spent on pressing needs here at home. Somehow this lavish spend-up on Defence is “affordable,” says PM Christopher Luxon, ...
Donald Trump’s philosophy about the United States’ place in the world is historically selfish and will impoverish his country’s spirit. While he claimed last week to be ‘liberating’ Americans from the exploiters and freeloaders who’ve ...
China’s crackdown on cyber-scam centres on the Thailand-Myanmar border may cause a shift away from Mandarin, towards English-speaking victims. Scammers also used the 28 March earthquake to scam international victims. Australia, with its proven capabilities ...
At the 2005 election campaign, the National Party colluded with a weirdo cult, the Exclusive Brethren, to run a secret hate campaign against the Greens. It was the first really big example of the rich using dark money to interfere in our democracy. And unfortunately, it seems that they're trying ...
Many of you will know that in collaboration with the University of Queensland we created and ran the massive open online course (MOOC) "Denial101x - Making sense of climate science denial" on the edX platform. Within nine years - between April 2015 and February 2024 - we offered 15 runs ...
How will the US assault on trade affect geopolitical relations within Asia? Will nations turn to China and seek protection by trading with each other? The happy snaps a week ago of the trade ministers ...
I mentioned this on Friday - but thought it deserved some emphasis.Auckland Waitematā District Commander Superintendent Naila Hassan has responded to Countering Hate Speech Aotearoa, saying police have cleared Brian Tamaki of all incitement charges relating to the Te Atatu library rainbow event assault.Hassan writes:..There is currently insufficient evidence to ...
With the report of the recent intelligence review by Heather Smith and Richard Maude finally released, critics could look on and wonder: why all the fuss? After all, while the list of recommendations is substantial, ...
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Staff at Kāinga Ora are expecting details of another round of job cuts, with the Green Party claiming more than 500 jobs are set to go. The New Zealand Defence Force has made it easier for people to apply for a job in a bid to get more boots on ...
Australia’s agriculture sector and food system have prospered under a global rules-based system influenced by Western liberal values. But the assumptions, policy approaches and economic frameworks that have traditionally supported Australia’s food security are no ...
Following Trump’s tariff announcement, US stock values fell by the most ever in value terms (US$6.6 trillion). Photo: Getty ImagesLong story shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning:Donald Trump just detonated a neutron bomb under the globalised economy, but this time the Fed isn’t cutting interest rates to rescue ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 30, 2025 thru Sat, April 5, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
This is a longer read.Summary:Trump’s tariffs are reckless, disastrous and hurt the poorest countries deeply. It will stoke inflation, and may cause another recession. Funds/investments around the world have tanked.Trump’s actions emulate the anti-economic logic of another right wing libertarian politician - Liz Truss. She had her political career cut ...
We are all suckers for hope.He’s just being provocative, people will say, he wouldn’t really go that far. They wouldn’t really go that far.Germany in the 1920s and 30s was one of the world’s most educated, culturally sophisticated, and scientifically advanced societies.It had a strong democratic constitution with extensive civil ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Mars warming? Mars’ climate varies due to completely different reasons than Earth’s, and available data indicates no temperature trends comparable to Earth’s ...
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
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The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
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Near the end of the Trump Schadenfruede post, there was this- "The global left has a great chance to first enjoy “told you so world”, and secondly rebuild its voter support."
The second part of that sentence is the most important. Othering is almost anti-left and it doesn't serve either group well. Instead we need to put that precious attention into imagining, planning and communicating the alternative. Make it so attractive so it's irresistible to those that don't vote.
The first $15,000 tax free?
Abolish GST, replace with Wealth/Stamp duty/CGT?
Time for some old fashioned protectionism?
Invest in pharmaceutical companies here? Stop direct to customer marketing of pharmaceuticals (apart from NZ ones?).
Living wage at least, paid to all workers who are contracted to the government?
It's far better for our emotional and political health to focus on things that are within our control. Every time Trump is in our thoughts and words, Luxon, Seymour, Peters and their motley crews thank you.
The biggie in my view, and a couple of other regular posters is–return power generation and supply to full public ownership. Compensation for the gentailers if they go quietly. The artificially created power and lines market has just been a money spinner for private enterprise with inadequate reinvestment made by them in maintenance, infrastructure and new sustainable power sources.
Power prices have been hiked 10% just in time for winter. National super annuitants get a heating payment from May to October, filthy beneficiaries of course nothing.
Cheaper, sustainable power under Govt. and community control would be a vote winner.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/public-majority-slams-govt-for-lack-of-action-on-electricity-prices-in-new-poll/BZEQ3RIC7VEDDOAQJOI6KGE3NQ/#google_vignette
Any serious reform must see the minimum wage become the living wage…
I'm guessing you would have seen that Willis is stripping Living Wage requirements out of all government contracts?
So much for their pre-election promise of "higher wages for New Zealanders".
Many years ago, Bill English wanted "the wages to drop" and I do believe National & ACT still prefer lowering minimum and living wages (inflation adjusted).
However, overall "higher wages for New Zealanders" is still possible… if you look at the "average NZ wage", for example pay the CEOs and other top management 10 times more and you will increase the average.
You give your claimed comment by Bill English as being a direct quote,
Can you please provide evidence for what you say he said?
English might have been channelling John ‘Close the Wage Gap’ Key
So Bill never said this?
Don’t know if Bill has ever uttered the words “the wages to drop” – maybe you could enlighten us.
Anyhoo, what we do know is that in 2011 our then Minister of Finance considered a “30 per cent” wage gap with Australia to be advantageous.
That's what I am getting at T.M.
It is a vote winner. Those that have a share portfolio aren't suddenly going to change their vote but it will encourage those that don't vote to partake.
Aye TM. I have said similar for many years. Who in the Left opposition is listening ?
Here are some of the existing problems….
The salient point…
Greenpeace with some experts on how to change the broken system.
And the Greens with their Future Energy Vision….
We cannot continue the way we are. Democratise NZ Energy !
National super annuitants get a heating payment from May to October, filthy beneficiaries of course nothing.
Beneficiaries DO (still) get the Winter energy payment.
https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/a-z-benefits/winter-energy-payment.html#:~:text=You%20must%20be%20getting%20a,on%201%20October%20every%20year.
How much would renationalising the entire power generation industry cost?
You would compensate shareholders with government bonds, that how they did it in the 1940s anyway.
Humour me.
How much would that be?
It would be much cheaper and practical to set up a state owned solar power company where most/all sites developed also had grid-linked battery storage attached.
The battery storage would be less expensive than (and instead of) Lake Onslow.
This would also give Labour credibility on the climate change issue.
Na onslow type storage beats batteries every day once it's buil it last for ever ish, unlike bloody batteries
No battery ever dies, they are all murdered.
I'm all in favour if yr solar idea, start with schools, marae, council buildings and swimming pools.
But… We also need to restructure the power system to reflect that it is a necessity for the public and that it is owned by the public.
Not an investment vehicle for playing corporate games with.
The last estimate I heard for Onslow was $17 billion….these days you can buy a hell of a lot of solar panels and batteries for that kind of dosh.
Don't think any solar panels or batteries, bought now, will still be useful in 100 years.
Onslow was future proofing consumption smoothing.
Not something that power companies making a mint on spot pricing wants.
The other investment required is in drastically reducing end use of energy. Green buildings, rail, shipping, transport requirements, commuting.
The proposed scheme was to store 5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity. Large scale battery storage costs range from $100 to $300 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Do the sums.
Need not cost a thing.
Renationalising is in the national interest. Help undo the inequities caused by rampant inequality.
Shareholders by definition have surplus funds.
A return is not guaranteed, there is risk in the 'market'.
As has been pointed out, compensate with Govt. bonds.
How much in nz government bonds?
Has renationalising all power generation been done anywhere similar so we can consider what might happen?
We can do better than saying it's free and the government will fix it.
We lost the last election trying to re-govern water.
This lot are likely to lose from trying to implement re-governing health.
Be consequential.
Do you have skin in the game?
We all do.
Yes, some have more in that they can tolerate the dividends they receive at the expense of the rest of us.
"New research from First Union, 350 Aotearoa and the Council of Trade Unions said power companies paid out $10.8 billion in dividends over the last decade but invested $4.5b in new power projects"
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/504764/big-power-companies-paying-large-dividends-at-consumers-expense-unions
"We lost the last election trying to re-govern water. "
Bad example, with 3 waters rightly or wrongly, the feeling was that something we owned was being taken.
Taking back the power companies is returning some that was taken from us.
I suspect your personal interests override concern for the less well off amongst us. Yr not alone there are plenty of 'left wing' landlords too.
I think Ad’s talking strategy, but I agree that 3 waters is a bad example. Labour botched it by imposing it without regard for the electorate instead of bringing people along. Likewise co-governance. Lefties might not be bothered by that approach but swing voters are.
It's also a failure of the neoliberal paradigm. Nationalising power is antithetical to neoliberalism, so it's hard to see how Labour could consider it the way things are now. But the conversation is important, and what I'd like to see if lefties develop more on the how. Both the practicalities and the politics. Use Ad's naysaying as a way of testing the ideas.
Perhaps.
With Trump metaphorically tipping the table over it's the perfect time to implement politics with principles.
Bugger shareholders, signal now that it's time to exit the that market as the power is coming back to the people.
How though? I’m not naysaying, I’m saying go further, work through the issues and talk about not just what could happen but how.
The shareholders are a shit load of NZers with a kiwisaver. Saying bugger the shareholders contradicts the power to the people messaging. If we want people to vote for system change we have to present a way out of neoliberal capitalism.
As to how, that's where I am woefully out of my depth. There would be far brighter minds than mine with that know how.
We did it with KiwiRail, the government retrieving important infrastructure from private ownership. Perhaps that is a model to follow?
I figure part of the narrative is that the assets were paid for and built by our tipuna but they have been misused. (Way more paid in dividends than in reinvestment into generation or maintenance.)
I agree, I don't see the political courage or imagination in parliament to make that happen, but if we made enough noise…
my point here is that enough noise is insufficient. Why would the parliamentary parties move on this if there was no credible way to do it? I’m not saying there isn’t. It’s possible there are people out there who have started thinking about the how. Go find them and bring their ideas back here and see how the debate changes from ‘we should do this’ to ‘this is how we effect useful change’
Have the Transition Town people done work in this locally or internationally? What about WEALL?
If we want radical change, I think it’s the responsibility of extra-parliamentary groups to lead on this.
The value of Genesis, Meridian and Mercury (the three mixed ownership power companies) in the Crown accounts is $24.3B and ~51% ownership as at 30 June 2024. Lazy maths say it would therefore cost approx. $23.4B to renationalise those back to 100%.
Source – pp 174-176
Not sure what else would be included in renationalisation.
Piss easy to sell politically IMO.
The latest national line charges hike reflects ongoing underinvestment by lines companies via their trustee troughs.
I wouldn't compensate anyone, they've done more than well enough with the dividends not matched by profit.
Settle at market share price, nationalise the lot. The largesse within that sector is staggering, returning to an NZED model would save shedloads p.a.
Wait so you'd nationalise all lines companies and all generators together?
Our government system is in crisis, as to funding.
We need a 20 year bright-line test on rental property, stamp duty (5% over $2M), and a wealth tax linked to estate tax and more (1% mortgage surcharge on landlord property – 10 year exemption for new builds) just to maintain government, as was developed in the 20thC.
Based around the principles of the UN Declaration of Human Rights (right to health, housing, education, adequate income etc).
Did the 10 year Bright Line Test significantly increase tax income to government?
No, because it has never been in effect.
EXPLAINER.
It was only 2 years till 2017, then increased to 5.
But the time frame was not retrospective.
So given the changes made by the government elected in 2023, there has never been a 10 year bright-line test in effect.
Treasury recommends a 20 year bright-line test.
page 2
https://www.taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz/-/media/e3626e29ec114052880ef6d64b50beed.ashx?modified=20240314002444
That is amazing SPC. Labour should make a 20 year BLT policy for the next election immediately, citing Treasury advice.
This should be in addition to a Wealth Tax.
Annual % increase in the minimum wage for the last wee while:
2015 – 3.5% (5th National (Key) government)
2016 – 3.4%
2017 – 3.3%
2018 – 4.8% (6th Labour (Ardern) government)
2019 – 7.3%
2020 – 6.8%
2021 – 5.8%
2022 – 6.0%
2023 – 7.1%
2024 – 2.0% ('our' CoC govt)
2025 – 1.5%
Neolib cheerleader Chrises A&B doing their buddy-buddy routine in this nice photo: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/coalition-back-on-track-after-months-behind-labour/MCUS77CB7JENVPDI2TXXZY7EIQ/
Chris B: "See this tie, mostly blue – the diagonal pattern is a mask to lull the leftists into a false sense of security. But hey, if I go full blue next week and shave my hair off they won't be able to tell us apart."
Chris A: "Nah, won't work. Everyone knows you're banal & I'm venal. Huge difference – 2 whole letters of the alphabet."
Chris B: "Intellectual stuff like that baffles me. I'll see if my minder can explain it."
Meanwhile the Herald analyst reckons Chris B dropped Labour 4.3% because a Green MP made him do it:
Somehow I can't bring myself to believe that Labour supporters really are that fickle. Worse, woke worked Winston's wondrous whopping wow…
Ya gotta wonder … MLK was her go-to example!?
And another WTAF…
I had earler commented on ACT Minister Hoggard and his lack of awareness….
Anyone tracking the antitrust lawsuit against Zuckerberg by the US Federal Trade Commission?
Starts April 14.
Sure hope Willis is taking notice, not just more talks and reports about our multiple oligopolies.
The lunacy continues:
"Trump administration orders half of national forests open for logging" (Stuff report, https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360642862/trump-administration-orders-half-national-forests-open-logging)
US foresters have been told that they are entering “a new era”.
Well, with climate crisis resulting in more droughts and more forest fires, perhaps their "logic" is along the lines of "fell them before they burn".
The faster they fell them, the sooner the Atlantic current and AMOC system goes down. That will end global warming … in the northern hemisphere …
The thing to watch is the elites supporting the capacity to have domed communities on the moon or Mars. This capacity is required for there to be survival centres in the case of a 10 degree cooling in the north.
A Redwood moonbase!
Incredible….who needs landscape or carbon sinks?
There is light at the end of the tunnel. After just 3 months of Trump in power people are marching in the streets.
The mid term elections will be interesting.
Trump will be dead before they realise that the scifi rich pricks living in a biodome scenario doesn't work.
The mid term elections will be interesting.
Only if they're actually allowed to take place in a free and fair manner – by no means a certainty, in my view.
Better they log close to home – and see the effects, than import timber logged from poor countries, where they can pretend the effect doesn't exist.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/06/the-white-working-class-is-nothing-like-what-politicians-think-or-claim-it-is
Although very English, there are lessons for us here as well.
"The Labour party, though, was always a coalition of working-class and middle-class voters. What has happened in the post-Thatcher era is a conscious refashioning of that coalition, jettisoning class politics, embracing neoliberal policies and promoting technocratic values. Labour MPs with working-class backgrounds have, as Budd notes, become rare, largely replaced by “political careerists” with a background “in thinktanks or as advisers”.
Sections of the working class, feeling abandoned and voiceless, have themselves, over time, abandoned Labour, some gravitating towards the Tories and more recently towards Reform. It is difficult to see how you can address the issues Budd so adroitly raises without reclaiming some form of class politics. Not least because Winnick’s point that those who “act as the champions of the white person against immigrants” rarely “defend the interests of the white working class” is even more pertinent today than it was half a century ago. The left’s neglect of class politics has allowed parties such as Reform, whose policies, on topics from trade unions to welfare, are deeply regressive, to be able to portray themselves as championing working-class interests."
Reading Fungi of Aotearoa in the weekend it touched on how the mycorrzhial network is a big carbon sink.
Regular tilling of the soil and certain sprays undo this good work.
"Plants photosynthesize using sunlight and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert them into energy. During that process, the plants fix carbon – turning it from its gaseous form into organic carbon compounds. The plants then use this carbon to build their structures. Flowers, leaves, stems – those are all made from organic carbon compounds"
https://www.spun.earth/articles/carbon-paper
Review of the book.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018889518/book-review-fungi-of-aotearoa-by-liv-sisson
I became interested in Trump's use of executive orders to implement his policies, as he seems to be acting like the US version of Joseph Stalin. Can't Congress rein him in?
This note from a US law firm gives a few pointers: https://www.woodsrogers.com/insights/publications/5-facts-about-executive-orders-that-may-surprise-you
Not really, as both houses are under control of the Republican Party & most of the Republican moderates are like possums trap between the Lights of a incoming MAGA Truck.
The Best hope for everyone is the mid term elections atm?
If that fails? Then we and most US citizens are Fucked!
And what I mean "We" is the world feeling the effects of Trump's Tariffs/ American First & Trump's Foreign Policy's.
“This is a con on a global scale. Trump is not rejecting the corporate trade model. He’s weaponizing it”.
Trump’s mob will be rebating tariffs for countries that prioritise US rules. Such as corporate rights over countries internal policies.
Seymours regulatory standards Bill, is an echo of the ultimate aim of Trumps puppet masters.
When a billboard that says "Vote Green" is deemed to be a billboard telling people not to vote Green.
Now I've seen it all (I hope)…
Billboards attacking Green MPs appear in Wellington and Auckland https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/557433/billboards-attacking-green-mps-appear-in-wellington-and-auckland
Sensible Sentencing (the SS) have stuffed up here and given Chloe the chance to explain that defunding the police is not Green Party policy at all.
They should have saved it for the election.
Should go on to point out that National are already defunding the police more than any sensible budget policy would suggest, and that they have zero chance of hitting their recruitment targets in their term.
Post up: https://thestandard.org.nz/misleading-billboards-are-a-threat-to-electoral-integrity/.
To judge by recent form, the Greens will have given 'em plenty more ammo by that time. No need to hoard it.
(I've voted Green in the last three GEs, but am getting increasingly exasperated at the way their candidate selection – and the candidates themselves – keep leaving them open to cheapo attacks that distract from the message.)